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I got along yesterday for a look. Joel Smith is quite a specimen. Let's hope he can stay injury free because he's a great size, super ripped and I believe he's pretty quick, so you can understand why Ben Guthrie said in the AFL.com.au article that the Coaches are incredibly keen to get games into him. Spargo has used his year of shoulder rehab to master the leg weights. Nicely defined quads. I always cringe when small guys automatically get compared to Boomer Harvey in their draft profiles, but I'd suggest Spargo has the frame to become a little ball of muscle like Harvey was. Seems to always look angry and very serious. Hannan has bulked up significantly. Didn't appear to be moving too well with the knee strapped and some more strapping coming out of his sock, but he's noticeably bigger across the chest and shoulders. Dion Johnstone is another one in great shape. Appears the right size now not to be pushed off the footy. Couple of nice low, drilling balls in one of the drills too. Let's hope he can take his chance in the NAB games. Pederson super impressive in some of the running I saw, up the front with Hunt and ANB. Oliver, Petracca and Tyson towards the back. Lewis was helping Filipovic for a little while there with his lining up/visualisation while kicking for goal. Lever just does everything well. Petracca kicks the cover off the ball and I hope he can add a bit of touch into some of his passing to lead as some of the kicks were almost un-markable.

Mostly with the backs from the sessions I have attended, the other interesting one is Salem, exclusively with the mids

The Petracca comment, that was part of the drill, a get out of jail ball, hence Hunt launching a torp at one point, it was a changeup with the kicks going the other way trying low flat passes

2nd last in the group who did the time trial but not miles behind guys like Jetta and Lewis. Not saying Balic will do the same but it was around this time last year that Clarry was battling and he worked his backside off and won the B+F. I'd say Balic is at a stage where if he works really hard and stays fit that he'll have caught up to a decent level by the time the games come.

As remarkable as it sounds, Pedersen could be hitting his peak at 30/31.

Finally. We need him to step up and IMO he is best suited to playing midfield. If he can put it together, he could be the outside polish we need.

The numbers show how good he is already 19 disposals per game, 15 goals in 19 games 1st in Goal Assists per game 4th in inside 50's per game 4th in tackles per game 8th in clearances per game 7th in score involvements per game

Got there about 11:20. Stayed for half an hour or so. Absent: Viney, Vanders, Weid, McKenna Seemed to be a group doing about a 2km time trial. Tommy McDonald took the win, Jones not far behind, Bugg behind him, then a gap to Hogan from Lever, followed by a gap to Kent who did well fighting to stay ahead of Lewis, then Jetta and Fritsch (who went out with the front 4 and fell back) with a gap to Balic and then to Flipper. Gawn and King were running together as they have been lately. Lots of short sprints and changes of direction as well as longer stuff. The main group were doing repeat 200's. A rehab group of Garlett and J Smith in a pair and T Smith and Petty were doing longer interval runs. Hibberd, Melksham, Hannan were doing leading and kicking, as were Spargo and Baker with Crossy. Spargo looks like a very technically correct kick of the footy and can snap it accurately as well. Baker isn't as smooth, his drop punts can be a touch more up and under but not terrible. These 2 plus the 3 I named above did a kick to a lead, get a handball and kick a goal drill and Baker's easy change of pace was obvious and he nailed a very smooth running goal. Baker joined the midfield group, Hannan the forwards after they finished running. They split in to line groups. Chaplin again taking the defenders. Hard to tell if it's Rooke or who is in charge of the forwards. The forwards again had the soccer balls out to warm up with. All 3 line groups did drills with the focus on kicking and moving. They then divided in to 3 seemingly random groups to rotate through 3 drills. 1. Receiving the ball, turning off the mark and kicking to a short sideways lead right in close next to the boundary. 2. Picking up a ground ball under token pressure, straightening up and hitting a 45 degree lead (I like this drill because it replicates a more aggressive stoppage plan) 3. A 3 point kicking drill where you could either bomb to a target down the boundary or hit up a short inside 45 kick to a stationary team mate who would then wheel and go and kick long to the down the line man who has simultaneously turned and is racing towards goal. They split in 3 lane groups about 50m apart for simple lane work in a race to be first to 10 completed kicks. Very fast and surprisingly accurate. Lots of laughing and arguing over who won. Then the last thing I saw was the players pairing up and repeatedly leap frogging then crawling between a team mates legs. Another drill that seemed in high spirits but also probably had a decent point to it. Those explosive movements to jump up then get down and crawl repeated multiple times would be tiring stuff.

