Leaderboard

In lieu of any real training reports at this time of year I can provide a little eye-witness report from this morning. Jack Viney and Jake Lever completed at least an hour of solid and intense running at an oval where I was also doing some group fitness training – so I was able to watch them pretty closely for the 60 mins while I was there (in breaks between my own intense workout of course!). 100m sprints, 50m sprints, shorter and more dynamic agility work, then some kicking of the footy. Was very impressed with the sprinting they were both doing given their recent issues of the last few years. Both looking very smooth and quick, not hampered at all, from what I could tell. Jack especially looked really smooth, fast and lean. Not much else to add but from my perspective they both look in tip top shape and appear to be two very highly driven individuals. On the morning of NYE there was also a slightly larger group with Lever, Salem, Jetta and Weideman at the same ground but they were finishing as I arrived so didn’t see how they went on that occasion.

In more recent times Travis Johnstone was a great kick on his day. He possessed incredible vision and made some of those low percentage passes look easy. One of my favourite ever Dees to watch when on song.

Well knock me over with a feather. Who would have guessed. Same story that we've had from every assistant since about 1968.

hopefully the new game plan referred to is dealing with the weaknesses that st Kilda under Richo found so easy to exploit and therefore us so easy to beat. Happy to have him on board

Lets face it they are all click bait puff pieces to keep us engaged over the break. I just look for the little bits that spark my thought. In this case it was “ They’ve embraced the changes we are going to make to the way we play.” I have not been down to training yet but plan to on Friday and will have this in mind when watching. For those that have though does anything stand out as significantly different in the likely style of play or structure? This feels like more than just a slight adjustment to the 2018 model.

People must have run out of things to complain about.

Peter Weekes (Number 25) came up in another post where his interesting kicking style was mentioned. It fired up my memories of players over the years who were either superb kickers or were remembered for having unusual styles of kicking. Being an older member of Demonland, my greatest memories were of Don Williams with his wonderful attacking drop kicks as he ran to the centre line from half back. And those exceptional drop kicks of Tassie Johnson from the goal square to the centre line-incredibly long and precise drop kicks that so often ended in the arms of Terry Gleeson, our ruckman at the time. Ian Ridley was another great from memory. Unusual styles reminded me of the awkward but effective kicking of Brian Dixon- a remarkable player. Ed Burston was another who was only on the scene for a short time late 60's - he showed so much potential- he was still learning the art of goal kicking when his career was cut short. A unique kicking style. I'm interested in your views on some of our kicking greats or unusual kickers.

I wear mine every indigenous round, still get lots of comments.

He also played with Number 7 Graeme Osborne who couldn’t hit the side of a barn.

Beautiful! Should be enough room for the new training oval and social club!

Phil Rhoden, stalwart reserves player and Gardiner Medal winner who only played a few senior games but arguably one of the best booming drop kicker in the games history. Was a joy to watch him kick out from the goal square 65-70 metres every time. Always worth getting in early to watch our reserves games to watch him. He was a master of such a difficult and rare skill.

Great article. I am very interested to see what the changes are to the game plan that he alludes to. It does seem significant that they are working on drilling the game plan even before Christmas. This is so much more advanced than we were last year. Hopefully this highly drilled game plan and significantly increased fitness leads to some better outcomes in games this year.

To any Demonlanders caught in these horrific bush fires. My thoughts and prayers are with you, I hope you all come out of it safe and sound. A house can be rebuilt, a life can't

Good kicks include Flower, Stretch, Grinter, Lyon, Bennett, Jakovich, Davey, Yze, Watts, Salem, Johnstone, Schwarz, Robbo (latter years), Charles, Farmer and Warren Dean.

While having the training reports all reporting wonderful times when they must have been some doubts somewhere, is not good. It aint their fault. Apart from causing demonland hopes to fail dramatically ! Any fault lies in the inability of the Football Department and the Coaching staff to understand or take into account the extent of the problems caused by the Pre season medical issues and the interrupted preseason physical fitness regime. In my view, the coaches and FD should have known this would cause problems (because it was their job) and they did Bugger All to fix or mitigate it. In other words they failed dismally, any other corporate world they might well have been looking for new work. Some have paid the price, but no admission of corporate responsibility has been forth coming. If this was Japan there would be blood and sharp knives all over the place. However I do look forward to 2020, when you are in the bottom of a bloody big hole you can only look up, and I do think we might go that way. I actually read with pleasure the various training reports each with a different perspective and this year they should all be congratulated. They cannot be all on the corporate payroll surely. They all paint a picture of general optimism but also highlight good and bad points of various players. 2019 was a [censored] of a year, and the administration of the club did not deliver what was needed. 2020 needs to start with a loud BANG ! Just my view Go Dees !!

