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Well done Jack and good luck.

Rehab, fitness test group had Tom Mcdonald and Dom Tyson in it. Dom Joined the main group after 3/4 of an hour. Tom remained in rehab. He looked to be moving well with good skills on display with Daniel Cross and Dom. At the end he was tested with some 400 meters. He appeared to be running out of steam by the end. His endurance seems compromised at the moment. Jayden Hunt was walking laps. The general atmosphere was full of intensity with plenty of noise from both players and coaches. All seemed to have purpose. The emphasis appeared to be about quick hands, locking the ball down and finding targets over the back of the pack. The talls and smalls separated, with the talls doing marking practice and the smalls tackling each other (showing strength, power and endurance). Close to the end of training the Casey team went off to kick goals while the AFL team did match simulations. Aaron vandenBerg and Pat Mckenna training well and stayed with the AFL team. So they are unlikely to get a game in the seconds yet. In the AFL squad team was Cam Pederson, Harry Petty and Sam Weideman.

I asked Tom at training how his chest was going and he replied that he wasn’t doing any contact work today but he felt really good and reckoned he would be OK to play. Petty, Weid and Pedo training with the AFL squad may indicate one or more are options this week. Petty looked impressive in the drills I saw. Jetta trained well I think he copped a few hits last week. Great to see Vanders and McKenna finally getting to train and Kent was moving well.

Training continued. I watched Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver going at each other as the mids trained. Lots of pushes and punches to chest area. Oliver seemed to win front position (timing of hits) though Tracs able to win the ball because of his stability in the space when the ball came down. Oskar Baker and Billy Stretch trained with the midfield. Nathan Jones giving plenty of instructions and delivering with fast handballs.The mids did some drills playing through obstacles, quick lateral ball movement and straight running when in possession. At the same time the backs contested with the forwards in game simulations. The Casey players ended the session with goal kicking. The AFL squad contested with a simulation. Coaches wanted them to go pretty hard. Aaron VandenBerg getting plenty of ball. Joel Smith breaking lines. Jesse Hogan clean collection and hitting targets. Bernie Vince working hard and plenty of talk to structure the backline. Bailey Fritsch having so much composure with ball in hand always runs to space. Jack Viney playing smart football and so fast at the roll and go when he gets the ball. The backline communicating well to set up and cover the space. Neville Jetta seems to be enjoying training. He was working/instructing Jay Kennedy-Harris for a while. He is vocal towards everyone and appears to be growing as a leader. Lachlan Filipovic training well and appears to be improving as a marking tall. Christian Petracca finished his session with a few 70 m sprints under supervision and being timed by the coaching staff. Tom Mcdonald a little uncomfortable after some timed runs, but beyond that he looked good.

Great news for one of the nicest blokes in footy. I wish him very, very well.

Congratulations to Petts on his debut this week, a fairly high draft pick who looks like he will build into a great KPD. Hope he tears it up.

I spoke to Tmac at training, decision not his, he feels fine but no risk policy, how he pulls up on Saturday as Goody said Nev is fine

I don't think Rance is acting. He might just be the softest player in the history of sport.

At least minnows like Italy and Holland will have a chance to show their wares on the world stage.

Big loss for them, and I've been watching fair bit of the saints this year and hes definitely been in their top 5 players each week.

Goodwin said he expects both Jetta and T Mac to play.

If we lose this I vote we shut demonland down till feb, it might just implode anyway dees by 60

Tyson will never be good until he is playing as an inside mid. He is not an outside runner, and Goodwin trying to make him one, won't work. He is slow and a poor user of the footy. What he does exceptionally well is win clearances. As for the Smith vs Weideman argument, both bring different things to the table, but bottom line is Weids is the future. We need to get game time into him, and the time to do that is now. Our backline is my biggest worry, for which there is no great solution. Frost is major NQR, Petty is untried and raw, and that's about the depth we got going on. We have lost a lot of quality down back in recent years in Frawley, Dunn and Howe (say what you like, the two boys are doing very well at Collingwood). We've only regained Lever in the process. That's 3 out 1 in, and now he is injured. We are really thin for backline depth and it's a major worry.

Speed of sound: 343m/s Average radio delay: 7 seconds 343x7=2,401 Conclusion: Stand 2.4km away from your radio/internet radio. Extend the distance as needed.

Petty to debut this week, mark my words. Has been playing well and been an emergency so he has gotta come in.

I think most players would run out puff after sprinting close to 400m

I will be watching this game now, hoping Trenners plays a blinder, can’t remember an ex player in my many years of following the Demons that I want to not just do well, but to reignite a career that should have been fantastic.

Yeah superb bump, ran past the ball and with force bumped a bloke not expecting it and bruised his lung, which saw him coughing up blood. Extremely courageous act. Lucky not to connect with TMac's head, or it would have been weeks, even though it was not deemed worthy of a free kick to us, as was no other incident in our F50 the whole night, even though the ball was in our F50 twice the time of Port, who got multiple frees, 50's and suspect marks and goals. Sorry for the umpire rant I am still angry at them.

I like that team Werridee Frost to play a blinder

Well I should not have mentioned the beer. About five minutes before kick off the German guy behind me spills his whole beer all over me. I am talking from shoulders to backside and all over my seat. Not happy Ralph. Anyway a great game because everyone sat down and you could watch the play. Apparently because Sweden were 3-0 up on Mexico all Germany had to do was score and they would be in the next round in place of Mexico. And then of course goal.... disallowed.... VAR .....and goal-to Korea. Extra time went 15 mins with the German goal keeper playing as a striker and we all know what happened..runaway goal to Korea. A joy to watch in the end. My beer spilling mate shook my hand... I toldmy son he should have bought me a T shirt !! First time that Germany have missed the play off rounds since 1938. Of course there was no German team between 1938 and 1990 which the Guardian reporter failed to point out. Now time for the late games !!