Judging by comments here on DL quite a few were 'holding off' their renewals due to disappointment at season's end, hence the early poor numbers. But some have commented they have since signed up anyway! Extrapolate that over the whole membership base and it adds up. Have often thought being a Demon supporter is like an addiction...we keep going back for more regardless of the hangover and a membership is part of the deal... Hopefully, we will be rewarded before too long.

If I'm not mistaken that video you're referencing is a drill where one player makes not much more than a token effort to restrict his opponent. It's not really contested work. In isolation that clip shouldn't be measured against intent. Having been to a number of training sessions over the years there's a number of those types of positioning drills.

Agreed, he is not a fan, but he is working really hard on it, he was trailing Harmes, ANB etc first week back, now keeping paceas mentioned

Total now 27,914......strangely.... exactly the same number as at 9 December last year.

When Neal-Bullen was exposed to AFL level football prior to 2017 it was mainly through the middle and his disposal was rushed and he made poor decisions under pressure. I didn't like what I saw. In 2017 he had a new and defined role that he diligently kept to and he played within his limitations. And he often lowered his eyes and started to make really smart decisions. The more comfortable at the level the better he got. He competes and contests well and had a very consistent year, hence his B&F finish. I don't think he has the talent to be an A-grader, but he's the type that will get the best out of himself, so I wouldn't back against him.

So we have our new 'link' player to roam between the 50m arcs! Salem is the best placed to now play that role. He will help reduce the loss of silkiness going i50 from our old #4. Salem is not as big but I reckon he can be just as deadly delivering the ball inside 50. Has terrific footy IQ, reads the play well, good decision maker and has reasonable speed, not to mention a terrific left boot. Can launch from outside 50 too. Cool as a cucumber.

Not sure the Demonland Server would have survived the 87 Prelim on a Commodore 64.

You get a certificate that is 'signed' by a laser printer...

just to re-live the draft where we got him . Pick 23 to GWS for Frost and the picks that got us Oscar and Nibbler. That has to be one of our best trades in a decade or two.

It's not a "petty little issue", its deliberate policies of the AFL that provide specific advantages and disadvantages to certain teams, ours being one that is consistently disadvantaged. This impacts us in both the short term (less revenue each year through gate receipts, sponsorships etc) and long term (inability to generate and consolidate a supporter base, inability to sign long term sponsorship deals etc). This wouldn't be so bad if it was acknowledged and AFL revenues pooled and distributed amongst the clubs equally however every few years the topic of finances comes up and clubs like ours are asked the question "why can't you make money, increase membership, increase crowds, increase sponsorship revenue etc?" North, Saints and Dogs are in the same boat, continually shafted by the AFL and they have the double whammy of Docklands agreements that they don't want but are forced in to due to AFL contracts to play a set number of games there each year (up until they bought it out last year). And it's got nothing to do with performance. Carlton has been as inept as us for longer (15 years) yet still get numerous prime time and high revenue games. We were one of the better performed sides over the AFL era until 2006 and still got shafted every year. Yeah we were pathetic from 2007-2013 but that's a separate issue, these AFL policies have been in place long before that.

