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Swung past at about 10:30 for an hour. The Casey group were just milling around having a bit of a laugh whilst the rest trained. Looks like they had done some light stuff and a few of them did goal kicking before heading off. Someone else will know more I'm sure. Dunn, Brayshaw, Weideman etc. Not sure if I saw Lumumba. Dawes was doing running with Crossy and other support staff. Sprints and jogs. Ben Newton was wearing the training jumper not singlet which usually means participation at some stage with the main group. Can't recall see Spencer, ANB or Trenners. Anyway, the main group were broken up in to smaller groups including Macca taking Salem, Wagner, Tyson, Matt Jones and Oliver for a kicking drill. Forwards practising some goal kicking. Other mids working on ground balls and so on. All pretty standard stuff. Of note to me was towards the end of the session Goodwin assembled 18 players to form a team and run through some game scenarios to make sure they had positioning and game plan set up. That team was Forwards: Hogan, Frost, Watts, Kent, Garlett, Ben Kennedy Mids: Gawn Tyson Viney Jones, Wings; Matt Jones, Bugg Backs: Garland, T Mc, Wagner, Jetta, Salem, Vince By this stage of course the Casey guys had left and Pedersen had left as well. Harmes and Grimes grabbed green bibs to be token defenders. Vanders, Oliver, Petracca and a couple of others watched from the sidelines. Might only be of interest to me and/or a coincidence but Matt Jones and Bugg were both playing as inverted wingers. They did a few around the ground stoppages and then set up a 3 points up with 30 seconds scenario. Hogan went as the 7th defender to CHB. Watts came up as an extra midfielder covering the far side of the ground. Gawn was very defensive with his taps. The kicks all stayed boundary side and after Frost marked in a pocket then centred the ball Gawn was vocally saying "should just take the shot Frosty". Vanders did some contested marking with Rawlings and handballing after the training finished. He appeared good to go. Jones did fast hands work with Macca. Ben Kennedy did extra ground balls. Salem and Viney had shots for goal. And Hogan and Kent took turns kicking to each other on the lead. Jesse still dropped one or two and wasn't happy but otherwise most stuck. Kent's kicking was mostly great but he just slices them every now and then. Just has to keep being balanced over the ball. Hogan kicking to a lead is a thing of beauty.

You guys are nailing these Jesus jokes.

Yes I would crucify whoever made that decision

I'd be a bit cross if there was training on good friday....

Given the FD experience we have at the club compared to during the periods of false dawns of history, I'm fairly optimistic that Roos would come out an say such a thing. Between himself, McCartney, Goodwin, Rawlings and at the next level having Jackson spruiking that "we will be successful," I think it's a great show of faith the coaches have in the current playing group and club in general.

Absolutely. Very shrewd i reckon. Best way to banish talk of the past is to focus on a positive future. Fits with the winning focused messages that have been coming from everyone at the dees (PJ, coaches, players, footy department staff etc) all pre season.

Would be nice to see 100,000 sets of moneybags come late September 2018

He's coming back from an ACL and reinjured himself (albeit a different injury) while attempting to dunk in his backyard - it's completely unprofessional, it's not about what did happen it's about creating additional risks for yourself. If he'd landed and twisted his knee putting him out for another season do you think the club would pat him on the back and say "geez, hard luck mate". They've invested in him, he is a professional athlete - he was given a warning with it only being a broken toe.

Dunn and Lumumba were off the track by this stage. I think one of them, or even Oscar McDonald, will take his spot. His 2nd half was very solid against the Saints, but his first half was simply bad. Soccer term. Left footer on the right side and vice versa. Possibly signals an attempt to play more corridor football, or could be just a coincidence.

Roos seems to be putting pressure on the group to perform. Looks like there is a harder edge this season with no tolerance of under- performing. Will be interesting to see how it translates on the field.

I really hate these predictions.

Dees by 24pts. Hogan with 4. Gawn 7 marks and 437 hit outs. Oliver 27 possies. Demonland goes into meltdown and crashes. There are riots in the streets.

I like it. Roos is here to identify and fix a rotten culture. I'm sure that he is aware that in the years before his arrival we were the type of amateurish organisation that would allow young talent like CP and JH to do as they please. This created a lazy, unaccountable culture and of course a failure of a club. He is sending a message loud and clear that the MFC needs to be run by the professional standards of its competitors - now, and after he is gone.

