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#thereturn - felt like I needed to supply more training reports this summer hey? A lot has changed since the previous occasion I was at Melbourne training, which going back, is now a bloody long time ago. Labour Day this year. So much has happened in my life now – it looks like I’ve got a gig at AFL Vic next year at this stage, I’m just about done with uni and the next stage of my life is set to be written. So I get here at precisely 2:10 – 20 minutes early, which is okay because 1) I get a coveted spot with shade because it’s a very warm day, and 2) others are here too. Camera crews have basically been set up, the personnel are here and the Melbourne shade is up. Yep, I’m at the right place and I’m here at the right time. As for the camera crews, I’m keen to see which station they are for. A camera man is here and he curiously has a lot of Glenn Maxwell about him (mind you without the beard). Anyway, less jibberish and more actual reporting which is what I’m meant to be doing. Anyway, there’s been a number of changes so far throughout this off season and there’s more to come. Out of the lineup goes Howe, Cross, McKenzie, Riley, Bail, Toumpas and Fitzpatrick, while in to the side (at this stage with draft picks still to come) include Bugg, Kennedy, Melksham and Smith. Melksham, as I already covered, won’t be here today, even though it is optional for other players to make their way across and train with the first to fourth year players (I’ll cover which ones are optionally here today below). The first players out for pre-season are Vandenberg and Garland. Vandenberg has bright orange wheels which are almost as bright as my lime green ones. After those two, the rest of the boys make their way across. Garland and Tom Mc I believe are the only two who have come here optionally to do some extra training, which is a truly excellent sign. These two genuinely love the club. Our good mate Stevo is here too to report on the session for Channel 7. For reference if needed, the first two out on the track were CP5 and ANB. After a very short kickabout, the boys go and start off with a short little run. Few rugby passes out and about – it’s not State of Origin lads! – and a few stretches start us off. There’s about 25 players on the track, including the likes of Hogan, Brayshaw, Viney and Tyson as well. Eventually I’ll go through a few more. Petracca’s doing a modified program at this stage compared to the rest of the group – I imagine that this is related to the final preparations that he has to go under before joining the main group full stop. Regardless he’s looking bigger than he was last year and he was already pretty big last year! Good sign. Also another who noticeably looks bigger compared to the last time I saw him is Salem. Anyway our main man CP5 is off to jaunt on his own regime at the moment given the recovery from his knee. We’re taking every precaution at this stage and he’s off to the adjacent fields to do his own work while the rest of them are together. Kennedy is out here for his first training session with the boys and when he beats (I think Stretch) in a small contest that the boys are doing a couple of the boys shout out “YES BEN!!!” Good start to his time here, hopefully he develops some friendships very quickly. Regardless the first drill sees the coaches roll the ball across the ground where there’s two players trying to beat the other to the footy. Basically it’s more of an upper body drill where one man is trying to push the other off. There’s four separate groups, and in fact there is also one using soccer balls. I can’t properly explain that, best ask Misso. I guess to provide more clarification the four groups are in rotation drills, so you have the ones which I’ve described clearly, as well as a couple of overhead marking contests on the far side of the ground. The majority of players are in the two groups closest to us, while the far groups are made up of two lots of four. As the boys embark on a brief break I take a look at the crowd, it’s certainly building and the club has done a good job with advertising this session. I would say at this stage there’s about 60 people, which would be more than anywhere else I reckon. The next activity is more strength based and sees groups of two pulling each other with those rope things that they tie around their waste. Notable pairings include Hogan and TMac, while Harmes is dragging Jack Viney around. Two groups of longer distance running follows. Leading the first group which starts nearest to where I’m stationed is White and Stretch, with Hogan up the back. Meantime Kenty is killing it in the second group. King is up the back of this one. The first group of runners are more tightly bunched together and pacing themselves really well. Joel Smith appears to be up the front of his group, while Oscar McDonald is working hard to get in front of Kenty. It’s also really encouraging to see Frost running around with the boys. The news we really needed to see/hear after 4-6gate in 2015. The boys are still going ahead of the six minute deadline. BK is working super hard to ensure that he’s maintaining a solid pace. Meantime JKH has assumed leadership of his group and has really come home strongly. Harmes is also finishing off strongly as he walks past, streaming by Jayden Hunt. CP5 watch on the other ground and he is moving super strongly. It’s really good to see. I’m hoping he develops into more of the Josh Kennedy mould (the Sydney one that is). Brayshaw comes back after (I assume) a bit of an absence, while Tom McDonald did his own little thing while the boys were running… I presume to avoid embarrassment amongst the others because he always kills it doing the running drills. After a bit of a walk around the oval the boys are back into the groove a little bit and are having a drink of water. For now that leaves me on complete CP5 watch. The bloke is doing it completely easy on the other field at the moment as a few actually turn around and watch him go about it. He is really moving well considering his recovery from his ACL and he seems to be confident of a few directional changes. I would say he’s going at about 80% at the moment which is about right for his stage in the development. He’s also kicking about 30-35m off one step with relative ease. There are, admittedly, a couple of shanks when he kicks it but otherwise he’s doing just fine and is also finding the confidence to jump for marks too. Hogan joins him later on and he does that familiar waddle over. Dunno why he left, maybe he just exorcised his rights as a God to do whatever the hell he wants. Extraordinarily I’m seeing people actually shifting their attention – quite a few – to Hogan and Petracca. Anyway this all happens while the boys are changing into their footy boots, with a bit of footy going on now. Firstly there’s a bit of a brief kick, before more of a base which sees a full-blown contest between two