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Someone mentioned there was a family situation he needed to be there for. It obviously would be something important for him to head over there. I'd suggest the 'poor form' is criticising the young man without knowing the circumstances.

Thanks to Picket Fence and Back Pocket and yes I was out there as well today - been doing shopping on way home - hence slow reply. I was told it was a closed session and therefore had to stand outside behind the goals. I never quite understand the "closed session" line ... I mean if anyone can name me more than one revolutionary technique that has been concealed that has transformed the game then please list it. Under Roosy (with Goody's input) we trialled an extra man running through at bounces about five years ago, but with the 6-6-6 that has become obsolete and even when we did use it, it wasn't the panacea for all our ills. But back to the session. Casey's surface is absolutely pristine - it is our main reason for training this far out but as with aths and its Albert Park move mistake, it is not quite the right fit. The problem with Casey is that it is like Waverley - not only is it invariably wet, it is incredibly windy - today was just a snapshot of what will be a regular thing if we continue our move out there, which the club is currently considering. As a result, players such as Langdon and ANB and others were missing targets at will into the wind and Jayden Hunt and sometimes Rivers and Rozman were intercepting and loving the opportunity such conditions present for the quicks. I did wisely buy my coffee on the way out there this week and once again traffic roadworks meant the trip home was close to an hour - unless you are Jordy Lewis and living close by, Casey is like a country venue. For me today was a tale of our gun forwards and two backmen. Pickett, who with Brown out, is now our No.1 weapon up there was missing - apparently headed back to SA for a family issue. Fritter again was our most dangerous man as the third/fourth tall and ANB again was lively pressuring as he does. But there is one small forward you can mark down for Rd 1 as a cert - Paul Spargo's son Charlie. He's no longer a boy - he grew up in the off-season and now is closer in style to Robbie Gray with his lively play a highlight. He spins in and out of trouble and moves with meaning. I have been on record as saying that despite having the football smart's, he is too small, not quick enough and not a longer enough kick to make it. Well this year he may even play in our midfield. He used to run like bambi through a forest waiting to be shot by a hunter, but now he runs like a man about to fool his tackler. He will play alongside Kossie and most likely ANB in Rd 1 and will give us a fleet of crumbers that is dangerous and with the three-tall plus Fritter set up, there should be a few of those. T-Mac seemed to be back with the forwards, although they never actually split into three groups, and he is trying - he always did in my view, just got slower and slower as the injuries mounted. He'll go close in our Rd 1, especially with Ben Brown out. A couple of other pointers I took away: Harrison Petty is in sensational form as a tall defender and is placing pressure on poor Tomlinson. Tommo's done nothing wrong, it's just that Petty looks like he's Tom Jonas providing marking strength and run today. Joel Smith also returned to the track today and was handy and may yet come into our defensive equation for Rd 1. Deakin Smith is worthy of a club number and should be our first supplemental player chosen. He's a classy small defender who ultimately might not make it, but is certainly worth a try at VFL level. As for the kids, Rozman is everywhere and Bowey looked lively. Laurie a bit quieter than last week. Kobe is a fair way off at this stage I think - sorry Farmer fans.

I'll start with a negative.... Signs similar to this ( see the bottom of the page) were featured around the outside of the ground and were concerning. I thought about wiggling under the fence to get in but then had horrible visions of getting stuck and a slithera feasting on an unfortunate PF For dinner so decided against it. Training report . I arrived around 9.30 to see that the ground was in "Pristine" condition. The players were starting warm up drills and conditions were pleasant enough with the faint edge of a breeze to allow for comfort 1 No shows Kossie, Vanderberg 2 Modified programs Melksham, Gus, Austin Bradke Petty ( although he did feature in some of the drills) 3 Warm ups consisted of End to end 20 m apart with partner routine was to Throw ball in air spin on the bounce and kick left or right footed depending on where ball landed. Another one was to lie down flat jump to your feet and pass ball of 4 Simulated drill involved games of keepings of where pink jumpers would be running interference and players in blue jumpers were required to create options and to hit targets with close in handball 5 Simulated drill same as above but with ability to kick to targets further up the field the obvious match stimulation was to engender being creative and then defensive depending on which color had the ball 6 Whole ground simulation with tackling included. Again Pinks, and Yellows on rotation vs Blues in creating attack from defence and again being accountable for an opponent in zone like situations. Observations For me I remain concerned at the inability of players to hit targets mainly by foot, some of the kicks were either too short, way over heads or just sloppily executed. Although the wind did pick up the concern for me of addressing errant disposal is still a worrying sign. Point is at training your not going flat out so when real pressure comes on then skills under pressure will be found wanting. Similarly too many handballs are to players who arent really clear and therefore requires extra evasion to get clear. Having said that the players appear to be very fit and in good shape. Player observations OF NOTE Nathan Jones is not cooked yet was enthusiastic clean and robust, Bailey Laurie was very prominant with pace, class and cleverness, I think he will play very early Fraser Rosman, BELIEVE the hype, I actually thought I was watching Isaac Smith the way he moved and interceded the play with some lightning runs, he can hoof the Sherrin and can clunk a mark, Expect he will play sooner than later I was extremely impressed with Dogga Jackson ( yes thats his nickname) he's ready to take it to another level, athletic smooth gaining confidence and his body has developed nicely Another very impressive player was Tom Sparrow , for a big man he moved very well got involved in play and was no slouch in the skills department Tom Mc Donald has slimmed down but I'm not sure his pace has improved did some nice things but got caught with the footy a few times trying to do a "Dusty" dont argue Aaron Nietschke caught my eye a few times with some great solo efforts and displayed a willingness to be involved and with good skill set Toby Bedford , Kade Chandler, and James Jordon all showed something. Thats about it as I said when at CASEY WATCH OUT FOR SNAKES!! Cheers P.F

