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Half the team begin with goal kicking some defenders at the other end and the rest are in the rooms. It 's a big squad on Gosh's. The lankier bodies are put through angle changing run through as the stocky type are using bands to restrict run. Lever in rehab. Neville Jetta in main squad as is Michael Hibberd. Christian Pettraca appeared a Little proppy. An all in drill of moving ball by hand looked great. Clean and precise ball use. The simulations nearly full contact. With a lot of niggle from the defenders. The simulations finished with the forwards and backs (Rawlings setting up well), in the fifty and the midfield on the wings or centre, competing for ball and connecting as the coaches instruct. The final drills were angle changing sprints, some rugby style ball movement and tackling and the one on one contested mark. Oscar Baker had a light training session. Simon Goodwin working with the small halfbacks, spoils, hand and body positioning. There was also plenty of peer assistance to the younger players from Jack Viney, Jordan Lewis and Max Gawn. Overall, a long hard training in beautiful full sun of a Melbourne winter.

I played under him at East Burwood, winning Premierships in 1999 and 2000. Nothing I wouldn't have done for him, a great man and great coach. List management has let him down badly at St Kilda.

Demonland is actually being ruined by one particular poster and members need to stop feeding MB. It's getting unbearable to have to scroll through content to find some decent discussion which is not someone trying to have the last word

I suspect it about confidence. The club is saying we rate you. You are in the frame and will be back soon. That and trolling the naysayers on demonland.

That’s why I love Demonland. From the very, very outside looking in Richo doesn’t look particularly impressive to me. Brilliant that you played under the bloke and can give some insight into how he is actually regarded. You have changed my opinion of him. Thanks

Good to see Selwood's knee-dropping, ducking protege, Rhys Mathieson has been dropped. That is a few 'head high' frees we won't 'give away'.

Free slab of beer to the first person to suggest the need to play #hardball in the chase to get Langdon - referencing Bell/Hogan etc. send me your address and I’ll drop it off... postscript: that’ll be you then @TheoX

I find it easier now that $cully is gone.

Oscar had a great game for Casey...demanded selection.

There have been times, particularly late in games when the game has been on the line, where Trac has been seen to burst through packs with brute strength and force the ball forward. When he's in full flight like that, he's awesome to behold. So, there's no doubt he CAN do it. I guess we just want to see MORE of it, throughout games.

His last month has added a lot of composure with the ball in to his footy. Smart with the ball Run hard to space Smart and run in the defensive game That's all I want to see from Petracca. I don't care if he goes over or around opponents when it's ball winning time, the guy has no issue with getting down and winning the footy.

I'd take consistently (or every second year) making finals over the dribble we've been served up for a decade. But yes one premiership please. Then I can shut this site down and retire.

It seems that the Saints have Richo in the gun this year and it will be a miracle for him to keep his job. As we're likely to rejig our FD next year I would hope we are in contact with his management. Richo is a great football man and a highly regarded assistant. Would be a great addition to our club.

Weid is so far down the list of concerns he’s off the page. I look forward to watching his development.continue for the rest of the year.

28 to 14 frees to Essendon. Umpires BOG for Bombers tonight.

Good post. I think Trac has been very good for the past month and will continue to look better as our team play better. I also think he will rip a few games apart in the next 10 weeks. Good times ahead.

Did he train, or was he just the emergency?

I'm in merger talks with Talking Hawthorn. This site will be known as Dawkland.

I'm amazed he lasted 14 weeks.

Richo would be a good get, especially in a senior / mentoring role around Goody ....... but tbh, I'm more concerned about losing Jade Rawlings in this year's coaching merry-go-round, than I am about picking up Richo who is still contracted.

or the ugly boy... ...anyway they have Brett Ratten waiting in the wings.

If a Melbourne player did that today they would get a ten week rest via the tribunal. If Ablett did it, it would be considered the greatest play of all time and there would be a parade in the streets in honor of the great man. PS and the demon player who he cleaned up would get rubbed out for staging.

Harder than a cat"s head, but feet like caged chook

When Lever and May get to 100 we will have won at least one premiership.

Our first rounder for their first rounder and Langdon? He’s gonna be worth more than our second rounder unfortunately Seriously good player

Quoting myself but what the hell. For those interested in a comparison later than the '80's / 90's a comparison to Hawkins is instructive. Hawkins, who came into AFL with a much more developed body, didn't become a dominant forward until his sixth season in the comp. In his first five years the only times he really looked like a quality player was when he played on Nathan Carroll. I wouldn't be giving up on the Weed just yet.

Agree - his initial burst speed is impressive and if he is pursuing an oppo player, you just know it is going to end in a (legitimate) bone-crunching tackle that lifts teammates and makes the opposition wary

Kent wanted more midfield time but didn’t get it, much like Howe said he wanted forward time at Colonwood and didn’t. And agree 100% that VDB when fit offers a huge boost well in excess of his purely statistical footy output. A bit of X factor.

All about Confidence??What an absolute Crock! Hasn"t played for weeks and gets named!!?? Laughable, REALLY?? Just think about this selection.

It’s time this club put itself under massive pressure, and came through it strongly, rather than saying it’s all over after 13 games. I am really tired of that...

