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I had a chat with Shannon Byrnes. He reckons petracca a chance for round 1. but won't be pushed. He has just been doing stationary ball work so far today. Looks very eager to get out there. Also asked if he received a call from Essendon.. He was surprised he didn't. Trenners now roving a tap, and taking snap shots for goal. He's got a grin from ear to ear. I can't help but having one as well. Very exciting.

The southerly wind at Casey in the winter is a sure recipe for a miserable day. However, on a mild summer day in summer it just made the training session a sheer delight. I won't go into the actual drills, as there is little point in describing them unless you are there, and the important thing is how they translate to match conditions. So for those not there here are the observations: * In the rebab group we have 8 players, and no Jack Watts to be seen today at all. Not a good sign at this time of year for numbers. However, Trengove we all know about. Was really testing the foot with shuttle runs back and forward and lots of drills which put plenty of pressure on that left foot. Despite what was told to others, he is NOT yet kicking on the left. Dawes had a knee strapped, but that has been the case while he has been at Melbourne. Nothing on the calf. He, Weidemann, Trengove, Mitch King, Petracca and Lamumba ran a series of sprints with timing over the middle 50m ( my guess). Most were recording mid 4 sec times, but Dawes topped them all with a 3.6. One can assume he is not too far from being back to the main group. Newton managed to run a few laps before disappearing into the rooms. * Garland has changed his running and kicking style, I had trouble recognising him until later. * There is a real emphasis on moving the ball quickly, and other running to receive downfield. The mobility of Gawn is simply breathtaking for such a big man, and his first real pre-season should see him really break-out in the coming year. His strength is also incredible as he rag-dolled a couple of forwards in marking contests, who thought they had position. * Spencer still can't mark overhead or kick the ball properly after all this time on the list. However, he has learnt to jump off the ground in ruck contests, instead of aiming at the opposition ruck. The result was that he got his hand to the ball nearly every time against Gawn in the ruck contests. Some hope there.... * Neville Jetta is a seriously hard defender to beat one-on-one. He was pitted against Hogan and then Gawn and managed to stifle their opportunities, when it should have been only a one way contest. Still a bit slow off the mark, which can give the opponent space. * Vandenberg is still a beast although a much trimmer version. Bad news for the opposition is that he has replaced body fat with muscle, so he is even stronger than before. He simply ripped a pack apart in the match simulation. * Frost will be another welcome addition to the backline this year, but he is NOT a ruck option in defense. He simply doesn't have the body to grapple against some of the gorillas. However, he reads the play beautifully and took an absolute scorcher of a pack mark during the match simulation. * Hunt, Hulett, Harmes, Kennedy, ANB and JKH all did what they had to do when required, and will get their opportunities as required during the season. It is nice to have all these options in the side now. JKH has spent a lot of time in the gym, and will be able to hold his own much more in the coming season, as some considered him to be too small and light for AFL. Not now! * Oliver still has a lot of work to do. His skills and endurance seem to be OK, but needs a lot more work on his upper body. That will come, as one can see he has the frame that will respond to AFL level training in a big way. * Don't let Jeff Garlett a yard spare, because he cuts defenders to pieces if they do. I guess we all know that already, but he is simply lethal around goal. * Hogan was simply a presence on the field. He demands the ball wherever he is, in front of goal or up the field. Pity the backman this year, because he was simply too mobile and strong for any of ours today. * Bugg is like a blow-fly in the middle. Is very, very capable in and close, so hopefully his addition will make a serious improvement to the mids. I only hope his size doesn't limit him, as I was reminded a lot of James Magner. Hope I'm wrong. * Good to have Kent back and running. His input was truly missed last season, and todays efforts were matching his best from last season. His acceleration opens up space and if the game plan is based on spread and speed, then he is the man. That's enough of the good news. Now that there is more physical contact in the sessions, then the injuries start to happen. I would love to put a lot of them in cotton wool until season opener, but that is not practical. So we saw Jones leave the track very early. Brayshaw came off and had his knee bandaged with what looked like a knock. No ice, and then he went for a run and took the bandage off. However, he too left early. Vince followed, but returned to run some laps. Then Oliver came off. Nothing looked too serious and I think all were just bruises, but the heart finishes up in the mouth when half the mid-field is forced off the track!

