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Joel Smith and Declan Keilty training with the forwards. As is Corey Wagner Kade Kolodjashnij, Tom Sparrow with the mids. And Bayley Fritsch. James Jordon and Aaron Nietschke starting life down back. Christian Salem is with the backs. As is Guy Walker.

Tossing or turning whether to go with this in a report because I don't want to be premature, nor do I want to get others overly excited. But I guess it's December so even I can be positive. I'll also say that Josh Wagner is one of the best 5 kicks at training and even the worst kicks hit their targets more times than not in simple drills. That said, here's my big call - James Jordon might be the best kick on the list. He's balanced, has a simple action and has lovely penetration and shape on his kicks. The guys did a drill that required a kick from the wing to land up in front of a forward who was positioned 10m or so inside the boundary. The gusty wind took apart the guys with suspect techniques - Maynard and Tommy Mc kicked floaters and Frost was sending them everywhere, even some of the better kicks were missing short or long. Jordon's kicks were cutting through the breeze and landing in front of the eyes of the forwards.

15 in the rehab group today, I asked, the majority expected to be ready to go post Xmas My lovely lady went for a walk to far side of oval, happily leaning on the fence to be greeted by the sight of Steven May charging directly at her chasing an errant kick, managed to apply the brakes at the fence, just, being a gentleman, apologised at the end the session for scaring the [censored] out of her Think he is out to prove himself, which is great to see, attacking every session, asked a couple of players, he was [censored] on Friday when a couple of players thought they could step around him, hence why he buried them Bradtke was again praised for a couple of nice kicks during the kicking drills, reports of his demise premature Great to see Bernie Vince back Only a couple of running drills, majority of the session, ball and craft work, great to see in early December Garlett in magnificent nick, obviously did heaps over the break Asked Weid, put on another 1 and 1/2 kilos of muscle over the break, another one who looks in great nick Any questions feel free

First time poster here just to say thank you to all the lads who head down to training and give guys like me information on what's happening in the off season. I just love reading all this stuff. keep up the good work fellas.

Line drills have finished for now and it’s in to some repeat sprints the new players split from the main group, a couple of academy kids joining in, both solid sized lads Bedford and Chandler have gone hat free. Sparrow the backwards visor. Jordon the regular visor. The rest with the white caps, Bradkte the only one going backwards . From the main group Spargo, Fritsch, Wagner, Hibberd and JoelSmith are backwards cap guys

Oskar Baker has given the day weights a fair go during his time off. Hasn’t found a good hairdresser yet

Feel like I need a Rosetta Stone to decipher this post.

Already here stocking up on coffee, my lovely lady is here as well, so will get her to cast a critical eye over Bradtke, as she told Gawny when he was first drafted that she thought he would be a really good player for MFC Pics will be on Insta later

I'm devastated we have a bloke with a man bun on the list.

They did some longer running. Then boots on to split in to 3 groups for some in tight ground ball and handball drills, then some kicking. A full squad longer kicking drill sorted out the good and bad kicks in swirly conditions. Sparrow kicks it low and hard, more hits than misses. Nietschke is just solid, gets it to where it needs to be. now it’s some gentle match sim. 3 of Weid, Keilty, J Smith/C Wag and T Mc as the forward vs 2 of May, Frost, Petty and Josh Wag. Zoning and leading patterns the aim of the game

New assistant coach B Vince?!

Smart as this guy?

So.... like half of our best 22....

For every person who thinks one year out of the game is not enough to recharge there will be another who thinks that anything longer would be too long and too hard to get back in. I admire Pert for taking on this job. Without denigrating Jackson, there was a lot of low hanging fruit when he arrived. He picked all that off and then went on to the more difficult matters and will be rightly remembered as one of the best CEOs the club has ever had. So Pert comes into a job where all the "easy fixes" have already been done and will have to suffer the inevitable comparisons with his immediate predecessor. He would be smart and experienced enough to know that, so I admire him for taking on what has become difficult job to be seen to be successful in.

Last known sighting.

Photo gallery http://m.melbournefc.com.au/news/2018-12-03/gallery-full-group-returns-to-training

The rehab group: Viney, Lever, Vanders, Tracc, Hannan, Hore, Baker, Melk, Harmes, Bull, Stretch, Hunt, Jetta, Oscar, Brayshaw, Clarry

Rohan Connolly reckons Kangas are top 4 in 2019. Tyson Hall Polec and Pitterd plus youngster Tarryn Thomas reckon to boost team into premiership contention. Connolly suffers from “Premature escalation”!!

Bernie’s back in the red and blue Good to see him sticking around!

I am so pumped for next season i can barely contain myself. Thanks to everyone who posts a Pic, Prognostication, Projection or Pisstake. Im busy formulating my 2019 prediction to win back the crown from @Skuit , who we all know got lucky last year to win the title. Any information posted in the training thread makes my job easier. GOO DEES !!

That article sounds misguided to me. To participate in the mid season draft you need one rookie spot free. I reckon a number of the 6 clubs, including hopefully us, go "one short" so we can have a pick then. The "one short" wont hurt - we've already got 45 listed players including Cat B and are likely to use only about 30. Having a mid season pick would allow us to potentially take a Tim Kelly type who emerges at a lower level during the season. If all 6 clubs fill their lists by 1 March then there is no mid season draft AFAIK.

