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Craft session today which went for just over 1hr and 45mins Got some good pics of Gawn and Preuss in one on one drill Fritsch and KK in midfield drills, so some may get their wish Interesting drill with Salem, Lewis, Jetta, Fritsch, KK so the 'best' kicks in the team, doing kicking drill with both feet, 'annoyingly' hardly a poor kick between them Lever is looking better and better each session, I am sure he is aiming for Rd 1 Bradtke absolutely cooked after drills with Gawn, Preuss and Stafford, fast tracking indeed New boys were back, Sparrow not disgraced in clearance drills

It was already warming up when i got there at 10. Lever and Jones doing runs. Melk and Baker together. Gus doing rehab as well I think Unsighted: Oliver, Viney, Stretch, Spargo, Walker, Vanders, Hannan, Maynard A variety of craft drills followed. Forwards with some goal kicking. Rucks working with Stafford. Some zoning drills. Then it was running time. Harmes, Trac, Jetta, Bull, Hunt, Oscar formed a rehab group and sat out As did Lewis, KK, JKH The rucks did some bullocking and then a sprint for a high ball. Preuss testing Gawn out. The lesser running group had: Keilty, Weid, Hore, May, Frost, Jeff. There wasn’t much drop off but Keilty looked strong. The bigger group was led by ANB with C Wagner pushing him. T Mc, J Smith up towards the front. Petty was in this group as was Hibberd who was blowing but keeping pace, that’s a good sign for him. The 5 young draftees keeping up in this group as well.

Not a poster but I use this site to help keep up to date with the Dees. I’m in San Francisco. Little tip for those wanting the watch afl pass (which is USD150 on its own if you’re in the USA). The Demons international membership includes the watch afl pass and is AUD170 (USD120ish). Save some cash and increase the membership count!

He was injured round 11 June 2. I don't know when he was operated on, but I assume about a week later, so let's say June 9. The standard recovery from ACLs is 9 months. It won't be a one size fits all, some come back sooner and some probably come back later. Also, I don't know if it being his second ACL on the same knee warrants a more cautious approach, or whether it has no effect. I'd just be guessing. Nine months takes him to approx. two weeks before our first game on Saturday 23 March. Theoretically, if it's a standard recovery he may well be ready to play round one. Lynden Dunn, who did his ACL one month later in round 15 on July 2, has targeted his return date as round one. I won't be advising medical staff one way or another, I'm not that stupid, but I won't be surprised if he's ready for round one based on historical timelines - assuming he doesn't have any hiccoughs along the way. I also won't be surprised if it's round 4 or 5 when he returns. His minor set back a few weeks ago won't impact things, I wouldn't have thought.

More on ACLs, which I found interesting. It's from Demonland's own star resident expert in these types of things @Webber - posted some time ago: "There is no greater incidence of hamstring injuries post ACL reconstruction where the hamstring is used as the graft. The hamstring 'group' (3 muscles) compensate as a collective to take over the progressive loads imposed during rehab. The surgery is a very elegant and efficient process. The graft length is computer calibrated to be anatomically correct, and anchored to the bones top and bottom of the knee (femur and tibia). That graft is initially dead tissue, but over the period of 5 to 6 months, the blood supply re-establishes through the bony attachments, such that it becomes fully vascular, and therefore a self-regenerating tissue. It is 'living' and able to absorb the stresses applied. Fully competitive, full speed multidirectional sport is allowed at 9 months. At the elite level, there are seldom variations to this timeline, and the outcome is as if the ACL had never been damaged."

A new one: And an old one, but history keeps repeating itself:

Preuss has Gawn for strength, but Max has him in tap work and aerobic capacity, working with and against each other will benefit both With Bradtke learning from both as well, with Stafford coaching all three They also had Keilty keeping his hand in late in the session

Providing these two don't kill each other both will improve, I love it.

At least he’s working on the man-on-man defensive side of his game.

A Gawn , Preuss, Ruck,forward pocket combination would be awfully hard to match up on for the opposition

Looking at these pictures, the best thing about having Preuss at Melbourne is that Max doesn't have to compete against him in a match.

