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I went to training yesterday and thought I would wait and read other peoples reports first. Not much to add in regards to what was done, just to say that there was a lot of pressure and tackling in the drills today, which i really liked. Secondly, saw Steven Stretch and I assume his wife and maybe another son (if he has another, not sure), watching training. They were very excited watching Billy and seemed to enjoy the session, although, like many on here, on occassion they did get overly and prematurely frustrated with errors on the track. One of the main things i saw with some mistakes the mistakes were that they were generally because of 2 reasons, either fatigue or pressure. They trained bloody hard and fast and there was little or no rest in the drills, therefore the players were getting pretty tired, and then some mistakes appeared. It is only natural, and it amuses me when people at training groan or get annoyed when players make an error at TRAINING - not sure how they will improve otherwise. Also, the pressure put into the drills was great, and when people bemoaned mistakes, I was smiling inside becuase of the constant pressure the other players were putting on. In regards to players: * I can ony continue to say how impressive Tyson looks - if fit will be a great get. * People who continue to downplay Cross' kicking, I clearly wacth another game. He is no gun, but he hits targets and knows his limitations, dont kick too long and hands off if a better option is there. * Jones continues to train well, his kicking is so, so much better than it used to be. * Grimes is impressive, was really happy with his strength in all drills and his voice. * Tapscott continues to train really well, a great improver at this stage. * Not sure about people saying Trengive looks slow, he was never super quick, but he is looking better than last year. Also others are saying Toumpas is looking fast and I saw Trengove following him easily in one drill! * Blease looked much fitter and stronger today and was putting on really good pressure and tackling well today, someting i have not seen often. Also saw Watts put on a few strong tackles. * Someone said Jetta looked fumbly, I was actually impressed with his training thus far. He actually looks quicker than previous. Seems that he has been told he will be a small defender and it might help him to know he has a set position now. * Watts skills are great and I can really see the benefits of him in the midfield, just have to hope he can find the will to be a tougher. * In regards to Dawes, he is moving really well and I have no doubt he will be ready for Round 1, just taking precautions and following a set program for his pre season. * I watched Michie for a while and was impressed with his agility but i did not notice him too much in other drills. * Barry looks really quick and his kicks can be precision, but it is funny that people bag others for kicking when I have seen Barry do several absolute floaters every session. * Howe has been great in all sesions watched so far and I think that he is praying that all our other talls are playing cos he will maul any 3rd/4th defender who they play on him. Other than that I am happy to answer questions on training, as I have been to quite a few sessions so far.

Will the Carey school bus be renamed the reality bus?

No need to kick a man when he is down. Good luck Mark, hope you make a good fist of the job. You may need to work on your smile mate.

He has indicated to the school board that Carey will be the toughest school to play whether that be football or public speaking.

Good luck and best wishes to him. He did his best.

I worked at the Eastern Ranges back in his day and Blease can kick very well.. i remember him and our coach (ex Collingwood player Shane Watson) having a kick to kick and Blease was kicking bullets left or right foot to him (Bucks esk flat hard things) and Watto was no slouch and knew he was something special then. I have been disappointed with his disposal in game as i know he can do so much better. I think it's more to do with him running too fast when he tries to dispose of the ball. I'm sure he and the coaches know this and are working on it though. Arguments could be made about our ball movement in regards to him finding the footy in the forward line and his injuries pre-season most years really hampering his ability to perform all game (endurance). keep him injury free is the simple answer. I would love to see him get a full pre-season and season in without getting injured and see how he goes. He hasn't had one yet. As for playing Nicho in the forward line, i think we would all prefer JKH

Wow what a precious lot we are. FFS, the OP was poking a little bit of fun at the Crows, not Van Berlo. FMD.

Wishing Carey and Neeld all the best. Was Garry on the selection panel?

Q: What do you call someone who studies freeway protests. A: A Roads Scholar.