Great reporting and personal observations PF, BP & deespicable, love these reports and feedback on the playing group I am really looking forward to the selectors struggling to fit everyone into the team, pressure, pressure, pressure.

the replies here are hilarious. We are the Kings of relying on excuses: Last year it was 'we had to play 2 games in Cairns' 2019 it was pre-season surgeries 'they changed the 6:6:6 rule' is probably my favourite Until Melbourne start winning games consistently commentators will keep saying this stuff.

Interesting that some folks lack confidence in Charlie. In his first year he played 18 of our 25 games and iirc all three finals. Coaches showed a lot of faith in him. He had some injuries and for whatever other reason hasn't played a lot in the last 2 years. So not surprised at track watchers reports that he is becoming a very good footballer or that he will be in the starting 22. He has just turned 21 so a few years to go before reaching 'football maturity'. A lot to look forward to.

Not sure what was going through my head this morning when I woke up with a sudden urge to drive an hour down the highway to Casey, however as a fellow track watcher today I can most definitely agree with PF's point about our sloppy kicking. Lots of mistakes throughout the whole session (Langdon with quite a few, Bedford too). Although this may be due to training at "the windiest place in Australia" as one tradie that walked past put it. Not sure how training down at Casey in the wind will impact our skills throughout the season and hopefully it may be possible to move back to Gosch's in the near future. Was hoping that their would be some more match simulation today however I believe they moved it to Wednesday because of today's weather conditions. Hopefully I don't cross over too much with PF, but I thought I'd add my two cents. A few points to make mention of: - Tmac was doing some 1on1 contested marking with other key position players (Weid, Petty and Tomlinson), and may be back training as a forward rather than the wing now that Brown is out. - Was good to see Hunt hit all of the kicks I saw him take (unlike many other players). Positive signs as this has been his downfall in recent seasons. He seems more mature and composed this year. - Petty training as a defender and looking very very good. Spent a little bit of time in rehab. He may be competing with Tomlinson for that last key back spot. - It was great to see Gus out there joining in with the main group for the first couple of drills before returning back to rehab. Neita back out running is a great sight as well. - Vanders and Hibbo weren't out on the track however I spotted them doing some work on a bike (with potentially Viney as well). Mitch Brown was doing running and kicking drills on the side as well with Melksham and Bradtke. Kozzie missed the session, although spoke to a staff member and they said there was nothing to worry about there. - Rosman definitely catches the eye and was the draftee I noticed most. A strange kicking technique which can hopefully improve as time goes by. Laurie did some nice things too and was very clean with his hands. - Deakyn Smith was out there training again, although without a number (Farmer already wearing 48) and looked nice. May look likely to get a list spot now that Hore is on the long term injury list. Speaking of Farmer, he did make a few basic handball errors right in front of where I was standing and looks like he has some work to do. - Players split off into two groups at end of session to do running. First group consisted of mostly fringe players (plus Weid, Lever and Jackson) and the second consisted of mostly best 22 players (Sparrow and Petty in this group too). Was a somewhat strange mix of players. The main thing i noticed here was that Burgo included footy's and kicking skills in the first half of the running session, before doing some more straight line running without footy's at the end. A few of the younger boys Sparrow and Rivers impressed me most with their running along with Tmac who led from the front. The 5 first year players sat out of the running and spent time with Chocco. - Didn't notice Trac in the second half of the session and saw him walking around in casual clothes at the conclusion. Hopefully nothing to worry about though! - No snakes sighted! Hopefully I'll get to another session soon. Enjoy.

