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Here are a few snaps from training today. Enjoy ==> https://www.smugmug.com/frame/slideshow?key=3NPfw7&autoStart=1&captions=0&navigation=0&playButton=0&randomize=0&speed=2&transition=fade&transitionSpeed=1&clickable=1

Any decision that doesn't achieve the desired outcome can be categorized as questionable That's why there are so many hindsight experts, paricularly in the footy environment Also why not many are brave, or foolish enough, to take on a senior AFL coaching role Paul Roos used to get a prodigious amount of email coaching and selection tips from these experts Imagine if he had actually listened He also told me if he picked 15 different teams one weekend, he still wouldn't please everyone Examples Weed and Hogan had been training most the pre season and it was hoped they would form a good partnership in 2017, Pedo was still remodelling himself into the Lean Machine we see today, so Weed was preferred, it didn't work, shock horror, move on JKH was tearing up the VFL, he got a chance and not only told me but the Club Website he had let himself, the other players and the coaches down with his performances, shock horror, it didn't work, move on I know Ben Kennedy had some deficiencies in his game that he couldn't fix, hence no games and delisting Who would have picked Hannan to debut and play so many games, a guy who had gone VAFA/VFL/AFL in three seasons, don't remember seeing him in many pre season best 22 that the experts nominated, was the decision to play him questionable at the time? Or an inspired decision in hindsight. You could fill a topic with pages to rival the Jack Watts traded topic on coaching selections that have either worked or not worked over the lastx10 years, with each expert offering up different opinions, nobody is right or wrong, just a different take or view on each decision and why it was taken

I want Sloane to leave so I can watch Tex's head explode!

Photos from todays training. Enjoy ==> https://www.smugmug.com/frame/slideshow?key=3NPfw7&autoStart=1&captions=0&navigation=0&playButton=0&randomize=0&speed=2&transition=fade&transitionSpeed=1&clickable=1

You play this line every time you are questioned as if it absconds you from being wrong - it doesn't. Your opinion can be wrong. Your assertion earlier was that the 22 who play on match day will be selected from those who are fit and in form. I love the fact that we have greater depth now and there is far more competition for spots, but to say selection is based on those two things is wrong. That's not opinion, it's fact. They are two different things. Weideman is a prime example. In the JLT series last year he kicked just 2 goals in 3 games. That's not someone in form, yet he was picked anyway as they 'hoped' he would form a partnership with Hogan up forward. Many questioned this decision from the outset and were proven right. He was picked more on potential and what they wanted from him up forward than his form or even his fitness in a game. We all know Joel Smith was rushed back way, way, way too early. Ditto for Jack Viney and even Max Gawn, who admitted he was probably brought back a little sooner than he should have. It's clear that the team needed them, regardless of their current form or their fitness. We could go on and on about this, but we come back to the 'opinion' you've arrived at that Goodwin will select the team based on their form and fitness. That's just not going to the case. You go with it every year but we end up with the same results. You can have your own opinions but you can't have your own facts.

On Petracca, in my emerging panic I have trawled the internet and social media and found no comment - no news is good news in my book. Plus, his instagram shows that he was in the park playing with his/a dog sometime yesterday evening.. You would think that if it was serious he would be at home with it elevated and on ice.

