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http://images2.naharnet.com/images/187054/w460.jpg?1466172426 Great report by George but before I get onto it, Adjacent Casey fields is a large lake which I'm reliably informed contains plenty of fish and I just wonder if the sign above presents as an even more challenging scenario. Agree with George re music, just and endless cacopheny of mind numbing techno crap. Dont know what it gives the players but who am I to argue given that,last year it resulted in a Premiership. One other thing George didn't add was the plague of Flies hundreds of them! Anyway on with the report! Weather was shizzen about 10 seasons in one day and like George under cover accomodation outside the ground is harder to find than Rocking Horse Sheeit! REHAB ROSMAN, SPARGO ( in Parts) HARMES and during training it appeared CHANDLER may have done a groin? SKILLS DRILLS AND MANOEVERS. Well covered by GEORGE but agree the match simulations were a thing of beauty, players are intinctively now confident to KNOW 1 Where to go 2 Who to go to as in selecting correct option 3 Skillful enough to execute precisely DRILL A WARM UPS DRILL B MATCH SIMS DRILL C KAMIKAZE PLAYER BLITZSKILL ( Players zone of have a couple of harrasers and deliverers need to pick correct target from multiple options and kick to player on lead DRILL D MORE MATCH SIMS DRILL E CLOSE CONTACT TACKLES DRILL F ONE ON ONE MARKING SIMS PLAYER WATCH Competition for places will be and is WHITE HOT!! Not only do the current 23 continue to train to high standards but the second tier are also training the house down, players such as MAJAK, MELKY, DEAKIN S, J SMITH, ADAM T, MITCH B, J JORDAN, TOBY B, are displaying the type of improvement that drives up standards. Perhaps the guy I'm most looking forward to seeing is LUKE DUNSTAN, Wow what a pile driver he is just relentless in his ball hunting ability, think Stephen Powell and youl get the picture. Jayden hunt looks lean and hungry as does Adam Tomlinson. THE NEWBIES In some drills I can just see why we chosse these guys all are profficient with skills and already seem to know and appreciate the work required to make it in an elite Football Club which is not only the oldest club in Australia but one where standards are being continually stretched , redefined and enhanced. One bloke who I didn't know had no number on his back but by Gee was he nippy and elusive with some KOSSY like tendencies. HIGHLIGHTS. 1 Tom Sparrow outmarking MAX in a one on one 2 Clarry recreating his victory salute with a uncannily similar goal which literally had a couple of players doing cartwheels TRAING VOTES 3,2,1 3 Clarry , honestly he just does what he likes at traing and is a class above 2 Jack Viney, gees has he improved as a footballer in my eyes 1 Tom Sparrow wow what a huge talent this kid is honerable mentions, Salem, Max, Bowey, Dogga, Kossy, May and others et al, just no passengers just all wheel drive turbo's that just do not let up everyone just shows something , what a Lovely sight to behold! cheers PF