Yep one more shovel and you'll see China.

As a consistently long and reliable kick I would go for Bryan Kenneally .Surprising no one mentioned Magnificent Ron whose kicking was as good as the rest of his game ..

THE YEAR THE SKY FELL After a number of years of linear movement up the ladder, the Melbourne Football Club unexpectedly went into serious decline in 2019, slumping from fourth to 17th in a season that coach Simon Goodwin described “a complete wipe-out”. Those around the club who tried to analyse the apocalyptic events that unfolded during the year were hard pressed to find a single reason for the debacle but the most plausible explanation was that the club’s troubles stemmed from a lack of fitness and injuries that derailed the season before it began. There was a significant amount of optimism surrounding the Demons over the summer months. Some of the pundits in the media were even suggesting that they were flag favourites based on their forward momentum over a number of years, their midfield strength as shown statistically by their control of stoppages and their high scoring in 2018 suggesting a coherent system of play and a powerful forward line. The team was maturing and it was thought that the sky was the limit but, as it turned out, the sky fell. Melbourne’s newly appointed head of high performance Darren Burgess recently said that he believed there wasn’t much the club could have done about the situation the club found itself in both before and during the season. “Having done a lot of research on what happened last year there was a lot of comment about their fitness or lack of, the surgery just kills you,” he said. “When you’ve got 17 or 18 players in surgery and 16 were in their best 22, it just kills you.” And so the club went into the pre season without many of its key players, particularly in the midfield. The signs in the two JLT Community Series matches against Richmond and Brisbane were not good although when considered with the hindsight of knowing they were against two of the top three place getters after the home and away season including the eventual premier, it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. The team ran out of steam in its first game - at home against Port Adelaide and then failed miserably at Kardinia Park when despite winning the hit outs and clearances and making 73 inside 50 entries to 48, it was thrashed by 80 points. These figures are bizarre enough but the trend was already set for the season. The team could win the ball well enough out of the centre but conversion into goals was a problem while opposing teams had no problem with their own accuracy on the rebound. They managed to kick straight (a rare occurrence for the year) against Essendon in their third game but the Bombers were more accurate making it 0-3 for the Demons and a difficult start from which to recover as the injuries began to mount. The win against the Swans in Sydney was welcome but two more disappointing losses put the club in the danger zone. A couple of unconvincing victories against Hawthorn and Gold Coast provided some respite and a trip west looked promising for three quarters against the Eagles before another fade out put paid to the club’s hopes for the season. All the while, the injuries mounted - they were compounded not only in the number of players out but by the length of time out with their injuries. For most of the first half of the season, the Demons struggled with losses in their defensive half but after the mid season break for the bye, the club successively lost all of its key forwards and won only two more matches - against Fremantle and Carlton to limp home to a five win season and 17th place on the ladder. In the latter half of the year, the club tried a reshuffling of the assistant coaching panel but nothing could help as the team lost seven on end, albeit a number of the defeats could be regarded as honourable given the material Goodwin had to work with as the season rolled dismally to a close. Max Gawn and Clayton Oliver created history with a tie for the Keith “Bluey” Truscott Memorial Trophy. Co-skipper Jack Viney finished third and he was followed by James Harmes, Christian Petracca and Bayley Fritsch. With highly touted recruit Steven May hobbled by injury, it was left to a VFL player, Marty Hore to take the honours of best newcomer. Given the injury woes at the club, it’s not unsurprising that the Casey Demons also struggled although their ninth place finish was commendable in the circumstances where coach Jade Rawlings and later Sam Radford had so few players with AFL experience available to them. The AFLW team missed captain and star player Daisy Pearce on maternity grounds and also missed out on the finals under the weight of a massively skewed conference system. A surprise loss in the first game against the Dockers didn’t help. In the end, a big win against Adelaide was required to make the finals - a win that simply didn’t even look like eventuating. Karen Paxman, Elise O’Dea and Lauren Pearce were the pick of the squad. And so, as we enter a new decade, the club can look forward to a few acquisitions in the playing side, notably wingers Ed Langdon, Adam Tomlinson and forward Mitch Brown, the possibility of a rejuvenated Harley Bennell and a trio of youngsters from interstate. On the off field side, the experienced Alan Richardson comes onto the coaching panel and possibly the most important change in light of the fitness and injury woes of 2019 is the signing of fitness guru Burgess who is tasked with raising the sky back to the heights of 2018 ... and further.

