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I arrived at 9.15am to find the match sims well underway and I imagine they started early to allow them time to get organized for the community camp at Yea. On the rugby oval adjacent to Gosch's a few are the boys were doing some gentle drills. Clarrie, Nibbler, AMW, Jefferson and Melk were doing a bit of keeping off, handball drills and some running. I only watched as I made my way to the main oval. J Smith and Verrell were doing running around the boundary and as far as I could tell the only no shows were Salo and Lingers. All the rest were involved in the match sims including Gawny and Jake Lever. Goody would throw the ball in on the wing and the white and blue team would contest from there. Brodie got a lesson from Max over the journey but Brodie was good around the ground and did some good ruck work on the odd occasion when he got the better of Max. JJ was playing inside mid in the absence of Clarrie and was doing very well. He was very clean and won a number of clearances. Kyah Farris-White was playing as a KPF with Brown and TMac and really didn't get into it but it's interesting that they see a bit of KPF in him. May was in everything and a real standout on the day and Max was marking very well around the ground. JvR continues to impress. On one occasion he was involved in a marking contest at FF with the ball bouncing away to another player who was 15 metres away but he then pressured and tackled the defender drawing applause from Goody and the players. He's very competitive when the ball hits the ground and I'd hate to be the match committee selecting the KPF if all the boys are fit. In another piece of play the ball was cleared from the centre wing throw in and was kicked forward. JvR took the bouncing ball at full pace and instantly handballed to Spargs who kicked beautifully to Fritta. It was a fantastic piece of play again drawing applause from Goody and the staff. After match sims they broke into three groups and did craft training. One was marking practice and on one occasion Kossie sat on his opponent's head and took a screamer. When he landed he jarred his knee and went to get some medical attention but returned and completed the running at the end of the session. The session finished at about 10.40 and the players all headed off together. I imagine it will be a pretty relaxed skills session at Yea tomorrow with a lot of meet and greet particularly if the advertised training session is on again at Gosch's on Wednesday.

Doing the 2 and a half hour travel with my 3 year old to attend tomorrow's open training session at Yea. My turn to give back to the die hard regulars who have make the time to attend and give in depth reports for us folks who live in regional country area's. If you have any player of interest to keep an eye on let me know and I'll do my best to update. Quick question, are players accessible for photos and autographs afterwards? This is for my son who is excited to meet his hero's tomorrow.

Fwiw Byron Pickett's son Bryon Pickett jnr (Kozzie's cousin) has just moved down to Melbourne this week and I believe will be living with Kozzie and Trent Burgoyne.

I live nearby and can say categorically that the Caulfield Racecourse project is definitely not “pie in the sky”, nor is it something brand new. It’s been in the planning for a number of years and there has been consultation with the public and local organizations and sporting clubs with support from local politicians and councillors. The surrounding area is already undergoing a major transformation with housing and shopping developments, the expansion of Monash Caulfield and the coming redevelopment of the old stable areas. It would be remiss of the MFC not to consider the area for its new training ground - whether or not it happens, is obviously still to be determined.

My care factor on whether we have the best side on paper or not in February is extremely low.

Why do I feel this is a side show to keep us quiet on the eve of a GM where it will be a major concern from members. Having said that Caulfield has a lot better chance of success this decade than near the G. Just do it and forget about the G area.

I think I can help with your problem. I’m pretty sure I won’t have any problems talking my way into a racecourse.

Caulfield racecourse would be ideal. If those equine pools are good enough for thoroughbreds, imagine the powers of recovery they’ll have on footy players……..then there’s all those health benefits of carrots

I also live in the City of Glen Eira and the redevelopment of Caulfield Racecourse has been in the local media for years, it is not something new, it is definitely worthy of consideration because the land inside the track area is large and is not currently used, it really is dead space. There would be room for the Demons training base and also other community facilities/hospitality venues. In terms of location, it is near Caulfield Station which serves the Frankston, Pakenham and Cranbourne Lines (and the currently being rebuilt Glen Hunty Station on the Frankston Line is also just to the south of the racecourse). Also the area is really well served by Trams (64, 67 etc...) and buses. Community use aspects could easily be incorporated with different initiatives from Glen Eira LGA and also Glen Eira Secondary College to the south and Monash University (Caulfield Campus) to the north, border on the racecourse precinct. It wouldn't take much creativity to come up with development proposals with a community use angle that could attract substantial government funding. Also, Glen Eira LGA is a major area of Demons fan support and in the old MFC historic recruitment zone. If there was one LGA in Greater Melbourne where the Demons had a demographic core, Glen Eira is probably it. This could be a once in a generation opportunity for the Dees, it must be closely examined!

