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There are as many views to football as there are people really but one that often resonates among a fair few is the notion that sport , at the elite level especially , is a game played between the ears. What this suggests is given the vast majority of all playing are similarly fit and able then there must be a particular aspect that separates the winners from the also-rans. This quality is invariably ascribed to all that which goes on in players minds, both in the contest and prior with preparation. A very big part of this mental state is what is colloquially known as the buy-in. It's to do with belief not only in the individuals ability and preparedness to use it 100% but what he/she can contribute, what their fellow players are capable of and belief in them and a commitment to the strategies of the coaches and club in general. When this happens great synergy develop resulting in the sum being greater than its parts. Another thread asks where or what we might achieve in 2017. Whatever that will be will be only and because of the degree of buy-in that occurs. If there's a less than 100% harmonic then the machine doesn't purr at its loudest. I'm noticing , and had this discussion with some ( not all Dees either ) that Melbourne seems to be finally gelling. Players are buying in A very noticeable example is Jesse Hogan. I mad a comment ( numerous times ) through the season that he didn't seem 100% committed out there. His body language, his play and results all spoke to this IMHO.. I had the thinking ( still do ) that if he were to 'switch on' he would become that remarkable beast of a footballer we all wish and hope he can. He's signed, he's become a Demon ( wholeheartedly ) he's come back from his break fit and stronger, physically and more importantly I feel mentally. Petracca realises he'd been stuffing around. He's also back fitter, leaner, and more hungry to show the club, his team mates and the long suffering supporter that he , and the club mean business. The buy-in can come from unexpected sources too. Jordan Lewis surprised the football world with a trade request to....Melbourne. He believes this is the team going somewhere and he wants in. The players , with only an exception or two have returned in excellent shape and demeanor . The coaches have the footies out early. They have bought in too, Bought in to the players abilities finally being at a level to lift the gameplan to 'attack' So when we/you are at the footy, at training of even just listening to interviews etc take note of the attitude than emanates. There seems little "might" around these days and a lot more "WILL" and where there's a will as they say , there's the way. Often when comparing teams ,players etc you wonder why Team X seems to be doing better than Team Y when really the cloth and the cut seem near identical. The difference I suggest will be the degree of buy-in, the difference will be level of commitment to the contest. Players, teams that have bought in go harder, higher, longer.The individual lift becomes infectious and sustaining. This is why that long sought success will finally arrive. From the buy-in. Go Dees

you do realise the amount of work that goes into the legs in preseason ? It would surprise me with what Trengove has gone through over the last 2-3 seasons if he wasn't handled gently. Different players are loaded differently and I sure that there is a special roadmap for Trengove. Also - for the record - Being in the rehab group, running laps, being in the gym only does not necessarily indicate injury. The sports scientists have individually mapped out programs for each player and being in the rehab group could mean nothing more than a light load session.

main difference was dangermouse was a seasoned, established and mature player on top of his game i'm sure the pressure and decisions to be made affected hogan's performance adversely this year

Dinner with Saty!

Mine arrived yesterday with this.

We had some liver, a few fava beans and a nice chianti "The other grouo", will use from now on, sounds like a Seinfeld episode, not that there is anything wrong with that Going on Friday, pics and things over the weekend

Found out what was wrong with Clarry, one of the victims of the asthma/hay fever storm a couple of weeks ago, on medication, trained strongly, highlight his one on one battles with Jonesy Goody had them doing a lot of contact work today, most came off complaining of sore forearms, obviously the first serious hitting in a while Paraphrasing Me "Goody, they are all whinging anout sore arms" Goody "Good, it won't do them any harm" Interesting innovation in tackling drill, they have to hold tennis ball in each hand, so they have to use arms and body and not grab Agree Hogan is in a really good place. So is Watts, had a handball drill where player has back turned and has to spin and handball to one player out of three who isn't holding a ball, with his basketball skills, Watts turned this into comedy routine, particularly when Gus Brayshaw was the 'piggy' resulting in a quick headlock on Watts by Brayshaw Mitch King is not far off had him rucking against Greg Stafford I have to work now, got some good pics Including newbies will put them on Instagram and Twitter tonight, any questions feel free

I got Lamumba.

