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Dropped in for 20minutes on my way home. Any other posters there to flesh out the session? I walked in on the end of an end to end drill that culminated in 'Pederson' out marking Hogan. He looked displeased, the drill finished and he joking jogged over and tagged Track, implying that he wanted him on his team next run. Drill over running on. Newbies looking a little lost, having shoots at goal. Weiderman looks like he'll be a second year prospect. Not enough size to him to compete with the monsters. I think it was Hulett who was with him and King (newbie). Hulett seem ready physically, mentally and was slotting them soundly. He won't win second prize in a beauty contest but, looks to be a pretty good contested mark. Milky seems to be fitting I well, nice kick and vision. Didn't see enough of Kennedy, but, looks the part. Everything Track touches the ball, I notice a lot of glances over the shoulder by team mates. Was in the non contact vest, but, the boys were constantly calling him out and sliding one his way for a shot on goal. Love seeing Gawn and Kent develop such s good bond. Look forward to seeing that blossom this season. Had to run to a school performance that just finished! Torture. Hope someone else has a little more insight.

Apologies for delay in getting to this, but I did pop into training for about half an hour before work and like others, was absolutely rapt with the quality, variety and intensity of their work at this stage. They did seem to be doing more clearance/tackling work than last year and there was also groups practising the old set play of a handball give and release to a player who then kicked long to a target. Petracca, Hoges and King were the recipients of the passes - ie: they are being set to play as forwards. Salem was clearly the most lethal of the guys releasing it to them. The newcomers are still being carefully managed so spent most of their time cycling. Brayshaw is doing one-direction fitness running work, so I suspect he has had a bit of the old OP - which could also explain why he faded out a bit last year after the Geelong game. Jonesy is now getting close to full work - he's even doing some marking on a lead work. Dom Tyson was also being managed a bit as was Jake Spencer. Obviously it depends on where you end up standing, but I had a really close look at the tackling/clearance work group and the highlight was when Viney was tackled by a short guy and was unable to break free - that's no mean feet to achieve given Jack's strength for his size. When they got up off the ground I was gobsmacked who it was - little Billy Stretch is now little, really strong Billy Stretch. He has bulked up in a big way and a little later he broke clear of a chasing group and snagged a left foot goal on the run. Overall our standard is just way, way better than three years ago and almost every player looked dangerous at times. We will be heaps more competitive this year.

Like I said just prior to the trade period, I ran into him in Germany. He was a very fine young bloke and was willing to chat for 10 - 15 min, he didn't have to, but he did. Very quickly I could tell he didn't want to talk about footy (we predominantly spoke about travel), and as discussed in his recent interview it took its toll. After that I very quickly went to his corner, and my word I'm hoping he thrives at the Dees, for both him personally and us a club. Get around him!

Watched Jakes interview on MFC site and wanted to encourage us supporters to fully get behind this young man as he restarts his career at Melbourne. He's a talented mid, half back who should slot straight into our team and add value. He's been put through the meat grinder of the Dons drug fiasco and ensuing hearings. Suffering that he did nothing to cause. And he's our boy now, and I really wish him well. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2015-12-08/china-southern-arrivals-lounge-jake-melksham

When I heard the full description of the incident I was absolutely shocked at the tiny amount of reaction from RFC and the AFL. Clearly the woman has "accepted the apology" out of pure fear after being so intimated. A supporter is pretty much banned for life from AFL games (as well as serving some jail time) for slapping a woman at a game, yet a star player can physically intimidate and threaten to kill a woman in a public place and he merely has to give the standard "embarrassed apology" and that's it?! This needs to be a bigger issue than what the RFC and AFL have let it be so far, I'm glad KB has gone so hard about it given it's the club he's generally so biased about.

I guarantee you that if this was a lesser known player he would have had the book thrown at him by the club. Why is the AFL not stepping in here? Surely this brings the game into disrepute?

It's got me buggered why anyone would want Roos to leave early! He's likely to sit down with PJ & Board and find a role post coaching stint at Melbourne. He's said as much in the Burgan interview. The man is integral to the culture shift at the club, is well regarded with his rightful delegation of tasks to the FD group which is integral to the shift.

Got bored and tried to make one

Don't see how someone can return to somewhere they're not from

Confucius say... "beware dipstick with chopstick".

