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I went, my report isn't as vast but what I can say is that there will be seven new faces in the side on Friday night. Okie-dokie guys, I went absolutely insane this morning. If anyone wants to know I got up at 8:20. Normally get up much earlier to go but alas I slept in a little. Next bus from Mernda was 10 minutes away and I'm eight minutes away from the stop if I get a favourable run so I just RAN like we were a goal down in a Grand Final with a minute left just to catch this bus. With an iPad in my bag. Caught the bus, now there was a matter of catching the 8:53 train to Flinders from South Morang. Small matter of traffic delayed me until 8:51 so MORE frantic running and I got there with ONE minute to spare. I think I will be 20 minutes late max. And that is the story of how I got to this morning's training session. If only the 2013 Dees showed as much heart. Righty, so although I was 20 minutes late I can tell what we're doing. Stretches and runthroughs as always. Spotted Riley walking back towards AAMI Park as I walked in. Unsure why. If it was last year I would have spotted Neeld walking back 15 minutes into the session. Hogan is doing rehab, as is Clark. Two blokes dressed in white in the middle. I have nought idea who they are. Umpires? Cross and Hunt are back this morning after bring ill. Short kicks are the agenda as I get here, practically the first 20 minutes writes itself. Bit of upper strength drills now. Boys split into three groups. One doing some groundwork, one small group of Pedo, Dawes and Fitzy doing some leading drills and another group doing some stoppage drills. Solid crowd building up at Gosch's. Better than Mondays that's for sure. 40 odd people here. Maia Westrupp on the sideline doing some handball work. Jamar is walking laps too. Clark slow running laps around the oval. Two groups called in, probably quarter time for the session. Short handballs now. Voice is up. Change up the drill a bit and the boys handball into traffic, this is where a few balls hit the deck and it's something we must rectify if we want to improve as a team. Short kicks now. The ruckmen are as generally accepted very awkward, Salem's using the ball beautifully. Hogan practising set shots at goal. Not convinced by the stutter mid run up but he's nailing his shots. Longer kicks now. Toumpas and Tyson looking classy as ever. Groups split into two for a bit of stoppage work. Viney goes for a run and is tackled and floored by Kent. Competitive instinct in the bloke coming out. It's good to know that we'te moving a bit faster but one thing that disappoints me is that we're not really following up our disposal with shepherds. Familiar switch/down the line/goal drill. The new recruits - Tyson, Michie, Vince - using it beautifully. Salem's first kick is a nasty shank. Toumpas is using it very well yet again, as is Kent. The 2012 kids are looking good. Intensity is decent. Change up of this drill now. Defenders added but it's still the same basic drill. Viv Michie's been quietly chugging along and he's using it very well. Jay Kennedy-Harris starts with a kick and then runs the length of the ground to get two more touches and kicks a goal! Outstanding. God help me. Damian Barrett is here. Probably here to give us a spray about the appointment and drafting of everyone ever. Newish drill, some defenders in bibs and a group designed to get the ball down the other end. Dawesy hits a free running JKH on his own 50m away and JKH runs in and kicks the easiest goal ever. What I like seeing is Sam Blease being used off half back in this drill and being a playmaker. Now that's what I want to see. Boys called in once again. Time is flying, didn't realise it was 11:00 already as I type. Looks like the squad is doing some extra training - a few have pulled off. Training finished after a short while.

