Leaderboard

G'day all! Dropped by Gosch's to watch the lads in action for an hour or so. Easily the biggest news to come out of today's session is that Viney is now training in the main group! Here are the rough notes I took while watching. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ When I arrived, Gawn was just finishing up some ruck drills with Mitch King while some forwards and defenders practiced one on one drills. Match ups included Frost/Weideman, Wagner/Hannan and Kent(possible role change?)/Hannan. Some standard warm ups then followed. Great to see Pedders keeping up with TMac during the 50-100m sprints. He looks in ripping touch. Noticed very quickly that Jack Viney was running with the main group. Promising! A quick side note Nev Jetta is in rehab to start off the session. He joined some group drills later then ran laps without much fuss. Doesn’t appear to be anything too serious. May’ve pulled up a bit sore from AFLX. The first main drill involved the players being split into two groups. These two groups where then split in half again and began separate green vs blue match simulation drills on their respective half of the oval. It looked like there was a real emphasis on moving the ball inside 50 from the midfield. Here are a few quick notes regarding the simulation that unfolded closest to me. - Hogan was leading really well while Lever was very vocal and frustrated when Fritsch got out the back to take an almost uncontested mark. On that topic, there's something about Fristch. I enjoyed his work against North in AFLX. To put it simply, things just happen when he gets close to the ball. His tackling pressure was also on display with a rundown of a full pace Dean Kent. Its still a month away, but he seems a high chance for round 1. - JKH looked to be moving well through the centre and Frost's spoiling seems to have come a long way. There were many times last year where his fist would land the ball in the arms an opposition player so it's nice to see some improvement in this area. - The groups then swapped. Harmes' kicking was an early standout in this group while OMac looked composed during the times the ball came to ground. He was surprisingly clean below his knees. - Viney was in this group and while he didn't see much of the Sherrin, he didn't look in any discomfort. Brayshaw also continued his handy AFLX form with a great tackle on Pedders. Here's hoping for a 22 game season from Gus A few separate drills around Gosch's then followed with players rotating between them every five minutes or so. - The drill closest to me involved players kicking around the man standing on the mark to a teammate standing near an opposition player. The kicking was a real highlight here, particularly from the likes of Hogan and Maynard. - The second drill focused on clean hands with players being required to crumb a loose ball and hand passing it to a teammate, who would then kick to a loose player. I didn’t see much of this drill so I can’t pick out many stand out players. - The third drill involved players finding a target amongst those 'fake player' stands. The wind was fairly strong at this point which meant for some occasional missed targets. Lewis and surprisingly Mitch King were those I don’t remember missing a target in the gale. The next drill involved all players and was a kicking drill where players could practice their 30-40 meter passes. Not too much too report here aside from some lovely bullet passes from Hibberd and the Zooper specialist Melksham. Dion Johnston also has a handy kicking action and didn't miss many targets. Some more green vs blue match simulation drills then followed. Some more observations. - Hannan was everywhere in the first few minutes, kicking two goals including one with a lovely snap from the boundary (Edit from five minutes later: fantastic bit of play where he stepped around two players and passed it beautifully to Bugg in the pocket. Second edit: Hannan kicks another with a straightforward set shot. Absolutely on fire! - A perfect Garlett pass from the boundary then finds Tommy Bugg who kicks truly from 20m out. - One player who caught my eye was our prized recruit Jake Lever. He moves incredibly well for someone his size and his defensive pressure his first class. We've picked up a good one here. - A training highlight then followed as Gus unloaded from 60m with a massive bomb to bring up six points. I honestly didn't know that he had that in him! Players then split into three groups (Defenders, Midfielders and Forwards) and began working through some separate drills. I left fairly soon afterwards. Also, from what I could see. There was no Tyson, Vandenburg. McKenna, Baker or Spargo. Happy to fill in any blanks if anyone has any questions.

Viney currently involved in the half ground match simulation

Viney did most of the session including a box on with Harmes, Gawn and Brayshaw On Weids, spoke to him, did whole main session, ankle was leftover from Junior days, just wouldn't behave so op, no ongoing issue, apart from strapping it up, absolutely cherry ripe after being 'looked after' by Crossy

Are we training with Port Adelaide this week or something?