We get so caught up in the emotion of just winning games that we don't stop enough to realise that coaches, players and administrators are just ordinary people like you and me. Dean Bailey always came across as a genuinely good man and always conducted himself with quiet dignity. When we talk about life situations and insidious diseases like cancer, whether someone was a good coach or not pales into insignificance. Everyone who speaks about Dean Bailey does so with warmth and affection and to his family and friends I am positive he is sadly missed.

Even these little snippets are gold. Thanks for sharing.

Bloke at work who knows Jade Rawlings told me some interesting stuff about Simon Goodwin and the Roosy appointment. Rawlings absolutely rates Goodwin and reckons he is up there with one of the best coaches he's ever worked with, saying he's up there with Pagan, Clarkson and that's not a word of lie. Straight from his mouth my workmate said. I quizzed him on it and said surely not but he said Rawlings absolutely said that and has that high of an opinion of Goodwin and his knowledge of the game and the way he works with players. He also said tactically he is brilliant, felt as though the team could have won more games last year if Goodwin's style of coaching was in practice, players absolutely love him and feed off everything he says. Rawlings also said he applied for the coaching position and was disappointed not to get it and felt as though if someone got it who he thought didn't deserve it he would be annoyed but has seen how good Goodwin is and he is the best man to take over from Roosy. Also said Roosy is a very good delegator and man manager. Culture at the club is the best he's seen it in all his time. Thought i'd just post to all demonlanders a little insight

No-one commenting on this and making assertions as to what happened and drawing conclusions .....was actually there. What do we know? There was an altercation between a football star with past misbehaviours who was under the influence of something and a media flunky ....and we have a story which will run for days and draw opinion pieces from the football media. God almighty we have wars, innocent civilians being blown apart by terrorists, famine across the world, a flood of dispossed refugees fleeing war, widespread violence and racism on a massive scale, the world as we know it threatened by climate change and the extinction of species every day. Go out on the streets of Melbourne and talk to the homeless, dispossed, jobless, and indeed poverty stricken folks who have nothing. And over the next few days the media will be obsessed by the misbehaviour of a footballer.

How many days 'til the footy seasons back? See you all then.

Most of you hated him on little evidence, good to see you starting to like him on little evidence...

It's ok, Dr Nick reattached it...

Yikes!! You are an old fart.

He might make a few on here eat their words.

It was only an early glimpse, but I liked the look of him at training. He reads the play really well at a stoppage and loves bursting clear. A nice touch was Jesse wandering over under his own volition and joining in two or three stoppage drills with the newbies and Brett Allison. After one of them he had the groups attention for 30 seconds or so as he gave some tutelage. He then wandered off somewhere else. He has an unmistakeable leadership quality.

I'm starting this thread because Andy is too much of a gentleman to ask for some help to run this site. Everyone of us has benefited by the the conversations, banter, humour, despair, joy and excitement of being part of this site. What else would we be doing during the off-season without our daily dose of Demonland? To the point, the site costs money to run. You have all seen the value of the new software that Andy and Nasher have installed. And guess who paid for that? What everyone doesn't see is the extra time and labour and tweaking which then has to be done to make it all work. "Demonland is a Melbourne Football Club fan site powered by fans for the fans. There are many costs associated in bringing you this site. We offer Lifetime and Annual subscriptions so that you can contribute to the running of the site but we are also aware that there are people who want to contribute but can only afford a little bit or have already contributed and want to again. If you would like to make a donation to Demonland it would be greatly appreciated and will go towards running and maintaining this website. " So without Andy having to ask, perhaps we can all show our gratitude and thanks by tipping in a little toward the target of $2,000. EDIT: Changed the target to $2,000 which is what it cost Andy to purchase the new software. Here's starting it off with $100 George

What?

when they bypassed him he should have walked

But but but bb they got the price of pies down!

Matt Jones and Dean Terlich should be an ok trade for them. Done. See, list management isn't that hard.

wowee. You really are quite stupid. I explained the whole situation in full, and said that she was also verbally abusive to him. I never said she deserved any of it, or even mentioned physical violence as being an appropriate response. I was purely giving people the full insight into the situation, that the media hadn't reported. I will repeat myself again: "Still, all that aside, his "chopstick reaction" was not warranted and deserves to be punished."

lol. i didn't say any of that. Was just saying that there was more to the situation so people were informed, and it wasn't as if Dusty just came up to her for no reason. I can lie and say the situation was different if it appeases you? Perhaps you didn't read the part where i said, "all that aside, his reaction was uncalled for..." But yes Stuie, you fill in the gaps to suit yourself as you please.

lol, aren't we all?