teams utilising handball. That’s on one side of the ground, anyway. On the other side there’s a kicking drill at the moment and the focus is on a switch, followed by a kick down the line. On the near side which is where the handball drill is going on, the hunger is intense in the players’ eyes. You can hear it and see it. For the first day of pre season they’ve been pretty strong skill wise. There aren’t too many shanks which is impressive because it’s a reasonably difficult day conditions wise. Hot day, swirly wind about. JKH gets Frost in a tackle – you can tell Frosty is trying to get back into the swing of things after missing a lot of training as well as footy. It’ll take a little while but he’ll get there. Pause – I need a drink… Getting a drink at this point isn’t too bad. Firstly I don’t miss much as I go down to Edwin’s (which at this point is closing up), secondly I still walk past and get to see how Hogan and Petracca are holding up. Hoges’ is okay and there’s nothing wrong with him (I presume they are just looking after him due to his importance), he’s having set shots and actually uncharacteristically misses one. Petracca in the meantime was talking to one of his mates (I presume from basketball – nobody understands how good he actually was – he has his own mixtape on YouTube), before heading off. He walks past me, eyes glued to his phone. As I come back the boys are split into two groups where there are two teams, with the aim to retain the ball by foot. The ball use is decent at this stage by the near group, with only two foot errors so far in about five minutes. During this drill, I get the information that the boys will be having a training camp in Seaford soon, and will head back up to Maroochydore in January (I presume during the Australian Open). So there’s one for fans up Seaford way and as well as our Queensland friends. Meantime the boys are having a bit of a break after this kicking drill thing. Hogan’s running around behind me on the soccer ground, which has been kindly vacated by Melbourne Victory because they’re probably thinking they can soccer better than everyone else while holding all three trophies at once. Anyway, the drill continues on opposite wings this time, after previously being inside both 50s. The most impressive performers for mine so far include Tommy Mc, who is continuing to mature as a leader and is being as smart as ever with his positioning, running off his man and ball use, JKH, who has a new found hunger for the contest, I’m presuming he’s going to go after a big pre-season after losing his spot in the side, and ANB, who’s been classy by foot so far today under pressure. In the meantime Frost has shown how much he’s missed, with his first kick missing the mark and his decision making a bit skewed at the moment. Joel Smith is still a while away too from getting into the groove – gets the ball during one of these drills and panics a little bit, before missing the return handball. On the other side of the ground, Terlich takes on (I think) White, but gets tackled. A good show of speed from White but Terlich needed to get rid of it. Obviously Terls needs a big pre-season and force his way into the 22 somehow, otherwise he’s off the list given he runs out of contract. Some more running follows this and this running drill is similar to what they did last year. Run half way through, then run down the ground, turn, run back. Three separate groups are out and about. Tom McDonald is fastest of the first group with ease (because who else was going to be?) with Viney second. Impressively, Tommy Bugg (first training session today) is amongst the top three or four. Brother Oscar is fastest of the second group as he looks to maintain his spot in the best 22 over summer. ANB is quickest of the third group. On the second run for each group it’s a McDonald sweep again, while Harmes is quickest of the third group. TMac’s doing it easy. Third run. No need to tell you who are quickest of the first two groups. In the third group, Tyson and Harmes run it pretty close but it’s the former who gets home quickest in the end. As we get to the fourth run, TMac again is quickest. Joel Smith is starting to struggle a little bit which is unsurprising given its his first session, but gets a lot of support from the boys as he crosses the line. Anyway the winners of the fourth run – TMac, OMac and Hunt. TMac ensures he completely sweeps the last run of his group. He’s still an animal, and that’s good signs ahead. OMac also sweeps his entire group, impressively Frost is starting to get into his own and comes second in the final run. The final group don’t run… unsure why. Anyway, as the boys switch from running to kicking again there’s set shots, and moreso the chance to give you guys information you didn’t necessarily need but will get anyway. BK = Kennedy as I mentioned before had his first session today. He’s a little fella but he’s well built. From what I’ve seen so far, good running capacity. Also has a tatt a la Cyril, but that's extra information you didn't need to know but do now. Buggy = Tomas had his first run with the Dees as well and again, he’s smaller than most but again he is also solidly built. Not as nuggety as a Jones-type but not as small as Stretch either, I’d say he’s more in the middle. Again, he also ran well. Smith = Pretty skinny, needs a bit of work in the gym and with time he’ll get to improve his running capacity as well. Obviously a project player but because he has a bit of knowledge in the game he won’t take as long to develop as, say, a Maia Westrupp. Meantime, just behind me, the photographers that turn up get a bit excited – and I quote one of them – “Hogan’s got his shirt off!!!” The bloke generates excitement by doing the smallest of things. After the brief set shot session, which I presume was just a warm down, the boys finish rather abruptly. I say g’day to a couple of fans and head off, with the knowledge that the boys would want to be as sharp in the next session (which I’m hearing is 10:00 Wednesday) as they were today. To finish off, Tom McDonald did a couple of extra short, sharp bursts and there were a few others (such as Viney and Salem) who did a couple of extra things too. Okay, so summing up: • Petracca is looking really good even though he’s been restricted at the moment due to his continued ACL recovery • Hogan is also being held back, this I imagine more than anything is because we want to restrict his workload and make sure his back is alright • There was more of a running base than there was a football base which is normal for the firstpre season session • Regardless, the boys did well with the ball in hand today, not too many errors under pressure but there were a couple of decision-making errors • Tom and Oscar McDonald naturally are going to tear it up on the track all summer. • The boys are looking very fit • We still have to wait two weeks until the main group come back! I look forward to the next session… ​