I wont sink the boot into Neeld. Was he a failure at the MFC ? yes Should we have got a senior coach ? ( in hindsight yes). Was he a very well credentialled assistant coach coming out of a very good system. ? yes Whilst a few here did want an experienced coach, no one suggested he was a poor choice from the assistants available.

...on the same topic... SCHOOL REPORT CARD: Johny Couldabeen Dear Parent, This year Johny has shown great progess, he laughs a lot more at his own jokes, he is good at kicking people when they are down, I realise now I am dealing with someone who is perfect and never made a mistake in their life, his opinion is the only opinion worth having, history seems to be his favourite subject, although expressing with hindsight runs it a close second Career suggestions: A poster on Demonland

He'd have to be one of the first head coaches to not get a job immediately after. I simply cannot believe we failed ruined his stocks, I still maintain we mucked it up at the hire when we just wanted a Malthouse clone. It's not his fault he wasn't good enough, and he was obviously trying; but he'd have to be close to the worst senior coach in this century.

they latest report said its gonna heel

There is a lot of hysteria around the limitation on rotations Last year the average rotation per club was around 135 per game. This year it will be 120 plus any you have at the breaks. That gives you around 130. So in effect there is a limit that is very similar to the average last year. The coaches annoy me with their continual complaints about the interchange limits. They say that with less the players are put at risk. The only person putting the players at risk is the coach who demands they adhere to a game plan that requires huge amounts of running. The whole idea of limiting interchange is to open the game up, generate more one on one contests, increase long kicking and hopefully the return of some more contested high marking. These are all the things that made our game great. If I was Mark Evans I'd just reduce the rotations to 80 or alternatively reduce the bench to 2 + 1 sub. I think you can obviously go to far with this sort of thing but when you consider the success Ross Lyon has had at both Freo and Saints with very defensive game plans and lots of contested footy (which requires the players to run and fill space and crowd the game) it's here to stay if nothing is done. Freo were pretty successful but just terrible to watch with the GF one of the worst I can remember. In his 4 GF's as coach he's lost all of them and his teams have kicked a total of 32 goals - just 8 a game. And he should really have won 2. But the point of the post is to point out that there is really little if any change to the interchange limit for this year.

Neeld was on of the worst things ever to happen to our club. F him. Forget him.

Ive never been more entertained, than watching the enigmas of the game play for Melbourne. What a crack up......mark Jackson, phil carmen, Brent crosswell, crackers keenan,carl diitterich and of course allen Jackovich all played for the dees.

Happy to see Blease in one pocket and JKH in the other.

You've misinterpreted my comparison it seems. I'm not suggesting that he's MB, but that there are similarities, particularly reflecting on his impact to our shambolic midfield last year. I can tell you, from contacts at the Box Hill Hawks, that MJ was considered by the HFC recruitment team to be the best non-AFL listed mature age midfielder in the 2013 draft. That he was 25 and a midfielder, when they had a full midfield was the reason they didn't pick him up. Todd Viney has friendships at HFC and was worded up re MJ. It was considered that the speed with which he took on the midfield role at Box Hill was exceptional, and that his work ethic and AFL ready physiology was top tier. The feedback from MFC is that they he has performed beyond expectations, and considering his relative inexperience (<50 games), his durability, ball finding, athleticism and uncompromising commitment (as compared to let's say Colin Sylvia), they feel he has significant continued upside. Hence the contract. I'm not thinking you'll change your opinions of Matt Jones, but that you will if he meets the expectations MFC have of him.

I think its a no brainer that blease should be a permanent forward pocket. He doesnt have the engine for the midfield, but his goal sense is excellent, kicked five goals in one game last year. His speed would make it hard for opposition to run the ball out easily.....just has to learn to tackle better.

