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At training today in the wet. Firstly to allay the fears of many: Hogan was running laps, in no discomfort. Jamar joined in some of the contest work. Dawes was involved in all contest work. Gawn was with the rehab group for most of the session and appears on track. Viney was walking laps and appeared to be limited in his activities. Kent was involved in all contest work. Observations: I have an elderly man crush (I AM married ) on Toumpas, Tyson, Kennedy-Harris, Kent and Jones. They consistently found their targets despite the often driving rain and give great cause for optimism for our midfield. Tapscott is even more massive in the upper body than you'll remember him from last year. McDonald, if anything, is less developed in the upper body, looking almost like Howe in build. Watts consistently fumbled the ball in the wet, but atoned with the disposal almost laser-like in accuracy. Dawes looks a million dollars and was very serious in all his movements. Salem and Toumpas are the same person in skill level and disposal. Unlike observations from attendees at other training sessions, I found N.Jones to be extremely vocal and a leader, obviously signalling his intentions to push for the major leadership of the team. Finally, and what fills me with most excitement, is a feature of the training drills where players are running the full length of the field in anticipation of receiving the ball or creating a shepherd, unlike in previous years where players would virtually stop to admire their work once a kick or handball was completed.

A wet training session in the middle of summer. What a contrast to last week and that which the BOM is predicting for next week! Good news for the start: Jamar, Gawn and Dawes are back training with the main group. They were excused for "contact" sessions, but finally a ray of hope for our big man division. However, Fitzpatrick, Hogan and Clark were still with the rehab group. Hogan ran heaps of laps and has a bandage on the knee. Clark running laps as well, but not as much as Hogan. Fitzy not sighted outside the rehab group. Viney also cemented in the rehabs. (is it his hip?). I'll make one outrageous prediction at this stage of the year: JKH will be a certainty in the season proper. A wet sliding, slippery ball bouncing through players legs in the goal square. Suddenly, a flash of lightning from the left and with one hand JKH picks it up and slides it through the big sticks. He's the small, fast crumbing forward we have been looking for. Roos running the session as he did before Christmas. Lots of game type running, for hours on end. When something isn't working as it should, in come the players, the correct method outlined, and out they go again. No-one is in any doubt about what he wants right there and then. It was an absolute delight to see a group of skilled capable players in the mid-field. The addition of Watts, Tyson, Cross, Mitchie, and Vince just sees sure hands and vision which was lacking last year. But just more of that type around the ball is exactly what the doctor ordered. It then releases Trengove, Toumpas and others to other duties. It will be a completely revitalised group for the coming season. The rucks, Spencer in particular, got a good workout together with Greg Stafford, in a series of marking contests. The change to the rotation rules for 2014 means they will have to spend more time on the ground, so they had better be able to mark the ball in a contested scenario when resting. Also good to see Christian Salem as the kicker for this set of contests. The 18 year old was selected for his ability to put the ball exactly where Stafford wanted it. His skills are simply first class. We may not see much of him this season, as we have a lot more depth, but when he is ready, he will be a revelation. Not much else to comment on. The rest of the group are looking good (like everyone does at this time of the year), but Strauss is starting to show some real capability and desire that was lacking before. He certainly has put on the muscle, and kicks beautifully every time. We might have another smoky for the season ...

