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Now that my exams are all finished, I was able to pop down to Goschs and enjoy the sunlight and a good training session Some rough observations - There was a real focus on running exercises this session. Plenty of repeat sprinting and lap running. - Mckenzie and Jamar looked incredibly fit - Small group (rehab?) consisting of Vince, Terlich, Gawn and Tommy Mac. Vince and Terlich ran laps for most of the session - Caught a glimpse of Billy Stretch and he looks very slick. Good mark and kick. Don't expect him to play much senior footy next year but he's showing good signs early. - Hogan was practicing his goal kicking. It's an awkward style which had him kicking around 50-60% of his shots - Captain Jones was very vocal (as always) - Jeff Garlett looked right at home. Hitting targets while showing off his skill and pace. - Was able to see Sam Frost in the flesh for the first time and he is a huge unit. Will fit nicely down back with Tommy Mac. Didn't see Kent or Salem.

Was there again, pics will be up on my Twitter Demonpk soon, including Jack Viney's guns for all the admirers. Billy Stretch is starting to feel it three days in, still excited but 'exhausted', did slightly less today. Different positions, maybe, Simon Goodwin picks difference groups to practice stoppage work with, mainly the younger guys, noticed Dean Kent included in these inn the last couple of weeks, he is a good size, so the more you can rotate through there the better. Jack Watts was put through a gruelling running session again, he is coming off exhausted. Spoke to Jimmy Toumpas, he agrees he has been told more than once he is too hard on himself, needs to learn to relax and just enjoy playing footy again, feeling really good, another full session done. Spoke to Jayden Hunt, one of the forgotten, they are taking a cautious approach with him, lost a bit of conditioning last year with his back injury, should be right in a couple of weeks, has not lost any of his speed, Terlich is two weeks away from full training. Asked quite a few players about the new diet, no carbs and good fats, they can actually have a fry up for breakfast, surprisingly NOT, Jack Grimes and Daniel Cross don 't like it, Crossy says he has a couple of eggs but can't bring himself to eat sausage or bacon, hilarious, assume Grimes is still on his banana diet. Nev Jetta is a dad again, now has a son to go with his daughter, really happy. Jeff Garlett has got a beautiful relaxed running style (mentioned above) doesn't seem to be making an effort but cruises around.

Report on training courtesy of the MFC Supporters Page on FB is through:

A drone strike capability would certainly make delistings more entertaining

Saty, does this mean Bernie can only drink Pure Blonde now instead of Carlton Draught?

Just to show how professional it is now was speaking to a Demonland reader who said I should repeat these bits Each morning the players text how they are feeling, ie sore, sick, injured, fine, etc etc, at the end of a training session they are asked to rate how they found it, on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being easy, most today rated it an 8 There is also a camera situated at the freeway end of the ground, the operator has a joystick to operate it, he has a script of what the coaches want him to film, there was also a second guy with a hand held today, being instructed by Roos what to film

Beautiful morning to (watch other people) train! Others have covered lots of the drills so I'll just add a few comments: Garlett was busting out some nice bullet passes and lot's of snaps for goal later on. Hopefully we see a lot of that during the season! Heaps of running drills today. Apart from the rehab group that mainly ran, lots of others ran in groups, pairs or alone and some stage. Watts did some pretty hard laps towards the end and was absolutely knackered.. drenched in sweat. Great to see the new faces out there and getting amongst it, like Stretch who I like the look of. JKH and Bail ran some pretty hard laps too. Pigdog really started to lag behind during lap running. Fitzy finally shaved off that facial fluff of his! Some people should just remain beardless.. The drills to maintain possession were good, bit more decision making under pressure and learning to do the quick switch. Not finding many players to single out, either in a good or bad way. Quite a solid session! Actually in saying that, there were a few sloppy kicks in the drills from some of the usual suspects. Hogan did some goal kicking practice. The rucks spent a bit of time working on taps with a coach, while Viney, Tyson and Garlett spent a little time roving simulation taps on the run from another coach. This while the main group was doing the big drills. Gotta run to work now but if I think of anything else I'll post later on.

