Leaderboard

Lets accept all training reports for what they are. Everyone who contributes should be thanked. They go to the trouble of attending and writing reports that provide information that we can enjoy. I also like to read the different comments and perspectives. I think all those who write them deserve a break. Readers like me are in a sense free loaders who benefit from the contributions of the training watchers. Are we better off with these contributions irrespective of content? I think so. See the common good and ignore the things that irritate you. The summer period is a time to renew our hope and faith in all things including our beloved Demons, and to look forward to the season ahead. A time to be positive and to accept our differences. Particularly as we all share the same love.

Training report information is very valuable and I'm very thankful for the effort the posters go to. But it's naive to expect that it won't generate wider discussion and elements of critique: Pedo is in good shape - can we play 3 tall forwards and where does Weid fit? Lewis is training with the backline - he has pace issues in the midfield, can he manage them better here? will he replace Bernie in the backline and can they both play in the same 22? TMac is moving to the forward line and Lever has arrived - what does that mean for the backline structure and who will be the key players? Salem is training with the midfield - does that have implications for other midfielders like Tyson?

^^^ Either post or don't. The threats are tiresome. Players look slimmer. Very positive.

The constant negativity on here is one reason I feel like not posting again, whilst I can understand some of the angst, it is December, it is a new season, it is at least 2 months before we fire a shot in anger Read the reports, look at the photos, let's revisit Oscar, the fwd line, the game plan say around Rd 6, then we will have some data to go on At the moment, nearly all the squad hopefully will be ready to go Rd1, competition for spots will be ferocious, Goody does not play favourites From what I have seen at training, we will have a team of versatile men who can run all day and the skills are getting better each session

Main Points: * Will play forward in 2018 * Is currently in Rehab * Not dwelling on 2017 and moving on to 2018 * Brendan McCartney in charge of defence now. * Good impression of Jake Lever. Strong trainer, using voice from beginning. * New Kids - Charlie Spargo - nippy little small forward. in rehab and going well. Beautiful kick of the footy. Diligent hard working.

They do indoor wrestling and Garlett was working with Pedo and tweaked a rib, all good, did nearly an hour and half of rehab

No its not Saty @DeeSpencer posts info from training sessions, and does not take exception if someone disagrees with his views. You share some great info, directly from the players mouths, and make a huge contribution to the site, and then go out of your way to undo all of your great work by whining condescendingly at anyone who dares to question your fanboi views. When you let people have their own views on players, you are a really interesting, and highly respected member of the site, but when old Saty rears his head, you are nothing but a rifle range target.

It is a training report thread, it is the only topic I am posting in, the rest degenerate into slanging matches and negativity If anybody wants to whinge and whine do it in one of those, let the rest of the readers read them in peace @DeeSpencer puts a lot of effort into his reports, read and enjoy, that's what I do and I am at the same sessions

The Saty of the past few days is an asset to the site, and an interesting read. This version is the reason for most arguments on this site.

Saty, it's like panning for gold on a good prospect - ya gotta ignore the dross and appreciate the nuggets, not the other way round. Keep up the good work!

Just a couple of quick notes from training today Oscar Mac is now a healthy 99kg and is working on core strength, from the player Standout in running today that involved Trac, Clarry, Gus, Tyson, in other words the younger mids. was Salem Hogan was again a standout as was Vince, anybody who thinks Bern is just going to go quietly is mistaken Lewis' left foot is a thing of beauty Lot of craft drills today, including an interesting one where they were torping in from the square and the forwards were attempting to mark Viney was out in the fresh air today Kent is back with main group and looking really fit Pics on Insta later if Mr Demonland wants to move them over And the younger players are not involved in a boot camp, from Mr Mahoney, and the boot camp last year is showing the benefits this year

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-07/youngsters-bond-in-threeday-camp My mate Miffsy who is a junior coach at Torquay watched the boys training yesterday. Miffsy (who son is a promising junior) was gobsmacked by the players' foot skills and marking. He ain't a Dees man, but was very impressed. BTW Torquay has produced some handy AFL players including Travis Boak and Jasper Pittard. Noah Gadsby likely to be a name you'll hear in a year or two.

