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The 4 unsighted Kozzy, Petty, Hunter and Oliver . Lots of players in different numbers making it confusing. Brayshaw mostly doing some kick to kick and repeat jogging with Adams and Verrell. May and Harmes were in more drills then pulled out for light stuff. Burgoyne, Deak and Joel Smith on light duties. Joel did some solid repeat sprints. AMW on the watt bike. For a solid period they split in to 3 groups. Group A did a drill from the half forward flank working through token pressure 4 on 1 to then hit up 2 leading forwards v 2 defenders with another defender dropping back covering leading lanes. Some good hit up kicks in this. The other 2/3rds rotated through a bigger drill using about half the ground. A long kick out of the backline went to the 2 rucks (Max and Grundy had some good marking contests) from which the emphasis was on super quick transition back inside 50 and using the switch or diagonal as much as possible. T Mc, Brown, Schache, JVR all prominent. It wasn’t even numbers or full pressure but the speed on the ball from the mids/backs/high half forwards was really impressive. Some nice kicks to leads and up over the defenders too. JVR had a ball bounce off his hands and Jefferson arced across from his own lead, swooped on the crumb to gather it in the air, straightened and finished with ease. It was a bit like a taller right footed Fritsch with the touch of class. Kynan Brown looked comfortable mixing it in traffic and like he has some zip in close. Kye Turner looks a similar size to our other tall backs, seems to have good athleticism and didn’t do anything that stood out too much. But the defenders weren’t tasked with any true competitive drills. I noticed a couple of very clean Bill Laurie moments and he’s certainly changed his shape. Howes had a beautiful spearing kick to Ben Brown’s chest at one stage too. Slartibartfast‘s Training Report Kev Martin’s Training Report Tough Kent's Training Report

I got down to training today. We settled on the fence. Choco Williams came over for a chat. My two boys played soccer with Leo and Bella McDonald, kids of Tom. It was good to be back. There was no Oliver, Petty, Pickett or Lachie Hunter today. Goody and Ooze were MIA. Troy Chaplin seemed to be calling the shots. Kye Turner and Kynan Brown (son of Nathan) joined the main group. Trent Burgoyne was on a modified program. Joel Smith and Andy Moniz-Wakefield were in re-hab. Gus Brayshaw did a lot of things with the main group, but is on some sort of modified program. James Harmes was wearing a green hat signifying that he was a ‘non-contact’ player. First up was the dreaded 2km time trial. The players were split into 4 groups of similar running ability. The two more able groups went first. Adam Tomlinson led the top group from start to finish, looking very fit in beating home Nibbla in second place. JJ came third, closely followed by Ed Langdon. For those interested in times, I timed the third group. Rick Lever won this group in a time of 6:30, Bailey Laurie not far behind him in 6:36. Josh Schache won the big fella’s group, ahead of a fast finishing Gawn. Ben Brown really impressed me. He hammered home behind Max and looked the best he has since late 2021. Brodie Grundy seemed to labour, which is not surprising considering his injury problems. The young blokes struggled. Will Verral in particular, took over 8 minutes to complete his 2kms and he had Jack Viney for company on his last lap, with Vin yapping to him the whole way home. The warm up drills were focused on quick ball movement and hitting short targets under pressure. One ball movement drill I found fascinating was red v whites. The whites (defenders) would move the ball up the line. The reds would receive the ball at half back and sling shot the ball forward through quick hands and feet into the corridor. The forwards would all set up high across half forward. They would then lead far and wide, especially back into the open spaces of the forward line towards the goal square. There were no indiscriminate kicks inside 50. Each kick, be it long or short, was towards a leading Brown, McDonald or Fritsch, mostly moving back into an empty forward zone. This was very different to our long kicks into pockets last year. I won’t ramble any further. I’m happy to answer any questions.

