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Edwin’s Wi-Fi is terrible at the moment so bear with me for having this in rather late… Keen readers will have noticed that I was nervously awaiting the AFL Victoria announcement for the Community Media Awards last training report. It didn’t happen on Friday owing to an enormous amount of numbers, so I had to wait until Wednesday. But did I get one? Hell yeah I did. One of only two across the Northern Football League. Get around me. But as it is I only devote a little bit of time to myself and more so on the players who are actually training, and this is the first time I get to see the senior players in action after having to miss Monday’s session. At least, I hope that’s the case. A delay at Reservoir station means I’m not sure as I type when the hell I’m actually going to get there. 13 (!!!) minutes later, we’re off and going again, the train driver seemingly as sure as Mark Neeld’s assessment of training standards regarding what the hell was going on exactly. Anyway, regardless of whatever situation was the case, I’m there on time and just get there to see a whole heap of the boys applauding. Not sure why – maybe it was my presence. I wish. Regardless the boys head off for a quarter lap before doing some stretches. What I do notice is that rehab has increased markedly since last Friday, what with all the senior boys back. Jones is moving around really bloody well which is a positive coming off neck surgery, Terlich is in the rehab group, the big Spence train as well. At the moment I cbf’ed making my way over to see who else is in the rehab group, thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to sit in the shade on a quaint Melbourne November morning. Gus Brayshaw leaves early again after reporting early on. The warm-up, in the meantime, takes the boys to some weird and wonderful places. The boys run from the goalsquare to the wing… maybe perhaps a bit closer to the half-forward flank, with Dawes leading the way. Obviously he’s had the rocket up the ass from the drafting of Hulett and the other tall blokes (notice how they were going on about Hulett’s strong hands and his ability to play as a third tall?) and needs a big season. Viney is also up the front as he almost always is. Tyson and Garlett walk along the ground, not sure if there’s a serious intention for either of them to train, Tyson’s walking lap and Garlett sneaks off into the tent not to be seen again. Warm-ups carry on regardless, and I have absolutely NFI what the boys are doing. A sprint, sudden stop, turn back, jumping blind turn? Huh? Some blokes look graceful doing it (i.e the mids) and some blokes look atrociously clumsy (i.e Maxy). Next… after that the boys split into a couple of small groups. Nearest to me there’s a group with a two on one situation, where the two have to work out a way past the one which is defending and wearing a vest. The boys are getting through without too much difficulty but talk is non-existent. Mind you, whenever there’s the slightest sign of a feigned handball, the boys are up and about almost as if Steph Curry crossed over another bloke. Surest sign is when Jack Watts sells Goodwin some candy. Right, so the whistle goes and the boys rotate. Jack Viney gives a bit of candy out, and the bloke in the vest (can’t recognise who it is) is like “oh I didn’t want to hurt ya!” Righto… his ego takes a further blow when he is again sold candy not 20 seconds later. It’s also here that I get my first assessment of Jake Melksham. Skinny-looking bloke but by the looks of things good upper-body strength. Just think if he gets his disposal sorted he’ll be a handy pickup. The boys stop (for now) and it’s another chance to have a geeze and who’s doing what, especially in the rehab group. Bernie is taking (Max) King for a run, Spencer and Tyson bugger off early, Nate Jones is moving super well, he really is, and Terlich and Frost are running laps. Meantime Tom McDonald goes off to get his shoulder strapped, not sure what the prognosis is and whether he got a knock during the drill or it’s just your stock standard precaution, either way there’s a serious amount of tape on that left shoulder of his. The next drill is a handballing drill right in front of me, with a group of defenders trying to steal the footy off the team with possession. There is success in the second group where Salem reads the play beautifully and pinches it off White. In fact, White is pretty sloppy in this drill. Two handballs are intercepted, there’s a fumble when picking the ball up and his other handball misses the target. I’m backing the bloke to rebound as soon as he gets the chance. Interesting to note that the coaches are promoting “width” and “run and carry”. No doubt I don’t think anyone in the coaching staff want the panic handballs to set in like they always do. Anyway these quotes are mentioned about three or four times during this drill. On to the blokes who look in pretty good form at the moment. Grimes is having a good patch – thought he ended 2015 on a bright note which he can take into 2016 and he’s training accordingly at the moment. Came second in the time trial on Wednesday and has really settled in nicely and moving well. I still have a bit of a question mark on his decision-making but if he has a good season the Dees