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It's officially over. No more choir boy stuff. As the AFL world knows, upon securing the senior gig, Mark Neeld stated: "I simply want to coach the team that is the hardest to play against in the AFL. That means all over the ground we're going to be the hardest to play against. There will be a number of components that come with that." He was ridiculed for saying this, including by some posters here. Well, who's laughing now?! He has taken to the soft players on this list like Tony Montana. And he has replaced them with hard, fiercely competitive players who are determined to succeed. This bloke is the real deal. He endured a simply ridiculous amount of carp last season, virtually from day one. Strangely, the anti-Neeld voices have gone quiet. Eerily quiet. We will only field "hard" teams from now on. Of that, have no doubt. Thank you Mark Neeld. Thanks very much. Bring on 2013.

When I arrived the players were split into groups. Russian and Pedo were doing marking contests, Dunne, Spencer and Fitz doing the same. Spencer is enormous and packing a ripped six pack. Surprising. Dunne was working with the forwards. Rawlings was giving plenty of feed back on technique to avoid hands in the back. Another large group where doing kick to kick with tennis balls and soccer balls. Smaller group doing contested handball drill, receiving ball on the ground and getting hit by a bag. Blease was copping plenty from Neil Craig and made to repeat some of his efforts. Byrnes was real sharp and Craig was loving it. Flash was very clean, I still have hope even though he can't straighten his left leg. He lifts the whole group just being out there, they love him. Rodan, Jones, Tappy and Howe were having set shots. The groups then joined up, doing a full ground drill moving the ball from back pocket to full forward, with each section being filmed. Jmac cannot kick, full stop! Jamar looked great, swinging onto his left on the wing and hitting up forwards! Tappy played in the forward line. Strauss was criticized for his disposal into forward line. Rodan was really sharp across the wing, looking forward to him hitting up our talls this year. Also notices viney wearing number 7, and Magner in Moloney's 22. Spencer moved well in this drill, had me wondering if there may still be hope! Then half group split into tackling drill, working on hitting low and lifting opponent, not sure if this is a good idea. Another group where doing 3v3 handball drill, very intense. Jonesy was dominant. No one can touch him. They then split into 3 groups for running. A repeat 100m ish effort, a 30m agility group, and a full ground spreading drill where the boys got flogged. Wrestling, spread, ball work, and repeat efforts. Pedo worked hard but needs the work, Davey just ahead of him. Tappy headed in after first of 3 rotations. Forwards doing 200s along boundary combined with hard leading from the square. Hard work. Blessed blew up! Howe looked a million bucks. Gotta go now.

It was a near perfect morning for training. Having read the previous reports / posts on today's training it has been summed up perfectly. I will reflect back for those that never get a chance to see them training in the flesh. Going back to the Bailey era, the drills were a bit hit and miss back then. They always seemed to me, as it was the same ol, same ol, with not much thought with structures, drills and fitness. It mostly was all about reflexes - handballing in close. Lacked direction somewhat. Come last pre-season, the step up was enormous, the players were being flogged, with more considered and thoughtout training drills. It came across as they were building up their stamina,and 90% of the players were really struggling. I almost felt sorry for them. This session, a big change again from last pre-season, from my point of view. They have the players primed to take the next step up into more structured and intense sessions. Players that looked like slowing down, were told clearly and loudly not to drop off, and do the drill perfectly. Encouragement was given constantly to press that home. And most time the players were doing it right. They kept encouraging each other to go harder or at least keep to the level required. You can be sure, on the track, the players are giving everything they have. Its pretty full on, whether it was the repeat spints (100mtr x 3) short break for a min then another 100mtr x 3. Then that group moved on to another drill. No break. Went straight into, leading and hitting a running player with 30mtr passing to handballing to a running player. Lots more running, its non stop. All this over 30-40mins before they had a breather. I can add, MY (our) favorite player, No 12 has a slight injury and they are easing him through it. My thought was, 'yeah, whats new, he always seems to find an out, whether a fault of his own, or a mishap from elsewhere'. I was told, fairly bluntly, he is well aware of the need to be involved, and nobody knows better than himself. It was also added, after I dropped a subtle hint, he needs to step up, and was told Col is well aware of that, and wants to show he can perform better so perhaps a new Col this year. (if he completes all the drills, instead of being an onloooker) Pickles said he will be ready soon, He should be right to go for the third practice match. He had learnt a hard lesson, by coming back too soon. He is raring to go, is back on track, and looks like his probelms are behind him (lets hope). No Neeld, (stayed with the new recruits at the Gold Coast). No Watts, or Hogan. They were at AMMI. Magner has trimmed down, looks more like a greyhound, as do most of the players. Rodan is built like a mini bulldozer. Flash was struggling with the running drills. He looked to be moving ok, just his tank is ½ empty. Everyone else there, looked fit, and look ready to keep building on their fitness levels. Overall it was a long, intense and impressive training session. The players are all under the pump to compete, without making mistakes. If I were to put in into 4 phases, we have entered phase 2, nearly ready for phase3. The difference now with a handball drill, has changed a lot, from years past, they would almost stand toe to toe, and fire handballs to each other (and we wondered why, under pressure, they shot off a handball to a standing target, then that player would be buried) Now in groups of 10 (x2 groups), they do the keeping off, from the other group who were trying to put pressure and win the ball back for their group. If the group that had control of the ball, they had to work their way through traffic and pressure, and try to keep possession. It was full on, only the tackling wasnt slightly eased, nobody got dumped. If somebody in either group, erred, it was 10 pushups,no just for the player, but the entire training group, that happened a few times. Footnote: I stumbled across this. Always interested to hear where our ex players endup after being delisted etc. Seagulls secure Ex-Demon