Spoke to one of the coaches.. confirmed that he's kicking with both feet & in a really good head space.

The wind was very strong (cap close to blowing off) and not conducive to precision skills. Rehab group Dawes, Lumumba, Max King, Trengove, Petracca, Weideman, Newton – no Watts. Uncontested ball movement drill starting in deep defence and using wing flanks before hitting a target leading from the goal square. Then broken into 2 groups for ground ball drills - one v one short marking with designated marker, plus long marking with hard lead after pushing/feigning, then doubling back marking/spoil with the same opponent. Neville Jetta doing well negating taller opponents; including Hogan. Four groups in orange (8), pink (9), white (8) and blue (8). Taking turns in working it out of defence through either the corridor or wing. Quick ball movement the theme. It’s a full ground drill that finishes with a score. Oliver and Hulett do a couple of nice things. I like the look of Hulett. His body is ready and he’s only slightly smaller than Hogan. The match simulation starts with a couple of AFL umpires, but Goodwin dictates where play starts (no sign of Roos – although others might have spotted him). The umpires depart, but simulation keeps going for another 20 minutes with Goodwin in charge. Skills difficult due to wind and there are numerous turnovers from missed kicks or errant handballs. Ball movement is far quicker than we’re used to. Players that stood out to me: He made the odd error, but Tyson was the most prolific closely followed by Bugg, who also made skill errors. But he will be handy. Kent was terrific. Speed, evasion and penetration in his kicking. vandenBerg looks like a shiny colt that has been trained to the minute. He’ll make a difference this year. In fact all those that you’ve heard have had a great preseason look like they’ve had a great preseason, including Gawn. Jetta looks in great form. Mitch White took a couple of nice intercept marks and Stretch also impressed. Harmes was quite noticeable with his involvement. I'm not sure his kicking is overly damaging, but he's lively and we all know he can mark. Hogan looks fantastic and got a few touches, but it wasn’t a day for talls. In quick handball congestion drills he also excels like a mid. Brayshaw, Oliver, Vince, Salem, and Jones didn’t take part in the match simulation. Brayshaw with left knee twinge that got bandaged - goes for some running along boundary. Later jogging laps with bandage gone. Doesn’t look in too much discomfort. Points to the inside of his knee as the area of concern. Oscar McDonald hurt his right knee. Had a pronounced limp with a bandage just above the knee. Salem also was getting hamstring worked on along the boundary and failed to take part in the intra. Not a bad session, but the wind made it hard to hit targets. Good energy levels and a far more attacking game style. Getting the balance right will be the key.

Nice job on the training reports guys.... in fact too good!! Left me with nothing other than to confirm it was pretty much what I had to report. I will say Trenners is moving very well, Hogan has bulked up, his upper thighs are coming along nicely, that should help his kicking distance. As a whole the group no longer has skinny runts that will be easliy pushed off the ball. (Apart from the tall new guys,they'll take more time to develop) What impressed me most was the ball movement all over the ground in the Match Sim. Did NOT see one hospital handball, players were making space and running forward (finally) Still some sloppy disposals that missed their target, until that improves more, we will kill momemtum when we have the ball. More times than not, they got it correct. I left feeling confident with what I seen. Its been awhile since I was able to attend a training session. Previously left feeling a bit more than peeved in what I watched. But not today, if they can carry that into a real game, we are going to put the wind up a few good teams that we have had trouble beating in the past. That is the key, doing it under pressure. They have stopped running the guys into the ground with repeated running, its so good to see them moving the ball around by hand and foot. Kinda reminded me of the late 80's when we played like a football team. Jonesy didnt look good, I doubt it was serious, but he walked off to the boundry and had his leg / knee worked on, he gave a yelp,when behind his knee was worked on. Only a guess on my behalf, but maybe a sore tendon behind the knee. He walked around for 10 mins then went inside. Brayshaw looks like he may also have a knee complaint. He was sprinting hard, then stopped dead, Heard him say its a bit sore. Again a guess, when he loaded up the knee to stop, it was a bit uncomfortable. Then had it strapped, did some sprints for about 20 mins then off came the strapping. So perhaps nothing more than a niggle. I got a close look at Petracca. I will only say, if I had the ball and I seen him barrelling towards me, I would be wanting to get rid of it pretty quick. He's built like the brick outhouse.