Few surprises, but that's ok Who: Coaches - No Roos, no Goodwin as far as I could tell, so it was mainly left to Rawlings, Matthews, Allison Fitness staff - plenty, including D Cross. And I hate to be rude but a young lady seemed to be observing and she was a solid 9 to 9.5. By far best on track. Players - see earlier posts. But Garland, Tommy Mc, Frost Bugg Tyson (are they 4th or 5th year?) plus the 1-4 players. What: Modified program: Petracca: Agility drills, kick to kick, sprints over on the multi use oval Hogan: Started with the main group before kick to kick, goal kicking, sprints. Went longer than Petracca Brayshaw: Didn't see him do anything but was dressed and at the oval before heading back to AAMI Tommy Mc: Sat out some of drills before doing some extra sprints at the end Vanders: Took time away from the main group to complete some agility drills before rejoining For the main group it was - Warm ups - Handball and kicking drills - 7 v 4 drills - Timed running drill - 300m repeat sprints - Goal kicking The session lasted close on 2 hours. It was warm and a bit gusty. I don't think the players were flogged but they were certainly made to feel it. It's hard on such a small sample to get any idea of where individual and the team in generals skill level was at. So that's part of the no surprises. What I was looking for was if anyone had made significant gains in body shape/size or in fitness levels and again there probably weren't surprises there this year. The big positive was that everyone (except maybe Brayshaw) was out on the track and working hard. The 2nd year players were impressive. Oscar McDonald look stronger. He ran well and kicked the ball well in drills. Neal-Bullen and Stretch are pro's. White trained very well and is a beautiful kick. Vanders looks leaner but just as strong and imposing and of course Petracca might've training separately but was moving well. From the 3rd years Hunt is starting to look like an AFL player build wise. Harmes was working hard and has a strong body. JKH was running well and whilst we might have strong competition if we played an intraclub basketball game if it was soccer Salem would win hands down. He was running solidly in the second group and as always using the ball beautifully come drills. His body probably remains a work in progress but there's no rush. Not everyone can or needs to look like Jack Viney who appears cut out of stone. Of the rest it was nice to see Col Garland working hard to rebuild his fitness base and hopefully get back to career best form. Sam Frost needs to keep working as well but he's got great speed and is a big man, combined with missing time last year that's not a surprise. Dom Tyson impressed me. Kicking the ball well, making a note to kick often on his right foot (steady but not spectacular) and running strongly, early days but a bounce back year could on the cards. All up it was more than enough to see in November and it's nice to know we have 2 dozen or so mainly young players working hard to improve. A good start to a long year ahead.

