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Trekked to Casey this morning. Arrived at 9.15 and players were already working on the field. When the rain came at 10.00 it was my cue to leave. So I was there for about 45 minutes. The view from outside the cyclone fence was very good but it was hard to make out what was happening on the other side of the oval – its quite a flat outer. It was my first ever training session so wasn’t sure what to look for or look at. It was hard to make out some players especially the newer ones or those that hadn’t played many games. So I had to work from their numbers (when they weren’t wearing coloured tops). So missed a lot of the detail of what was happening. Observations: · When I arrived there were some ball movement drills happening on the flanks of the ground with the ball starting fwd of the wing. · It took quite a while to work our who wasn’t there. The only ones I didn’t see were Aaron VandenBerg and Marty Hore (that is not to say they weren’t there). So a fairly fit list especially of our top 30 players. · Rehab group was Brayshaw, Hibberd and Petty. Its great to see it so small. I notice there is an injury report from Burgess on their status. · Oliver seems to have recovered from shoulder surgery. I didn’t notice shoulder strapping but that could be because there was no tackling/contact work. (Not sure if contact training is allowed by the AFL in these covid times). · Ball movement seemed slow and sloppy at times but it is early in the pre-season and there would be a few cobwebs to blow out. · They changed tops often: pink, while, and I think yellow. Couldn’t make out what each meant. · After a huddle there was ball movement training starting in the middle – it looked like transition work but not possible to draw any conclusion on what was happening or how it might look like in 2021. I saw Rosman and Rivers have a go in the middle then fwd and Bowey was fwd (but I wouldn’t take that as indication of when or where they might play). · TMac looked fantastic, moved well and was with the defenders. · I noticed B Brown at the end of my 45 minutes so not sure if he was out there the whole time. Was wearing knee strapping. · At one stage Fritsch did some goal-kicking practice from about 40 m out. · It was good to see Nietschke and Jordan training after missing two years with injuries. · No-one stood out for good or bad reasons as I wasn't there long enough. The person I noticed the most was Rivers. Really like him. · The music was fairly loud so couldn’t tell much from player voices but I didn’t notice a lot of animation which is not to suggest that is a bad thing. · I completely forgot to look specifically for Goodwin, Yze or Williams. But then I didn’t expect the rain to arrive so early. At least two of them were in the middle most of the time directing proceedings. · Overall it felt low key but that could be because I have no idea what to expect from a training session. Well, that’s it folks. Will try to get to training again soon. As an aside training is on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but it seems the club publishes pics only for Monday sessions. Not sure if that is due to cost savings.

Yep, this is exactly what is wrong with our society. This assumptions that girls are forever 'asking for it', if they choose to wear tight clothes, go out to a bar or heaven forbid, give a guy their number. Women are not allowed to exist without some [censored] assuming they are up for it. FFS unless these women specifically said "hey Jon, can I get some nudes", they were not 'asking' for it and it was an aggressively sexually inappropriate thing to do. It might be shocking to men to find out that women may actually care to get to know a guy and not their [censored] first.

At long last... a training report! Thank you for making your way down to "god's country" LH, and a good first up training report. Hopefully many more to come! I'm thinking of heading down on Monday to see the boys in action and take a few pics for us die hard supporters.

Seems pretty decent news. Gus & Petty seem the only ones a bit behind (as expected). Plus, a good sign they'll get into some actual footy work pretty early.

Good. Should be our second choice key defender this year behind May, with Lever taking less responsibility and more freedom to take his trademark intercept marks. For instance, May takes Tom Lynch while T Mac takes Riewoldt. Excellent training report by the way.

This must be Vanders first pre-season in about 4 years not starting in the rehab group. Hopefully he and Nietschke will have uninterrupted pre-seasons this time around.

Needs to just find some composure JG when close to goal. He often has more time than he thinks, but rushes his kicks. When he does this he is often off balance, running at full pace when dropping the ball and his ball drop is high. A bit more composure to just slightly decelerate, when disposing the ball by foot. This is something IMO which should come with greater exposure at the highest level. But yes he brings plenty of other things others don't. Really think his link up play to move the ball quickly and break the lines is something special

Especially considering that [censored] is an anti-Vaxxer and ran a ridiculous tennis tournament that he, his missus and his mates all picked up covid from...$$$$$$

Frtsch was by himself. I didn't see specific skills training. The ball movement 'drills' were with coaches (forgot to notice which ones) stopping play when the ball came to ground. The closest I saw to match sim was about 10 minutes with the ball starting in the centre and it going to a designated end of the ground. The players in the 'fwd line' were relatively stationery which looked deliberate with what seemed to be 'designated players' moving towards the ball carrier. I was a bit slow to notice who. Will know better next time. Thanks to you and others for the encouragement.

A phone call? I don’t normally bother getting on my high horse but seriously, WTF?! Are you trying to suggest that if a girl gives a guy her phone number she is just getting what she deserves if he sends her pictures of himself jerking off?