As for the rest of the session. Turned up around 10:40 with the players soon to start some pretty decent going match simulation. White v Blue. Rehab boxing: Weideman, J Smith, T Smith Walking back to AAMI: Vanders Walking laps, possibly with a issue or unwell?: Dion Johnstone Running: Viney Match sim was fast paced and aggressive. Loud cheers as Lever timed his back pedal and spoil going with the flight to knock the ball away from Hannan who was loose inside 50. Equally loud cheers from the other side when Kent and Spargo amongst others forced a ball up inside forward 50. Spargo found the ball in space a few times but wasn't as clean with it as I'd have liked. Balic is similar and also has a real art at smothering the ball. After this it was some simple kicking and handballing cone to cone stuff that then resulted in a kick inside 50 to a 1 on 1 contest inside a box that was maybe 15 wide by 10 deep in the hot spot area. Keilty gave Hogan a good test. Hogan was encouraged by Macca to coach the guys who made poor decisions on where to kick, which was a lot of them. The forwards were starting behind (or I guess the defenders were starting in front) and so it takes the forwards and the kickers to be on the same page. Hannan and Jetta had a good battle, with Hannan using his body to keep his ground then mark over the back. Petracca had Frost turned around a lot, which concerns me with Frosty. Frost only takes a few steps to recover but sometimes you don't have it. Clarry at Oscar were similar but Oscar probably kept closer. Bugg, Fristch, Harmes and Tommy Mc then rotated in as did Wagner and Perry on the defensive side. Perry has good instincts and nice closing speed. After some tackling work the forwards and backs did a drill where it was 6 on 6 deep inside 50 and they were working on their zoning. I didn't really like this drill because it involved some big contests in the air with players backing back and other attacking the ball. ANB got a Hannan knee in the glute that had both players sore but able to continue. Wagner had a big spoil with some heavy contact. That said, the defenders worked well with each other and the forwards did a nice job too. The mids were doing boundary throw in work on the wing. Gawn beat King a little too easily for my liking. The drill often resulted in repeat ball ups but I guess that's not uncommon when it was one on one. I would've liked to have seen some cleaner chains of handballs but the counter to that might've been the other side was defending well. It was certainly willing stuff. Baker easily sidestepped Gawn and then did the same thing to Petracca in one series of play. Of the midfield group he's was behind Gawn and towards the middle at best in the running and he's not quite a pure kick of the ball but he looks a natural running with the ball. If we're looking for pace in the midfield group then keep an eye out for him.

I really hope Melbourne Storm aren't training tomorrow. Demonland will go into meltdown.

It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Whiteboard Zone.

Of course fitness and form are important but there are also, among other criteria, match ups, team balance, plugging holes, filling roles, experimenting and forward/future planning. Add to this the coaches assessment of what form at lower grades really means. It is not right or fair to imply that coaches seemingly play favourites without a good underlining reason. Perhaps we are not capable of knowing.

Petracca as mentioned

Hope there were no frisby's in the pic?

Just want PJ to come on D'Land and say what a disappointing bunch of supporters? we have on D'Land and PI55 off all you whingeing heads.

You've got us finishing 10th anyway... so does it really matter?

Yet Trengove and Kennedy were getting BOG most weeks and were constantly ignored.. Goingby Plapps reviews these 2 were always playing their role and in form. So realistically your theory about Goodwin rewarding guys who are in form every week is wrong. Kennedy should have at least been given a go and rewarded for form. Joel Smith had 13 weeks off and came straight back into the AFL side, after a week at Casey.. it was a bizarre and stupid decision. He looked completely out of his depth. The decision to keep Weideman in the side early on the year while Pedo was in hot form is another mind boggling decision. Sorry, but Goody and the selection committee need to be on their toes this year, as last year some decision were quiet questionable.

Absolutely no need for a player to sign with another team before the end of the year. Free agency has been given to the players as a right but they have to earn it, which means finishing your current contract. Hopefully in time the rules change so the entire process is smother and occurs after the year. There's plenty of open space on the sporting calendar in October and November to get it right. Players signing with other clubs before the end of the season is unnecessary and a really bad situation for clubs and fans. The idea that it is 'mature' because it happens in the NRL is stupidity.

There's often an ulterior motive in posting up the links to the feature races that I might have a bet on D77 ... rather than searching out the races again I can simply go to the 'land racing thread and click on the links. Problem solved in a jiffy. I really do like the fields in both of those Sha Tin G1 races ... had a bit of luck a ways back with a number of the runners engaged. There's a few Aussie jockeys involved as well. The Stewards Cup especially is a real International affair.

Appreciate the effort you put in Macca to keep us up to date with the thoroughbreds. With a hot weekend coming up it's a good time to spend indoors and enjoy the racing. Wow, 1600m down a straight and the winner still wanted to run off the track when it got the wobbles.