So the good news it seems is the large majority of our squad, and thankfully our on ball brigade are getting good pre seasons and running hard game like at training. Not ideal that the big boys aren't out there yet, but I'm much more comfortable knowing Jones, Grimes, Michie, Tyson, Cross, Watts, Howe, Tappy, Evans and even Blease are getting great hit outs. Our back line and mids seem to be up and about, a few issues in ruck and tall forwards....but we did know about Dawes and Hoges is back in a few weeks. Agree with other posters we need them on the track by late Feb for games. Pretty exciting to read, the fact we have so many players to report on is great, didn't read a thing about Watts on the track, or how Dunn training etc. nice depth finally. Go Dees.

Here's my report (will most likely just be dot points, I took notes as training went on). No Paul Roos to be seen, not sure when he's back. They did a slightly longer/harder session today, and will taper off this week considering it's going to be 40 degrees until Friday. Rehab/Not training: Dawes Viney Clark Jamar Clisby Kent Riley Fitzy King Harmes Hogan Salem Gawn (Some have said that first year players were at Etihad, this would explain Harmes/King/Salem etc missing). Hogan was at training - more on him later Warm ups were standard, was fairly foggy early - ground a bit slippery but cleared up 1/2 way through the session Plenty of talk noticeable right from the outset Trengove - not as big as those gym pictures suggested, they always look bigger after doing a weights session Watts - has improved in shoulder size, still has no chest though Groups of 3 for kick-to-kick warm-ups, Westrupp partnered up with Dunn which seems to be a common thing (judging from other reports) First drill - 3 different groups (fwd/mid/backs) Mids - 2 on 1 shepherding Backs - Repetitive spoiling efforts in both pockets - run to the opposite pocket after each effort Fowards - 1 v 1 forward 50 entries, Tappy and Pedersen with the forwards and looking OK Rehab group on a different oval at the back of Casey Mids - switched to repeat effort 2 v 2s, all handball work Hogan: Walking around the rooms/with trainers, his left knee is bandaged but can't see any visible tight strapping, so good signs there I guess. He was walking around fine without a limp, carrying a footy around and looked disappointed not to be out there. An interesting note is that 3-4 times during the session he kicked a ball about 20m to a teammate, which indicates that the club doesn't have a problem with him putting load onto the injured leg, which is a good sign. New drill now - doing defensive 50 rebounds, primarily using one wing and shifting the ball at pace with runners & support up to half forward. Skills look OK but nothing special. Quote from Byrnes after he came off for a slight rest: "Too many f*cking dropped marks out there" - He looked visibly frustrated. Nicho still can't kick, missed a 25m target by about 5m too short Evans has bulked up, didn't recognise him at all Dom Tyson - no strapping on his knee and looks to be moving freely, he covers the ground really well, doesn't look to be struggling at all which is a good sign. Change in drill - circle work around the 50m arc and inside 50, using handballs only with perceived pressure from opponents, all about working space and running to the right areas to support teammates. About 2 minutes into this one of the coaches yelled out "Come on boys, much quicker, we can go much quicker than this, more talk, come on", to which the entire group responded by picking up the intensity and overall volume. This was good to see, as the sun had come out by this stage and it was quite warm. Good encouragement from the group for their teammates during the pressure drills, noted when Garland managed to get a good tackle on a player, a few players yelled out and gave him a clap, good to see. Strauss - came off disgruntled about 2/3 through the session and overheard him say "Right one, right one". Went straight into the rooms, only to emerge later while having the trainers look at his underarm/shoulder area. Didn't see what happened but he came out later on with ice on it. Not sure how bad it is but we'll find out over the next few days I assume. Poor kid, if he has more injuries this year I don't see him in the side next year. Pedersen - looks much better than he did last year (the tyre is gone). We know he has big hips which can make him look a bit 'wider' but he's looking much better than last year. Hopefully, he can show some good improvement under Roos. Cross - can't kick but still works hard. His shoulders are big but so well defined. It shows the true difference between a senior body and even a player like Trengove, who looks biggish but doesn't have that sort of definition. Run throughs to finish off the session - Chip and Tappy leading the group, although Tappy came off after doing 4/8 total, with hamstring tightness by the looks (pushing himself too much perhaps?). That's about all from me, sorry I didn't go into detail with all of the drills but it was my first session I'd seen this year so was trying to get a good look at a few of the newer guys. If you have any questions I'll do my best to answer them.

