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Thanks PJ, I've always prided myself on my modesty. It's probably my fourth best trait after intelligence, good looks and athleticism.

Tasmanlvr you write the training reports how you like them mate, because its people like me that live up in the country and cant get down, really do appreciate the mountain of work you do.

My understanding from AFL sources is that Jackson is not going anywhere and he will be around for a while and he is enjoying the challenge at MFC. I did not get the impression that PJ would be flying the nest within the next 12 months.

Don't mind a bit of a stalk myself...

Ah, joke is on me, wasn't aware of the running gag. In that case, sensational report Roger, keep up the good work.

End thread

Tasman can do the job if he's Abel.

Rocked on down at about 10:20 and stayed until 11:30 when the guys were still going hard. Roos in control of absolutely everything. Matt Rendell watching on in his Collingwood gear. Absent (bearing in mind the time I got there): Riley, Barry, Nicholson, Jamar, Terlich and Garland. Edit: Plus, Byrnes, King, Harmes, Jetta. Rehab: Dawes, Gawn, Fitzy, Hogan and Viney. Rehab group doing some run throughs but also some ball work including taking some hangers with one of the staff holding the pads. Viney doing mainly running. Modified program: Spencer, McKenzie, Frawley pulled out of one drill only to back in later. Same for Salem and JKH whilst Hunt stayed in but finished early. At one stage Spencer and Clark ran laps before Clark finished (after the other rehab boys were done) and Spencer went back in the main stuff. Kent got some work on his left hip I believe from the physio before calling it a day. Drills. I didn't take notes so I'm going off the top of my head but the main message today was on spread and spacing. 3 group handball drill. A group in the goal square, 1 on either flank. Handball the ball around a defender and move the ball up to the next group. Very much working on getting players in to open space. Roos' message "don't go early". A ball movement lanework drill with a kick at half back to a leading player leading down the line of the centre square who then handballs off to a player who kicks it to a leading forward. All about sharp kicks and following up your kick at speed. Had this going both ways so players pretty much kept moving at all times. Watts, Strauss, Salem stood out for continuing to hit targets. Michie and Tyson are classy as well. Howe for his ability to mark the ball whether its kicked 5m short or 5m over his head. Not too many really bad kicks. Jayden Hunt every now and then will do a poor kick but he's got that easy athleticism and can mark above his head. He's a bit like Howe in the easy movement stakes. A simple drill 3 guys lead out, kick the ball to either of one of the 3 leading out 50m away. Just about sharp kicks and getting through the 40 or 50m sprint. Seemed a drill designed just to get voice up and run through. Into some ball use simulation drills with about 15 in blue v 12 in yellow vests with the aim of getting the ball to a coach or player at full forward then starting again from the backline trying to work it to the other end. Not really tackling or competing just working on kicking through a zone kind of thing. The ball movement started off pretty well and this drill showed the smarter players getting more of the footy. Trengove, Grimes, Watts, Jones getting lots of touches. One nice piece of play where Blease got the ball at half back, took off down the corridor, handballed to Jones who then kicked it straight to the full forward. Another where Watts wheeled on to his left from the right forward flank and put it lace out 40m to Bail I think who was the leading forward. But also some dumb stuff considering the numerical advantage and not always fluent movement. Dunn gave Blease a polite ear full about getting out of the space and leading in to it at one stage. Also a couple of times Blease had some work done during the drinks break on the muscles in the front of his lower leg but resumed training. JKH as we are now used to very busy in calling for the ball. Then they did a full ground circle work designed to move the ball as quickly as possible with defenders and forwards at either end and about 20 players moving in a scrum around the contest like midfielders do. Then they did the same drill but made it all about moving the ball slowly and methodically with short kicks and going back off the mark. Interestingly they then ran 2 footies at once with one moving fast the other slow. That was a bit strange to watch. Overall it was a decent hit out. A few missing. The big boys rehabbing but all moving well. Good numbers of supporters. Good numbers of 'official' people hanging around - Robbo, Josh Mahoney and several others in the official area. Nothing obvious to give away the captaincy news from the players, if anything Trenners was one I heard getting the boys in together and back on the track after a drinks break so good on him. As with Monday and last week I felt it was a productive session but also one that's about being patient and not going fully in to complex game scenarios or full on match practice.

Seriously? Of all Tapscott's shortcoming's that aint it.

Saw Tappy jogging on a footpath yesterday. Was sweating it up a heap but going at a very good pace. Had no top on. Absolutely ripped torso. Impressive physique. Looks like Tarzan, plays like Jane???

