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Preseason is officially over judging by todays training session. In the training group were: Jones, Salem, Harmes, Petracca, Jackson, Viney, Lever, Spargo, Oliver, Hibberd, Langdon, Melksham, Tomlinson, TMac, Weid, OMac, ANB, Sparrow, Pickett, Brown, Jetta, Lockhart. In rehab: Gawn, May, Chandler, Brayshaw, Petty, Hannan and Bennell. Known injured no shows: KK, Neita, Preuss. No shows: Bedford, AVB, Jordan, Rivers, Hunt, Fritsch, Baker, Hore, Wagner, Wagner, Smith, Bradke and Dunkley No show mysteries: Smith, AVB and Fritta. The session was just fun. Lots of yelling and good humour, a little bit of agility warm up, some kicking it around to nobody in particular, no physical contact and no set running. The backs practiced some exit drills, the forwards their goal kicking and the mids some centre square work. Jackson was with the mids, Harmes with the backs and Petracca with the mids. All looked in great shape and they are obviously looking forward to tomorrow. Their was about 10 minutes of ball movement from back to front but only at about 80% pace with no opposition. The session lasted about 80 minutes of what really looked like AFL footballers going out for a kick. That's not to say they were casual, just doing the things you'd like to do if you had to train. In rehab Gawn looked very good. He's running at just about full pace, he's kicking, doing a bit of agility work and at one stage doing a bit of ruck work with no opposition. He looks on track for the last Marsh match to me and he was in really good spirits joking around and having fun. May did a lot of running and all of the agility work. Clearly he's not "injured" as such but doing some catch up running but not much kicking. I can't see him missing the start of the season. He was, like all of them, in good spirits. Chandler and Brayshaw have their specific injuries but no other issues and are just waiting for those injuries to heal before they are back in training. Having said that I think it will be a few weeks yet for both. Hannan looks great. Frog in a blender is how one person described him and there is not the slightest sign of discomfort in anything he does. I imagine it's just a matter of getting the appropriate conditioning into him now. Bennell hasn't changed his routine since I started going in November. Walk a couple of laps, some calf strengthening routines and runs along the boundary at about half pace. Petty looks a long way off to me. Walked two or three laps and then some gentle running along the boundary. No kicking. I won't be able to get to Casey today so I'm hoping some others will fill us in on what happens.

Spewed up on Tom Scully in China and now soul captain... Its a big yes from me.

Isn’t that Orazio Fantasia?

He is, but is sharing the load with the VFL ruckman (wearing #1) name evades me. No clue who the Essendon ruck is, but it's very 50/50. For us, Hore is grabbing everything that comes his way (which is quite a lot), his disposals have been serviceable, nothing outstanding. Rivers is having a fair crack, when he gets it he is rushing a little bit and doesn't have a lot of poise, disposal is a reflection of that and has had a couple of blunders. His reading the play well and is getting into good positions. Hunt is really not doing a lot. Baker the same as Hunt, just going about it. Bedford is picking the ball up well and presenting into space, his decision making on positioning has stepped up a notch and he looks more confident - compared to last year where he was very opportunistic and waited on the outer for the ball. Bradtke has flown at the ball well and has taken a couple of good grabs, including a nice contested one. Still needs size, but it'll come. J. Wagner much the same as Hunt and Baker. *Rivers just slotted one from just inside 50 off a step, good kick.

Predominantly Essendon (bogan) crowd I assume most Melbourne supporters have jobs to go to

I am out here In Casey today for the match, happy to update and answer questions

Plus kids not in school.

i do not really care about a 'social club'. Those days are long gone. Long gone. No one would go. The MFC would be better off simply partnering with a pub, as they did with the Duke of Wellington and The Sporting Globe. In time, we may even become profitable enough to buy a pub and use it as a revenue source. It wouldn't even need to be an exclusive MFC pub, except of match days. We need a space where we have elite facilities and a merchandise store that is accessible. That is it. Whether that is Port Melbourne, Jolimont or Burnley, the sooner it happens the better.

We don't need facilities for supporters, we just need proper training and admin facilities for the players and staff. This is a professional multi-million dollar per year club not a local pie night and chook raffle deal.