Don’t be Jumbo. He wouldn’t have played out the game if it was serious.

As long as we use the ball with more spread he’ll help by opening up a truckload of space. A lot of our inside 50 problems come because we attack so directly the defenders are always in good positions. We’re running head on in to a wall. A simple switch at half back or through half forward then opens up so much more space for our forwards. I really like the combination of Langdon, Fritsch and Baker as a wing/half forward rotation. Endurance, class, pace. We finally got Baker and Fritsch on the wing against Freo and started to move the ball. And that was using Hunt as the 3rd option, mainly to try to sit on Hill. Having Langdon to sit on Hill would let the other two attack. I’ll take some poor ball use from Langdon if it means we finally have a wingman with the right speed, endurance and good stoppage craft.

Yep, the silly thing is Viney gets caught a lot trying it. I thought last week he (Viney) started using his footy brain a lot better. Picked the right times to barrel or give off. Trac at full pace is hard to nail in a tackle. I think he's starting to get the balance right...when to give off or take the shot, when to barge through or go around...all those things. He's played well the last few weeks and will get better. One area for me is I would like to see him using his bulk and vertical leap to take a few more contested grabs. That's when he's going to get really dangerous...

He will be sacked the week before so they can get the new coach bounce effect against us!

St Kilda were supposed to be an absolute basket case from the day before he arrived until the day after forever, it was seen as a task on par with the Melbourne rebuild, with the only saving grace being the presence of Riewoldt and Montagna. He managed close to a 50% winning rate for most of the seasons he has been there. Clearly he's got something working , but that something wasn't a good list! Meanwhile, even though Brett Ratten is clearly St Kilda's best option, he wont get the job because he is notorious for being honest and forthright about the condition of the list and the immediate future prospects of the club. (that is pretty much why he got sacked at Carlton, the coterie lords didn't like his 'negativity' and Malthouse said 'yes of course you are about to win a premiership').

Hope he likes playing with his bro. I did, until we didn't. I remember when playing for the Manangatang Saints U13s, the Ouyen under 13s were a player short so they made my younger brother don the Ouyen (Demon colours) jumper. In an incredible piece of future thinking he went The Full Stratton on me niggling niggling. I put him in a headlock then we both got sent off to my mother's horror.

Spot on, it's the same as Pendles, they have a skill set the allows them to predict the next movement better than a real bang and crasher such as Viney or Jones, so it's not like he can't take contact it's that he's trying to think about what happens once he got the ball rather than just getting the ball. One thing long term he needs to get better at is learning to consistently use his body strength to help create those next opportunities, but that'll come. I see him as being more Robbie Gray than Dusty Martin which a lot want because of his size.

The only knock on Vanders are his finishing skills. He brings great intensity and physicality, in the same vein as Viney. I really hope he gets over his injuries and gets a bit of continuity as he has a lot to offer.

Elite runner, great speed, sloppy disposer. Not sure how he'll address our diabolical use going inside 50.

So who will the new whipping boy be with Misson gone? What poor sod will cop the blame for everything that goes wrong?

If we're going to make comparisons I think Josh Kennedy is a good one. To me Weid most resembles him, hits the ball hard, handy on the ground and a nice long kick. ...and as a current day player(rather than going back to a time when forwards kicked big bags of goals weekly) if we look at his goal kicking stats... Josh Year 1 - 5 goals Sam 3 Josh Year 2 - 6 goals Sam 3 Josh Year 3 - 7 goals Sam 10 Josh Year 4 - 31 goals Sam currently 9 Josh Year 5 - 41 goals Sam yet to play It took him time...I think Weid has got the talent and I would expect a similar long term result to Kennedy at WC if he gets a clear run at it and that's good enough for me.

I think the point that Goodwin (and Roosy on the coverage) was making was that ok stats wise he was very low, but his workrate to get to the contests, bring it to ground, harass the ball carrier once it hit the ground, and create opportunities made his game better than what it looked on the stats sheet. I don't think Simon was saying he played a great game, only pointing out that stats aren't everything. He impacted, therefor he contributed positively in the teams performance.

Wow, AvdB is one of the quickest players on the list!

Relax. Misson is gone at years end, watch AVB make a miraculous recovery and play all 22 (hopefully 25) games next year!

This a community announcement: For the love of all things good and just can people please stop quoting MB. If you feel you must quote him please delete his text or simply refer to the relevant post number. Continuing quoting of said poster renders the ignore function obsolete and studies have shown is bad for your health and cognitive function.

Would like to see frost on Cameron and bury him in a few tackles.

What was good to hear afterwards was Garry Lyon and Nick Riewoldt both agreeing that the fact that Weideman is getting to contests and bringing the ball to ground is a huge positive in its self. Lyon said that he watched the game with some mates and they were frustrated in that he's always at the contest but spilling marks, but Lyon was saying to them that the fact he's bringing the ball to ground is a positive and that over time with more experience he will clunk them. Riewoldt made an interesting comment that getting to and around the ground to make a contest is extremely hard, and the fact Weideman is doing it constantly throughout the game is a good sign for a young key forward. Loved hearing this from 2 former great forwards of the game.

This one's obvious. It's an allegory portraying the MFC at the time as donkeys.

Same question, different photo.