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I would encourage before people whine about our site to have a look at the content of other club sites over the offseason. Collingwood aside, we have clearly the most updates, interviews and videos of the offseason.

tasmanlvr from Bigfooty had this to say: Noticed that I made a factual error on Monday arvo re: training report, Roos isn't there and is still in Africa on his family holiday. There's a bloke at training that looks too familiar to Roosy. Anyway, to my update then... Arriving at training, and first on the agenda is the padding on the goalposts. They've been changed to recognise AHG's sponsorship. Tappy walks past us - claims 'I'll kick this with my eyes shut' on the boundary line and proceeds to nail it with a drop punt. Doubt he shut them, do it in a game ay, Tappy. Short kicks the order of the day so far but they've been called in, then proceed to begin by running a lap. Rehab: Kent, Riley, Fitzy, Viney, Dawes, Jamar, Clisby, Gawn. Hogan and Clark not running by the looks of things. Stretches followed. Had a bit of everything - two groups split to run half the ground. Agility tested as well as the basic muscle stretches. Interesting. Also has body work. Dave Misson very vocal. Runthroughs follow. Rehab boys headed off early to the other grass area. There's a fair crowd building up for this one. Would say 100+ people watching on. You know when warm up goes for half an hour (almost) that it's going to be very much fitness based. Time to get the footy out! Short kicks across the ground for starters. Boys come in and split into three. One group on (our) near side wing is playing keepings off with defenders wearing a vest. George Stone taking that drill. The group in the near side forward line working on delivery inside 50 with Miller and McPherson by the looks of things. On our far side, it looks like there's a focus on clearance work from defense? Hard to tell from the opposite side. Miller's drill is altered to allow delivering mids to handball until a whistle where they then kick on demand to a given target. Decision making in the middle looks far less rash than it used to. Easier to deliver when you're up against teammates but if this carries through to gameday I'll be rapt. Goalkicking work in the forward line. Clearance work now in the middle. It's a very tight drill with very little space. Two blokes run to different sides - one collects a handball while the other shadows him and tries to tackle/apply pressure. Group comes in for a chat. Two groups doing ball control. Alternate drills on both sides - one picking up from the ground, one handballs normally. This continues on for a solid five minutes. The boys move on and do the same drill as they did on Monday. The centre square drill with the kick, mark + receive. Howe picks up a somewhat errant kick from Vince on the half volley and without breaking stride hands off to JKH. IM. PRESS. IVE. Max King shanks one. Horrifically. Jack Watts is just carressing the ball through to teammates beautifully. Using the ball very well. Dom Tyson looking good with ball in hand as well. Boys head off again for a break/stretch. Another drill done similar to Monday, pick up/ride bump/handball. Bump is then removed. Miller stops the group beforehand, it's good to know Roosy's methods have passed on to the rest of the group. Dawesy running laps. He is absolutely ripped. New drill that I haven't seen. Four players handball to each other then kick to a main target. Howe and Bail are the main targets nearest to us, Hogan and Tappy on the other side. Now Pedo is on our side. Max King on the other side. Ball skills have dropped a little bit. Few kicks scratchy for forwards, Watts fumbles a handball and drops it. Handball to running player utilised - e.g Hogan takes mark then handballs to running N.Jones. Drill finishes. Started well but skills dropped off afterwards. Full grounder by the looks of things. Ball skills have dropped off. A fair few shanks now. Salem running laps now. Group comes in. Looks like they've shifted to running. Few weird looking runs, don't know what to make of it. Been told Matty Lloyd was here too early on, wearing AIS gear. Hmm. Few left the track early, noticed JKH + Terlich heading off. One thing I like - Jesse Hogan consistently practising his goalkicking. It's one area that looking at juniors/VFL form can be worked on and it's great to see him striving to improve there. I left having very little idea exactly what running drill the Dees were doing (I bet they end up going for another 45 minutes as I write this). Most satisfying thing was that we absolutely SCHOOLED the Victory's training numbers nearby, not sure about other clubs. We have some brilliant supporters.