They are mostly Casey players with a sprinking of Demons - mainly younger brigade like Rivers, Bradtke, Jordon, Bedford, Hore, Baker plus Jayden Hunt and Josh Wagner.

100% agree. An absolute waste of money for something that will be empty except for 10 or 12 evenings a year! We didn't sign up for the cafe at AAMI park because it wouldn't make money. Collingwood don't have a social club at their facility. They use the rooms in the Ponsford stand etc. If we all need somewhere to celebrate there are still plenty of rooms in the MCG used for that purpose today. If we ever win a Premiership we can set up tents in Yarra Park.....I won't care, and I dare say neither will any other supporters.

You can automatically put Jack in the All Australian side, the bull will bounce back in a big way.

The VFL players are going in hard for the ball and really taking advantage of the opportunity, where as the four AFL players (who have played a senior game - Hunt, Hore, Baker and J. Wagner) are going about it quite casually in comparison. Bedford looking sharp. Essendon have fielded a few of their (injury permitting) best 22 and it's showing against our mainly VFL side, which should also be noted is featuring many new faces.

All injuries listed on our injury list were reported by regular trackwatchers, the media and mentioned in various MFC articles/interviews. The only information we didn't have was a timeframe. I took 3 players off the list tonight after the squad was announced. 1. Tom McDonald - was reported by trackwatchers last Friday to have landed gingerly (ankle) and did not participate in the rest of training that day. On Monday was reported by various media outlets that his knee was bandaged and was training with the rehab group. His elevation to the injury list at the time was warranted. 2. Aaron vandenBerg was reported by trackwatchers to have appeared to have injured his foot and hobbled back to AAMI and has not appeared at the last couple of training sessions. His absence was also reported by the media. His elevation to the injury list was warranted as well. 3. Joel Smith's foot injury has been documented by the club and he's mostly been in rehab only kicking on his non-preferred foot. His elevation to the injury list was definitely warranted. These 3 players still might not play or be on restricted minutes. None of the other remaining players we have on the injury list were selected to play warranting their inclusion on the list too. You can call it management but if they are unavailable to play then it's just semantics. We are not jumping at shadows nor saying some of them aren't being managed. If they are not ready to take the field even in a practice match then they should be included on such a list. It is not hysterics from the people that run this site it's just facts. If posters become hysterical because of the facts then that is their prerogative just as it is your prerogative to ignore them. Perhaps we should change the name of the injury list to the not fully match fit list if that is more palatable for you.

Should have been made captain then and there.

Thank you @Baghdad Bob for your entire preseason of trackwatching. You really lifted the bar and have set yourself a high standard for what we will expect of you in our title defence preseason in 2021. Kudos and thank you.

Josh Wagner, Marty Hore, James Jordon, Austin Bradtke, Toby Bedford, Trent Rivers, Jayden Hunt and Oskar Baker have been included in the squad

As a proud mornington peninsula resident I've decided to take the arvo off to drive 25 mins to Casey for this one....even though Ive been going to the footy forever Im not that great at posting my observations but am happy to update on anything notable...will double up for the Crows match the next day too

Anyone would think they’d won the AFLX premiership.

Young Dees (Casey) playing pretty well can’t be unhappy with the effort

I believe all tweets about this game should have the disclaimer in this tweet.

This is a big mismatch in talent. No one is to read anything into this game. Essendon a grade talent having a field day. Nice to see Rivers in a Dees jumper though

West Coast’s record without occupying bottom, or second bottom and throw in 15th while you’re at it, is in serious trouble when we smack them by 15 goals R1.

Channel 7 saying Gawn sole captain after winning player vote.

Never really found many places that I liked that showed the games with volume up here in the fun free city, but I’ve just taken over as licensee of the Botany View in Newtown so if any Sydney based dee’s fans ever want to watch our beloveds I’ll always have at least one section of the pub with the game on and volume. Let yourself known to me and I’ll quite possibly help you out with some tasty snacks as well to wash the bevvies down ??

As I said in other thread, not happy with some turd in the club leaking this information if it is correct!

Yes. May needs to put the points on the board first, then he can shout every club member a beer. (about half his annual pay should cover it).