PJ is absolutely a required player.

Rhino, I'm not an accountant but as I understand the debt situation you are way off beam here. It is important to separate the debt situation of the Club's footy operations and it's developing non footy operations. They both have to end up in the same financials but are entirely different. Debt created from football operations is BAD as it is the milestone around the neck you are talking about and money has to be found to pay it off. Debt taken on in order to own long term revenue earning assets is not a problem, especially when those assets pay the debt off on their own and then leave debt free revenue sources for the long term. As I understand it the Club took on something like $5mill in debt when it took over the Bentleigh Club but received an asset who's land value alone, not including the value of the club or its buildings, is over $9mill. Further to that the Club has invested in an increase in pokie machines which has incurred a further debt of $2.7 mill. The revenue from these pokies jumped from $6.9mill last year to $11.1mill this year. According to PJ in the annual report between the Bentleigh and Oakleigh Clubs and their operations they will pay off this debt completely in 4 years time, by 2017. That will leave the Club with an unencumbered asset at the Bentleigh Club with land value that will only go up, of over $9mill and pokies currently generating $11.1mill but by then I would expect it to be much more. As you can see, there is no problem with the non football debt. It is required in the short term (4yrs) in order to create long term assets and income. Assuming and it is a big assumption, given the last 7yrs, the Club becomes competitive over the next couple of years, I am expecting the footy operations and I include, memberships, sponsorships, commercial etc in this, to be generating a surplus.

sheez stuie. some people just like to cut down tall poppies

the good thing is the short term memory goes first this enhances the long term memory so you can enjoy the 50's and 60's over and over at least for those that were around then

When I saw the blue star next to the title thread I thought this would have been a thread where I queried Green's captaining... Don't want to go back there... To those that didn't see Jones as Captain in 2011 (I was one that would have overlooked him) the difference between the Jones of 2011 and the Jones of the last two years is quite stark.

Was heading into work this morning and who should I see skateboarding along Swan ST in Richmond but our very own Co-Captain Nate Jones. Was headed towards AAMI park. Gave me the thumbs up when I shouted Go Jonesy! He looked so young even with all the cartoons..sometimes youforget how young these guys are and he could have been mistaken for any other young fella skateboarding down the street....

Happy with the choice of captains, happy with the leadership group and happy with the number of guys in the leadership group. I love that none of these guys are speculative, they're all experienced and solidly embedded in our best 22 (Trenners unfortunately being the exception) and all quality individuals. There's a lot to be excited about at the club right now.

Congrats to Jonesy - top bloke and A GRADE midfielder.

I can see a few peoples sense of humour has gone missing......

Delighted that Jack T is in LG...great way to show respect and keep him motivated not to mention that he really deserves it.

Hello. Is it me you're looking for.

Mitch Clark discounting rumors on his famous foot on Twitter Will be running out with the boys can't wait Mitch 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

Michie may or may not make it, but he has a position. He's a genuine midfielder. Strong, good pace, and decent disposal. A grand final team didn't want to lose his services. Tapscott doesn't have a position on the footy field. He's tough, a decent kick, but too slow to mind slick small forwards and too short to be a topline flanker. He's no mid and doesn't have the nous of a Paul Chapman. One has played far more games than the other. If Tapscott had been on Freo's list these last two years he wouldn't have any. Michie has a very good chance at AFL level, but I fear for Tapscott's future. That said, trying to convince someone who will only believe when they see proof is futile. I don't know why they post, as all they ever do and say is the same thing, "I'll believe it when I see it.". Yeah, we get it. STFU

I would hope he stays on, he has secured Roos for the next 2 to 3 years and I would hope we have Jackson with him. In fact I would be surprised if Roos signed without some guarantee that Jackson was around at least for a couple of years to help set things up.