Makes a nice change from years past though

Melbourne has expressed interest in building its new training base at Caulfield Racecourse as part of its long-held plan to bring the club under one roof. News Corp can reveal the Demons have held talks about shifting their headquarters — including a training oval and gym facilities — to the racecourse as part of plans to redevelop the site. But the move remains a longshot as it would require significant state government funding to create a community and elite sporting hub tipped to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Discussions have centred on training ovals being constructed in the middle of the racecourse and linked by an underground tunnel to buildings outside the track. The site would be an ideal solution for the Demons as Caulfield Racecourse is only 12km and roughly a 20-minute drive from the MCG. Importantly there is a significant amount of public land available to develop in conjunction with the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust in the heart of the eastern suburbs. But the Demons also remain engaged in talks with the AFL and the Melbourne Olympic Parks Trust about redeveloping the area adjoining AAMI Park. Car Parks E and F could be used to build a multi-story complex which would give the Demons more room for their own facilities which they currently share with Melbourne Storm and Melbourne Victory. The Demons have labelled their training facilities the worst in the AFL amid a string of setbacks surrounding plans to build a new inner-city home. It has been a frustration for the club which is currently split between the MCG (administration), AAMI Park (football department), Gosch’s Paddock and Casey Fields. The training base headache will be one of the top items on the agenda at the club’s annual general meeting on Monday, February 20 when president Kate Roffey and chief executive Gary Pert update members.

Sausage roll and pie report from the Yea bakery perhaps?

This was one artist's impression of the redevelopment couple of years ago. Didn't realize how spacious the inner part of the track was.

Good man Dazzle, I hope you have a great day. It's a community trip so I would expect the players will hang around and do photos and autographs. Hope you can checkout Burgoyne I'm really interested in his progress.

Do you agree with this side? Who comes in and who goes out?

Move the MCG to somewhere near Caulfield and all the boxes are ticked. There's a better chance of that than getting a training facility near Jolimont.

Hi everyone, I'm involved with the Ruby Demons which is the MFC's LGBT supporter group. It was amazing to have the Demon Army there yesterday, and great to meet you WCW! Glad you had a good time. Although there were several supporter groups marching, we were the only one to get this kind of support from our cheer squad. That's the kind of quality people the Demon Army are. As for Ben Brown...well, it's all been said! Amazing human, as is Hester.

Sorry Jim, currently on a zero sugar/low carb diet.. Please don't judge me! What I will say is that I have experienced the famous Yea bakery sausage rolls from their from years ago and they are absolutely to die for.

Caufield is just as good a location as the MCG precinct in my opinion. If you can set up larger facilities (oval, gym, pool, offices etc) it's a much better option. Multiple train lines run through Caufield. It's also a very attractive area for players / staff to live reasonably close to, which is more important than fans IMO

Absolutely. Multiple entertainment areas in the existing facilities, that the MRC want utilised more than currently used. This area has so many opportunities for expanded use. The women playing their home games there on non race days and training on non men’s training days or on another oval, is further use which would appeal to community interests. The main race days for Caulfield are in February and October with a few more during the year. If we can get this done it will be sensational. We could go from the worst facilities in the AFL to the best.

Not good news but obviously better now than in the middle of the season. Would be pretty miserable trying to complete full training sessions with an overactive thyroid. Hopefully it settles quickly and he’s able to keep good fitness. If he’s not right for round 1 do we go with Brayshaw down back like last year OR do we go for a more like for like replacement in Salem’s mop up and quick short kicking game and go with Hunter at half back? I’d be experimenting with both options in the match sim/ practice games.

Not the best news. He’s had issues with it in the past and got it under control though. We won’t be seeing the best of him (2021 from) until late year now. Need to rework our halfback line as a result IMO. Rivers and Bowey will need to step up.

I am excited by this SEN selected side. What makes it so good is the players that are not named.

Any updates on Clarrie’s hand would interest me! - thanks

yes

Climax

Might drop down to Snodgrass St tomorrow myself.

Here is an article from June 2016 when Salem was edging closer to a return from a thyroid issue. The article refers to him going back on medications he took in 2014 when a similar problem surfaced. I assume the club and his doctors are on top of it. https://www.afl.com.au/news/40227/return-edges-closer-for-ill-demon-christian-salem

Brayshaw is another option, but he clearly doesn't have the disposal skills of Salem. Bowey is definitely the best option. Hopefully they sort this out quickly because Salem is a class player who is vital to our backline.

Surely Bowey is the most like-for-like?

Last year Goody was obsessed with players eventually getting better whilst playing in the best 22 when there was players worthy of coming in and having a crack in the same position. Grundy/Gawn, Tmac, Brown and Rooey is too tall yes but I hope if one or two are left out of the best 22 we can learn to bring in one of them if they’re playing well in the 2nds and someone in the 1s isn’t. It was driving me nuts last year! He was obsessed with keeping the same team every week which I get a tiny bit but if someone is now in their third/fourth week and they’re playing average well they need to learn it’s not acceptable and you will be replaced

Thanks @Slartibartfast. Now that the season is getting close the prospect of Gawn and Grundy playing together is certainly building the excitement. From all your and others reports it sounds like they're very competitive against each other. They showed a Pies/Ess match from 2019 on TV the other day and I forgot how good Grundy was back then.

