Leaderboard

Total coincidence. Just landed in Maroochydore from SYDNEY slap bang into a team of Demons. They couldn’t escape. Asked Brayshaw about the elbow. Said it’s actually pretty sore. Spoke to Preussy and wished him all the best for the season. You think you know how big they are when you go to training. Up close and personal he is a monster. Bennell was with him and told me that’s not Preuss that’s Gawn. Must have thought I was a dumb Queenslander like his Gold Coast supporters. Wished him the best and glad to hear he looks like coming on board. He looked genuinely pleased. Or maybe shocked a dumb Queenslander knew who he was. Of course I’m not from there. Hannan said groins are good now and will be joining main group in a week and a half. Told Richo Saints are my litmus test the last couple of years and I’m depending on his intel to [censored] them. He said no one wants to [censored] them more than him. I’ve seen lots of training photos of Trac looking very cut, in fact it looks like if he knows there’s a camera around, the shirts off so he makes sure people know how cut he is. But man forget how cut he is. The man is a beast. Hasn’t loss too much bulk where it counts. Huge around the arms. He’s going to bust the comp open this year. Jetta said he’s already done twice the km’s he did last season at this time. He said there’s about 10 of them who have done the same compared to last year. Said difference in training under Burgo is its a lot more footy orientated. Train the way you play. Said that’s what you want. Joel Smith said groins are all good now and he’s feeling great and has had a really solid pre season. One other general observation. In the past when I’ve got up close to the players I’ve been surprised that they don’t seem as big as you’d expect. This time they all look substantially bigger in their bodies. So looks like we’re going to see running power and stronger bodies.

Username officially updated. Welcome to the MFC Harley.

Harley Bennell has signed with Melbourne as a Pre-Season Supplemental Selection. HARLEY BENNELL RECEIVES DEMON LIFELINE

Spot on. And let's say there are 'other issues' at play. So what? Mental health and 'other issues' go hand in hand. It is well established that a very high proportion of people experiencing mental health issues also experience substance abuse issues (often alcohol but others too). To be clear i'm not suggesting Jessie is experiencing those issues, simply naming the innuendo. But it certainly wouldn't shock me if he was struggling with such issues. In many ways it would be logical as drugs and alcohol are used by many people to mask, deal with emotional and physical pain and to self medicate. Indeed this can often be a symptom and warning of an underlying mental health issue. Jessie being seen out 'partying' does not reduce the likelihood mental health is the reason he is stepping away from football (as has been insinuated by some eg he is using mental health as a convenient 'cover'). The opposite is true. And it shouldn't impact at all on the sympathy one might feel for him. Again the opposite is true. Being out partying is not a solution for his mental health issues and will likely negatively impact on any treatment. Making it harder for the young fella to get well. Which you'd hope everyone hopes he does.

You little beauty!! Welcome Harley!

Actually I think we're already in the plus column, there has been an enormous amount of media attention and with it comes sponsor exposure. I think it has been positive for the players as well, whether he plays a game for us or not. If he has set the right examples then even if he doesn't make it back there are lessons for all. I'm a big believer in goodwill and you reap what you sow. The Club ethos is supported and grown by this. Don't be mistaken, there were plenty of other Clubs who would have liked this opportunity and Bennell chose us. I hope to see both parties rewarded further.

Im not trying to be an ahole here but Im not sure the allowance covers flying the family over from Perth, renting a house/car, supporting his partner and baby. As I said just take it in and think about how much joy this little step might have given him, close family and friends. He had it all at his fingertips, he was dropped into an incredibly s h it culture (the AFL created and should take responsibility for), lead astray/didn’t take his career seriously and then has been cursed by injury. It’s costing the Dees “nothing” (compared to a Clarke or Lumumba or Rohdan etc) and you’re worrying about closer to the deadline? Not sure any other player we may have looked at for this rookie spot would have the same “upside”/feel good factor even if it doesn’t work out on the field.

