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Got there after 2, stayed for 90 or so minutes, wasn't paying awfully close attention as I was meeting a friend for a catch up. Frost and Dawes were gone 5 minutes later. Seemingly just making an appearance. Lumumba not much after that. No sign of J Smith, Harmes or Newton. Vince (with a finger/hand bandage), Jetta, Watts, Spencer running laps. Trenners having a kick, then out in to sprints in very good time. Got a big cheer from the boys. Tyson and Brayshaw did kick to kick with Crossy then in to some paired runs. Tyson put a gap on Gus. Jeffie doing some drills with the young fellas and then boxing with the boxing coach. The 4 draftees did some boxing as well. Including where the boxing coach hammers in to their guts whilst they are kneeling and doing upper cuts. Clarry in particular was copping a hammering and grunting and swearing his way through it. Great stuff. Nath Jones back in the main group! Petracca as well. Usual pressure ball movement style drills. Different ones I remember: 1. Lining up in a line like a tug of war without the rope, ball thrown to one group who have to handball to another 2. 5 v 3 defenders in tight then 2 more handballing from congestion up to a trainer 3. Kicking from backline to goals up 1/3rd of the ground v 3 defenders 4. Forming a conga line and running around a cone before the ball being thrown out for one group who then had to handball through the congestion Lots of pressure on the skills and there were some clean moments. A group featuring Garlett, Petracca, Vanders had the ball motoring from the backline through to goals. The highlight of the session was in a handball drill where it became 5 v 2 at the end to weave through handball to a trainer, young Ben Ainsworth (who's usually all class) sold too much candy and stalled momentum leading to the ball movement breaking down. I think it was Ben Matthews who yelled to him "Benny if you to sell candy then f off to the candy shop". Maybe a little harsh on the kid but the point was made clear and he's talented enough to take the criticism. Made for a chuckle from the crowd and a few others though. Otherwise it seemed a pretty straight forward session.

Trac and Vanders were both looking clean and strong with their disposal. They are going to be very good to watch this year. I think I overheard Vanders giving some cheek "Trac! Would you prefer laces in or out?" I wasn't there long, but, I also noticed the focus was on decision making and skills under pressure. Feedback being shot out in retrospect by the coaches ( as an aside, loved seeing Todd kicking balls back to Jack after a goal kicking drill finished). Stretch junior was looking pretty sharp in the skills sessions. Prompting, I think it was Dunn, to jokingly call out "skills!..and he knows it!" He is going to look pretty smart streaming in off the members like his old man. Harmes is going to be interesting. He keeps making you look. From what I saw; very few mistakes, great intensity, a little unpredictability and a sense he is not going to give up his place easily. Also loved watching Hogan practice his leading and marking out in front with the assistants. I get the sense that what he seeks is seeking him. Thanks Georgiou, spot on with your report! I hope you don't mind I used your piece to bounce off. Will pop in anything else I remember as others report or as I feel the need to exaggerate the potent potential that is the future of the MFC.

Trengove sprinting laps at training

Love Walter

I'm black or white with Trengove*. His first 2 years were terrific. I love Brayshaw, but the facts are Trengove had a better debut season while being nearly 9 months younger. And he's never had brilliant coaching or development. The only reason Trengove became a hack was his body. If his body gets back to 100% he can develop into an A-grader. If not he's finished. I don't see any in between. *I also didn't like how he was coached under Neeld. He stopped hunting the footy and was just led around at stoppages by the player he was shadowing.

There is a large leap from "some confidence" to "one of the best in the league".

