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Same again folks more grappling exercises Midfield only about 15 or so involved, one thing I can say Clarry looks thinner than Ive seen for a while. Ground is being marked but again unless training starts at 11.00 doubtful would think indoor session as iterated. Goody trying to avoid peeping eyes has worked if the case Iv'e been here since 9.30. Thats it for me, am unavailable for next few weeks so if anyone can attend down at Slithera City good. I'll post again in a few weeks time. P.S Ground in magnificent condition! Cheers P.F

Welcome back to Demonland for those like me who have been on vacation. I’m posting this with some trepidation because of a certain amount of uncertainty surrounding the return of preseason training in 2025 after a flurry of weddings including those of our coach, one of our superstar players and a former premiership champion player and bloke, not to mention the recent mysterious incident that occurred on the Mornington Peninsula. I believe that the team reassembles this morning at Casey Fields (fitting because it’s the closest training facility to Sorrento). At least that’s what I was led to believe from despatches in late 2024, although the fog of the festive season and new year celebrations might be playing tricks on me. To add to my trepidation is this ominous piece of information gleaned from the MFC website:- “Some sessions in the new year are returning to Casey Fields and due to the nature of the facility those sessions will be closed to the public, unless otherwise advertised below.” Since I couldn’t locate any relevant information below, I can only assume that we won’t be receiving many reports from training if indeed, it proceeds today, especially given that this is the time of year when the snakes of Casey Fields come out of hibernation to congregate outside the fences of that facility. One of our regular correspondents has used the break to make a tree disguise but I believe it has yet to be tested as snake proof. So, in case there are no reports forthcoming on today’s activities, here is a picture taken in Bali to remind you all of what some of our players look like these days. Welcome to 2025!!!

Worse comes to worse, our correspondent stays in his tree disguise for 24 hours. No biggie.

Then there's this...

Why would he disguise himself as something a snake might climb? Some sort of sexual, only fans side hustle? Personally I'd disguise myself as a predator that eats snake. So perhaps rock up in a Hawks or Eagles jumper.

It's a good read, and I highly recommend the Mongrel Punt's content. They're a refreshing change from the news corp / standard AFL industry journalism, so I'm hesitant to share their paid content here, robbing them of revenue. Here are the final 14 (well actually it's 13) questions: 6 – HAVE THE DEES MADE ENOUGH CHANGES TO A FORWARD LINE THAT HAS NOT WORKED? 7 – IS CALEB WINDSOR THE PERFECT RUNNING-MATE FOR ED LANGDON? 8 – HOW HIGHLY DO WE RATE THE YOUNGER DEMON DEFENDERS? 9 – IS BAYLEY FRITSCH THE MOST UNDERRATED FORWARD IN THE GAME 10 – CAN KOZZIE PICKETT HAVE A ‘CYRIL’ TYPE OF YEAR 11 – WHAT DOES A HEALTHY JAKE LEVER DO FOR THE DEES? 12 – IS SIMON GOODWIN UNDER A HEAP OF PRESSURE IF THE DEES ARE OUTSIDE THE TOP EIGHT AT THE BYE? 13 – WHO IS CHECKING INTO THE LAST CHANCE HOTEL IN 2025? 14 – WHO IS THE NEXT BREAKOUT PLAYER AT THE CLUB? 15 – IF THE DEES WERE ONE MOVIE CHARACTER, WHO WOULD THEY BE? 16 - was just missed completely by the writer 17 – ANYTHING TO ADD ON THE DEES, MRS MONGREL? To summarise "I’m predicting a wild ride into the final 4 for the Dees. I’ve never been wrong." 18 – IF YOU COULD CHANGE ONE THING ABOUT THE CLUB, AS A WHOLE, WHAT WOULD IT BE? 19 – WRAPPING UP

It’s confirmed training at Gosch’s next Wednesday and at this stage there’s nothing scheduled for tomorrow or Monday at Gosch’s.

