Leaderboard

Got to training at about 11am, so quite a bit late, but still watched about 50 mins of drills. My second training in a week (before this, the last session was 20 years ago)! Was keen to get a few points jotted down given the plenty of reading of others posts in recent years (much appreciated guys!!). Few key points: Ball movement was very quick and typically hit the target, which is impressive given the strong northerly. Boys looked relatively relaxed and were enjoying the session. Plenty of talent on display - will be a very competitive list this year. Lots of the top guys did well (i.e. Jones, Vince, etc), and the younger guys look fantastic (e.g. Hunt, Trac, Clarry, etc). Coaches were very aggressive a few times - e.g. demanded that the defending team win the next ball in a half ground exercise. The focus and intent was great to watch I really think JKH and Trenners will get games this year, as both look confident, are moving really well, and skills looked solid. Had a very close look at "Weido". At face value, I thought there was not alot of glitz or skills to get super excited about, but then the competitive 1 on 1 marking and leading commenced, and he was very effective. Football nous impressive. All the key backs, key forwards and rucks were in a group for 1 on 1 competitive marking. Frosty is a super impressive athlete, and looked very good. Oscar looks fit and has bulked up. Was stunned at how much weight Pedo had lost, but he looked trim and super fit - I think he would be hard to leave out of the team. Big Maxy and Pencil had a great tussle, with Max generally winning but Pencil doing well (although tended to drop a few marks). Young Flippa was given a caning - noticed he lost about 6 of these competitive drills in a row, with most of his competitors marking the ball outright. Not super surprising, but he's certainly got lots of work to do to catch the others. Jesse was looking sharp ... spitting and hissing his way around the field. Looks mean and pumped. His run up is, without doubt, a little smoother. However, he missed quite a few today (wind didn't help!) Young Johnstone is seriously built. Moves quick and tackles aggressively although dropped a couple of marks he should have taken Finally, noticed Brian Lake wonder over to the ground with his hat and glasses on .... maybe spying for the Bulldogs? Or perhaps missing his hawks days and wanting to hang with Lewis ... or perhaps he's on the bandwagon and needed to check out the Dees hype!

Stayed at training for a bit over an hour. White and Mitch King in the rehab group with Kent and Kennedy. And Hulett and Tim Smith were helping them out but rejoined the main group afterwards. Kent doesn't look too far off rejoining. I didn't tick off the full list but I believe everyone else was there and training. Certainly Joel Smith was back in the group, Tyson was moving well. Notably JKH was pared with Hunt in the run through session and was holding his own. Rucks practised their craft after the running with Gawn, Spencer and Flipper under Stafford's tutelage. I didn't watch it too closely. For the contested activity that Ken referred to a square box was set up at either end with the squad being split in half and then in to two teams. Essentially a game of keepings off with the focus on intercept marking and quick ball movement. The northerly had kicked in by this juncture so there was a stiff breeze but the overall execution in terms of kicking skills was good. Once again, JKH was prominent as was Trengove. Oliver sublime in traffic. One shank from Melksham in an otherwise polished display. Lots of enthusiasm as you'd expect on the eve of the first hit out. Pleasingly Hibberd joined in everything and looked unrestricted. There's still some issues in terms of Petracca's kicking skills - it's a s much about keeping his decision making in check with his execution capability. It will be interesting in terms of who makes the squad on Saturday - there's plenty to choose from.

Lads have just arrived. My first session at Goschs. Reporting will be poor, I'm nursing a guns n roses sized hangover...

Word from the club is that Trenners isn't going to be spending valuable time trying to rediscover his acceleration. He has instead spent a considerable amount of hours working on his contested ball craft so he can become harder inside where his lack of speed wouldn't be as critical. Trenners presented to the club mid contract negotiations on what he would be doing differently if recontracted.

main group and looked great. No residual bandaging or anything.

as was Brayshaw incidentally. I see quite a bit of training and am struggling to remember having seen the whole list on the park previously and having cross checked the playing list I believe they all in fact were, with only the 4 in the rehab group (and all of them moving freely). It's a magnificent achievement / happenstance or whatever you want to ascribe it to on the cusp of the season!

just went on MFC website to check out his bio. his picture was there but the summary was on Filipovic. then clicked on Filipovic to see if Maynards summary would be there and there was nothing there at all nice work all round

Some of my fondest footy memories of the MFC occurred under your stewardship. Cheers Mate.

Rehabbers have left, and I need to as well, gotta get to the airport. Will write some more later....this phone is a piece of [censored]. Main group has split into two, half ground contested whites vs blues.

