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Note, there is one more session on Friday at GP before the players break for X-mas. Firstly, there are a handful of players who now have been on limited duties for the past two weeks and it's fair to say that round 1 is starting to look unlikely for them, unless they emerge fit and fired up from the X-mas break and nail a heap of sessions. The five are: Hibberd, BB Brown, Angus, Joel Smith and Deakin Smith. On top of that two of our newbies - Will Ferrell and Jed Adams - have been on extra, light duities - it's possible they won't return after X-mas simply because they would have been bored out of their brains just doing endless run throughs and watching everyone else get stuck into it. Three other players copped knocks today but all seemed fine after them - May (ribs), Gawn (knee) and Sparrow (head knock from Spargo tackle). All kept going at match sim. Kozzie wasn't there today either, but he was the pick of the bunch the week before, so hopefully nothing untoward about his absence today. As to the highlights of the match sim (note I left about 11.15am, so those that stayed till the end can update anything extra as required). T-Mac: I can say that he is looking as good as new and I am not sure why some here said he may have long-term injury worries. Sure he is no longer capable of winning our 200m rep sessions and yes he's a tad porky around the hips from his all-meat diet, but the big fella is just a clever lead-up, lead-back player with strong hands and we all know he's a deadeye d*ck and has a huge tank. If he returns from the break with a passion for the sprints then he's a monte to line up forward with Fritter and JVR and his best mate Melky will miss out. It's as simple as that. JVR: Ok, I am sold. He is ready and only an injury will stop him playing rd 1 now. In fact it's a shame we have to wait until round 15 for his battle with De Koning. While his nice hanger over Lever today was the highlight, he was so much more than one grab. He dished, he tackled and he wore my pre-Robbie idol Greg Parke's No.26. I reckon he said I don't want Jonesy's No.2, I want 26 for Parkey because maybe his grandfather knows him or used to be a copper or something. Either way he is starting to take on that junior Schwarter look and along with T-Mac and Gawny, he is the frontrunner to play as our talls rd 1, subject to injury of course. A quick note here that Schache has also been looking mega impressive as well at training playing as a mobile forward swinging onto his left, but I suspect he will have to wait until injury to get his chance. And with so many TFs on the park, I can see why the club ain't moving Petty there just yet. CP5: Ok, I am not sold. Yes I know his 2020 was a breakout extravaganza and I know his 2021 was brilliance personified with his ability to lift in big games making him Martinesque. But right now he's like Danger or Fyfe - a turnover machine that looks like he's going to break the game open but lets you down big time by foot. Yes I know he was injured late last season, but everything you don't want to see was on display today and last week when I attended. He just coughs the ball up time and time again as he looks to split the game open through the middle. Yes it was windy so he was not alone in miskicks (even Bowey had a howler or two). I remember Goody eventually had to pull Clayton aside three years ago and explain to him that he had to take more responsibility for going forward than just giving it off by hand, but I reckon when Goody comes back from hols he will need to pull Trac aside and just tell him to back off the media, back off the nice guy stuff and just get down and dirty. Or find a new psych. Ultimately our year will be determined by whether Trac gets back to being one of the best five mids in the game. Hunter: As withT-Mac, he made sure the club knows his quality. He lined up on Ed 'Sheerin' Langdon and he was clever, composed and ducked on to his left with the ease of Karl Amon. He will play round 1 barring injury or returning from his break in the bad books and he will play the left wing which means us MCC members will get to see Langdon close up for the first time. Lever: After an injury-riddled '22, he's running strongly again and looking like the All-Aussie of 2021 again - although JVR postered him on one occasion. As with Trac and Salem, he's one of three stars who if they get back to their form of '21, then finals are looking likely. Grundy and Gawn: The quick take off from down back after goals (or likely goals) in match sim meant there was little centre bounce work done, but both these guys still look superb. Gawn's marking is just so clean, while Grundy is mega quick with a dish off. They bring so much to the table and are very different. The kids: Sorry but so far all our youngsters other than JVR are still a fair way off. I did like the work and run of Judd McVee though - he's really improving and looks likely to get a go at some stage this year. It's interesting that a decade ago, a new recruit just had to fart to get noticed, but now they have to train the house down over and over to even look like getting a game in the ones. And unlike in Jones's early years, there are so many well-ensconced senior players that it's hard to see changes anyway.

The best part of the cricket season is reading the Demonland MFC training reports. Thanks to all who provide reports and hope for next season.