Yer well Iv'e been here for 30 minutes and the most interesting thing is watching an excavator dredging out one of the lakes, slitheras going in every diection and The Mahogany ship being discovered! There was a small group of players doing "grappling"exercises for a while but looks like an indoor session in the revamped indoor training facility. Tellingly there is nothing set up on the oval for drills and the demon truck carrying training equipment is not here! Also interestingly the gates are open on far side due to maintenance work on gazeebos. But Wait a few players now coming out with footies!

I'd never wear a Hawks or Eagles jumper. Some things just aren't worth it.

Pleasingly, the issues that he raises seem mostly to be in the rear-view mirror now. The [censored] sandwich that was 2024 is history - bring on a fit hungry talented Demon set-up for 2025!

From my sister from another mister… Strange training- only 8 on ground with one coach so far away I can’t see who they are and are only throwing the ball up and catching it. There seem to be enough cars there that would indicate they are all there. There’s no equipment out and the scoreboard is not lit up. None of the boys have numbers. They are definitely practising catching the ball though 😅 Ps I could do what they are doing. Can’t see if it’s Goodie with the 8/9 boys. The rest must be in the gym. Mmmmmmmm

PF would be ok with it if you swapped the dog for Jefferson….

A lot to unpack here - THE BIG QUESTIONS – MELBOURNE 2025 SEASON PREVIEW

Everyone I talk to constantly say ‘oh dees on the slide now’ or ‘rebuild time’. I’ve just been playing a straight bat saying we will see. Im happy that everyone no longer rates us… hopefully we prove them wrong.

Hopefully players that were in the rehab group to end last year such as McAdam, Melksham and Turner are back in full training. Hopefully Spargo can kick on and be available for the practice matches and Gawn being out for the entire January doesn't impact too much on his season.

Alan Richardson and Gary Pert were also in attendance.

How well we train at Casey will influence how high we finish at the end of the H & A season. It's all a big game of snakes and ladders.

I wish them much happiness and a premiership this year would be the icing on the cake!

No socks?? he aint homeless, WTF

Seeing him in that shirt the question has to be asked - Is Goodwin the right man?

Yep - the rest are in the gym.

I’ll ask my guy about tomorrow and Monday then I’ll post here. At this stage next Wednesday at 10am at Gosch’s is the only cert as far as I know.

Agree with that. He has that innate forwards sense of where the ball is likely to drop, where the dangerous space is and awareness of other players around him. He may drop the mark, skirt the contest and seem out of the play, but next thing you know, he's out the other side of the pack and having a shot on goal. On the down side for him I think that when he pulls it off, he makes it look easy and opportunist and when it doesn't fall his way, it probably makes him look lazy and undefensive. BBB also had a similar sense as a forward, although I think he may also have been better at times of bringing other forwards into the play, by providing a well directed tap on to advantage of our other forwards out of nowhere when he looked out of position, that often created scoring opportunities, even though he wasn't pulling down that many marks and having direct shots himself. I'm not sure we could have all our forwards play this role of Fritta, but I think you at least need a few with the ability to create and provide attacking scoring opportunities - if everyone is just looking to takle the defender, who is actually being the attacker? Also think that it soaks up alot of the opposition defenders attention checking him and fees up other players to get out in space within our forward line. I personally think playing as a defender on someone like Fritsch would be a nightmare, because players like him are just so 'slippery' that you can't easily out position them around a contest, they are always two steps ahead of you with respect where the ball is going and where to position themselves.

I’ve got a feeling the serious stuff starts now but they’d prefer to keep things under wraps as much as possible. The website usually only mentions sessions that are open. So far the only sessions that are officially open sessions are on Monday the 20th of January at Casey, Wednesday the 22nd of January at Gosch’s and Friday the 14th of February at Casey. That session at Casey on the 14th of February is puzzling because it’s part of the Family Day series yet it’s on a weekday after kids return to school. 🤷‍♀️

old dee this is probably more your style.

