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FFS put each other on ignore. People are sick of reading the same petty crap between the same posters in thread after thread, day after day. Stop the personal attacks and the point-scoring or you'll get a holiday.

Was also there for a couple of hours. Here's a few random observations: Garland, Harmes and Tmac are three of the most vocal/encouraging in the group. Garlett was told to forget his left foot by Rawlings after a particularly bad attempt at goal. Ben K. worked particularly hard, so much so that he had a chunder during one exercise. Garlo was there to put an arm around him. Max Gawn is looking incredibly fit! Dom Tyson's kicking was quite ordinary. Many helicopter kicks. Jack Trengove looks ready to return to the action. Running at three quarter pace was solid. Coaches were regularly riding Salem hard for not getting into position. Fitness/concentration seems an issue. Pedo was looking dangerous up forward with a number of excellent marks. Frost is quick but skills are ordinary. Jack Viney is one single minded mudder effa! Works incredibly hard. When he yells out though his voice breaks like a pubescent teenager! His father is quite garrulous these days! Rawlings is an extremely positive influence around the group. Always encourages. Dean Kent and Hogan look particularly sharp during the drills. Tom Bugg looks like a mountain man. Then again he hails from Gembrook so no surprise!

Morning BA.

Just wanted to say thanks for the training reports guys. We do not take them for granted. Those of us who have followed the Dees for years, ...and who buy memberships for our kids who don't go anymore, and posters and mugs and commemorative port bottles and those infernal raffle tickets that we hide from our wives (Is that the Melbourne footy club on the phone again??... tell em to bugger off!!) ......but cant get to many games ....let alone training sessions... really appreciate all the silly details and opinions that you present us with each week Please keep writing, and the more detail the better....

I can't believe that buffoon gets paid to share what he thinks with the world.

I feel horrible for saying this, as a lifelong MFC supporter, but the disgraceful behaviour of the EFC and AFL in this saga has seriously dented my interest in the entire competition. What Essendon did disgusts me, and they're being handled with kiddy gloves. Concessions out the wazoo, all because the AFL can't let one of their big clubs go under. It's disgusting and borderline untenable the way the AFL have protected a team of convicted drug cheats in this saga (I don't believe for a second that Vlad didn't tip them off that fateful night 4 years ago). Just add it to the already impressive CV of ineptitude that's created this horribly unbalanced 18 team league, including the most laughable series of concessions ever gifted to expansion clubs, almost directly resulting in the endless dominance of the same teams every single year; Hawthorn wouldn't be this successful if there were 15 clubs that got a slice of GWS and Gold Coast's players. The AFL's head-in-the-sand approach has achieved nothing but inequity, and every major player is more concerned about their own interests than supporters'. The AFLPA? Say no more. The broadcasters? Responsible for diluted talent by way of expansion, and Brian Taylor. It's just so hard to maintain optimism about the game's future with so many pigs in the trough. Oh, but at least Gil made the pies $0.80 cheaper.

Ah, old serious looking, squinty, cross-eyed Ralphy. The same turnip who questioned Melbourne's decision to trade a 20-something pick for Frost at the expense of drafting young talent without realising the trade also netted Alex Neal-Bullen and Oscar McDonald. In the end we got 3 players for that 20-something pick.

The AFL integrity unit...

Once again Stu you put words in another's mouth. Dazzle simply countered your incessant claim that Pedo has no tank.

