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My first visit to Casey since the Saints preseason game maybe three years ago. The place has changed enormously, all for the good. Match simulation was well underway when I arrived at 10.30 (Note to self, arrive by 9.45 if possible).It’s not easy watching since the arena is sealed off and a grassy knoll, yes one of them, obscures vision at certain points. I cannot claim to have gained much from the match sim witnessed except Gawn and TMac were opposed in marking duels: TMac as a forward and Gawn defending. Of the five or so contests witnessed they broke even, both marking strongly and both spoiling well. There was a clear emphasis on smaller players on hand for spillages and handpasses. The intensity was high with repeat contests coming in rapid order. TMac looks trim. Langdon and Hunt both busy as was ANB. Max then went off to ruck duelling with one of the coaches. Big dude in a T-shirt. Others might have a name. The emphasis seemed to be on Max protecting the ball drop from his heavier opponent. I note what TK said above about rehabbers but I thought it included May who looked proppy walking but then did some run throughs, and Kozzy who was taking potshots at goal where the match sim was not active and did some jogging away from the main group. While this was going on they went into a drill - yellow bibs V Demon gear - where the gig was moving the ball out of defence in a controlled fashion. A coach kicked the ball into a defensive pocket to a yellow bib (couldn’t swear who) who then had to find a target upfield. Most moves were successful with three or four possessions before the forwards were able to win it back. There was no red mist. It was very deliberate and players were taking all their allowed time to make a decision. Forwards did apply good pressure. There was only one rank turnover at the start of the drill and as it was on the far side from me I couldn’t see who it was. Nibbler kicked a sweet scrambled pressure goal and seemed to enjoy that as much as a game day goal. Weid marked strongly and kicked truly after allowing nicely for the Casey wind. Ditto Fritter. The main group went into a low intensity fartlek sequence of laps: walking for 30 metres or so, then sprinting at maybe 80% intensity for 15 metres, then walking, sprinting again and so on and completed a few laps like this. Groups included Brown and Weideman; Melksham and Sparrow; Nietschke and Jordan; Bedford, Hunt, Langdon & Tomlinson; Fritsch, Spargo & Brown; May, Petracca, Laurie; TMac, Hunt maybe Hore together; Jackson, Lever, Bradtke. I have no idea if their groupings mean anything. Then the most interesting stuff happened. Mark Williams took Jones and Rivers as one pair, Oliver and Petty as another and had them simultaneously turning and short passing across their bodies to one another, then gradually increasing the passing distance and finally kicking to goal. He was clearly instructing them about balance, showing how to take short steadying steps before kicking, how to hold their heads over the ball, having a line through their body to the kicking leg. At one point Williams was walking alongside Jones, gesturing to his head and then kicking leg as though talking about where Jones was looking as he moved in to kick. It was clear some fundamentals were being taught. He grabbed Oliver and did this short stepping shuffle before the kicking action, possibly talking about balance. This went on for some time until the group enlarged to include Petracca, Chandler, Salem, Farmer, Lever, Bedford, Hunt and Jetta. Williams was telling them stuff (wish I had him bugged) about their kicking and then they started a drill when the ball was passed maybe 30 metres to one player who was then marked by his opponent who gave him a light shove in the chest. The player with the ball pushed away and kicked quickly to an opposing pair who did the mark-pushoff-quick-kick thing again. Over and over. It was about quickly being in position to make a decision, so despite the slow moves from the back pocket there’s an urgency otherwise. Elsewhere the big dude who duelled with Max was now down near the goals instructing Tomlinson and Weideman about positioning their bodies. A defender and a forward together. Hmmm, economy of instruction. He then took Weideman away, firing short five metre passes at either side of his body, forcing Weid to handpass returns from both sides of his body. This pair worked their way around to the wing with this rapid fire routine. Finally there was some goal kicking practice. Brown with his long run walks back as far as Dennis Lillee but kicks straight. ANB was practicing goal front snaps under pressure as was Rosman. That’s all I have.

