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Looks like some players are calling it a day and with that, so will I. Thanks for reading!

Went down to training and very pleased to report no new injuries! Preuss was doing a lot of work with the mids and I would suggest he is in strong consideration for Saturdays game. Didn't look hindered and trained the whole session. Players "next in line" KK. He was in the midfield group and another who trained the whole session and looked good. They trialled him on the wing in their midfield "plays". Really think he can add something when he is right to go. Baker. Another who they trialled on the wing in the midfield plays. Looking forward to a good year from him, he is another who has a lot of upside and is close to selection Sparrow. Last time I went along to training I wondered what all the fuss was about with him but after a taste in the pre-season you can see he has come along very nicely in the last few weeks. They have him in the middle mixing with Oliver, Gus, Viney and the likes and he looks like he will be equally as good in a year or two. He finished off slamming goals from outside 50. Massive boot, he looks the goods. Watched Gus for a while and if he was a racehorse you would say he is a lazy track-worker, he rarely stands out and as some of the young guns want to show off and impress and have a laugh Gus was just doing what he had to to get through. I think he might have his sights firmly set on Saturday. Melksham looked tired. Really wanted to see him as he is so important to us but he didn't overly involve himself. Don't know why and I'm sure it was nothing but I hope he fires up on Saturday.

He's got a 5 week old baby at home. I don't need to look any further for a reason.

Depression is one thing. Taking responsibility for one’s actions is another. Hogan’s been in the system for a long time now. He’s a marquee player at a new club. He knows the rules. And he’s not the first person to encounter some personal hardship whilst also trying to hold down a job. I know several people who have lost parents, have gone through bruising divorces, who are struggling financially and emotionally to bring up young kids solo, and have inflexible and intolerant employers as to their personal situations. I expect they’d love to have the luxury of the time, emotional support and financial security than the AFL system would afford them, even if only for a limited period of time - on terms that you just can’t drink heaps of beer on a Monday night, and that you otherwise have to display a good attitude to, and respect for, your club and your teammates. Unlike most employers, however, AFL clubs seem extraordinarily tolerant and forgiving. Despite his obvious talent, I never found Hogan to be a particularly endearing character. I’m just relieved we managed to secure Steven May in exchange for him, as I expect is the club.

You are probably right, and Ralph would be able to back up his story, but us poor souls who follow our club and invest our money, heart and souls into the fortunes of these young men always hope for the best. Call me naive, but I try to be optimistic and like to think the best of people. Taking drugs has probably become the norm in today's society, and athletes are not immune from temptation, but I still don't like it. I have seen the damage it does. To call these substances "party" drugs is a misnomer in my opinion. There is nothing fun or sparkly about becoming a drug addict.

Jones, Viney, Harmes, Preuss and Melksham with the main group. EDIT: Also just saw KK training with the main group.

Harmes had a red hat on for the match sim. Viney had a lovely orange hat on. They still took Jack out of several drills so I'm not 100% that he'll play. Or 100% that he should play. Oscar, Frost, Hibberd, Hore, Lewis, Jetta, Salem, Petty, JWagner, Jordon with the defenders so take your pick of 7 there. Lockhart with the forwards which I don't really like. I know he's undersized but not every defender has to be 6 foot+. Liked what I saw with some of his kicking though. I guess the thinking is get the competition for spots in the pressure forwards right because if they play well my concerns about lack of pace from the backline/midfield isn't such a worry. They had CWagner, ANB, Lockhart and Hunt all on the probables team for match simulation so no real guide for which way they are going. Steve May doing a lot of interval running and not looking overly pleased to be doing so. Wish he was playing but maybe the week off will do him good. Focus the mind and make sure his body has a bit more preparation for the season.

Harmes wearing a glove and Viney has his left knee strapped but you wouldn't really know based on how they're training. Both will be fine for Round 1.

I agree with most of you what you have said. Like you, I know many people who have been through a lot worse than Jesse. What is tough for one person is not tough for another. Some are more resilient than others. Different personalities, different mental health conditions, and different coping abilities all play a role. One difference is that Hogan's problems are played out in the media and on social media. Step outside your front door and there is a jerk with a phone or camera. Judgments are then made by footy media, supporters and trolls. For someone that is naturally shy this can be an enormous burden. He wants to be a footballer not someone who is a media personality. Okay that goes with the territory but some cope with that attention better than others. Is that a flaw or just the way a person is ? Most people want to go about their life or business unobtrusively without being in the spotlight and without their life being open to scrutiny and comment from all and sundry. So I have sympathy for Hogan as I do for all those with mental health issues. Sympathy or understanding can be present irrespective of the circumstances. There are social misfits that don't deserve sympathy or compassion such as murderers, rapists and those who do harm to others. Hogan is not one of those. The sad thing is that he is only harming himself. We all have our demons and some can cope with them better than others.