Great report as usual DeeSpencer. Lots of good, straightforward info

I'll long remember the goal he kicked in the third quarter at Subi when we moved the ball from deep in the back pocket via a scrambled Frost kick that became a frenetic run and handball transition ending up with Nibbler out-(gut) running his Eagles opponent to get on the end of the loose ball and slot a neat goal in front of the MFCaway supporters....bloody inspirational! I rate him. Will become a weapon if he can remain healthy.

I posted this the other week on the Demonland Facebook page and I neglected to post it here. These highlights have sat in VHS form for years on a dusty shelf and I thought it was time to convert it to digital form lest the quality degrade even more. Apologies for the quality that it is in as our almost 30 year old VHS copy was already a copy of a copy of a copy. At least now that it has been converted to digital it will now last as long as YouTube lasts. Enjoy.

Anything is possible LH just look at the last two years. It is just what will make me happy. I just need to go to games believing we have a very good chance of winning and then doing it the most weeks. I just want to walk away from games proudly displaying my MFC allegiance. If something better happened then I will be very happy but I dont need it like I did 20 years ago. What I really really need is for my Grand Daughters to grow up in a safe world.

DeeS, Saty or anyone else who was there. I spoke to someone who was there yesterday and they said that Balic was way out the back on all the running and didn't look like he had any chance of keeping up and on that basis was going to struggle to get a game. DeeS you mentioned Balic in the 2km time trial. How did he go? Does he look ok or do you agree he's a long way off the fitness of the other players? Anyone else have a comment about how his fitness is compared to the others. For all this guy knows he could be training with the flu or something. Drunken mentioned this about Keilts a few weeks ago.

dr who speaks with forked tongue is he a dual citizen?

Great shots but of these, it really looks like Melscham has mad strides with his balance and poise over the past few weeks. Very handy bloke to have in the fwd line.

So in hindsight, we received Frost, ANB and OMc, for 2016 pick 57 and 59, and also got to keep our 2012 pick 23. No doubt Mahoney, Viney and co were criticised for being poor negotiators or being bent over by GWS in the original Frost trade.

The last I looked, Harmes was our number 4. Not sure what the big deal is. I also expect to see footage of Lever in an Adelaide jumper when it's day 8. People seriously need to HTFU.

Hi Wadda, Dan Zephyr has been nominated for two decent races at Pakenham this coming Saturday. A 1200m handicap and the 1400m Gold Bullion. Both races carry good prize money and we will find out tomorrow which race they choose when acceptances come out. He was scratched on Ballarat Cup day because of the wide barrier (14) but my mate was a little peeved when they bypassed the Ballarat race and chose Warrnambool a few days later and accepted with barrier 13. Not much difference there so he couldn't quite understand the decision. As it turned out the Bool meeting was abandoned and the horse has done some good work since his last run. Will have more updates later on this week.

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Awesome work guys, going from strength to strength. Feel free to PM me if you would like any help going forward with these projects, more than happy to donate some time when I have it to keep thus kind of quality material coming. Pats on the back all round

Yeah, as i always say, some weeks you make a deposit and other weeks its a withdrawal....either way its a bank. Last saturday was definitely a deposit. I shall have a look at the form from the Railway then. Thanks. Any news on Dan Zepher D77??

PEDO is looking ultra trim amazing

I reckon no news is good news with Trac. He gets talked up so much by all parts of the footballing world that I think it will be good to see him have a really solid, quiet off season where he continues to build his tank and his ability to play more midfield minutes in 2018. What a weapon he can be if he is able to add this to his repertoire over the off season! Thanks again as always @DeeSpencer, your reports and insight are much appreciated.

Haven't seen much long running but he's keeping pace in the sprints in the main group. The gap between them in the repeat sprints is probably as narrow as I've seen it. Neal-Bullen's often towards the front but Hunt, Harmes, Salem, Brayshaw, Tracc etc aren't dropping off.

One of my major frustrations this season was watching 2 or 3 players fly for the ball. Such a basic error even in suburban and amateur footy. More often than not, no player would position themselves in the front or at the back of the pack, this occurring regularly at both ends of the ground. The ball then being swiftly taken away by our opponents.