Well George on the Outer was on the outer again at Casey this morning, since the gates are locked to prevent the plague ridden populace from entering... Still got to observe through the fence, which is as good as we football starved individuals can get, so we will take it. I counted 40ish players on the track, with Harmes and Rosman doing rehab of some sort, mainly running, stopping and restarting type of exercise. What sort of injury that means...perhaps more of the medically trained posters can help. Now it was difficult to see who wasn't there, due to this fence previously mentioned, and the wearing of bibs at times. However these days they all have numbers on their backs, apart from one unidentified player. Still I couldn't see Ed Langdon out there, although he does wear an invisibility cloak, which prevents opposition players from seeing him during the game. Perhaps he was wearing it today? Not sure if Melksham was there, but given the numbers of Covid expemptions reported from other clubs this week, it was quite literally a healthy list on the ground. Observations: God awful music being played through the loudspeakers. Screaching girl bands and moaning rejects from the Voice, Idol or repetitive rap could only make the players listen intently to the coaches. You sure as Hell couldn't listen to that other rubbish! Apart from the usual warm-ups, kicking drills with the Mark Williams striped ball, and another with huge foam goal posts erected mid-ground to do what I don't know, there was one which really took the eye. It was virtually a full match type game, with umpires, but the speed was simply incredible. Switch, switch back and then some more saw the ball move at lightning speed around the ground and from one end to the other. If this style is introduced through an already Premierhsip side, watch out opposition teams. There was little fixed position as players roamed wide to create opportunity, and then even more. Difficult to describe, but the team with the ball would rip right through the defenders and only a misplaced kick would see possession lost...then that opposition would do the same in return. The poor umpires never caught up with the speed and were trying to whistle 20, 30, 50 metres behind where the ball was. The only downside was the goal-kicking , but I suspect it wasn't the aim of the drill. Still an excuse could be they have moved the goal-posts at Casey, and players seemed to be kicking to where they used to be. Standouts were Oliver, Salem and May. Oliver just steps through defenders and just keeps going and going. Just when he looks cornered, he just bursts out again. Salem the same, how no-one can tackle him is amazing, and he always keeps bobbing up with ball in hand to deliver accurately. May is well over his hamstring injury from the PF, and just kept dragging down mark after mark. Another that took the eye was Majak Daw, playing forward. Really strong marking and leading, he was a challenge to be able to control in the air for May, Petty and Lever. All the new recruits were there, but with the viewing curtailed it was difficult to focus on what they were doing or not. And when the rain started, this wimpy reporter thought better of standing alone and headed for home, leaving the players to finish the session in peace.

Ah yes... the academy zones. Given to us because the states in the north had an unfair advantage. A chance for us to develop some talent and get something back. Except when we do develop the kids the states in the north just draft them anyway. Seems really fair and worth our time and money. So yeah. Let not develop them too well so we can actually have access to them.

Well done George and Picket. Great read for those who want to read about the Premier. How good is it being able to say that?

The academies are a joke, the AFL is the governor of not just the league but the sport as well since it usurped this role from the ANFC. It is therefore the afls responsibility to manage development programs but they have delegated responsibility to the club's. And this was done as some kind of appeasement due to the northern state club's having their own academies which in themselves are a rort, particularly for the NSW club's. Now the non-northern state club's derive close to zero benefit as seen by us this year and this is only going to get worse as the AFL expands the rules so that club's can't match bids within the first 40 picks - so what is the point? Get rid of all academies, I'd even be happy to get rid of the father/son rule (which is nice but an anachronism) and move towards a pure draft. Footscray getting back to back number 1 picks while making a GF, the Swans getting Heeney, Mills, Gulden, Campbell et al while being perennial finalists - the system is a joke and the AFL is trying to have a bob each way. A pure draft is the only way to go in a league focused on parity/equalisation.

Knightmare article rating 2019 draft choices (dated 29/11/2019): Melbourne Traded wisely and secured value in their trade with Fremantle. The move back allowed Melbourne to add pick 28 and a future fourth round pick without a meaningful move back down the order from pick 8 to 10. While Melbourne's trade looks on paper like value was acquired, their first two picks of ruckman Luke Jackson and small forward pressure specialist Kysaiah Pickett are arguably reaches. Jackson, a sub 200cm ruckman is athletic, plays with aggression and follows up well but was arguably not the best available player. Similarly, Pickett while the forward pressure he applies is of a best in draft standard and he has speed and is damaging with ball in hand, his low scoreboard impact and product makes him a difficult sell so early on. Trent Rivers, who Melbourne secured thanks to their trade with Fremantle represents strong value at what after bidding became pick 32. Rivers is a classy ball user off half-back who moves well and can push through the midfield as a ball winner. Grade: C Collingwood Improved their draft hand slightly in the latter half of the draft to increase their involvement without losing a lot. Jay Rantall represents strong value as a basketball convert with elite endurance who does his best work inside winning the contested ball, distributing by hand and moving through traffic. Oakleigh premiership captain Trent Bianco is a second selection who represents strong value as one of the best kicks in the draft and the most advanced outside player in the pool. Trey Ruscoe at 192cm with his versatility to play defence, midfield or forward, is a third solid selection with his skills, mobility, ball winning capabilities and the way he reads the ball in flight and takes marks. Though the question of whether Collingwood should have retained pick 51 to draft key forward Jake Riccardi rather than trade it to GWS who used the pick to draft the VFL's Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal is a question that will be asked given Collingwood's lacking key position stocks. Grade: A Note: Rantall has already been delisted

Sad news. Was a big part of my footy replay watching childhood. RIP & Keep Punching Scotty.