Most grateful for the report, and the work you went to to get it LH. Thanks

It’s always positive in January. It always amazes me how many injuries supposedly happen in the last weeks of pre season. It’s all about membership sales atm so I take it all these early reports w a large grain of salt.

I think we need to fund a study into the viability of these feasibility studies

Hi everyone, this is agent 59 again on Wednesday I had a new mission, my mission impossible was to get a forbidden training report at Casey. I was able to get a skip Bin into the ground, to disguise myself I had my black garbage bag hat, I got there 3 hours before the player where due to come out,at 915 I see 3 players arrive early it's the 3 new draftees, they have a footy with them they form a 3 point triangle and play kick to kick, their kicks are perfect 50 Meter stab passes very impressive, soon 3 others arrive Max trac & Viney they join in with the three others only Trac was nailing those kicks max kicks went straight over their heads, but Viney's kicks are way off. Soon most where there, first they all did 20 laps of the oval, Tmac came in first then ANB in second and Ros came in 3nd very impressive by the new kid, kossie came dead last, he had to do 100 push ups and a 100 sit ups as punishment. They went into 6 groups 2 forwards groups 2 midfield groups and 2 backs groups, Tmac was training in 1 forwards group with the Weed, brown was in the other forward group with the other new draftees. after their drills they made up 2 teams of 20 players playing a 16 on 16, Tmac went to Ben brown at one end, at the other Lever went to the weed. The first bounce was contested by Max and Bradtke, Max won the tap to Viney who handballed it out to trac who kicked it long to Ben brown who took a overhead mark on Tmac. May took 25 marks in the backline and Ben brown kicked 15 goals at the other end, Kobe farmer crumbed a couple of goals, one off his left foot and one on his right foot in the first quarter. kossie and farmer where playing like the kracker Brothers, they knew where the other one was, with about 30 seconds to go Trac kicks to the right side pocket where Fritsch took a leading mark, my skip is on the left side of the point post, he kicks it across goal and can you believe it, it landes in the bin my cover is going to be blown, Tomlinson jumps the fence to get the ball I duck my head with the rest of the rubbish, luckily he doesn't notice me close call, then the truck comes and takes me away maybe I might come back on Friday. I still can't get the smell out of my nose ??.stay tuned for my next training report.

Nice work, Agent 13.

So want to pick the Browns. I do believe they have a genuine chance of winning.

What a relief....my life has felt so empty... - until now! Thanks a million Luce

I didn't think we'd miss Mitch Hannan but I have to admit it is strange to hear talk of pre-season rehab groups with no mention of Hannan. I hope the dogs have a good medical dept!

No dog? Bit harsh. He's got Eric.

Looks pretty good to me... Some people might do well to look at what he brings to the team rather than focus on nit picking negatives.

How did you find a photo of me?

Interesting. I definitely have an email and was sent stuff to my email as well as my postal address.

I'm inclined to think the concerns for Patton's mental health are genuine. Sure the 'mental health card' is often played to escape scrutiny or buy time and players 'take a break from football'. This is different. Patton is in hospital. If the concerns were not genuine he wouldn't be there. It has been a humiliating week for him, played out in public and he has been stood down from his job. The mental health concerns don't exonerate him from his actions or the consequences but it is easy to understand that he would be in a very fragile place.

Wasn't aware of this at all.

Wade throws his wicket away. Plays a pre meditated shot Manus gets a hundred and not long after plays a pull shot and skies it. So undisciplined by both who should have done better. Let their team mates and themselves down. Those sort of shots are only played when playing park cricket.

It certainly has been quiet on the Melbourne front with hardly an injuries and any training with almost a full list training is a good indication of a strong preseason . Makes for fighting for a spot in the starting line up interesting. It gives us a chance to have a good start to the season proper with a minimum of fuss.

Many thanks, greatly appreciated!

Well the top order have failed again. We badly need a couple of openers who can see out the 1st 20+ overs of a test match.

Hadn't thought of that ht but I couldn't see him attending the ceremony anyway

Thanks for the Information LH good to hear that almost all are in a healthy state, and training.

Can’t help but think that this may be partially the reason Trump is refusing to attend the inauguration.

