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All of Melksham, Hibberd, Viney, JKH, Mitch King along with Crossy were doing a drill located at the Northern end where they were just leading and marking kicks to each other in different combinations within an area about 60 out from goal. I assume it's conditioning their bodies to footy style movements - kicking, marking, bending down, jumping etc. Wouldn't really impact where they play. Hibberd clearly has a powerful left. Melksham has very good penetration on both sides of his body. His body is very sinewy and he kicks like a guy with long levers, not always pretty but it can travel. JKH is one of the most balanced kicks in the team, from a technical and aesthetic component I'd say he's the best kick of that group. We all know Viney isn't the greatest kick but one thing he does make look easy is taking difficult marks. He plucked a ball one handed that should've gone clear over his head. He was jumping and scurrying around and not showing any signs of restriction in his movement.

I'm absolutely sick of it. It's bullying. It derails threads. There is going to be a no tolerance policy about it. I'm not going to be playing favourites about it either. If I see it or it is brought to my attention and espcially if it's from one of you usual suspects, and you know who you are, then you are gone. It might be a week, it might be a month, it might be a year, it might be forever. I do not like to do this and I hate that it has come to this but for some of you your time on Demonland is almost up. Last warning for everyone. Play nice. Play the ball and not the man. If you don't like a poster or his/her opinions then scroll past their posts or use the ignore feature. If you continually bait certain posters you will be banned. No more warnings. If you continually abuse certain posters you will be banned. No more warnings. If you derails threads you will be banned. No more warnings. I might miss things and it might seem unfair that this one gets dealt an unfair hand well that's just bad luck. If you don't do the crime, you won't do the time. I'm building a wall around Demonland and the Richmond fan forum is going to pay for it. Last warning starts now. THESE ARE EXCITING TIMES AHEAD FOR OUR CLUB. IT WILL BE A SHAME IF YOU ARE NOT HERE TO PARTICIPATE.

I was there for an hour or so. Frost joined rehab group and went in early. Slight upper leg strain my guess, but someone else will update the site on this, I'm sure. Beautiful Melbourne morning and the session had the feel of early season training, with several miss-kicks and lack of stamina by some in the competitive stuff. Brayshaw was one who surprisingly had poor delivery for a five minute period. It was quite willing at times with a few players copping a few bruises in the tackles. Hogan was impressive. Wagner was also fit and clean in his defensive work. Vanders still running the boundary line. Melksham and Hibberd looking sharp in the kick to the lead activity, Jack Viney was also working hard in this group, along with Mitch King, who was less impressive today when fatigue started to cut in. Billy Stretch impressed in the large group as did Petracca.

Thanks LH but when you have a poster like DS posting a perfect summation of the drills, leaves me free to check out other stuff and post The training has gone up another notch from last year with Roos, which went up from the year before, and the year before, everybody is on the same page, knows exactly what is going to transpire during the session, each person has a role, like watching a well oiled machine Plus we have players who have a settled future and thanks to Roos and now Goodwin, can see the light at the end of the tunnel, Hogan is a completely different beast, all the contract rubbish is out of the way, the perceived weight on his shoulders as a saviour is lifted (like Watts) he has returned in fabulous nick and is leading the way at training I have also spoken to a couple of them (no names in this instance), and following the end of season reviews they know exactly what is expected of them this year and what the consequences will be if they don't produce

It was refreshing to hear Goodwin say that they'd have the footies out straight away, and it sounds like it's been true. Gone are the days of no footies before Christmas. I feel so impatient waiting for this coming season. I can't remember the last time I was so looking forward to one. Love the training reports guys. Thanks, the effort is much appreciated, regardless of whether you're writing full reports or the odd one liner.

Here's the picture.

On McKenna, early observations, nice size, good speed and neat and tidy kicking action, has slotted in seamlessly, was told he turned up first day in excellent nick

I popped down for a bit. Nathan Jones was out there I believe for the first time. Viney was moving and kicking freely but is still in the rehab group. They did a drill in front of where I was standing with 3 cones setup in a triangle shape and a group of players behind each cone. The player with the ball would kick to a player at the front of either of the other 2 cones and then sprint there to stand on the mark. If he wasn't on the mark in time the instruction was the player receiving had to play on immediately and get it to the next cone. If the player did get close enough to the mark the receiving player had to fake one way then play on the other. And so on went the drill. The skills were pretty good. The emphasis in the drill is clearly to get the ball moving quickly.

