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I made the most of my day off and went down to training today, it looked like the whole squad was there. ANB was first to hit the track doing some solo work. The rest of the team started with the usual warm-up lap,sprints,stretches,side step/agility drills. Morale seemed high with plenty of banter between players, most notable from Watts. Peter Jackson made an appearance watching from the sidelines for the first half of training. Once training got into gear: the team was split into two groups, one doing a handball drill and the other a kicking drill sprinting in pairs Dawes and Spencer alternating between boxing and ab-crunches, it looked quite grueling the team split into 3 groups doing old fashioned circuit training but with opponents putting on pressure Gawn and Pedo did boundary throw in ruck training followed by Gawn and Frost doing ball up ruck work, in-between each ruck contest a bit of crumbing work was done by all three a group of about eight went off to the rugby ground (I couldn't see what they did) while the rest of the team split in two and did ball movement drills (McCartney curbing the enthusiasm by yelling "do the drill well but don't clobber eachother") the whole team spilt into two and did goalkicking practice for about ten minutes at both ends of the ground the team was split into 3 groups, two doing ball movement drills at one time while the other had a spell The team was split into specialist groups, midfield/ruck/marking/forwards Overall the team looked good and were moving the ball fast although there was the odd bad decision and fumble. I had been to quite a few training sessions last year and we have improved greatly. One thing I was impressed with was the whole team doing goalkicking. Last year, goalkicking practice involved about five forward players having about ten set shots so it was great to see the whole team kicking at goal in a variety of ways, not just set shots. It seemed Goodwin was running the show more than Roos, with Roos addressing the team as a whole while Goodwin was in the trenches with the players during the drills. There seemed to be a catchphrase of "kick and carry" that was used by McCartney, N. Jones and others during the ball movement drills. One funny moment of Stretch being made to do push-ups military punishment style in front of the team gave his teammates a good laugh, I'm not sure what the reason was for the push-ups. Bring on GWS!

Dawes and Spencer doing boxing and crunches. Otherwise as far as I could tell it was a full squad for a pretty standard session. The ball was moving nicely in the shorter drills that they were doing. The 10 v 8 full ground match simulations were a bit scrappy but not too bad. I thought Clarry looked a bit weary in the legs early on but when the match sim started he was bobbing up regularly. Hard to know whether our forward pressure was really good or if our backline was making mistakes but I think moving the ball out under pressure will still be our biggest weakness. Switches, quick ball movement and 'changing the angle' remain the focus to get out of the backline. Lumumba came sprinting out from half back to a high kick to the wing, timed his intercept perfectly, stuck the mark and ran off forward, dishing off to Kent who nailed the goal. It certainly reminded me of his athletic ability and talent, so hopefully he shows more of it this year.

Hit the 34k mark this morning! Great result before round 1!

(Scene: A luxury suite at AAMI park. Jesse Hogan reclines on a golden couch. Jack Grimes and Viv Michie are standing by, stripped to the waist, waving huge feathered fans. Daisy Pearce and Jess Trengove are feeding grapes into Hogan's mouth. Paul Roos, Simon Goodwin, Josh Mahoney and Todd Viney are kneeling in front of the couch.) Viney: Jesse, we PROMISE to become an elite club. We PROMISE! JH: Oh yes? Now where have I heard that before? Goodwin: Jesse, we're doing EVERYTHING we can to get there! JH: Everything, you say? I recall last week my ostrich steaks were distinctly overdone! When I ask for rare, I mean cold on the inside. No one here knows how to cook ostrich to perfection. Roos: Jesse, don't do this to us. We've got Petracca, we've got Brayshaw, we've got Oliver ... what more can we do? JH: Oh, I don't know ... perhaps KICK THE BALL TO ME from time to time? Goodwin: Jesse, we're TRYING. We really are! But if they double team you --- JH: Trying. You Eastern States guys don't know the meaning--- Where's Jackson? Roos: You ... you mean PJ? JH: I was told that Jackson would be here. Viney: But Jesse, he's out of town at the-- JH: So that's another broken promise. When I speak to Fremantle, their CEO is always there, and he always gives me lavish presents! Did you see the last one? My new Mercedes? I don't even drive! (sighs) No one here knows how to cook ostrich properly. The Western Australian climate is perfect for ostriches, you know. Roos: We can buy you an ostrich farm, Jesse. Buy you a farm and ship the ostriches in! At our expense! JH: It's not the farm, you fool. It's the luxury. Thing is, I don't even like ostrich. Ostriches are so last week. My new favourite thing is ... hmmm ... Roos: Jesse, tell us! Just tell us your new favourite thing! We'll get it for you! Mahoney: We'll get you ten of them! JH: Silence! (There is instant silence.) JH: Now here's the team for Saturday. I want Kent Oliver Harmes and Bugg in and playing forward. Kennedy and Garlett can have mysterious injuries. I don't want them stealing any of my goals. Keep that horrible McDonald away from me. And that other tall fellow. I don't want to see them outside the defensive fifty. Keep Gawn away from me too. I'll do the forward ruck work AND kick all the goals. No interchange. And do something about those godawful umpires! Mahoney: But Jesse, that will-- JH: I can always have my manager be seen in a discreet meeting in a Fremantle coffee shop ... All: Yes, Jesse. JH: Now go. I will summon you at my convenience. All: Yes, Jesse.