The camp I was talking about http://melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-12-07/youngsters-bond-in-threeday-camp

I'd be talking to one of Amazon's new business partners in Australia, GetSwift. That's the company run by Joel MacDonald and which has Joel and James Strauss as significant shareholders. (In Joel's case "significant" means about 140 million dollars worth.)

A great Christmas present indeed: Viney gives Dees an early Christmas present

McGuane's prediction for us to make finals is a no brainer! Incremental improvement will happen from our talent, another preseason and increased experience of young guys in their 4th+ year. So the proverbial 'drover's dog' can get us into the finals. Simply scraping into the finals won't be enough to call the year a success, imv - as I said a 'drover's dog' will get us there. We need to achieve a quantum improvement and finish in or just outside the 4 and win at least one final. I hear people talk injuries. Yes, teams need luck with injury to win the GF but they aren't an excuse for not making the quantum improvement into the finals next year as we have an excellent top 30 which gives us plenty of depth. The want by players will determine how far we go.

Troy Chaplin on SEN this morning said Viney saw the specialist last week and has been given the all clear to train with the main group after Christmas

It is believed that only a premiership can relieve the symptoms. Unfortunately there is no known cure.

ahhahahahahaha. Saty you should wear contacts on the field.

There would be people complaining that the players are too fit. #nowinsituation

As someone who hasn't always enjoyed the tone of a lot of @Satyriconhome's posts, I'll give credit where it's due and say your posts of late have been interesting and informative, and largely free of the tiresome blinkered condescension. When you're like this you're a very valuable poster. Keep up the good work.

Chazz I think you're likely to find there are a lot of them. I suggest you be a bit careful about which ones you choose to rely on. For instance I'd probably steer away from any with the name S Dank. D Robinson is probably another that comes to mind to avoid. I like to rely on facts where I can. It's very clear from the Financial Report and it's notes that the Club is on to this. We increased spending in the FD by about $450,000 last financial period and PJ says in the notes there will be a focus on spending more on the FD in the next year so the financial result won't be as positive as this year. Mahoney & Co have already shown they have a knack for assembling very strong people in the FD. McCartney & Jennings come to mind. I don't know the breakdown of the positions in the FD and who the Sports Medicine people are but I trust they are working to be cutting edge without being Hird cutting edge. I just read that the Bulldogs increased their FD spending this year by $2.8mill for AFL VFL AFLW. I might have our increase in FD spending wrong but that's how I read it and if so then it gives a bit of a comparison to one of the other small clubs.

Anyone who's interstate.... Jetstar has a sale on today, flights from Sydney to Melbourne starting at $35. The wife just booked us return flights for Rd 1 v Geelong and Queens Birthday. Bring on 2018.

You're correct, Saty, I find myself writing negatives far too often when I attempt to think of positives. I have not resolved this, internally, at this point but articles and discussion points like yours assist me in achieving a broader perspective and at times, cause a sense of regret about certain comments that I might have made hastily. It seems as though these considerations are part and parcel of being a long-term Demon supporter, the Club's history and the continuous struggle to see our players, year by year, rewarded with success. Go Dees!

It's not a threat, it is a statement, you do realise revisiting the same topic e.g. Omac is boring, because nothing new is ever added, it just goes round and round The players are not only slimmer but stronger all lifting better metal than ever before

If i was looking for Sponsorship exposure i certainly wouldn’t be investing in the MFC this year. Our fixture is a nightmare for exposure Thanks AFL

A "quantum" of anything is the smallest possible unit of that thing, so I think we should be aiming for a bit more than that.

New game plan coming methinks. Exciting.

Lack of free to air exposure, particularly Friday nights and finals, is a big problem too. If we can have some sustained success we will be able to land lucrative and recognisable sponsors.

Thanks Saty for the following pics.