I went to training today too, with my brother, was the first session we had been to this pre season. On a side note, my brother is a sponsor of Jack Trengove (hope he doesnt mind me saying that!!!) and we had a chat to JT in between his running and skills. JT seemed really happy and said he was feeling good. He was moving well and is just getting used to doing everything again, basically getting accustomed to doing what everyone else would see as normal, such as running! He stated he aims to be ready to be selected in round 1. Back to everyone else though, I got there really early and all of JT, Gus, Dawes, Spencer, Vince, Watts, Tyson, Frost were all doing running from 1:15 to 2:00. Of these guys, the most of them then went on and did kicking skills for over an hour. They were all working really hard. Then everyone else arrived. To whoever said Harmes wasnt there, he was, but I understand missing people as they were hard to distinguish at times. Some seperate notes from me: I was super happy with the skills in real blustery conditions, best I have seen in a while. Was also really pleased with the enthusiasm, energy by all players and especially loved the tackling and pressure, it was super hard and fierce. I didnt see many tackles get broken, not without trying, but the tackles stuck and they went in hard. I also know, from a reliable source (always wanted to say that!) that they are trying to train the team to now be more attacking, play more modern football, not just the Paul Roos 1 on 1 style. Goodwin is more of a modern coach who wants to attack more, defend as a team and take the game on. Hopefully they pick it up well and we see more forward movement this year. Individually: Petracca is a beast, his skills were really good too and his leap is still huge VDB looks slimmer and really was impressive. I thought kennedy trained really well and his speed and evasiveness were impressive. Hunt looks really quick and his skills were fine. Gawn has improved, just looks more agile and better endurance. Can see him dominating this year. Hogan was hogan, but what i liked most was his vision and risk taking decisions in drills, he takes the game on! Wiedemann looks real tall, but is skinny in comparison to others. Can see he is working hard but will take some time. Kent looks great and his foot skills and pace were great. I rate him so highly, so i hope he stays fit this year. Along with kent, the kicking skills of Salem just look so smooth, he was moving well, so lets hope he can make the move to the midfield more this season. I like the look of White, his foot skills were great and he goes in hard and has some size. Very good back up. Cant think of any others right now, but if you have any questions, just ask! Overall though i was really impressed today, made me fell much more confident, consdering some of our better and more senior players werent doing heaps.

I saw about the first 45 minutes of training today.I had been to quite a few training sessions throughout the 2015 season and had noticed towards the end of the season how fatigued some of the players looked.So it was a nice sight today to see everyone looking sharp and refreshed. Georgiou has given an excellent report so I wont go into too much detail but I'd like to point out a couple of things I noticed such as: Petracca's disposals were flawless,after each drill he was asking Goodwin and N. Jones for feedback about his decisions Clayton Oliver seems to have a good head for football,as soon as he gets the ball he has already made a decision what to do with it(a refeshing sight after the 'deer in the headlights' mentality we have seen in previous years by Melbourne players) Kent and Vanders tearing it up again.

In his first year? I think not.

"Ho-Ho-Hogan!" Opportunity missed.

If Jones and Vince are not A-Graders they aren't far off. I think Viney will be A-Grade next year, his improvement has been consistent for 3 years and I expect him to go another level, he looks so determined. Tyson had a great first year (for the Dees) but stagnated last year due to injury, not sure how high his ceiling is. Brayshaw and Salem are just about the most impressive 1st & 2nd players I've seen at the club in the past 15 years. Nobody can know if Trengove will get back to his best, i'm an optimist with him. I hope he can come back to something near the best he showed in his first couple of years. Vandenberg will be a solid contributor, I think his hardness gets the opposition nervous and gives our guys a lift. Petracca and Oliver are pure potential but the noises out of the club, particularly around Petracca, have me very bullish. Curry & Beer left out a few others that look pretty handy; ANB, Stretch, Bugg and Harmes who at the least appear servicable. If I was to crystal ball it, i'd guess that at least 2 of Viney, Brayshaw, Salem and Petracca will go a level from B+ to A+ (A+ being "Star" of the game) Vince, Jones will remain solid B+ players, age being the issue for them now, Tyson, Vandenberg and Bugg potentially match them at some stage. Question marks remain with Trengove, Oliver, ANB, Stretch and Harmes. The critical things they all bring are competitiveness and hardness. This is something we haven't seen for a number of years. I'm bloody excited to be honest.

Steady on. We were 18th in the midfield this year. That would be a leap of ridiculous proportions.

I'm so looking forward to the day Trenners runs out on the G with the boys again......it will be a very emotional return.

Yes and Salem's skills are sublime. He was walking along between drills and kicked the ball with heavy back spin, about 20m, it reared back quickly and acutely after hitting the turf and landed neatly in his hands. Without a beat being missed, he casually nailed someone, with a laces out (must have been Trac)pass that required extraordinary reflexes to pick up its speed and Mark. Always working on the craftsmanship of the game.

I like the idea of the Demonland logo not matching the Melbourne logo, it just reaffirms our independence from the club.

Here you go, first quarter it was, this is the actual goal. I've watched this game on replay many times! The ball starts about 30 out from our own goal, and goes coast to coast. You can see ANB behind the wing as Lumumba takes off: http://www.afl.com.au/video/smart-replay?round=CD_R201501412&matchId=CD_M20150141206&eventType=Goal&seek=1201&videoQuality=high

That's funny you should say that. I was saying to a mate on Friday that several of the top draft picks were being compared to Jake Stringer when in fact I reckon Jake Stringer should be compared to the track ie Stringer is the trac mark 2. I'm not sure he'll make the same impact as Hogan but there is a few similarities. One is that the Trac has sat out a season, another is that he now has an AFL ready body. Another is he has an X factor and also shares the Hogan swagger. A gun. I suspect he will play half forward and be a very hard match up given the best back will have to go to Jessie, a decent player will have to cover Gartlett and if fit Kent will pose some problems in terms of match ups. Looking at photos the track is a beast, almost too big. Big in the legs he'll be hard to move off the ball in the way that Leigh Matthews was and he will be a real handful. I reckon 25 goals is a possibility. If he stays fit he is likely to play all games and is great vale for the Rising Star at $6.50

Was he quick?