I arrived down at Casey (God's Country) around 9.15am and stayed until 11.30am. The players began with forward 50 entries, they were about 60 out and delivering it to leads near the goal square and forward pocket focusing on low bullet entries and then switched play to kicking out of forward line. Chocco was leading these drills and lead most of the drills all morning for the main group. Rehab we had Hibberd, Pickett, Brayshaw and Lockhart. Hibberd did the least of the group so he seems a fair way off, whatever his injury may be. Vanders and May joined the rehab group later in the session and conducted individual programs. Mostly repeat running. As mentioned by Tough Kent Petty is fully training with the main group which is encouraging. From what I've seen with the new recruits, Rosman is training with the mids, Bowey with defenders and Laurie with forwards. Rosman was the standout for me of the new recruits. He is fast, athletic and runs all day. Bowey is lighter than I expected he definitely needs a few pre seasons in the gym but I loved his kicking. Laurie has strong legs but small upper body and shoulders he also impressed me with his repeat running and endurance which was conducted towards the end of the session. The second drill it was a keepings off scenario 8 (yellow bibs) vs 6 (no bibs) starting from the back 50 and using handball receive to clear space and then go through the corridor with run and carry and hitting up a free player inside the 50. The third drill, forwards and backs were playing on each other while the mids played on each other. Lewis and Yze were coaching the midfield group. From what I saw Sparrow, Jordon, Nietschke, Vanders, Melksham all training with the mids. Viney and Trac the standouts for me and Clarry also sharp. I also made my way across the other side of the ground and Ben Gibson came over to me and told me to vacate back to the entrance area due to Covid precautions. I had a brief chat with him and I voiced the issue with him that not enough content is being put on the MFC website and encouraged him to do more interviews and podcasts to which he said they'll bring out a podcast tomorrow. But IMO I believe MFC should be doing a lot more to provide content for their supporters. They finished the session with interval training i.e run 50 metres, jog 30 metres and walk 10 metres and repeat continually around the boundary for about 10 - 15 minutes. Rosman and the new kid Smith were the standouts. They just ran all day basically lapping players. Poor Ben Brown was in a world of pain, i'm sure he would be thanking Burgess later for that session. Jeff Farmer was in attendance and chatted away with Matty Whelan the entire time. Yze and Goody came over later and had a good 30 minute chat with them. Farmer was impressed with training and mentioned it was like nothing they did back in the day. Farmer has lost a lot of weight and credits it to being off the booze... he's sitting on about 85kgs. I got some very good information that Lachie Ash (Pick 4 from 2019 draft) won't be renewing his contract from GWS and wants to be back in Victoria. His preferences are Melbourne and Geelong. My source said he heard it from two of people. That's about all the news I have for today. I hope you all appreciate the report. Cheers!

I happened to be in South Gippsland last night so I too made it through the mist to the Casey Fields Blvd. Turned up at the same time as the Wiz and thought I'd mostly stay outside the fence, didn't want to get blasted by the crew pressure washing the building. The early reports have most of what I noted. Gus in rehab. Kozzie and Lockhart put through a fair bit of work. Lockhart had a wrist taped up. Hunt with the backs. Melksham mids. Chandler forward. (Tommy Mc forward too). After a decent run to warm up Choco started them with a point to point kicking drill and he was vocal about keeping your weight through the ball not leaning back and not kicking around corners. Then in to some backs kicking it up to half forward and then finding an inside 50. I saw a fair bit of Bowey in this one and he hits his targets comfortably. 8 on 5 or 6 (I wasn't quite sure) that was a bit of a mess. Certainly some work to be done there. The mids did a handball clearance style game and Petracca was the clear standout not surprisingly. Meanwhile the forwards and backs were working moving it inside 50. There was one piece of play where Laurie was looking inside to his right foot then casually put it on his left and hit a target down the line that impressed me. The forwards and backs rotated through a 4 on 4 top of the goal square drill that was designed to crumb a contest. Fritsch swooped on to it nicely but managed points. At one stage Brown forced a nice contest against 2 that Jacko crumbed and goaled from but the next time May bodied him and took the intercept. Meanwhile most of the group were doing a 2/3rds of the ground match sim kind of drill with a spare winger starting off the back of the stoppages. That was Rosman for a fair bit and he looked comfortable getting involved. I don't think he'll be hitting up short kicks all that often but his kicking action looked better than what I expect and he seemed to have good distance. Maybe the best piece of play was Vanders (who looks so fit he might've run home across the NSW border) getting it off the back of the ball up, hitting up one target, running for a handball receive and hitting T Mc on a lead at CHF who swung around and picked out Jacko on a lead.