It all starts again at 2.30pm tomorrow at Goschs Paddock ~Pre-season slog begins as 10 clubs return to the track Note: This thread is for training discussion and is not a place for posters to demonstrate their immaturity by throwing tantrums and launching personal attacks on other posters - or the players.Thank you.

Petracca running, jumping and playing kick to kick is football porn

Some old guy with a grey beard riding a scooter.

Hogan running laps with one of the fitness staff. I'm thinking geez this guy must be fit. Of course it's Crossy!

From lots of experiences playing football and also heading out on Saturday nights over the years I've become very close with majority of the players from Both teams including girls from out of Melbourne and they have exactly the same if not more passion than the men. I really hope as a fellow lady that a women's league is started. I know myself that the skills and the amount of talent is limited and maybe I like it more than others because most are my friends but I really think this would create more jobs for women that want to coach and find it hard in a male industry and I think the girls have a right to play at the highest level. A game before the men's is acceptable I believe. Don't hate just sticking up for my friends and giving my opinion.

Thanks for the reports GRRM.

My wife has texted me saying cracks have started to appear on the side of our house...and they have only been training for 40 minutes!

The information comes from someone who is reliable and knows him from out Torquay way. Whether he's 100% right, I can't tell you but he did say that at the start of last year Curnow was 187cm and that figure was in the TAC Cup Record for the whole season and that the 191cm measurement was in this year's record from Round 1. Males stop growing at any time up to 20-21 and his view was that Curnow hadn't stopped growing yet and he believed Curnow was now 193cm. The other thing is that he usually marks the ball at a higher point because he has good reach and is strong, he's a handy mark even when pitted against tall defenders.

Things I saw which I liked... In a 7 vs 5 drill (or whatever the numbers were) the ball was kicked forward of the players to Turls ( I think) who was running ahead of his man in same direction as incoming ball. Only problem for him was that his man was Joel Smith who leapt up high and intercepted with his finger tips to stop the play. Has a big leap. Got real encouragement for that. Second, saw JKH clean up Harmes who didn't see him close in quickly. Wasn't a big hit, play went on and there were no hard feelings. But good to see JKH engage in the contest. Also saw him lay a fantastic tacke which stopped play. Also liked OMac, he's got more size and is certainly developing a tank. Finished ahead in a number of his running drills. Might give his bro a run for his money in a year or two. Salem is all class, his disposal is exquisit and his awareness excellent. And finally, can I say one last time that Christian Petracca is a beast. Comparable only to Jesse Hogan.

comprehensive, interesting and beautifully written. A brilliant piece enhanced by your writing skills.

Keeps ducking whenever the starting pistol goes off.

The McDonalds are smashing their respective groups. Kent and Viney chasing. The B group is even. All look fit. Tyson and Harmes strong King is having a good battle trying to hang on to Keilty. But overall I'd say that's good for him. Smith starting well in the top group but is probably now contemplating going back to basketball. Good effort by him though

Garland, T mc, Tyson, Bugg, Frost here from the non expected. Hard to look for all at once but seemingly everyone from the 1-4 group is here. Tyson with precautionary taping on the left knee. Petracca tape free. Arrived a touch after the others. Jogging laps with a staff member

Same one, it also involves the Labor Party, AFL, ASADA, WADA, CAS, the other 17 clubs, all news outlets, the UN, Greenpeace, the International Climate Commission, and the Iranian Government Nuclear program. There are suspicions Kim Jong Un is also involved although that can not be confirmed at this point.

I moved from Victoria to Queensland in 2006, it was the last time the MFC played finals. I take full responsibility for the club becoming a mess after my departure. To make amends, I've decided to move back to Victoria at the start of 2016. History will show that when my postcode starts with a "3", we generally make finals. You're welcome.

I once remember the words " you could build a side around Mathew Bate" somehow escaping from my mouth. Totally Prendergasted that one.

Looks fat - Toumpas.

Gee, I hope he decides to get real at some point!