I'm not sure why some supporters cringe, as Roos' suggestion is not only plausible it has to be the club's private (and public) goal. I'm of the belief that NO club is ever more than 7-8 years from a flag on the proviso they do everything right and have a modicum of luck. People forget that Hawthorn supporters were calling for Clarkson's head in his first year (2005), yet by 2008 he had a flag in his bag. Matthews won a flag in his third year at Brisbane and within 5 at Collingwood. Sydney won in 2005 and again in 2012 - only 5 players played in the second (I can hear COLA being typed). Malthouse lost the 2003 GF went back down the bottom and 7 seasons later won in 2010. Bomber Thompson won in his 8th season. Start up teams Port, Crows and Eagles all won in the 6-8 year period from their inception (I'm not going to analyse every advantage granted to them). This is Roos third season and it's obvious that we finally have genuine talent on our list. To suggest that we have every opportunity to fight for a flag within 3-5 years is reasonable and within historic 7-8 year time frames.

might be an idea to win a few games or even make finals before we even consider this stuff yes, im still burnt from ~2010 thinking we were actually on the rise.

They're nothing alike, for starters, Petracca doesn't even have a brother who plays for West Coast..

It'll be a great half back line this week with Hunt, Oscar McDonald & Wagner

it's the opposite of extroverted wingers. they're shy, don't talk much and keep their own counsel

There are a couple of things that I'd like to see Hogan get out of his game. One is throwing his hands up when a teammate doesn't kick the ball to him. The other is whinging to the umpires when he doesn't get a free. In the Saints game, he started whinging about a free when the ball was still in play and in his vicinity.

See, I told you Roos' comments shouldn't have been made public. Look what's happened.

There's a difference between playing a bit of basketball, and trying to dunk after coming off a knee reco. If he'd been shooting threes, or even just playing for a bit of fun, then nothing would have come of it. As it stands, he took the risk of trying to land on his feet after a two or three metre fall and has clearly paid the price.

think it was a deliberate message to all the boys to not get ahead of them selves and stay focused and professional classic technique of singling out talented players (but in a somewhat positive way) we've all seen the positive and optimistic attitude this pre-season but roosy wants to keep it in check

5 days to go!! anyone care to offer their predictions for round 1? i had a look at the teams from round 2 last year against GWS for a bit of context/comparison. Dees scored the first 4 goals before bending over and conceding 9 goals to nil in the 3rd term. I actually have some confidence now that we will be able to weather a storm a lot better this time around. Interestingly, Giants will be without McCarthy (scored 3 goals that day), Cameron and Treloar. these are 3 very significant outs. 2 main fwd targets and arguable their best midfielder. Dees missing Cross, Jamar, Dawes, Howe and Newton. With all due respect, we will not miss any of these greatly. in fact their replacements will improve us. Importantly, Salem, Viney, Brayshaw, Tyson etc being a year older, fitter, more confident will be significant. Last week, I was thinking a 3 goal loss but I think we can do it. GWS are very good and could well win a flag in the next few years but I think if we limit their run ons and play hard footy we can win. Prediction - Dees by 2 points N Jones and M Gawn the difference Dubdee to get drunk post match. feel free to add your predictions/analysis/thoughts

Great News: Jack will play in the Casey intra club game on Friday. http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/jack-trengove-is-finally-ready-to-play-his-first-game-in-two-years/news-story/30ce613a2da02abcf21069bf8f268292 Will be a special moment when he runs onto the ground!

Jack Trengove finally ready to play his first game in two years Will be interesting if cleared is the same as allowed to play on the day. Hope he does and the club take some footage for the website!

Dyson Heppell is in a dream world.

Bottom line is had Christian not been silly enough to try and dunk during his ACL recovery, he'd be lining up for his first game in round 1 and would have played probably most of the NAB cup. he's cost himself and more importantly he's cost the team and that's unacceptable.

Don't worry, it may take a couple of days, but we will rise again

Wagner would be zero chance you'd think.

Oliver watching from the sidelines?? Hnmm hope I'm not reading too much into this but Clarry Choo Choo demands inclusion into round1 No if's or But's and if he doesn't play you would want to know the rationale after him playing 3 Corker games in a row! IMV

I prefer to think of it as making a wrong choice rather than label him as unprofessional.