I got down to Casey today. It was good to be back watching the boys live. I waltzed into the ground and moved around at will, until Benny Gibson came over and told me I was welcome to stay, but that I had to stay in a certain part of the ground. So I stood just in front of Jeff Farmer and Matty Whelan who were on the hill chatting for hours! Some observations: -Brayshaw, Pickett and Lockhart made up the re-hab group. (Although vandenBerg and May spent time working away from the group with the fitness staff.) Gus did quite a bit of light running and kicking. They ran Kozzie into the ground. -Jordan Lewis was there today. He even did the interval running with the players at the end of training. -Choco ran a drill early where the focus was on kicking. He was very vocal and dead against players kicking around corners. -Clayton Oliver was wearing a pink hat at training. I'm not sure why, but I overheard he was wearing it because he came first in something. -T-Mac was a stand out for me. He marked and moved well. He seemed to be involved in everything. -Jake Lever was by far the most vocal on the ground. He likes dropping the f-bomb, does old Jake. -Jayden Hunt was training with the defenders. Melksham was with the mids and spent a lot of time out on the wing in match sim. -Kobe Farmer and Deakyn Smith were training with the group. Both looked lively at times without standing out. -A lot of the drills were focussed around ball movement, defensive structures and delivering the ball inside 50. There was a lot of stopping of the play by coaches to talk through the way players were setting up on the ground at various times. I'm happy to answer any questions.

Unfortunately I have to head back up to the border today so it will be up to others to continue with the reporting. But from what i've seen Tmac will play forward, Petty down back, Hunt I didn't see which group he was training with but he looks in really good shape I think he'll be a regular this year. Harmes was unsighted but I presume he will be a mix of forward and mid. AVB was training with the mids and Jackson was everywhere playing forward, back and doing stints with the mids Jacko could be anything... such a versatile player. In terms of positional changes I noticed Melksham with the mids and Jones and Chandler with the forwards.

Smuggled him in disguised as an Australian Open tennis player.

If he was 12 years older, he'd be a certainty for Geelong. He's far too young for them. Welcome to the mighty Dees Lachie!

Demonland is proud to announce that we will be sponsoring Demons AFLW Vice Captain, 2019 B&F Winner & 4 x All Australian Karen Paxman.

So sorry to hear this sad news 'Hell Bent'...although I didn't know him personally you could tell he was a passionate supporter. He came across as one of the good guys when posting on here. As '@Grapeviney' says it's heartbreaking...I just feel for his kids. R.I.P Mark

HB very sorry to hear. I recall his story about his wife and himself, very sad to hear cancer claimed him and leaves behind the kids. I totally feel the doing the washing or folding clothes piece nowadays haha. Cancer is a [censored], I went to see my old man who died 20ys ago on the 16th of Jan in Apollo Bay. We spread his ashes in the ocean across the road from our family house on the Great Ocean Road. He was a mad Dees man, he used to wear a Dees track suit (top and bottoms),scarf/hat (depending on season) and on those really cold days the full length Dees coat over the top. An impressive site I’ll never forget. The last game we got to was the 2000 granny, but one of my most vidid memories was taking him out of hospital and wheeling him down Swanston st in a wheel chair (The Docs and Mum said he wasn’t allowed to go as he was so sick, he demanded I do the right thing by him and take him) for the Reconciliation March. He was a staunch/aggressive anti-rascist/advocate for the indigenous community. He had a smile the whole time even though I kept having to take him to the side of the road for him to vomit and then at the end of the March I had to lay him down to sleep until he had enough strength for the return leg. Possibly the proudest I’ve ever been. RIP Mark and Bryan.

That is heartbreaking. RIP Mark

Some perspective on where the group were able to view from.

Kicking fundamentals at preseason training, praise be to the lord above (or below), hallelujah!!!!! How funny to hear Jonesy is getting kicking training at this stage of his career. Welcome Mark Williams!