I'm probably alone, but I don't like this. Let the man make his own history in his own jumper number. 16 was Jack Grimes, in my mind.

Can't think of anyone better, an MFC supporter growing up, a responsible young man, I'm glad to see it go to someone that truly deserves it. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/dee%20tv/tabid/8667/default.aspx#playvideo#playvideo

We've converted Scully into a positive ... Toumpas, Hogan, Viney, Dawes, Barry. We've come out ahead from the deal. It doesn't burn any longer with me. Maybe Grimes taking #31 is the symbolic end to a turbulent and disappointing past, and end we should celebrate now rather than continue to regret.

This is simply another element in Mark Neeld's strategy of re-establishing a great culture at this club. Jack Grimes would take a bullet for this club. He's a Demon through and through, and Mark Neeld has just acknowledged it, very publicly, in a way that is a massive compliment to the young man. That being the case, what do you think the new draftees will think when Jack welcomes them to club and they see the passion in his expression and actions when he talks about the joint?! It's probably much the same as new draftees to the Cats would've thought when they first met Cameron Ling. We're setting up a good, tight club culture here. It's no longer about show pony individuals - it's about team and club. And Mark Neeld is convinced that Jack Grimes is the man to lead the charge. Perhaps a slightly left field thing to do, but I reckon this is what it's all about.

I listened on radio, because it's a better coverage and only just watched Foxtel - taped. How happy was Jimmy "the Gun" Toumpas ? I doubt I've ever seen a new draftee as excited and as exuberant. Love him already.

My new second favourite club is GWS. Not only did they take the 'fraud' off our hands and his pay packet, but one way or another they delivered Clark, who I doubt would be with us had he stayed, Hogan, Dawes and Barry. And in the piece de resistance they inexplicably handed Jimmy "the gun" Toumpas to us on a plate. It doesn't get better than that.

GWS were completely fraudulent to us in relation to their dealings with Tom Scully. For a long time, I loathed them for that. But, to be honest, they've actually been very reasonable to us in 2012: - Even though they stole Tom Scully from us, they did us a massive favour. I'm glad he's not on our list. Don't like him and don't particularly rate him as a top tier player. - In return for Scully, we effectively received Mitch Clark (b/c of the cash we'd kept aside for Scully), Toumpas (pick 4) and Dawes (pick 13 then moved to pick 20). On any construction, that's 'overs'. - They allowed us to recruit Jesse Hogan with pick 3 which also enabled us to recruit Jack Viney (father/son) with pick 26. Total bargain. - They picked O'Rourke and Plowman ahead of Toumpas. Toumpas will be a MFC club legend. There's no way he should've got to us at pick 4. What's there to hate? I now kind of like GWS.

I love the fact that they are working to create a team. Have noticed over the last few years we don't pat each other on the back or talk much on the field. If the Watts incident in his first game was to happen now I suspect 10 players would run over to back him up. Nothing happened at the time which was a disgrace. Small but good signs....