Defending myself from what, the experts on Demonland, please An opinion is neither right or wrong, some on here could do with learning that Nobody will change my opinion that the issue was 99.9% mental in a majority of players, theb other 0.1% the ongoing injuries affecting the consistency of team and effort

Exactly, that last game against the saints was like watching under 12s. They knew our glaring weakness and just ran it around the boundary at every opportunity, and we had no answer for it. It was that simple and Goodwin had zero ability to counter it. It was embarrassing as it gets and as easy a win for the saints without actually needing to play well.

What exactly did we do wrong in 1965 that is relevant to TV? Did our players wear the wrong make-up?

Probably right but we really sunk ourselves imo when Richmond and then others became co mcg tenants. Our point of difference was lost and combined with abysmal on field performance we have continued downwards ever since. It'll take more than a change of captain to turn around 50 odd years of comparative failure. I'd start with trialling free entry for our matches against the lesser interstate sides.. Suns etc when played at the MCG. Most of the attendees at present are members anyway so the revenue loss may not be that great compared to the awareness boost.

Agree 100%, as if we can fix the flaw St Kilda and others exposed, and have our mids run both ways and backline not sit so high, both will make a big difference!

Rodney the Grinter was the best, overall; all weather, all opponents, all distances, all spots on the ground. Cannot remember Rod fluffing a kick - ever - even when in the Reserves team. Footballer and sacrificial lamb with intent. Great man for the Club in those long, mean and lean years.

I’m not convinced Seattle is travelling well enough but Philli has so many injuries it’s nigh on their practice squad out there.

I remember seeing Tilbrook play in the reserves at Kardinia Park one day, when the crowd was very small in the early stages of the game and the stadium was pretty quiet. The smack of his boot hitting ball reverberated around the ground like a rifle shot. Biggest kick I can recall at MFC.

Kevin Dyson, Ted Fidge, Darren Bennett.

I think what is happening is you are trying in vain to defend your total misreading of where we were at the start of 2019. You're digging a deeper hole, just let it go and admit you were wrong, everyone who has an opinion is sometimes, you'll feel better and be free.

Surely it was obvious it was going to be a fluff piece by the title. Why read it if it’s not your cup of tea?

Words

Spot on Hemingway - we needed players with bulk, strength and marking ability..we seemed light on in this department compared to opposition players. I do remember a great game he played at Victoria Park which we nearly (and should have won)

It seems only 1 was a deliberate, the rest are dry lighting strikes.

We'll have to agree to disagree. You're forgetting Jones and Viney didn't train in the main group at all and only played in one Casey practice game before playing round 1. Clarry from memory didn't join main group training until March. It was pretty clear he was missing Goody's keyword for 2020, "connection" which was to be expected. Coming in the top 5 B & F when you're in the engine room of a decimated team isn't that relevant. To suggest all you have to do is run laps and you are ready to go is to suggest that missing all the pre season training doesn't make any difference. Clearly that's nonsense. Brayshaw missed main group training from pre Christmas to well into Feb. Tracc also carried injuries and missed a lot of the main group training and could only run slow laps. That's basically the engine room. Hats off to Harmes but he was back into main group training much earlier than the others and maybe his injuries didn't restrict his running like it did the others. That's nearly the whole engine room. Don't know which preseason you were watching where they were all ready to go round 1.

So we've got Richardson saying this and Nathan Jones saying mid year that Craig Jennings is (was) one of the best footy minds he's ever seen plus a compliment for his work with AFL X - I'm beginning to think we might need to appoint Jason Dunstall to give us an actual non-mfc appraisal of our coaches abilities. ? If we're down the bottom mid year, i hope he has a clear schedule.