The spin is always positive. And there’s always injuries as they ramp up contact, match sim and practice games. But this is January 23 2019: “Gus (Angus Brayshaw) had a back-issue pre-Christmas which has been resolved. “The shoulder guys that we had, Harmesy (James Harmes), Neville (Jetta), Jayden (Hunt) and Vanders (Aaron vandenBerg), all joined in training on Monday so they’re virtually full contact now. “They’ll all do most of the sessions from here on in.” Misson isn’t worried about too many of the players in a long-term capacity and believes the majority of the rehab group is now ready for full training. “Billy (Stretch) did 80 percent of the session on Monday – he had that toe operated on last year,” Misson said. “Oscar (McDonald) had a hip scope, so he’s been going really well in rehab. He’s back in full training now, as is Tim Smith who had an ankle scope, and Trac (Christian Petracca) who had a knee scope. “There are no major concerns long-term.” Eight players remain in the rehab group, so with the club set to head on its pre-season camp next week, Misson has provided an update on their individual progress. Oskar Baker “Oskar Baker is due to do some training on camp. He did a pretty bad hamstring injury towards the end of the VFL season. Because speed is his main weapon we’ve taken a fair bit of time with him and he’s now put together some really good fast running in rehab.” Mitch Hannan “He had a double knee scope so he’s going OK. He hasn’t started football stuff yet but he’s doing a bit of running.” Nathan Jones “He just had some back and hamstring issues before Christmas and over the Christmas period that’s been a little bit slow. Because he’s a bit older and it’s the first hamstring he’s done we’re taking it a little bit slower.” Jake Lever “Lever had a few issues pre-Christmas primarily with some nerve stuff but he’s definitely over the hump now. He’s starting to run fast, he’s doing agility and looking to start some one-on-one skill stuff next week. We’re confident now he’s over the little issue he had pre-Christmas and he’s starting to put in some really consistent training.” Jake Melksham “He’s another one who just had a little hamstring thing before Christmas which has been slow and it’s similar to an injury he had during the season last year. So we’re just taking a little bit more time with it.” Clayton Oliver “Clarry had both shoulders [operated on]. He actually joined in a drill on Monday, so he’ll be doing more and more with the group over the next couple of weeks. By the end of camp we expect he’s going to be in full training.” Jack Viney “Vines is going really well. He’s probably put together his most consistent training period. So he’ll do some training with the group on camp and then afterwards he’ll be back.” Guy Walker “Guy had an issue with his shoulder pre-Christmas just in a contact drill. He actually had a procedure during the Christmas break which is going to be a reasonably slow recovery.”

looks pretty positive, Burgo is earning his cash it seems

Supercoach/Fantasy stuff in itself it means nothing, but it’s a reflection of players output dropping. Guys like Harmes were averaging say 95 in 2018 and now average 75. They’ve had a 20-25% drop in performance and the fantasy points reflect that. Our experienced middle tier is far better than they’re showing. Players like Harmes, Salem, Brayshaw should all perform better this year and catapult us back into the top 8 easily.

Worse than the HS, the Daily Mail have been all over this like it's watergate. Unfortunately they love that they can set headlines of bad boy AFL star to images of girls in bikinis.

means nothing; afl fantasy points is all about accumulation of stats through possessions; supercoach measures effectiveness of usage at least, as it uses champion data ranking points gawn is the #1 average scoring player in both games from memory, oliver and trac are right up there in top 10 but again it means little - richmond for instance has barely any player who averages 100+ points (neck tatts) and only another three who average 90+ ppg, whereas we have the top 3 who average 117+ ppg each, then viney, may, langdon also at 90+ it's not how how possessions you get but how you make em count

I will give Donald credit for one thing... his administration has led to some of the greatest memes ever seen.

Never considered Bitter as a point scorer. I always found him quite balanced.

I think your last line is probably the big one, I wouldn’t necessarily buy the idea of him blaming the incidents on mental health, but certainly the week he’s been through would weigh heavily on anyone. It stands to reason that he’d go into a depressive spiral with his shameful actions being played out in the media as one of the leading stories on news outlets and papers. Importantly it doesn’t condone his behaviour but I think it should be a signal for the media to back down a little and let the investigations run their course. It could also trigger a number of other women to come forward on other players doing similar things.

Agree absolutely BB. Apart from last year, I have seen him live for Casey at least 7 times and Dr D is full of BS

Well Done DMMA. Did you notice a garden gnome near the bushes? Saty has been a bit quiet .Might have been stolen and put in someones garden.

A memo to all males: your penis is for function not form. Nobody cares to see it with the flash on but you.

This is yesterday training report I posted today had to have a 4 hour shower.

Lets face it there's only three pieces of information you get in the pre season. 1. Who's not training or in rehab. The most useful preseason info. 2. Injuries during training. I'd almost prefer not to hear about this one. 3. Observations from supporters about how the team is training the place down and especially some players who then don't go on to play games. We never get the info we'd really like which is what went wrong last season and what's being worked on this pre season to fix it.

Clubs have pared back the staffing resources and media depts were heavily utilised during the hub, earning well-deserved holidays. We may need to recalibrate our expectations.

Apologies for getting this conversation onto something training related but I’m starting to get really frustrated at the lack of info coming from the club with training. Pictures are nice but they lack context, there’s also word there was a time trial but is there any article about who performed well? Maybe I’ve been spoilt over the years by D-lands track watchers, and ok I don’t want to hear the usual “boys are flying” but just something about how they are handling training in groups or how Ben Brown is fitting in would be nice.

Project player? Kozzie is still in his teens! The kid had 20 scoring shots in 14 games in his debut year. If he had kicked 13.7 instead of 7.13 there would be no one questioning his value