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Apologies for the lateness of this effort. Really enjoyed yesterday morning's session. Much of what I observed confirmed what we've been consistently told by our track watchers over the past couple of months. I apologise in advance for the eclectic nature of what follows. Structurally, can I just say, I love the way the coaching staff divided the session into 4 quarters with the clock clearly simulating match conditions. This is not new but seems to be of increasing focus.The session was very much game sim driven and the large crowd appreciated that. The coaching staff really impress me. Transitions from drill to drill are sharp. Preparation was never found wanting. Feedback was delivered swiftly but they never lingered too long. Heart rates were always maintained. Crossy was fantatstic with the rehab group but this is news to nobody. The level of onfield leadership seems to have gone to another level. I love watching our senior leaders instructing small groups with line managing assistants watching on to ensure the appropriate messages are being delivered and then engaging only when necessary. The vibe in the team is excellent. They're driving each other, challenging each other. Viney and Gawn excelling in this area. The physicality is good. An occasional skirmish is a healthy sign. The gameplan is definitely being drilled into this team. As mentioned by the Melbourne-based reporters, the play on, quick ball movement is evident. The metronome app confirmed that the accompanying music was maintained between the 120 and 125 beats per minute range and the style of play seemed to mimic the tempo. I'd like to think our coaching staff are this switched on. Let's just pretend that this was indeed an intentional decision. Disappointing that five key members of our best 22 are in the rehab group. Hibberd, Jetta, Tyson, Brayshaw and Kent all look close to resuming and certainly got a solid workout in the hot and steamy conditions. Oscar McDonald and Sam Weideman are building nicely. Whilst still some way from AFL key position size they've both taken obvious and considerable steps towards adding the necessary kgs. More importantly both are attacking training in a really focused way. You sense they feel they belong and know that there are spots in our best 22 waiting for them to consolidate. Jay Kennedy-Harris was an absolute standout for me. He looks really fit and his one touch play was great to watch. His hands are beautiful and he brought a real energy to the session. Aaron vandenberg seemed to be everywhere. Only saw him turn it over once. One of the real positives of the session was the quality ball use I observed from players with a question mark in that area. vandenberg used it really well as did Harmes and Hunt. Hunt was the other highlight for me. He's been a favourite for some time but this session confirmed everything we outsiders have been hearing on Demonland. His linking player is critical and the team is clearly being coached to look for him. His line-breaking pace was electric as always but his disposal at the end of these runs was pleasingly efficient. Neal-Bullen made some mistakes unfortunately, as did some of our first and second year players. Billy Stretch will play round 1. Hogan looked great. His kicking routine, for me, however, is all over the place. At one stage, he was practicing his routine during a short break and his run up looked exactly like last year. 5 minutes later during game sim his routine looked completely different. What was consistent, however, was the outcome. He wasn't missing many today. I don't care what the routine looks like to be honest as long his efficiency returns to 2015 levels and we don't have to discuss it on here every second week when he misses a couple! Of the newcomers, Pat McKenna impressed me. He's a really good size and battled manfully against Pedersen in a really demanding contested/wrestling/leading/repeat effort drill. He looks almost as tall and almost as strong as Pedersen. We have some really options in defence now. Pedersen, as advertised, is noticeably fitter but still very broad and strong across the shoulders. It's great to see but also raises the question why it has taken this many pre-seasons at Melbourne to get to this point. Like others, Maynard just looks a player to me. It's like he's entering his seventh or eighth pre-season. Hulett took some nice grabs and the Casey graduates both looked at home. I was keen to isolate Jack Trengove to see if I could notice any discernable improvement in his speed and acceleration. As others have noted it's difficult in training to do so but at one point when he really put his foot down to find space it appear he did so with more ease than last season. Wishful thinking perhaps. The real highlight for me was a few tackles. Jack Watts received ample congratulations when he brought down the skipper trying to exit the defensive footy. The boys really do love him and Melksham brought down Hogan in impressive style earlier in the session. Pedersen pulled off a Watts and ran down Harmes when he was trying to clear the ball also. Great to see our key position players doing the less glamorous things at the tail end of a gruelling three hour session. At the end of the session Oscar McDonald and Billy Stretch seemed to be receiving some extra praise. Maybe they both received the Goody Fifty. Morale within the group was clear for all to see. Autograph signing and the mingling with the kids is always awesome. The kids and the families keep coming back and this part of the day must play a huge role. The Maroochydore camp and this open session is turning into a nice little tradition. Happy to respond to any questions about any individuals you might have.