At least we'd all be able to get a decent seat

I think the next step is very much getting everyone at the club to raise the bar, our expectations from 2016 onwards have to be that we are a finals team and anything less is sub par.

Prefer to be in the place now where Roos is happy to go with these sort of predictions that apply pressure to the group rather than the excuses (although valid to a point) which we have heard for a long time now which gave the group an out if/when they didn't perform.

Mumford, Ward, Shiel, Greene, Griffen, Whitfield, Scully, Kelly, Coniglio Gawn, N.Jones, Tyson, Viney, Vince, Brayshaw, Vandenberg, Oliver, Bugg Their midfield is a bit better and bats a bit deeper than ours currently.

Wow! Another thread I just wasted five minutes of my life trawling through. who woulda thunk it.

Dead set. If I meet another demon supporter in a pub they are instantly my new best friend for the night and will speak to them about our great club til the cows come home. and although we may disagree on a couple players or topics we still have a good laugh over a beer. Jump onto here or facebook, we are fighting like 10 year olds who go for Collingwood and Carlton. It's 2:17AM here where I am in the middle of the ocean, so it would be 1:17AM back home on a sunday night. Don't some of you guys need sleep for your jobs to get to in the morning instead of fighting over petty things about the one club we all love?

I enjoyed the bit about Hogan, I don't know if it's the media doing or if all in my head but sometimes I feel like that Hogan is bigger than the team. Just a subtle reminder that he's still part of this club and very much the product of our development of him.

No time like the present... FB: JETTA DUNN GARLAND HB: LUMUMBA MCDONALD SALEM C: VINCE JONES HARMES HF: WATTS FROST VDB FF: GARLETT HOGAN KENT Fol: GAWN VINEY TYSON Int: BRAYSHAW OLIVER BUGG KENNEDY Had Pederson in there, but opted for Harmes instead as, in the past, GWS have run us off our feet. With them missing some talls, we need to ensure we have the foot-speed to match them.

And they are different to some posters on here who have their heads in a completely different place

Demons by 19 points Brayshaw BOG overtaking Oliver who will tire. Melbourne will play finals.

"Better than '64" Ian Ridley discussing our prospects with team comprising Brucey, Brad Miller and Luke Williams.

Totally unconscionable behavior by EFC in pursuing costs then revealing more documents that they appear to have denied the existence of under oath in court. Who was the judge involved? Why have EFC if this is all true not been charged with perjury? What footy allegiances does the DPP, the judge involved, or whoever would be responsibility for making perjury charges?

Bit of an update in this article: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-supplements-scandal-hal-hunter-says-disrespectful-bombers-brushed-him-off-20160320-gnmp7w.html "Essendon has advised that it will take no further steps regarding the enforcement of the costs order and will continue to hold ongoing discussions with Hal and his family". I bet that is only because 4Corners is going to air with the story and the AFL fears the bad PR. I would imagine they tried very hard to have the story pulled and once that failed, last week handed over more documents and dropped the enforcement of costs. The AFL must gave got heavy with EFC and will continue to: "The AFL will ensure that the Essendon Football Club delivers on its responsibility to players, and will ensure that the medical protocol agreed to by the Players Association and the football club is fully delivered." All too little, too late. One wonders what Hunter and other efc players thought when they saw the court case last week that the supplements Dank had given NRL players had allegedly played a role in the spread of John Mannah's cancer from which he subsequently died. Kudos to Hal Hunter for staying the course. Must be tough to take on the might of City Hall - a modern day 'David and Goliath'.

Three of our wins last year I think can be directly attributed to the targeted aggression of our players (particularly Viney) to the opposition captain. Gold Coast - Viney repeatedly crunched Ablett every time he got the ball. Geelong - Viney went after Selwood and showed he wasn't intimidated by him. Pies - Viney (and I think VDB and Jones) both crunched Pendlebury a few times and he had a poor game. Was it a coincidence or tactical. I'm not sure but it definitely had an impact in those games. I loved it,

To Curry, From Sailing Demon.

I'd still pick the Dees.

Even after all these years, James McDonald is still being mentioned as an influence on the club. Boy was giving him the boot a mistake or what.