Thanks for your kind words. I’m currently interstate but upon my return I’ll attempt to gather the troops and do some kind of preseason update including a wrap up of the draft, the AFLW season to date and a season review.

Academies should not be created just for draft advantages. It should be part of community building, giving less advantaged kids a chance. As an upside, it also gives us a chance to build supporters in these communities and create connection between communities and our club. They are powerful for those that get the benefits, and low cost/impost on clubs to run. I am all for them, even with the loss of access to top end talent because of the rule changes.

It’s starting to feel like the success of the season is going to be based on reinfection likelihood. We are clearly in the transition from pandemic to endemic, so this year is going to be all about how young athletes react to being re-exposed. I’d suggest most players on a list in Melbourne and Sydney will have had Omicron by Round 1. It’s about what happens then, and that is still anyones guess. I’d also imagine WA might find it’s delay strategy potentially damaging to its football teams. *As an aside I’m on day 5 of having COVID. It was harsh, but it was very much the flu. I’m 43 but my younger friends (late 20’s) bounced back super quick and got it done within 3-4 days. My older parents (70’s) took about 6-7 days to move through it (all double dosed). I’m happy to answer anyones questions. 👍

Numerous reports had the Giants desperate to take Jackson and therefore likely to pass on matching the bid if we had made it. I like Knightmare. Sure, he’s a bit ornery at times. And his writing and videos could do with major reformatting. Of course he makes mistakes and the occasional short cut. But when traditional media is ever declining at least he gives it a go.

McNamara my new favourite player. Great skills and @Chookis spot on with the Langdon comparisons. She seems up and about with the girls tho - like a spark plug. I hope they can keep that midfield group together for a few years - they are all in the 21-24 age group. Great to see Harris playing like that too - so unselfish and she got a bit of reward. But that was great fun! Go Demons.

The Ashes is on ch. 7, fair enough. But they’ve got three other channels in 72, 73 and 76 on which to televise AFLW. I guess some people can’t go a night without Alaskan ice road trucking gold fever picking swamp junkyard overhauling oil digging storage wars and Down East Dickering 🙄

He was a truly wonderful gentleman. Friendly and always willing to get into a conversation about footy. I remember him once at Trevor Barker Oval Beach Road Sandringham when Melbourne was still affiliated with the Zebras. I got there early and we were watching this gangly young ruckman, Stefan Martin who had come down to play VFL after a year with Old Haileybury. Scotty was fascinated by the fact that Martin had scored a 99.75 in his VCE and we discussed why someone with those qualifications would want to play in the VFL ressies. He was great company for a while before wandering off into the rooms to get a scoop that would enable him to come up with another one of his punchlines. A real character. Condolences to his family.

I don't agree with that part. Sparrow played round 1 of the AFL season but we had a stupid injury list and he was miles off AFL level, then his VFL form in year 1 before injury wasn't pushing his name back up at all. Petty had great VFL games in year 1 but he was patchy. Excellent at intercepting some weeks, a little lax defending in others. He wasn't ready when he got a game in year 1, and even in year 2 he was patchy down back. Then missed all of year 3 before a breakout year 4. James Jordon looked vanilla in year 1. Clearly he played well in some of the hidden practice matches of 2020 but he was a shock this year compared with when I last saw him. Bailey Laurie just had a year ruined by injury and the VFL shutdown but managed a few VFL games without threatening a debut, I very much hope that doesn't mean anything long term for him. Jason Taylor always says something along the lines of 'they develop at different rates'. I think year 1 is more about getting the mind and body conditioned to AFL footy life and being ready to attack years 2 and 3 than it is Casey performances. Obviously we've drafted some standout young players but it's the physical and mental application to improve that's impressed me with many of our young players. Particularly given that's an area we struggled in for so long.