Don't mean to be nitpicking! Birds of a feather have been known to flock together! Is that Sparrowhawk or has the SSP trigger being activated already and and an unloved Swallow made his way to the coop?

Corey Wagner also make his official debut as a MFC player.

@Colin B. Flaubert - My consternation over the Pert appointment was the process which I have heard (outside of Caroline Wilson’s word) was old Melbourne; rushed, the board not fully supportive, the AFL blind sided. I am most definitely supportive of the club and hope he does well, but I hate that Bartlett has allowed even the perception of this kind of amateurish behaviour with one of the most important decisions a club can make.

Not that maxy needs any encouragement to train hard, but can def see value in training with another mature size ruckman rather than the toothpicks he’s been training with the last few years.

Here is hoping Jeffy G footy focus is a sharp and the new haircut this year.

“Mattingly trim those sideburns!”

Thanks for the photos @Satyriconhome.

Way to break a story @DeeSpencer

Probably strained lifting his wallet Mr. Shadow.

I think I saw all but Lever, Vanders, Oscar do ball work. Melk and Hore who seem teamed up, as well as Hunt did kick to kick in a triangle. Others with some kick to kick and handball stuff.

30,096 a 8% increase on Nov 30, 2017. I wouldn't be surprised to see this rise substantially before Christmas - we have already exceeded last year's Christmas Eve total. We are on the way to reach 50,000!

As I drive down from Sydney at this time each year so my son can catch the first session, I'm hoping they stick to the usual arrangement of the first Friday (I think it is) of the new year... in which case it will be on the 4th January.

C wags is in the 40 one of the academy kids is running laps with Hannan. I’d be lucky to find the other 2 yet alone know who is who

He’s better than that imo. We just have freakish ability in Oliver, viney and Brayshaw at the coal face. Given an ongoing role at stoppages I think Tyson will be a very good player ar North.... but they won’t be top 4.

I don't disagree with a lot of that but much of what the AFL are implementing with list rules and so on is a complicated layer of terms and structure to bring back a simple concept. In this case they are saying instead of drafting all your players in November you can add a player sometime from December to March. They put in some rules, regulations and labels but adding a player over summer is really a return to the pre draft days where you could invite a player down to train and sign them up later on. Compiling your list and not being able to add to it after November isn't a tradition that particularly makes a lot of sense. There's a lot of danger that relaxing list rules makes the circus of of player movement more exciting than the games but there's a balance where giving teams more flexibility with their playing list lets them put a better team together. Better teams = better games and that's the most important thing for the sport. That's what we want to see.

Would appreciate any reports.

Consult your updated MFC players list and you’ll be fine

At this stage 21st Dec

Wow, what a win. I thought no way at the turn, looked too wide and too far back, stunning.

2 weeks today. Monday 17th Dec . 6.30 start in MCC Members dining Room. Worth going to to hear Pert. (and Goodwin obviously)

I think you are reading to much into the situation, Colin It could equally be said that Pert oversaw a flag at the pies, and isn't it great he's head down, bum up now he's at our club? PJ was fantastic for us, but the stench of the previous CEO still lingers in the memory. Personally, I prefer a CEO to work his magic in the background

When doing research for some photos to super-impose Preuss into a Demon's guernsey I found this gem from when he was drafted.

Still shopping for the right desk apparently.

The big one for me on that list is Weideman. While we are not privy to how he is feeling, I think the club has done a terrific job at developing him and getting him back to full fitness after the injuries he suffered as a junior. Hopefully he sees this and is keen to sign a long term contract with the club, as we are now putting plenty of faith in him with the loss of Hogan. You would be pretty confident in some of the other main players, like Melksham and Salem, that they will re-sign sometime during 2019, but Weideman is the key one for me.

I disagree with much of what he says, but this is rubbish. A group of posters gang up together, bait him, and then smash him whenever he opens his mouth because they know he'll react. It's been happening for years and those posters should be ashamed of themselves. It's like high school. He likes thinking the best of the players. Why don't you just view his reports through this lens and not be a [censored] about it?

Yes need to get new deals for Melksham, Salem, Weideman and Neal-Bullen. 3 year deals for each of the blokes imo. Lewis Final year in 2019. Let’s get the premiership and send him out in style As they only have 1-year deals, Maynard, Garlett, Wagner-J and Jkh all need to show improvement to stay on board. Garlett just needs to find his desire once again and he’s best 22.

The Roar has produced player list analysis: Team Profiles The Average isn't the best measure; I prefer The Mean Median. Nonetheless, the Roar tables are a good indicator of each team. I was a bit surprised to see Collingwood so high in the age profiles. The likes of Lewis and Jones are raising our age profile somewhat. For us to finish 4th in 2018 when on average age we were 9th and average experience we were 12th shows what a mighty effort it was by the club. An interesting comment from the article: "Overall the numbers hint at a few possible conclusions, one being that putting heavy 2019 expectations on the likes of Melbourne, Fremantle and Essendon because of their notable trade period recruits might be a little premature. Of these three sides, only one – Essendon – is in the top eight for age, and they are eighth. None is in the top eight for experience. That’s not to say that these lists aren’t capable of achieving great things in 2019, but instead that they are still some distance from hitting their high-water mark in terms of talent maturity". Nonetheless, the expectations on us will indeed be 'heavy' and we will rise to the occasion! Edit: change 'Mean' to 'Median'