Tasmanlvr's contribution from Bigfooty: (not as many hair-do/fashion appraisals to day) Dawes, Kent and Jamar returned to the main group today, guys. Dawesy in particular looked very good, even though he left to continue his rehab halfway through he lit up the track in the first half. Okie-dokes, we're back again at Gosch's for the first wet training session in like seven weeks. (I know we've had holidays but it's barely rained anyway). I'll accurately describe this weather as the equivalent of Justin Bieber's mugshot. Try convincing someone it was 40+ degrees four times last week. Dawes is still unbelievably motivated running laps. The new rainjackets the boys are wearing harks back to the 90s. Not the most attractive look TBH. Good to see Jack Viney is here. Not training with the main group but still, he's recovered from the head knock. The boys start off by running a lap. Dawes leads the way! Say what you like about his footy but his motivation and passion for this club are second to none. Some stretches now. Let me get this straight. Chris Dawes. In the main group. YES! Best news all day! Rehab: Fitz, Viney, Riley, King, Clark, Hogan. Jamar, Kent and Dawes have joined the main group by the looks of it. Great news. Matt Jones is in rehab too now. Maxy Gawn doing main group activities too. The boys are doing upper strength drills BTW. Some short kicks now. Jamar and Spencer kick to kick along with Georgiou. This ought to be a bit of fun. Group called in - Dawesy leads them in. He's on fire today! Making a mockery of this ugly weather. Group split into three - traditional forwards/mids/defenders in the same positions as the normally train. The forwards are doing some leading activities, mids doing some repetitive stoppage work, defenders doing some one on one work. Alright. Groups come in, and there's another drill with half wearing bibs. A few are sitting this out, including Strauss, McDonald, Kent, Bail, Tappy, Salem, Spencer, Barry and Dawes who's gone back into rehab. Was great to see Dawes in the main group for a while. I'm liking N Jones' form in the stoppage drills. Another big, productive year ahead I hope. Georgiou showing his defensive capabilities, laying a good tackle on Tyson. Group called in again. Apologies for lack of updates, its raining on my iPad and I don't want it to get TOO wet. Familiar switch drills. Skill level looking great in the conditions! Jack Grimes looking very solid. Jonesy going the slip n slide method to clunk one. He is committed as always. Howe picks up from a half volley and keeps the ball moving. Ground skills outstanding. Dom Tyson also looking very clean with the footy. Tell you another bloke who's looking solid? James Strauss. Having a very good week and pre season. Jimmy Toumpas continues to build on his form, as has Jack Trengove who's using it beautifully. Bernie Vince is as methodical and efficient with the footy as usual. Changing it up again, some ground skills/bump/handball drills, and then a 10m kick. Alright, another drill, half the list wearing a bib, half not, and both expected to do a kind of slingshot as well as defend. JKH and Dom Barry breaking lines! So exciting! Jack Watts is once again running on the burst. This is extremely exciting given I've seen it a few times now. Some pushups? Did my old club captain take over training? Full grounder now. Yes! Proper match simulation now. Dom Tyson stands out early grabbing three clearances in this drill under heavy traffic. Nathan Jones is another who stands out, using the ball very well and on the burst too. JKH makes time stand still when he has it, an excellent reader of the play. Training finished afterwards - not as many notes as usual due to the rain (apologies!) but a very exciting session nonetheless, probably because Chris Dawes lit it up very early on.

I spoke to someone who was involved with the Oakleigh Chargers coaching group and he also is well connected around junior TAC footy. He said the blokes at Oakleigh rated Salem ahead of Billings and equal with Kelly and thought we had a ripper. He also rated Salem miles ahead of Freeman. All opinions but it's interesting that those involved at TAC level thought we'd done well.

I'll start by saying I'm a massive JKH fan and have been for a couple of years. He is a great trainer and I believe his work ethic will turn him into a very good player. He trained well today but I'm still of the opinion that he will struggle to make the round 1 team under Roos. He is a chance but Roos likes to give his first year players a good grounding and we as a club need this more than any other team. We put all our hopes into young kids which is a bit unfair. No Garland today. In slippery conditions I was really impressed with Hunt. He marked everything coming his way using his hands. Some from hard kicks going over his head. He won't play for Melbourne this year but he looks very talented and he can really run. We are going to have lots of competition for the mids this year. Vince, Tyson, Cross and Michie will all play Round 1 IMO from today's training. Someone said earlier Watts was fumbly. My friends and I disagree. In the congested work he was eye catching with his pace and agility. He looked like he is ready to break the lines and if he does, his kicking is second to none. Salem did most of the work and looks good. If he can get 5 to 10 games it will be a bonus. It was nice to see Spencer, Jamar and Gawn joining in. They all look massive. Pedersen has lost a bit of weight around his hips and trained very well. He looked a little quicker and made lots of tackles. Grimes and Jones both train well. I'd like to see co-captains. Frawley looks awesome. I said this a couple of weeks ago. We had Grimes, Terlich, Clisby, Nicholson, Strauss, Hunt all Jetta all training as small backs. I thought Blease trained really well in the conditions and used his pace and agility in the congested work. There were at times some ordinary kicks in the full field drill but it was good to see them running in numbers the whole field. Kent did the whole session and he looks all class. I'd like to see him go another step this year. Roosy was in the middle directing everything. I'd like to see 7+ wins this year and believe we will.

except od (and others) who is reserving judgement until the real thing. after 50 years who could blame him?

Best thing I've EVER read on 'Land.

Hawthorn, Geelong and Richmond finished first, second and fifth on the AFL ladder after the 22 home and away rounds. In three week's time Melbourne embarks on the three game NAB Challenge/Pre Season Practice Match series against these teams and whilst their outcomes won't be earth-shattering, we look forward to signs of improvement to build up the team's confidence as we build up to the real thing. It's getting closer and, over the coming weeks, we'll see training stepped up and, since we have a new team of coaches this year, it's going to be interesting to see what unfolds.

GoTO................."I'll make one outrageous prediction at this stage of the year: JKH will be a certainty in the season proper" Nev Jetta agrees with you, walked back to AAMI with him from training on Wednesday and JKH was one subject we talked about, I asked whether he was too small at this stage to get a game at AFL level this year , but Nev said defenders wouldn't get near him

Lets not shoot from the hip to early... You never know who might be in the bathroom.