The red one is leading the voting for best clash strip in the AFL on the FoxFooty website. At least we're winning something.

Found this on youtube. Given it's currently the off season, thought it might be worth a look. 1909 Grand Final. Carlton vs Sth Melb. Not Melbourne, but interesting nonetheless. Great shots of the crowd and the action. If you look carefully you might see old dee behind the goals. One for the Aussie Rules history buffs.

I work in the Pharma industry (yeah im a sell out) and can confirm the vial would not be an approved drug by the TGA. There are extremely tight regulations around registering drugs, submitted the package and labelling for approval etc. What I find interesting is that there seems to be no consquences for Essendon taking all the other unapproved drugs (regardless of if they are banned). like AOD etc. So ASADA/AFL is basically saying it is cool to inject random drugs that have not been approved for use just because they are not on the banned list? sounds crazy to me, these drugs could do anything or nothing or when combined with other unknown drugs could react adversely. They got punished for governance but this is more than governance issues. This is an unbelievablly reckless act that shows no regard for the players safety I am staggered that the media has decided to go easy on the bombers (aside from Caro). I would expect nothing less than Hird sacked and banned, Board sacked and all players getting a minimum of 12 months

For what it's worth I had another conversation with my source the other day. Reiterated that Melbourne were very heavily into Lever for pick 3 up until a couple of weeks ago. They have apparently cooled off a bit as it has become an increasingly likely chance that the Saints could take McCartin and therefore leave Petracca and Brayshaw available for the demons. Apparently there isn't at this stage much in the way of top level talls next year which might push the saints into taking McCartin this year. Because no one, including perhaps St Kilda themselves, are sure which way they will go with pick 1, many of the other picks remain a great unknown because of all the different options depending on which way it goes early. I don't believe the Saints will be taking Brayshaw at 1. It is a case of Petracca or McCartin. Should the Saints take Petracca then I believe from the information I've been provided it is a choice of McCartin or Lever and that is all. I would still lean towards McCartin but I have no contact with the club to base that on.

I think I went to school with him, good old Mal, I saw him crash a motorbike into a cow once. Think he works for Lloyds.

It wouldn't matter now would it? You could get hammered on either and just have a big fry-up the next morning and you'll be good as new. Hang on.... This is classified as new a new diet? I've been doin it for years.

Pretty harsh on Dunn i reckon Qwerty. Played 139 games to date and not completely unrealistic to think he may finish up around 200. As has been mentioned in the press Lynden is nigh impossible to beat one on one and is one of the few great kicks in the side. Yesterday Dom Tyson said he was the most underrated players in the side. Finally he has been reported twice (in one game) for hitting Boomer Harvey. The defence rests

i strongly suspect red, that in your and my cases, other factors are at play in determining our optimal dietary components

Correct. I don't know why people have this belief that we erred with the picks of Morton, Scully and Watts. They were widely, if not unanimously, regarded as the best players available in those draft positions. Nobody expected Dangerfield to go as high as he did and Adelaide copped a lot off flak for drafting him when they did. The errors were clearly Maric, Strauss, Gysberts and Cook. Players who were drafted well ahead of the consensus view, who were clearly unsuitable for AFL football and who were selected by people too dense to understand the fundamental differences between junior football and the AFL.

Fine and sunny with a top of 29.... Dow Jones up 40 points, FTSE up 37.

Was Saty at the birth?

I appreciate the term "top liner" is somewhat amorphous, but I think Lumumba and Vince would get a game in any team and should be classified as "top liners"

(In best Jack Nicholson accent....) Now, Mr Hird, is this the evidence you wish to present to the court?Fake labelling on a medicine bottle? Please tell me you have something more Hirdy. These wretched players are on trial for their lives. Please tell me their lawyer hasn't pinned their hopes on a dodgy photoshopped picture of a medicine bottle?