Time trial day. Tough day for it given the heat and dryness. Tomlinson killed it, looked like ANB might burn him after he passed him 400 out, Adam was having nothing of it. Jack Viney the other stand out, also got around his players afterwards, and supported Verral who really struggled. Ben Brown was running very well, almost caught Gawny. Grundy was a bit slower than what I expected. A few absentees, Petty, Oliver, Pickett, and Hunter. I wasn't sure if Burgoyne (43) was there. A run on a player with 33 on his back looks like him. Light duties included, May, Harmes, D.Smith and Brayshaw. Poor old J.Smithy, in rehab mainly by himself. Appeared to be lower back/left hip problems. Moniz-wakefield also rehabbing. No kick to Kick, to start, but into drills where they have cross angles and move around each other. First with handballs, then with kicking. They use a variety of movement, with the last formation being schimmys and movement to four points with some defensive pressure. They're into sims with two groups, not much tackling First group start with a scramble kick out of the backline and a coach brings the ball to ground, and they swoop outside the 50 and create a delivery inside the 50. The other group kicks a long ball out of the backline, to the talls competing, which then gets moved back to the forwards. A few of the players rotated through the different styles. Into two groups talls and smalls. The talls do one on one marking, and the smalls tackling each other. The tackiling had some competitive vibe added to it. The goal kicking drills were performed in a completely different way. The alley is formed between the stakes and a body model that is kicked over. One on each side of goal at about 35°. Williams stands behind the model and gives them immediate feedback. Mainly about the ball drop, how straight it is and where the foot contacts the ball. He knew if the kick was goaled or not, even without looking. It was the most accurate kicking I have seen at training. Keep it up Chocco. After the goal kicking, they went to 8 repetitions of about 150 meter runs. The last three to leave were, Tracc, Viney and BBB, using the Williams method and with his feedback to get the set goal kicking right. Good start to 2023, they looked sharp and the noise volume was encouraging. Appeared happy to be back into "it'. Addit: I didn't see Hibbo get attention. My thought was he was back to full training. Hope it is not that niggling calf/achilles. Tough Kent's Training Report

Players were out early doing some stretches, light kick to kick and a few of the boys were doing goal kicking where they ran between a line of poles on each side of them and kicked over a metal "man" for goal. The standout was Oliver Sestan who is a beautiful kick for goal. Tmac, Melk and KFW were others doing this drill. They then broke into groups for the 2 Km time trial. A number of different groups started from different parts of the ground and they didn't finish where they started so it was hard to tell who "won". After the time trial they then went into the drills described by DeeSpencer. Players to impress me today were Bowser who looked really good and kicked the ball beautifully, Kade Chandler who was in everything and also kicked very well for goal, Seston who did well in the drills and again kicked very well for goal and Tmac who was moving really well and was very clean with his marking.

Great report JVR with out a hair cut in Pettys number took me a while to realise who it was. Max was taking great marks in the forward line but he’s kicking worries me After the drills at the end of the session they did some running and Benny brown, Jefferson and Kyah Farris-White led the way. Was really surprised after the session they had and everyone else looking cooked. One stage Farris-White led by about 10 metres from The group. Pig pulled out of the running towards the end with some sort of complaint Really liked the way Rivers was training also. Seems to have some spark back.

Keep an eye on Howes. Chrissy drink with a mate who socialises with Taylor and asked me what I thought of Howes. Jason believes he is a super talent and will make an impact. An unfortunate foot injury prevented him from being on track to debut last season.Track watchers, I welcome your reports

Kozzy, Petty, Hunter and Oliver I haven’t seen also Goodwin I haven’t seen Brayshaw, May and Harmes in rehab from the seniors

Totally agree, Gawny had to really work to get to the rights spots when in marking duels today, and visa versa for Grundy. Really interesting to watch, the way they would try different tactics such as, make body contact early and push, or hang back a few steps so the other couldn't see them, or dance around from one side to the other, hoping for the advantage. I find all the work that many of the players are doing with each other, is inspiring. Many are passing on knowledge, I can see them talking extensively between drills. We really have a great culture that way. There is also plenty of banter and pseudo aggression as they gee each other up. Support, encouragement and competitiveness. Addit: Seems JVR is learning Fritch's leading patterns (always finding a step ahead, and led into lovely pockets of space with different angles). Both looking very good. Some of Bailey's snaps today were beautiful.

He seems like a really nice guy. No wonder Collingwood wanted him gone.

Howes was getting lots of support and encouragement from the others. There's a good size about him, has excellent disposal skills and gets involved.

Reading all these training reports it's hard to see us not win the premiership.