They did a drill today that was one weighted kick to a player cutting on a 45 backwards lead from half back to the wing, then a long flat 40m kick to a leading forward 40m from goal. That's a different approach. The reality is the best way to score is to go quick from half back, get the ball forward and either score or lock it in and create those repeat entries. Going slow from half back/midfield when you get a chance gets you no where. Even the precision Hawks were bombing it last year because speed of entry meant more than precision. As for our overall kicking skills: -The first choice back 7 are all above average kicks. - The hope surely is Gus, Harmes, Tracc, Oliver all improve and if they keep finding the ball they should. Harmes took a step forward last year and Brayshaw is the main one who gets the ball on the outside and needs to stop butchering it. No more left foot heaves when running in open space, save them from where they are useful in congestion. - Fritsch, Kolodjasnij, Spargo are 3 efforts to bring in more skills to the inside 50's. Get them the ball on the wing and half forward and good things will happen - Baker is more speed than precision kicking but line breaking run creates the same inside 50 benefit that good skills do. Jordon is a lovely kick who could play half forward or wing if not half back. Hannan can hit targets. Chandler and Lockhart have potential from what I've seen as nice kicks. I'd like to improve the kicking but a good crumbing forward would make the messy forward entries better and getting back on topic a good crumber would pair really well with Weid. Getting more run and spread to open space from a contest will help the inside 50's too. Throwing numbers at the contest against the good teams really hurt us last year.

OMac nails a running shot at goal. I''m clearly hallucinating.

I swear Melksham could snap goals in his sleep. Makes it look so effortless.

Lever looks closer than 12-16 weeks. Just saw him running at full tilt and snapping at goal. He's also competing comfortably one on one with Tim Smith. The club is probably just being very conservative in his progress considering its his second ACL.

How refreshing will it be when a player comes out after being caught out on a bender saying “ I’m not mentally ill, I just love getting munted on the weekend with my mates, just like 90% of people in their 20s do.”

I’ve realised since writing the preview that today is the 7th anniversary of the passing of Jim Stynes. How sad it is that he’s missed out on the club’s improvement since then and that his family have missed out on having him with them. Best wishes to the Stynes family on this sad occasion.

If people bothered to read the article they will come to realise that it's actually Alistair Lynch making the statement and not May's old teammate now at the Tigers.

That's gob-smackingly inept from the club to have left him out to play injured in a [censored] practice match.

Keilty and Hunt training with the forwards with the latter just nailing a flat drop punt at goal from 50m. Sounded good off the boot!

I liked the banter between the two of them when Lynch suggested this to May - "big Anzac Eve game, you'll play on me" May: "Nah - I take the No 1 key forward, I'll be playing on Riewoldt"

Yeh for all the good work they've done, that sure was a howler of a mistake Vs Brisbane at Casey. A) Going in with a smaller squad. (Risk) B) Keeping an injured player out there when there was absolutely no need. (Mind boggling).

According to Ben Guthrie. Absolute [censored] and disgraceful from our medical team or cosching staff to leave him out there to aggregate it even more.

I'm loving the short, snappy updates Jack. Feels like I"m there! Thanks!!

Fritsch can seriously kick a football. Absolutely centimetre perfect pass to the Weed who converts.

"Respected AFL figures" included: Karl Langdon Kim Hagdorn Garry Lyon Gerard Healy Jonathan Brown Mark Robinson I can't wait for the day when some actual journalists start covering AFL. How ironic is it reading Slobbo's incoherent rants about players with alcohol problems?

https://outline.com/SmZy6d

It's not funny. You got banned because you posted that you hoped his injury was permanent. Which makes you a pretty classy guy. You're lucky the ban wasn't permanent.

The footage of Jesse that is doing the rounds is apparently 3 years old (apologies is this has already been posted). On Perth radio this morning the Dockers denied Hogan was involved in an incident in Mandurah over the weekend, only that he missed training due to being on the turps Saturday night. The Dockers have handled some recent off-field issues very poorly (and continue to handle Bennell poorly), let’s hope they deal with Hogan much better and get him the help he needs.