will be better for it. The boys have a break again, this time again I get a look at who’s doing what – BK’s running around, Bernie has seemingly not stopped running since training started and Hogan has been taking set shots into the wind. Dawes is doing some marking drills with Jade Rawlings – he still doesn’t look overly confident above his head, preferring the chest mark wherever he can. Again the boys split in two, up the far end it’s a tackling/strength drill of sorts, while the drill nearest to where I am being a pressure drill of kind. Watts is one of the defenders and he’s always the threat in these drills and accordingly he pinches one of the balls. I wish he was given the natural progression to AFL instead of being thrown in, killing his confidence. In the meantime, as I watch, it’s good to see Sam Weideman and Liam Hulett show up and have a look around – shades of Super Pav in not only Weed’s looks but his ultimate swaggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa as well. I can’t wait for opposition defences to be sorted just before a game starts, then they see Hogan and Weideman swagger along like the Beastie Boys did in the Sabotage music video. A fun fact about Hulett – I covered the Young Guns game for AFL Vic and didn’t mention his name, nor did I mention Brayden Sier who also played. I dun goofed with that one. I do remember, though, that Hulett was playing in the backline for the victorious green team and didn’t get much of a look in due to their domination after quarter time. Next drill – basically it starts around the middle with a couple of defenders with a kick coming in to a forward before kicking a goal. This happens at both ends. Nothing special’s really going on to be honest. Hogan has an uncharacteristic miss – in fact he’s having a bad day in front of the sticks – and then as I get the idea of typing that he nonchalantly goes off one step and puts in right through the middle. Okay then. Next drill is a whole lot of randomness again – on one side, the near side, you have two blokes going up for a marking contest; in the middle, you have a contest where two blokes are going after a rolling footy, and up the far side it’s more like a kick to five blokes see who gets it kind of drill. Petracca walks by and (I think) gives the new draftees the thumbs up. I’m looking forward to seeing Trac talking to Weideman for the first time. I reckon you could almost SEE the swag. As I type this actually happens. Petracca comes up and gives Weideman the swaggiest greeting you’ll ever see - quite the serious handshake it was, almost like they from da hood, and almost as if they’ve known each other for a decade. I already like this setup. Now to see Hogan meet and greet Weed for the first time and my day would be complete. After what felt like about 20 minutes of approximately nothing to report the boys get back into it for a bit of a run. And it’s a running drill out of the box here. The boys – in two groups of vests, white and green, go runabouts in what is like a game of tag, where the blokes have to run about to a pole before the other bloke. Maxy Gawn’s having a bit of a laugh as he’s running – he is the banter king that’s for sure. Anyway, after that brief exercise the boys run three quarters of the oval in twos, for what scientific purpose instead of running the entire lap only Misso knows. After that the space-time continuum is broken again as only Misso manages to do with his concoction of which groups should be what when doing the running drills, with the boys splitting up between white and green and running in two groups. It’s good to see Dawes running up the front with regularity, with Tom McDonald sandwiched in the middle much like a Melbourne Cup favourite around the 1200m mark. Some more continuous running then, and Petracca starts the second “groups of two” run by completely ghosting Dawes along with Grimes, passing Dawes and then evidently using all his fast-twitch stocks to run out of gas towards the end of the three quarter lap. Mind you his acceleration of the blocks is pretty damn impressive. It’s also pretty interesting to see the difference between a stock standard AFL player and an athlete. While most are absolutely puffed out by their final group run, Tom McDonald is still roughly as silent as a Charlie Chaplin film. The boys then finish up. I hang around just to see Hulk and Weed meet for the first time and begin the highest profile pairing since Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams fo-shizzled their way through Drop It Like It’s Hot. Roosy, interestingly, brings together Bugg, Harmes, Kent, Hunt and Salem together for a chat, for what I don’t know because I’m not a good lip-reader. As I start to embark on the route to Edwin’s Petracca, Watts and Hogan all come up to a young lad, wheelchair bound, and sign his cast, hat and promise a tour around the club during their weights session. It’s a timely reminder of how good this club is to the young blokes and what a fantastic gesture. I also wish the young lad well for the future. A further note – it appears that the first part of training will be finishing up on the 18th of December and restarts (at this stage) on the 8th of January, by the looks of things it’ll be a week of training at Gosch’s before buggering off during the Aussie Open. ​