Thankyou to Goodvibes. Reports such as yours make for a wonderful read at this time of year. This report below is sourced from a poster known as Brady over at Demonology "So I headed to Maroochydore this morning expecting the boys to have a pretty solid session, and it definitely was.Over 3 hours out in the 30+ degree heat. I would have left just before midday and they still hadn't finished up. The sessions started with some standard kick to kick and lane work before they got into some 12 on 10 full field match stuff. There was a group of 10 on the sideline in a resting group. The two teams would go full tilt for 3-4 minutes before one would swap with the resting team. Two players wore orange bibs and would always be on the attacking side to create an outnumber 10 to 12. The countdown timer on the scoreboard was set to 25 minutes and they went at it until it was up. Over on the other field was the rehab group which today consisted of Tyson, Kennedy, Kent, Spencer, Jetta, Wagner, Hibberd and Brayshaw. Not sure why a few of them were in this group but maybe they were just being managed or have a little niggle or two. They were doing laps at a pretty good pace to start with before moving into some 100m runs / sprints They then a little later moved into boxing. Out on the main field the group went into 15 v 15 full match play. Goodwin would kick the ball to a player in the back pocket then it was on. They went at it until a goal or point was kicked. The ball moved at a very good pace. You can definitely identify the game plan now. This went on for another 25 / 30 minutes, before the team headed into the cool room for 15 minutes, I think this was a "half time". As Brendan McCartney walked into the rooms he said to all of us supporters watching "don't worry guys, we aren't done with them yet, they've got another 60 minutes of hard work to go, you'll see some tired boys out there soon" he wasn't lying. They came back out and the mids split and did some boundary throw in work while the forwards and backs did some contested work inside forward 50, with the forwards trying to stop the backs getting it out. Once this finished I decided to head off as it was stinking hot in the sun but I heard one of the coaches say they had around 25 minutes to go "the last quarter" A very big session! Some individual performances I noticed - Lewis - well as everyone already knows, this guy is all class. He will add a level head out there, calm under pressure and time after time hit the target to a leading Hogan or Weideman coming out of the forward 50. Looking like he has dropped a kg or two. He will add a huge amount to the team. Oliver - He was in everything. In the match simulation he would of been one of the leading possession winners out there. Used it well too. I think it could be a good year for him to come. Knows how to find the footy. Petracca - Beast! I am so excited to see this guy out there this year. He moves so well and was another who racked up the possessions today. Played across half forward and pushed up into the midfield. He could absolutely dominate a couple of games this season. I really believe that. Others who caught my eye were Bernie, Hogan, Weideman (who has definitely put on a few kgs) Gawn who just did his thing. JKH got a lot of the ball but would have turned it over or shanked the kick probably 50% of the time. He needs to fix this if he wants any chance of making the 22 this year. Anyway, overall, having come and watch the boys train at Maroochydore the last 3 years. I can honestly say this has been the best I have seen them train. That might be to do with the time of year it is as we are only weeks away from games but there was such a positive vibe around the group and they went at it full tilt. You can tell they are ready to get stuck into the 2017 season now. Cheers and Go Dees!"

If Melbourne was to have an enema they would stick the tube in Casey - if its not raining the wind is howling. Horrible place to play footy.

Just you

Hannan was one that I struggled to get a read on to be honest. I'm not actually sure if he completed the whole session. Apologies. Tim Smith was great. It really does appear that we've got a three horse race for the third tall forward role. Pedersen never been fitter, Weideman developing nicely and Smith might be ahead of both of them. And as I said earlier, Hulett had a good session and impressed me with his clean hands in the air. I haven't had the pleasure of watching Tim Smith at Casey but was really encouraged by the way he moves, reads the play in game sim and as has been noted previously, has an uncomplicated and efficient shot for goal. Not sure if it's been mentioned earlier but Mitch White hurt his ankle in a JKH tackle and had to be rested. Garland hurt his ankle shortly after but was able to resume after some treatment. Also was going to mention that McDonald (Snr) and Pedersen both competed strongly in the air and it looks like there's no issues with their shoulders.