"Private moments" Had to laugh RJay.

Pick 7 was bid on Viney, so he most certainly qualifies as a top 10 talent.

Vince and vandenBerg aside, all first rounders. It's only fitness holding Trengove back. Some people seem to have forgotten that he was a bloody good footballer, a natural fooballer too.

I have been reading Demonland posts for the past couple of years and really enjoy the way that all contributors "go at it". Being a die hard Dee supporter (18 year member) I cant get enough info on what I think is happening and what is really happening inside the MFC Zone. I am now a fully paid up member and now look forward to a reading all and sundry posts without those pangs of guilt at not being a paid up member.

Apparently their new Chairman says that if found guilty, Jobe Watson should be allowed to keep his Brownlow medal. They might as well give Rolf Harris back his OA and CBE too.

Running solo. And he didn't seem to be doing a huge number of them to test endurance/repeat speed. It's too early to tell what shape he's in regarding speed and endurance for footy. I'm just positive that he and staff have the freedom to let him sprint 150 or so metres. That'll do me for now.

The training thread says he was kicking and sprinting at very good pace today. Still a long way from full training, but you have to call it good progress.

I spoke to him today at training and he said he had a scan this morning - everything fine.But he only trained for a short time.

I watched some youtube clips on the weekend (there is a bunch of good stuff here https://www.youtube.com/user/Jackhammer1796) and was reminded of how good Brayshaw was last season. Some of his tackling is ferocious - the Geelong game has some terrific examples. But the thing that jumped out was the number of goals he set up intercepting or linking up at half back, running and carrying and kicking long into our forward line. Gartlett got at least 3 goals as a result and Spencer got a crucial one against Geelong. Deceptively pentrating and accurate kick (of both legs) who will only get longer as he gets stronger.

Yup - I have always been in the "poor development" rather than "poor drafting" camp ( with the disclaimer that we have just got some plain wrong). Throw young untapped talent into the cesspool that was our club and you are guaranteed to get the same result time after time. I am very bullish that now we not only have talent but we have the necessary "schooling" in place to get the best out of them. There is absolutely a theme running through each and every one of our draftees - guys who love the contest. We have had some hard nuts in the past but the difference now is we have a regime that demands that these guys live up to that promise. So yes - I am bullish as I have ever been about our future - but I still won't suggest we have one of the best midfields in the comp !

Looks good. Love it..

I agree that Brayshaw has a better footy IQ and makes better decisions. I reckon Brayshaw will become a brilliant midfielder. That said, Trengove was also strong, brave and had good skills for a teenager. Trengove has missed tonnes of development and I remain confident he has the potential to be A-grade if his body allows. We've never seen anything like his best footy.

Demonland's away strip

I had dinner with an assistant coach from another club who said exactly the same thing. Under Bailey he was a pure mid, hunt the footy and create play. Under Neeld he played high half forward which is a position that didn't suit him. He said he wasn't fast enough to play any sort of outside role and was a pure inside mid. I'm a huge fan of Trengove as a person but was never as keen as some on his footy as it seemed to me that he was a tall in a small body. His major highlights were contested marks and whilst he got the ball a bit he didn't seem to be all that damaging to me. Perhaps time has dulled my memory but he strikes me as being a solid accumulator. I also disagree with your view that Trengove had a better first couple of years than Brayshaw. Perhaps in possessions he did but Brayshaw to me has as much footy smarts as any first year player I've seen. He knows where players are, he invariably takes the best options and he works so hard off the ball. 15 Brayshaw possessions are as good as 25 from most others. I must confess to being a little underwhelmed by Brayshaw initially but as the season went on he just showed so much and was so clever. I think Brayshaw will be elite whereas if Trengove gets back he will be an accumulator who ends up with 25 possies a game that you don't much notice.

That is awesome. Thank you!!!

We are young. Heartache to heartache we stand No promises No demands.