Boring fluff piece, but hopefully Richo brings more stability and success to our inexperienced coaching group.

“They’re a good group, they’re quite an experienced group of coaches” Interesting.... I thought we’d be on the lower end of experience.

Well here is a post you wouldn't have anticipated. I believe the Oracle has a spiritual connection to the heavenly one and if he would be so good as to scribble a little note to the almighty one, asking for a Dees flag and then leaving it at the spiritual place, it might help us on our way to that long awaited Premiership. Can't hurt.

How in hell are we having this discussion again?

I agree with both of these posts... ...he is small, average pace (too slow for his size) but has high footy IQ & is smart with & without the ball... The tackles are the big negative for me. Opposition teams used it to advantage, he was their exit strategy. He's useless to us if he can't fix this.

It was evident in his first year that Spargo has a very high footy IQ. He puts players into better positions. I have no idea what happened in his second year

Saty they weren't ready physically. If what you're suggesting is right nobody would consider practicing. Tennis players, golfers, cricketers and the list goes on. They'd do a few running and gym sessions and not lift a bat, racket or club. We all know that's not the case. They practice what they do before a game. They hit ball after ball after ball This is important in an individual sport but doubly so in a team sport because not only do you have the individual skills that need honing you have a game plan to mesh with 21 other players that needs hours of practice. In 2019 we didn't have that and it showed in every facet of our game. People often use Oliver as an example of someone who "didn't need a preseason to have a good season". Rubbish. 2019 was a shadow of his 2018 and if your assertion is correct it should have been better given his age and the natural progression that should have taken place. People are focusing on the injury toll but it's the preseason. The skills practice so many missed out on. The game plan execution so many missed out on. The match fitness so many missed out on. It's been reported that the PA players went to the three quarter time huddle knowing we were shot physically. All they had to do was keep running. They did and they won easily despite the game being in the balance at that point. We weren't physically ready and we were not "ready to go". It's quite simple really.

If we’ve spent pick 3 on a bloke who won’t play in the seniors for at least two years then I’d be thoroughly amazed. If you can’t see what Jackson has in terms of capabilities and then mesh it with an AFL program and deduce a set of possible outcomes that couldn’t see him play earlier rather than later, then well, we have plucked a guy that should’ve been a third rounder and we know that’s not the case.

I actually think both the Wagner brothers are not that far off being pretty decent, solid footballers in their respective positions. Good athleticism, reasonable skills and bucket loads of courage (thinking mostly of Josh in this respect). The things I guess that are a bit questionable about Josh in particular are his decision making and skill execution under pressure. I think players like the Wagners could probably be categorized as nearly, but not quite playing at the required standard to be regular firsts players. It's probably is these kind of players and guys like Lockhart, Spargo etc that we need to take a step up and play a role for the team when required, such that their presence in the team is seamless and helps us get those 3 or 4 more wins during the season to take us from finishing just inside the top 8 to inside the top 4. Not to say that their development can be mismanaged, but players like Jackson, Pickett and Co are probably going to be good players regardless and their talents will push them up to playing seniors where they will have plenty of opportunities to develop an understanding of what is required to play at the top level.

Thankfully that was last year. Let’s leave it there

Based on last year we need about 21 players to undergo very serious [censored] development

I'd love to have a wager on that.

Wait until you get to 40 years membership. They send you a nice letter and a small badge showing you have been a loyal member for forty years. It is a great help if you need authentification for phsyciatric hospital care whih is hard to obtain these days.

Had your prostate checked recently?

While we are on memberships, has anyone noticed that the standard 'benefits' are being slowly whittled away, without notice? Until a few yeas ago we would receive a yearbook, a calendar and as an option 2 free game passes. Last year, the yearbook was replaced with an on-line version. Last year the calendar was made conditional on agreeing to automatic renewal. Having agreed to auto renewal the calendar has totally disappeared! And the 2 free passes are now only an option if you agree to a digital membership 'card' on a phone rather than a plastic cared. Like od, I consider my membership of 20 years an annual donation so the 'benefits' aren't part of why I join up but I like having a physical copy of the above. I understand the club wants to cut costs and go digital but these are small benefits to extend to members and shouldn't be so readily withdrawn.

I get my 20 year membership this year.... just waiting for the postman. Not bad for someone who has only lived in the country for 21 years.