It was a glorious morning down at Maroochydore fields. I decided to take my shirt off to get a bit of sun on the rig. I've been doing yoga on the beach every morning so I'm in pretty good shape, it's probably why Spencer was staring at me. The players did some drills with the ball, Petracca looked tired, I told him if he took his shirt off it would be easier. I spoke to Pedo about his weight loss, he said he just stopped eating the freshly baked cookies that Watts brings in to every training session. Hogan kicked the ball at the goals, he used his opposite foot a few times. His stutter wasn't as prominent. I spoke to Macca who said they've put a device on Hogan that electrocutes him whenever he stutters or his body language appears negative. I asked Goody if it was a hard decision to delist Crossy. He didn't say anything and just walked away, he's a bit of a jokester like that. I joked back by yelling out to him that I was going to unfriend him on Facebook. I have to leave now, D & G have a sale on pants, I hope all the 32 regulars haven't sold out.

Absolutely belter of a report Vibes! Well done

All over the country, people park their cars around the local footy ground to passionately support scrappy, congested, poor skill rubbish: local footy. Kids lie awake at night dreaming of playing scrappy, congested, poor skill rubbish with their mates. Happy to watch it and support my team.

Was there last night as I'm friends with most of the girls and for someone who played and has been involved in women's football for a long time it was a real emotional time for all of us. That atmosphere was fantastic, was packed, people getting right into it. Yeah skills weren't great but I'm sure back when the men first started it wasn't either. Will take time, doubt crowds will be that big throughout the rest of the female season but what a special moment it was for them. Everyone needs to stop worrying about their skills right now and just be happy for them.

What i will add is that we missed a golden opportunity to sign Darcy Vescio as a marquee playee. Daisy was the right decision but the decision to sign Mel Hickey who is 30 years old was poor. Darcy is also from my hometown and i have seen her player for years and she is a dead set freak. You only have to see the way she turned it on friday night to see what a superstar she'll be. She is the type of player that will bring fans through gates and her along with Daisy would have been the perfect face for MFCW. I am also very bias as her father is my neighbor and best mate who is currently helping me renovate my house.

I'm annoyed. I don't think we've got the coaching appointment right. Hiring a TAC coach who's never coached women's footy and then trying to play a zone system when the game just needs players spread out in position and to win one on ones. None of our best players are forwards and it's clear you need a gun forward to kick 2 or 3 goals to score in this game. More than that though, I'm annoyed it's at Casey. The Dogs and Blues are getting bumper crowds at their traditional suburban homes and it has to be a boost for the entire club. Plus the players can train where they play. I don't know if our girls had even been to Casey before today? The place is an absolute dump. It never has decent conditions for footy. Never. A solid enough crowd turned out but how many where Melbourne supporters and what was achieved by playing it in the middle of nowhere? Poor decisions and lack of infrastructure has seen us being unable to capitalise on all the hard work done in previous years.

Have you picked up a newspaper or tuned into a sports report? Everyone is abuzz with how impressive the start has been. Even a trip to bigfooty (of all places) reveals a generally positive response. Most have acknowledged that the skills are down but most also acknowledge that those skills will improve and improve quickly. Yes, crowd numbers will drop and the hype will decrease but the opening weekend has shown that there is a massive groundswell of support for women and footy. You couldn't be more out of step with the vibe of the average footy fan.

I've heard the men's players referred to as "boys" plenty of times. Let's not start looking for things to get all PC about. At half time the bulldogs captain referred to the players as girls, no need to feel offended for them. Should we not refer to the Bulldogs as "the boys from the west"?

Only the true viv would deny his viv inity

Sounds like something Viv would say..

Hi. No not Viv just been Overseas.