Melbourne does it Drug Free

Yep. The perfect example of sticking to your guns as a recruiter. I love the bit at the end Rendell said 17-year-old Dangerfield - who arrived in Adelaide last night, and will train at the club for the next two months before completing his Year 12 exams in Victoria in 2008 - was "a bit of a prototype of an AFL footballer for the next 10 to 15 years". "He's the right height at 187cm, he's versatile in that he can play anywhere, he's got truckloads of athletic ability, pace and strength, he's as brave as they come, and as clean as they come as well with his ball-handling," Rendell said. Absolutely spot on

Fantastic to watch. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. Was that Dustin Fletcher at full back?

As long as we get to wear the proper guernsey when we make the 2015 Grand Final, I'm ok.

Clubs were doing this decades ago. It is old. Doesn't mean it is bad. But it is nothing new at all. Daniel Harford spoke about doing these things at hawthorn and carlton, and Grant Thomas was roundly rubbished for introducing it at the Saints. What is sad is that it's new to us. Like my mum being amazed at a smart phone.

Drones are far more subtle than those black helicopters that are always following me around.

I think drones are a great idea especially for looking at opposition training and doubly especially if fitted out with air to surface missiles.

Good stuff Adam, enjoying the process.

not no-carbs, low-carbs more fat see catalyst (abc) from last week

Great, I had a veal pharma the other day and it was under cooked, who do I complain to?

When we grabbed Hogan he had a year to go and was playing against kids a year older. In this case Nakia is the older kid playing against younger kids with a year left in the system. I haven't seen enough of him to have an opinion but I wouldn't oversell him on this game. He may well be the gun you see him as, I just hope our recruiters have a good feel for where he sits and make a good call.

St.kilda have the toughest decision IMO, so much pressure to nail that pick, at least we have 2 bites at the cherry. If they don't nail their pick and they leave themselves short up forward with Roo on his last legs they will regret it for a long time. If they go Petracca and he doesn't develop into anything more than Sylvia MKII while either 1 of Brayshaw or McCartin pass him then they'd be anchored to the bottom for a while.

We're still in the box seat.....

I think it while ultimately be taken out of the AFLs hand. WADA through COAIS will determine it IMHO. From any other bodies, there are just too many vested interests and conflicting agendas to get a fair outcome in line with WADA rules.

looked like one of eddie betts' ancestors must have been the official shorts supplier did you notice 3 bloods players had the diagonal sash running the wrong way......wonder if vfl fined them in those days think the handball rule must have been different then that cast iron fencing looked lethal esp with little space past boundary line

Not long ago the AFL ruled that it would not give help to clubs with past records of offending against AFL rules so the Bombers would not qualify for any special draft assistance because they of their governance sanctions on the doping issue in August 2013. Besides that, they have promising young players like Joe Daniher and the Merrett boys plus James Gwilt who they recently picked up as a bargain through delisted free agency as well as two picks in the top 20 in next week's draft. Whatever happens, they don't deserve or need any special assistance from the AFL to help them out in these circumstances.

It's not just the bottom, the cap is pretty dodgy as well, a distortion not due simply to the fold in the paper. But the other thing that intrigues me is Dank's reference to an amber bottle dated July 2012. This, I presume, is not that bottle. At least it doesn't have any legible date. The only relevant numbers seem to be 1202, which could only be the year in question if it's a palindrome of the Monty Python 'Dead Parrot' sort (the case for the Norwegian Blue being alive is probably far more credible than anything Dank is likely to produce).

what year is it? 2008?

You just killed Christmas.

