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Well George on the Outer was on the outer again at Casey this morning, since the gates are locked to prevent the plague ridden populace from entering... Still got to observe through the fence, which is as good as we football starved individuals can get, so we will take it. I counted 40ish players on the track, with Harmes and Rosman doing rehab of some sort, mainly running, stopping and restarting type of exercise. What sort of injury that means...perhaps more of the medically trained posters can help. Now it was difficult to see who wasn't there, due to this fence previously mentioned, and the wearing of bibs at times. However these days they all have numbers on their backs, apart from one unidentified player. Still I couldn't see Ed Langdon out there, although he does wear an invisibility cloak, which prevents opposition players from seeing him during the game. Perhaps he was wearing it today? Not sure if Melksham was there, but given the numbers of Covid expemptions reported from other clubs this week, it was quite literally a healthy list on the ground. Observations: God awful music being played through the loudspeakers. Screaching girl bands and moaning rejects from the Voice, Idol or repetitive rap could only make the players listen intently to the coaches. You sure as Hell couldn't listen to that other rubbish! Apart from the usual warm-ups, kicking drills with the Mark Williams striped ball, and another with huge foam goal posts erected mid-ground to do what I don't know, there was one which really took the eye. It was virtually a full match type game, with umpires, but the speed was simply incredible. Switch, switch back and then some more saw the ball move at lightning speed around the ground and from one end to the other. If this style is introduced through an already Premierhsip side, watch out opposition teams. There was little fixed position as players roamed wide to create opportunity, and then even more. Difficult to describe, but the team with the ball would rip right through the defenders and only a misplaced kick would see possession lost...then that opposition would do the same in return. The poor umpires never caught up with the speed and were trying to whistle 20, 30, 50 metres behind where the ball was. The only downside was the goal-kicking , but I suspect it wasn't the aim of the drill. Still an excuse could be they have moved the goal-posts at Casey, and players seemed to be kicking to where they used to be. Standouts were Oliver, Salem and May. Oliver just steps through defenders and just keeps going and going. Just when he looks cornered, he just bursts out again. Salem the same, how no-one can tackle him is amazing, and he always keeps bobbing up with ball in hand to deliver accurately. May is well over his hamstring injury from the PF, and just kept dragging down mark after mark. Another that took the eye was Majak Daw, playing forward. Really strong marking and leading, he was a challenge to be able to control in the air for May, Petty and Lever. All the new recruits were there, but with the viewing curtailed it was difficult to focus on what they were doing or not. And when the rain started, this wimpy reporter thought better of standing alone and headed for home, leaving the players to finish the session in peace.

http://images2.naharnet.com/images/187054/w460.jpg?1466172426 Great report by George but before I get onto it, Adjacent Casey fields is a large lake which I'm reliably informed contains plenty of fish and I just wonder if the sign above presents as an even more challenging scenario. Agree with George re music, just and endless cacopheny of mind numbing techno crap. Dont know what it gives the players but who am I to argue given that,last year it resulted in a Premiership. One other thing George didn't add was the plague of Flies hundreds of them! Anyway on with the report! Weather was shizzen about 10 seasons in one day and like George under cover accomodation outside the ground is harder to find than Rocking Horse Sheeit! REHAB ROSMAN, SPARGO ( in Parts) HARMES and during training it appeared CHANDLER may have done a groin? SKILLS DRILLS AND MANOEVERS. Well covered by GEORGE but agree the match simulations were a thing of beauty, players are intinctively now confident to KNOW 1 Where to go 2 Who to go to as in selecting correct option 3 Skillful enough to execute precisely DRILL A WARM UPS DRILL B MATCH SIMS DRILL C KAMIKAZE PLAYER BLITZSKILL ( Players zone of have a couple of harrasers and deliverers need to pick correct target from multiple options and kick to player on lead DRILL D MORE MATCH SIMS DRILL E CLOSE CONTACT TACKLES DRILL F ONE ON ONE MARKING SIMS PLAYER WATCH Competition for places will be and is WHITE HOT!! Not only do the current 23 continue to train to high standards but the second tier are also training the house down, players such as MAJAK, MELKY, DEAKIN S, J SMITH, ADAM T, MITCH B, J JORDAN, TOBY B, are displaying the type of improvement that drives up standards. Perhaps the guy I'm most looking forward to seeing is LUKE DUNSTAN, Wow what a pile driver he is just relentless in his ball hunting ability, think Stephen Powell and youl get the picture. Jayden hunt looks lean and hungry as does Adam Tomlinson. THE NEWBIES In some drills I can just see why we chosse these guys all are profficient with skills and already seem to know and appreciate the work required to make it in an elite Football Club which is not only the oldest club in Australia but one where standards are being continually stretched , redefined and enhanced. One bloke who I didn't know had no number on his back but by Gee was he nippy and elusive with some KOSSY like tendencies. HIGHLIGHTS. 1 Tom Sparrow outmarking MAX in a one on one 2 Clarry recreating his victory salute with a uncannily similar goal which literally had a couple of players doing cartwheels TRAING VOTES 3,2,1 3 Clarry , honestly he just does what he likes at traing and is a class above 2 Jack Viney, gees has he improved as a footballer in my eyes 1 Tom Sparrow wow what a huge talent this kid is honerable mentions, Salem, Max, Bowey, Dogga, Kossy, May and others et al, just no passengers just all wheel drive turbo's that just do not let up everyone just shows something , what a Lovely sight to behold! cheers PF