It was my day off so I lasted the full session - just. DeeSpencer's done a good job on the rehab group. The two surprise rehabbers were Jack Watts and JKH - not sure what they have done - maybe in Jack's case too much golf. They did a few muck around games to start with - one with tennis ball and the other soccer ball - no surprises for guessing that Salem was the best but Angus did a pretty fine Ronaldo move at one stage. Vanders tried to be cute as well, but he would be lucky to get a game at Scunthorpe United. Saddest moment was when Neal Bullen hammered a ball and Angus stupidly decided to head it from less than 10m away and realised soon after that it wasn't a good idea - bt dizzy for a bit. The rest of the drills consisted of either sprints - which they did in pairs, goalshooting and for the most part transition work. The last 30 minutes was using just half the ground and came after a ball-up. Ben Matthews took the drill and at one point after Jack Viney (who had swapped to the defensive team) won his third consecutive clearance thereby rendering the drill useless as a transition exercise, he exclaimed "Who is on the little c..t". Said with a smirk but shows how much they think of him. A run down on players for those of you who are starved like me at this time of year. Kennedy - One of the standouts. His left foot kick is more powerful than I thought and he has a pretty handy leap. I think I'd be willing to say that unless he has some pre-season game howlers, he'll start as a small forward in Rd 1 with Jeffy. Viney - Hard at work as always. Chose to do sprints against Kennedy and probably just shaded. Vandenburg - Wanted to prove a point in sprints with Hunt and very, very close. Also hammered a few when he could in transition and Bugg went off early after copping one of his fend-offs. Kent - Very impressive again. Won his sprint battle with Harmesy and presented well as a forward. If Kennedy plays Rd 1, does he move to a wing? He's fit enough. Angus - Copped quite a few knocks. You almost think the players love getting him because he gives so much cheek. Won his sprint duel with Jeffy most times, although you sensed Jeffy was foxing for a better handicap. No sign of him being turned into a backman (my wish) and no real sign of him being part of the clearance machine - so I suspect wing/half forward is where he'll line up. Harmsey - Was used as a forward in the transition game. Keen and eager as usual. One of a big gang of small forwards battling for three spots in Rd 1. Salem - Hard and classy as usual, although couldn't escape Vanders on the wing one time and did a bit of a Stephen Stretch taking it out. He also copped a knock late in session and was tested for concussion. Seemed right but no risk policy meant he just did light work from then on. A lock for Rd 1. Nat Jonesy - You barely knew he was there most of the time and then a player bobs up with exquisite balance gets it and delivers a pinpoint pass. Bernie - Yep he was back in the thick of the action - copped a knock to the finger at one point but had one quick look cused and went straight back into it. No sign that he missed the pre-season before X-mas. Hit Jeffy one time with a perfect grass-burner. Tyson - Always calling for it and right in the thick of the action but way too many turnovers today. Sometimes it just doesn't work for him when he hangs on to it, especially when you are up against a team full of really good tacklers. But you need players who keep presenting. Matt Jones - Another who worked hard and did nothing majorly wrong but you just wonder if he has the confidence to impose. Viv Michie - A really impressive session from him. Tackled well and kicked beautifully. One of his spot ups to Kent was like watching Nat Jones. Bugg - You can just tell this guy will be playing Rd 1. No fuss and hard, always putting a body on a player. Not a thumping kick but he'll end up tagging Shiel or Ward Rd 1. Garlett - Got on the end of quite a few and lively in transition. No reason to think he won't be standing next to Hoges in Rd 1. Hunt - Got a fair bit of it and provided a fair bit of run at times, but I'm still not sure yet. But he did play as a defender for a lot of it. Most of the bigs didn't do as much because they aren't in the thick of the transition games, but key things were. Sam Frost did almost the whole session and did a lot of it as a backman - maybe he'll line up on Patton Rd 1. No sign of any interest in club trying to get him to do ruckwork. Garland, Grimes, Dunn and Oscar Mc all played done back and did their usual tight checking and switching. Oscar even got the gig on Hoges so maybe they rate him highly or maybe Tom Mac lighter session meant they had no choice. Wagner also played down back and looks lively. Hoges, Pedo and Hulet were the tall forwards. Hard to understand why Hulet is allowed to do more work than Clayton Oliver. Perhaps the club had him earmarked and on a special program late in year. Harmes, Kent, Jeffy and Kennedy rotated as small forwards. Spencer and Gawn battled in the ruck but there was no major intensity from either this time and Spencil started in rehab group before joining in game-simulation. Of those in the lengthy rehab group, I watched Trenners the most - he was out there the longest and clearly he's getting close to resuming. But when he did his run throughs you sensed why he won't be playing in the seniors for a while. He can mark and kick, but he obviously hasn't been able to work yet on his sprinting and given the nature of the injury you can probably understand why - so to answer the question of when he will get back in AFL - I see him as a mid-year prospect. Also I still didn't see him kick a left-footer - assume he's not allowed to yet. Of the rehab group - Dawes seems closest to rejoining. I'm hoping Oliver and Weideman were on light days. Terlich is getting fitter and could also resume soon. Harry did quite a few sprints with Dawes. That surely is enough!

Got plans this weekend? You do now if you've got Foxtel or have a dee supporting mate that does. From midnight on Friday night for 24 hours it is nothing but Melbourne games. A few from 2015 and a few older ones. In true Foxtel form they don't give the year of the games just the teams and round. I assume they will all be wins ? so tell your other half to take the kids to see the grandparents, buy a slab and enjoy some footy. Ive been hanging to watch some old matches as I've got a newborn and am up all hours with nothing to watch. And Foxtel have only had that guest programming on which is basically the same finals played over and over. Don't get me started. Anyway, thought some of you might not notice that this was happening.