Training 14 December 2022 A lot of close ups but it looks like Gosch's to me and the giveaway is the caption that tells us that Max Gawn is taking a mark at Goschs Paddock.

He's a defender right? If we sign him up we go into Backman Turner Overdrive. (I'll let myself out now)

Gus will be right for round 1. Always has a limited preseason just for his body to settle, young man living in an old man’s body😂. As for Verrall and Adams, they’ve both been recovering from injuries that derailed their seasons and notably why they weren’t taken earlier in the draft. Verrall with a groins issue and Adams with a bad shoulder. They should be into the thick of things late Jan/early Feb.

Dont we already have a Fritta and Turner

A couple of points of motivation, apart from watching the Dees in win #5 for the 2023 season OD: - free accommodation in a mates apartment, within walking distance of Adelaide Oval, - Mrs DoF and I enjoy visiting the SA wine regions and beaches. We’ll drive from Canberra, and make a bit of a holiday of it. The Dees game is followed by another game (Port and somebody) so we will probably stay on for that. Yes, we went to watch the Dees [censored] Adelaide at AO last season.

We have another entrant. Jack Viney ran rings around Aussie UFC star Jake Matthews so badly in a junior grand final, he decided to give up on footy and focus on fighting. A wise move.

Let's hope you ain't seen nothin' yet.

If you were committed you'd drive straight to Gosch's 😂

If I see an Apache or Riders in the sky I'll let u know😇

Great report, thanks. I think we might see a few younger players getting games next year (probably not this years draftee's though) to develop depth further. Its a long season and it will not hurt to rest/manage players to allow young players to get a go.

Thanks for the report, @Deespicable! I don't currently have anything serious to add. However, now Ed has had a haircut... I'm thinking he can be called Eggy Langdon

It has been 6,675 days since Essendon last won a final. Embarrassingly they defeated the Melbourne Football Club that day on the MCG. Since that fateful day Essendon and Melbourne have been scheduled to play against each other on 19 occasions. Essendon have been listed as the Home Team on 15 of those occasions. Melbourne has won 12 & lost 7 of those matches. Between Rd 01 2005 and Round 15 2010 Melbourne were listed as the Away Team 5 times. 3 x Docklands 2 x MCG Between Rd 15 2010 and Round 03 2019 Melbourne were listed as the Away Team 8 times. 6 x MCG 2 x Docklands During COVID the Dees were scheduled to play Essendon in Rd 03 as the Away Team at the MCG but the match was infamously cancelled due to a suspected COVID case in the Bombers camp. The match was subsequently played in Rd 18 with Essendon the Home Team at Metricon Stadium. Since then both teams have had a Home game at the MCG with Essendon having the honour in 2021 and the Dees being gifted this rare gift in 2022. Now you might ask why is this an issue as the majority of these games were played at the Demon's Home ground the MCG. There are two reasons for this: 1. Cosmetics 2. Financial The first is cosmetic and ultimately not that important but for the majority of those games the Demons were forced to wear that horrible white clash strip despite the Bombers having their own clash strips during that time. Did the Bombers not want to wear a clash strip? The 2nd is financial and this is a problem because the Home Team takes the gate receipts for matches and for a 17 year period the Essendon Football Club has taken the gate receipts for 15 out of 19 clashes against the Demons. Crowds for Matches between MELB & ESS between 2005 & 2022 (Home Team listed by first letter) M 47,849 E 55,016 E 35,019 E 47,552 E 46,334 E 42,087 M 49,203 E 53,077 E 42,987 E 51,153 E 44,626 E 38,861 E 50,424 E 44,040 E 35,964 M 52,475 E 2,175 (COVID) E 19,414 (COVID) M 44,503 Melbourne Home Games vs Essendon Average Crowd 48,507.5 Essendon Home Games vs Melbourne Average Crowd 45,164.6 (not including COVID affected games) It is obvious that Essendon has benefitted financially over a 17 year period having taken the gate receipts in 13 more games (COVID affected games excluded). In 2023 Essendon once again have the honour of hosting the Demons however this time the game will be played in Adelaide as part of the AFL's Gather Round. Both teams will be compensated an estimated $500,000. Who will be the home team in 2024? Finally, this FUN FACT bears repeating; It has been 6,675 days since Essendon Football Club last won a final. You can follow along at home to see how long this astonishing record will last by following @FinalsEssendon on Twitter.

Definitely Schache. Tomlinson wearing the yellow runners with the shaved head compared to Schache here who's in the black Nike's here.

Their additions will see them easily in finals. Bolton and Lynch are two of the best players in the league and who knows with Dusty an interesting watch.