My bother is a north fan. He's been giving me crap about Tyson for years. This trade is delicious.

He is driving himself, but as I said on Monday was doing too much and was told to stop Assume he won't be allowed anywhere near a competitive game until he has ticked every box He is just doing a bit more each session Standout today for me was Marty Hore, as per the article on Club website, attacked the session Looks like most of those missing were indoors, happens a lot on the Wednesday sessions

To paraphrase the words of that idiot, Mick Malthouse.......' Collingwood seem to regard this game as their grand final'.. and they still couldn't win it. If that fool thought for a millisecond before he trotted out that overused comment about the dees every Queens birthday, he would have realised that in actual Grand Finals ( that is in September) in 7 Grand Finals between Melbourne and Collingwood, The Dees have won six of them.

Can’t underestimate the impact AVB had in the finals against Geelong and Hawthorn. Was an instrumental part in our blanket attack on the footy and opposition.

I wish Max would kiss me like that.

Can’t understand the feeling that Trac is over weight on the basis of these photos. I’m very hopeful he will have a big year. The criticism is a bit harsh I think. Last year wasn’t all that bad either - he had a lot of important score involvements if you look back on the highlight reel.

Seemingly, unlike others I'd rather Preuss in the VFL until he's (hopefully not) needed. I suspect they'll experiment with the two rucks early in the season and I also expect it will be a short one. But it's great having a backup.

Well for a tall Preuss is coming into the right age bracket - 24 June next year - and he will have been training against the best in the business for 6 months by the time rnd 1 rolls by. For him to be effective and give us an advantage playing two rucks, aside from his rucking skills, he is going to need to use his height and be able to mark above his head. If he can he will make it bloody difficult for opposition sides. But apart from all that he is just a freaky sized humongous human being. It will be very fun watching him run around in the red and blue

@Scoop Junior Only an observation from Saturday’s session in which training was light and the players spent the session largely in positional groups, Fritsch was mainly in drills that consisted of small defenders. Spent some time with Salem, Jetta and Hunt working on basic defensive techniques, such as spoiling and killing the contest quickly. As I said, this only from what I observed on Saturday, the regulars might be able to provide more from pre- Christmas sessions in regards to Fritsch.

To answer the question re rules, the players have instruction of every facet, fitness, diet, health etc etc Any extra has been cleared with the club They all have individually tailored programs Tommy Mac has been 'instructed' whenever he can to walk barefoot, as it strengthens the foot and will help his toe

I just assumed everyone had him on ignore.

Hi all, i discovered Demonland over the weekend and immediately signed up. I live in South West France, near the beautiful Dordogne River. I've been a Melbourne supporter for more than 60 years. I attended the '64 Grand Final and still vividly remember the Gabelich and Crompton goals. I have been an overseas member for four years and watch every game on watchafl.

Fork the cherry pickers, and their arrogant forken supporters. I also hope Scullys forked and O'meara struggles for the rest of his career. I was at the 87' prelim, the '88 GF and work with several whorethorne supporting flogs. Yeah I've got issues.

Has anyone noticed if Preuss's aerobic capacity has improved relative to Gawny since he's arrived. I'm sure this will be a focus and why he's doing so much running with Gawny. You might be right but I really hope you're wrong. Preuss's recruitment for me was one of the more interesting in quite a while for two reasons. Firstly I was sure it meant Hogan was out the door. Secondly I reckon it means we will follow the two Grand Finalists and have two key forwards and a resting ruckman as a forward. They proved it isn't too top heavy. It's amazing how things have changed so quickly from the Tigers 2017 Premiership which everyone thought showed that teams would only have one key forward. You couldn't say Preuss is less mobile than Cox and I would say Vardy as well. Logically his choice to come to the Dees makes no sense if he was told you're only going to get a game if Gawn gets injured. I think they are going to play him in that Cox/Vardy role and the ruck rule changes mean the days of players like Harmes and Grigg playing in the ruck are over. You are going to have to have a genuine second ruck.