Hopefully if the AFL makes rule for the NGAs it has the integrity to apply them. I don't expect all the rules to be immutable but to introduce a rule retrospectively as was the case with Mac Andrew was clearly dishonorable.We were the only club with a potential first round draftee (I think Michito Owens drafted by the saints at 33 was next) so we were the only club to suffer detriment .In the interest of fairness Mac should have been exempted from the rule change .A club should be hesitant in investing resources in NGA and risk this type this type of ad hoc rule change.

Great reports, thanks guys. Re the music - crowds during games are loud and players have to communicate. Perhaps its an attempt to help them find ways of communicating when there is lots of extra noise? Just a thought

Cracking goal from Bannan. Took 'em on and kicked straight 😎👌 Demons survive early scare to tame Tigers

For those who didn't get to see the game - worth noting for future reference that all AFLW games are shown live on the AFLW website. And replays are uploaded there as well, usually a few hours after the game. (Go Dees!)

McNamara is looking like a blonde Ed Langdon striding up and down the wing in peak physical shape and occasionally shanking it but also laying great tackles and providing a defensive and offensive number both ways.

Dees going bang, bang, bang.

I have seen us win at every VFL opposition home ground in Victoria. Yet to see a Premiership live ♥️💙 🏆

That's a very grounded and reasonable assessment of all of those players. Well done.

errrr..... re "the mud covered toilets at moorabin".......it wasn't mud 🥴

Ardern St - standing on empty steel beer cans so I could see Moorabbin - my uncle yelling abuse at Ross Smith the entire game Vic park - watching someone get their head kicked in Western oval - having our car broken into and groceries stolen Waverley - cars bogged up to the axel Junction Oval - indecent exposure Princes park - I asked my son what was that strange lighting arrangement on the other side of the ground; he said that it was the electronic scoreboard. Had the worst pies and even on a non match day there would be a queue for the ladies toilets. Absolute disgrace.

The situation in the AFLW suggests that planning should already be made for situations where clubs are affected by the virus. I think all clubs have a feeder team in the next tier of competition below the AFL eg VFL, SANFL, WAFL. Therefore, the AFL could introduce a Rookie Category C of up to 8 players who would be trained at their second tier clubs and elevated as Senior players as the need arises. In addition, for cases of special needs eg. where a suitable ruckman is not available on a club’s list, an application for elevation to a club’s list could be made from outside (including another clubs’ Category C list if the player is not being used). All such elevations to Senior lists to be in blocs of three matches.

And where did Macintosh end up? Academies for anyone except The Sydney Swans are a complete joke

Are you sure that was mud 🤔

I'll always remember walking into the MCG before all the new stands and lights were put in. Through the turnstyles, across the road, up the steps and popping out of the tunnel to see the ground. Dunno if it was cause I was a kid but got a sense of awe when seeing the ground near everytime. Seems to have lost that with the design now. Also remember it being really just a huge tin shed. Get 50-60 thousand in there and the place would dead set shake when the crowd got going. Has lost that atmosphere too IMO. Mainly watched MCG and VFL park games as we lived close. Now and then we'd slum it and go to opposition grounds. Never went to the Western oval or Kardinia Park though. Victoria Park was a real eye opener for a kid. Walking in there with my old man we were greeted with a row of retarded blokes in black and white wheelchairs outside the gates telling us to "Fork off Melbourne." 😱 Honestly, you didn't hear that sort of stuff at the G.

Just reported at 84 RIP

Perhaps Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture replete with canons to remind us of.... Bang Bang Bang !

Thanks T RaB Got to this too late but like it would have made any difference.

Same here. Punchline up there with " around the grounds"

Just listened to the season ending podcast and wanted to say thanks to Andy, George & Binman for the excellent insights and summaries they provided across the year! I’m looking forward to hearing them again in 2022 as the Demons keep on a winning roll! Hopefully there is a season preview coming up in the near future and a five round update on the AFLW team would be handy! Go Demons in 2022!