Just need to confirm DHD......this is Melbourne you're watching ??

Full ground drills now. 2 sets of Attackers vs Defenders .. One thing I'm noticing a lot are the low trajectory passing. Powerful, flat & accurate. Exciting to watch. The occasional mis-kick. But the ball is being transferred much quicker. So less hospital hand passes & kicks to hopefully keep guys like Pedo out of hospital.

Good article - gives Misson update on some rehab players and some insight on how we will approach the NAB games. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2016-02-05/well-attack-nab-challenge-misson This bit from Misson is especially good: “Jack Trengove is coming towards the end of his rehab. He’s been doing a lot of work – and a lot of football work – in the last couple of weeks and he’s probably a week and a half away from joining in with the group. We feel like we’ve got his load pretty right. More importantly, he’s feeling really confident in that foot and he’s looking forward to joining in with the group – and the group’s looking forward to having him.”...Misson.

If Chris Dawes is running 50 m in 3.6 seconds he shouldn't be playing football but representing Australia in the 100 m in Rio.

Stop it. Just stop it. I can feel my annual Pollyanna Syndrome coming on again

I reckon it's time to put this one to rest od. He's doing his time and he's now a Melbourne player. Let's wish him every success.

essondon should only get top ups for any player that is still under the same contract from 2012, if essendon renewed contracts after the investigation, then that was there decision knowing that said player could be banned. same as trading

Blue vs White, mini match simulation until a score is registered. Then play is reset at different parts of the ground. Players are clearly tiring a bit.. resulting in a few missed hand passes & kicks. But follow up work has been good & still very vocal. Standouts for me have been Dean Kent, with his clean ball work in close, quick sidestep & immediate accelerate away from the pack.. a thing of beauty. Sam Frost took a brilliant contested mark. Looking the goods. Iv seen Ben Kennedy doing some impressive things in close. And just witnessed a graceful sidestep from jets & a lace out pass to a leading forward.

Judging by recent pictures and training reports, Vandenberg is in for a massive year. He now has a season under his belt (which he exceeded expectations), comes into his second pre-season, and looks in tip top condition. Vandenberg could become an elite footballer (A-Grade). I didn't see many flaws in his game last year, he does everything very well, and should only get better.

It's almost like Robbo has been given countermanding orders from the higher-ups at News to fly the flag for Essendon again. Reminds me of science fiction movies where a robot is given contradictory instructions. "Jobe must hand it b-- must hand it b--... CANNOT OVERRIDE PRIME OBJECTIVE ... Jobe must keep medal. Jobe must keep medal. Jobe must hand it b--- *sparks fly everywhere* *smoke* *explosion*

Great appointments I reckon. More generally I am thrilled with all the club has done in support of women's footy, both as a MFC fan and also as the proud dad of a 9yo daughter who's playing her first competitive game next Thursday.

CAS has ruled the players took peds, forget how they arrived at that. further more it coincided with the year watson won the brownlow. he therefore played that year illegally and potentially assisted by peds and had an unfair advantage procedurally it is pretty straight forward where the afl responsibilities lie. by joining wada the afl has ceded jurisdiction on peds to wada once the appeal date is reached without an appeal being lodged it should be an automatic decision. the only real decision is whether it should be awarded retrospectively to others or made void. so far they have handled this affair with a lack of leadership and integrity, which is fast becoming their hallmark, but not so unique in professional sport these days.

Boys started with some slick ball movements, running it from full back into the centre. Being checked closely by defenders, the message was to keep looking for your nearest man as support. Move it fast & clean. Quite impressed here. Standouts for me was Bernie, Salem, Brayshaw. Very few mistakes. Spence a bit clumsy. as expected.

Afl have denied us port dogs and saints top up players. There you go. If you dope, go hard and do your whole list.