Despite my best efforts I'm finding it extremely difficult to contain my excitement about the forthcoming season. I know all that can change with one injury or one game, but for now I intend to ignore od's repeated but well intended warnings to take a more balanced approach (probably to my longer-term peril), and to enjoy the excitement for as long as I can! I have to agree Jack 7. The training reports are excellent and greatly appreciated, especially by those of us can't get there in person. Keep the reports coming guys, and let the excitement continue!

I was excited until I read the last two words. Which only goes to show I have more faith in an anonymous poster on Demonland than on a Herald Sun reporter.

Ah.......there is much at stake, but he appears to be burning and surviving, witch is good. Not so sure about Hunt, at this stage, but less at stake.

i have to laugh at a football club or any business who thinks they can tell their players/employees who they can socialize and spend time with Jake King might be a little midget [censored], but he can be friends with whoever he likes

Jake King is a dwarf who enjoys the company of older men in leather and that is his choice. Caro Wilson ,although a harpy and a very bitchy type of Yoda with a wig on is actually accurate with her info but the problem is she is getting spoon fed by HQ and is skewing the outcomes between the AFL and its member clubs. Gary March is an undisclosed bankrupt and his company Concept Sports should ring alarm bells-never deal with them. Lingerie football is a gratuitous perve but some women enjoy AFL for exactly the same reason so in this day and age WGAF? What was the topic again- oh yeah, sack the board.

Andddddd we're away....

OMG - I have heard those words so often over the past decade especially (Sylvia, McLean, Morton, Maric, Bell, Bate, Dunn, Gysberts, $cully, Watts, etc etc) , that I will almost regard them as a condemnation curse until and unless I see the evidence on the field as manifest by consistent top level performances. Surely that is what is required to be classified as "a gun"? I certainly can be forgiven for a little scepticism having followed our club for over half a century.

I suspect like cockroaches, footy journos would still survive.

Or maybe he was just warming up his hands in the wet conditions.

426 strikes again

Great reports guys. Im still pinching myself that we finally have a Coach ...who coaches !! and that is to say doesnt just set up the game plan, or the training regimes but gets in with them, analyses what they are doing right and more importantly ( in a fashion) doing wrong and corrects it. its rocket science huh. But we've been without this ( at any discernable level ) for SOooooooooooooo long !! They're being taught how to play high quality , effective, footy . Hele.......f*#@^n .....lujah !!!!

Jay Kennedy-Hunt a stand-out at Dees training today. Smooth w/ ball in wet. May slot straight into sub/vacant small fwd spot. Pick 40. Jay clark

This trail of posts shows how easily a rumour becomes an unsubstantiated comment and eventually "a fact" which leads to emotional responses on Demonland!

Its a wet morning in Melbourne and I've wimped it!

I know it's great isn't it? Seriously though who is being taken advantage of, the women who choose to voluntarily participate and get paid to do so or the men who pay to gawp at them?

Don't let these pedantic twits get you down. It happens all the time. I look forward to your comments in the future.

Jack I know you are tongue in cheek but some may be confused. The Boards responsibility is to govern the running of the Club and they are ultimately responsible for its financial and on field performance. Amongst other things they approve and oversee key appointments with perhaps the most important being the CEO and coach. Without going over old issue I think most would agree that the appointment and then reappointment of Schwab and then the appointment of Neeld were errors. Those two appointments held the key responsibilities of financial and on field performance. In contrast the players (Grimes, Jones, Frawley, Garland) were the people impacted most by the decisions of the Board and their key appointments - they were clearly not responsible for them and should not be held accountable. It is the FD that make decisions on their future and Roos and Mahoney have decided to keep them. So clearly it would be nonsense to couple the players with the responsibly of the "train wreck" you refer to. And for those arguing for the retention of the three directors (and I only included three as they were there for the duration of the Stynes/McLardy Board, Trotter was appointed later and if my memory serves me correctly he was appointed after 186) I could agree but for two things. Firstly the Board oversaw a train wreck, not a drop in performance. Their performance was so bad as to require an AFL bailout. That in itself is probably enough to suggest all should go. But even if they did oppose all the poor decisions and even if they had the wisdom of Solomon then sadly they were ineffectual in influencing others and as such have failed in their responsibility to the members who they represent. Ineffectual directors unable to influence others away from very poor decisions and towards good ones are of no benefit to us. Anyway they are there. I don't think they should be but with Jackson as CEO hopefully they won't be called on to make or influence major decisions. They've clearly failed in the past.