Thanks for all the reports. Great to see TMAC and BBB getting back into fitness. We really missed these two last year (even though BBB played, he wasn't fit) I think general fitness for the whole playing group killed us at the pointy end of the season. Fingers crossed for a team that can run out games haaaaaard! This year. Choccos goal kicking drills sound pretty cool too. The cats dominated last year with fast switching and accurate field kicking. Hope we can do the same but harder and faster this year. Happy 2023 everyone. Let's break this god forsaken premiership drought.

Thanks to all scribes.When Im back from Invi and training resumes at Casey, I'll be there!! Cheers all, P.F😁

Woewo was doing alright. His kicking still needs some work and I think needs to "do" a bit quicker. A run in the AFL would be useful for him, to see what is required. Jefferson has a good kick on him, some of his goal sense is amazing. Even some of the others are looking, and seeing consistency. Schache seems to be holding his own, as well as keeping low key. Took some nice marks.

During the season, the $6 a month fee for their full articles is really worth it. One of the few footy news sources with content they've created and aren't just padding out fluff stories.

I wonder how much better it is for a premium ruckman to be training with (or against) another premium ruckman rather than a second stringer? We see it all the time with the best forwards having to battle the best defenders. But most clubs don't have a quality second ruckman to put up against their first choice big man.

Wow off to a flyer thanks DS, SB, Kev and TK plus all other posters I feel a bit shell shocked. That is a great start to 2023.!!!!

Looks like BBB may not be as cooked as some thought, hope he stays fit, TMac also.

It seemed to me that opposition teams were finding ways to NOT bomb long into their F50. I.e lots of chip and run type entries to undo the influence of May and Lever and break up our structure. Does Gawn playing back really add that much more? Its a genuine question not a statement. I just cant quite get my head around where to get the most out of him when he's not rucking.

Thanks KM. Bailey was not assessed as in Top 10 Forward by HUN recently but Lipinsky of Cwood was a top 10 in mids of the AFL! Please how ridiculous. Bailey is an A grader now with 55 goals each in 2021/2 and of course his fabulous best in the GF Flag win. With JVR learning now plus MJ as a new player this year that's potentially 3 medium/ talls with fantastic skills in forward craft. Might not be this year but when they are mixed with say Tmac/BBB and our other smalls/mids I cannot see how our forward line will not be our strength in the very near future. Those 3 stars have each got a forwards brain and skills eg goal kicking and snapping goals plus a hint of ball skills to sniff out goals others only dream of. Add Kossie and the straight kicking of BBB and T Mac I wonder whether our wasted shots are a thing if the past? Even Howes and Chandler are a real chance to join this bunch very soon!! Very exciting times ahead forward of centre if our players play to a game plan and at a high speed.

Very early going but enjoyed Mr Mongrel Punt's insights for 2023, backs are back, strong midfield cohort strengthened with classy experienced imports. Forwards; a tantalising mix of older heads Tom and Ben (Masters Po and Kan), Bayley already abroad (Caine), JVR and young Jefferson (tyro KCC's) their AFL journey about to begin. Out on the paddock this morning the chat might go something like this... "Close your eyes (post kicking action of course!) What do you hear? … Are you able to hear the grasshopper that is right at your feet."

Goody sighted in Bali late last week.

Demons Facebook announcing arrivals for 2023 Preseason Training. Good to see that Josh Schache is keen and hungry …

Agreed, the end is nigh! He seems like a thoughtful and team oriented person. Even better, he's often informally training with some of the other boys which bodes well for cohesion. In that first week he understandably seemed sad to leave the Filth after 10 years and a bit uncertain about us, but now he seems very comfortable with us!

That's because the mighty Demons are a topside.

Jeez, a sensible thread has been turned into minced meat.

FMD !! When I saw the thread title , I first thought of that dirty knee raising septic tank, who is not worthy of being mentioned in the same sentence as Max. However, the bloke above is - a great player. The stats do, however, support my contention ( as stated previously, many times, on "land) that Max is the best ruckman I've seen in my many decades of following footy.

Exciting to hear positive reviews re Jefferson & Howes

I think we have to reclaim the MCG as our fortress. We make ourselves unbeatable there, and we will be close this season. The session was pretty good. Only a few had the fumbles, though most of the drills were done in a fairly low key manner (80% effort). May be a while till they go hard.