Congratulations Simon and Kristine I hope your happiness flows over to all MFC players and supporters and helps deliver No.14 in ‘25.💕

Why do you think Caulfield is less than ideal?

No it's not. Yes we won a flag, but it was during a covid season when clubs were hubbing etc so the benefit or otherwise of our facilities was significantly reduced. Yes a kg is a kg but looking at our history and the comments from past players it is clear having substandard/shared facilities is not how a modern professional organisation should be run. Additionally, relying on facilities in the boondocks of Casey significantly hampers our ability to recruit in players. All things being equal, if a player has a choice between us, Collingwood, Carlton, Richmond or even Footscray, Essendon, St Kilda or North we are at a disadvantage when looking solely at the training facilities and the commute that would be required. It is ridiculous this situation has been allowed to continue for so long. I think Caulfield is less than ideal but far more preferable than what we have now (should it come to fruition).

are we there yet?

@rpfc To be fair to @Oxdee, sharing facilities with numerous others is far from ideal, otherwise everyone else would be doing it. Our current facilities whilst adequate, no doubt would be at the bottom in terms of quality amongst other clubs, that ain’t going to attract players to the club. Nor will it see the club thrive, merely hanging around. Theres no point waiting for the ‘perfect’ or ‘best’ opportunity, as it may not present itself for years, if at all. I’d prefer the club have the fortitude to pounce on this opportunity, rather than fail to act due to fear of something ‘better’ being forthcoming in the future.

You can feel it comin’ on about 4 You can get it balking You can get handballing You can get working a keyboard Matter of fact l’ve got it now

Should've at least paired it with a red sarong

Congratulations to Simon and Kristine on this special day. May your futures be full of love, prosperity and premierships.

not sure who this harrison perry fella is, but for the most part this is great coverage without having access to the final 14 questions posed it's hard to judge where hb meyers positions us in the premiership race in 2025, but for the most part i thought this was a very positive forward-looking article

Obviously you have to subscribe for the other dozen or so questions. Can anyone post or enlighten as to what else was covered??

Knows his stuff. Makes most Demonland pundits look silly by comparison.

Thank you

i 100% disagree with the notion that fritsch is not a key forward; i would say he is THE key forward in our set-up what he obviously isn't is a TALL forward

Sounds like a down to business to me.

Instagram showing Casey training on now

Instagram shows some of the players turning up to training so definitely on today

I've been told that training is tomorrow (Friday) at 10am so I'm a bit confused now.

Stick on a hawaiin shirt and tell him you got the date of the bucks wrong

BTW, what was Melky thinking? Shirt tucked into shorts, with no belt. And they’re ill-fitting; it’s like he’s wearing his older brother’s shorts. And the colours don’t work well together: school-shirt blue with pastel lemon. Looks like I’m gonna have to choose a new favourite player.

I wouldn’t read too much into it. Generally a player will invite about 10 teammates, (that’s been the way recently, anyways) and the same probably applies to coaches. I’m guessing some who were invited couldn’t attend for whatever reason (they were holidaying elsewhere, for example).

Update long overdue

I think that Max having hair is more front page!

It is available at Caulfield so you can stop warming your seat at AAMI Park which is not the solution as you know. PF astounds me for such a MFC person being misled by the Waverley Park discontents following one article in the paper. No one has even visited there in 30 years other than Hawks fans and why would they be moving out of there spending more than a million $$$AUD at Dingley if it could be bought up to anything near a satisfactory base for the.next 50/100 years. And DP harping on Fishermen’s Bend. Perry has already advised about all other possibilities that they have been examined and considered and unfortunately further discontents still persist with previously discarded training base possibilities. Onwards and upwards at Caulfield.

Waverley is one oval. The Hawks cannot use lights there due to the residential buildings right up the the fence. It is still a concrete grandstand and does not have the facilities inside which are needed today. Finally, it has been inhabited by snakes for the past 30 years. So probably not suitable for you, in case there have been some left behind.....