Ross tells the media to 'back off' re Jesse He is trying to focus on the illness and quite rightly won't elaborate on it or the other 'behavioural' issues. And he has taken the so sensible 'Rinse and Repeat' approach to media questions. As noted in my post this morning they should have done that in the beginning. Now that Jesse's reputation has been trashed in the national mainstream media they want to put the genie back in the bottle. Too little, too late. The article includes a video by Goodwin where he is incredibly good in support of Jessie. He rightly says it is a private matter and he, the club and players have been in contact with him. Very poorly handled by Freo. They need some new PR people.

When I posted the article the thought that some might confuse them did cross my mind but then I thought "nah that couldn't possibly happen" yet here we are.

May the lynching begin

It was a mistake to keep playing Joel, although he kept kicking goals. This thread is going to go ballistic with DLers outrage.

No... it’s Pete, and he’s been recruited to bring some power and passion to the playing group... boom! boom!

TMac, Weed, Keilty and Bradtke practicing some overhead marking. Tom providing some nice support to the boys regarding their technique.

Have heard Hore will debut this week.

Whether or not Joel Smith would have played Round 1 or not is irrelevant , the issue here is risking long term groin issues in a young exciting player on the rise and who was one of our few bright spot in JLT. Should never have gone back on the ground.

When teams match us at "our" game, (winning ball at the coalface) then we generally struggle. See Brissy in JLT, West Coast Prelim, Collingwood Queen's bday last year etc. We were able to come back against Hawthorn after half time of the semi because of our talent. They were also missing Jaeger. I just want to see us evolve so that if teams do match it with us in the middle of the ground, we have some other ways of winning. The game requires that. And I'm not sure you can put Jones in the same category as those others you've mentioned. Last year was the first year I saw him drop off a little with his ball use. Years gone by he has been a really smart kick which was almost always kicked to the advantage of a leading forward.

No, the ball just keeps going over his head.

Absolutely gorgeuous pass from Hore who finds Spargo, who slots it from the boundary. Shades of his goal from the final against the Hawks.

ANB with a characteristically sloppy kick. Does well in recovering the ball though. Melksham with a nice chip pass to C.Wagner who slots an easy one.

You mean...you don't ?

The great MFC teams of the 50s and early 60s were regarded as tough but fair. Many other teams were regarded as tough and dirty, no more so than Collingwood and Hawthorn. Carlton was not far behind, and, of course, North and the Dogs had their thugs. Other sides always tried to soften up the Demons to get them off their game. Famously, the 1958 GF. But the Demons of that era were as tough as nails with Barassi being the epitome of toughness. With the exception of the 58 Granny, the softening up rarely worked. Not only did the Demons have gifted players but we also had players that could give as much as they copped and often returned the favour in spades. Not far behind Barass was Ian Thorogood. Norm apparently loved him. We had a bunch of individuals that would die for Norm and The Team Thoro was one of those. Today, he might be called a role player, because in those days, he played his role every week giving his opponent not a smell of the ball. Would have loved to have seen him more involved in an official capacity with the Dees over the years. A Melbourne legend. Commiserations to the family, I'm sure his impact has been huge. A proud legacy.

I like the look of Jordan. Just saw him training with the likes of Jones, Petracca and Oliver at the moment in some one on one contested ball drills and can hold his own. Lovely kick as well. EDIT: And of course as I say that, Clarry nails him in a dynamite tackle. Holding the ball!

Haven't seen him yet. Also, May now running laps. Doesn't seem too hindered by anything. Can only presume the club is making sure he's 100% for Round 2 against Geelong.

Maybe the mids can start kicking it to where he is running and not over his head so much

That club is in disarray.

His body language was one of the biggest non issues I think I've seen in football.

The big three issues are: 1. Whether I am wearing the correct colour underwear on game day. (we all know that wearing underwear that has the oppositions colours (including the stitching) is a recipe for disaster 2. When I choose to turn on the radio to listen, e.g. We up by 5 goals and I turn on the radio, and the opposition kick 4 in a row 3. Whether someone you know says before the Game "You guys are a shoo in" or " 5 goals up in the last quarter and your mate says "We can't lose from here" Address these three things and we should get the job done