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Apparently before a big session one of the boys will get up in front of everyone (changes each week) and give an inspirational quote or something to get everyone fired up In this instance however, ANB reportedly decedied to freestyle a song, which a few boys joined in on Just a bit of fun before the hard stuff

The Demonland Podcast Returns Wednesday Night 29/11 at 8:00pm with Special Guest Melbourne Recruiting Manager Jason Taylor. http://demonland.com/Podcast

There seems to be a common misconception that Oliver isn't overly quick. Oliver's pace for an inside bull is superb, we just don't see it enough. But if you watch him closely his burst speed is very good. For the record, Oliver tested 2.99 seconds for the 20 metre sprint prior to the draft. Anything sub 3 seconds is elite. If you read the bios for players in this year's draft such as Ed Richards, Charlie Ballard, Lochie O'Brien, Matthew Ling, Jaidyn Stephenson, you'll note that high up on their strengths is their speed. Only one broke 3 seconds (Stephenson 2.97). Thankfully, this misconception about Oliver's speed was dispelled in the media this year: 7/4/2017 Melbourne Demon Oliver leads army of stars Michael Gleeson He is like Cripps or Sydney's Josh Kennedy, a tall and strong midfielder who with longer arms have better reach to be able to get clear of a tackle and still get a handball out. The difference between Oliver and Cripps or Kennedy is that he is quick. I know, he doesn't look like he is, but he is. The assumption with an inside player is they are one-paced plodders often with good endurance, Oliver bucks that. He is quick and has decent foot skills. "He accelerates through the contest," Melbourne player/coach performance manager Brendan McCartney said. "He is electric. He just has great power.

I believe in the previous training thread there were some posters who were getting stuck into him for whatever reason and he said he's had enough of it and is going to stop posting training reports. Hopefully he returns to post some training updates. Your posts are always appreciated @Satyriconhome!

If we're giving Petty number 33, surely his nickname has to be LP.

It's a shame we couldn't get him on last week so that we could all call him and tell him who to draft.

I won’t miss her she kicked the MFC as hard as she could and then kicked it again to make sure. When Terry Wallace told us all he Tanked in the coaches box for a whole quarter to get Trent Cotchin to her beloved Richmond, Caro was as quiet as a mouse...

I'm guilty of not recognising Oliver's speed. So basically he has elite speed, elite ball winning ability, elite hands, elite kick and elite competitiveness.

Think the anti-Saty squad were getting stuck into him a while back and he mentioned that he may not post training reports. I hope that is not the case. I'm an interstater too and depend on him and others to keep us informed.

My MFCSS Pavlovian conditioning: Minor delay reported on a return from foot injury during early pre-season = Persistent feelings of deep unease characterised by sharper periods of anguish, anger, despair and self-pity prior to a settled recurrent state of weary fatalistic acceptance.

Where for art thou Saty? We need your reports. Us interstaters depend of them.

Caro is a very clever journo - she mixes a pinch of fact and truth with a heavy doses of opinion and speculation without really giving the reader an indication of what is fact and what is fiction. She makes for interesting reading none the less

Takin a knee for ANB

Saw Fritsch play several times this year out at Casey and the kid has talent to burn. Brilliant in the air for his build, good initial acceleration without being Jayden Hunt like and he tackles with intensity. I'd be very suprised if Bayley doesn't make the grade and have no doubt he'll play senior footy in 2018 baring injury. We've got a beauty!

Well Jesse better play in front then.

Carrying your own clubs instead of riding around in a buggy. Tough game golf.

After having won the most prestigious award on the internet just last year, i feel i have an obligation to take my time with next years predictions, if only for dramatic effect. I will consult my crystal ball and post the results here when i feel you are all emotionally ready to hear what is going to happen. @faultydet if you want inside information before i post, you know my number.

Colin Garland is what footy ought a be about. Have we had any better a clubman, then Garlo? Takes the train to the footy. just a great fella I reckon. A real community spirited person imo.

In one final trade, The Age has recruited Jake Niall from Fox with Caroline Wilson relinquishing her role as Chief Football Writer. I know she's not been everyone's cup of tea, but 19 years in the role is a pretty solid career. With more positives than negatives in my view. And definitely more lucid than the Herald Sun's equivalent. Interestingly, Patrick Smith has also retired (this week, I think) as a full time journo at The Australian.

