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Clayton Oliver is down at training! He is out early with Gawn doing some simple centre work drills. Now he is drilling with McQualter, as Goody looks on. During a break Goody comes over to him and they embrace. What I would love to see, is him joining the main group when the whistle for collecting together goes off. They have collected and Oliver is doing his own program.

CLARRIE!!! I’ve already declared my (our) love for him. I said, “You’re a bloody sight for sore eyes!” He grinned and said, “Yep, I’m back!” 🥰

Caught about 40 minutes today, some of the handball drills and then a few periods of main stuff. I think Bowey was the standout, he’s really charging off the back in the handball receive drills and kept that going in the match sim. Using it well too. The other player who really impressed me was Fritsch just much more involved as a complete player coming up the ground in match sim. Match sim was fairly messy and unremarkable. Certainly more focus on run and carry and switching. Bowey, Pickett, Viney Spargo all had moments in the corridor. Blue team had Chandler and ANB at half forward and seemed to have an easier time pressuring and moving the ball than white team which had Gawn, Pickett, Tracc and a talent edge in the middle. Not too much on the new guys. Kolt had a few link ups and found space in the match sim. Windsor still iffy with some of his disposals but there’s times were his pace is a huge advantage. They’ve finally got him a jumper that fits and he looks stronger. One that stood out a bit in the small handball drills was Jed Adams. Kossie burnt straight passed Schache and was planning the do the same to Adams but Jed quickly chased him down. I know he was impressive in the grand final sprint but he has really good speed off the mark too. Plenty to work on but that’s such an advantage for a tall defender.

It’s training, not the bachelor reunion show

For me it is a short train ride to training. It feels like you have enough time to eat a Burger with the Lot whilst waiting for the Punt Rd lights to change. Clarrie!!!! - lifted my spirits; still has that same boyish grin and his preferred method of greeting seems to be a wrestle. Light duties, lots of running, some dodging and don't quote me but has magnificent hips. Couldnt lay a tackle on him in a phone box. Had more sunscreen on than the combined U9s cricket team. Looked in excellent spirits. Lots of media in attendance Chin and Spargs train like they are competing for the same spot. Salo Hore and McAdam runing some laps. I dont think Salo would raise a puff blowing out the candles on a birthday cake. McAdam fitness work in progress. BBB made an appearance on the boundary line, handballing. What a head of hair - to think mine started to clog the vacuum cleaner from 15.... TMcs hair coming back to normal. Petty - light duties, feeding handballs into a drill May doesnt tackle lightly No matter where I stand on the fence it always seem to be happening on the other side....grass is always greener..... Go Dees

Plenty out early, Rucks all drilling together, a few of the smalls drilling fast steps and shimmies around mannequins. Many are goal kicking. Tomlinson and TMac drilling together. No Sparrow. Rehab include, Petty doing mainly bike work, Melksham strolling around, Fullaton exercising with a trainer, BBB and Hunter very light duties. Jefferson training with an assistant. Starting numbers of full training was about 31 players, no run-ons (Yze, Mentha). We ended with about 27, 28 fully fit players. A bit of a worry given we are 5 weeks out. Viney was tackled between a player and the ground, shorts were ripped on one side, and he was limping. Kept playing, then left for some run throughs but couldn't complete them. Cork to the hip, I reckon. May ran some laps, as did Salem, who partnered Clarry in numerous laps. McAdam had some laps, though returned to the sim. Hore ran laps before the end of sims. Verral seems to have a running program going, fitness I reckon. Warms ups were the same as usual, 3 stations, one funny walk, the other handballs and third was short kicks. They then do some run throughs, Tholstrup putting in more than the others. They then go to more dynamic kicking drills, one precision, one lead to long kick to behind the player. A third was also used, (didn't observe well). They were boisterous, and playfully in the approach to each other. Off to the handball games, which became interspersed with the sims. They were still running many players through the on-ballers, Spargo, Billings, Bowey, Laurie, Viney, Gus, Tracc. The wings had some young players, K.Brown, Windsor, Woey, as well as Langdon there. At one stage they put Tholstrup down back up against Rivers who was forward. Jed Adams was looking good. Spargo ran the legs off the others, Kossie was playing a little selfish, Howes kicking was elite a few times. McAdams loves getting out the back for a goal. JVR holding some marks and getting on the lead. Fritta is back.

