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I went along today. Lovely day and a good session to see as they were starting a bit of game simulation and there was plenty going on. Just a couple of points to offer from limited viewing. One is that last year I thought we had the list in pretty good shape so I was surprised at how much we cut into the list. I thought we might just do the obligatory 3 or 4 changes but we did a lot more and it shows on the park. The newbies are all small to medium players apart of course from May and Preust and they are as keen as to make an impression. It looks to have regenerated the group a bit and with Oliver, Gus, Viney and Jones on the sidelines there was a freshness that I think is good for us. We looked young and hungry and I'm pretty sure the coaches are creating an atmosphere where positions are up for grabs and anything is possible. So I also saw the contested mark of KK and he also did another nice piece of play at half back from contested to delivery upfield that was impressive. I also saw Nietsche (No. 27 the philosopher) do a couple of nice things. Bedford is busy and was involved a lot as well. The intensity was good and I think the youngsters contributed a lot to that. The second thing I noticed was Vanders. He looked fantastic. He was in rehab with Gus and Stretch and clearly they are close to returning to the main group as they were doing contested stuff one on one and there were no holds barred. All three were going well, Billy is tracking very well but Vanders was excellent. They were one on one just holding and jostling until the attacker made a lead and one of the coaches Rooke kicked to the lead. Vanders marked most everything under good pressure and defensively was strong and aggressive and shut down his opponent. At one stage he spoiled Gus and took him to ground, it was strong play. He is clearly a leader and looks very focused, driven and I'd say as fit as he's ever been. I'm so glad he stayed with us and I reckon he could be a great player for us this year. Just on the rehab group or groups, in making your way back to the main group you work very hard, harder than if you are in the main group itself. So even though most of the players in re-hab could easily join in the pace of the main group it is never gifted and you have to tick every box before they will let you back.Finally one of those guys Jack Viney is looking fantastic as well. He was charging around the boundary and while he would hardly blow out a candle Baker was totally gassed. Jack is another right on track for a massive year.

Just had a long chat to Crossy. Said place is unrecognisable from when he arrived. The definitive news from him on Lever’s return is around round 9 to 10. In relation to that debate about Trac’s condition and weight. I just mentioned he has a solid build. He responded that’s his build. Said he just ran his PB in the 2km time trial. His skin folds are excellent. He said they are being very careful with Viney. They don’t want to rush him back and have him back in rehab. The ankle surgery is just taking the normal amount of time to recover and they are also managing the foot etc. Hes expecting most rehabers to be back in main group by end of next weeks camp. He said coming back from a shortened pre season if anything is a bit of a bonus. He said it’s a really long pre season when you come back October or early November. You can feel cooked by the beginning of the season. They all have their off season programs and come back ready to go. Tom Sparrow is the stand out of the young players for him. Said he reminds him of Viney when he first came in. Training done. Thats it for me. Got to head off. Will try to answer any questions later.

Maybe Uncle but Weide brings more than goals. He brings height, disposal skills, defensive pressure, run, forward line balance and flexibility. His ability to pinch hit is also useful with or without Preuss in the team. He will be as good as the players around him. He is a team player first and foremost. We will have an agile and mobile forward line with the ball coming in quickly from the midfield. We should continue to see multiple goal kickers week to week. No more long wayward bombs to stationary soldiers or directed at one or two key forwards. .

If CP has a run of poor form this year, will we see a potential headline in the paper reading "Fat Tracc Bullied"?

It's a valid concern but the break down is: Gus - was healthy to start and is back in the main group Oliver - has been running pretty much all summer Harmes - as above plus back in the main group Viney - doing more than last year Vanders - doing more than last year Petracca - apparently fitter than ever Fritsch and KK both doing well as wing options Jones - not missing sessions just backed off Stretch/Baker - both progressing Maynard - a depth option Sparrow - potentially an option To start last season we had Tyson out of the side, Brayshaw out of the side, Viney and Vanders injured and Harmes playing wing/forward. The midfield had huge changes between round 1 and finals. Oliver is the only who's really behind where they entered last year and there's time for him to catch up. Otherwise we just have to make sure we use the long year to our advantage by resting and rotating guys and building them up through the season.

Hopefully he's racking up 30+ possessions at Casey and pushing for selection. This is what ANB did consistently to make his case.