Final points from today and then I'll sign off from Maroochy headquarters. In hindsight I'd describe today's session as a slow burn. It turned into the kind of training session that not only highlights the training camp but is also one to build the season upon. *Not sure if it was mentioned elsewhere but Jetta was at the camp today training in the rehab group, but Garlett and Johnstone were still away. *More sport specific and game style specific conditioning on display today - I expect our game style to go to a new level of physicality this year, with bodies hitting hard *From the sound and looks of it they have got the endurance running stuff out of the road really early in the piece and now are really honing in on perfecting the details - Already fit enough. *I haven't seen any of the other sessions but the Hulk is really putting his best foot forward this year. Really excited to see what he can do. * All of the ex Basketballer talents emerging in football terms are another highlight for me. * If we can keep most of our key players fit and healthy throughout the year, look out because other teams are going to have their hands full with the Dees - which is nice to be able say for a change. Bring on the season - catch you next year.....maybe.

Agreed. History was created last night. As the trailblazers for the game, the Bulldogs and Demons had earned the right to create that history: to have the First goal kicker, the First win, the First BOG etc. Instead the history was gifted to the big and powerful. The respective captains, Brennan(Bulldogs) and Pearce (Demons) didn't think too much of it either "...Both admitted in the countdown to the AFLW premiere that a Carlton-Collingwood billing hasn't exactly filled them with romance..." Having failed on that the AFL should have the Bulldogs play the Demons tonight giving both teams a chance to have a 'big' game with big crowds . Instead both clubs play i/state teams which won't draw big crowds so less atmosphere etc. At least the Bulldogs get to play tonight. We are relegated to a 5.05pm start the night before school at an outer suburban oval. 5.05pm, really! More respect was deserved by the two teams that worked so hard to even get the AFL to consider an AFLW game. Edit: Just noticed our game is not on FTA TV.

Let's not overreact. It's a very small sample and the conditions were unbelievably difficult. (Who am I kidding? It wouldn't be Demonland without a post game melt down. I guess this is equal opportunity 'supporting'. Welcome to it Ladies!)

I believe a similar thing happened round 1 2015- Sydney vs GWS...

Going to be a big crowd by looks of it!

I was fascinated by the first two games I watched on TV. The enthusiasm and desire was impressive though skill levels were quite ordinary and impacted on efficient ball movement and consequently scoring ability. Not as good as the Melbourne/Bulldogs games of last season. I guess this was expected with the dilution of available talent and new inexperienced teams. Still I think with time I women league will be a great success. As with many I am disapointed that the AFL went with the populist $$$'s first road by giving the marque clubs the opening game. An insult to the two clubs who were forefront in making all this happen. And to add further insult we get to play our debut game at the Sunday graveyard shift in the sticks with no FTA TV. Our game should have been played at the MCG or Etihad.

Rehab group had BenKen, Mitch King, Jetta, Kent and Dom Tyson. Tyson looks ready to resume. Garlett and Johnstone missing. Spoke with Jake Spencer... he had a few twinges so missed todays session. Ready as backup to Big Max.

For those that missed it this morning. https://audioboom.com/posts/5565260-simon-goodwin-on-sen-breakfast?t=0 Love the huge wrap on Petracca.

The naysayers don't get it. Its not about quality football. I will get more frustrated by the mens game anyway with all the stupid umpiring interpretations. But women's footy is about free entry, a fun night out and back to suburban grounds and grass roots. I went to the Dogs, Demons game late last year and it was a totally different crowd. At one stage I just took time to look around and only about 30% of people were actually watching the game. But the rest were having a great time anyway. You remind me of people who carried on about the Big Bash as a joke game. Some people need to stop being "old stick in the muds"

Racist.

It's been a very unimpressive start. The coverage has been condescending -- "Look at these women play football! Filled stands! Bravo!" -- while few people outside of neutral fans have had the balls to call it as it is: of a very low quality. Now the AFL is hyperventilating and considering changing venues: I guarantee the hype and excitement and romance of it all will die down VERY quickly, especially once the 100-point beltings start. The AFL rushed into this. Extremely limited talent pool. They should have slowly added one team at a time, maybe every two years, and created a festival or round-robin tournament out of it. 8 weeks will kill these women. I am truly impressed by how dedicated and hard and fit some of them are, but the quality will only get worse from here. Dare I say the AFL has killed Women's football before it even began. Why too optimistic.