“Imagine getting off at Richmond Station, not having to go up and down escalators or anything. Escalators at Richmond station???...shows how often Eddie uses the facility

To be fair, I think what he's suggesting here makes sense, particularly the connectivity to Richmond Station, but only if it's economically viable. He's also not the only person making these suggestions. But just because it's Eddie making the comments, many will have a knee-jerk critical reaction. If I were of that mind, I would respond by saying the other idea we should take from the Superbowl is to have all our umpires wearing black and white striped shirts. It's not actually necessary, but as it would mean Collingwood would have to change their gear, Eddie would go apoplectic which would make it worth having the inevitably pointless discussion.

It's pretty sad whichever way you cut it. Over on bigfooty there are people openly proclaiming this to be due to "something else" (nudge nudge wink wink). And people on here talking in secret code. about the same thing. But really, the cause doesn't matter. We have a 23 year old who is struggling to cope with being in society. That by itself is distressing.

It never ceases to annoy me that two suburban teams from relatively minor suburbs like Richmond and Carlton open our AFL and AFLW seasons. The two clubs that started the competition Melbourne and Geelong should open every season for historical and cultural reasons.

Luxury??? By train. I have to take a train and travel with Collingwood and Richmond dole bludgers because my driver can't get anywhere near the G.

If you were heading up there to file a training report for us, may I humbly suggest you may wanna change your moniker from "It's Time" to "Just a little bit late"...

Just back from Maroochy and had a good chat to HB. Mentioned his calf is good and will get into full training in 2 weeks. Good news and lets all hope the next 2 weeks are injury free for him and he gets some training in. He's loving it at the Dees and hopeful of playing games this year. Looks in great shape.

Best of luck to him, could end up being one of the best gets for the club, but if he doesn't end up playing many (or any) games then ultimately what have we lost?

Agree and I think he would have been under the microscope the whole time during the training camp, on and off the field. I think signing him now sends a great message to him that he is doing all the right things and that we are invested in him and trust that he will play for us.

Might have something to do with paying his own bills? Until he is contracted, he is doing this for free. The club really has nothing to lose. It is only a rookie spot for 1 year....and it appears there is no-one else that we have seriously looked at, or they would have been at training. He will only cost us minimal $$'s and if it doesn't work out or we find someone else to fill the Neitschke gap, then there is always the mid-season draft....

jaisus.....if it's not sheedy it's mcguire......wtf runs the afl?.......bugger off

Stupid KC not scorin* enough ? Gratz to the winners. Thanks again Macca. Now to wait til September and what’s in store for the NFC West again.

And we have 3 joint winners in the post season tipping comp ... DemonDave, Dee Zephyr and a fast finishing JV7. Well done fellas! All 3 finished with 9 points ... Gorg was just a smidgen off winning outright but just missed with KC's winning score being 3 points outside of Gorg's nominated score. I'll post up the hall of fame results later on but here is the final tally board. 9 - DemonDave, Dee Zephyr, JV7 8 - Go the Biff, Gorgoroth 7 - Macca 5 - Clintosaurus 4 - Dappa Dan 2 - DeeSpencer

I get what you are saying, LT, but think Hibbo may take exception to any forecasts of his early demise from the team!

Thought it was crap compared to previous years. I have enjoyed the one on one interviews but the stories and the humour in previous training camps was far better. Hated the limited vision and photos and think some of the contributors on here would have done a far better job as volunteers. If this is an example of what our media people produce, when it's their only job while they're up there, then I think they are being payed under false pretenses. By all means post snippets on twitter but how can our own media department not understand the member and potential member demographic?

I say Chookie old chap. Bravo. Jolly good show.

Mahoney: “In terms of Harley, he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do, on and off the field."