Crossy is a pro. Rd 8-10 is a number plucked from thin air - if he returns by rd 5 it means they're geniuses. if he says rd 1 but it blows out to round 6 - obviously theres issues..... it's a blatant under promise and over deliver stand point

He fits at Casey learning his craft and hopefully he is good enough to play 100+ games for the club. Our midfield depth isn't that great outside the regular AFL players, we need the next group of midfielders developing at Casey and hopefully pushing for selection mid to late in the year. Whose spot they take is irrelevant at this stage

21 hours in bed is a very long time. No wonder there's a deficiency in spelling and use of language. And, perhaps, knowing the difference between ante meridiem and post meridiem?.

My wife wanted me to mow the lawn but I reported a slight pain in the lower left hand side of my right patella. At that point she adjusted my schedule for the day and I sat on the couch and watched the cricket. Good result all round.

They’ve just broken into groups and doing right passing drills. About every 90 seconds to 3 minutes the whistle blows and they swap bins from defending to attacking. Now back into full field ball movement. I’m guessing transferring what they did in the smaller groups. Preuss has a huge kick. Hate to say it but there’s a hell of a lot of kicks not hitting targets. Sparrow has the gate of a natural athlete. Body language is very confident. Leads really well to good places. Marty Hore solid unit. There’s going to be some solid contested marking capacity in this squad. Bedford’s doing some nice work. Getting to the right places to receive and making good decisions and delivering accurately. Petty still looks pretty light for a potential KP player. They’re doing a contested ground ball exercise where a ball is rolled to 2 players who have to fight for it. McCartney told someone to tackle harder. They want it to be full match day intensity. Garlett’s skills still stand out and he seems pretty engaged. He’d be a real bonus if he comes good this year. The competition for his spot is building. Jordan is also a good ready to go size. Another group doing a drill where they are tackled under pressure and have to get an accurate ball off to an outside player who has to snap across the body at goal. All the handballs go off and all the snaps I saw went through. Another group doing a drill where you stand with your back to a group are handballed a ball and have to turn and pick out from a series of players leading and get a low pass to them. Wagner started. Didn’t miss a pass. Seems to be doing some training with the forwards. The backs are in a group at the moment doing a clearing exercise. They were all brought in and there’s extensive coaching going on by Troy Chaplin. Then back into a drill in groups leading and passing. The philosopher is training with the backs. Hore’s Skills are good

Surely coqnescent means an understanding of French hens, not sure what it has to do with footy though

yeah I loved that moment too. plus he has shown its not a one off in the short amount of games he's played so far, he loves to nail a bloke with a tackle, which is great. it does show a real intent, like you say. Hogans tackling pressure was Watts like most of the time, useless. I thought it was also funny that the cats players didn't really remonstrate with Weid after he buried Danger in that tackle. you'd think they would try to put the youngster off his game by coming back at him and getting in his face, but they didn't. Weid must have a bit of presence about him out there on the field.

I think we will stop more goals in 2019.

Funny how some of us view goals. Did Tyson take his 340 possessions? Does Steven May bring 295 possessions? I like Alistair Clarksons "one soldier out , one soldier in," philosophy. Hogan as good as he is is not 47 goals better that his replacement. I for one think that we will kick more goals in 2019 than 2018 but I am an optimist.

Thanks for the great reports It's Time. Love that from Maca. I certainly hope Jeffy Garlett can get back to his best and force his way back into the side, because at his best he is just so damaging. But to be picky with your choice of words, I'd suggest that both fortunately and unfortunately, it's not his position in the side that the competition is for these days. He relinquished his hold on the spot to a certain extent last year and sadly appeared to be on the outer by the end of the season. Hopefully the break has done him good and he's ready to attack the season ahead and make a big impact for us. Would love to see him win his way back into the side - a 40+ goal small forward would be highly valuable for us.

No,No... be conservative with the kid. This is his 2nd Reco on the same knee. within what 3 years or so. Lets not rush him back, like Schwarta did, back in the 90's. .

Lever not back till round nine or ten?!!! Viney being managed??! They were missing targets all session??? I prefer Saty's reports

Viney is running like a powerful machine. Very driven attitude. Baker is struggling to keep up with him while they do repeat 30-40sec run throughs around the boundary. Viney is timing everything and telling Baker what to do next.