Ok here goes - I will start with the absentees: Roos, Hogan, Dawes, Clark, Jamar, Gawn & Viney. I these guys were there but not training. Rawlings took most of training. I got there at 9.45am and the ground was strangely under the cover of fog with tempretures around 17-18 degrees. The sun broke through soon after and it heated up quite quickly. When I arrived they were finishing off a pretty tame warm up of kick to kick. They then split the group in half and the groups went to opposite ends of the ground. They started with what could only be explained as long bombs to a one on one, no real standouts here as it was a pretty so-so drill. The real stuff got underway at about 10.15am. They started with contested work on the wings. I kept hearing 'PATIENCE' & 'GIVE YOURSELF SPACE'. They were working on fast handballs out to a free RUNNING player which had to hit up a hard leading forward. The lead up forwards consisted oF Pedersen, Blease, Tappy, Bail & Howe. The usual culprits butched going forward but the real standouts for me were Tyson, Vince, Toumpas and Jones, all these boys delivered it with precision. The backs were working really hard by this time. The drill they were doing was very labour intensive and a very interesting drill at the same time. One defender was a designated spoiler, Nicho in this case. One coach would stand at the top of the 50 and put it high towards the forwards and Nicho had to work his arse off to spoil whichever player it went to, He did this on nearly every occasion. I was happy when they started to work on the kick outs. This was good to watch because the use of the ball was sublime. The defender (Frawley) would go sideways then it would be run up and feed to the mids leading onto the wings then the ball was automatically switched to inside the corridor (very un Neeld like). A few standouts here were Jones, Strauss, Tyson, Toumpas (didn't miss once), Trengove (still slow), Cross & Watts. Dom Barry's speed in this drill was there for all to see. After a short drinks break they broke into 'whites & blues'. To put it simply a white guy tagged a blue guy. They again broke into two groups (whites mixed with blues) and the lined up on opposing ends of the centre square, they had to work in fours and run it up whilst getting hassled by an opponent. The objective seemed to be get it to the loose man running at full tilt then deliver it to the forwards. They showed some really good signs here, Blease was continually told to 'TAKE IT ON & GO,GO,GO' which he did and burned off every time.The notables again in this drill were Garland (received huge applause for one tackle), Vince (kept slipping tackles), Trengove (tackling machine), Tappy. Tappy was included in every part of the session for those that want to know. Finally they moved into a full ground drill. This started very slow and sloppy, whoever was running the drill (not Rawlings) kept barking 'FASTER & MORE TALK' and I must say the boys stepped it up from there, This drill was a combination of all the previous drills but this incorporated the full ground. The emphasis was quick sharp ball movement. The thing that stood out was the constant running after disposal to support to player up field, This was continually reiterated by the coaches. This drill was done with game day intensity (as it should). The sun was getting quite hot by this stage so I took off. I will just list a few players below as I know most people want a bit of individual feedback. Howe - smooth mover, probably the best out there today. Jones - standard session. Tyson - as MJT stated we got a steal here. Rolls Royce. Toumpas - has lost the arse and gained some speed, get excited because from what I saw today I am. Vince - like Tyson he just smoooth and smart with the footy. Barry - bloody quick. Tappy - impressive today and participated in everything. Dunn - worked the hardest of anyone and was the most vocal. Jetta - very fumbly today and looked a bit off. One last thing, when I left Grimes had everyone in a big group barking orders about offensive run. Very CAPTAIN like, read into it what you will. Happy to answer any questions.