Great runner and uses it in games to rack up the ball by getting to the right spots and does his bit defensively. Not super quick to really break lines on the outside and not a powerful dynamic inside player so I think the half forward role is the right one for him, although more rotation minutes is a good idea. I'm not sure what others are seeing in terms of his decision making and skills. Most of the time when he gets the ball I close my eyes because I don't see a lot of confidence in his decision making. He certainly improved last year but still there were lots of games where I regretted that he was getting it 20 times. There was a strong correlation between when he was using it well and how the team was playing. Consistent good decisions and nailing his kicks will determine if he's better than a role player.

Looks like Jesse is ready to go. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-12-04/-hogan-in-super-nick-and-set-for-beast-mode and is working on some tricks like "... a focus on improving his functional strength, with a particular emphasis on being able to push off big opponents and create separation in marking contests." And is working on his 'body language' which I assume means not to show his frustrations on the field (to teammates or umpires) and stay aware of where the ball and his opp is . Those things will go along way to making him a better player. Lets hope it his year.

When it comes to being Jewish I don't think the labels observant and non observant are as useful as identifying and non identifying - but that is a whole different discussion. I'd agree with most of what you have said except to say that I have found the younger generation of Jews ( my two daughters and their circle - mid 20's) are much more left leaning except on the issue of Israel. I would go even further and say that they are heavily conflicted over Israel and the actions of Netanyahu Government. There is a strong belief in the state of Israel however some angst over the current government.

Nah Lakers

Not sure on fitness but he's got the guns on display. On a side note I hope he beat Lewis to the ball.

There is so much to look forward to with Jesse. Easy to forget sometimes just how good he is. A lot of Demon supporters might even underappreciate him... every opposition supporter would kill for him on their mob. God help the rest of the comp when he reaches his true potential. if he takes that next step in 2018 we will finish top 4.

I'm really happy for him, his 2017 went better than probably even he had hoped for, let alone expected. He's not a star and wont even be that good, but I expect he will be a good contributor for a long time. A player type I really like because there's not so much fanfare and they form the less obvious core of a team's culture. Plus, they contribute more value than the salary cap space they take up! I little bit neater with the disposals and he' becomes genuine high quality, and given his attitude and progress over time it is a reasonable thing to hope for.

Good alignment with Rigoni. Guy was very similar to ANB. ANB is very similar to Guy. Both made a significant improvement to their mobility to augment their existing attributes.

Interesting idea - But the AFL are doing so well - Why change a winning formula? Sure the AFL will always have their knockers, no matter what they do, but that says more about the knockers than the AFL. Im rapt the AFL stepped in and saved our club, I rapt the way the AFL has handled the game over the last 20-30 years - now thats not giving the AFL blanket approval, but Im prepared to live with the good and the bad and get on with supporting the MFC AND the AFL. Sometimes you have to say - thank-you and put aside the petty little issue and recognise the professionalism of the AFL.

Your efforts in this thread are much appreciated LH.

Surely that is the nature of list management. You give fringe players short term contracts so they will always be coming out of contract more regularly.

This seems like an 'I'm still annoyed about them trading Watts' type of comment from the Ox. It's strange. He says we'll go south if we get injuries to Hogan, Weideman and Lever - any side that loses some of it's important key forward and defensive players will struggle, but he fails to recognise how we battled plenty of injuries last season and were still competitive throughout. Weird stuff from the Ox.

Queries remain over Salem, VDB and especially Brayshaw for me. We need them to be at their best for us to win at least one final. 2 out of 3 aint bad. I think Frost and Oscar will be better this year. I have Pederson getting early games and if not injured, having an excellent year. I cant see Lewis and Vince playing more than the 1st few games as they lack concentration. It wont be overlooked. This may play into Salems hands although he seems to have similar issues with discipline. We have the cattle but next year we need mids that feed forwards better than this year.