A comparison could be made between our club to many of the "Leagues" clubs in Sydney. Historically, a number of the Rugby League clubs may not have brought in a lot of money through gate receipts, memberships, sponsorship and the like but the revenue from poker machines helped pay the bills and kept those clubs afloat. A lot has changed in those aforementioned areas for the NRL clubs and of course, there's also the large dividends that these Rugby League clubs now receive from the NRL (that money would mainly be derived from their huge media rights deal ... apart from other sources) You could say that a lot of the AFL clubs have done things in a reverse sort of way to the NRL clubs and effectively, many of the clubs in both the AFL and the NRL now derive their income from the same sort of sources. In other words, many AFL clubs have gone down the pokies path and the NRL clubs have gone down the Membership and gate receipts path (as well as keeping their "traditional" revenue streams) Looking at the breakdown of our revenues from 2013, here are the notable figures ... 11,291,234 ... Social and gaming revenue 10,846,244 ... Distributions from the AFL 6,368,135 ... Marketing/corporate sponsorship and general fundraising 5,100,106 ... Membership and annual reserved seating 3,311,071 ... Gate receipts 723,068 ... Merchandise 462,141 ... Foundation heroes/debt demolition fundraising 1,329,341 ... Other revenue What is also notable is our Social and gaming "expenses" ... 7,413,586 (although Peter Jackson did intimate that this figure will drop in the coming years as we service the debt on our gaming businesses)

I still see you Neil Crompton kicking that goal as if it was yesterday Amazing how a fortnight can fly by without you even knowing it. and you are so right too Old Dee

James is stalking??

i remember the last guy who took more than 5 weeks to get over a hamstring injury was pilloried here on demonland as being over the hill

And I thought I was made of steel and would live forever. That the MFC would roll on as a GF winning machine forever. Reality is very painful at times

Yep, I still have great memories of watching sputnik go overhead (a moving dot), of watching the Melbourne Olympics on TV and of sitting up late (or was i early?) for the first satellite broadcast that culminated in the Beatles live in the recording studio performing All You Need is Love. Good times!

And that fits perfectly with the expectation that he will return to full training next week.

I was at the raining session just before Chistmas and he went off feeling his hammy and a quick chat with the medical staff. That was around 5 weeks ago and at this time of year I think any hammy strain is a week or so off for physio and healing and a progressve retun over 4-5 weeks depending on the nature of the strain. He showed no sign of any foot issues in the pre-christmas session.

I don't think that's the case at all. I do think he attacks the ball with little regard for his body a bit like his old teammate Johnno Brown and that opens him up to injury. I still have the image of him falling on his head at the 'G'.

I found his comment suggesting that the ABC support the "home team" a little odd... perhaps he should get some advice from China's politbureau to see how he can best go about that.

dont say that you'll get shot down... again I kidd. GTG haha nice pump up of yourself buddy

nothing personal against you DemonFrog but any jumper that has a red sash reminds of Essendon....i hate Essendon.

It's just an overreaction to his poor form, no need for names.

Running joke Redleg. After Rog posts one of tasmans reports (always credited) then its customary for someone to thank him for the report! Unless you've taken the joke to the next level Redleg!

Great report Roger, thanks.

Viv Richie, isn't he the West Indian batsman bloke?

RB I pray this turns out as well.

Google Josh Kennedy, the guy the Hawks traded to the Swans for lowly picks and Ben McGlynn, after not being able to break into the Hawks midfield.

Hi all. Just wondering how many of you have been to any training sessions and watched Mitch train, both before and after Christmas? I have been to heaps of sessions, before his hamstring injury and after it. I will say again, it was a hamstring injury, not his foot and not his knee! Having spoken to a few mates who work at the club, when at a training session, they are easing him into it and they are confident he will be ready for the start of the year. He could be doing more but they want to be cautious. Yes he and Dawes have missed the main drills, but if you went to training and saw the running they are origins, you would not all be so worried. Yes they are expensive recruits and we want them to play, but to start saying he may retire and be so negative is just over the top. ATM Dawes running and body are looking magnificent and watching Mitch do his stride throughs yesterday, I would be very surprised if he is not back doing drills next week.

I received an email today from a usually reliable source saying that one should never trust emails from usually reliable sources.

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.

The Late Show back in the 90s was one of the greatest sketch comedies ever produced. Certainly the greatest Australian comedy.

I take issue with these negative comments about Roy and HG. Listening to them on triple J radio in the 90's was hilarious stuff taking the [censored] out of our obsession with sport and sports commentary. The had a brilliant low cost show on ABC TV, this Sporting Life that was brilliant stuff, just two talking heads, a desk and a microphone, not unlike the old League Teams, people talking absolute rubbish can be very entertaining if they are supremely talented and these two are. Thay are also successful as individuals in other areas.

The way you carry on RF, anyone could be excused for thinking that the ABC comprises nothing but left wing political coverage and nothing else... when in fact it has, over the years, produced some of the greatest Australian products for television which get far more airtime than any of the political coverage. The best bar none, locally produced comedy has come out of the ABC, some of the best Australian produced dramas and some of the best Australian produced documentaries. I am more than happy to have my taxes go into funding the ABC for those very reasons.