My father died of MND around 9 months ago - same age as Neale - had it for 18 months. During that time - Dad (we're from Portland) met with Neale as part of Daniher's Drive - the family being proud Melbourne supporters were thrilled with how respectful Neale was - Dad at this stage couldn't speak anymore - I suspect faced with how the disease was 'really' going to pan out in due course for Neale really chastened him to connect with Dad over the course of a few chats... champion bloke, and you wouldn't wish the disease on your worst enemy.

I was one of the first to "Talk the Talk" regarding Oliver Clayton who now "Walks the Walk".. Now for my next trick....Corey Maynard. He is an absolute brute of a specimen and im predicting a better clone of Luke Parker/Nat Fyfe (and i hate comparing players as they are their own person) . Underage gun who once kicked 15 goals in a junior game u15's before concentratingon a promising basketball career. Watch this space !!

Lol. I don't know why you don't petition for demonland to be banned. Threads like these must grind your gears daily.

Don't take advice on how to play the game from anybody except Macca and the rest of the coaching panel

I think* "wink wink" that we will be playing our best 22 for this first preseason game, so we won't see any of the fringe/younger players this weekend.

I picked him as a champion before he was born.

Nothing can last forever, even a Melbourne supporters pain.

yes, Nev was fully involved with the main group and looked good

Wow!

That tactic should be banned. If a player from the team which does not have the ball is banned from the protected zone, so should players from the team with the ball. And if the player on the mark isn't in the protected zone, he should be. In other words, the player on the mark should be protected as much as the player with the ball.

Good Riddance.

Anyone else hold their breath opening the thread?

sorry to hear that danelska and thanks for sharing, it couldn't be easy. it's a monstrous disease and i hope they find a cure or treatment.

The parties switched platforms, but are still the same frigging parties ! You're a dill of the highest order, so it doesn't surprise me that you favour a popular vote.

Paul Amy of the Herald Sun is tweeting that the Casey Demons FC have locked in Gippsland Power graduates Kieran Byers, Ethan East, Jai Rout, Trent Armour and Keenan Hughes. Other signings are ex-Dandenong Stingrays Tom Glen, Lachlan Gill-Renouf and Dan Allsop, and Sandringham's Liam Hiscock. Amy has also written in his paper's local edition that former Noble Park and Sandringham player Yilber “Bella’’ Zijai, trying his luck at Casey Demons in the VFL this year, did well in Melbourne’s intraclub hitout last Friday.

Happy Birthday Danners, each one will be precious to you and hopefully you are feeling well enough to celebrate it. Cheers.

Theres also a problem where they seem to have removed "fi" out of random words. From Trenners new Bio: " The season improved from there and he started to put pressure on the selectors to pick him. They nally did, with Trengove running out against Hawthorn in round 11 for his rst game since round two, 2014. Trengove, who has twice had surgery to x a fracture in his foot, played two more games before returning to the VFL. " Edit: I also noticed that Tyson and Viney were both apparently "mid elders" which i thought was an odd description untill i realised what had happened

Bring back the Bailey(?) double huddle for kick in from points. A huddle just before centre and another around CHF. Fast spread to wings / flanks, confuse self and opposition simultaneously.. I always thought it was our most entertaining method of turning the ball over from kick in.

1. Go to bottle shop 2.Purchase plastic hip-flask of Vodka. 3.Meet Uncle Biiter and or Moon. 4.Purchase coke or OJ. 5.Mix drinks 6.Abuse opposition vociferously 7.Go to pub. 8.Catch train home while sloshed.

I do have strong stances though ... Gun laws in the USA - riiculous $7.40 minimum wage - even more ridiculous 2.8 million incarcerated ... words fail me. Who do I blame ... both Democrats & Republicans. They are as bad as each other. It pays to not be welded/rusted on to either side.

Blame Trump :-)

miaow.....

he was just someone i could never warm to.......and not just because he hailed from carlscum

Well, he had been to see Guns n Roses the previous evening, which (in my opinion only) could be viewed as preparing for Grand Final entertainment of Meatloaf proportions.

Players rotating through a 3 on 1 keepings off drill. First lot were Gawn, viney, Tyson, jkh, bugg. Now watts, brayshaw, Hogan and stretch.

I thought Hawthorn just re rookied him

His replacement is from the big retailer end of town. If you are a supplier to the AFL get ready to be screwed like never before. He has been the chief of the most ruthless group of companies ever to grace the Australian landscape. The Players association is about to find out what tough is, they have been dealing with [censored] up to now by comparison. PS Young cats is censored?

I agree with Biffen. Too many damn hippie pinkos on this sight. They ought to remember this is the MFC after all, no place for pinkos on this team.

dimwit's " Beyond Boundaries Group" sounds reminiscent of "whatever it takes"

Kent and BenKen in rehab group

Did you sleep in Yarra Park overnight?