Got down to training for the first time this year for about 45 minutes. Hope to get down when the new guys start. Enjoy at https://six6six.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumKey=Nn2HjG or Mobile https://six6six.smugmug.com/Training27112015/n-x72ZKW

Dropped by again today to catch the return of the seniors. Tasman's basically covered everything super well, so I'll just make a few observations. Didn't see Lumumba, Trengove and Newton. There were a couple guys I didn't recognise so I assume they're the Casey listed players training with the club. Garland seriously needs to tighten his hat, every time I glanced over it was flying off his head! Melksham is taller than I thought he was and reasonably built. From what I saw he didn't do anything badly and his kicks at goal during one of the drills were mostly all on target. Bugg is a good runner, was generally near the front of the packs during running drills. Kennedy didn't join in drills, just ran some laps. It's always entertaining watching the McDonald bro's when they're 1v1 in drills. This time it was marking and although Tom had the upper hand most of the time Oscar snagged a few good ones. You can tell he's now taller and will only get better as he fills out. Kent was running pretty quick, was very happy to see that. Really hope he gets a good crack next year. He's got a beautiful thumping kick too. Dunn vocal as usual but Watts seems to be the most encouraging of the boys, really getting around everyone with fives and back slapping. Saw ANB at one point but didn't see him take part in anything. Vandenberg definitely looks trimmer and fitter than a year ago. Hopefully next time the new draftees will be there as well, looking forward to seeing them out there.

My Brother was there and commented on vandenBerg looking trim, taut and terrific. He was leading his running group. This time last year he was walking laps with his arm in a sling.

Wagner will be useful in the Bach-line once he can Handel our game plan.

The clapping was for Viv Michie staying on our list.

I attended that game Apsley v Redland Bombers from the highlight package, although I didn't know anything about him he was clearly the best young player on the ground classy players just stand out. Queensland footy has come on in leaps and bounds in recent times the afl are really pumping in some dollars. Redland had 3 drafted today plus Keays on Tues. Brisbane Afl juniors is very popular. Four U11 teams at the one club where my son played this season.

vandenFyfe.

just left training at gosch's and sam turned up (I think towards the end?) milling about having a chat with a few staff. he looked happy and eager. had his dees jacket on. he definitely gives off a confident aura. looking forward to seeing what he can do!

Lovett not picked up. Off to casey and proves himself as a father son next year.

Thought you guys would like that We also only changed our minds on Oliver from Parish on Monday night

Please gamble responsibly.

You're my new favourite poster. Beautifully written report.

Good opportunity for him to show that he still has what it takes to make it. We could do worse than have him as a depth player. Welcome back Viv, and all the best. If you do a Jetta I think all of us will be very pleased!

Welcome back Viv ... (did he ever leave?)

Josh Wagner

Darcy Moore played 9 games last year (his first) and Joe Daniher played 5 in his first. Somewhere between 5-10 sounds about right.

Handel it Moonie? The bloke's a Messiah.

He will run rings around the opposition.

25 min before the draft started. Impressive???

It is reading posts like these that are going on between prodee, binman and ron that make coming here so much fun. I sometimes forget that we are all on the same side here supporting the wonderful MFC. For the record I feel that No4 is set for a big year and will be integral to us surprising many in the industry this year.

I want PD to wear Watts' face, but I'd rather Watts didn't play any games. I'm so conflicted.

There's a lady that I work with that actually looks very similar to this.I think of this 'wat' meme when I look at her. She always has spelling mistakes in her emails, she regularly calls in sick and this one time she wore crocs to work.

Got mine yesterday. On the back of last year's card it indicated that I had 48 years of consecutive membership. This year's card says I have 46 years. Now, while I would love roll the years back that easily, I was proud to be approaching 50 years of membership. To their credit, I called the club and they have undertaken to amend this and reinstate my antiquity.

And last year was the 2014 draft - Brayshaw Petracca Stretch ANB O Mac White and vandenBerg Let's talk about this one

Congratulations on your award and thanks so much for the excellent report. Rapt there is a bit of swagger happening... love it!