Just take a peek through the Ben Brown injury thread. He is not saying much that any of the drama queens have not bought up already. The difference seems to be when Cornes says it though he is living on another planet. I actually agree with him, it would be typical Melbourne to use this as an excuse to underperform. We (imo) have a weak mental side and get distracted like moths by the little things. I really hope we mature when it comes down to it though, many games are won lost through consistency of effort and application. We have all heard the no excuse line thrown about...but really there are no excuses, this is just a minor setback for our clubs aspirations.

Not sure if posted anywhere yet but Greeny posted this on twitter Great to see the boys, old and new, working together

I actually agree with you 'jnrmac'... We have been the Kings of excuses. ...but I don't think any excuse will be able to bail out Goody if we have another poor season. The Prez has pretty much flagged this Kane shouldn't be too concerned.

It’s such typical effing nonsensical rambling by Cornes. He’s worried that we’ll underperform because Brown is injured, and that we’ll use the reason we’ll underperform as an excuse for why we underperform. His brain cavity is filled with belly button lint. Should stick to firefighting.

Premiership contenders? Premiership certainties more like it.

I believe this is how Ben Brown's knee flared up again!

Beautiful evening out at Casey. Stiff breeze but thankfully not the gale that often blows. Top marks to the grounds staff, the deck looked immaculate. Thought it could be one of those days when Frederick marked and goaled early but after that there was really only one team in it. Out delivery inside 50 was poor in the first quarter but improved as the game went on. Ball movement was pretty good actually with one passage in the third quarter in particular where we almost went coast to coast. Bannon can play. Showed real smarts to leave her opponent sitting on her [censored] while she took a simple mark and goal. Her positioning is very good, she knows how to nudge and outbody in the marking contest. I think she’ll be a great player for us. Goldrick is a ripper. Knows only one way to play. See ball, attack ball. She beat Brennan all ends up and ran off her all day. All in all I though it was a good performance. We need to sharpen up in certain areas for sure but we’ve got 2 wins in the bag which will give us confidence and belief for the much tougher assignments which lie ahead. Go Dees.

Umpires off to a flyer for Richmond. Terrible HTB decision and a 50 to gift them a goal.

I cannot disagree with Cornes. But this year is a little different Excuses won’t save Goodwin’s job in 2021 This is the moment that The Weid and TMac must stand up We pay them a lot of money ?

Kane Corncerned. It's his schtick, it's no big deal. We don't notice what must be a dozen times a week he makes the same kind of comment about other clubs and nobody much is going to notice his comments about us. If he were a business, he would be turnover volume oriented rather than strong margins oriented.

the notion of spargo turning into our robbie gray type sounds very promising bit of a myth re distance of his kicking tho; i seem to remember he had no issues dobbing one from just inside the 50 arc in a final

Great effort ladies! Congrats. I’ll let the coaches focus on where improvements lie - I’m just thrilled with another win. Go girls!

Top of the ladder tonight, baby!

Sorry, but the words, 'Kane Cornes' and 'relevant', do not belong in the same sentence. Who cares?

Missed the top 4 but in the eight on the other hand was in the bottom 4

Spot on Jnr. Goodwin is an excuses coach and now he has another but I doubt it will work this season.

IIRC Spargo came to the club as a midfielder (mostly). Obviously his size didn't allow for that, but it looks like this year (I've read) he'll get a little time in the middle. I'm excited for him as he has the talent and footy smarts be a very good player. Wishing him all the best to become a genuine forward / mid and to be able to silence his very loud critics. If it's in the Robbie Gray mould, then all the better.

No. The way I look at it is they've taken team photos with Kobe and Deakyn in it. If selected by the Dees then they'll release the ones they are in. If not selected, then they will only release the photos whatever ones they are not in. They would have taken team photos with both kids from an individual and also both at once.

I must agree we set ourselves a team and style to grind over teams with a battering ram, high endurance style in 2020. That was taken away from us with shortened quarters and even still only our own mental fragility in Cairns has us miss the finals by a slender margin. Assuming a good run with injuries and the natural development of the list and the connection between them with game style it is not an unreasonable call.

Also would pay some attention to their 2020 number one pick Ellie McKenzie. She only got 12 touches on debut but went at 100% efficiency I believe.