Tasmania does not expand the AFL product. It is all about the economics of sports broadcasting, and that is all about viewer eyeballs. Tasmania does nothing for that, but the Swans in Sydney, the Lions in Brisbane, and GCS on the Gold Coast have been largely responsible for a five fold increase in broadcasting rights dollars in the last 10-15 years. GWS admittedly is the biggest gamble, but I have no doubt they will see value there eventually out of further increased broadcasting rights.

Melbourne is such a fantastic sporting city. Tonight, it's hosting the Australian Open Tennis, an A League soccer match and the T20 BBL ... and that's after attracting large crowds for the Boxing Day Test and Sunday's ODI! But tomorrow it's off to Casey Fields to see the city's AFL team prepare for 2014.

Tomic has just pulled the pin against Nadal !! Groin issue apparently. He did something in the first game but this is not going to help his image. I have a feeling Hewitt with the same injury would have gone down like the black knight in Monty Python. They would carried him out horizontal. But that is not our Bernard. He was playing quite well I thought, maybe it was just bad luck but then Bernie needs to look at all these early retirements and losses due to injury.

How dare they go to the tennis when we only won 2 games last year. They should be at training. Absolute joke.

Some of you should consider the definition of myopic. Dead set - this now national competition would still be based in Melbourne and Geelong if some of you were bringing this ship into port. Decisions for the future need to be made ahead of time, not when it's too late. And that applies more broadly than to the AFL. As an aside, GWS has an absolute belter of a club song - hats off to the MFC supporter who apparently wrote it.

Unprofessional...

She one of your girls Biff? BTW should that be Pina Cloaca?

Alas Robbie ,it appears unlikely that we will ever "party" together. Lay off the Bitters is my friendly warning. it is an unpalatable thing at the best of times.

Mark should be congratulated on his promotion.

Absolutely, there is nothing more refreshing on a hot day than mineral water and orange juice, or if not available a soda lime and bitters.

So how bad does that make the selection committee? You cant really have a go at someone who accepts a challenge in the work force that hind sight tells us was not the right fit/achievable. When standing next to Mick Malthouse and telling the MFC representative on the phone that they need to confirm his appointment because he has another offer, I cant really blame him.

That's the gig he deserves.

There's no such thing as "passing" your VCE. You get an ATAR, which determines your percentile rank. You won't do much with a low ATAR anyway. I know a girl who spent six years at a private school, got an ATAR of 20 and is working in a cake shop. In regard to Education degrees, you won't get entrants with a high ATAR until you pay teachers more. What's the incentive? Politicians make promises like Bailleau, then reneg. You don't need a high ATAR to be a good teacher in the lower grades of school, although it helps. My wife is a lecturer in Education at a Victorian university. She says the best students are those with a high ATAR, good at communication and understanding teaching concepts, and working with kids. They're the ones who will often end up as leading teachers and principals. Not far behind are those with lower ATARs but who still have the idea of what makes a good teacher. Some of the worst are those with higher ATARs but who have no commitment. As you go further up the years at school, a high ATAR is more important because the knowledge of the subject matter demands it. But again, there are teachers with very high ATARs who have continually poor teaching skills and poor communication. So a good ATAR is important and would improve the teaching profession, but not the sole determining factor, or even that critical. My daughter is a teacher and has a double degree in Arts-Science from Melbourne. She teaches VCE Psychology and Biology and currently tutors in graduate education. For the last two years she's actually written the VCE Psychology paper, and is currently working on a project with a number of universities to include Neuroscience in the Psych curriculum. For the record, she had an ATAR of 94. IMHO, notions of problems with 'left-leaning' teachers are spurious and irrelevant, dragged up by politicians when they want to divert an educational debate.

As a final gesture of reconciliation 'master', I humbly give in. You're right. Police should immediately surround all skinny 15 yr olds clearly in need of help carrying shoplifted knives and shoot them dead without hesitation. You make perfect sense. Sleep well.