Popped by for about an hour. Didn't see Dawes, Lumumba, Frost or Trengove. Did see Brenton Sanderson, Shifter and Cal Twomey. So many drills with different groups it's kind of hard to report on what was happening unless you take notes. Certainly nice to see Brayshaw, Tyson and Garlett doing some ball work as well as runs. Jones, ANB and Petracca had a bit of kick to kick at the end with Crossy taking turns to shadow defend one of them as they led off. Fair to say Petracca knows how to mark on a lead. Hulett impressed me of the new boys, good size, lovely kick. Joel Smith was with them for a fair few drills. Weideman kicks well on his left. Nothing wrong with Oliver's physique. Wagner was with the main group. The usual drills all focused on fast ball movement. A full ground drill featured 2 teams going head to head in non stop footy with no stopping for marks. Vanders was prominent in the midfield, and Viney. Billy Stretch found the ball in space. Bugg got the ball at half back a bit. JKH was involved. The one player who really made things happen was Hunt, using his burst of speed through the middle. But he does seem a bit one dimensional and his kicking isn't fluent, so I'm temper expectations but still he showed a bit. Ben Kennedy moved well to get in to space. With at one stage Grimes refusing to handball to him until it was late enough to be a hospital handball. That said Jack did kick nicely a couple of times. The thing with BK is every now and then he misses a kick or fumbles a handpass. I wonder if it's just confidence and belief, because he does have good skills. I think he needs to just relax and slow down a bit. Melksham was very impressive running and using the ball well from half back.

I bowled a long to training for a while. I didn't stay for long so I'm sure others can add more. A photographer was there as was a cameraman so there might be photos from AFL media and footage on the news (don't know which one). Players in rehab or being rested: Dawes, Prince, Spencil, Garlett, Watts, Frost, Tyson, Brayshaw, Trengove, unidentified stick (possibly AFL Academy trainee). These guys did modified training and or ran laps. Trengove was doing some light drills. Good to see him do more than just running. Patracca did a good deal of the main training but went off to an adjacent oval when the full ground ball movement work was being done. Garlett (his mrs and kid were there), Tyson and Brayshaw did some 150-ish meter run-throughs at some speed. Brayshaw lagged behind in all but one of the runs (except the last one). I assume then, he's coming from further back that the others. Looks bigger this season. I didn't really pick out too many of the newbies apart from Oliver, but only because he glows in his pastiness. His kicking seemed OK in the drill I saw him. Looked to be tiring the more each drill progressed - to be expected. So far so good. He, Hulett, Stretch, King (Mitch) and Garland were doing some forward drills. they all looked pretty good - standouts were Stretch and Oliver (not that they were doing a whole lot). I have read observations that Watts is being very vocal - I concur. Bugg looks to have settled in very well. I'll add more as I think of it. NB. Very hard to spot players with no names on their shirts and in hats.

Fitness will be Petracca's issue. Hogan's a good endurance athlete, Tracc isn't and still isn't in full training. He won't kick 40 goals either, but if he combines with Hogan, Garlett etc then suddenly having a potent forward line with multiple options might change the way we play and improve results. Hogan and Garlett were a huge part of us going from 4 to 7 wins. Petracca could be worth another win or two which is heavy praise on a young kid in a team sport (and also an indictment on our forwards of previous years).

jones vince viney trengove tyson vandenberg salem brayshaw petracca oliver enough to have some confidence in, surely

... and away at Villa promises nothing for Arsenal later tonight ... then again, the Gunners might win 4 nil. The best part of the season is the unpredictability of the games ... there's been a spate of injuries with the more notable teams but the other less notable teams seem to be bridging the gap with greater spending power and astute signings. Soft tissue injuries seems to be at an all time high but oddly enough, that's good for the league (in some ways)

$100.00 more done thanks guys for such a great site and all the work you do mark

$100 on the way. Demonland gives me a great deal of pleasure most days. Many thanks to all the helpers.

Yep, I'm in. Except I will donate $100 worth all at once for ease of accounting and not because my wife is less likely to notice a once off Demonland payment than 20 seperate ones.

i think it includes an "until death do us part" clause

Bingo.

Life Member from a couple of years ago. Great contribution especially for an interstater. Just did another $50. Now $816. Thanks for for all your work keeping the site going.

My fiddy makes it $766......... C'mon guys

I'm really sad to learn this. Although not a poster I do get many a laugh with all the drivle on here and Jazza with the woes of milking and trying to give up his smokes was always cause for BBO to admonish and chide. Very sad indeed. It's funny how you have all become so familiar to me. ?

Yup, my source on this belongs to another footy club who would have been very interested in recruiting Dom, like most would i imagine, and he is of the opinion it could be done before round 1 and he isn't going anywhere, to many close mates at the Dees

Heard today that we're chatting to Dom Tyson already about a new three year deal.