Money back (again!) ... which is often the case in the group races Wadda. But not always I miss a lot more on 2-5-5 but it's a much smaller outlay for a decent percentage. 3-6-6 has to include a couple of roughies to make the exercise worthwhile. And 'Ace High' is definitely one to look out for following it's Derby success. Before that won over 2000m & 1800m in the lead up to the classic. Was chatting to a mate about how we might bet in the Winx races ... In Australia have Winx to win one-out in a First 4 ... then 3-6-6 (2nd, 3rd & 4th) or 2-5-5 (2nd, 3rd & 4th) So it's 1-3-6-6 or 1-2-5-5. The pools will be huge so the right combo can still pay a fair bit. If or when Winx races In Europe go the traditional multiple trifecta (3-6-6 or 2-5-5) ... in other words, include Winx to win but also include 1 or 2 horses that might beat it. Again, the pools will be big and a lot might just have Winx as the winner only. It should always be remembered that Winx not only always wins (here) but it runs great times as well - all at WFA level. You could also load up on the quinella/exacta - Winx/Ace High. Anyway, there's a few feature races in Oz to look out for over the weekend (to keep the interest up) Friday 26th Warwick Farm Race 6 Australia Day Cup 2400m (LR) Friday 26th Moonee Valley Race 4 Australia Stakes 1200m (G2) Saturday 27th Caulfield Race 7 John Dillon Stakes 1400m (LR) Saturday 27th Rosehill Race 7 Carrington Stakes 1400m (LR) And there's 2 big Group 1's at Sha Tin on Sunday that are worth a bit of a look ... I'll be definitely having a look! Sunday 28th Sha Tin Race 7 The Centenary Sprint Cup 1200m (G1) Sunday 28th Sha Tin Race 8 The Stewards Cup 1600m (G1) Finally, here's last year's Queen Anne Stakes from Royal Ascot (Winx is being earmarked to start her European campaign with this race) ... you've just gotta love the 1600m long straight!

Hi Wadda. You might as well have a go on Ace High at those odds and if it wins you become the legend for backing the horse that beats Winx. I was on Foxplay last September when Winx ran it down in the last 10 metres and beat it by a whisker, I thought I was a clever little puppy for picking the horse that almost beat her. If you were to bet on Ace High now and for whatever reason it doesn't run you should be able to get a refund, as the Tab odds aren't displayed as All In for the Apollo and Chipping Norton.

The demise of Colin Sylvia is a sad story and it reflects how more professional all football clubs have become in terms of maintaining a healthy environment for talented young sportspeople coming into the system. It wasn’t all that long ago that we admired the larrikin young Sylvia when he stepped into the club. We even emphasised it in the way we promoted his image as the young kid who was joining the big boys. We were angry about getting negative publicity when his early mentor, David Neitz, was found in a drunken state outside the Casino late one night. By all means, a person has to take responsibility for his or her actions but we as a club failed Colin in a way, as we did with Brock McLean and many others. In saying that, most other clubs were no better and some got lucky with their choices. You would like to think those days were over now but, as we know, boys will still be boys and the next such story is always a morning newspaper headline away.

You complain about Joel's skills, then whinge because we didn't pick up Dylan Grimes instead? Wow.

Ended up 2 busy for racing on that day Macca and D77. How did you go? Im talking to my only other punting mate Brett who is a Cats supporter, and lives in Sydney. (Ok its hard to find good punting mates haha) But he spotted that Ace High is nominated in all Winxs upcoming races. He is also the surprising odds of 51/1. The races are: Apollo Stakes 17th Feb. Winx 1.08 Ace High 51, Chipping Norton Stakes 3rd March Winx 1.20 Ace High 26, Queen Elizabeth Sat 14th April. Winx 1.40, Ace High 51. Now, if you can find a bookie to roll over the 3 Winx races, (not sure you can do it on the TAB), you will return 1.81 over the 3 races. That is probably the best way to go. However.....I really like Ace High, and if not the quinella, could he actually roll the legend in one of these? At 51/1 worth a small flutter perhaps? Thoughts??

okay - ill put it out there. The Poms really do make better television than the US. There. I said it.

1) We can't unless the AFL say clubs can. 2) No we shouldn't anyway. 3) Excessive sponsor logos cheapen the club's brand dramatically

Or at least have the current store at the MCG located in an easily accessible location. If possible outside the Gallery of Sport/MCG tours entrance - lots and lots of tourists coming and going with lots and lots of money to spend!

Couldn't agree more. Or at least have the current store at the MCG open on the weekend.

Six you must have the best post to like ratio ever.

Melksham........and will be very competitive in the middle, second season up.

Re the AFLX question: looking at the rules, the kick ins from all scores tallies with some of our drills today where we started the ball in the full back line and had to move the ball out of congestion and move it forward. These drills were very contested, the tackling was for real.