Mods will be taking a more no tolerance stance when it comes to poster abuse. Particularly when it involves abuse towards those offering a service like training reports. Please use the report function if you witness this behaviour.

Can't forgive her for "The Vault" article, the first ultra beat up from her on the tanking episode! It was debunked over subsequent weeks and it became obvious that it was just a regular coaches meeting not some clandestine meeting of the inner sanctum of evil as she tried to portray it. Later on she was still at it, accusing Pettard of deliberately fumbling a ball on the wing in the dying minutes of controversial loss to Richmond where we were ahead when the final siren sounded! Absolute shyte, in a year when MFC players fumbled balls all season.

Do the current TAC cup arrangements and rules enhance the selection of youngsters, or is it too open and free to make judgements which reflect the needs of AFL? Is it easier for a recruiter to have top draft picks, or do you prefer the analysis required for those picks further down?. Why do rucks take so long to develop? And what do you look for if selecting one of them?

Well done DL, that's another great landing - keep it up!

Strange that I’m seeing Satyr’s pictures (I follow his Instagram alter ego demonpk) but he’s not reporting in on the training sessions. What’s the deal Satyr?

Oh dear! Yes i think i remember Shakespearean Lass?......you would have done ok on the all up tho? 85 /1 is ok! But yes i know the feeling. Myself and a mate were putting on FFs on an Emirates Stakes day a few years back. I was adamant i had the winner at 17/1. Then i also wanted to put this horse in for 4th who had only ever missed a place once in about 10 starts. My mate said we didnt have enough money left to put it in. Of course my horse won which we had 1 out and the horse we left out ran 4th.......we had 80% and it paid 185,000. So yeah i know the feeling.........Thats Racing, but sometimes common sense needs to prevail!!

No, Bending the Knee - King of the North.....

Not sure about that. Looks like it should be: Jack Viney, delayed start from pre xmas to mid January. Seems they are being very conservative and he's coming along slowly. I'd also like to know how Sam Weideman is training the house down whilst also being stuck in the inside group. What exactly has led him to be held back so much? Any time estimate on when he can't start at least out door running?

A rare 'actual journalist' in football, and I respect her for that. BUT There's always going to be an element of distaste for the way she would build up some really serious vendettas, making things her personal crusade. Gotta take the good with the bad, at least she's not one of the mass of dribbling idiots who contribute absolutely nothing to the 'football discourse'. Even disagreeing with Wilson, at least there's something there to bother disagreeing with.

Always have had mixed feelings about Caro. I often read her articles because unlike many of the journos they are well written and provide entertaining reading. She is smart, wily and can write well and is able to analyse an issue. More often than not, her conclusions are highly subjective and reflect the angle she has decided to take. She manipulates the facts to suit her story line. Her articles are usually a mixture of footy politics, personalities, club infighting, disharmony, rumours and scuttlebutt. She rarely writes a positive story unless its about something or somebody she likes. She is opinionated and melodramatic but knows how to write a good article. Hence all the media awards. I give her credit for her attack on some holy cows and for not backing down to personal attack. Her scathing criticism of the EFC and James Hird is the best example over recent years. Compare that to the journos of other media outlets that helped run the EFC PR campaign and Hird defence. Yet she is full of prejudices and biases that influence her articles, reduce her objectivity and make one query the truth of what she writes about. As Nutbean pointed out, her articles are a mixture of fact and fiction but with a strong angle or story line that can produce a conclusion that is debatable, overblown and sometimes unfair. Anyway, it sounds like she is going to continue to write weekly articles so she will continue to provoke comment and argument. I have no doubt that she will dredge up dirt on Goodwin or the MFC if we have a poor 2018.

'Summer lovin, had me a blast'???

Pretty much yeah To be on a VFL list you have to nominate a local club so they'd go play for them that week/have the week off

Happy with this pickup. I was hoping either him or Bailey would slip to our first pick and we landed Spargo. He's a talent. Decent pace, great agility, great competitor, can rack up ball and chime in with goals. He'd be perfect to play up forward for the first few years of his careers to partner up with Jeffy. He could be added to the midfield rotation over time or own a small forward role. Though he's small, he's a competitor and take down his share of bigger players over his time. Welcome Charlie!

Worth more than the $30 on its own.