Petracca was looking really good. Too good for Casey and he knows it, the coaches know it. Hope he makes it by stop doing 19 year old stuff. Full squad, great day for it. They are noisy and talking a lot, a great sense of camaraderie. Goodwin and Watts had a good verbal joust. Watts was also kicking across the ground, pin pointing 50m kicks. AVB will make it. Bring on the Giants!

The Captain just gave Jack a huge rap for his efforts, tenacity, courage, personality etc. He is clearly an inspiration to others and deserves to be back on the park and hopefully in the ones asap. All the very best for Friday and the start of a renewed and long and successful career.

It's petty, it irrational, it's unhealthy and its no longer relevant... But I still despise that little rat. Yes we were well compensated, yes he's a bust as a player, and yes, the money was good. But... I just can't help it.

I hear they can feel it when the other is having a moan about something...

And here we have the injury list from the AFL official site. Something that we're all aware of, but is beautiful to actually see for the first time in two years... No Jack Trengove. Go Trenners!

Titus does it again. This bit about Chris Dawes is a p155er

Drugs are bad.

Just mentioned on the footy show. Didn't say how many years though.

What is with the cranky pants? If you actually read my earlier post, I didn't whinge about him taking the cash. I said it was a good thing for the Dees. Besides, if you think this entire thread is a waste of space and time, why are you reading it? Nobody is forcing you to.

If every player on our list was as professional as JT we'd be in for a very successful few years ahead.

Ok, so those that have been here a while know I don't mind looking at the stats and that I also trail off when the stats start to get too depressing to continue capturing but here we go... I think Clearances, Inside 50s, Uncontested Possies, Contested Possies, Score, and Quarters Won are tried and tested measurements of any team at any level. Below is a table that shows our average in all those categories from the last 3 years and also the differential between us and our opponent. For example, in the Clearances column we can see that we averaged 37.6 clearances last year - an increase of 3.3 - but our differential only went down 0.3 so our opponents averaged 3 more clearances than they did in 2014. CL I50 Ups CPs Score QW 2015 Differential -3.1 -9.0 -12.0 -0.9 -21.4 35 2015 Melbourne Ave 37.6 44.5 203.5 135.2 71.5 2014 Differential -4.8 -11.6 -6.5 -1.5 -28.1 30 2014 Melbourne Ave 34.3 40.5 218.4 130.2 60.7 2013 Differential -9.7 -18.0 -56.7 -23.5 -56.2 20 2013 Melbourne Ave 32.5 40.0 191.7 123.7 66.1 I will do this tracking for 2016 and for your benefit here is the NAB Challenge:We are tracking well (still mediocre but better) in Clearances, Inside 50s, Contested Possies, and Score with a drop off in uncontested possies. However, when I took out the 4 games we had against Freo, Syd, and Haw we tracked 11 UPs better off (and yes, I took out the commensurate games against those teams from 2014 to measure against). NAB Ch. Opp Diff 5.3 9.3 27.3 15.0 18.3 7 NAB Ch. Melb Ave 37.3 50.3 210.0 135.3 91.3 All categories are either holding steady at good levels or have improved out of sight. Too bad it doesn't mean anything... Let's hope we see some similar numbers when the proper stuff starts on Saturday.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-03-22/scully-dumped-as-giants-add-new-blood-to-leadership-group Couldn't have happened to a better [censored] knuckle.

Great news. He's really embraced the club, and his off field persona of a being a bit of larrikin, isn't reflected by his professionalism on and off the field. I'd say his close relationship with Goodwin would have a bit to do with his contract extension, but he fully deserves it.

Scott brothers are outraged...

Just watched the 1st half of the 1973 Grand Final on Fox Footy.....Carlton vs Richmond........Wow The game has changed so much. The skills were deplorable......They had the centre "Diamond"......One field umpire........All kicks from kick outs were torps Everyone just kicked to packs in the centre corridor.....15 metre penalties.......Passionate Goal Umpires........Hardly any handballs. The commentators were great....Just called the action...Got the names rights and no in depth about what should have happened....No special comments. I grew up playing and watching, and thought that VFL footy was fantastic, but looking back, the modern game with the skills beats the hell out of it. It was interesting watching Walls, Nichols, Percy Jones vs Clay, Bourke, Hunt, Balme. P.S. Didn't want to start a new thread, so put it here.