None whatsoever ... but it's a travesty of a sham of a farce and it will get worse when the AFL announces it won't allow the four clubs that have lost players as a result of the suspensions to have top up players, not even to their rookie lists.

IMHO this is all very easy. - He is a convicted drug cheat. - The AFL is a signatory to WADA - The medal is taken back. No idea why they would be any other option

Remember, they are also playing against Melbourne.

I heard a pretty straightforward argument the other day on Triple M. You can't win the Brownlow if you are suspended for any game in the season. Jobe has been retroactively suspended for that year. He is therefore ineligible simply based on that.

I'm pretty sure he was using both.

I heard Robbo on SEN and seriously he was almost incoherent. He sounded smashed. It was appalling and you could tell Allen and Harford were embarrassed. Id be sacked if i spoke in an official capacity like that. The article he wrote on the subject was trash, containing not a single logical reason why Watson should not lose the brownlow. Not one. His main thrust is that he is not comfortably satisfied that CAS's comfortable satisfaction the players took banned drugs is sufficient reason for stripping him of the brownlow ie it doesn't prove he is a drug cheat. The other argument is that the AFL have said all along they want to protect the players and now they have the chance. Is he for real? His radio spot was even more random, including the CAS doctoring evidence comment and a long ramble about how impossible the CAS judgement was to read with all of its legalese etc (a document that though long and detailed has been praised for its clarity by John Fahey and others). He clearly hasn't even read it and he is coomenting on the case. Beggars belief. The Chief Football writer at the Herald Sun? An insult to Mike Shean and Alf Brown

WYL, what are you even trying to argue at the moment? You seem to be going in circles without actually making a point that we don't already know. Yes, we had a trade on the table that would've seen us get Pick 14 for Trengove. Yes, it fell through. Yes, we re-signed him after the trade fell through. Now he's on his way to recovery and still contracted to us despite once being on the trading block. Anything else?

Essendon deserve top ups to play in their reserves only, they have enough on their list to field a afl side.

Amazing news. Thanks. Definitely deserves all the luck in the world.

I don't think that's correct. Wasn't he given a one year contract extension last year? We are investing time into him now because it's the right thing to do. If he comes good then he will be a major asset and people at the club would have assessed the chances of that happening to make it worthwhile keeping him on.

I agree with you, but I also believe that Essendon don't deserve any top up players either. It's the principle of the thing. Essendon was the club that had this program in place, yet they are the only ones allowed to replace their players? Doesn't seem very fair to me, though that shouldn't come as a surprise.

What the players need to understand is that they are not on the same side/team as the EFC and their insurers...

I'm no biomechanics expert, but I think he'd fall over if he was only using one.

I have been live commentating this to the bloke who sits next to me, we're both mad Dees, waaaayyyyy to excited already.

Cool. Can we get this thread back to being about Trengove's progress rather than about why he's still on the list, then?

Nice sunny day for training. Blowing a bit of a gust. But there's a nice little turnout & boys are upbeat ! will post some updates as the sesh progresses. (gf taking some photos again). will post those later as well. cheers.

I love the line that the players took nothing illegal and if they did then they were duped by Dank. The former has been decided against them by CAS. The latter calls for only one response - sue Dank.

I think he earned the day off after his mark on Wednesday. Thanks to all for the great reports. Hope none of the injuries are serious and that the members of the rehab group can join the main group quickly. It sounds like there's a lot to be excited about this season, with lots of names that didn't feature much in previous seasons' training reports featuring heavily this year.

I went to school with her and she's a gold coast girl. Both her and Jaegers girlfriend went to my school and they're both friends. I've met them both before and Dion is the more likely to move down but I wouldn't count Jaeger out of moving either just not probably to the Dees. From what Dions girlfriend has said in the past, she would want to move down to Melbourne. She is best friends with Daniel Gorringes girlfriend who has just finished her degree and likely looking for a job down in Melbourne. Sorry, I know like this just sounds like a lot of school yard gossip but I lived with Jaegers Girlfriend and she was in my year at school and the other two were good friends and in the grade below, while Gorringes girlfriend was in my classes at uni. For some reason just about every girl in my grade or the grade below is going out with a suns player (another friend is going out with Tom Lynch).