Having a look at main group now. A lot of cheering and clapping going on as they are all bunched in the middle. I’d be guessing some comp on winners for last weeks training. Pretty sure it’s not team selection. Now doing full oval game simulation. It’s full gas. Clearly working on game plan ball movement. What I’m noticing is the players down field leading to space and players with the ball being patient and looking for the lead before kicking. Plenty of missed targets at this stage. There’s no wind which suggests to me they are really working on low kicks to targets under pressure. Thats definitely looking like a focus From what I’m seeing Preuss is no lumbering slow big man. He’s surprisingly agile and fast. He’s also doing as much running as the midfielders. On what I’m seeing I reckon he’s going to surprise us. KK just took a brilliant contested mark and summed up options and did a great kick to a leading player.

I’m here. Let me know if there’s anything you want to look out for. Just standing next to the rehab group. Lever has clearly taken a strong leadership role. Just said to the group “Very good. Keep training game day habits. A lot of skills work going on. Passing to players on a lead and passing on to the next player. Said something like just run 100%” just spoke to Mitch Hannan. He said the knees feeling good. He’s getting a lot of running in now and hopes to be in full training in a few weeks. Asked him how does he feel walking into the AFL from the VFL the way he has and being on the website with the goal of the year and in a final. He said it’s surreal. He never imagined it. I said players come into the AFL and never play in a final and he’ll have that forever. He was beaming. I said he’s in for a great run. Others have been here 10 years and left with nothing. He said Thanks mate really appreciate it and ran off with a grin on his face. Go Dees Clarry just said back into full training in a couple of weeks. Standing next to the rehabers drink bottles by accident. It’s where they all come so perfect place to sneak in questions. Jonesy came over and went straight into boxing. I pity the poor bloke holding the pads. He’s pounding them. They have 2 computers set up just for rehab. One seems to have GOS data the other live footage just of their training.

Considering all the flack about grammar on demonland, we can’t let numeracy errors pass. 47 plus 5% is not 65 (try just over 49). Either way, last year Weids already bettered Jesses 8 goals in 6 games against top 8 teams. I’m not as fussed about the 39 in 13 games against the rest (which includes 0 against Port). Weids won’t get as many goals out the back, but you don’t tend to see those types of goals against the good teams.

Ill be back soon Macca...

And now we have some teammates who’s brains he really can pick. Teammates who really have been there done that, teammates who really believe in themselves and teammates who realise that with hard work and dedication, the prize may not be too far away. A culture that is still building but one that Sparrow and the other “kids” will embrace as natural. A big, big turnaround from 8 - 10 years ago. I know we all thank Paul Roos but I want to thank Daniel Cross for importing a professionalism of dedication and training that shocked many at the club into changing their ways (or getting out)! How much talent was waisted a decade ago by ineptitude, amateurism, and pure stupidity, a bloody lot IMHO.

Returning to the training, after the semantic, pedantic and grammatical sidetrack Joel Smith is training as a forward, same with Dec Keilty and JKH I used to do huntin, shootin, fishin and campin, but I called it being in the Army

Pretty much favourite Weid moment for the year (yes inc the EF 3 goals) was his crunching Dangerfield tackle on the wing. Showed a real intent and a bit of mongrel. No way Hogan is making that tackle

I have previously explained how I came to determine that 2020 will be our year. If, as Deeoldfart suggests, it happens to come sooner, I can handle the excitement. But I believe that whilst we may have the talent this year, we may still need more development. As someone once said in a different context, the future is so bright that I need my sunglasses.

Preuss is fast becoming a priority action man with mongrel mobility - in your face. He may be the recruit of the year/decade/or century but whatever, I really like the rapport and support that fans are bestowing upon him - for good reasons he is an attention magnet. Great to hear of KK shining with the Dees, described often in training as 'brilliant', 'great at...', 'speedy' and 'skilled'.

Up to 33,226 today ( 21 Jan). From this point last year we added about 15K to end of Season. So we are looking at close to 50K at that rate.