I have had quite a few conversations over the years with Trenners, the above will never happen. I am not one included in the second sentence Clarry is also fine, he was crook, the way him and Jonesy were smashing into each other on Wednesday was proof he has recovered, Jonesy gave him a couple of fearsome whacks and got the same back

I have already covered the Trenners situation by actually speaking to him, and it frustrates me that some seem to think, not you Faulty, that being in the "rehab" whilst not having an op in the pre season means you came back unfit. It is because they want to increase the load on his foot gradually Hibberd is now with main group because as I said, it takes a week or two to get his engine ticking over properly so he did a week or two of just running, already looks like he is toning down On the leaning down I asked Pedo (everybody's body shape target) he is exactly the shape and weight they want him at, every single player is treated as an individual My observations on newbies Hannan - Howie shape and build nice clean goalkicking action Johnstone - typical indigenous small forward, nippy and agile Smith - the Bull, no explanation needed for the Casey watchers, will throw himself into everything Filipovic - nice size and frame to build a decent ruckman, neat kick Keilty - solid unit, could build him into a second ruck if needed

Agree. You can never doubt Trenners effort and commitment.

It is not his decision to not be with main group, not sure which bit you don't get, hate to tell you but one Jordan Lewis has been in rehab group for last 3 sessions panic!!!!!!

CHANGES 2016: THE WASH UP - by The Oracle The first day of our summer brings with the beginning of a new cycle for AFL teams. The recruiting season is over and team lists are set in place for next year. There has already been discussion about the winners and losers over the draft period in particular but the reality is that it will be years before we can identify the real winners. I remember going back twelve months or more ago when the conventional wisdom among many observers was that the draft crop was not strong, particularly in terms of key position tall players and ruckmen. The latter group are often shunned in the main draft these days and unless they are very good, the ruck types will usually have to wait until the rookie draft. In many ways, the 2016 draft was looked upon as predominantly one for the midfield and smaller player. Moreover, there were no great standouts in contention for early selections with much wavering among the experts about who would go at number one in the AFL National Draft. There were clubs like Hawthorn, Melbourne and Collingwood who possibly saw the writing on the wall a year ago and not only traded out of early rounds this year but made little or no apparent attempt to get back into them. The Hawks' first selection was originally listed in the 80s but, after passes and changes to the order through the bidding process, it became the 74th pick overall. They traded stars in Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis without any apparent great effort to shop them around for better picks. The Demons traded out of this year's first round to get Sam Weideman last year and the second round for Michael Hibberd which meant they waited until number 46 in the latest national draft and the Pies took their first player at number 30. All three clubs had other priorities set for this draft and determined a long way out. In the wash up, this year's draft intake at Melbourne is certainly unconventional. After three or four draft periods in which they reaped some good young footballing talent, the Demons went unconventional in that none of their selections in either draft featured in the many phantom drafts, two 18-year-olds were picked (of which only one played representative football in the under 18 national championships). Three more mature aged players were drafted from the second tier VFL, two of them from the Casey Scorpions. The mix of player types was good and the club seems to have covered most if not all of its needs over the trade and draft period (including a developing young ruckman who was selected in that position in the TAC Cup Team of the Year) to the extent where it can make a fully fledged assault on the finals in 2017. Simon Goodwin should be pleased. The final pieces of the list puzzle were put in place with Monday's rookie draft. Here are the player pen pictures from the 2016 Draft Edition of Inside Football: Lachlan Filipovic 29/8/98 Ht: 199.5cm Wt: 93kg Sandringham Dragons "Big Sticks is a ripper of a kid, similar to Hamish Brayshaw in terms of his impact off the field in leadership. He is a very raw developing tall who has just come across to the sport from basketball. We think he competes really well and just needs to impact more around the ground. But he came on with that in the finals and had some very good games. Given the lack of talls we think he could get a sniff late in the draft. If he doesn't get picked up we would consider him as a 19-year-old. Needs to pick up a little bit of game sense having come over from basketball. There is a lot of upside." - Dragons talent manager Ryan O'Connor Strengths competitiveness, potential NTI: game sense, reading of ball in air Declan Keilty 8/5/95 Ht: 194cm Wt: 88kg Casey Scorpions "Athletic right-footer who kicked on in his second year at Casey, winning the club's Rising Star award and finishing third in the best and fairest. Also selected in the VFL team of the year. Spent the bulk of 2016 in defence but did some ruckwork and had some good moments when playing forward in the preliminary final against Williamstown. Came out of Gippsland Power. And with a well-rounded game he's going places." - VFL expert Paul Amy Strengths: versatility, marking NTI: speed, finding more ball Tim Smith 20/2/91 Ht: 192cm Wt: 88kg Casey Scorpions "They call him 'Bull' because of the way he goes after the ball - in the air (he took a handful of old-fashioned speccies this year) and on the ground (he enjoys a tackle almost as much as a goal). He's 25 but coming off a season in which he was named at centre-half-forward in the VFL team of the year, represented the VFL and booted 31 goals. A roughie to be a late selection in the national draft for an AFL club needing to inject some grunt." - VFL expert Paul Amy Strengths: marking, competitiveness, tackling NTI: running The MFC playing list now looks like this: PRIMARY LIST: Angus Brayshaw Tomas Bugg Sam Frost Colin Garland Jeff Garlett Max Gawn Mitch Hannan James Harmes Michael Hibberd Jesse Hogan Liam Hulett Jayden Hunt Neville Jetta Dion Johnstone Nathan Jones Ben Kennedy Jay Kennedy-Harris Dean Kent Mitch King Jordan Lewis Heritier Lumumba Oscar McDonald Tom McDonald Pat McKenna Jake Melksham Alex Neal-Bullen Clayton Oliver Cameron Pedersen Christian Petracca Christian Salem Jake Spencer Billy Stretch Jack Trengove Dom Tyson Aaron vandenBerg Bernie Vince Jack Viney Josh Wagner Jack Watts Sam Weideman ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A Lachlan Filipovic Declan Keilty Tim Smith Mitch White ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY B Corey Maynard Joel Smith