Rance should be playing in Russia!

I would love to see hogan play like riewoldt is playing like tonight this Sunday

Typical Rance - forearm/elbow into head/neck while Buddy was on the ground.

Can’t watch anymore I’m done with Bruce it’s excruciating

I reckon Vince has been dropped..

Great to hear Petty has been learning from Lever and that he will back his 'footy smarts'. Has done everything right since arriving at the club and I reckon he will accredit himself really well. All the best, young man.

Petty to debut. MFC site source. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-06-28/petty-pleased-with-debut-news

Underestimate the saints at our own peril, we have no rights to be cocky or sure of ourselves. Let’s go into this game all guns blazing. Petracca needs a big one, he’s in danger of becoming another in the long line of “talented but....” at Melbourne. We all know what he can do, he knows what he can do. Hopefully this is the week he can step up.

Love the handle BTW. Took a few minutes but I got it in the end. Clever!

And just imagine what it's going to be like with 48 teams at the 2026 World cup ... more poor teams like Saudi Arabia & Germany.

why can't we walk and chew gum at the same time, od? if we want to be an ongoing successful club we have to focus on the short term, the medium term and the long term (simultaneously) and in all aspects of the club simple really.....

Neither would I. Weid is on target to be a good player for us.

It's pretty simple - play like we did against Port and we win this game of footy. Even if our forward entries still aren't that flash (let's hope they continue to improve, though) their backline isn't great and there's a big chance Jimmy Webster doesn't play either. We will have more than enough entries to kick a winning score.

Thoroughly enjoyable guys. Great to reminisce with Flash, and to hear about his ongoing love and respect for the Dees and his four prospective father sons. He seems like an absolute gentleman.

I understand people are frustrated by his form, but I draw the line at accusations that are 100% conjecture with no basis in fact. Don’t make things up when you have no idea if it’s true or not. You might think it harmless, but it doesn’t take long at all for someone’s speculation to become the common wisdom.

Pardon my ignorance, but how did the Weid manage 7 goals from 4 effective kicks?

Pretty confident about this game, well if we can't win this game we don't deserve to make finals. I'm predicting a 60 point victory. My Preferred Team B: Jetta, O.McDonald, J.Lewis HB: Hibberd, Frost, Vince C : Fritsch, Oliver, Jones HF: Neal-Bullen, Hogan, Petracca F: Weideman, T.McDonald, Melksham FOLL: Gawn, Brayshaw, Viney IC: Salem, Tyson, Harmes, Stretch EMERG: J.Smith

Go away.

The unanimous comments of support from posters regarding this news is a great tribute to the footballer and the man. Universally liked and admired.

It didn't look good on TV 'Dr' but it wasn't all his fault. You could see him looking to give off but it was pretty obvious there were no options, what were his mates doing? Lack of communication from teammates around him also didn't help.

I don't disagree with any of that Ernest it just annoys me that people see it as the reason for our lack of success in 2018 when the real reason is we are probably just not good enough yet. I just hope we have a plan B as this one looks like it has some large difficulties not the least of which is the political problems.

I agree Roost it and that diesel smog does not seem to be worrying the Tigers. Perhaps it is the wire fence that makes all the difference.

I think we are at a different stage. Last year: new up and coming, inconsistent with a game plan unfamiliar to opposition, able to beat anyone on our day ("upset" wins) but still seen as an easy scalp by the bottom teams. This year: more comfortable with our new game plan enabling us to win every game against the lower teams (and beat them well). Top teams now recognise us as a threat, have had time to study our plan and know how to counter and put pressure on us (ie we can't "upset" them). Ideally next year is: Comfortable in executing our game plan under pressure, and also aware of possible exploitations and limitations. Players have enough experience and group familiarity to shift mid game to plan b tactics.

A fair if innocuous reading. Its glossing over the Elephant...to suggest our 'home' game against freo is a monty. Its not anything of that sort. Interesting analogy ...cricket....hope we're better.... as our lower order will disappoint.

Yeah that was such a fantastic set of games. Ending was pandemonium The mexican fans all biting their nails and looking at their phones in the crowd in the last 20 mins lol this world cup has been amazing. Lots of good goal replays and discussions over on www.reddit.com/r/soccer Check out the sheer joy of the Korean broadcasts: https://streamable.com/9cwhq goal 1 w/ var https://streamable.com/cjij3 Goal 1 /w var https://streamable.com/5xhap goal 2 https://streamable.com/h1ygm goal 2

Fat, eats too much pasta and can’t stick to a diet. If the club doesn’t know what the problem is we can point them to this thread.. Taken in January this year, his fatness disgusts me:

Jeeez..... it’s still a long way to go until Sunday! ?

Hibberd isn't too bad!

Rusty those stats are the last round. Hannan at AFL level has better stats than Jeffy in the VFL. I agree Hannan has dropped off but Garlett does not deserve a call up.

Until we beat another side in the top 8, this question will continue to be asked. Agreed. We've had two shockers - Hawthorn and Collingwood. The Richmond game fell apart but we showed significant positive signs. We should have beaten both Geelong and Port and, had we done that, we would be equal top of the ladder without this question being asked. But we didn't win those games, and so we deal with this question and the uncertainty until we beat someone better.