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You would have to be a puffin muffin to drive all the way down to Casey (about 45minutes down the freeway from the city and on to Clyde Rd) on a day like today. And yes it certainly wasn't like Gosch's Paddock when I arrived - no coffee shop nearby, no Saty, no guys video recording behind the goals, no bike riders cycling through the park. In fact, aside from coaches, fitness guys, players and physios, it is fair to say no-one attended at all - except of course for a silly old fool like me standing behind a fence in a rainjacket at the Wilson's Prom end like a Mexican in Tijuana trying to cross the border. The roads around Casey have been improved since my last visits there about five years ago for an intraclub practice match that featured a demoted Lynden Dunn playing on Jesse Hogan. It was incredibly windy that day and if you ever watch Casey games on TV or club footage, you will know that wind and Casey Fields go hand-in-hand like Scotland and rain. This morning, however, the constant rain seemed to scare the wind away. We are in the middle of summer and the first thing I saw as players did a circular kicking drill was Trac in a long jumper taking a one-hander and as my gaze followed him, he kept hitting his targets with ease. He wasn't alone in the long sleaves - Gawny, Kossie, Rivers, Salem had them and plenty of others as the morning progressed and the rain got heavier asked for a jumper switch. A quick look at the rehab group saw Bowey, Smith and Mitch Brown doing various leg drills and soon after Angus came wondering around walking laps - most likely a layday for him on his road to recovery from all those onions he ate at Gawny's. Melky was also a late starter for the scratch match, but a trainer told me he was fine. Hibbo wasn't sighted at all. As I'm sure we all do, the first thing I wanted to do was have a look at Ben Brown and yes he's big, but his prominent mop top was lessened because of the rain. His first touch wasn't a good one - he spilled a mark like you or I would and it's fair to say it wasn't his morning - the rain rarely is friendly to the talls and when the scratch match started he was pitted against Steven May. In fact there wasn't much joy for any of our bigs because Lever is mega-disciplined at training and had Weid or Fritter covered while Tomlinson is also aware that he has to perform to stay in ahead of Petty and therefore was staying close to his man. Just before we get to the match, let me make a quick observation. There is one coach who has a loud voice. He's 62 years old and he was out there in shorts while others were rugged up. "Pick easy targets, not long and wide - that sort of thing just doesn't happen" he bellowed to make his point crystal clear. It could have been Tom Hafey reincarnated, such was his vehement passion for the game. You all know who it was. Mark Williams will annoy the [censored] out of Goody and Ooze and our other coaches all year with his comments, but he will inspire the players with his gung-ho spirit and love for the game. I was almost about to jump the fence for him. But let's get to the bit you all want to read - the match practice. Such was the constant rain that it ended up being two 30-minute halves before training was called off early. In terms of matchups our No.1 defenders were pitted against our No.1 attackers while our No.1 mids were up against our Casey-headed mids, so it gave me a clear insight as to Goody's current thinking. A lot can change between now and Rd 1 though. Prior to game starting Olly was sent off with the rehab group to work on the oval across the road - obviously they didn't want to risk him yet, although he did all the other drills - just not the game. Viney also seemed to disappear as well - sorry I am not even sure if he started in match practice game - I somehow missed his departure. The first half was a bit like watching the last quarter of the 1987 preliminary final again - everybody was missing the big sticks. One nice passage of play saw Harmes (who was fairly prominent in the middle) kick long to Trac, but sure enough he missed from about 40m. I think it was 0.5 to 0.3 with the A grade defenders with the B grade forwards and mids ahead. Sparrow, Bedford and Kobe Farmer were among those to miss, while Rivers almost nailed a long bomb early for the A grade mids and forwards team, but eventually the drought broke early in the second half when Neiter (Aaron Neitschke) had a bit too much time and sent a long bomb home from the 50m. Moments later a clearance from Swallow ended with Kobe who got on his left and snapped a clever goal. Both Neiter and Kobe were mobbed. There weren't too many goals though - Spargo snagged one from a good crumb by ANB and T.Mac set up ANB for another, but really the game was a mass of fumbles, tackles and outnumbered forwards at both ends. Jonesy got injured at one point and went off for a check before returning, while Brown was crunched by May a couple of times on the lead. Rivers getting caught by Jackson was another highlight - although I'm sure Trent wouldn't say so. If I was giving Brownlow votes on the game I probably would have 3 Gawn (even though Jacko was also prominent on him), 2 Spargo (yes, he did surprise me and was clever and looked a tad quicker than normal and 1 to either Harmes or Swallow - the two most prominent mids IMO. Honourable mentions also to both May and Petty who were dominant full-backs for their two teams. As to the most interesting duels aside from May on Brown, it was probably the wings. Langdon was up against Rozman and T.Mac (playing for the As) was up against Baker. All four got plenty of it and T.Mac was probably the most influential of the four and gave his team a longer marking outlet. Rosman, sporting the No.19 top, was clearly the most interesting to watch and most of his kicks got a chorus of cheers from the coaches area - I think it was Goody, but given I was 150m away in the dugout, it might have been our man Chocco letting rip with praise. Rosman is an undoubted talent and is a thumping left-foot kick - whether he is another Brent Grgic just bombing it onto his boot is yet to be determined, but at least he will have good coaching. Such was Rosman's game that I reckon, given Goody's previous annual ritual of promoting players way before they are ready at the expense of his senior men, that we might even see him in Rd 1. Bailey Laurie was also quite prominent and clever in his role as a high half-forward for the B team. Based on the side that was picked today, here's your Rd 1 combo (not my team, how the A Teams lined up today). Excluded because they weren't out there at game time are Olly, Angus and Melky. Spargo played more as an onballer today and was lively - hence my votes for him above. Probably my biggest surprise was that Rivers wasn't playing with the A grade defenders side. B: Lockhart May Lever HB: Hunt Tomlinson Salem Centres: T.Mac Trac Langdon HF: ANB Weid Fritsch F: Spargo B.Brown Pickett Ru: Gawn Harmes J.Jordan As the rain strengthened the players split into gps of about 8 and finished with some one-on-one tackling drills and there was one voice bellowing encouragement to his gp - yep that 62yo guy from Port Adelaide. Could be our best recruit of all this year. With my shoes soaked I wondered off through the puddles back to my car. As I threw off my wet gear I noticed the COVID testing centre, which is located 100m from our ground. I then let out a huge sneeze. I think it was from the rain and chill - but maybe I'm coming down with COVID-19 or maybe I was taking away some excitement from our new covert operations No.19 - Goody picking Rosman for Rd 1.