Yes wish Hawthorn all the best in 2019. Or as they say in the states-"Break a Leg!"

I’ll back the recruiters in ,to have gone after someone that can play the game.

Only if Preuss can actually play the game I think there are quite a few people on here getting carried away with a guy that didn't manage a game for a team that finished below us on the table and did not have one the best ruckman in the competition Like everyone else I really hope he contributes meaningfully to the team and makes us better - however playing him alongside TMac and Weid in the same forward 50 looks too big and slow for mine and I cant see any prospect of him surpassing those guys as a first pick tall forward Being big means nothing if you are not mobile enough and do not possess the skills and knowledge of the game Definitely has some potential but the question is can he rise to the next level

Good that this thread has led to a few more people signing on to Demonland. This site is a godsend for so many people living away from home, missing that connnection with footy.

I'm not sure if it matters if it is the first bounce or latter bounces in the first half (first quarter?) there is little doubt Presuss has been brought in to give Gawn some relief. I doubt he will play every game but will play - about 75% i reckon. And definitely against those sides with two rucks. As you rightly say teams definitely physically tried to work Gawny over to limit his impact - understandable given how crucial is to our chances of winning. I thought the Hawks took it to another level in the semi. They were brutal. Smashed him at every opportunity. i was surprised he got up from one collision at the Punt road end when the hawks were pushing. Didn't help them much (though it wasn't his best game it has to be said) but it certainly helped the Eagles. At the ground you could see how stuffed gawny was from the first bounce. He was fully spent halfway through the first quarter. Preuss might repay some of those hits with interest. He has rugby background i think so should be well used to using his strength and size to hit hard. I pity the fools.

Preuss is a monster. Would be great if they could co exist in the same team.

Looks like Gawn is not getting it all his own way! ?

The copious appearances of gloating Hawthorn supporters in the second video really takes the gloss of it for me. Further until we have actually won a grand final in my lifetime, I don't care how many Collingwood have lost - they have two up on us. Let's hope both those wrongs are righted over the next decade, for Hawthorn to wallow without sucess and the MFC to become truely mighty once more.

What happened to Kyrgios? Is he out already?? De Minaur 51/1 seems to be the only one left.

I think she just went through 2-0. Still showing $15.

I think shes playing at the moment....wait to see if she goes through i guess

Not a chance always thought u supported the pies

Wadda ya reckon? I don’t follow the tennis but $15 is always enticing.

Bit of a spruik going around for Ash Barty to go all the way in the women's tennis. 15/1

Tortola, British Virgin Islands. Pretty sure I'm the only Melbourne supporter here!

The most enjoyable thing in football is when Melbourne wins the Grand Final (or so I'm told). The second most enjoyable thing in football is (choose one): When Collingwood lead deep into a Grand Final only to lose it When Collingwood win the wooden spoon

I hate the filth.

Ha ! nice one TaraxC. R U suggesting we nickname Preusst... as Milton ??? ... could this be Todd Viney & Jason Taylor... doing their very best work ? ... chilling thought TC... Milton de-Monster, in our Ruck. I think it has a ring to it... 'milton' Preusst. ? .

♫ I'm Braydon, your Brand New Gunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ♪

This might of been brought up in another thread, Was thinking the other day, one way teams have been trying to stop max is smash into him early. You see them run into Max hard for the first 1-2 center ball ups of the match (and after half time). Do you think it is worth sending big Pruess into the center for the first bounce of the quarter and then let him drift forward and max to follow the ball? or let him take the first 5 min and let Maxy run out the quarter? Max will always be the number 1 but protecting him against a Nankervis who just wants to put some "hurt" onto Max might be a big upside of the man monster Pruess in the side. sorry if this has been covered, just bored at work.

Hawk supporters need to reacquire the ability to lose gracefully. Until they do (and it’s a skill that will require decades of practice), they will get little sympathy from me, when the footy Gods do them ill.

Up in FNQ it's 1 hour plus 30 years behind

I dunno whether i care how big Preuss is, i want to see him in half a dozen continuous Senior Games first......