I'm not sure if silly is the most appropriate word, but I think Machsy is right. To call the MFC website a 'joke' on these grounds is a bit rich. First, only a tiny minority of Demon supporters are interested in such pictures, let alone having new ones available after every nth training session. Second, I expect it takes more than 5 minutes for someone to snap the photos, upload them and create all the new URL's with headings in the AFL system. You wouldn't want a coaching staff member to be doing it since they have better things to do at and around training times. (We all know what a pile of crud the AFL's templates are.) So it would have to be someone in another role. Do we really know that there is a superfluous staff member with their feet up and capable of doing this? As pointed out, the MFC site is being updated a lot more than other clubs. If you want the MFC website to be 'not a joke', find the $ to enable us to get out of the AFL's embrace and hire more staff. But until we are rolling in $ like C'wood, there will be better things to spend money on. With all the new players I don't know who is who in many photos that have been uploaded, so it would be great for me if they could label the photos. But I'd prefer them to focus on developing players and winning games.

Blease in a boil over.

The brand of footy Roos is pursuing is similar to the running game that we were doing pretty well for a few games with Bailley before its wheels fell off. hopefully adding a strong defensive side to that game will stop that from happening. Far better this approach than the gollingwood around the boundary approach. I think stats show that last year we lost it out of the middle/clearances and we got absolutely crucified when we turned it overs so if we can increase in both of these areas, plus introduce Hogan, Dawes and Clarke into the forward line with Howe we should win a lot more games, a lot of clubs are going to have a real problem handling all of these players if we can get them out onto the paddock together. I think the club really needs to start to spend a few $$'s on technology, i.e. put together some video clips of training and think seriously about doing webcasts or streaming ALL of the Casey games, while melbourne has been going so poorly in the last couple of years supporters have been desperate to see some hope for the future by watching Casey, last year Hogan was the star attraction. This year we seem to have a few really good up an coming kids that supporters will want to see how they are going/playing, the club needs to feed that interest and passion. Also in broadcasting the game they may pick up some more casey supporters or opposition team supporters who tune in. This would be a better way of marketing MFC and they could obviously chuck in a few plugs for our sponsor or have their emblems flashed up, etc during the broadcast to give something back to our sponsors a good year by Casey will mean better exposure to sponsors and hopefully more sponsors wanting to get onboard. Streaming would obviously assist our interstate and overseas supporters.

I left at 11am as they appeared to be winding up. 36 in the main group which included Hogan ( my main reason for attending again today). Same rehab as Monday except also included Viney and Spencer. Trengove, Salem and Michie all finished about an hour in. After about 20 minutes of warm ups some intense grappling work, some close in contested work and then some more half and full ground drills focused on ball movement and in game running. It was also great to see our forward group spend a good period of time on goal kicking. I spent most of the session focused on Hogan, Vince and Tyson. Hogan just spends the whole session moving with intent and bouncing around with enthusiasm. Immediately left to go to the Demon Shop for a training jumper with a big number 1 on the back.Vince and Tyson are all silk and would continually kick the ball to where they wanted to draw the leading player. The other two that stood out to me today were the intent of Tapscott and the movement of Hunt. Two comments overheard today stood out to me "you wouldn't know this was the same team as last year. The fun in footys back" and " it's not about territory any more boys it's about getting and keeping the footy" . Again happy to try and answer queries but was probably more focused on my Hogan man crush and was not as broadly attentive as Monday.

Matt Jones averaged amost 20 disposals a match, 4 marks and 2.7 tackles a game. He was top 5 in the bluey. It was his first year. There is no reason why he can't get better next year I ha ve no idea why people are so surprised he got a contract extension

Great turnout yesterday, heaps more than Monday, a great vibe around the ground I thought. Great to have a closer look at some players. Had a chat to JKH, really friendly, intelligent young man. Loving the club, training and busting to get a game in his first year. Watched Hunt closely. Beautiful field kicking, speed and not scared to give a few instructions to team mates, which I thought was a good thing. Same could be said for Harmes also. Great kick of the footy and a genuine intensity around the ball.

Funny most of the names mentioned as sliders IMO cannot get much worse. eg. Jamar, Pedersen, Bail, Byrnes God deliver me if they are worse than 2013

Once again, I am going to push Spencer. I like his attitude, his work ethic and his continual improvement. Second for me is Fitzy. He has come from looking like a complete mug to showing skill, athleticism and some smarts.However, if all the big guys are fit, Fitzy will struggle to get a game unless he is reinvented as a backman. I believe this is possible. Finally, Tappy gets my nod. I like his courage and his mongrel but he has to stand up this year and play consistent footy. No sliders for a reformed and optimistic soul like myself.