Seen the figures for how many women have been murdered this year in Australia? It's pretty clearly a problem in itself whether your head is in the sand on purpose or not.

I await the day when we hear a press conference to tell us Mr Martin is suffering from depression and for all to show him due respect while he deals with his plight.

Interesting that the media take out of it is 'Jake didn't want to leave'.

Should be nothing less than a police matter.

Yikes!! ..... that even pre-dates me McQueen! My bad, but it did prompt a good old belly laugh on my behalf. Not only am I an old fart, but obviously I'm a silly old fart!

Not wanting to pick a fight, honestly, but whilst you may have good sources as far as i can recall nothing that has happened thus far in the EFC supplement saga indicates your sources have been spot on. I mean you certainly have pontificated alot and mentioned your highly placed sources often enough but as far i can tell what has actually transpired thus far has been predictable and in fact has been accurately predicted by many on this thread who have not claimed such sources. Happy to be corrected

Yes, comes across as a nice guy who was a bit lost. After all the poo that has been all things Essendon for the past few years it is easy to forget that they are just young blokes wanting to enjoy their footy. Can't blame any of them for wanting a fresh start

Im guessing but given every player and his dog named Petracca as the player to watch next year and also the Club only rates him behind Hogan for talent I'd say that they are looking over their shoulders just to watch what he does next. Players can be fans too.

Shows the split of poster mindsets on this forum. Someone mentioning wada and another comparing the situation to Neeld just because a poster has heard Goodwin is well liked and respected by the other coaches and the playing group. I love hearing this sort of stuff. It's the offseason, what else would you want to hear? You can't win games of footy in December so if you care enough to continue posting on your footy team's forum, surely you'd rather be hearing this than the energywatch saga or someone doing an acl? This sort of story getting spun to the negative says a lot about the posters concerned. Live in the now, man.

Sometimes. I think you like a lot of posters have a bit of selective memory happening here. In the 2015 season we started to address this problem and when sides came back at us we steadied and then pushed on for the win...sometimes, not always of course and there were some bad results. This is part of a growing team. I'm not as concerned about this now with the turnover of the list, the quality of kids in the team and the maturity of the FD...it sure was a problem though.

http://www.breakfastwithbails.com/ I haven't read the book but I knew and worked with the man. He was a different cat and one with great insight and an agile mind. Very good for under the Christmas tree and will, I assume, support his family.

This article is about Melksham but it gives a good insight into Goodwin as a coach from the player's view: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-12-08/melksham-ready-to-make-mark-at-melbourne 'In describing Goodwin, Melksham said the first word that came to mind about the Adelaide great was that he was “driven”...“Everything he does, he commits 100 per cent … he believes in what he’s doing and he’s come from a successful background. He’s played in a few flags at Adelaide and he’s been there and done it, so you trust what he’s saying,” he said...“The club’s in very good hands and speaking with the players over the last few weeks, they’re really excited to have him on board with Roosy (Paul Roos). He’s brought a little bit of change to the club as well and I think this transition phase in the next year will be really smooth.” These echo comments related in the op. The underlined parts are terrific qualities in a coach to get his team on board and go on the journey with him. I don't think the stories about Goodwin are 'feel goods' to appease supporters in the off season. Of course only on-field performance will be the telling. Like Melksham says 'we are in good hands' and given where we have been that is quite something.

Makes me just a touch angry really.

I think their raffles have predetermined results, just like how they reward Melbourne based members that attend every home game and not interstate members who continually renew their membership, and offer incentives to new members. just my thoughts....

The probability of a draft pick in the high 20's being a 100+ player is quite low. The probability of that player being a star is even more remote. JM has already played over 100 games and a there is a chance that he might actually turn into a very valuable player. Even if we don't see him this year (re WADA) I think its a risk worth taking.

The poor guy was a scapegoat in an embarrassing time for the MFC. He deserved to be treated a lot better than he was.

Because they have maxed out and are poorly coached...they've again failed to improve their list and it is badly flawed. Natural progression will not happen with this list. That's about the only reason I can come up with. As for beating the Hawks, tell me when they do it in a final. In fact tell me when they beat anyone in a final and I might take some notice of them.

Just plonked down $50, well overdue. Thanks fellas for your work.

Don't want to be a stick in the mud, but seriously, what did you expect him to say??