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Lovely day down at Casey, blue skies and low 20's. A sharp contrast with the high 30's that we experienced last year with smoke filled skies. Only allowed to watch from outside the fence, so the track-watchers on Monday got it good! Today I was really "on the outer". In rehab: Brayshaw, Petty and Smith. Smith carrying a bandage on his left knee. Most of their work seemed to be strengthening type exercises. All were kicking intermittently, Brayshaw off his right foot ( I can't remember which one was injured).Hibberd was unsighted, but I may be wrong as half the players were wearing fluoro vests, making it difficult to pick them out. In bad news for fashionistas, Luke Jacksons mullet has gone. Nathan Carroll is reportedly heartbroken. A couple of main drills involving full ground transition, which I was told was all about stretching the field to create space in the mid-field. However, Pickett and Lockhart didn't participate, and later Pickett joined the rehab group, but nothing obvious as to why. Perhaps it was about loading, as he was involved with tackling exercises later, meaning he wasn't trying to protect and injury. Watching Rosman one can see the natural athlete and runner. He just glides over the ground effortlessly. But comparing him, Bowey and Laurie, they are obviously the new recruits. Physically they are a step below players like Jordon, Chandler and Rivers who have only had the benefit of barely one season in the system. Ben Brown is one seriously big unit and will be a major target up forward. Fans can be assurred he will be using the same long run technique when kicking for goal. He took a mark in the forward pocket at one stage and started his run up from the wing. Still he put the Sherrin through the big uprights, so you can't complain about that. He did leave the session early after about an hour on the track. Make what you will out of that. Clarrie had a Ronald McDonald look about him. A bright red cap and a face smothered with sun-screen. Good sun sense however for a red-head. The session finished with lots of re-runs of touch type football with what seemed like a focus on evasion skills, and shrugging tackles. Also an emphasis on short accurate passing and quick switching to outside runners. Sorry, not much more to report. Always good to see only 3 or 4 in the rehab. I can remember the sight of a dozen plus in rehab in early 2019, and we all saw what came of that. Even those that are away from the main group don't appear to be too far from joining full training. But then the first game is just 2 months away, and practice matches sooner......

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.

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.

This brought a tear to my eye, I remember markc's posts about his wife's battle. My thoughts are with his kids, hopefully they have a great support network around them to help them through this horrible time.

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

Very moving and thoughtful comments. The bitter sweet reflections on life. Demonland at its best. Marks spirit soul lives on in the memories of family and friends.

He's defensive efforts were poor all year as was his appetite for the contest. That he captained the club for a game was frankly insulting to members, players, the jumper etc. He does have talent, especially his ability to hit up a target inside 50, but if he can't do the basics then he's not a leader.

A big thank you to our intrepid reporters. They may have noticed a fellow with camera and tripod in their vicinity. He is a demon tragic whom I often catch up with at training (in the past at least) and at Casey games. With his permission I will share some of his photos and a few comments from him and myself. Young Farmer may not be as tiny as some have suggested.

Very very sad, and sincere best wishes to Hell Bent and Cards13. Beautiful stories about how much footy can mean to family and friends and the memories we can share through it.

My deepest condolences to Mark, family and friends, this brought me to tears, we are in the middle of losing a family member, and life can be incredibly hard for loved ones left behind. So hard for his children. Please pass on our love to everyone involved.

Let's keep the injuries to a minimum which is the key to a good season. Thanks for the report GOTO.

Oh that is so sad, beyond words. He lost his wife and now himself Wow. Markc was a lander for a long time Whiskey tonight everyone

RIP markc Thank you for your contributions in posting to this site and your financial contributions as a Life Member.

That is heartbreaking. RIP Mark

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

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 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.

Heard Jordan Lewis on sen this evening commenting that Kossie Pickett was displaying attributes that he has only seen before in one Cyril Rioli.

Among those who wore number 48 in their first senior game are Stephen Newport, Luke Beveridge, Darren Cuthbertson, Brent Grgic, Matthew Bishop, Liam Jurrah, Jack Fitzpatrick and Corey Maynard. Quite a bit of talent there and they all later switched to lower numbers except Fitzy, who holds the record for the highest number of games played in that number, having totalled 22 games as a Demon wearing the #48.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family and friends during this time jules. Its never an easy time.

Hello dworship, I could tell he was a demonlander tragic like myself. I'm pictured here with the red cap by jeff's elbow. Hopefully i'll get to know some of you die hard supporters like myself in the future.

Such sad news. Sending all the best to his family.

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.

Thanks mate. Rosman trained with the mids and was used as a wingman. He covers the ground very well and I couldn't believe how he was passing some accomplished runners in the interval stuff. He got his hands on the footy a bit during match sim and definitely didn't panic. His ball drop is unique, but he was certainly trying to spot up targets in wet and greasy conditions. They work with this kid and I think he will become a player.

The fact he’s Jeff’s son got him into training so it absolutely matters.

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

I have just seen this. This one hits a raw nerve.. I am deeply saddened to head Mark has sadly passed away. When he told us of the terrible news that his wife had passed away i PM'd him and told him I was here for a chat if need and was thinking of his children who had just sadly lost their mother. I am now utterly devastated for his kids that they have now lost not only their father, but a beautiful soul. We got talking footy around the period and his biggest wish was to see the Dees back playing finals and hopefully winning a flag in his time. I engaged again a while back when he posted about his health battle and you wouldn't have picked it due to his positivity and just happy that he was still able to spend quality time with his kids. I just seen that he was only logged into demonland last Friday. To @Hell Bent I am deeply sorry for your loss as his close mate. To his family and close friends if they are reading this, my thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. To Mark, RIP old mate. It was an absolute pleasure that I was able to connect with you even if we never met. Time to be reunited with your darling wife.

Vale Mark, May you rest easy.

Very sorry to read this news. In the early days of Demonland, he came to my place to borrow some VCR’s of Melbourne games (and returned them in good time). We had a couple of good chats and he was a real dedicated Demon. Condolences to Mark’s family and friends.

That sounds familiar. Those impatient folk writing off Kozzie might wanna hold off for a few more seasons yet.

I understand this thread is a future source of reference for the hindsight police, but I’m not writing off players before the season has even begun. Especially the younger ones that should be encouraged.

RIP Mark.

R.I.P Mark, love to your family and look over us all from up above. May peace be with you. Dees Forever.

very sad all the best to his family

My mate has suggested that as Kobe is wearing number 48 it is more than likely he is being added to the list.

Love it. Good to see Neita there too. Perhaps Neale's choice of favourite football person to share the honour with?

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!

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.

A case in point - no number.

Like Sam Mitchell, kicks equally well of both feet:

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.

It would be easy for a player like Hunt to be pretty disgruntled, every year they seem to find a new role for him and then lose patience immediately when it doesn't work. Particularly when someone like Melksham gets games on zero output.

Super player. absolute legend.

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)

Smuggled him in disguised as an Australian Open tennis player.