What a magic review of training today, could go down as one of the all time great training reviews completed under extremely inclement weather conditions. #perfection ?

Kobe looked lively at times (more so than Bedford), but missed a really good opportunity early in the game, although made up for it later on with his goal. I was actually more impressed with Deakin Smith, who played small defender for the B side and was clean. Both however are not long kicks which could be problematic in a side with Spargo. And yes, my bad on Sparrow over Swallow - although both flew in and out of the play.

Fantastic report Deespicable, thanks for attending in this atrocious weather. Love your write-up including your comments on Mark Williams, hopefully he is our missing link.

Thanks Deespicable for your great observation it is good to know how we are traveling preseason and your detailed report is as good if not better than most sports football journalists and l am being sincere. Well done.

Kudos to Deespicable not just for his excellent report but for his stoicism in hanging out in Casey in inclement weather. Also, I see Demonland re-named this thread as "TRAINING: Friday 29th January 2021" and in doing so avoided the temptation of going the cheap humour route of writing "RAINING: Friday 29th January 2021". Well done to both.

One thing I left out of my training report because I'd already said a bit about rosman, is that he covers the ground. You know how some players get involved in something, stop and think I need to go there but are then too late. Rosman just goes. It's a breaking the lines thing. I think it's instinctive. Langdon does it for us.

Thanks everyone for your beautiful words. We farewelled Mark at a beautiful service yesterday with the MFC ever present. There were quite a few people including his kids wearing Dees merchandise. His coffin was draped in a Dees flag and cap and `Grand old flag` was played whilst showing Marks life in pictures. I spoke of his love for our club during my speech. I`m once again grateful to the club for organising a video which we aired of Steven May who Mark sponsored, sending his condolences and best wishes to his family and friends. I`m pretty sure I got the 3 votes at his wake last night, a very sore head today.

A little too much excitement over some time trial results and a natural runner here. The wing is such an important structural position we have to see if he can get to the right spots at stoppages and when defending, that's challenge number 1 for any winger and isn't easy. After that we can't even be sure he'll be a good ball winner. Then the final step is probably how he uses the ball and thumping left foot boot means little if it's not going to a team mate. It's probably more likely at this stage that we'll see Tom McDonald at 28 on the wing rather than Rosman at 18.

you are what ledgends are made of Mr deespicable

Mark would have been very proud of you to. H B for being his friend and being supportive. i am sure of that .

Hard to imagine our best 22 with Tmac starting at CHF after his performance over the last 2 years. I don't care how fit he looks this pre-season needs to earn his way back into the side.