A (nicely) reasoned analysis of the information that can be drawn from the photo in question (from the thread on BF): 1) Whoever is holding the vial is holding it between his thumb and index finger giving you some idea of the size of the vial. It is likely to be a 2 ml vial so no it wouldn't be one of the ones supplied by Alavi. Also being from July 2012 you would expect that the first supply would be long gone. 2) The concentration appears to read in the "thousand microgram" concentration range (x3 0s visible and mcg is microgram) so it is likely to be at 1000-9000 micrograms/ml (or 1-9 mg/ml). Typical doses of Thymomodulin appear to range from 80-120 mg so the vial wouldn't contain enough for a single shot (well assuming that it is at 10,000 micrograms (no-one would ever use those units, you would state it as mg) and the vial contains 2 ml of extract then you would need 4-6 vials/dose.) Interestingly TB4 is used at the 2-4 mg/ml range .............. 3) The photo was taken after Dank "discovered" that TB4 was prohibited and after he tried to manufacture documents saying that Alavi produced Thymomodulin. If Dank is capable of producing fraudulent backdated paperwork for the purchase of Thymomodulin then it would be logical to conclude that he would also be capable of producing fraudulent photos for its presence at the EFC. Ditto with the "Spreadsheet" which appeared a day after the fraudulent paperwork 4) I am still yet to see a single reference to "immunostimulation" during the design or implementation of the program. If this was going to be the "cornerstone" of the program then you would expect it to be extensively discussed in the correspondence between Dank and Hird/Alavi. Instead we hear about soft tissue injuries, and recovery from injuries in general, not players fighting off the flue ........ There is so much which stinks about the "Thymomodulin" story that it is laughable that anyone could take it seriously .........

Just when you think the thing cant really get any sillier the clowns come up with 11th hour "get out of jail" evidence. How dumb do they really think anyone is. The pic : The photo is a photo of........a photo..or magazine picture... It has creases like its been in someones pocket for crying out loud. It shows what exactly. Could any vial thats contained anything , or nothing. The chain of custody ?? ( non existent ) But lucky for them I found the real evidence ... Guaranteed absolutely fair dinkum..

Don't ya hate it when you miss an autocorrect before posting.

That is exactly what I thought at 29 I hope you have more success than me.

Bloody hope not! Brayshaw's possibly a future captain of the MFC. He's the player I most want of the three at the club. Happy with either of the other two as well, after Brayshaw that is.

Essendon players seek out ex-fitness boss Dean Robinson for court questI wonder if they are familiar with the saying : " careful what you wish for " ? I'm more and more convinced many of these players just can't be that bright.

Enjoyable clip, must say the handballing was suspect and the goal umps showed scant respect for the flags A 2 point win to the bloods was a fitting result.

I wish I was the age of a senior MFC player again, i.e. 23.

I choose to liken the Toump to Nick Malceski. similar run, carry, distributor type players, albeit Malceski is a bigger body. Malceski was a slow developer also, was drafted in 2002 and didn't consolidate his senior spot at Sydney until 2007. Nobody batted an eyelid because he was taken at 64 in the draft and, like Toumpas, was recovering from some injury troubles. Has gone on to become an All Australian and one of the more damaging half backs in the game. If Toumpas wasn't an early draft pick, we'd probably be taking the pragmatic view that he is young, developing, managing a developing body and an outside player, who will also struggle in a side that has great difficulty winning and keeping the footy. Malceski struggled in the Swans 2's that was playing in the Canberra league and winning by 100 plus points every week. Toumpas was running around in a Casey side that was getting smashed, in often heavy conditions and had lost their best inside ball winner from the previous year in Magner. I'm still amazed at how he was able to play his best senior game for us in 2013 in horrendous conditions in Geelong. We're all a bit jumpy because it is vitally important to us that he develops into the player he was drafted to be. Give him time, he'll be fine.

A win over the Cats in Geelong next season would be cause for a quiet pint or ten.

He's only 26. 5 years is not a big call. It's actually a very easy call. We lose Jones and we lose an enormous part of this club. The deal needs to get done. Don't mess around with this.