Standout observations: Hogan looks amazingly fit and content. Petracca has slimmed down remarkably. Tim Smith regularly outmarked anyone he was up against. Tyson, Jones, and Watts were standouts.

But you were being optimistic there

I don't think "H" has bought in to being a cog in a Melbourne Premiership team! I would classify him as 'out of shape' mentally!

It's pretty obvious that they were colluding or were coached into the responses they would give. I know that from speaking to one of the lawyers on the case. Everything they did was in lock-step except for a few like Hal Hunter that had been discarded by the club. Hard to see how you could defend (by implication) the players actions in not telling the truth to ASADA on the injections.

It is interesting on Hogan. From all I am reading on here you can't help but think that the whole "will i go, will i stay" affected his footy last year more and more as the year went on. I guess it is different for each player as Dangerfield didn't seem to miss a beat in his last season at Adelaide having to make his season end decision (maybe he had no decision to make - his mind was made up).

You seen the head on that kid. He's been punished enough

I know you don't rate Trenners 'olisik' but maybe you could save it until the season gets going. Here's hoping some humble pie might be on the table.

It's amazing that Petracca has lost 6kg because he's still noticeably thicker in the legs than almost every other player. I'd like to hire Byron Pickett as his personal bumping coaches because whilst it might cost him a few weeks on the sidelines if he can lay a few shepherds with his size and power he could make everyone walk taller.

We can't win the bye, which is one of the 23 rounds ;-)

A quick, nimble, mercurial forward who averages 30+goals a season... Highlights from Last year...

Even hearing him on the news last night was like listening to a different person. Perhaps a number of factors last year weighed heavily on him. Hope it bodes for a huge year

How people can leave Garlett out of our best 22 staggers me. After Hogan (1.95), and Watts (1.73) Garlett was our third heaviest scorer (1.71). Took 4th most marks inside 50 after Watts, Gawn and Pedo... Kicked 2 or more goals in 11 or his 17 games...

I haven't seen it mentioned on here anywhere, but I thought it is worth noting the passing of Richmond premiership player of the late 60's Billy Barrot. A member of the famous premiership centre line of Bourke, Barrot, Clay. While I always was and always will be a devout Dee, as a kid I could not help but be in awe of Barrot as he streamed down the 'G in his number 24 jumper. No one could deliver a drop kick with such distance on the run. Many a kid would try to emulate him, me included. I actually got to be fairly proficient at the old drop kick. Billy was unceremoniously traded to St.Kilda, for Ian Stewart who would go on to win his 3rd Brownlow. Once again, a man who has left us far too soon