The 120 is a trial for 80 I believe. So the increased fitness is in preparation of that. As for Ross Lyon he's had 3 grand finals. I don't buy the 4 grand final stat, it's inflating it to make him look bad. You don't draw the 3rd you dont get a 4th. And the Geelong game they were so close and really a Matty Scarlett toe poke changed that game. The Collingwood game they drew (in a game where both teams were built on defending first and forward presses) and a lot of their lack of goals in this most recent game was because it was very windy and they kicked (at goal and in to the forward line) so poorly in the first half. Fyfe nails 2 first quarter goals and their score is more reasonable and they are every chance at winning. Plus as someone at the game I think it was a great grand final. Freo had a few players overawed by the occasion that gave a dominant hawks side a lead but through some great play by Mundy and Sandilands and others they clawed it back and it was a tight fought contest in to the last quarter. Every game plan requires huge amount of running. Just look at North who ran out of legs at 3/4 time in all their games because their super attacking game plan was too tiring.

Other articles have it as 7 shots, but that stat is of little consequence, like you saying they they shot him once but shot him 5 times. I'm truly glad you find it reassuring to say 4 police shot him dead. Nice.

They're saying 3 months .... If he is back in 3 months then I would be investigating them for every drug under the sun for Nathan. Swallow did his against us and still isn't back full training. Shocking injury to a very good player and I'm sure we all wish him all the best.

Campbell Brown was arrested by the Queensland police who days earlier had arrested some members of a motorbike club who were purchasing ice-cream with their kids because they were wearing a particular style of clothing. There was no reason to detain them . If you need more proof of police excess in QLd please refer to The Fitzgerald inquiry . Russ Hinze and Joh Bjelke were big on law and order.

I'll have to retire from this debate. I cannot match it with a "master" statistician like yourself. FMD!!

This whole police argument is ridiculous Some of them are arrogant there is no doubt about that but 95% of them do a great job On the kid who was shot .. yes they made a snap decision that they will have to live with for the rest of their lives All that could have been done to change that would have been to have bean bag rounds or something similar to knock him to the ground

The trouble on a footy trip in Asia, a boozy night out at Hawthorn and on field suspensions for some rough but not super shocking incidents I would count as minor stuff. I'd say up until these last two incidents Campbell Brown, whilst not a cleanskin was a pretty decent citizen and hardly a footy bad boy. IIRC he had a big knife and wasn't afraid to use it and there was scrutiny and the relevant inquiry in to the polices actions. I'm sure the family were upset but most people in society accepted the police were not unreasonable but needed further mental health training which they got.

With consistent reports of him shaking the ball and his contract up at the end of the year I don't see the point continuing with Nicholson as a defender. He should be swapped to train as a forward and can compete with Bail and Byrnes (plus Tapscott, Blease, JKH) for the defensive small forward job. His elite endurance and good speed could allow him to develop in to a Matty White (Richmond now at Port) role and it's much easier for some players to put the ball between the sticks than it is to accurately hit up a moving team mate under pressure. Anyway I know it's off topic but I don't see how continuing with such a flaw will work.

Really enjoyed all the training reports while I was in Europe for 5 weeks through December and January - thanks heaps to all contributors. I am also trying to entice some friends from Finland to join MFC as members - gave them a footy for Christmas!

Just read the above thread. What's this wife brought, wife approved stuff? Where are the real men? What's the world coming to, giving wives a say as to whether we should be footy club members or not? Christ they'll want the vote next. Back in the 50's early 60's the story was that when the filth got beaten so did 50000 wives.

Haha, love it.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/new-zealand-v-west-indies-2013-14/content/current/story/701827.html Given this latest news I want Ryder re-instated into my XI!

Machsy, I always read posts from you trying to up hold the integrity of this site. You hate a thread being derailed. Yet i just read in another thread you abusing another poster calling them a TOOL. If you wanna give me a Nobel prize, forget the trophy and give me the money. Better yet, hold yourself to the same values you set for others. What was the point to the quoted post? Cut to the chase nicely, you disagree! I get it, but don't belittle