Guys. He won a PREMIERSHIP! I don't give a damn what game style he brings. He knows what he is doing and I entrust him with our team. Whether this is free flowing football or boring football, he has an agenda to follow that will set us up for success. Can we really afford to be picky after a 2 win season and the other rubbish we have served up over the years? I for one, want to see the light at the end of the tunnel and I don't care on whether the footy style is going to be exciting or not. Just saying!

I also went along to training and I was happy most happy with the number of players training fully. Some of my positives were: * quite a large amount of fans watching the session * the melbourne Victory were training at the same time, so was happy to see their skills/ drills when ours were boring or the players were resting, and before any soccer bashing comments, it is a higly skilled sport and the AFL has used soccer tactics in the past and I saw some drills that can easily be translated over to AFL (and as a footy coahc, i know this will be useful). * in regards to the drills, there was nothing new or ground breaking, but everything involved sharing the ball, running to the next contest and kicking/ running to space. A simple philosophy, but one that all teams should strive for. * Tyson had very little tape on his knee, must be getting more confidence in it. And again, his kicking skills were great. * One of the players who impressed me most was Tapscott. We all know he has a great long kick, but his field kicking and kick to the leads were fantastic today and he was running really well. Hopefully a full pre season will give him his best chance to show his ability. From what I can see, they have him training with the FWDs, which is fine, but I do know that the HFF is a tough position to rack up stats, so it may be tough to shine through unless he gets MID time, which will require some more stamina from him. Personally I have high hopes for him, so hope he shows it. * Cross is so, so, so clean with his hands, will be a very good player for the team and a better example/ on field coach. * Vince will be a pleasure to have kicking to our plethora of forwards (if they get on the ground) * Dawes is a man mountain and is bloody ripped at the moment. An impressive physique and was running quickly and effortlessly, hopefully he gets on the field consistently. * JKH is a jet, I am very impressed with him and cant wait to see his output on the field. He attacks the ball so hard, and he has a really good leap. * Not sure about Hogan having a "mare" as someone stated. I was happy to see his on the lead marking and leap, will be a tough match up if the delivery is good enough. * other than that, nothing too new for specific players but overall it looks like the players are enjoying themselves and are working hard to improve. I heard they are doing some time trials on Friday at 9:00 or so at Princess Park followed by training later at Gosch's Paddock for people interested . Happy to answer any questions. *

Mine is a few days in the brewing, Wifey is about to pop with the a little demon! Hopefully the kid is tall good overhead and will end up playing CHF for the dees circa 2035

My thoughts only. First thing I noticed, is that Christian Salem's body shape is already changing, he looks bigger in the upper body. Daniel Cross ran past Max King giving him plenty about his chuck. Chris Dawes is looking very large and very fit, he dwarfs James Frawley and Mitch Clark. Jack Watts has no chest, his arms look bigger but has not filled out, but some people just can't bulk up. Dawes, Gawn and the Russian running laps. Jack Viney and Clark not doing much at all, standing around with the trainers. My man JKH in the main group again, doesn't seem to be being rested as much as the other rookies. Fitzy jogging laps but looks to be limping. The boys are doing a lot of pummeling from what I've seen, I know this is tackling and strength related but I'd love to know the actual science behind it. Michael Evans is a terrible kick, his technique looks very awkward, no follow through and hits a lot of helicopters. Sam Blease in the main group - great to see. At the risk of sounding obsessed, I was watching JKH in a main group handball drill. The speed and intensity at which he trains every drill is far superior to anyone else out there. It's noticeable when you look at the whole group. Might be first year enthusiasm or hopefully it's habitual, because if he keeps it up you can't help but get REALLY good. I would love to know what his beep test was like at draft camp as he doesn't seem to fatigue. Dom Tyson had no strapping, seemed to be moving freely. Always looks classy It's not just Roosy's wallet that's got larger, I think he has soaked up a bit too much of the Melbourne food culture. If Cross doesn't play a game, (I think he will play them all and be outstanding) he was worth recruiting just for his training standard. To me, Jetta doesn't seem up to it, I don't see any weapons? Max Gawn and his beard are both enormous, gonna be a big year for him, could see him being a lock as our number 1 by year's end. Jayden Hunt is a smooth mover and a lovely kick, but his body looks a while off seniors. Good investment though.