24 hrs have passed and I suffice to say I haven’t been in a great mood today. Not feeling like facing it but if you ride high with the successes you gotta front up in the down times (Much like MFC). Been listening to a lot of San Fran talkback radio today and it seems the general consensus is to find 1 single thing to place the blame on. All I can really say is that it doesn’t exist, there’s a few reasons collectively but if fans want a bottom line to justify their misery they are barking up the wrong tree. Kyle Shanahan - Generally good play calling as he has done all year. The doubt seemed to creep in an was caught in two minds before the half. I think if you want to go with an attitude towards a game it has to be consistent. You either decide the points you have are not enough and that you need before especially considering the opposition or you protect what you have and keep running the ball. Kyle trusts Jimmy G but did he trust him 100% with every fibre of his being to go and win it like Reid would with Mahomes? I’m not sure. Deebo Samuel was hot in the first half, he needs to touch the ball more than twice in the second. Mostert could have touched it more at 20-10 up as well but hindsight always wins. We lost our dare a bit but for people to blame Kyle solely and call him an idiot play caller is pretty stupid considering this idiot was a massive part in us getting to a Super bowl. Partial blame. Jimmy G - I’ve heard about 5 completely different assessments on his game ranging from sh*thouse to played his heart out to if he hits Sanders and we win he gets MVP. My assessment is he played reasonably well and for the most part did what we wanted but went to pieces in the 4th. Speaking of the ball thrown to Sanders it was a disappointing overthrow as it really gave him no chance to even get a potential PI call. Jimmy actually outplayed Mahomes in the first 3 quarters but here is the kicker: He struggles with blitzes, he has this terrible habit of watching the receiver off the line and subsequently telegraphing his throw and the one that really hurts is the number of open receivers he missed on the night. The Kittle one was the most obvious but I counted at least 5 open men on underneath routes that he simply didn’t see. This is why I can’t totally blame Kyle and these things just have to be rectified if he is the guy for the future. I’ve heard some dumb things this morning about wanting to trade him, is he a top 5 QB in the league? No. But he is absolutely a top 10 QB in the league and anyone who thinks otherwise and says something stupid like we should trade him and get a certain 43 y.o native to the area should just remove their head from their rear end immediately. Partial blame The defense and that 3rd and 15 play - Once again this sport seems to get two completely different opinions on whether someone or a unit is playing well or not. My mate thought our defense had under performed considering the hype. The contrary in my opinion, we played our game plan the exact way we needed to against a generation talent at QB and some serious weapons including a literal track sprinter. The secondary kept these receivers in front of them, Buckner and Bosa totally balled out. But THAT play I can’t get my head around. Mosley went to pick up Watkins when really he just needed to stand his ground, this led to Jimmy Ward needing to turn and the rest was history, the momentum swung and we couldn’t get it back. It’s a play you just need to make to be champions, we didn’t. But you can’t fault the defense as a whole on the day. Mosley will be kicking himself but there is a very small amount of blame there and I imagine he would learn from it big time. Officiating - Nope, nothing to see here. The game was reffed very well in my opinion. Kittle at the end of the half, yes it was OPI. Couple of no calls in the game that might have helped either side and maybe a 50-50 that didn’t go our way but there’s never been a game called perfectly. Not accepting anyone saying that the refs cost us, sorry. No blame And then there’s the age old line which is pretty much correct in every big NFL game. The other team made the plays when they counted, we didn’t. Such is life.

Don’t over think it... just enjoy the moment, I bet Harley is...

Isn't it great that in a society increasingly full of whingers - with no solutions for anything just complaints - that we have someone who is contributing with positive ideas?

They need to fix the bottleneck into Richmond station after games that have more than 25 or 30 thousand people there. Forget it when there's 50 + and if there's 80 you may as well camp out at the G for the night.

This is the sort of thinking that turned this league into a two tiered system of have's, and have-not's. All very well on paper, but the long-term is damage. Just making the bigger clubs, bigger. The proof has been before us for 40 yrs. A marketing guru's delight is not necessarily sustainable.