No no no, you have it wrong AF. The LEFT are the people misapplying labels in order to demonise and censure their opponents. Anyone on the right, especially a learned gentlemen such as Biffen (he read Voltaire don't you know), wouldn't stoop to the level of social justice warriors and simply call opponents Nazis without thinking through the actual meaning. Back in your box you damn hippie pinko.

I've always thought the best form of forward pressure is to kick goals...goes to show how out of touch I must be.

No he actually broke his leg after a couple of games. Was dropped to the VFL after a couple of AFL games and whilst pushing to get back in broke his leg and wad out for a sustained period. May have played a couple of games late in his debut season. But IMO Oliver had more upside/potential than Cripps

Use Gawn and the mids to win clearances and coach aggressive hand balling and stoppage set ups. Beef up our forward pressure, even if it means dropping players who kick goals but don't contribute enough defensively - Garlett even Watts and Hogan if necessary Zone defend to cause turnovers in dangerous spots on the back of this forward pressure Counter attack whenever possible from half back but if it's not on then either kick down the line to Gawn or Hogan or patiently wait until a player/combination of players can make a play from half back. I'd work on particular half back plays - the Watts, Lewis or Salem corridor kick. Hunt or Frost playing on and using speed. The short kick and handball to a player running forward coming across the mark.

From the MCC: "Kick it long"!

Every now and then, instruct Gawny to thump it out of the centre bounce straight toward goal. Get CHF out of the way and get all of the inside mids to run at it like rugby forwards. Sometimes there's something to be said for just getting the ball going your way. If the opposition picks it up we should have plenty of tacklers. Get the outside or goal kicking type mids and half backs (Brayshaw/Hunt/Melksham types) to run wide to receive the handball and take shot at goal. Think Clark Keating and the Brisbane midfield. The game's probably past the use of this tactic regularly, but I doubt it should be forever forgotten.

Got a fishing comp on Saturday so I'll be sucking back cold cans out the back of Rottnest trying to land the winning fish. Thank goodness for Foxtel IQ.

Yes the full list was out there but it was more like 10.15 by the time they assembled en mass and then they were off by 11.00 sharp so it was a short and not so sharp run and kick around the park. I told work I would be working from home this morning and so rode my bike down to Gosch's around 9.40 to see Cross working with some rehab guys, Kent, King and Kennedy. I saw J Smith wander over later for a run while I was on the phone to work! Gee he has developed since I last saw him, very athletic build. The KKK were doing agility work, having to run to and back to designated coloured cones called out by and assistant then told to lead to a pass from Cross, mark and pass off back to Cross and then run helter skelter back toward the goals while Cross lobbed the ball high for the player to mark and then snap for goal. Kent and Kennedy were good at this but Mitch surprised me with his agility and I was worrying about his knee when he was running and turning between the cones, he appears to be very coordinated, with very clean hands and a nice kicking action, not a great handballer on his left though. Around 10.15 the main group arrived while I was on the phone to work again and having a look at The Storm training. The main group loosened up with some handballs and then stretches , then in a huddle, then some short stuff where the coaches were kicking hard balls to a player about 5 meters away, they had to mark and handball back and it was not until about 10.30 that they broke into kicking pairs for some 25 meter kick to kick. They then broke into groups of 8, with 3 defenders and 5 ball players moving the ball from end to end by handball in a confined space of about 20x20m. The group I watched was Hogan, Salem, Tyson, Garland, Jones, Trengove, Frost and Stretch with Goodwin throwing balls low to a ball player who had to pick up cleanly and dish off immediately to a running player on the outside. Salem and Tyson really stood out and Trenners was very clean as well. Goodwin keep yelling to pass the ball on the up? I think he was encouraging them to keep some elevation on their handballs, he didn't want it bouncing in front of a target. This routine went on for 15 minutes then they broke into kicking pairs again and I wandered up to the goals to see a number of players practicing the old Daicos dribble goal from the pocket boundary. This was all pretty light hearted stuff. Weideman, Clarrie and Hannan came over next to me to have some set shots from the 50m boundary on their non preferred foot, with a $30 bet going. The Weid slotted his second shot and waltzed off with his arms in the air. Clarrie and Hannan never looked like it. At this stage they called it quits and sauntered off at 11.00 sharp so it about a 40 minute session at low intensity, to be expected after Queensland I suppose. Just about everyone was there I think. I didn't see Watts, Hibberd, or Spencer and I didn't recognize some of the newbies although I have now worked out that Hannan and Flipper were there and the new guy who caught my eye in the drills was Corey Maynard, looks a good size and fitted in well with the other midfielders. As I rode off Storm were still going hard at it and then work rang again!!!

Why don't you just attend and leave early at 3/4 time when we have a comfortable 6 goal lead?