No, it's not. Someone who is laconic is one who says very little. A man of few words if you like. 'Laconic' is one of those words that most, including journalists, consistently get wrong. They (and you) seem to think it means the same as laid-back, low-key or lackadaisical.

That is a rip roaring training report, DJ. Fantastic stuff!

In one of the contested forward drills where the ball was lobbed in high to T Smith and Weid vs Keilty, Hibberd and OMac with smalls running in for the crumbs and snap on goal, Tim took a blinder, chest mark on top of the pack, contender for mark of the season, except it hasn’t started yet! Both Tim and Keilty took a couple of clean marks in packs under pressure. I watched Weid closely and he doesn’t seem to be able to work his way into position in that type of situation, didn’t take a mark, got one defensive fist in from behind and kneeing Hibberd in the head in the process. They did a number of tackling drills, very entertaining where a player has to pick up a rolling ball and get past the tackler who was instructed on how to wrap the ball carrier up. Very physical stuff. A later drill focused on how not to get wrapped up and we saw a lot of Dusty don’t argues being dished out to ward off the tackler. I think it was Bugg who putJones flat on his back with a straight arm to the chest much to everyone’s amusement. If we tackle with the intent like I saw today in these drills we will break open a lot games. Re injuries - Harley Balic who is looking much fitter than when I first saw him train seemed to strain something at one stage, got some treatment on upper thigh and retired from the drills to do laps. Nothing serious. Nev running laps, everyone else present was involved in the drills.

I also spoke to Dom Tyson, as reported on club website, a calf strain He reckons another week, running 3/4 pace today, as expected totally [censored] off at the timing

Possibly JLT #2. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-02-21/boost-for-dees-with-star-mid-set-for-round-one

Great report @Demon Jack the medium sized forward role is up for grabs Melksham put his marker down in AFLX, Hannan has runs on the board from last year, Kent is now fully fit, Pedo wants a game and there are the resting mids All the above lifted for today's session

You know on McKenna you could draw the same comparison with Hunt who didn't get on the park for a season and half . Did we do the wrong thing in retaining him too ? I do recall the same "constantly injured move him on" cry from some on here.

You don't need words for this.

Laconic is the word you want, always looks like he going to his execution when walking to training He is super fit though, him and Nev are having their loads carefully managed Hunt is the same, but did whole session today

I sometimes name my products after our players... the Bernie skirt is a current best seller

38 players on the track today, so interesting who plays first JLT. Baker, Spargo and Filipovic are on a plane, assume Tassie early for a bit of community work

round one will do fine

Is that similar to the misuse of [censored] retentive?

He looked good today

Full price. It was actually a pretty funny conversation. I had to convince the lady in the sales department that it was okay, that I’d act as his proxy etc, much as I would if he had already been born but was only, say, one week old. She wasn’t convinced until I said, ‘look, the club needs the numbers’, to which she responded, ‘too right, can’t say I’ve seen this before, but okay’. It was during the Neeld years. The club hadn’t had a new member in a couple of years.

Being managed, did full session today

of course you are correct ds, but i suspect that not too far in the future laconic will become a recognised synonym for lackadaisical due purely to the pressures of common usage. happens to many english words that take on new meanings

I try hard to only name styles after winners. I believe it brings a sense of success to the product.... So to answer your question, no.

If you were to disqualify a country from being considered great by things such as war record, history of treatment of its indigenous people or how it went about colonising and treating other countries not a single country could be considered great. Not one. When i say America is a great country i mean in a historical sense. I have said on DL before that the movie Life Of Brian provides some great analogies for life and once again it delivers in this context. I'm thinking of the 'What did the roman's ever do for us scene' here. To paraphrase: Apart from helping establish the principles of democracy, advances in medicine, advances in science, helping defeat Hitler and fascism, brilliant artists, brilliant thinkers, great writers, driving all manner of technological advances (eg flight, the telephone, space travel, computers etc etc) and promoting a culture of human rights through the last 100 years what has America ever done for us. in this context I found this article from the Atlantic Magazine from March 1959 fascinating

Considering the Demonland medicos had him pencilled in to return in June, this is terrific news. I must admit I'm surprised the Demonland medicos got it wrong, as that's never happened before...