@stevethemanjordan understand where you are coming from on Omac, but watched him do the same drill again today and he was fine, it is December and apart from building him physically as I posted, they are working hard on his craft and the coaches rate him

The real problem is caused by the club only training 3 days per week. It's the other 4 days where people fill in the gaps. If we could only get the club to train 7 days per week the problem would disappear.

Not sure about this article. It says he's got the all clear from his specialist but he has to continue to train "off legs" until Christmas and will join the main group early Jan. Hard to see him training with the main group if he isn't even on legs until then. Personally I don't mind if it takes until July (although 1 Jan would be preferable) as long as when he comes back he's completely over the injury forever.

Hey track-watchers - how is Garlett looking this pre-season? No-one ever talks about Garlett. And Tyson? Both had interrupted starts to last year from memory.* *Discussion point partially a hopeful realignment of thread and track.

That would be an amazong coup. But negotiating in this market may be tricky. It's a jungle out there.

Goody: We want to play with a high press, but our defense is getting out-muscled on transition. Macca: Right, give em' to me.

Brownlow, Norm Smith, Premiership in AFL, VFL and AFLW . Richmond couldn't do it. Pathetic. And don't anyone start suggesting they didn't have a team in the AFLW as an excuse or I'll spew up!

I'd be talking to amazon

The Lever families first "saved" post from Demonland. Lever yearbook cover page.

Big problem. Major Australian and international companies do not see the point unless its a national team. Most multi-nationals are not interested. Not just in MFC but any form of professional sport. They have Boards and Shareholders who will hold them to account. And who can blame them. Lets face it, AFL is way down the pecking order. Also these days, you have to have a very strong business case for a company to invest. Many companies these days are not interested in sport or investing in organisations that are not relevant to their business or market. This is going to be one of our biggest problems over coming years.

The Weideman one is interesting. I hope we're at the stage where we are focusing on wins now instead of a continual preparation for the future. If Weideman earns his spot through good performances at Casey and maintains it through good performances at senior level, great. But if not I would have Pedersen ahead of him until he can prove otherwise and I hope the FD learnt their lesson after the early part of lasts season where Weideman was a liability and Pedersen looked like he was on the outer until being forced into the side through injuries. Of course neither of them may be in our "best 22" come round 1 (injuries not withstanding). Weideman will be coming from a fair way back considering his form in 2017 and his late start to preseason following ankle surgery.

Oscar doesn't need to take on the 'gorilla' FF. They are quickly becoming extinct. The last few 'gorilla's (Buddy, Kennedy, Hawkins) will be gone in a few years. The new breed FF is tall and lanky (Daniher, Brown, Moore, Hipwood etc) with great overhead reach. Smarts will be just as important as braun. And Oscar is growing in both areas and is now starting his 4th year. He will be a fine addition to our defence. He doesn't need to be a star - consistently do the job asked of him will do.

The thing for me is, that while the three named in the forward line looks ugly on paper, I get the sense that they won't all be present together there at a given time, with at least one always pushing up - helping to improve our desperately needed tall/contested marking presence on the wings as well as dragging an athletic defender away from our opposition zone set-ups to better open up our forward line for our poaching medium forwards.

You're not taking that photo in context. He was actually doing the can can.

Oh no, looks like Lever can’t hold his feet.. Thanks for the photos and training reports, much appreciated.

In short, some of your "sick feeling" and concerns are based on one contest on a video clip ?

This makes me happy. Thanks Saty

Who says his claims are "easily dismissed" ? U either have a preference for a structure, depending on matchups and injury, or you don't. There's no way I'm playing all of Gawn, Tom McDonald, Hogan, and Pedersen through the forward line. It won't be a structure Goodwin wants. Pedersen misses for me. I'd also preference Weideman over Pedersen because he's the future. His body hasn't been strong enough to compete at AFL level, but hopefully it will be after this preseason. But it's up to Pedersen. If his form demands selection it will be hard to overlook him. My money won't be on him lining up in round one if we have a full list to choose from. It's not "personal".