I know my wife will have me in the dog kennel for this - but I'm about to sign up my son who is 18 days old!

Sorry, but...?

As a retailer I have some sympathy for all the arguments both supporters and club. It is about markets and demand. No retail outlet would survive on sales of just Melb club colours. until we have more success and grow demand we will only feature in minority at AFL shops but that is the most appropriate outlet. I did like the idea of the airport outlet where we should be more strongly featured as the club of the city and may pick upsome novelty sales but is it enough to warrant an outlet. A poster with a direction to get it at the G The home of football would probably be more effective. An improved profile (location) at the G would be the best, the suggestion of an outlet facing Yarra park that could be used by other tenants may be more feasible. plus the selling of jumpers at a tent on game day has a real feel of involvement and could be why staff in the actual shop are diminished . Its a very small opportunity window to make a sale The online market is growing and probably is better suited to the considered purchase of a true supporter and can be more efficiently run by the club. So it is marketing improve the success increase demand improve the profile increase demand. Increase demand increase sales

I think the real issue that's faced us over the years is the cost it would take to change location (including a new ongoing cost of rent which this location doesn't currently have) versus the potential benefit a move would entail. I'm with you in that I don't think online answers everything and I think that having a physical store is a hugely important thing for a football clubs like us, but I can understand that, with the financial pressures we've been under of late, this hasn't been an easy 'let's do it' kind of decision given the cost it would entail. It has to move in the long run, it can't stay where it is. Hopefully if we start winning, more people will want to buy Melbourne gear, meaning more people go to the DemonShop, and thus more people notice how crap it is and complain about it.

Pretty sure he is the Opposition Analyst at Carlton. Destroying a list must have been a heavily weighted prerequisite for the job, no other candidate would have come close. His next job he could by the dynamite that destroys the foundations of a large building being demolished.

Love this comment. I know it's only training but at least it shows where the focus is. No co-incidence that our possession differentials were absolutely abysmal under Neeld's territory-based game plan.

Roos bringing back contested footy & bruises, will be a Big plus towards membership IMO. and maybe we'll even see the boys show their MOJO & fly the flag once or twice, to excite the place up a bit... Clark, Viney & Hogan could help in this, & even mr Spencer might like some argy bargy. can't see it from jamar, dunn, grimes, howe. nice boys these.

If boring tempo footy gives us a few wins this year, then bring it on.

I was there from 9.45 to 11.15. Will add to this later as I am writing this on my iphone having lunch. I was very impressed with today's session. It is obvious to me that the Roos game plan is beginning to emerge as a development of his Swans' version, characterised by relentless running offensively and defensively, play on at all costs, hit targets by hand and foot, and run in groups. I think this is a developed version because he realises what a destructive weapon our tall forwards will be, and in order to take advantage of that he needs a mid field which as a group is elite, even if they are not individually. Hence the emphasis on incredibly quick ball movement and hunting in groups of 4 and 5, and play on at all costs. I can't see much stop - start football from the Dees in 2014. All I can say is hooray for that. There were several exercises today which emphasised this definitively. The first was around the grounds which consisted of kick, mark, handball, run, kick, mark etc etc. The difference from last year though was the heavy emphasis on rapid ball movement and relentless running. I must have heard the trainers yelling out a dozen times about faster running, hitting targets, and backing up the man with the ball. The second was when two groups of about a dozen faced each other about 50 meters apart with another player standing in the goal square at either end. Both groups were nominally on the HBF, and would then run flat out in lots of five or six toward the goal square hand-balling then kicking at full pace 50 meters passes to the goal square with their teammates beside them also at full pace. Clearly this was designed to illustrate and practice running and spreading. What impressed me about it was its quality: very fast running, accurate kicking. We have seen variances of this in the past, but in my view not of that intensity, and not of that quality. I should also say there was a very intensive session on tackling towards the end which indicates Roos has also not abandoned the defensive game either. Finally, who exceeded expectations for me in terms of their intensity and quality? Our mid field is not particularly fast, the best being Bleese (although doubts about his endurance), Toumpas, McDonald, Viney, Vince, Hunt, Salem, Watts, Barry. Tyson is not fast, but makes up for it in his size and skills with the ball. At the moment, Trengove is not particularly fast either, but is improving all the time getting back to his first year level. The players who exceeded my expectations today were Barry ( more intense and hard at the ball than I had seen from him); Jetta (seems to have improved his skill levels and intensity); Vince (an intense and committed trainer), Hunt (an outstanding runner and a great kick on the run). At the end of the session, the trainers were giving Jesse Hogan goal kicking practice: six each from both boundary lines and 6 from about 40 meters out in front. I counted 5 out of six from the RH boundary line, 1 out of 6 from the left hand, and 5 out of six from the set shots in front. Quality kicking and better than earlier in the season.