Went along from 10ish onwards. Will comment in dot points and in no particular order. Clark did some handball drills with Westrupp on the sidelines before running laps of the oval. Looking good but very like he wishes he was with the main group. Dunn vocally pushing, directing and encouraging others. A lot of voice. Also pushed very hard with his running, especially in the full ground drills. Vince must have one of the nicest, most natural looking long kicks.. bombed a couple goals from 50-60m between drills. Good work rate. Have been impressed with Salem to date in the couple times I've been to training, but seemed fumbly today. Dropped a sitter and shanked a couple kicks. Dawes looking good and hungry to play. Got frustrated at one point during full ground drill with some poor decisions/disposal up the ground and then his leading and shouts ignored. Dropped he f-bomb in front of a young school group! Woops.... Tyson also a bit fumbly but his poise and class in traffic still evident. Can't fault Cross.. what a great bloke. Must say Howe's looking top notch. Was marking everything and picking up every ground ball without a hitch. Actually I lie, he dropped one mark but played on around defender, snapped and goaled. Nicholson dropped a couple and sprayed a couple but also did some very nice ground level work picking up balls. JKH lively and running hard to give options, which paid off with him kicking some nice goals in full ground drill. Hunt used his speed to good effect in one of the 5 vs 5 ball movement/handball drills to get the ball to the other end. Viney was looking good. Kicked well, saw only 1 dropped mark. Got nailed by Kent in the same ball movement/handball drill trying to break a tackle. Pinged. Kent looks to be over his patella soreness, looking good and in everything. Hogan practiced some goal kicking and got most. Also ran laps and trained on other ground for awhile. Still rehab but moving well. Jamar ran slow laps had some physio work to his legs before leaving early. Toumpas good by hand and foot in all the drills. Practiced some goal kicking from tight angles after most had left with Miller and Roos and young Roos. Roos showed him up and kicked a nice one! Then young Roos kicked off against his dad and nailed it. Nice kick on the young fella! All had a good laugh, quite funny. Jones worked hard and was used often as an option through the middle and in forward 50 after hard running. Encouraging the group after breaks. Grimes was in everything and also looked good. During the last drill Viney, JKH, Salem, Harmes, Jetta, Hunt and I think Tapscott did some laps with timed sprints around the ground. Before leaving Howe and Jones had a kick off from 50m on the boundary for who would shout lunch. Took about 6 kicks.. Jones hit both the left and right post before Howe won it straight through the middle. Had a good laugh and Howe shouted that he'd like his roll in about 40 minutes. Strauss looks quite built and was nailing kicks, have been quite impressed so far. King and Spencer stayed behind for additional ruck training with ruck coach and what looked like 2 umpires in white. Appeared to be some discussion about what would and wouldn't be penalised in the ruck. Didn't watch others as much but Trengove, Clisby, Terlich, Bail, Watts, M Jones, Pederson, McDonald, Frawley, Jetta, Barry, King, Spencer, Michie, Byrnes, McKenzie, Blease, Evans, Gawn, Georgiou, Tapscott and Fitzpatrick all basically in full training. Didn't see Garland or Riley.

Honestly DB would not know a tram was up him till the connie rang the bell

I was at the session today. Very stock standard session, free flowing skills to prepare for Friday night. Same drills as per past few weeks. Clark still doing very little, jogging around the boundary. Hogan trained away from group, but is fine. Mahoney told me he will be in full training and play intra club next Thurs. One thing I will say, Chris Dawes is in no way injured. Did every drill, moving very well. Could of played Friday if the game actually mattered. Happy to answer questions...

Dean Bailey back home and hopefully on the mend - best wishes http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/dean-bailey-returns-home-after-cancer-treatment-20140211-32fiq.html

Those complaining about our injured talls should be happy with this quote from the website. Well see a number of players returning and playing their first game for the year, including a number of talls: Max Gawn, Mark Jamar, Chris Dawes, Jack Fitzpatrick and Jesse Hogan. Wed anticipate that the majority of players in this game would be preparing for our second NAB Challenge game in Alice Springs and the following practice match against Hawthorn at Casey. Sounds like we'll have close to a full list to pick from by the second practice match, fingers crossed nobody gets injured during the NAB challenge. Can't remember the last time we went into a season, or a game for that matter, with anywhere near a full list to pick from. Go Dees!

Ignore the scoreboard this week (unless we're winning of course). It's the clearance's, time in possession and inside 50 count (and differential) that will be the indicators worth watching. I can't wait.

Fitzy and Viney did everything bar the final drill, which was only for players who are playing Friday. These two are not.

Thanks for the reports, but disappointed not hear of anyone kicking Damien Barrett in the head. There's always next time...

Went down from 10 to 11.30. Much more noise from the players than last Monday. I'll leave it to others to fill in the details so just a couple of comments: - Jamar left early after doing a few laps - Hogan trained by himself ( with trainers) for first hour then joined group. Still has knee lightly taped - Pedo def training as a forward - Gawn & Dawes trained with the whole group in the full ground exercise - Watts & Trengove both trained with the main group but, I think, both left early - Dawes & JKH were the targets during the full ground stuff - fair few skill errors but seem to be training to, if anything, kick the ball short of the target rather than long and then also training the players to pick it up at the first attempt. Last season saw balls being kicked too high and putting target player under the pump. This might be a better option. - N.Jones & Howe had a shoot out from hard on the LH the boundary to finish off. Both missed the first 6 shots until finally Howe nailed one. Jones finished off with another miss. - Toumpas, Cross & Pedo still practising goalkicking when I left

When Clark first did his foot, Matthew Richardson, who had a similar lisfranc injury, said that he "did heaps of hammies" coming back from his own injury. It appears that Clark may be experiencing similar problems.