The guy is a Phuckwit

But haven't you heard about #PedoMyths?????

Jack was kicking the ball at training on Monday

Nothing wrong with scrappy match sim. So many club coaches fall into the trap of repeating the same skill drills over and over again because the team looks good doing them and the coach feels like he/she is doing a good job. It takes a little bottle to run sessions that are mainly match sim because to observers it can look very very rough but in the long run it's exactly what the team needs. I love the fact our fitness is now at a point where the majority of our pre-season has involved footballs.

6942bfe6e57ec86aeb5608d3eab98cbbf5f5e328b3ec5431a13ccf71e830ca2a.jpg Sorry Don't know how to insert a photo

Rewarding misbehavior by giving a holiday?! Where have I hird that before?

Ess will be tanking hard to make sure they get pick 1. Anything elsw they say is BS

Neither Dawes nor Pedo are the answer though tbh Ive forgotten what the question was !

rapidly losing interest in footy.. never thought it would happen

http://www.theroar.com.au/2016/02/02/asada-says-sponsorship-is-an-issue-for-the-afl/ ASADA say: "it is up to the AFL to decide whether Dyson Heppell’s promotion of an Essendon sponsor is appropriate. But wait! When told of Heppell’s tweet, an AFL spokesman said it was up to ASADA to comment. Is this a case of 'pass the parcel'! More importantly it staggers me that: 'An ASADA spokesperson later said: “the sanctions are imposed by the AFL and any enquiries about appropriate activities should be directed to them'. My reaction is no, no no, NO! The AFL will push the envelope to advantage EFC and the players! Have ASADA learnt nothing about the AFL's potential for duplicity over the last 3 years? I understand that the AFL impose the sanctions but surely ASADA is there to ensure the sanctions are enforced! As a minimum I would have expected ASADA to say something like: the AFL impose the sanctions but they expect it to follow all the WADA/CAS rules for suspended players, to the letter and in the spirit of the law. I fear ASADA have gone soft, after all they were always in favour of the players getting off lightly. I'm beginning to think they have a 'now that WADA has its man/men convicted' lets give the boys a soft landing attitude.

Jamar was done as a Melb player. Good luck Russian, I hope you play well but your club loses every game.

No John Northey games? How sad that younger supporters do not get to see how tough the Demons were back then with Robbie Flower having his final season in '87...

To summarise (in part because there's probably quite a few more ad-ons) The players claim that they don't what they were given. There were no records (yeah, right!) None of what they were given was illegal (apparently) Even though they don't know what the supplements were they had "cancer curing properties" (according to Thompson) Dank had a history of administering PED's to other athletes (according to WADA) The TB-4 was sourced from China (via Charter - Dr Ageless) The TB-4 was compounded by Avari (the South Yarra chemist) TB-4 was placed at the EFC The players signed consent forms allowing the club to give the players "Thymosin" (a fatal error of judgement as it turned out) The EFC gave the players TB-4 (according to the CAS verdict - comfortable satisfaction was reached) TB-4 is a performance enhancing drug that is banned by WADA The players failed to tell ASADA on multiple occasions that they were being injected with anything. (Despite seemingly believing the supplements were legal) The players seemingly never went to the ASADA site to check if the substances were legal. (Despite almost certainly knowing that that site was for that purpose) The players claimed (publicly) they were only given "vitamins" ... nothing illegal The supplements were "close to the edge" McVeigh claims that all players knew exactly what they were given - right from the word go Dank claims the EFC destroyed the records (why do that?) Many have been led to believe and many still believe that the players are "innocent victims" The points that I've highlighted haven't been shoved down our throats (yet the highlighted stuff seems to be the truthful stuff) ... conversely, the points that aren't highlighted have been shoved down our throats (yet it could be argued that those points may not be entirely truthful or are just flat-out lies) Anyone might think the points that aren't highlighted were designed to confuse a footy mad public ... and it very nearly worked except they didn't count on a tenacious WADA with a "comfortable satisfaction" outcome that was always quite feasible. The 17 listed players might end up getting paid in full but it's the 17 players who are no longer listed who the EFC should concern themselves with .. plus those other 10 players who may well have been part of the injection program who didn't sign consent forms (Hunter is already taking action whilst Zaharakis may be the only player of the whole 46 who stood apart)

I'm not going to lie... Round 2 scares me...

Does your tinfoil hat still fit?

This is the same Jon Ralph that was swearing black & blue on SEN that Goodwin would be coaching Adelaide, whilst at that very same moment we were announcing that Goodwin will be our coach in waiting. As i recall, it was John Ralph's revealing his "exclusive info" that prevented SEN from telecasting the Goodwin/Melbourne press conference. The bloke is a muppet.