Been advised by the club that time trials will be conducted on Friday @ Princess Park @ 7.45 am. I guess players in rehab will not perform re Dawes, Clark, Hogan etc ... but will be very interesting the report from Matt Burgan re our MFC website .

They did a quick interview which I mostly missed, but said he was loving it at the Dees and loving it under Roos. Someone else can provide a more detailed account?

Not necessarily. Nathan Jones .. Mitch Clark Chris Dawes anyone who will stand up and pull the team with them. Whoever it is just needs those qualities in my opinion

Interested to hear which melbourne players people are thinking will make a move in 2014, for good or bad. Top 3 IMPROVERS: wether it be a return from injury, Roos factor, natural development, added list depth or just a new attitude Top 3 sliders: falling out of favor with new coach, poor attitude, age, changed game plan or our depths pushing players out of best 22 Mine: IMPROVERS: grimes, ready to make a statement in my opinion. Last year was his lowest year in his career for disposals and marks, and he's now fit, has more support and experience. Toump, ready to go, body developed, injuries gone and has a new quality coach and new experienced mids around him to help educate Spencer, developing well, skills have drastically improved, opportunities will be there this year, and with a developed more coordinated body I think he's ready to step up Sliders: Matt jones, I just feel his opportunities will be significantly less this year, as our depth has improved, but I rated what he did last year Jamar, if possible, will have a smaller impact than last year, as I'm hoping gawn and spencil have move passed him Byrnes, hasn't kicked a footy yet this pre season, somehow played 17 games last year and hopefully now we have better options, in saying that I wish he could show us something resembling his Geelong form

I think JKH will get second. Since it'll be the first year a bloke wins both the Coleman and the RS.

And i apologise to double up on the gifs, but they best describe the way i feel about this post:

Hahahaa, I remember seeing this quite a few months ago, I presume it was you TSFKA, I say this quite often now. :D

just wish they would update the count on a regular basis (say every Friday or something)

The people here are idiots. Thought you would have learnt that by now.

I state for a fact that two males can provide better love and nurturing than a male and female - but that is completely dependent on the specific two males and the male and female

yeah biffo, stalin, mao and hitler had good "progressive" governments that didn't let whacko libertines and religous nuff-nuffs interfere with government they also did a fair job on population control

Roos game-plan won't be the same as the one he had at Sydney. It wouldn't be the same if he was still coaching Sydney. There's also no doubt that Longmire got them to attack more. This was broadly canvassed years ago. Naturally there will be strong elements of the Sydney game-plan, as that's how Roos believes footy should be played. Premierships are won by defence and he'll build from there.

Can i make 1 suggestion to the Demon Shop.... Any game we the MFC play at the 'G put a stall and maybe a couple of laptops available right at The MCC Members Reserve at Gate 2. People will buy merchandise or order it if it is at the gate....Open again at half time.... Not everyone walks -past the current Demon Shop when parking is at the other side of the ground.. We are aligned to the MCC and i have always been amazed that MFC merchandise is not sold at the Members entrance.....

I'm 34 and i have a number 4 on the back...does that classify me as a big kid?

I went and picked up my a large training singlet no problem. On the rack the had run out of size 8 kids jumpers so I asked Tom at the desk and he went out the back and had mountains of size 8 jumpers. If they don't have the stock on the rack doesn't mean they don't have it, just ask. Just a little polish for Tom at the desk too. He so helpful, He offered to put a number on the back, he showed me the new white training jumper (not for sale) & was telling me that they have sold so many jumpers that they have ran out numerous times of all sizes. He said the baby jumpers will be available early New Year.