Agreed. Unless a club is guaranteed access to NGA prospects, the whole NGA system needs to be funded entirely by the AFL, without clubs needing to contribute a cent.

Reading about ball movement at lightening speed is exciting. While it would be hard to play better than some of what we produced across all the finals, especially the 100-7 finish in the GF, the Tigers improved after winning the 2017 GF, as their players confidence lifted and they just believed. It is a scary thought for the rest of the competition if we improve on our finals efforts, as none of the finalists got close to us, Lions being lucky to lose by only 31 points due to our poor goal kicking. Bring on 2022!

If Lukosious didn't play for the Suns he would be much more highly regarded.

I’d argue it’s absolutely a passion project and he’s hardly employed by ESPN. A monthly article in season and a few extra either side of the draft won’t be paying him enough to really study the draft pool. Even watching a few games a week doesn’t get close to what recruiters do in full time jobs. He’s a passionate amateur draft fan with a little insight and adds a small bit to a very limited conversation. Certainly not worth getting hung up on his opinions.

Demonland needs to write the match reports. A little bewildering McNamara hasn’t been named in the best in the above report. 5 tackles and 17 possessions, her defensive work was ferocious all night. Bannan’s goal was brilliant and it all started with McNamara’s kick into the middle from half-back to spot up Mithen.

Gee Tarax, u have slightly understated it but you do have an accurate appraisal of the scenarios at play. Lucky I am a Berwick resident coz with current road works seemingly on every stretch of road,a trip for those folk across town would be akin to a trip across Siberia.

Either that or he gets more clicks for over rating Collingwood.

If McNamara could kick she could be a star she was everywhere in the first half

Strangely enough, we were outscored in all but the second quarter which we dominated. Tigers flattered because of their great accuracy in front of goal (similar to last week when they kicked 10.1).

Fitter and stronger with a bit more class when it counted. Well done Dees!

We had 5 out to HS protocols last week and 5 this week. By now you’d think half the players have had it. Hopefully we can get a few wins under the belt and be pretty much covid done and dusted by the back half of the season

Perhaps. In theory, we should be on the decline by then. Against that, from what we've seen Covid is also seasonal and peaks over the winter months, so perhaps we'll start to get a new wave building through autumn. What might help though is booster shots - I assume that a lot of players would be ready for boosters by the time the season starts. Boosters really seem to have an impact, at least in keeping symptoms down and shortening infection period.

Visiting Casey Fields for training reports now seems to have ‘blown’ into Burke and Wills expedition proportions. Firstly after sorting out the baggage train with errant camels at the Zoological Gardens it is no Caravanserai. Then one needs to negotiate the trollway and the Monash Freeway which is not easy from the saddle of a long-legged ruminant and it’s already a ‘Highway from Hell’ without Bon Scott’s curdled wail and Malcolm and Angus’s three cord thrash. By the time you’ve arrived and survived fruitless hours in the PCR queue your beginning to wonder ‘“What’s this all about Alfie”’. And you don’t give a 🐀’s (test) when you find you are still very much on the outer beyond the cyclone fence. Despite being dutifully doubly vaxxed and patiently awaiting your booster. Meanwhile in the long summer grass you’re having to deal with the ‘locals’, deadly vipers and the natives who are according to some disjointed infrequent reports are not necessarily all that ‘friendly’. The final indignity some upstart probably the work experience factotum gets to choose today’s training Muzak!!! Makes you want to find a tree mark it “X”, dig a hole and bury your binoculars, ear muffs, pencil and notepad for next intrepid pith-helmeted expeditioneers. That will invariably fight their way out 'there' through the urban jungle attempting to illuminate the heart of darkness (sic) at pre-season training.

Not according to Darren Burgess. When asked on the Gus and Gawny podcast "who surprised you with their fitness when you started", Burgess mentioned that Pickett's endurance in addition to his speed was high level. So I'm not sure where you got that from.