Impressed by Baker’s size... has a body to back his pace... looks like he will get games in 2019

The main group had a lot of fun in the initial warm up... the final exercise had pairs with both hands on the one football. When the whistle was blown the pairs had to try and rip the footy out of their opponents grip.., Jetta proved too tricky for Max, while Weids and May were called into the centre of the group to contest the ‘final’. The rest of the group were asked to stand behind the player they thought would win. Great delight from the Weiderman group when he was lightning in snapping the ball away from May... then ran off hurling the ball into the air to the delight of his ‘followers’!

Glass half full view - well, a bit more than half full, I reckon, compared with Harriet Cordner's assessment on the club website anyway: The goal kicking was a mixture of MF's assessment and a bit of rushing, plus (am I imagining it?) the women haven't yet picked up the nuance of 'kicking it around the corner'? Set shot kicking was pretty good. Also the Tassie Kangas scored 2 flukish checksides out of packs, an over-the-back to 'Mo', and 'on the break' more often than not. HC's assessment of lapses from the game plan ring true in this latter. So the tale really was in the tape of the 14 scoring shots to 11. MFC impressive with some fast move and receives forward of the ball, notably in the final Q. Some strong marking, too. I think HC's assessment that the game has gone up a notch is right on - kicking pretty good, play-on, overlap and speed impressive, attack at the ball and tackling fierce as from the beginning but happening more often. Can't name names, sorry - not familiar with them (yet?) and the Fields are hard to see across, particularly with these old eyes!

Ernie, I live in the country. I may identify as a city (???) because I went to school there. Going to bed a 9am reminds me of my youth but may be a typo. I travel overseas every year and I care about the language and is distresses me when people don't care. (I suspect they don't know any better) but when a fellow poster used coqnescent (sic) I suspect it is not a typo.

There is one name on that list that still causes me to shake my head in bewilderment, disappointment and sadness. Liam Jurrah I still can't help but wonder where he might have stood today among the pantheon of MFC greats if his life had not gone to [censored].

Thanks for some different reports. Besides fatty tracc all sounds really promising.

Calm, exactly why it is happening this way, all too valuable a commodity to not take it nice and steady, especially Viney and his last 2 years Oliver was doing everything today

Hogan won't be playing his first final for some time.....

All the best Gorg, for more than a fleeting moment I thought I could taste the success in SB51 & it was sweet, could only imagine what it's really like... I'll be rooting for your boys! Fingers crossed you can do what we couldn't & knock those Pats off (preferably come from 29-3 down to win) ?

I think the days are gone when players train within the main group when they have an injury or niggle. I’d suggest any pain is reported to training staff and the players training regime is altered accordingly. I’m not worried at all.

oooh sexy - our program is cutting edge. anyone have intel on what the paradigm shift is? Let's touch base, going forward and get distruptive, as I can see all the low hanging fruit in the pipeline. I guess we need to leverage our assets and move the needle and think outside the box to synergise our 360degree thinking. So I'd love to pick your brain and take a deep dive.

Like Cross's comments about the long preseason and not being cooked at the beginning of the season (or half way through). In the past, we have seen many sides cooked halfway through the season. You can only maintain high intensity for limited periods. So important to be able to tune and peak at season end. We are an entirely different beast with the talent on and off the field, and footy know how.

Goulburn Valley is an underrated region of the State at risk of being spoilt by migration from the big smoke. Generally, I think that men are still men and women still like men, although I have noticed the odd wig, sitting on top of tough faces, strong forearms and smeared lipstick. A lot of ex-Demon players and Demon supporters from the GV, a very passionate lot.

Love him as forward, and love him on the wing. But his skill set may be best suited to half back with that combination of aerial ability and elite foot skills.. I am sure he will pinch hit everywhere. Fantastic young player.

Good New is Trac Gus and Vanders are all in main group. Update on this from Crossy is they are in but still slightly modified but will be back in full during or immediately after next weeks camp.

love the way he jumps at the ball and his aggressive tackling. good below his knees, and excellent by hand and foot for a big guy. does everything Hogan wouldn't, or couldn't, do as a forward. Hogan does have him covered for running power though, but he will get better the older he gets.

You clearly need to re-evaluate your priorities, Tarax!! Fancy sitting and watching that pansy game while the REAL action is but a hop, step & a jump away! Hang your head in shame, lad!!

More Pavlich for me.

Just look at this.. 20 year old key forward in his first final... wowowowoww!

Not saying that the 09 list is anywhere near as good as this year, WJ. Just think it wasn't all bad.