I walked out of that game livid despite actually getting 4 points. I should've been doing cartwheels considering we'd go on to win a whopping 2 of the next 14 games.

Agree with your point that we can’t be relying on him, although of course we shouldn’t be relying on anyone to make a significant impact outside our top players. As for what position he should play - I think all players should train for their best position and develop their strengths. There’s 45+ spots on the list to field a team, get each player to do what they do well first. What does Smith do best - move incredibly well with good size, where’s that best utilized - the backline. As for team balance: Frost is out down back, Fritsch is in forward and Petty is forward. -1 back, +2 forward. I was a Petty down back fan but he lacks speed and doesn’t seem a natural contesting for position, where as his marking and finding front position are strong traits. On the theory of developing players at what they do best it makes sense to try that marking/presenting ability as a forward, even with a packed depth chart.

or indeed "better late than never" they were great insights thanks IT

I have a feeling we're not going to like the results of this.

That one felt like a loss.

I agree. They should open the season with a Grand Final replay. Are the "Big 4" still required to play each other twice?

I agree. Having Richmond V Carlton as the season opener since 2008 (excluding 2014 which had an even worse opener in Pies V Freo) is an absolute farce and an embarrassment by the AFL. This fixture should belong to two high premium finalist from the previous year that will put on one almighty show for the public. Eg - Richmond V Collingwood would be tremendous. Instead, each year we have to put up with a dominant Richmond that never gets out of second gear playing a serial garbage side that wins 4 games a year in a yawn fest. Does the AFL think the general viewer actually enjoys this?

I must admit I've fallen into that trap of being excited that J Smith is training and may make a huge difference to the team this year. However the reality is that he is largely unproven at AFL level, but has shown glimpses in his handful of games. Would love for him to become a dangerous high leaping medium-tall forward for us like his Dad who kicked 50 goals for us in the mid 90's.

I counted around 8 free kicks but given its west coast it would in real life be around 14

Love your work Vagg. Or could be It's Late. Story of my life.

Does T Mac's fumble and bumble against Gold Coast last year count? That was close enough to after the siren.

It might well be that his definition of full training could be a little different, could be more full rehab training as compared to competitive training involving drills. As you said there hasn't been much of an indication that he would be joining the main group any time soon.

There is now (helmet to helmet ruling) but Running backs often still charge head first and as a result can often make contact with defenders helmets by default ... but they don't often get penalised (from what I see) But a defender can't use his helmet (as a weapon) on a wide receiver, tight end, running back or a Quarterback. But again, they don't always call it. Not yet anyway, DW. And up until a couple/few years ago it was open slather and getting completely out of control ... and the class action against the NFL over concussions was happening at the same time. Thus, the new ruling. But there is still a ways to go to stamp out helmet to helmet contact. At junior level there is now a 'Heads up' way of playing the sport. But again, they don't always call helmet to helmet contact in the NFL and offensive players very rarely get called for using their helmet as a weapon. The ruling isn't consistent but the sport is cleaner now. Mind you, it's still quite barbaric in its own way. And the fans love it that way Me - I don't want to watch dirty tactics. The sport (NFL) is still extremely tough to play as it is. A bit like footy where thuggish behavior has been stamped out and the sport is way better off because of it.

Where no wrinklies fly!

My missus and kids are leaving me because I'm obsessed with horseracing and they're at the gate and they're off

Harry Petty came on last year, giving other marking options up front. And with TMac & Weide, and add LJackson to the mix, I can understand Smith getting pushed back. Mitch Brown another tall forward, and the tall marking area is well covered. I think our structure up front will be different from the last seasons. With more pace added, and more marking. I think Petracca will rotate from bench, more often. Add Hannan and AVB to the forwardline, often.