Spoke to Pedersen and commented on his loss of weight. Put my foot in my mouth when I asked him about the whole Chris Dawes situation last year. He just laughed it off when I told him I thought he had better hands but it got awkward when I said Dawes had a great set routine. I basically got him back on my side when I told him I thought he'd play every game. Called Viney Captain Jack. He loved that. Smith boys sat side by side and told him we needed more Smith's playing the game. Tim and Joel agreed. Nev told me he had family obligations that kept him from Broome but I think Jeff and Dion went up. Declan was charming as was Hannan. Jones was quite staunch as you'd expect and I really gave it to Clarence - McCartney's pet name for Clarry - when I likened him to McKenzie. He told me he gets that a lot and Weeds couldn't control himself laughing. Kent was mopping a bit as he wont be playing the JLT as he is still recovering for rd 1. Personally I think JKH will play round one and Gawn will go solo in the ruck this year such is his fitness.

Yeah, the Demon women are carrying on the great club tradition of being dumped to the least commercial and publicity valuable timeslots and opponents. But we'll crush that problem by continuing to be the most active promoters of the game and of our women's team throughout the men's season, and by making the best facilities and coaching support available out of any of the women's teams. When our women's team is winning everything in sight at the same time as our men's team is a regular contender, when we have as many members as clubs who claim to have three times as many 'supporters', and when the likes of Hogan, Gawn and Petracca are all among the most visible players in the game... then we will wreak a terrible vengeance upon all who opposed us... no wait... I mean, then we will get the recognition and profile we deserve.

Couldn't find a positive Red? The standard will improve and quickly. I think I said elsewhere that I would have gone with a 6 team structure. We don't have the talent yet to meet the high standards of the last three exhibitions games. Did you enjoy those games? That's where we'll be across 8 teams within a couple of seasons and then it will just get better and better. I'll repeat, the best talent in the country is still very young. The pathway has been in place for a few years now. The Auskickers are coming. I just hope people are patient. It was always going to be scrappy. Calling it rubbish, however, is a little disrespectful to the commitment of the girls involved in yesterday's game.

Super weird thread.

Pedo looking mighty lean in that pic.

I saw JKH turn it over a couple of times but I also saw him show clean hands every time he met the footy, work incredibly hard to make space and show a willingness to take the game on at every occasion. Some decision making was questionable but overall I thought he was very good. I don't see him as a small forward, I like him up the ground. I think he'll be competing with Stretch for a spot.

If any player, ours included, sat on their arse in protest, I would boo, boo, then boo some more.

Pity about The Age. I had many friends who worked there before it became a tabloid mish mash of mental junk. I noticed an article that begins with the headline "Dear Men,It's not OK to comment on pre-teen girls looks." WTF? How about ,"Sweetie you are covered in dog poo and it's making me ill just looking at you-go shower". or "You look very pretty today darling ,but not in a rape attracting kind of way, just a sort of pure and innocent way that I'm sure will disappear when you learn at Uni that I am actually just a misogynistic,patriarchal ,gender stereotyping and bias perpetuating animal who is degrading you with my complimentary assessment of your appearance and gender". The other articles that start along the lines of "Stop saying" ,"Don't call me",etc are not only embarrassing for this once great paper, it's bad grammar. Makes me long for the days when I would meet up with my Journo mates(male and female) and head to the strippers opposite for a few beers before going out to pick up with my undeniable charm. Journos parties were fun in the old days too.Plenty of dancing,kisssing,drugs and music. Bet the gatherings aren't much fun these days. I hope they have a third and fourth toilet for the unspecified genders in the new offices ,because that's the most important issue facing us it seems. I wonder if they realise how ridiculous they are and how intellectually demeaning they are to themselves. If I had a vagina it would allow me to write some of the most abysmal diary entries about my own perceived injustices and pass them off as Journalism. When is it going to end? I hope soon.

FIlipovic made some mistakes but he's a good size and seemed really co-ordinated and you can tell even from a training session that he's got a great attitude and is working hard to improve. Can't add much about King as he was in the rehab group but he's a good size and quite well filled out already for a second year ruck coming back from injury. Seemed to be moving well and there was no evidence of bandages or strapping on his knee.