Went down to Casey and watched through the fence. Don't know why you can't get into an area that could be partitioned off on the outer wing for supporters. Other clubs seem to have supporters around the grounds. A couple of rehab groups. Brayshaw, VDB, Viney and Hibberd doing laps. Bowey, Smith, Petty and Brown doing exercises, run throughs and similar on the outer wing. Bowey Petty and Smith together with coaches doing various drills whilst Brown just ran up and down the boundary line. B Brown doing a lot of body work drills with Stafford whilst other training going on. Apart from warm ups there were 3 main drills on whole ground. 1. Williams ran the first one where there were three teams. Yellow tabs, white tabs and Melbourne jumpers. going in triangular pattern HFF to HFF to FF anticlockwise with emphasis on fast continuous movement. 2. Two teams Orange tabs and melbourne jumpers run maybe by Yze. Full ground match play. They put cones down to bring the boundary in 20 m on each side so all play was through corridor areas. All about the side not in possession trying to touch the ball where it would be turned over to the other side. Kossie was one out with a white tab running through the middle going for runs bouncing the ball trying to avoid others. At one stage tracc chased him while he bounced it 4 times. Trac couldn't catch him but never gave up. Kossie kept the same 2 m in front. After Kossie kicked it Tracc collapsed to his knees trying to bet some breath - it was a great chase. Kossie just kept going. Nothing wrong with Kossie fitness. TMac is much fitter - at one stage he sprinted from the centre to the goal square to take a mark. Jordan looks really good. Jackson has gone up a level and has mixed the mobile ability to be more assured in his ball handling, especially at ground level. Bowey looks more advanced than Bayley. Oliver got tackled and went down for a while and one of the coaches convinced him to take 5 minute rest but then came back as strong as ever. The only other one to have a problem was Baker who was limping for a couple of minutes but then appeared to run it out. Rosman was the one who stood out for me. He's athletic, big strong and has a leap. Marked a few over the top of others and got a few handball receives running past. Plays like Bontempelli and even kicks like him. Wouldn't be surprised if he played first up. Spargo, Langdon and Hunt impressed. Weid presented well. Thomo, May and Lever main defenders but no close checking (emphasis on intercepting). Like the first drill it was about quick continous movement. 3. Two separate games on each side of the ground with little league type goal posts 2 m apart. Match play where eventually players tried to kick goal through the 2 m gap. No set shots - just snaps on the run. Rosman did a beauty from 40 m out. across his body. I left at 11 and they were still going.

One of the things that impressed me the most when watching his highlights was his vice like contested marking. Sure knows how to take a grab. There was no double grab just full clunks. I know he's been training as a wingman, but do wonder if he'll start up forward. He also has the frame to put on some serious size as well which is exciting.

Great to see Goldrick in the side after just leaving quarantine.

Rather than trial players in other positions, why not pick the player that plays that position the best and most professionally and let them show it in a practice match? Scratch matches and training are good spots to try other positions. I think we seem to be experimenting players in other positions too much in the Goody years.

LOLs!! A Wattsy drive by and not putting pressure on the kid by saying he'll be better than Watts, brilliant!

Fascinating to see how May is perceived on DL now versus when he arrived at the club Speaks volumes of May. Wish he was captain

Practice Match Team B Lockhart May Lever HB Rivers Tomlinson Hunt C Langdon Petracca Salem HF Spargo McDonald Fritsch F Pickett B.Brown Weideman R Gawn Oliver Viney Inter. Melksham Baker Rosman Harmes Jackson Sparrow Jordan Neal-Bullen Not ready for Match Practice Yet. Hibberd Brayshaw Petty vandenBerg This list is our best 30 players from 2020 list and our new recruits. Bowey Laurie and Bedford could be included if form or injury warrant.

As quoted by STINGA re Training Wednesday 27th Jan "Rosman was the one who stood out for me. He's athletic, big strong and has a leap. Marked a few over the top of others and got a few handball receives running past. Plays like Bontempelli and even kicks like him. Wouldn't be surprised if he played first up. Hnmm the more I see and hear the more I like it. Is it too early to lock him in for Round1 ??

RIP Mark. The psychological battle is taken to a new level when when younger children are involved. To have both parents suffer and be taken is an enormous burden for for the entire family especially for those left behind with the trauma. So gut wrenching and so tragic. I am certain there are many here at Demonland who, like myself, have been somehow fortunate enough to survive this illness, or at least be able to manage it. Thank you Hell Bent for your post Your friendship and support to Mark and his family would have been most valuable and certainly cherished. Demon fans to the end, this story and the many others like it, should provide us with some measure of perspective and an equal measure of the hope that our sport and our club provides. l sincerely hope you get to savour that scotch and toast Mark, in the not too distant future.

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.

The one that was more committed.

Sage words Ding, I suspect falling on barren ground. But then what would a preseason be without some excitement!

Which is totally irrelevant unless you think that just because he had a poor (Covid affected) buildup to the draft like Max then he is going to be a champ like Max. That would make zero sense at all, and your posting history proves you are no dill. The kid has done nothing other than run well in a time trial, and many are talking like he is the second coming. It is really becoming embarrassing. I say we just remove the high expectation, which only gets him slagged off when he doesnt tear up games from round 1. Let him develop and hope he turns out a best 22.