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was sure Melky was a natural right foot kick but very handy on his left as well.

I'm extremely grateful for the reports from all our trackwatchers. Long may you continue watching. If it is not too presumptious to put in a request, I'm particularly interested in knowing in which part of the ground a few specific players appear to be training. Already we have reports that suggest Tom McDonald might be training as both a forward and a back. I'm particularly interested in which positions the following appear to be training: Tom McDonald Harry Petty Jayden Hunt James Harmes Aaron vandenBerg Luke Jackson and anyone who appears to have changed position (purely hypothetically - if ANB were to join the onballers, for example)

By car.

This was my one big take out from Lucifer’s report too (which was very good btw) - I really like the fact that Jordan Lewis is still involved with the club. Ohh, and perhaps also that T Mac is looking the goods and is training with the backs. Two good news stories.

Its with a very heavy heart I write this tonight. Mark lost his battle with cancer this morning. He fought bravely for around 3 or 4 years and was in quite good health even a few months ago but has been hospitalised the past few weeks. We played cards by his bed with another mate on Saturday night and he was in a happy, positive frame of mind and even gaining physical strength for a few days when out of nowhere he felt really crook so we let him get some rest. Its the last time I heard from him. He was as passionate a Demon as you could find and like many of us, a very nervous unit when watching us play. He would get so nervous when watching at home that he`d get up and fold washing or put dishes away when things got tight in the last qtr. rather than watch the TV. He has been a player sponsor for around 9 years of Jesse Hogan and now Steven May along with having his kids being members for sometime so has made a significant financial contribution to our great club for a long time. Many of you may remember him being quite open about losing his wife to cancer 4 years ago. The only positive I can find from this is that he is now with her, I know he missed her terribly. He leaves behind 3 young kids who will live the rest of their lives without parents, and 2 older kids who need to somehow get on with their own lives and bring up those younger kids. Life can be bloody cruel at times. I told him wherever he ends up that I`ll drink a bottle of his favourite scotch with him when we win the flag, but did joke that I`ll likely be on the other side of hell with him when that happens. I want to add how grateful I am to the MFC, particularly Tamara who I`ve been in close contact with in regards to Marks health. She organised an MFC polo and cap (Mark wore a Mark Neeld era polo nearly every single day since I met him) along with a handwritten card of support from Big Max. It arrived on Friday by express post, any later and he`d never have seen it.The smile on his face was priceless. RIP Mark, I miss you buddy.

Ahhh [censored] R.I.P. Mark. Hope you are with your wife buddy.

Yes how right you are Macca we have two batsman in Smith and Labuschagne that can not carry the the team on their shoulders all of the time. Need an opener and a middle order bat I don't think Wade is the answer his use by date is up and young Green has a future with the Test team and should persevere with him. Yes our bowlers spent too long on the field in the last two tests and looked tired at times for this test. Would have been good if we rotated an extra bowler in Pattinson through the 4 Tests.

A case in point - no number.

Rosman getting the benefit of one on one training from Lewey.

Our batting is the issue and we've had major problems building an A Grade Elite batting order since the early 2000's At times over the last 2 decades we've been very good, other times average and poor on many other occasions ( e.g. the last time we visited Sri Lanka we lost 3-0) Batsmen are supposed to set up wins and our batsmen (as a collective) don't deliver For instance, we should have made 450+ in the first innings in this test match ... but 4 or 5 batsmen threw their wickets away Our bowlers were out on ground too much this whole series and that doesn't happen if the batting occupies more of the match time Placing the blame on Paine's shoulders is classic scapegoating. His own players let him down (primarily the batsmen) Selection is the root-cause of our batting woes though. We pick too many teams for the right-now without having a real eye on the future Since Michael Clarke we've only produced one long term A Grade Elite batsman - Smith. Labuschagne could get there but he is not there yet Warner is good on home decks but struggles overseas. Is there anyone else AM?