Too old, too slow? Bupkis. A good spine holds you in good stead and the Tiges have some key pieces there in Balta, Tarrant, Grimes and Lynch. Jack may be on the 18th green but get him enough shots and he'll still bin them. Liked what I saw in Gibcus as well he's got a bit of swagger. Taranto and Hopper will be important inclusions. Prestia will love to have a few more hard runners alongside him.

D/L provides all of us with a rare chance of learning information but also providing it. However any one who seeks advice should have basic skills of reading the English language snd of eliciting a reply to a question. Both David-Demon and Werribee completely overlooked basic information provided within the first 25 posts in this thread. The fact of KT being a train on player was the key to the thread in the first 5/6 posts and the status of whether he is tied to us was covered initially by myself (albeit briefly) at the bottom of page 1, answering that question. Yes we can sometimes all overlook things like this or similar events in our lives but in a forum it's not a great standard in snout 38 posts on a single subject. DD gave himself an out in his comments but that doesn't change the truth of the fact. Or are we just quick reading over some less important threads such is our lives being so hectic these days? PS I have been guilty before when replying of a similar slip up of not reading the post and ignoring the information. That's completely different to offering a varying or different opinion on a topic of course. My only excuse is age ( over 70) by the way!!! Happy Posting to all though!!

One day soon we'll have a virtual training facility in the metaverse and I will send my avatar down the highway to Geelong on cold Thursday nights in July.

A couple of years ago I saw Paul Roos out at dinner. I walked up to him and said hi, he was lovely. He said he saw me at my table and wanted to introduce himself but didn’t want to come across as a “fan boy”. Anyway, I signed his napkin and left him to it.

To limit the effect of the interchange, each team must rotate a different player to sit on the bench for the whole of each quarter. Having only three (or four if the mooted change is implemented) interchange players per quarter might limit the overuse and abuse of the interchange. If the effect is not enough, the number on the bench for the quarter can be raised to two. At some point the crowding should ease. Further, introduce a rule that no player may be interchanged more than once each quarter. This will also limit the total number of interchanges per game. These rule changes should reduce the amount of congestion at packs as players will have to conserve energy. It's easy to run to every contest if a player knows that a rest is coming.

Mahoney is the mole

The word "principle" (nor "integrity" for that matter) should never be used in connection with the AFL, especially in regard to their scheduling.

Thanks Deespicable for a great report. Mind you, my main takeaway is that the auto-censor must have broken down. How did the word after "deadeye" in the section on Tom McDonald get through unscathed? Previously, even when being used as a genuine name (as in the diminutive of Richard) it was being blocked.

Nope, it’s Schache. Has put on considerable size after the club asked him to when the trade was all sorted.

That’s not Jefferson. It’s our train on player from Frankston, Kye Turner.

The training facility is certainly taking care of itself - by not existing.....

Are injuries a concern? I hope he's not fragile.

Continues to bulk-up; has the courage and now more body to get the job done.

2021 felt like a little bit of providing opportunities to players, 2022 felt like pick 2021 premiership team where possible, only badly injured players in Salem, TMac dropped, the odd player dropped on form e.g. Rivers who looked to carry a leg injury all year, then Bowey got bullet and not given a look in thereafter. Zero dare in selections. Hopefully 2023 JVR given a chance and Chandler 4-5 consecutive games. Grundy and Hunter make us stronger!

Not correct. The Board have the majority the of their 4 year Plan succeed including the three Flags, sustained success in all three grades plus membership and corporate records and IMO a very high nearly 30% Junior Membership of the total building for the future. As well as substantial improvement to Casey Fields amenities plus the surface of the oval. Goschs also improved so substantial Govt assistance has been obtained. If Casey was in the 15km circle from MCG it would probably be the Training Ground for good with Admin etc being added and a venue for the AFLW and VFL with a capacity of say 8/10,000 bring formulated. We have never been so well off financially in 164 years and hav come from a basket case a decade ago. Facilities haven't hampered us snd success on the ground is far more important than the MCG location to be chosen ASAP. Before you query the timing of the Plan the record speaks for itself and Roffey is the chosen Board Supremo expected to deliver. Give me a decade of sustained success including multiple Flags in AFL and AFLW snd the Training facility will take care of itself I believe.

If he was with The Drifters, surely he'd be Under The Boardwalk.

Will be good to have done, and I'm sure old dee and the Deemocracy types will keep the board accountable, but if I had to choose between seeing a premiership in my lifetime or a training base I know which I'd have chosen.