Kobe in the goals again.

You are a quality “puffin muffin” deespicable !!

Gawn (c) and Viney (vc) it is. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/855078/gawn-to-lead-demons-in-2021

Listened to the Gus and Gawn podcast this morning. The hype is real re: fitness. They said he is a freak and Gawn thought it was an achievement to be within 40 meters of him.

The hype on this kid is getting a bit OTT. He is a pick 34 without a long list of accomplishments, who is being lauded as a future champ by some, and its based on a few highlights and (admittedly impressive) aerobic capacity. Poor kid should just be given the chance to see if he can play footy before we go gooey over him. He is probably the perfect candidate to test our player development skills.

Another game we coughed up. We let Freo build up a lead early, then huffed and puffed to finally get our noses in front late in the 4th only to switch off at the death leaving McCarthy on his own to collect the ball over the top and kick the winning goal. Rotten defending. I remember cos I kicked the seat in front in disgust.

"Training the house down" or has it just been washed away by flood waters? (For those not in Melbourne, it's absolutely soaking here today.) I genuinely hope we are training outdoors today. We have been really poor at wet weather footy and today would be a great day to work on wet weather game strategy and skills.

spargo and pickett another year and more mature should be improved and provide the small forward players you refer too

Apologies if this is a silly comparison (I have no idea about the kid other than what I've read here) - but could he be a Charlie Curnow type of forward?

I agree - haven't seen him play (only seen his highlights packages) but the fact that he can run (quickly and all day), has size and can take a grab makes me think he must have a few other things to work on (otherwise why didn't he go top 10?) Like all of his cohort, he's essentially missed a year of footy - let's not put too much expectation on the kid before he's even played a practice match!

McDonalds pre season form is too hard to ignore so it would be playing their strongest team like Jordon that’s why I have him front of Lockhart

My post above was before the draft. I agree on Rosmon to the wing but he is a raw footballer who has also missed a year of footy. I'm not expecting too much from him in 2021. I have not said that Fritsch should play exclusively on the wing, but switch between forward and wing (as per the match sim last week). I can rule out Salem on the wing other than brief stints and don't consider Hunt and Baker genuine options (but good luck to them). We might see TMac there a little. I'm not convinced, but he might work for stints too. Nieta is the other possibility in my mind if his knee holds up - I see him as a KK style player, but really, no one's seen him yet. So, we'll have to disagree on that one.

Is Lord Nev a 45 year old Geologist?

He joined the club hungry too...

Unfortunately hasn't - out for 4 weeks. A shame since she missed so much last season too. https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/854336/aflw-injury-update-downie-sidelined-with-ankle-injury Rest of the injury/rehab list: Simmons - should be a test for Round 2 (ankle) Lampard - Round 3 (ACL) Sloane - Round 6 (ACL)

Jayden has changed his body shape considerably all ready over preseason, looking very strong in upper body Can see his pace and dash being used with the new man on the mark rule, he is going to get some clear runs from behind, or will worry the opposition into too much movement and give away 50

I think the AFL need to switch the bye week in finals from first week to after Prelim's to avoid this. Bit like NFL do, even put in the State of Origin match in the bye week. This is the start, I'm hearing that Juniors will remove all contact until U12s and are looking at AFL grids for U8/9/10 age groups to minimise contact. Some leagues have already introduced this. Player welfare is number one priority at all levels, the big concern is we look at changing rules at younger age groups, players don't learn to protect their head, you go from a game that no one can touch you to full contact, you need to learn to put you [censored] in harms way not your head. The grounds are way to hard, be interested to see a stat of concussions that have been caused due to impact on the ground compared to player to player contact. The grounds are harder than ever. To me this is a big factor in concussions and also the increase in feet issues with players.

Becoming one of my all time favourite demons.

And this is from a guy that actually had an excellent season, and yet wants to be even better this year. Always enjoy reading his articles. Speaks honestly and steers clear from the corporate talk. Deserves to finally play in a final. Too good a player to never have featured.

In terms of how our club fared re Scully its a case of of 'All's well that ends well' ... in the end we turned Scully into May (in a roundabout way) and Steven might have 4 very productive years ahead of him as a premier backman We originally turned the Scully compo pick into Hogan and aside from when Jesse was injured, he was easily our leading forward But from an overall perspective a lot turned to pus back then (especially those horrid 2012 & 2013 seasons) And 2014 was tough going not knowing if we were going to drag ourselves out of the mud Nightmarish times As for GWS ... company store, company money. Not many 'really' care

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.

Back to the topic, I have rewatched his highlights reel and believe Fraser Rosman could be the "Find" of the draft. What I see is Pace,endurance, canny ball use, accuracy of kick,build,height and he seems to put himself in dangerous positions. Add agility and his ability to clunk marks, he might well be the X factor we need. I like what I see!!