Nicholson Frawley Garland Watts McDonald Dunn Grimes Jones Howe Blease Clark Sylvia Byrnes Dawes Pedersen Fol: Jamar Trengove Viney Int: McKenzie, Toumpas, Tapscott Sub: Rodan Fringe: Bail, Taggert, Tynan, Evans, Strauss, etc. *Neeld has stated that Dawes will be FF and that Clark will be released further up the ground. **I'm not a fan of Bail, but it wouldn't surprise me to see him in the 22.

Agree. But the most burning question of all on Demonland is.....Will 45HG16 now become 45HG31?

I'm of the opinion that we have turned Picks 3, 4, 13 and 26, into three top 5 draft picks (Toumpas, Hogan and Viney), a second rounder (Barry) and a premiership centre half forward originally drafted at 28 (Dawes). That's an incredible return! Regardless of whether you like insiders more than outsiders or whatever if even half of these players make the impact we expect them to MFC will be a far far better side than we have seen for a very long time. Well done FD.

The word "Toumpas in Greek actually means..."Best player in the draft who slid to 4"

I'd have been pretty excited too if I'd dodged the GWS bullet.

Correct olisik. He was informed by John Worsfold 15 minutes prior to the draft that West Coast would take him with their first pick if he was still available. He was asked to wear the shirt by John in good faith. Sadly for West Coast he was not still available.

I hate GWS & the Scullys.

Great, MFC on the front foot, taking charge of a very important number, we won't morosely fold it up and store it in the bottom draw where it can wait for a deserved player and we all carry on being morose, b#gger that, we have a deserved player and he's our Captain, inspired move. Superstition is not welcome here, the MFC is moving forward faster than we can keep up with and I'm infinitely more than ok with it.

I have seen enough false dawns to last me a lifetime so in the words that Ronald Reagan borrowed from Vladmir Lenin "trust but verify"

Character and Class are being restored back into the number. Orchestrated by Neeld, great initiative.

Just watched the interview with Toumpas on the MFC website. Never seen him play. Virtually my favourite player. Welcome aboard Jimmy - and don't contain your excitement in future. Ever. It's infectious. I hope you play 300+ games for this club.

they're %100 online which means less overheads for them and more savings for us...........

FWIW I'm not a fan of mega-threads either and it's especially bad if you're using the mobile skin because you can't easily paginate on that skin. I also find the site is slower on my phone than it is on the PC, and that's in general not just when it's under siege (which it was tonight, users online record broken by a lot - the site's never in its whole history been hammered as hard as it was tonight). I don't know that having a million threads on the same topic is better though, which is what happens. I might have a look at the mobile skin at some point and see if I can improve the pagination on it. To answer your questions - I doubt the club was surprised that Toumpas was available, there have been rumours circulating in the last week that this would happen. GWS even took the players a few people mentioned they would. Also, the rumours that we were taking Wines were just hype built up by the media and footy supporters, I wouldn't assume them to be fact. In the end we'll never know who we would've taken if Toumpas was gone. The roar was because he had an army of family present at the draft. And there's an article on the MFC website where he explains his excitement: Jimmy over the moon at joining Dees Some snippets: "To be given an opportunity by the Dees is unbelievable. They have shown faith in me to Draft me … so it means a hell of a lot. I grew up playing for Lockleys Demons, so I had this [red and blue] guernsey on as a youngster at my home club in SA. The history of the club, being the first club, [which] invented the game - it’s a huge honour.” He was ecstatic that we picked him up. I seriously love this kid already.

Freddie Clutterbuck

Jeez, someone's gone early...

I look at the club today and see an AFL club with a hefty surplus of assets over liabilities, making healthy strides in many directions with half of the list from the disastrous 2011 list turned over. I see us as being on the cusp of a new era - no guarantees of premierships but far better placed than we were 18 months ago and definitely so compared with the day when Jim Stynes walked in to the club in 2008 and started making the changes that have ultimately made us a different organization than the one that all and sundry defined us as irrelevant. Schwab might not have done things to win a popularity poll with everybody but that's not what it's all about. To the extent that he's been fundamental to the process of change that we're now witnessing, I regard him as something of a hero. Malcontents like Hazy can lather away with his Caro-like accusations against Schwab and the Board but we're not listening any more.

I'd never heard of three of our national draft selections before last night, so I figure I have buckley's of picking the rookies.

Gawn's yawn has borne a new dawn.

The power of Gawn's yawn!