Ripper...... $100 on its way to assist Demonland with the sponsorship: https://demonland.com/clients/donations/

Supposedly and sadly. Horrible swing and a miss by Bartlett. Due diligence clearly not done.

yeah I'm not really sure how Melksham fits up forward anymore. he seems to lose a lot more 1v1 contests than he used to, and to my eye he looks too slow for it these days as he doesn't have the leg speed to pressure and tackle, or to even get around an opponent with ball in hand anymore. instead he usually just tries to kick around corners in general play most of the time which has seen his disposal efficiency go well down over the last few years (Jones also has this same problem, but i am heartened by the reports of Williams trying to eradicate it at pre season training which will also hopefully carry through to team selection as well). i also think Melksham doesn't really work hard enough to be a mid either, we already have too many like that as it is, and as a 'run with' player i'd prefer Harmes in that role anyway if we were going down that path. i find it hard to find a spot for him in the best 22 to be honest, as he's been on the downward slide for a while now.

Love reading these reports, read 'em twice, can not stop smiling Thanks to all

If Tom can recapture some form and confidence in defence again it will almost be like we have a new recruit down there. Could allow more flexibility for Lever to play more of the floating intercept marker which is what he's suited for. I also have a soft spot for Tom so I want him to be able to find a regular place in the team whichever end of the park it may be. The first round of pre-season matches will be very intriguing to see as there's very little for the footy media to go on with how teams will look until they're out there again.

Ox was a very skilled big man. He could sidestep an opponent and a great kick.

Yze; Choco and Lewis are a breath of fresh air and can only help us moving forward. Looking forward to the year and beyond.

There is a God. Lewis back with the Red'nBlue. What an asset ... Yze, Chocko and Lewis. Drop the unmentioned one and we have a Premiership.

Mainly with the Backs. But he played forward on occasion. I think he'll be our Mr. fix it if we are down on key talls.

Yeah, I've always found that strange. For comparison, this year, 12 of the 14 AFLW teams have a junior membership. Most other clubs also offer a few tiers of adult membership for AFLW, whereas MFC only offer one priced at $99 (among the most expensive). Personally, I'm happy to pay to the support the girls and don't care much about merchandise or whatever in return, but our options are really lacking in this compared to other clubs.

Yeah, nah. Anyone this clueless about personal data security gets zero sympathy from me in this day and age. Thick as 2 short planks is Patton. As a public figure, its seriously poor judgement on his part sending these sorts of images over the internet. Also, you offering an opinion on whether or not the female has the right to be offended by his behaviour isn't your place. A woman should have the right to deal with unwanted sexual advances in any way she see's fit. He offered to pay her money, as if any women on earth should be willing to prostitute themselves for him. This shows his character to be that of one who does not respect women at all. Trying to fly the flag for him him here only makes you look the same way.

Wasn't this one of the big reason we brought in Gary Pert back in 2018?

We went from getting no reports to being spoiled with half a dozen great ones. @Caligula's cohort even teased us with an early trade rumour. Bring on Round 1.

I like the look of this: It must be to our advantage to have Lewis involved.

Huge news if true. He’s a 19 year old pick 4 with AFL games pumped into him. Elite pace and good kicking skills. Could become a gun halfback or winger. Could solve our other wing issue to go with Langdon, or form a partnership with Rivers owning the flanks. If we could snag him it would be huge.

Great that Jordan Lewis is still on board He wants success to happen at The MFC, 4 time Flag players are the real deal. he could have easily walked after his 3 years... He didn’t

OMG these reports are sensational, how exciting to some info. Many thanks

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.

Sad but true. Wise words

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

Very good post Luci

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.

i think a lot of you seem to be looking at through your own moralistic stances, which is fine!. Most normal humans are going to condemn this type of behaviour. To infer that JP had mental health issues before all this smut came out would be somewhat right. I mean the text messages are as damning as the pictures he sent...Does he have a coke issue? If he does it is likely that he has some mental issues. The main point though is after the event. He got called out on front of national papers, following day it was more girls verifying he is a serial offender. Hawthorn told JP to stay away from training as they did not want the circus with media. There would have been discussions that they will go through the due process, but your career as an AFL player is on severe tenderhooks. I would say his career is done and dusted and he is wondering how he fell so fast, his head would be spinning ,a trip to the mental health ward may be not a card played but more fallout due to hugely stressful circumstances. Not condoning the acts at all but the fallout would be real for any human facing similar circumstances.