I'd like to thank St Kilda not just for passing on Trac in favour of McCartin, but for passing on Angus Brayshaw too. Our dynamic draft duo will be a joy to watch this season and beyond.

Constant injuries? They have been on the list a year. We would be a great club, if they cut blokes because they are injured.

What's not to like. And they have 4 Premierships between them.

Someone should tell Champion Data we just won AFLX.

Ancient history. This time last year the statts were saying the Tigers had buggar all chance of winning the GF. The statts that count will be the ones that we create this year

Hunt was there today and took part in all the action and was quite energetic and vocal in a couple of the routines. Didn’t standout that much but I do remember he nailed the last routine, the kick on goal from an angle with a torp from 50 m. That went through the middle. Now that I think of it, though unrelated, was noting how vocal Spargo was in one of the routines, yelling at players to get on queue! As a newbie I liked it and it caught my attention. Spargo is one to watch I think.

Old Bear, on the basis of the respective current lists and experience, it would be quite difficult to objectively argue against Port having a crack at a flag before our much younger boys do. Ken Hinkley is no fool nor a novice coach. Many won't like that view, but that may be because with their one eye, they believe themselves to be all seeing and all knowing and objectivity has no part in it. That is not to say we can't gazump Port, but rather to suggest that deep into the year, our still immature bodies demonstrably have dropped off very quickly in the last month of the home and away season. Port Adelaide have added a lot of talent with far more mature bodies. After 55 over years of enjoying VFL/AFL footy, nothing is certain, but some things are more likely than others. Watts may well follow the tradition of Steven Armstrong, Jolly and Chip Frawley to hold the AFL Cup in the year after they leave the Dees. That gives me no joy to say but they are undeniable facts. I wish Watts no ill will, after all we moved him on and we are still paying a chunk of his salary, but a Port v anyone but us GF would be painful to watch. More so, if they were to win.

Yep, agree

A bit of levity , there were 3 cars driving on a country road, in the leading car there was Mr Jones, behind him was the Smith family and then the Ball family in the third car Unfortunately Mr Jones misjudged a bend, lost control and crashed into a tree with his car catching fire Thankfully he was pulled from the burning wreck by the Smiths

As fo the Smiths both with main group now, complimented Misso for his team getting the players back in great shape from rehab, both didn't miss a beat whole session same with Weid

Although it's only a practice game, my desire to beat North is as strong as ever. It might not mean much, but psychologically getting a win over them will be really important ahead of our round 3 clash. As such I hope we play as strong a team as possible, obviously leaving aside anyone who isn't 110% ready to go physically.

Reckon Goodwin will go with a recognizable side and do what he did last year, anybody who stands out in Casey practice games will get a go ahead of non performers or injuries in JLT, eg Hannan

No, clubs need the player's permission to be traded.

Enjoy the pub.

Eagerly awaiting today's training report. Refresh button getting a workout!

Indeed there is. I just sent the boys an amended show notes list. It could be a long show. The show is LIVE tonight at 8:30pm http://demonland.com/podcast Call: 03 9016 3666 Skype: Demonland31

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-02-21/dee-treads-line-between-confidence-and-arrogance

Without getting into the merits or otherwise of the Watts ‘trade’, I think most astute observers think Port will be a very good side this year. I hardly think that’s a controversial opinion.

I’ll back my footy knowledge against the majority of my fellow Demon supporters Port are a real chance this year to at least top 4 sorry mate don’t challenge me again

All I remember from the 88 grannie was getting drenched sitting in the top deck of the Olympic stand and the streaker in the 3rd quarter. Looking along the row at all the dejected dees’ supporters who suddenly became interested in the spectacle was bloody funny

I speak to Jack at every session I get to, last time I spoke to him he said he was right on track and @Earl Hood was very specific, next time I am next to Mark Stevens at training will give his mike a tweak

If VDB is still on the long term injury list for a second year, it bodes badly for his AFL career.

At work but will be there for full session on Wednesday, complete with uninsightful comments on training drills, gossip, gun and rig watching and blurry photos