Windsor picks the ball off the deck, sells some candy and pinpoints a bass across the ground to McVee. He has some silky skills.

Unbelieve to see the #13 back out there. Go well Clarry ❤️‍🔥

Clarry now stretching on the boundary after a marathon session of running. Whilst not in the main group it was great seeing him interact with players and the general feeling amongst those in the crowd watching was one of joy and optimism. Bang! Bang, Bang, Bang.

Salem back training with the main group. Looks to be in exceptional nick.

Got down there for 90mins. Clarrie was looking good and giving off good vibes. He said hello, I told him it was good to see him. He did some photos with a young bloke near me, who was stoked. He had affectionate interactions with BBB and Billings, then soft tackled AMW to the ground and held him down (in good humour). I'm reporting a future injury... whoever tackled Viney, tore his shorts half off and gave him a corky! Many impressions from the session have already been posted, so I only have a few observations to share. Fritta looks very fit and is in everything, more physical in the contest than I remember. Tom McDonald is very strong in the clinches and I now have him on a par with Tomlinson, with Disco very close behind them. Adams looks good on the burst, but doesn't yet have the strength of the other three. Adam's kicking is also a bit iffy target-wise. I watched Stafford's ruck group closely. Max is dominant, as you would expect, but he provides elite competition for the up-and-comers. On todays form, Schache is the closest to providing Max with any competition, followed by Verall, who seems quite a bit shorter (even though listed as 199) and Farris-White, who is clearly improving. I need to report a few well known negatives from today's end-to-end stuff. Lever still stuffs up the occasional short pass and Trac still murders a few passes and gets very grumpy with himself. Petty was on the sidelines for this activity, but he and Tomlinson were yelling a lot of advice to the youngsters about positioning. They were particularly vocal toward Kynan Brown, who seemed only moderately interested in what they were calling out. It's true, Caleb Winston is a talent. Quick, evasive and sure by foot. Glides around like a famous wingman who owned the members' wing!

Mark Robinson is a real piece of work. “This is not a bash Clayton Oliver exercise because to do so without facts and an understanding of the complexities of Oliver's wellbeing, would be plainly wrong.” He then proceeds to mention a number of the many unsubstantiated rumours that have been circulating around the traps about Clarrie in recent times, some of which are totally absurd. Robinson openly says they’re rumours and furthermore tells his readers, “[D]on't believe everything … “ and then, there’s the “but”. There’s always a “but”. Forgive me, but I’m going to add my own “but” here because Robinson has also been conspicuously absent from his work with his own ailments over the past couple of years and I seem to recall that the rumour mill was working overtime about him and his lifestyle, habits and boofhead behaviour. Back then, I didn’t believe everything but I didn’t repeat the rumours even though he's not exactly “Saint Christopher” either. I won’t repeat them now but who knows? I might be tempted if this hypocrite continues to rant on about the subject in the way he has in this article. It’s an example of why we’ve had to take extra care with this and one or two other touchy subjects in the past few months or so. Enough for now, save and except that I’m really happy to see Clarrie back and I hope he kicks a*** on the footy field again this year as he has throughout his career. Clarrie, be well.

Positive reports on Spargo from a few observers. I still believe we are a better team with him in it.

Richo mentioned that this week is a down week for Petty and that they were monitoring his loads closely to see how he progresses. So maybe nothing to be concerned with at this stage but Hunter may not be ready for round zero.

He was making the odd comment to the crowd and was signing autographs for a few people.Looked in very good spirits.

JVR’s marking on a lead is lethal. Now we just need to hit him up more often.

Rivers is a beast with his run and follow-up off half back.