I would be happy if we got as much out of Clark as Richmond did with Hart. A couple of flags would be good then he could break down forever.

That gave me a good chuckle.

I definitely don't mean this disrespectfully, but how come there are so many comments like this one floating around about Mitch? It's hardly the guys fault he copped a serious injury, and at this stage he is doing everything in his power to get back, let's not forget guys like Hird and richo came back from similar. It's not like Matthew Egan where we are hearing it's going to be another 12 months- we are hearing he is doing everything possible and was doing everything right until Xmas. I understand everyone wants to see him back playing, but give the guy some credit- he is still in the leadership group and he obviously loves the club not to chuck it in and quit after his past 2 years. Can't we be positive that he WILL be back this year?

I saw Clark do his hammy and it didn't look too bad at the time. Definately not that "shot in the backside with a .22" looking injury. I think due the extended period off with the knackered foot they are taking a very conservative approach to building him back to full fitness. His whole body needs to me managed carefully so rather than it being the hammy healng its more about preventing further soft tissue injuries.

What I would like more than a win, would be to see the Richmond supporters going into meltdown having been beaten by a second string MFC team.

if we could dare to dream that we go into that match 3-4 wins out of 5 and some hype around us, that will be a very rare instance of us being on 'the big stage'.. saturday night at the G, Roos' new salvage project vs his old mob... many people tuning in.. ahh daring to dream.. it's dangerous

I spoke to Jack Viney a week or so ago, he is like Hogan and the rest of the younger brigade, he is being managed carefully, only knows one way to train, but he tends to overdo it, hence the hamstring, then knocking himself out first full session back.........told me with pride he had again been thrown out of weights session (like last year) for overdoing it...gotta love the guy

The 2007 grand final result was Geelong 24 19 163 to Port 6 8 44. Mooney may have kicked 5 but Nathan Ablett kicked 3 if that's any indication. The game was over half way through the second qtr. I don't believe using stats from that game lends much weight. I know it was a GF but it was also a white wash. My personal thoughts on Mooney is that he was an average footballer in a side surrounded by stars. I'm not saying I'm right, it's purely my opinion. The point I was originally trying to make when I referred to Geelong and Fremantle was as follows. Geelong won 3 flags without a trio of talls, yes they may of had one or two of Mooney, Pods, Hawkins playing but it was their defence, midfield and small forwards that made them so successful. Fremantle had a horror run with injury's last year but had second tier players step up and they stuck to their game plan and made it into a GF. We find ourselves in a position where we have 3 power forwards coming back from different injury's. Your right, we don't have the compensating mid size forwards so we have to come up with other options. Toumpas kicked 5 in the intra club, could he repeat that against the Tigers? maybe not but 2 or 3 might be feasible. Slot Trengove up forward, he's a reasonable overhead mark and shot for goal. Throw Dunn up there for some aggression. Some people(I'm not suggesting you) seem to think with out Clark, Dawes and Hogan playing that we might as well pack up shop now, obviously we are a stronger side with them but we can't just throw in the towel. We need to find/develop a group of players that regardless of injury's/suspensions run out there with a mindset that were still in it(pre season/regular season)very much like that of the Swans.

I have been reliably informed Robbie that he has been told the position is his to lose at this point. He has been told that he has a good head start on the others healthy wise and they are pleased with his end 2013 and pre season form. A good first month and the others will struggle to replace him. Need less to say he is looking to make every post a winner. I have been saying for a couple of years he is as keen as mustard.

I watched tonight's game and it was of quite a good standard for a first hit out although by the end there were mistakes due to players tiring. I loved the finish because it really demonstrated why its a better game than the soccer where you get bored watching the grass grow.

My guess is that today was the first time that teams had to put together their injury lists and that Clark's 3 to 4 weeks isn't a new injury, they have just quantified it finally.

Probably would rather Clark, Hogan, Dawes, Cameron, Cloak, Schultz, Tippett, Franklin, Roughead, Pavlich... you get the picture. Howe won't be good as a FF as he would draw their #1 defender. He is best where he is most dangerous; in the forward pocket, with their #3/#4 defender.

Has turned into a crock since early 2012.Don't expect much till May

I hope you pointed out Dom Tyson to him, apparently he has never seen him play. Didn't stop him from having a dumb opinion about the trade though.

If we're talking about MFC in the trenches I'm pretty sure we're France..