Thought you might appreciate this Biff ;-)

Good points Macca, unfortunately there is little opportunity for those who fund the sport to direct how it will be distributed. i am sure most would want less to the administrators and more to the grass roots development etc, maybe more to the developing female sector. Perhaps a strike by the spectators would be more valuable to the progress of the game than a player strike.

Are you guys being fair to Lyon? I presume you are both aware of his mental health battles in 2016, - some memory, (or knowledge) lapses in that context don't seem deal breakers to me. In the context of the questions he was asking when referring to those games, (knowing what to expect from the team, win or lose and Hogan's mindset), they make no difference at all. By the way, in the SEN interview he said " nearly beating West Coast", - so he corrected himself.

Maynard is a monster.... when I attended training in Melbourne with my son, we both thought he looked physically a lot like Petracca (if not a little bigger!). Hopefully he will get a run in the pre-season comp.

The amount of weight Pedersen has lost looks like he has changed his diet. He looks in the best shape of his career by a mile. No doubt he will be kicking himself that he didn't do it years ago.

AFL players are always looking to the American professional sports for inspiration and all they think is the sooner they're making 20 Million a year the better.

Really good team spirit at the end of training. Very impressed with the efforts to encourage some of the strugglers. A draining session with really good signs for the year. Particularly like the way Weids finished off the session and he is trending really well. He's a lot stronger and fitter a year on

Great morning session up here in Maroochydore. Watched th opening session and was quite impressed by the skill level and strong desire to find the closest option so as to get the ball into the hands of the speedster Jayden Hunt. Vandenberg almost broke the legs of a team mate when he slid into him for the ball. Trainers yelled at him and and berated him for his lack of awareness. Could be that he is a dumb footballer but he was adamant he was in the right. Spoke briefly to Tyson having watched him slot three majors in the rehab group from fifty with ease. He tells me that he did plenty of conditioning in the postseason so will be right to go first JLT. He convinced me that he is over the worst of his setback and looked pretty slick. Still yet to sight our Queenslanders. Ben Kennedy has acquired a foot injury from what Tyson has told me. more to come

Yes, for a positive I thought the girls went in generally very hard at the ball. I thought their short passing was good. I thought the crowd was massive. I was surprised at how many girls can't get any distance, even with a smaller ball. I wasn't expecting 70 m torps, but I thought if a girl was having a shot from 30 m out they would make the distance and saw quite a few that didn't. I was surprised at how many easy marks were dropped. I was surprised at how many girls held onto the ball too long and got tackled and lost it. I was surprised at how poor the handball was. Given they played 16 a side, I thought it would be more free flowing than it was, especially with some of the quicker girls using their pace. I will admit I didn't watch every second of the game. Did anyone run and bounce the ball, I didn't see one bounce? I don't mean to be disrespectful to the commitment of the girls yesterday, but if I gave an honest comment, which I did, so be it. I don't disagree with you that it will get better, but that doesn't change what I saw yesterday. I don't feel you need to say something is better than it was, just because it might/will improve in the future. If that was the case, you could never have a view on an event, as the next one might be better. I know I am probably a bit biased, as I am not really enthused about women's footy, but I watched yesterday to see how it would go and maybe get a little bit more involved. I will keep trying, but ATM I think of it more as a sidewhow and money raiser for the AFL. As armstrong 35 said, I am happy for the girls.

It's not one or the other. Being able to cover the ground well requires elite condition and fitness, no matter the position. Sat-man thinks it's black and white. The fact of the matter is that Pedo was always carrying condition. It was as clear as day to see and he's probably realised/been told that he needed to work harder and drop weight and improve his ability to cover the ground. And more importantly for him, give himself the best chance to stay on the list going forward. Simple. Some blokes do the running that's required during their breaks, others do more. Some eat well enough, others are meticulous with their diet. There's an article on the AFL site atm about Hannebery and the fact that he hasn't touched grog in almost five months. That's not a club requirement. He has taken it upon himself to cut it out and he is in the best knick of his life.

Never would have guessed that was Pedo but for the number on his back. He looks like he's almost halved in size Clearly not mucking about in 2017. Good on him.

Is that you Jack?