I am sure Roos is on record as saying the club thought get the draft picks and the rest looks after itself. Its clearly a mixture of picking the right player and providing the right environment for development. From 07 through to 10 we had 10 top 20 picks (plus Maric at 21) and we have not hit the jackpot with any of them. If a player does not work out you can’t just point the finger at the recruiter. I can’t be convinced we got the selection wrong 11 times.

Will be interested to see if he can conduct himself properly.

Wagner seems composed and could inspire us to rule the whole world.

thanks probably a silly statement, but in many ways he reminds me of hodge

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2015-11-27/rookie-draft-pick-no6-josh-wagner Wow pretty impressive. Good big body, can take a mark,can lay a good tackle and every single kick on that video was to a target. Not one kick was a long bomb. Now its a highlights package but a pretty good one. Has a side step and good vision as well.

Looks a gun, although I've never seen him. or heard of him.

No, Sheedy got us Hogan, with his greed and revenge, on the club that overlooked him.

Without an engine, Weideman would definitely start at FF, and Hogan CHF. I doubt that he plays more than 5 games next year, given his injury history. Saints eased McCartin in this year, and I think we'll do the same.

I tell you what... I'll change my avatar to Binman's choice for 6 months from the day he plays his 11th game (won't happen) and you can dictate my signature for the corresponding period.

I like the cut of his jib. Weirderman (sic) I think he will play about 5 games next year and more importantly I think Hogan will love playing with him, these two are going to cause havoc amongst backlines for years to come. Jeff G & Kent will be licking their lips.

Still have alot of faith Trenners will be back, and will shut alot of doubters up in 2016, he's as good a young player as we have and fully fit, look out.

I've just had a brief chat with a friend of his Mother. She tells me that Hulett is another kid who was in the sights of several clubs before copping injuries in the last year or so. Melbourne have been following him for several years and have a pretty good idea of what he can do. She also said she's going to have to defect from the Tigers to come and support him at the Dees.

Agree re: Tahana, have decided he's the one I want today. Another super competitive player with good pace and skills, and we need another small to medium defender coming through.

I wouldn't go as far as saying that we will win a premiership in 2018 or even be in contention but this is what I'm expecting our best 22 to look like: FB: N Jetta T McDonald O McDonald HB: B Stretch S Frost J Melksham C: C Salem A Brayshaw D Tyson HF: C Petracca J Hogan C Oliver FF: J Garlett S Weideman D Kent R: M Gawn J Viney D Prestia I: M King (either one) J Harmes A Neal-Bullen A Vandenberg E: T Bugg B Kennedy M White This team factors in the inclusion of Prestia during next years trade period. It doesn't include any players 30 or over. It doesn't include any other future traded in players or draft picks which could potentially bolster our team further. Not a bad looking team on paper!

Yes interesting subject. Was Jordie a success? 79 games from the rookie draft. Few blokes would have eked out that sort of career with his level of talent. Jordie got the most successful career he could have hoped for. A case of ultimate effort over genetic shortcomings. As a counterpoint the lazy yet supremely talented Allen Jakovich with his dodgy back played 54, Jurrah a paltry 36 and Steve Febey 250+.

Hope your right City. Eddie runs with the hare and hunts with the hounds. If he turns out to be a dud or injury prone, Eddie will be smug and say I told you so. Now if the opposite is true, Eddie will be totally [censored] off and will be trying like hell to attract him to Pie land down the track. But we all hope that one day, Weideman plays a blinder against the Pies. Goal after the siren would be just perfect. A grim angry Eddie would be worth seeing.

After year one we were all pretty happy with Scully & Trengove, Gysberts had shown he could win a lot of the ball at AFL level and most were very optimistic about Tapscott. Gawn had also earned a senior appearance and held his own. The fact that the players all stagnated or went backwards is the depressing thing. I'll show myself out now.

I was right there that day. About 30 meters from the gangbang. I dunno if it made or broke the bloke, but it was a nasty hello to the big game, especially with the BS we trumpeted about him before he ran out. It wasn't the pick we screwed up; it was the way we managed the boy we picked. Collingwood just smelt the blood and acted like I'd hope we did if the situations were reversed.