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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

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. ​

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.

Forget to add a little something. After the draft I sent an email to my close friend who works with the Murray Bushrangers under 18s development and I asked him about King and this is what I got.. Great kid. Missed first part of season after knee reco last year. Great reader of the game and an awesome knowledge of the game and loves to work hard and learn. Great get. Gave you the Oliver tip !!!!

https://chimericalredamancy.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/why-im-not-a-grammar-nazi/ "Learning a language is never easy, especially to someone who hasn’t been given a shot at as good an education as they would’ve liked. And when people like that have the courage to try their hand at communication in a world where scrutiny, scorn and criticism is just a less than perfectly prounounced vowel away, it’s pretty remarkable. Shooting them down by disparagingly ‘correcting’ them will eventually discourage them from learning." ...or participating. Tough love my foot. IDAD is right. Lay off him.

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

I said gday to him at training yesterday, he's a good kid but let's give him dome time. He's pretty lightly built still & obviously needs to build that tank. 2016 is purely a development year.

Spoke to a mate in recruiting. His opinion: Oliver Wouldn't have made it past 5 Will likely be an exceptional talent (better than Wines) The dees will have an amazing inside midfield in the next few years. Weideman needs time to get his body right. King and to a lesser extent Huwlet - Speculative Wagner, skilled but slow

Hogan doesn't give a sh*t how many blokes are around him.

Nah, 2016 is all about "competitors" and Watts is one of the least competitive footballers I've ever seen. If one looks at most of our recent draftees there's a distinctive hard edge, whether it be ANB, Oliver, Petracca, Brayshaw, Viney, Salem, Tyson (trade), and vandenBerg. The club made a statement by dropping him in the last game and the message from Roos has been clear ever since. He mentioned competitors in his B&F speech and just 3 days ago said, “There are some non-negotiables now for kids coming in. You give yourself a better chance if you are a competitor,’’. The messages are clear for those that want to read them. Watts is toast.

H nominating himself I think was more out of embarrassment over his performance last season. It was his way of saying to the fans, "I can do better". Hopefully he's right. Gawn is a ripper all round. We're pretty blessed to have him at the club.

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.

Gets more Hoochie.

Well I listened to the views as expressed and I feel I need to support Jack Watts for the following reasons 1 He rarely wastes a disposal 2 He rarely misses a goal 3 He is the best link man we have got 4 He selflessly dropped himself when he felt not up to scratch ( and in the cut throat world pf professional sport I see this as actually displaying leadership)! 5 He is blessed with the one attribute not many of any of our players have! Time!! A shimmy here a twist there, this makes him pretty unique. FWIW I will say that Jack will be a revelation this year and play really well. You know if he played at Hawthorn or Freo of one of the other top sides he would be an absolute world beater!! Answer me this ..would Bruest be as sensational a player if he played with us?? Nar, I reckon Jack Watts will surprise many, maybe even himself! Go Jack Go Dees!

He is 18. And he was a student, not a sportsman, when he ran that time. But, nah, let's not have any context, coz that's [censored] boring...

Rubbish and hyperbole. My favourite thing about Watts is you can find out the people who have little understanding about footy and choose to make definitive statements about him and come out at this time every year saying "it's his last chance" blah blah.

The thing is that he's still better than many on our list. The only way that he won't be on our list in 2017 will be if he's traded or signs elsewhere. People are talking about this being his last chance to be an AFL player. I think that he's better than a lot of other players running around at the moment. It would be interesting to visit a parallel universe where Jack Watts was pick #67 and to see how people perceive him.

Yout don't you don't watch the hawks much do u, I bet they are the number one team for short kicks, they don't kick long out of the backline

That's the impression I got too, and I'd rather players who back themselves than those that are scared to. Good on him for putting himself out there to perform in 2016.

They played God without asking me - The incredible human toll extracted by state-sponsored doping Just a reminder of where it can all lead - those who want to give up the fight against drugs in sport because it's all too hard need to be careful what they wish for. The above linked story applies to the East German doping program but it could equally apply to the current Russian doping program or the Chinese swimming doping program ... or indeed it could apply to a doping program which is a lot closer to home. Note: if the above link doesn't work try copying and pasting the link to google.

The next person to do a bad pun will get a boot in their orchestra stalls!!!

the club/fans have moved on from him. Too many years, and too many other young hopefuls in. He is no longer a focus anymore. This will either work for/against Jack. no excuses now.

I'm a fan. Go Jack.

saw smith joining in on the marking drill when i rocked up today.. he was really competitive. strong in the upper body, i saw jade rawlings encouraging him to use better technique to push off and guard the drop zone. looked way better than i was expecting! tom mac & melksham killed the marking drill though. matt jones tried really hard. for only a little tacker he went ok.. melksham outmarked tom on one occasion though. he'll be good for us next year.

He will have an amazing year playing high half forward wing, 2016 will be his best by far, there were some really good signs in 2015 let himself down in the last 4 to 5 games.

The clapping was for Viv Michie staying on our list.

Taken by the Bulldogs - they should have kept Daniel Cross two years ago. Their loss - our gain.

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.

Try to talk footy for once DC because IHNIWTFYATA

Forgive you for having it in rather late....? Mate, you're a legend for getting it in at all!

He only actually realised the sacrifices over the past 12 months. Most potential draftees realise it at least 3-4 years beforehand. In 2014, Oliver was "tubby" according to a few teammates at the Bushrangers. If you consider how far he has come in a short time of "discipline over indulgence" (Lyonism), the upside you see might actually be higher.

It is 5% slower. 3km is running goalline to goal on the MCG 20 times. If he chased his 'elite' 10th place-getting opponent the ength of the ground and back he would be 3 seconds behind. Who cares. It is footy not track and field. God it really is ridiculous in this day age with people getting sports science data online and pretending that it means something on an AFL field The formula is agilty test/skinfolds+white blood cell count=brownlow votes fmd

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

Jack Trengove back with a vengeance.

Harmes.

I think Salem will take his game to another level this year. I think he will be like Luke Hodge ... but with more demerit points

See they had the cement truck there for Dawsey

Try this https://six6six.smugmug.com/Training27112015/n-x72ZKW Let me know.

Ride of the Valkyries?

Going by the 2nd half of the year, no his is not best 22, and the last round proved that. Next year is a new year, players will be judged on their commitment to pre-season training and NAB games, not on the performance from the previous year. Is it a confidence issue with JW? Is that the only thing holding him back? He still looks way too similar to that boy on QB. Loved how he tried to take the game on more this year, he is so quick off the mark. Just wish it would click for him and we see his U18 form translate to the seniors, I really do.

Please gamble responsibly.

She found a replacement?

you poor bastard!!

Defensive work??? We are not planning for this guy to be a tagger. the best form of defense for this guy is attack. Sides will need to get 2 players on him in order to bring him down. Are you comparing him to Mckenzie because he is a red head? Mckenzie couldn't break tackles and is listed as 71kg. Clayton has 15 kg on Jordan and has just turned 18.

From the highlights packages his first instinct is the same as Viney - see ball get ball without hesitation. I am not suggesting other players are timid but there is a rare breed who do not wait for a play to unfold to make a move - their first instinct is to make the play. Oliver appears to me as this sort of player.

Is that just in a season? Jaeger O'Meara style transformation.