Really want Salem fit and firing in time for round 1. Could take a massive step up this season if he can avoid injury.

The Australian and Hun reporting the appeal is on with most of the 34 joining in and it is all being funded by the EFC. I would love to what grounds they are appealing on? Hopefully Melksham sees sense and just takes the 12 months off and doesn't risk the extra year, especially if an injunction isn't granted and he has to sit out this year anyway. I have a sneaky suspicion that if they do get an injunction and play this year then the booing of Goodes last year will seem like a welcome home celebration in comparison to what these boys will get.

Indeed. For Star Wars observers...orders from the dark side using the force... The Force: "You will write in your next article that you were wrong and that Jobe shall keep his medal..." Slobbo: "I will write in my next article that I was wrong and that Jobe shall keep his medal..." The Force: " You shall put us in a positive light from here on in, as chief writer for your paper.." Slobbo: "I shall put you in a positive light from here on in, as chief writer for my paper." The Force: "If you want to keep your job, you must obey my instructions. If you want a story to spin, come and see us." Slobbo: "If I want to keep my job, I must obey your instructions. If I want a story to spin, I will come and see you." The Force: "You will stop slurring your words." Slobbo: "I will stop slurring my words." The Force: "And pull up your pants" Slobbo: "Are you serious" Slobbo: "I will pull up.....my *cough*....pants."

Well to be honest, the only thing I can be confident of, is it's only two clubs in the mix, GC and us. We all know of his family connections to the MFC, but that of itself won't determine where he plays. If he is happy where he is and if the attractive girl I saw him with at a GC restuarant, is his girlfriend and is a Queensland girl and if he thinks the GC have a bright future, he would probably stay. If she is a Melbourne girl and he misses his family and he wants to play for the team he grew up supporting, we will probably get him. I am just interested in the pick we gave GC in our swap picks deal and if that means something. All that said, he is not as vital to us now as he might have been a couple of years ago. We have some good mids and he is another in the small variety and we may prefer the Brayshaw, Tyson, VDB variety. He will also not be cheap and suffered a serious injury. I will not lose any sleep if he re signs with GC. We may have the money earmarked for elsewhere. We have a bloke up forward most of us would like secured for the next 8-10 years if possible. That is a far higher priority than an injured, expensive, small mid.

I don't think it should be construed as punishment. By his actions, Watson made himself ineligible for the award. It's just taken some time to establish that.

I reckon the peoples front of judea could make a decision quicker than the afl

Even if they do use beyond reasonable doubt about taking it back they still have to take it as it is beyond reasonable doubt that he has been found guilty of using banned substances in the year he won and has been suspended for doing so. It is actually more than beyond reasonable doubt, it is fact. The AFL should have thought about this far more than they did but as we all know they had little idea of what was coming around the bend. The best solution would have been to have come out before the findings were announced and said 'if Jobe is found guilty he will be required to hand back his medal once he has not taken up any options for appeal'. This would have done many things including taking the pressure off Jobe, taking away the speculation, and making the AFL look like they have a modicum of integrity and sense.

Morning tea at the Herald Sun?

you seriously think the afl executive can set themselves judicially above an international court on the question of guilt? the afl have no option in this matter. if they do as you suggest they may as well leave wada. you can't be within and without the laws of wada concurrently and have any credibility. oh wait .................this is the afl

finally....finally....someone's twigged !!!

Based on reports I have read about the queries NLM made to Reid, Jess seems to be dealing with different sets of injections. In any event, the CAS Arbitral Award dealt with this issue. Further, NLM's Counsel at CAS did not object to the jurisdiction, procedures or fairness of the hearing both at its commencement or conclusion. If the cost of such an appeal is to be borne by the AFLPA, if I was a player I would be outraged at the use of association funds for this futile exercise. On that note, there have been numerous exercises in futility over the course of this long running saga, but this would have to be the most futile. The only benefit it would seem to have is free publicity for a player manager and more opportunities for the media to discuss the situation and in Robbo's case erroneously and ad nauseum.