Out: Scully. In: Hogan. Win. Win.

And still cop an absolute pasting from Demonland.

I'd happily give him a three year extension.

Funny to see that. I posted it on YouTube like 3 years ago. I guess classics never get old.

Not victim mentality. The way I read some of the posts in this thread, people see it as a giant dose of karma for him. Victim mentality implies that people think they are hard done by and suffering. The posts are all saying we are better off because of what happened.

I agree but it's still great to see him get thrown by Pederson.

According to the training reports his finger was fine I thought and no scan ever took place? Spencer is the biggest concern because he's our only ruck coverage.

Petracca's appaently been looking very good for weeks. Almost get the feeling the club is really rubbing it in to him that he's missing out on playing after the missed dunk. Hopefully he'll find being held up a huge motivation going forward.

It's not about who he would replace in our best 22 - it's about adding another quality player to our best 30 or so. How often does a clubs best 22 actually get out on the park? We've got triers like M Jones, Kennedy, Newton, Grimes still getting senior games - we've got others like Terlich, Stretch and ANB on the list who are either not good enough or not quite there yet. It's not like we're trying to fit him into the Hawks here, he would definitely be an addition to our list if he can get fit for senior footy.

"Ron, are you just looking at coaches and saying you love them or do you actually love Paul Roos?"

Sorry but that is bull. We expect 12 year old gymnasts to stick to the standards so why not a MAN playing AFL?

One of the best trades we've done since I started following the Dees. He had an immediate impact in his first season and followed it up with an even better second season. Great stuff Bernie

My girlfriend and I got a laugh out of that. Thanks. She's convinced they're the same person. Whenever she sees them on the TV she says there's that guy again. And it's usually both of them.

He's always cranky pants. Get used to it. As for Scully - it's just further proof of what we already knew really. Seeing him dumped from their leadership group is not a surprise.

Why?

LOL picked up and threw the little maggot like he was nothing. Which is exactly what he is - nothing.

YAAAWWWWNNN. Do the exact same job with a 300% pay rise locked in for 5 years? Every single one of you would have done exactly the same thing Tom did, so I don't understand why people have still got their panties in a bunch about the whole issue.

Who gives a [censored]? Way way way past time to move on people.

Dees get toweled up by GWS Goodwin resigns in disgust as Roos overrode all his prematch strategies. Club in crisis. Board all walk. AFL steps in. Decide to amalgamate MFC with HFC. Don Scott rips a velcro hawk off a demon jumper. MFC supporters burn down Mt Buller Chalet in protest. AFL decides the merger is off. Everyone has a bex and a good lie down. Melbourne comes out in round two and knocks off Essendon by 12 goals.

I think Garland is the best match up for him personally

The ignore function is excellent M5

Our promise to Jesse Hogan? Sounds pathetic

I can't get behind the HS paywall to link or quote from the article so have no context but this appears on their site, as the first line: 'PAUL Roos is confident Melbourne will keep its promise to Jesse Hogan to become an elite club, believing he will sign on despite speculation about a return to Western Australia'. Sounds positive! Just hope we deliver. Doubt Roos would stick his neck out if he wasn't quite confident Jesse will sign. However, I would like at the club to stop talking about it to the media at every interview. Of course they will ask but its time to play with a straight bat and tell them there is nothing new to say so stop asking about it! No point feeding the frenzy and keeping it in the news every other day. Let the kid play, enjoy the year and help us win a few more games. Let the media speculate but time for the club, players and coaches to shut the conversation down from their end. It certainly seems Jesse's manager is keeping mum we should do the same.

He meant, the AFL would not allow anyone to find out about it if it did happen. That's "governance and management" AFL-style.

Cheese sandwiches & defibrillator packed in bag by front door. Hope defibrillator just used to warm up sandwiches - not me. Us by 3 points.

A really good point Chris. The AFL was asleep on its watch, in particular, a certain gent of Greek heritage. I still remember hearing him on 774 one morning some years back rubbishing cycling and its culture of doping, saying that would never happen in AFL because of cultural differences but alluding to the fact that the difference was also due to AFL governance and management. The inference being that the AFL would not allow it to happen.

Funny someone mentioned it's turning into the footy show, the carpool karaoke bit was as cringeworthy as TV gets. I'm thankful for the fast forward button.

I'm tipping Melbourne to win and to go on to be 9 an 0.

It's actually very disappointing to see that this thread has turned into another $hitfight and pi$$ing contest from some regular offenders I am sitting here patiently, like many on here, just waiting for the day that Jack gets back to doing what he loves most.... Playing Football! I will no longer be reading this thread as it has turned into another boring battle of bone heads...