I don't get why anyone would begrudge him. It's one more year of footy, good money, additional exposure which could lead to other opportunities off the field (e.g.- coaching). Jamar also has a kid on the way, so good on him for extracting another year of top dollar footy salary! The players joining Essendon now have nothing to do with the drug saga and don't deserve to be tarnished with the same brush.

Yep 'bb', not just football but sport in general. The joy is being sucked right out of it...

My interest was fine right up until I saw the reactions from AFL land about the penalties, especially from Paul Marsh. Add to that that the players are being paid, and now allowed to go to 'personal sponsor' events, which they wouldn't have if it wasn't for footy, and then the seeming limp wristed response of ASADA on the matter and all interest is quickly evaporating. Still havent paid my membership this year and am starting to really think it may not get paid again, may well walk from the game completely.

Classic stuie.

The Integrity Unit exists to make sure no one commits integrity.

Jamar was all set to play for St Kevins in the Amos whilst doing part time ruck coach at the Bombers. Essendon have obviously talked him into joining as a top up player. For a lot more cash. I can't understand why people bag him for this. Please don't tell me it is on moral grounds otherwise the dons would not be able to field a side.

What a way to finish your career...

http://www.kia.com.au/about-kia/contact-kia Suggest we all let the company know about this. And tweet with a hastag #kiabacksdrugcheats

Our players running and spreading will be a big win for us. They have never done that in the past with any regularity. Short fast chip kicks are likely to hit a target but they rely on instinctive quick kicks, not the crap we have seen over the years of mark, run 20m behind the mark, wait for the opposition to man everyone up and then bomb it long to the boundary. A team under the pump and with no confidence in their team mates or game plan plays this way. Short kicks rely on taking the first opton and lots of running. It also only works if you have committed team mates running to space. The Hawks do it. So do West Coast. There is a confidence in leaving your man to run to space, repeatedly sometimes. Without always being rewarded with a stat. This is selfless, team based football and something we have not had for a long time. That is where on field leadership comes in. When the system breaks down (ie we miss a target and cause a t/over) you need leaders to stand up and force their team mates to continue doing the right thing and running and spreading. If I see this I will be happy that know we are on the right track.

CAS disagrees with this.

Yes, Melksham can play. Dead give away.

If Dwyane Russell and David King disappeared from TV and Radio land I'd be a very happy man.

You both deserve a jolly good flogging!

Waiting for Stu to log on for the day.

Could we just put Melksham in Terlichs number and play him as Terlich. Woukd anyone notice?

Why would any company want to be associated with a sporting club that had 34 of its past and present players suspended for take illegal drugs or any of those suspended players? Personally I would never consider buy anything from such an unethical business.

" the suggestion that it's performance enhancing is laughable " So he isn't denying that they took a banned supplement, just suggesting that it shouldn't be Banned? lol whether it's performance enhancing or not is irrelevant if they didn't take it, Mr Dank.

I wish someone would do that for me......

Picket, if you love Wines then set him free, if he comes back and plays for the Dees then he is yours, if he stays at Port then he never was......

I know that Dawes' marking skills are often <indescribable> but I recently watched a few matches (which we won, I'm not a masochist) and he took some really good critical marks. Let's not overdo the mockery.

There is much media discussion about top up players, payment of salary etc for the non EFC, AFL clubplayers. The press seems to have forgotten that we have one - articles like this one don't even mention MFC or Jake: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/essendon-to-pay-carlisles-st-kilda-contract-this-year-20160131-gmi4ai.html" I really like the position MFC has taken: An early, clear statement that Jake was recruited for the long term...nothing to see here folks. No hue and cry about top-ups or salary payments, no whinging etc. (that is not to say our lawyers are not having discussions with the AFL) Nothing to distract players, coaches, admin or fans from getting on with football. No attention from the media. No spotlight on us. We are quietly going about our business like a really professional club. People say a club needs to be successful off the field first to be successful on the field. Well, MFC is kicking an abundance of goals in most areas off-field, it is only a matter of time before the on-field results follow. I've moved beyond being hopeful; I'm finally ready to believe.

Great words, Mr Lennon. Sadly I doubt if D'land will ever be as one. I can envisage as Nathan Jones accepts the 2017 Premiership Cup on our behalf, some here will whine about the missed pass in the second quarter, or bemoan the fact the <player x> missed a tackle in the third, or the failure to convert the 95 point win over Hawthorn to over 100 due to a poor set shot in the dying minutes. Some will never ever be happy. Sad souls. You can guess who they are.