Give the kid a break for god sake First pre season Has been ill Has great skills Also and I must stress this point .... We actually have players that may keep him out of the side Don't put the kid on a pedestal yet, he hasn't even played a VFL game

Some muppet benny_06 started the rumour on twitter. I just don't understand how if Clark was in trouble with the foot why he would be training in some capacity and not having a period off it. Of course the foot might not be out of the blue but surely there are too many people with jobs on the line to not take a conservative path. As far as I can tell the soft tissue injuries secondary to lack of conditioning +/- any gait changes is way more plausible than a repeat foot problem.

I didn't realise this thread was up and about too - just posted in the Garland thread. I'd be surprised, but delighted if he played again, and completely astounded if he got up for round 1...

If your source is correct RF why would Clark tweetMitch Clark ‏@MitchClark11 1h Apparently some rumours going around that my foot is no good. Couldn't be further from the truth and I can't wait to run out with the boys It doesn't make sense and I know u have good sources at the club too. Time will tell.

That's what I assumed too. But then everyone loves me anyway, so it hardly needed to be said at all.

Can anyone that was at training tell us how Trengove looked today? The forgotten man of the club in my view

If his foot is stuffed... IF... the club would be keeping it under wraps. Fact is, the poor guy has sat out a lot of footy over the years and his body needs to be conditioned back into the game. I'd gladly ease him back into AFL with a 10 game season if it meant next year we got 20 games with him. Preferable to stuffing his foot again and going back to square one.

Correction, "rabid demonland poster's mouth".

glad your so excited,cant wait until we are 4/1 and see how excited you are then btw,mitch isnt in the clear yet, he will have to wait 2 weeks for infection to pass after his foot was removed from a demonlander posters mouth

Was such a dumb rumor, anyone with a brain knew he did a slight hammy over Christmas and it had nothing to do with his foot. A few people in this thread look like idiots now.

I think the initial focus will be sorting out the midfield and the ball movement from the backline to the midfield. If there's space in the forward line it makes that kick easier. If not then hopefully there's a tall forward to sit the ball to.The other hope is whatever combinations of small forwards are more skillful this year. The man of the hour Kennedy Harris suits that mould

I seriously doubt it. Billings played at Oakleigh, Salem at the Dragons and Jack had been the first player at each squad since 14s. I know Jim Honey, the big dog down there and skill wise he rates Jack as the best player ever at Chargers.

I watched Roos closely this morning and he was applauding on numerous occasions how the ball was run and carried the whole ground in the wet conditions.

Injuries are starting to mount. No good. I'm most concerned about Clark. Things seemed to go well for a while, and now it looks like he's had another set back which the club doesn't seem keen to openly discuss.

I suppose a positive is that it sounds a routine surgery and an injury that can be rehabbed pretty well. I wonder if it's related to the ankle he did late last year? Either way he hasn't been in main training so better to try and sort it now. Dunn looks the biggest winner. That third tall spot is his now. Other defenders have to step up. Might be an opportunity for Georgiou to show what he can do in the nab challenge

Thanks again Norm

pedders happy rest of us sad

Believe what you like Rhino i do not mind. Stop rewriting my posts. I do not hold Cardwell responsible post 64. He had to answer to a very fractured club board. Stynes will be remembered above his boards record as the man who empowered the MFC Supporters again. Something i hope continues.

I like the comment that salem and toumpas are almost the same person in skill level and disposal. In the future itll be like having two pendleburys running around.

I recently attended a fascinating lecture on the Titanic and the presenter went through the history of the "unsinkable" ship, setting out the cause and effect and the chain of events that led to the ship's sinking and the attendant loss of lives. The narrative had its villains and heroes (starting with the designers) who played a role in the disaster including some, like one of the major shareholders in the White Star line who was the subject of a vilification campaign by the head of Hearst Press and was hounded by that organisation for the rest of his life. Many of the accusations were false. Nothing's black or white in this and I don't believe in adopting a scorched earth policy. It was appropriate for Don McLardy and many of the other leading members of the board to resign over what happened but it was equally important in the transition to retain people who had experience and believed they had a contribution to make to the club. Like the Titanic, not all on the board were responsible for the "disaster", just as when a government falls, you don't expect the members of the losing party to resign en masse. In any event, if their staying spared us from having a Kennett or a Stockdale on the board, then all I can say is "praise The Lord". Yes, I was being tongue in cheek about the players but my example stands. We got rid of some who might have once been good servants of the club but a number were part of the problem. That is, if you describe the main problem as being a dysfunctional, poorly performing football club, the primary responsibility for which was the incumbent board but which was also the result of a build up of poor decision making and incompetence for a long period of time. Some might be happy with our current board and I'm comfortable for the time being but I also believe that at some time we will need to declare our independence from the AFL and that's probably one of the main challenges facing Glenn Bartlett in the future.

You prepared to stake anything on that?