I was there this morning, change of personnel this morning Bugg out Natnan Jones, Hibberd, Viney in Hogan the standout again today, reckon they will be pulling the reins a bit soon, Petracca good as well, Salem produced one of the worst kicks I have seen him do in a drill, much to everybody's amusement, soon back on song Will be posting a pic of Maynard next to Jake Spencer so posters can aee why is size is mentioned, if somebody later can put on here, pics should be up in hour or so The soccer drill is for coordination and making them use both feet More later

I'm interested to know if they're starting to break up into backs, mids, forwards and who's in which group. For example is Hunt still in defence or mids. Which group is Salem linking to ? It may be too early in the first week for all that, but over coming weeks I'd appreciate knowing who is training with which group.

Perfect summation again DS, can you please turn up to all the sessions I can, you can do your bit and I can do the periphery, describing drills not my forte On JKH believe they have adopted the Hunt approach, get him right so once he is right he stays on the field

More opposite foot kicking in the 2 sessions I've seen than in the last 2 decades. Players went off to the tan hills. Apparently Stevo has that later. Melksham (just leading) from Viney put a fair old gap in Piggy Hibberd in their interval runs. Without the restrictions of neck surgery this year Nath Jones looks like he's done a lot of strength work. Looking at his nuggety best.

Encounter an unprecedented drug regime and ask no questions Allow a quack to inject unknown stuff into you without checking with ASADA Let this happen multiple times Avoid telling drug testers that you're taking anything at all (apart from Panadol) Run away from the captaincy to swill beer at the Ashes Take your sweet time not doing the obvious, ie handing it back All class

And on the fitness side, spoke to Macca, who says it straight, said any player who turns up less than perfect, may as well start practicing the drive to Casey

When I spoke to Goody on Monday, Hibberd half back, Melksham same as Lewis/Jones/Vince wing/halfback/guts

Titus's take on it all   ( well the Charlie ) love this bit ""On the one hand, ASADA, WADA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Federal Tribunal all say Jobe took a performance enhancing substance. Yet, he’s apparently a really good bloke, makes a mean coffee and a lot of people feel he didn’t take anything illegal. You can see why this is so difficult for the AFL Commission. Those things cancel each other out.""

Jobe, should have handed it back ages ago. Had any appeal exonerated him he could have had it back. Hes full of shlt for mine.

Just ask Stuie

Before anyone shouts me down, I acknowlege that I'm possibly getting ahead of myself here. I was just reflecting on the recent success of the Bulldogs and what it has meant to their community of supporters and their past players. In short, it's meant a lot and they've handled it well. And so I then thought about our club. All the signs are super promising for this club going forward: the coaching group, the list, the back office, the facilities and, most pleasingly, the culture. It is now a professional club. It has momentum. And it seems united - all of the stakeholders are finally marching in the same direction. With enthusiasm and genuine positivity. What we have done previously as a club though, among a long list of super amateur things, is treat past players poorly. James McDonald, Cameron Bruce, Shane Woewodin, and possibly also Brad Green, Adem Yze, Brent Moloney, Jared Rivers and Robbo. The list goes on. Add to that players like Peter Vardy, Stephen Powell and Chris Dawes who, whilst not necessarily treated badly, played for this club but also for other clubs prior to the Demons. I wonder who they barrack for now? Given that we are on the verge of sustained success (in my opinion), I'd like to see the club start bringing these past players back into the fold somehow. It just feels like something they've now got to do a bit more. I know Junior McDonald's heart still beats true. Robbo's clearly does. I'd be interested to know what some of the other former players think of the club. Are they as excited as many supporters here as to what's now happening at the joint?

i personally don't care whether he handed it back 2 months ago, now, or in fact ever, it's the afl 's job to manage that, not watson's.. the issue that irks me most is the inability of the afl to make timely decisions and to try and stage-manage watered down deals. they even invited watson, mitchell and cotchin to make submissions of what they thought the decision should be, puleeze!

Scene: AFL house. Gil McLachlan is dancing around his office. GM: Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! (The door opens, Mark Evans enters) ME: what's up Gil? what's all the racket? Are you on that web site I showed you again? GM: Yes! Yes! Y-- oh, it's you, Mark. Great news. Unbelievable news. Really incredible. And no-one saw it coming! ME: Are you talking about the US election? I didn't think you were a Trump guy. GM: Oh, it's not that. It's better than that. (sings) It's the eye of the tiger, it's the cream of the crop ... dut! ..... dut-dut-dut! ....... dut-dut-dut! ....... dut-dut-dahhhhhhhhh! (he starts shadow boxing) ME: Well? GM: It's Jobe, mate! He gave it back! He gave it back! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! It's the eye of the -- ME: I wouldn't have thought that's good news. Nothing to do with that whole mess is good news. GM: Yes, but it means I don't have to ... to make a ...... to ... to make a ... ME: What? GM: (whispers) ... the "D" word! ME: Decision? GM: Don't say it! Don't say it! You'll ruin the moment! ME: You know what this means, don't you? GM: Yes! I don't have to make a ......... dut! ........ dut-dut-dut! ..... ME: It means now we have to work out what to do about Mitchell and Cotchin. (GM freezes on the spot and turns white as a sheet) GM: You mean ..... it's the "D" word after all? ME: Yes. GM: Oh my god. Now I know how Hillary Clinton feels. ME: Come on Gil. Get a grip. Remember the other "D" word. GM: You're right. Get a grip Gil. You can see a way through this. You can-- I've got it!!! ME: What? GM: Find me two women who can be crazy girlfriends. It seems Mitchell and Cotchin might have hidden from drug testers in 2012! ME: Huh? An investigation of that could take years ... Of course! I take my hat off. You're a genius. GM: No, Mark. I'm better than that. I'm a Deal Maker.