If Lever can stay on the park, he should wind up captain in the future. He’s the most natural leader we have out there and acts as the general directing traffic. We don’t have many vocal leaders and onfield coach types unfortunately.

Hardly a surprise when there were barely any MFC players in the game,and of the ones that were, at least half have no AFL experience. Save your ham for tomorrow if it happens then. The article was clearly written by @poita.

Thanks for that. I just rescued the season's ticket as it was starting to melt.

I hope the Bombers clean up after themselves when they leave today. Be careful anyone heading to Casey tomorrow. Maybe don't wear thongs just in case.

Good day for the club. Players who are being rotated still get a run against some AFL standard players and it looks like our guys got through unscathed. Great result.

Trent Rivers kicks his first goal for the Demons. Bombers by 47.

Now 9 - 26

Bomber fan sites would melt down if we knocked them off.

I've mainly used Kayo on Desktop and Mobile and i've found it easy to use and good value at $25 a month. There is a great variety of sport and you can also watch the live Foxtel channels on the app as well. You can usually get a free 1 month trial before having to pay anything.

Spot on Dr. I guess it is because the MFC has never had a facility that a few crave it. I have a number of friends who are keen supporters of Collingwood, Richmond and Essendon. They all tell me the same story, they have not been to the social club for years. Social clubs are a 20th century thing. They are non essential in 2020.

Given they're not in the team or 8 man bench for the Crows game tomorrow or they're injured. Any of the following could play Bedford Jordon Rivers Hunt Hore Chandler C Wagner Bradtke

I bet Hawthorn wish they had Oscar McDonald instead of Frost...

Strange, it reminds me of all the years you relentlessly bagged Neale Daniher and favoured Terry Wallace. How has that wine aged Champ?

I don't believe there is any free streaming options. It's LIVE on Fox Footy which is obviously a Pay TV service. If you have foxtel you can stream it via their app. As you are overseas you would not be able to view it due to their geo-location lock unless you are using a VPN. If you pay for the Kayo app you will be able to watch it LIVE and later on demand. This is also a paid service but as an added bonus you get almost every other sport as well. I'm not sure whether they have a trial period which you could cancel before payment. As you're overseas you will have the same geo-location lock unless you have a VPN. As you are overseas you can use the AFL's Watch AFL app which caters to the overseas market. You can watch LIVE or on demand. This is also a paid service but you can get weekly, monthly or yearly subscriptions which you can cancel at any time. If you are overseas you do not need a VPN. If you don't understand any of this then OK Boomer.

Went to the AFL website and didnt even know there was a game on last night until I saw this thread. Their website is truly horrendous.. why have they gotten rid of the scoreboard bar along the top?

Which would also sort our run for position 1/2 as well.

I'd say this is an average-to-bad call. Richmond were crap in 2016. I'd say this is a better call. It's been said by other posters but Richmond's percentage in 2016 was 79.5 and ours in 2019 was 78.6. Very similar despite the 8 win vs 5 win differential. Your point about us being within a goal 12 times at 3QT for a 5-7 record is also important. In saying all this, all I take from Geelong 2006 or Hawthorn 2009 or Richmond 2016 is that it's possible to climb, fall and climb again. The fact they did it is an example that it's possible, but neither a blueprint for us nor a guarantee it will happen.

I am pumped that we are into it again and am especially happy to see Vanders named in the squad. Surely this must have come as a big surprise to just about everyone on this site? Jackson. Kossie. Sparrow. AVB. Langdon. Tomlinson. Fully fit Lever. Fritta back in a FP. Melky also fit and back on a fwd flank. So many reasons to be excited about a "meaningless" match. I cant [censored] wait.

Seeing Vanders, T McDonald and J Smith out there makes me feel happier about our injury list. Plus Brayshaw and May expected back for game 2. Great result.

I'm not as worried as you about the team who averaged the most back half turnovers and opposition scores from back half turnovers losing it's worst ball user. nEV

Yep, just slipped over to Bomber Blitz (it's ok, I've showered since) and they sound very much like us and will be relying on a few members that are attending to give updates. I wonder if the Demon twitter feed might get a workout? As a side note; I don't make a habit of visiting other fan sites but my clear impression is; none of them come close to the functionality and visual excellence of DL. Kudos to you Andy.

When you play the doggies