Imagine being drafted by port. Poor Ollie. The go home factor is strong in this one.

They are cunning, I'll give them that. Anyone see Phil Scully at the GWS table last night? I couldn't make out the other 7 blokes behind him...

It's not encumbent on me to define what you meant by 'input'. 'Input' could be anything from contractual advice about a player to direct input into a pick. The former could be entirely proper, the latter would probably be improper.

See your point Ron, but i will loathe and hate GW$ until well after my death. I still remember that interview with Gubby Allan...the deals were already signed.

Ron, I am man enough to put my hand up and say that I had concerns of a few things that Neeld done throughout the last 12 months, none more so than making Trengove a co-captain. He even summed it up perfectly during the year when he commented about putting blind faith in players. Well, I refuse to put blind faith in Neeld. I want wins, followed by premierships. Yes, I acknowledge the fact that he had to make changes, and those changes were going to take time. I have patience, it is a prerequisite to barrack for the MFC, but he also has a timeframe where I expect improvement. This is the year (2013) where I expect it, and the following year, and the years after that. I'm quite sure Neeld himself wouldn't want it any other way. He would want people questioning his decisions, that's not to say that he should be a puppet, but it's the sign of good management if you process the feedback you get. He's still learning, he will make mistakes, but it's what he learns from those mistakes that will decide if he is a good coach or not. Until then, I'm on the fence, and will try not to get splinters in my arse. As long as the evidence keeps coming in, like it has over the past 6-8 weeks, I'll be happy to keep an open mind about his coaching ability. The thing that I'm the happiest about is that he has/helped remove players like Petterd, Rivers, Moloney, Green. I think this was 12 months too late (I know I'm likely to cop it for that comment), and have no doubts that Neeld should've made those decisions this time last year.

The last time I got that feeling about a player from watching a highlight package it involved a boy from Dodges Ferry.

was it really necessary for OCD mods to merge the threads - I was at dinner stealthily trying to get the result and the first post on this thread goes back to june 30.. now I have to navigate through to find the comments after 7.20 tonight, seriously what is the point of that? I know I sound like a dick but surely it is obvious that this type of organisation, though well intended, actually reduces the efficiency of the site. anyway, 1200 people are on the site so it is running slow, very hard to re-construct the story - is the general feeling that GWS' pick 3 was out of left field and therefore we unexpectedly snapped up Toumpas instead of Wines? There was a huge roar (Grimes like) when his name was called out.. how come? The kid looked ecstatic at selection, was this because he assumed he was going to the soulless hole of GWS, or is there another reason his demon selection was significant? PS did anybody else chuckle when they talked about the elite company that Whitfield keeps as a Larke medal recipient? Cale Morton says hi

Good thing it's not 2007.

I played 5 yrs with him at Sth Croydon, good young fella who is a smooth mover with tidy skills. Needs to work on endurance but worth a crack. Will play half forward / wing. Good kid with a smart head on his shoulders, from a great family. Wish him all the best. I actually mentioned him a few times on Demonland as a player we have been looking at all yr.

If you catch the bus out there and have a penchant for singing french songs, best hum them or sing them in your head.

Every time I think about this subject I get a warm feeling. I really think we lucked into the best situation possible.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! Thats all.

Great decision MFC. #31 deserves to be honoured again. Couldn't think of a better option than to give it to one of our captains. Jack will truly do it proud! I can see the 13th premiership cup being held high by #31.,,what a beautiful day that will be!

What joy....finally a Greek and has joined our team...and his has the Greek name of Jim !! Acropolis Now Quotes Effie Stephanidis: Ey, have you seen my cousin Jim, is he here? My gorgeous hunk of a cousin Jim, is he here? --------------------------------------- Effie Stephanidis: My fantastic cousin Jim... Jim Stephanidis: Oh no, what do you want? Effie Stephanidis: I want to be in the beauty contest. Jim Stephanidis: You? Effie Stephanidis: Why not? Jim Stephanidis: Because stupid, it's a beauty contest, not a horror movie! Who loves ya baby...........

Sounds like we will have another 1,000 supporters if all his close family join the club; they had 3 tables at the draft.

Screw that. I'm getting excited now. If I'm disappointed in two years time then so be it - I don't expect that I will be though.

At some point we are going to get these picks right. I choose now.

That seems to be a pretty lonely opinion......

It's course, it's lowbrow. It appeals to the lowest common denominator. I love it!