Watched channel 7 news tonight and they reported on the Bombers training specifically for AFLX and the footage they showed looked identical to some of our drills today I thought. As you say Dee we did a number competitive drills with 7 a side of players working in a confined space, with a lot of handball exchanges to get a man free for the kick forward to a target or goal. Some very willing tackling in the drills I saw making it difficult to clear the ball. Oliver’s clean hands at ground level in traffic in these drills were an amazing thing to behold. And in another drill where they were kicking into a competitive and congested forward set up, Oliver took a couple of very nice contested marks. I hope he spends some time forward this year, he would be a handful for any defence.

Well, Wisebloods opinion is correct. How else do you explain Sam Weideman being in the team at the start of last season ahead of Pedersen?

Not that I saw, but commonly they split the main group in to 2 or 3 teams and perform match simulation using only the width of the square and often shorten the field as well. Cutting back to 7 a side on a soccer sized field really won't be too different to how they often train.

DJ decided to fight a tackle from Jeff Garlett in a drill, Jeff buried him a bit too vigorously

So how do supporters stop giving so much slack? Are you suggesting we should have boycotted buying memberships in the last 10 years? Would that achieve better on-field performance? A few posts on this forum giving the club an easy ride has bugger-all effect on what actually happens.

.......Perhaps we should be chasing big companies like....Jeep, Bingle, Dare chocolate drink, Mission foods, iinet, Jeldwen, Hostplus, Border express......some of them have sponsored the past 5 premiers!

Oh ffs now I know you’re just fishing.

I never bother now coz Goodwin will pick a fully fit and in form 22 each week, if we get everbody up and running Jade Rawlings will be licking his lips at the talent he will have at his disposal each week at Casey

Make no mistake, this was a big get for us.

G'day all! First post in a while but I was around the vicinity this morning before work and dropped into training for the first 40 minutes or so. It's the first time I've managed to get a session this pre-season, so I was excited to see how the new recruits look in red and blue. I arrived at Gosch's at the same time as the lads and was surprised with their first warm up exercise. It appeared to be a variation of musical chairs where the players would run in a circle and would be required to place themselves in groups of 5-6 at certain points. Those left out would then be required to do a series of push-ups. Plenty of laughter out there. Joel Smith running laps. It'll be interesting to see if he factors in our best 22 this season. Vaned berg, Weideman, McKenna and Smith were those who I noticed in rehab. Standard stretches, jogging, and some handball activities followed. A late Tom McDonald then arrives and joins the boys to the shouts of "Tommy!" Players then continue their warm up with a standard kicking drill. Nothing too flash, but I'm delighted to see that one of the players closest to me is Jake Lever. Like nearly every other player in the history of game, I'm stunned to observe how good he looks in the Demon colours. Although he lacks a bit of muscle when compared to Sam Frost (who looks like he could snap Bailey Fritsch in half with a snap of his fingers) who happened to be standing next to him, I've read plenty of encouraging reports that he's been quite vocal on the track. Some sprinting exercises then followed. Our 2km champions Bugg, ANB and T.Mac all leading the way. No surprises here. Also, just saw the number 4 guernsey being worn by James Harmes. That one is still taking some getting used to. Unfortunately, that was about all I was able to see before I had to leave. Hopefully someone was able to pick up a few more details I'll try and come down again of the boys are training later in the week.

Roaring To Go: The 2018 Trade and Draft Board

Will we have the coin to pursue another free agent this year? We do have plenty of players coming out of contract this year that could create space, but after nabbing Lever I can see us potentially being a little quieter come this off season. That does depend on many factors, though, so I could be way off the mark.

george, won't tippet's payout for this year and next year stay in the swan's cap?

I wonder how much money the AFL will throw at him to stay at the Gold Coast. Wasn’t he going to be payed outside the salary cap as an ‘Ambassador’ if he were to stay at the Suns post 2018?

Tom Lynch best free agent available and woyld be every clubs target if he heading back to Victoria

OMac is progressing nicely. He seems to suffer here because he is not what he expected to be. So ******* what. Not everyone can be, or needs to be, a backline gorilla, an intercept maestro or a slingshot. Steady and effective will do for me. He gets to a contest, he is learning how to position himself to advantage at the contest, he regularly outmarks his opponent and has the potential to make good choices. Just a young, developing player for the future.