Sports Psychologists use a term "flow" to describe a state where the the mind and body are as one and there is a single minded focus on the task at hand. In this state athletes describe a sense of being outside themselves visualising their execution, sometimes from a third person perspective. Things like weighing up where to kick happen automatically and without the need to conciously execute. I'd say the absolute superstars in sports, e.g. Garry Ablett Jnr, Michael Jordon etc are in this state when they play. Our team in 2012 and 2013 were the opposite of this, beig indecisive and hesitant and overthinking. Prior to 2012 our players were offensively instinctive, playing to their individual strengths, but I think struggled to develop team defensive instincts. Meditation could help the players to 'unconciously' execute the game plan and learn to play it instinctively. Imagine 18 players instinctively playing as a unit and executing the game plan.

What, like James Sellar did last year?

Thats great. Im a big fan of Jake Spencer. His second efforts are absolute top shelf, especially for a 200cm ruckman. Great guy to go into battle with.

Try this on for size then: From CAPTAIN JACK at Big Footy: Toumpas looked great, really running over the ground unlike last year. Trengove likewise - running much more freely. Tyson also looks a class act. Dawes was in the main group for most of the session, looking pretty good I think. He doesn't look far off playing - obviously will be in the intra-club next week, not quite ready for Friday though apparently. Hogan was really put through his paces off to the side on the rugby field... his fitness would have to be below par at the moment you'd think. Should play close to goal when he does make the grade IMO. Clark looks nowhere near it. I would be surprised to see him before Round 7-8 or so. Spencer is definitely the incumbent first ruck ATM... Jamar walking laps as above, Gawn did a fair bit of training too but the Spencil will be the preferred, bigger bodied option IMO. Blease looks bigger I think. Like tas said he could be a weapon off half back... getting through the pre-season is a great start for his (limited) fitness base. As soon as he falls behind he's not going to catch up that fitness gap, that's just the sort of athlete he is, so it's good to see him in full training - and he should be named in the team for Friday too. Tapscott was an interesting one - had a bad case of the fumbles. I suspect he hasn't been in the main group much from memory. Viney might still be behind the 8-ball a bit - he won't play Friday as he dropped out of the 'playing' group near the end of the session along with a few others. Hopefully he is good to go next week... if not he would have to be in some doubt for Round 1. tas should have a full list of this part - who will play and who won't. JKH is so smooth. Love it. Should play games early I hope. Barry is obviously in a similar mould... has put on some size but is still pretty skinny. Lowlight of the session was, as above, seeing the Purple [censored] himself, the oxygen thief, the speculating gossip masquerading as a journalist, Damien Barrett. Ew.

Hanging badly to see them in the same forward line.

Park in Alexandra Ave. near Morell Bridge only 80 cents a hour and walk across the footbridge take you 5 minutes if you walk slowly.

It's all about looking at the midfield for mine. Jones, Vince, Cross, Trengove, Toumpas, Tyson, Watts, Michie, McKenzie and Jones all named. Intrigued to see what Roos does here and how they all perform.

26,039 - 12 Feb 2014

Safe to say that the signs are not looking good for Mitch if he has done another hammy today.

You are a ruthless man OD!

With our forward line tomorrow night we will probably be trying to kick them from beyond 50 WJ Could be our secret tactic!

Howe/Pedo vs McBean/Vickery at the key forward posts. I am happy with our pair.

The Reverend won't hear of OD being accused of heresy. Reality based pessimism perhaps but not hersy.

Pop Gun will be happy!

I wouldn't be surprised if Byrnes gets a run - he's experienced and Roos may want to see what he has to offer. I'd stick Pederson at FF - he's not mobile enough for CHF but could take a mark in scoring range. Don't know if your interchange is in any sort of order but I reckon Jones M will be given plenty of opportunities.

And Melbourne teams that won games Reverend. With that about to change who knows about the connies?

He won't put Watts forward. I could see Dunn going forward but even so the main focus of this match is for people to practice their position and role and gell as units (eg mids, backs) so i would not be surprised if he just keeps everyone, bar Pedo, in the nominal positions.

Based on the last drill today, which was for the Friday squad only, Byrnes and Clisby didn't participate. Lock them in as 2 of the 3 emergencies who won't play this week.

so the entire key forward and ruck component = spencer

Unfortunately not. Hamstring.

Clark. Hogan & Dawes not playing on friday. Reported today. Full Price admission to practise games=greed

After a dismal Sunday Robbie you have brightened Monday no end!

The main thing in the preseason games is NOT TO GET INJURED!