Yes

Spoke to Macca about him, showed enough improvement in the 6 week mini pre season last year and consistency at Casey to be given the chance, think only scratched surface they want to see what full time environment can achieve Big lump of a bloke, managed to rip his training jumper to shreds in tackling drill

Very dangerous to assume any "implication". My entire premise is that much of what has been said is entirely anecdotal. Of more concern to me is the AFL's - the "peak' sporting body in this case - deafening silence on this issue and their continuing obfuscation

You are basing this on nothing but the fact that he is in the rehab group. Immediately you jumped to the conclusion that he let himself go over the break, and are unwilling to consider any other views, or even any other comments from those that actually attend training and talk to those within the club. It's amazing that you are questioning and even assassinating Trengove's character, yet at the same time, you have made no comments about your love child (Oliver), who would appear to have had a far more "interesting" offseason than JT.

I'm not sure I agree with the whole 'is Grimes better than [insert name of new recruit]' argument as to whether our list has improved or not. Plainly our list has improved during this trade and draft period, but that is not the only driver as to why certain players have been moved on and new players brought in. The reality is that AFL lists continually evolve - they are a continuum. We have genuine midfield depth now. In fact, but for the ruck, we have genuine depth everywhere. The likes of Grimes, Newton, Matt Jones, Dawes, Michie were obviously, in the view of the football department, not going to take our AFL side any further next year, nor did they have any further 'development' potential as they had been in the system for a long time and they are mature bodied players. In short, they have been replaced with players whom the club sees as either: - immediately improving our AFL side eg, Lewis, Melksham and Hibberd; or - having 'development' potential/upside and who may improve our AFL side in the future eg, Hannan, Johnstone, McKenna. The list seems very well balanced in terms of having a blend of older and younger players, experienced and not so experienced players. In fact, I can't remember our list being so well structured before - and this trade and draft period only enhanced this.

Billy Barrot drop kicking on the run. One of the most beautiful sights in football and, sadly, not to be seen again!

Demonpk

Max wasn't consulted, he worked with him at Sandy Dragons on his ruck craft, Max wants to be coach after finishing playing and this is part of the beginning, Max thinks there is great upside, so does Greg Stafford, I asked, Stafford is more than satisifed with the ruck division we now have

Who's role does Smith play? Are he and Weideman fighting for the same spot? (assuming Hogan and Watts are walk-ups to forward line).

Make one of them Captain. That'll really show the kids what happens to drug cheats.

Ox said on SEN this morning that Trac had shed 6-7 kg. Said he'd be amazed if he didn't win the Brownlow.

Really great signs. I'm generally not one to remind posters who make what i consider to be completely wrong player assessments but geez i'll be tempted to do so to those posters who made comments before he re-signed along the lines of him being over rated, we can cover him, he is too one dimensional (really?), he's good but not great etc etc. I say again the last player to come tor Melbourne with comparable talent and impact was David Schwarz pre knee injuries. If he can avoid injury i have no doubt whatsoever he will be our first superstar since Flower. And what is exciting is that i don't think the Trac is far behind.

Yes they were bad angles. From my perspective he didn't look lean ,but his body looked strong and his aerobic capacity allowed him to compete comfortably with anyone who opposed him.

To win more than 50% of our games, zero losses of 70 points or more, and to see Genuine development in all of our young players. i'd love to make finals but i'd still see that as a bonus rather than an expectation, but we should be very close to the mark.

Nothing kills achievement like the weight of expectation.

Thanks for the update. My heart sank for a minute there! Bring on 2017!

I'm no mathematical genius WB, but given we finish top 4 then we only need to win 25 games. Unless you're counting an end of season exhibition match, which I'm less fussed about winning.

Never seen Hogan smile so much

Of course we are, best 3 in's Lewis, Hibberd, Melksham best 3 out's M.Jones, Grimes, Dawes it's a clear upgrade though i wouldn't have minded keepign Matt Jones for another year personally.

If you look at the historical data we get around 12,000 people join from Jan-June. Hitting 27297 by end Nov is great, we should push above 30,000 prior to Christmas which really sets the club up to hit 40-45,000 for the year. Lets say 42,500 an extra 3300 members or in revenue terms about 600K

Don't give up hope that he'll play at Casey. I heard a whisper.

I wish you'd told the FD this before the draft cos they probably don't know. Just kidding. The FD obviously have a lot more faith in Pencil than many here.