Having watched training regularly in previous seasons at Gosch’s and then watching in dismay at some of our match day efforts I have regularly commented on Dland that these guys are not playing as they train. The mid/forward disconnect that is talked about ad nauseam, you know the running forward and attacking in straight, predictable lines, the long bombing to the square, when the forwards have led out of the square, etc, etc. You don’t see that at training in game simulations, it is all about unpredictable ball movement, looking for free and short options, constant movement. Come game day against a good opponent this all disappears at least in the past 2 seasons. Maybe this is the year it all starts to work.

Was in the official team photo today.

Re Spargo, I didn't notice any bloopers or highlights for that matter, he was Consistent! Rivers just seems to almost be on automatic autopilot, just does everything well! As iterated I would not be surprised to see Rosman and Laurie make debuts in round 1. Dogga Jackson similarly looks at home in AFL Footy and will play vital roles this year.

A good mate of mine, and former Grand Final Umpire, tells me that when the umpires in the Vic Park days were told thursday night where they were allocated, if it was Vicpark they were simply told "...Your at the Zoo this week..." They all called it by that name and entering and leaving the arena was only for the brave. They hated it. Mainly the spitting from above the wire roof of the race he says. He could deal with rotten fruit and other rubbish. Their culture was and is an effing disgrace.

We have been building the list since Paul Roos took over in 2014 -16 and Goody from 2017 - current. IMV l see it as the strongest list that has been put together since the early 60s yes l was around.56 years ago . We are in it to win it, We are in that so called window,

My first thought was that Emirates, as key sponsors, would be horrified. However, having been sent this photo from a mate in Germany, it may not even raise an eyebrow (shout out to @dieter)...

Serious question to those here who don't think Wiz Jnr should get a spot on our list: Who would you give the spot to instead? I really don't see the harm in having him on the rookie list next year to see how he goes. We ain't gonna win a flag anytime soon without making at least some high risk/high reward moves ...

With 2 spots available on the list he’s all but guaranteed a year or two. We have nothing to lose

Ben Brown, Koz Pickett.

Jeff Farmer, who was the first indigenous AFL player to kick 400 goals, was drafted in an exchange for Phil Gilbert! Maybe draft position is only a moderate predictor!

Kozzy is in SA atm isn't he? Or did he get back in time for this?

As long as we limit the supply into Frederick and Brennan we should be ok. Richmond don’t really have any weapons other than those two.

Still happens today, a couple of years ago I noticed in European “football” stadiums they have moveable walkways for players and officials. As in when they enter or exit the tunnel they pull out a long cascading tunnel so they can’t be spit on or have objects thrown at them.

No. Far too many in the picture.

Amazing that only Collingwood Legends Members and above are allowed to vote in their board elections. No wonder Eddie has been able to rule unimpeded for over two decades! For a club that proclaims blue collar roots it is extremely elitist to disenfranchise the "riff raff" lower ranked members. Source: multiple Collingwood posters on BigFooty

Karen Paxman will (all going to plan) play her 30th game on the weekend. For context, this puts her among only 22 players prior to this round who have reached that figure, and the first to play all 30 at Melbourne. Libby Birch reached the milestone last week with her games combined between the Dogs and Dees. At the moment, given the shorter seasons, it's effectively what a 50 or even 100 game milestone would be in the men's, so something to celebrate. Especially given it's not guaranteed (although I wouldn't count her out) that she'll reach 50, as that will take another 2 or so seasons. So congrats to Paxy! For reference, other milestones of this nature that could be reached if the season reaches completion: Scott (currently on 28 games) Mithen (25) L.Pearce (23) D.Pearce (22) Cunningham (22) Hore (22)

I think the list is the best since 1998, the players like Jackson, Rivers and Pickett must step up and improve and BB needs to be on the park soon. As for winning a premiership lots can happen between now and September, we need our list to be relatively injury free and have at least 16 of our top players who play nearly every round and the finals. Premiership teams always depend on the core players and the bottom 6 must at least be competitive and make a contribution to the success of the team.

There's not much point to life if you can't get excited at this time of year.

The apparent competition for mobile smalls is a very healthy circumstance for the MFC and if these players are hungry little mongrels raring for a trot on the park with blood, they are most welcome in my mind to live that dream. Each will have to step up a rung or two, toughen up and double their commitment along the way. It does please me that internally, such competition exists in the struggle to find the best two or three of the throng.

Always room for one more!

They took him in the preseason draft though.

He was overlooked in the draft so father-son rule is out the window now. Can Freo even sign him if hes training with us?

Everyone asking about his height, hes a bit taller than Jeff in this video from 2019. Jeff was listed at 175 cms when he played. There no way Kobe is the 169cms listed on the WAFL website, that has to be a very old measurement.