I am just pleased as punch. That that man is back in training. And he is smiling at onlookers. I don’t care whether he is a touch over weight or under done. he is back, smiling, and with his club mates. our window has just opened wider again. GO DEES

I told him exactly that except I said ‘ripping’ nick. He said he feels great, he feels better than he has in a long while. Then all of the sudden, he gritted his teeth, did a double fist pump and loudly said, “CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SEASON TO START!!!” LOL… I thought I was meant to be the hyper, easily excitable one. He made me look like an amateur. 😁

Rehab: Clarry, Hunter, Melksham, Fullarton, Brown Absent: Smith

2019 was a mess all summer, we’ve had good numbers on the track this year. Would like to see Salem back in soon but he’s done a mountain of work. Same goes for Hunter back on track (he was in drills last week). A Viney cork isn’t much to worry about. Wait and see on May but he’s looked fitter than he has been since 2020 to my eye. Petty is by far the biggest concern so far especially with the backs ups also sidelined.

Trac don’t argues Kolt and then somehow creates space in a sea of people accelerating out of the pack. Vintage powerful Trac.

I know we'll be better off with a new purpose-built training venue, but how beautiful is it seeing the green grass, the established trees, and Government House in the background? (Oliver in the foreground is a nice bonus, too.)

I've heard people on Demonland complain that it's hard to get decent parking anywhere near Gosch's so I've just been down to check it out for myself. Good news people! I've discovered a perfect spot right outside the ground and, what's more, there's HEAPS of spare spaces if anybody's still looking. Let's make this our little secret and keep it to ourselves, hey? The road to look for is Bus Lane.

I'MMMMM BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK THE CHATANOOGA CHOO CHOO TRAIN!!

Clarry and Salem running half laps at a very quick pace.

What a sight… go get em Clarry 🔥🔥🔥

Hope the hospital visit was not too difficult and the outcome is positive.

Red & Blue are prominent colours in the flags of both Koreas, South and North 🇰🇷🇰🇵😊 Also, in traditional Korean folk culture Demons are called Dokkaebi 도깨비 Dokkaebi don't have the negative connotations of Demons as in some other Asian cultures. The Dokkaebi can have supernatural powers, sometimes used in positive ways, sometimes not ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dokkaebi#:~:text=Dokkaebi (Korean%3A 도깨비) are,and at times helping them.

Yes, I saw this post on one of my regular fortnightly visits to Concord Hospital here in Sydney… a great spirit lifter!

At training in the free flowing Match SIMs (which really is just end to end circle work and is only approx. 13 on 13 and not really a substitute for the actual pressure of a match) Spargo is utilised as a link up through the middle. He gets a lot of the footy and uses it really well. I can't see him being used as a mid on match day and as a forward pocket or even high half forward we don't get to see enough on match day of what I have witnessed at trainings with him. That said I still think he is best 22.

Billings too is very accurate by foot on the run hitting up targets.

My uneducated guess is that the players I have just mentioned as leaving the main group are being eased back in to full training and are “avoiding” the physicality of the current drill.

CLARRY CHOO CHOO🤣😇🤩🤠😎

In an otherwise [censored] morning driving to the Alfred, it was bloody awesome seeing Oliver out there.

Clarry doing run throughs and other exercises separate from the main group with instruction from Selwyn Griffiths

What a great way to start the training Report Demonland set the heart beating with the Clayton news and followed up with a comprehensive report, thanks also to Kev Martin, DEESPENCER, WayneWussell and Jontee for great reports, insights and observations. Also thanks to all posters another great Training day.😁

I was going for my afternoon walk to Ghoshs Paddock and saw Mark Williams conducting what looked like a goal kicking drill with several players. The players included Gawn, Trac, Brayshaw, Spargo, and Laurie. Some ladies from Korea were watching and all the players had a photo taken with the ladies after the drill finished. Mark Williams was then had a good talk with the Korean ladies.

In case anyone isn’t aware Trac is an absolute beast swatting off opponents as he does whatever he pleases.

Bowser is elite by foot.

Howes drills a beautiful pass down JVR’s throat on a lead.

How is Clarry interacting with the players? Is it ‘great to have you back old mate come in for a cuddle!’ or a bit colder? I have been wondering how much the events of the last 12 months have impacted his reputation/relationships within the group.

Windsor with great closing speed to tackle AMW and stop a certain goal. With a cloud on Hunter could we see Windsor as an early round starter?

Brayshaw getting his fingers strapped by a trainer. 426

A text exchange with my triumvirate of Gosch’s girls… I’ve taught them well 😂

Another unfortunate stab by Stevie J.