Does anyone know how much revenue we make from retail overall and then broken down by (1) online, (2) the store at the MCG, (3) the AFL stores, (4) those caravans set up outside the MCG on match day (and presumably at other grounds, too) and (5) all other outlets? It's a bit difficult to claim what the best arrangement might be without that information.

I've only been on match days. The staff were fantastic and pumped up my footy (that I didn't buy there, in fact I only looked, didn't buy anything). Might be a poor location but it sends we all know where it is? I also wanted to throw a positive in for the demon shop and staff!

It must be free rent to have the Demon Shop on Brunton Ave. One would not pay to be in that ridiculous position. I have always said the shop should be in Fed Square or pRt of the Melbourne Town Hall. Until it is i shall shop online. The Demon Shop as it is stands is unusable to me. Sadly.

Last year at the Annual General Meeting i asked our former CEO about The Demon Shop and why aren't we able to place it in a better location. His answer was 2 fold. 1) We paid no rent for the current Demon Shop. 2) He beleived that most purchases would be through the website and therefore the investment in upgrading the shop wasn't required. I disagreed with him and said whilst online is growing, supporters still want to visit a shop during days off work, school holidays etc. I asked also why during the redevelopment of the MCG Northern Stand that we were not able to secure part of the area there to setup a store facing Yarra Park as that is where most of the foot traffic comes from. I also informed him that it is dangerous to park your car on a light tower roundabout and that the site was dark, depressing and didn't give supporters a positive experience before even entering the shop. I also passed on the opinion that we should be having our jumpers and some stock at the Melbourne Visitors Centre in their souvenir shop as well as the shops @ Melbourne Airport as it would not only be another avenue for merchandise but overseas tourists who picked up a jumper would be spreading the word of the MFC wordwide with a uniquely Australian gift. This suggestion was brushed over and i knew then not to push anymore as he was surrounded by other members.

Well done ig. I bought a mates new daughter an MFC scarf before she was born and placed it over her during her first sleep. She is now into year 2 of membership. But i want the club to show me real improvement on the grass before i do anymore recruitment. It is too hard to sell [censored] & really why should we? I have noticed that people are no longer laughing at the word Melbourne since Roos was announced. Good start.

I've converted an Irish mate, wasn't too hard with him enjoying the game from his Gaelic background and the story of our Jimmy. He is now a member and rusted on supporter!

Great work Ignition! Very positive post! Theres alot of people out there who like footy, but just havent been to a game with supporters who have genuine passion like us hard suffering fools!! They follow just like dopey Sheep the clubs like Essendon because their mates do...no other reason period. Just show them an Allen Jakovich highlights Tape..Or Wiz Highlights..or The Ox...Or DUBLIN JIM!! Once they go to a Demons game(Especially with a win) and see the forward line on offer this year they will be salivating at the thought!

I'm considering donning a brown suit, dusting off the old bicycle and going door to door with a copy of the club charter in my hand.

Matt Jones will play off the back flank, which is where he played the last 5 or 6 games of last year. Roosy has been really impressed with him this pre season and look for him to be in the starting 18.

It's an interesting one. Jones is clearly a player with exceptional 'football character', professional discipline, and an all-round positive attitude to footy and life. He takes an interest in the development of other players, has been in the leadership structure for a while, and has a track record of both giving and receiving criticism in a constructive way. He's an experienced player coming into the peak of his career after already putting in multiple years of consistent high quality performances, and despite a highly physical playing style has managed to barely miss a game in his career. Also, there's not a single other player on our list who meets more than a few of these criteria at once. Particularly the 'consistent quality and not inclined to injury' issue. So why is there doubt about him being the next captain? And there is doubt, even I feel it. What is the psychological need not being filled? Does he need to be taller? Have better posture? More hair? Look better in a suit? Or is it simply that his game is in a 'glamour hole' where he is not seen saving the day with dramatic 1%ers and cut-off marks in defence, kicking bags of goals, or bursting free from the middle to launch attacks? He's a low-hype team-oriented player, does that make him less eligible for leadership? Or does he simply have to wait until he is old enough to fit the archetype filled by James McDonald - the quiet veteran with the respect of all? There's the problem - he doesn't fit with any of the assumed 'images' we have in our heads of what an AFL captain looks like.

Not one to get caught up in the hype, but he is a brownlow smokey.