Just opened this thread with some trepidation. I can only say what a delight it is to just read training reports and tidbits and see how much great info posters collect, especially Saty. Thanks folks. I'm getting a clear picture that just about all players have come back in great nick. They heeded Roos challenge at the BnF '...success starts now - not when preseason begins...' It bodes very well!

Right thing to do Jobe but should have been done the moment you were proven guilty of using Performance Enhancing Drugs. Why has he waited so long, the final hearing results were known over a month ago? Reeks of tap on the shoulder to me.

Watson has finally done the right thing. All the comments by Watson and the support crew are just window dressing designed to make people feel better and gloss over the most shameful episode in the history of the game. But Junior you make a very good point. The AFL should have acted on this a long time ago, rather than allow Watson to hand it back. More window dressing that sends all the wrong messages regarding drugs in sport. As you state, spineless. Or that's just business and the way things operate in the AFL bubble.

And there it is... http://www.afl.com.au/news/2016-11-11/jobe-watson-hands-back-2012-brownlow-medal Watch how he will be treated as some kind of hero now. Will be sickening.

Watson was found guilty of cheating, he doesn't get to sit on his hands and wish it all away. I don't understand your sympathy for the players, they weren't duped, they were either dangerous ignorant or outright cheated, either way their actions wouldn't have been tolerated at a club with the games integrity at heart. he should have handed it back the moment he was found guilty if he wanted to honour what the medal stands for, not months later when the AFL has tipped him off to hand it back coz they were going to take it. Just think, the fact noone knows what happens tells you everything you need to know, they invested huge $$ into this program, there is no way they wouldn't have kept detailed records in order to determine if it was working or not, the fact there were no records and the players didn't declare injections says it all really. Jobe has done the right thing, but it took him way to long to get there.

This will certainly be massaged into a win for Watson, EFC and the AFL instead of being as a result of his and his club's deplorable actions. He had no choice but to lose the medal due to being banned. It's not honourable or 'big' of him, he was banned for breaking the PED rules and carries the badge of being a drug cheat forever more. He may we'll be a nice bloke, but he, his team mates and his club have not been honest or open on this matter.

He'd have been accused of making it all about him in the throws of the season if he'd done that. If not that, someone would have found some other way to pan him over it. There's no pleasing people with the timing of things like this. I read his statement and to me it was as good as I'd hope for in the context of being a player who received a ban for drugs. It doesn't mean it was absolutely good, or that he's a hero, or that I admire him, it's just that I thought it was appropriate under the circumstances. I don't think it would kill people just to give him that nod.

Quality thread, thanks all!

The point I am making was that ALF executive have been relieved of making what, by any measure, would have been an unpalatable decision for some, but that is what management is required to do from time to time. In my view the AFL continually abrogates its commission, which is should be required to discharge, rather than make the hard decisions. They have a history of fluffing around.

Don't forget Trenners spent all the finals series playing for Casey, so entitled for a longer break, has been posting on Instagram like the rest, been working out down in Rowville at the Cuzzie gym owned by Alex S the rehab guy at the Club

lol, so basically: - Award is for best and fairest - Some people think the drugs means I wasn't fair - I TOTALLY AM FAIR THOUGH, LOOK HOW FAIR I AM I'M HANDING BACK THE MEDAL It's like his statement is worded so that people will think the action of handing the medal back in of itself qualifies him to earn it. Still, glad he did it though, as he should have done. We can finally move on.

Thread purged and (light) sanctions issues. A reminder to everyone not only to avoid derailing threads, but if someone else does it, report the post rather than contributing to it by replying. Cheers.

Spencer St!!

Just reading in the hun that Whitfield is close to agreeing to a 6 month ban. Firstly, what the f does he have to agree with, he is the perp not the bloody victim, give him what he deserves and he can deal with it. Secondly, the very same paper reported that ASADA were waiting for the paper work from the AFL so not sure how a deal can be close. Of course this all could be the AFL trying to force ASADA's hand again, will they never learn.