Hi Wadda, Dan Zephyr has been a great little horse for connections. He's had some terrific runs. If you look a bit further back on October of 2016 he ran 4th to Redzel by 1.9 lengths first up at $51. We know Redzel is possibly the best sprinter in the country right now. Here is a story that will make you shake your head. An ex stablemate of Dan was a horse by the name of Shakespearean Lass which I was also a part of a while back. My mate stayed in as a part owner and both horses ran at Caulfield in February of 2016. Dan was in the opening leg of the quaddie and the Lass was in the second leg. My mate and I took the all up on fixed odds at 85-1. Both horses saluted that day but do you think we placed a quaddie? Third and fourth legs of the quad paid about $20 each for the win and the quad that day paid in excess of 100k. If we had placed even $20 for a quaddie it would have given us about 15% with field/field in the last two legs. We still talk about that missed opportunity. As they say ' That's Racing!'

Agree, who knows maybe James Harmes wore #4 regularly as a junior , maybe it's his lucky number , maybe he thinks he can run faster with less weight on his back Who cares - good on him for asking and thank goodness we didn't leave it vacant in some pathetic gesture to honour the departure of someone who is no longer on our list I for one think Harmes can be a regular member of a very competitive football team - don't remember not putting in when it was his time to go - hope he has a blinder of a season

Me senses a healthy dose of small-man syndrome. Strikes already as having the potential to be an annoying little [censored]. Our annoying little [censored].

Can confirm, Harmes asked for #4 and they gave it to him, also; Lever #8 Spargo #9 Maynard #20 Balic #27 Fritsch #31 Petty #33 Baker #35 That's all the Number changes for next season (so far)

Dees win their first seven, but they're not taken seriously, ala North a couple of years ago...until... They thump the Swans and Bombers in consecutive weeks and sit on top of the ladder with a percentage of 152.3% Boys get around Wattsy after the Port game - he kicks 3, but Hogan kicks 7

Lever and Balic ARE young talent m11 You use your picks to bring in talent, either by drafting or trading. We are loading up for a flag tilt, and were always going to trade top picks for top established talent at some stage. Some people seem to prefer the excitement of the unknown. Give me a (quality) known quantity any day.

Highlights package = grain of salt. But there is some tremendous judgement of the flight and one grab marking in that package - it's hard to fake.

If we take Parish over Oliver we don't get near finals If Smith and Spencer don't get injured against Richmond we probably win and play finals If St Kilda took Trac instead of Mccartin we struggle to win QB It's full of what ifs Thank god the FD looks forward not back

Flags are won with Rance, Astbury and Grimes as well. Or Morris and Hamling (with Roberts) shutting down Franklin. Or Brian Lake. Or Scarlett and Harley. If Weeds comes on we trade Tom McDonald or Hogan. Cross that bridge when we come to it. Weeds has all of Cam Pedersen's games to play first before taking games away from those guys. Jones has plenty of time left. Vince and Lewis were both ordinary for most of the year. Getting Salem, Oliver, Brayshaw and Petracca fitter means they'll be the possession winners with Viney and Tyson. Along with Hunt, ANB, Melksham, Hannan, Harmes, Stretch. Give me those 12 with a lock down defensive unit and a functional forward line and I'll be happy. 3 picks of running players. 1 pick on a tall and I can see a tall defender being of much more value than a tall forward or back up ruck.

Surely you're not serious with this post... We trade in Lever who was the pick of the trade period, seen as a future captain at Adelaide. 3 years in the system so more leadership straight up in 2018 than any draft pick. Plus it was a midfielders draft with no quality talls at the top end. If we get one player out of this 4 it will be a bonus. With Lever we already have one... You draft for best available, trade for needs. We traded in quality and leadership... A clear run with injury and we are a definite top 4 chance...forget about going backwards.

Ernest, hope this gives some reassurance: "...Melbourne's coaching staff took the opportunity to teach and work with him on his technique when approaching contests...Brayshaw was predisposed to leading with his head and they have been trying to alter his approach to ensure he leads more with his body to absorb the contact coming his way..." http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-07-18/demon-angus-brayshaw-to-return-in-vfl-after-concussions I know there are no guarantees. But the kid clearly wants to play and it seems he and his family have weighed up the risks. So, I would love to see him fulfill his potential.

Haha the ginger ninja is already my new favorite player, how can he not be

Can't believe it without proof. Pics please

Jayden will give him a headband. Problem solved.