I can see him improving even more. His capacity to lead to unusual spaces, his snaps are getting better and he is primed as one of the first picked, is durable and has some swagger going on. I predict this will be his year. William's is working hard on them getting their set shots right. If Tracc, Vines and Oliver become "dead eyes", watch out, as taking our opportunities will hurt the oppositions. Some appear to flourish under the tutelage of Choco.

yet it was reported that he and andrew still did the 100 x 100 on xmas day!

For a smaller fella, he has got the biggest legs and hips I have ever seen. He looks a real power athlete who could impact at Casey level this year. Aerobically, he's a long way off though. This could weigh against him this year.

He was in rehab prior to Christmas. Mainly working with the rowing machine. Good to see him running.

If it comes down to those two, then it's a no brainer to go with Burgoyne. I'm assuming Burgoyne is at the very least a competent VFL standard player who will provide depth for Casey while keeping Kozzie in a good space.

Just bumping this because of how much I’m loving grundys instagram engagement. He’s always quick to give a teammate a pat on the back or pump up. From my cheap seats reading his comments, it always appears perfectly genuine and very aligned with the good team ethos we hope for. The itch to see his cohesion with clarry at stoppage and petracca in general play is starting to overwhelm me. Bring on round one!

Really need Tom to get back to match fitness. There's a lot at steak

Has anyone read the Mongrel Punt 2023 season review about us? THE BIG QUESTIONS – MELBOURNE 2023 SEASON PREVIEW Some interesting points - particularly that Fritta has kicked more goals in the last two years than anyone else bar Hawkins -pretty amazing. The MP does not agree with the “selfish” criticism… Like me, he is pretty bullish about 2023- particularly Gawn/Grundy and Langdon/Hunter. A good read if you can get it.

Seems like the boys are back at Gosch. DeeSpencer‘s Training Report Slartibartfast‘s Training Report Kev Martin’s Training Report Tough Kent's Training Report

I think the answer to this might be that there are two types of attack from the opposition. The first is setting up a chain of chip and run, which we try to defeat by all-team defence, putting pressure on their ball-carrier and all receiving options, starting at our forward line. The second is when they get the ball from a contested situation, which, as MP describes, can be stymied by having the ruckman play a kick behind.

Today’s Herald Sun has a report on the train-on players in anticipation of possible selection to fill vacancies through the AFL’s supplemental selection period, which ends on 15 February. Melbourne has one list vacancy and this is the comment on our two candidates:- “MELBOURNE TRENT BURGOYNE (Port Adelaide SANFL) Mid-Fwd, 21, 177cm, 70kg The son of Power great Peter and brother of 2021 draftee Jase, Burgoyne was delisted at the end of the 2021 season without playing a game for the club. Burgoyne’s two years at AFL level were cruelled by hamstring injuries, playing just four SANFL matches during this period. He remained with Port Adelaide’s SANFL side last year and impressed with his agility and reading of the play in defence, highlighted by 24 disposals and seven tackles against Norwood. KYE TURNER (Old Haileybury/ Frankston VFL) Defender, 20, 193cm, 78kg Turner gets his chance to trial at the Demons after playing just two VFL games for Frankston late in the year. The defender showed promising signs for the Dolphins, averaging 12 disposals and three intercepts while going at 79 per cent kicking efficiency. He also starred in VAFA B-Grade competition for premiership winners Old Haileybury, with Turner named at full back in the team of the year. The Demons already picked up unknown VAFA prospect Oliver Sestan in November’s rookie draft. Could it be a similar story?” I’m not sure where they got the idea that Oliver Sestan was from the VAFA - he actually played in the Goulburn Valley Under 18s and at school with Xavier College but not with their Old Collegians in the Ammos.

Expecting him to tear on the competition this season. An all Australian blazer is in his future.

Love the idea of plonking Gawn in our defensive 50 for much of the game to make the opposition think twice about their inside 50 entries. If T Mac, BBB and JVR are all available then I don't see the need for Gawn to spend much time as a forward this year.

https://themongrelpunt.com/afl-season-2023/2023/01/08/the-big-questions-melbourne-2023-season-preview/