Just home after spending night up at Coolum. Couple extra comments from those already posted. Jackson left training about 3/4 way trough with a slight limp. Did not look bad, Just that they have to go off with any minor issue. Tom Mac left on Saturday as wife had baby thus why he was not there yesterday Jetta reckons Kozzie will be a JET and fan fav when he plays first game but said he needs to keep a lid on him as he wants to go at a million miles an hour. Said both he and Jackson will be guns for us. Had about 15 minute chat to May. He also said Kozzie and Jackson will be guns and Rivers not far behind. Had a big session last Friday with full inter match practice and backs working well together. Squad in great shape and also mentioned that Tom Mac is up and about and was a handful on Friday. If anybody around Sunny Coast tomorrow they will be back at the ground at 7.30am for a full training session then flying home. Today is a rest day.

Courtesy of a post in Facebook

ticket sales are down and the stands are grey we're playing for points on a diamond in LA i'd be cold and wet if i was at the G gosch's paddock dreaming on such a summer's day

Ok the Mrs is driving home so if I suddenly stop typing there may be a good reason. When I got there the boys just finished a one on one marking drill in the middle of the ground and the boys were quiet cheerful and cheering when one player out marked another. Was too far for me to see who was on who though. Then some players including Truck, Clarrie, Sparrow, Weid, Omac, salo, hibbo and others were lining up in the defensive 50. There was about 8 diff different line ups and half had white shirts and the other half had dark on. One of the coaches would throw the ball in and around the middle with 4 white tops trying to get the ball out of the 50 while the 4 dark tops were trying to defend and tackle. All did relatively well with tackles sticking and kicks and most handballs hitting their targets. Hibbo got caught in a great tackle By Sparrow I think and spilled the handball as did Kozzie on a couple of occasions. Omac also got caught a few times and fluffed a few handballs too. he did lay a good tackle but really not sure if he is going to come on like we all hope but we will see. While this was going on over on the wing there were a number of players getting the ball dribbled to them on the ground with another player coming at them to tackle them. The objective was to handball successfully to another player standing a distance in front of them. Viney seemed to love doing this from what I could see. I’m regards to players I spoke with: May - he said he is back in full training with Friday being his first one and will definitely be ready by rd1. Really nice guy and easy to talk to. He is keen to stay on the park this season. Viney - Is injury free with no concerns and ready to go. He is scared And worried about having his first child which is due in July. I said welcome to the real world and once the child is born u won’t stop worrying. Preuss - had strapping on his right knee and I asked if it was ok and he said yeah no worries. He is ready to go. Not much of a talker the old Preussy. Bennell - said he is progressing and I wished him all the best and said all of the dees fans are behind him to succeed and he was thankful for the comment. Salo - Is ready to go and said we will definitely be better than last yr. I was thinking that wouldn’t be hard but good to hear the positivity. Lever - is all good knee is 100% and said the backline would hopefully have all players to choose from so it may be a selection headache for the selectors which is a good spot to be in. Jetta - Is also injury free and looks in good nick. He is keen for the season to start. Hannan - Nailed 5 out of 6 shots from the boundary line. Told him we need him in our f50 and nailing those shots. He looks in good nick and is keen to play. Weid - Is injury free and fit and firing. He is looking forward to getting in our f50 together with TMac and wants to make an impact this season as last season was ruined by injury. Truck - seems to have matured big time wasn’t overly talkative but polite and was appreciative of the support Did drills really well and is in great nick Gawn - has a massive knee brace on and I asked him when he would be back and he said 3 weeks straight away. He was definitive about that but will have to see what happens. I said to him when would he be named as captain and he said we have a captain in Jack Great response by Maxy and as everyone knows he is a great guy and awesome roll model for the kids Didnt see TMac or Vanders and not sure if they were there. Overall the players were really positive and had a bit of a steely resolve about them so will be interesting to see how this season pans out. The Mooloolaba surf was bloody beautiful and is one of the best beaches in aus. Go Dees ? KALLANGURDEMON'S TRAINING REPORT ? DEMON SPOFFORTH'S TRAINING REPORT ? DOCS DEMONS' TRAINING REPORT