I haven't seen anything to suggest that Viney can play any other role than inside midfield. Viney had a great year. He is underrated outside of Demon fans and maybe even underrated a little on here by a few too. He is excellent in the inside midfield position. The problem is that Oliver, Petracca and Viney don't have great disposal by foot. We may continue to lament our forward delivery while continuing to celebrate our contested midfield domination.

Pie in the sky stuff if true & bloody frustrating that our club which is the oldest and bears the name of the city continues to be treated in such a way from the state gvt with no solution yet they are funding 140 mill for Geelongs stadium .. it’s a disgrace

Thanks @Deemist, that's a cracker of an interview/podcast. Probably the best one I've listened to in a while. Maxy take the [censored] out of T Mac at times and has a tongue in cheek go that he's a [censored] bloke, but I think the opposite is actually true and that Max actually really rates T Mac. He's just such a down to earth country bloke at heart. Loved the numerous intelegent insights into life as a AFL footballer, the days after the 2021 GF etc. Particularly thought his take on the stand the mark, the 666 rule changes and ANB / Spargo roles and running were great. Stuff about Mark Neeld was also pretty interesting. All of this has probably been said/rumoured before, but if you want all this crammed into one 60min interview by someone who can accurately and articulatly explain it all, then this podcast is well worth the listen.

Could they at least disclose that a non disclosure agreement is preventing them from disclosing anything?

Yes, the titles have changed a lot over the years. When I was a kid growing up in the 60s, these were the positions on the field: B: Former rover who has lost a yard Loneliest man in the world Rock of Gibraltar H/B: Enforcer Key Defender Jack-of-all-trades C: Real goer Pivot Racehorse H/F: Avenue to goal The hardest position Will-o'-the-wisp F: Resting ruckman Spearhead Goalsneak R: One kick behind the play Prime mover Borer into the bottom of packs. 19th: Utility 20th: Big-hearted trier. A host of exciting young prospects, natural left-footers, honest battlers, bean-poles, big occasion players, nippy small men and club stalwarts who have all been knocking on the door have just missed selection and will be running around in the early game. ============================================================================ Things started to change back in the 1980s and a new terminology came into being. Teams now looked like this: B: Tagger Stopper Sweeper H/B: Rebounder Negator Springboard C: Breakaway Instigator Linkman H/F: Runner Tall option Receiver F: Crumber Converter Finisher R: Tall On-baller Small I/C: Overlapper Tag breaker =========================================================================== As of 2023, we now have three backs, three forwards, twelve rotating mids and five on the bench.

Looking forward to your report @dazzledavey36, keen to get answers to the following: how well did JVR train? ditto Blake Howes! is Spargo still short?

Jefferson, Howes, McVee 👍

We finished 2nd after the H&A. Do people really think we would have won the finals against Sydney and Brisbane if we played Dunstan for Oliver, Jordon for Petracca, JVR for Brown and Bowey for Salem. Realistically they were the options we had.

You can’t have a high grandstand, if it’s in the way of seeing the back of the track. Caulfield racecourse has massive amounts of area inside the track and outside the track in the old stabling areas. You could have a low rise grandstand that goes around one side of an oval, with facilities underneath for example, that would not hinder viewing of the track from the racecourse grandstands and/or plenty of room to build in the outside of the track, in the old stables areas. Get it done Dees.

I had heard rumours of this. The big question is whether it would be large enough to host AFLW games. Probably on non race days (or nights). That would be a game changer if it did. You could have the bare minimum in terms of fan facilities around the oval supplemented by the grandstand infrastructure. Otherwise if it's purely a training facility it still ticks the boxes as it's in the heartland and is a blank canvas for an oval or two and club facilities. That said, pretty sure the Swans tried to line up Randwick before getting their new facilities next to the SCG. So we could just be working on the same game plan.

Cripes Caulfield Racecourse??? HOW THE HELL AM I GOING TO GET IN THERE FOR TRAINING REPORTS?? I might have to become Bear Grylls, learn how to cross treacherous water ways, navigate like an Olympic Orienteerer, Learn how to jump out of a plane, and negotiating loads of Horse Sheeit. NUP A few other suggestions Redevelop Murphy oval in Pt Melbourne or Fitzroys old pad or look at the land adjacent Flagstaff station

I think it's a good option. Time to move on from the MGC precinct. We've wasted enough time.

I actually think the evidence is there to see. His refusal to give some players a go last year was so disappointing especially as we had some players injured and others tired and past best. Must not happen again this year we must use our full list and keep players on edge fighting for positions.

I want to see Kozzie hang onto a hanger. He’s been up plenty of times, but never dragged one down.

You really should proof read before posting.