I for one wouldn't give a Continental if he finished 6th 16th or 160th!!! he is now not at our club! Let Port worry about his dodgy hips, slow pace and questionable endeavour! NEXT!

I appreciate all training reports regardless of who has written them and how comprehensive they are in their content or how professionally (or not) they have been written... the fact that anyone goes to the trouble to first of all attend training and then to write a report (even if it's just a few lines) for our benefit is appreciated.

you are doing a good job. i follow your Facebook 'melbourne supporters page'. I lurk, and "like" in the shadows. Keep up the good work, and fingers crossed for the VWFL gig.

Now thats a real training training report tasman! Best i have read.. probably ever! Also a big pat on the back to Giorgiou for the running commentary on training today. Both of you and whoever i missed a job well done!

Are some missing the point here? Women's footy is in a developmental stage. Support it! Embrace it so that more more resources and money are tipped into it. Until recent years the corporate/financial/media support for netball has been [censored] weak. The Matildas are struggling for a quid. Unless women have financial support they will not be able to participate. Without widespread participation no women's sport will flourish. So yes - get behind it!

I know it should be something the players do anyway, but it's great to see the boys really get behind Joel and support him. He would be feeling the pinch but he would clearly see that he has already been accepted by the group for having a crack.

TMac easily the best of the runners. Other notables were Harmes, Viney, OMac (he's building size and a tank), ANB and I thought Tyson did well. Strugglers were King, Frost, some of the Casey boys and Joel Smith. TMac surging ahead in this pic and Smith was well and truly spent back at the light pole. They all got around him when he finished, lots of encouragement for SOS.

Photos are up MFC Photo Gallery - 9 November 2015 AFL Photos

Thanks for the reports to those who could make it...pure gold at this time of year.

Kent, for mine, is only slightly behind Truck on the " i cant wait to see how he goes this (coming) year" list. Has the mongrel about him that Roos loves, and might just be an injury free season away from becoming a genuine gun. Obviously i have high hopes, but im rarely wrong GO KENTYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Maybe for you it's a novelty but it isn't to the close to 300,000 women playing footy at the moment. There's national comps for women's basketball, netball, soccer, cricket and probably more so why not footy?

The b team are by far the most vocal and are staying together. I like them King moves up to 2nd last. Poor Joel smith is cooked in the first group but they are getting around him

As Jon Ralp I think tweeted, $305k on top of the $5million they have already spend is chicken feed.....

Can confirm Christian Petracca is one BIG unit. A lot of muscle on that guy.

Petracca doing agility drills on the rugby pitch with 3 staff members. Ground balls, easy push off and marks, and a bit of soccer kicking for the main group divided into 3 stations. Frost is a huge unit. So is Vanders Moncrieff from Casey is a big boy. Oscar mc looks a little thicker. Ben Ken looks so similar to Viney but a touch shorter and lighter.

I really like the look of Oliver. As much as we are well stocked for inside mids, he looks to be the type of footballer who could adjust to AFL footy very easily.

WorkSafe aren't the fastest operators are they.

I am attempting to adopt the "I told you so" pose (without out appearing too smug) with some EFC supporters that thought this would never happen. Very hard to reduce the smug level. Stuff it, suck it up Essendon hahahhahahahh etc.

Our dynasty starts today! Go dees.

Viney would clearly be one. If I had to name a captain of the under 22s he'd be it.Hard to believe he's still even in that group. Feels like he's been here for a decade.

If there is going to be a Brisbane team, West Coast team and an Adelaide one surely there will be a Melbourne side. I hope the women's league works and hope our Club is a big part of it

I still think we can win the '87 Premiership, every-time, prior to re-watching the Preliminary final match.

I am not really Steve McQueen.

Funny how people weren't so keen on Parish until they saw the highlights on the Sydney website, every player has a great highlights package when edited correctly. Now he's a dead set certainty at 3 according to some. All I want is to draft players who have a hunger to find the ball and want to fairly hurt whatever is in his way to get it. And whoever we draft not to rely on to make an immediate impact, this is what the senior players and 2, 3 and 4th year players are there for, to nurture and teach these kids. Am sick of being more excited at draft time compared to during the season, be great to look forward to the season instead of draft and trade time. Let's hope the recruiters are all over it and draft two 10+ year players.

I agree SONS.

Got free tickets to Andre Rieu and wore a cardigan!

I was given a free ticket to see The Commodores (with Lionel Richie)... and went

I paid good money to get into a Dionne Warwick concert about 20 years ago.

Get daisy in the banner!