I don't get why every event has the rubbish music, you go to footy training, cricket, local pool, shops and you get slammed with it. So annoying, nothing wrong with silence.

Knightmare article rating 2019 draft choices (dated 29/11/2019): Melbourne Traded wisely and secured value in their trade with Fremantle. The move back allowed Melbourne to add pick 28 and a future fourth round pick without a meaningful move back down the order from pick 8 to 10. While Melbourne's trade looks on paper like value was acquired, their first two picks of ruckman Luke Jackson and small forward pressure specialist Kysaiah Pickett are arguably reaches. Jackson, a sub 200cm ruckman is athletic, plays with aggression and follows up well but was arguably not the best available player. Similarly, Pickett while the forward pressure he applies is of a best in draft standard and he has speed and is damaging with ball in hand, his low scoreboard impact and product makes him a difficult sell so early on. Trent Rivers, who Melbourne secured thanks to their trade with Fremantle represents strong value at what after bidding became pick 32. Rivers is a classy ball user off half-back who moves well and can push through the midfield as a ball winner. Grade: C Collingwood Improved their draft hand slightly in the latter half of the draft to increase their involvement without losing a lot. Jay Rantall represents strong value as a basketball convert with elite endurance who does his best work inside winning the contested ball, distributing by hand and moving through traffic. Oakleigh premiership captain Trent Bianco is a second selection who represents strong value as one of the best kicks in the draft and the most advanced outside player in the pool. Trey Ruscoe at 192cm with his versatility to play defence, midfield or forward, is a third solid selection with his skills, mobility, ball winning capabilities and the way he reads the ball in flight and takes marks. Though the question of whether Collingwood should have retained pick 51 to draft key forward Jake Riccardi rather than trade it to GWS who used the pick to draft the VFL's Fothergill-Round-Mitchell Medal is a question that will be asked given Collingwood's lacking key position stocks. Grade: A Note: Rantall has already been delisted

Reading some of Knightmare's rankings on previous drafts, he never seems to like taking risks. He is not alone in that regard. And he is a pundit, not an experienced recruiter with access to a lot more information. So a large majority of his top dozen or so picks in every draft are midfielders. He hardly ever sees a key position player, ruckman or small forward as worthy of top-10. Maybe he thinks of Brownlow medal votes, or he's been burnt by previous experience, as we all have. Hence he thought Jackson at 3 and Pickett at 12 were "reaches". He thought Green would be a far better pick than Jackson, and preferred Weightman over Pickett, listing "marking superiority" as a reason. The problem with never taking risks is that you are always "safe". Being "safe" can mean that you miss out of the players that will make a dynamic difference to your side, if the other building blocks (e.g. power midfielders) are well in place. In the 2019 draft, Melbourne didn't pick one midfielder. And what a draft it was!

The Ashes is on ch. 7, fair enough. But they’ve got three other channels in 72, 73 and 76 on which to televise AFLW. I guess some people can’t go a night without Alaskan ice road trucking gold fever picking swamp junkyard overhauling oil digging storage wars and Down East Dickering 🙄

Huge thanks to George and ‘fence’ for bringing the session alive in my lounge room.

McNamara is best on so far. Exceptional half.

Goal of the year Alyssa Bannon

Yeah, nah. The one handed mark was nice and deserved some kudos but the thing about him that’s impressed me is his record over a few seasons and his performances that we were able to witness over a few WAFL Colts and WA representative games. We all acknowledge that he has a fair way to go. The beauty is that at Melbourne in 2022, his chances of getting a well rounded football grounding are so much better than the chances Jack Watts had 12 or 13 years ago.

Really good game from the girls. All played pretty well. West was good and Caris was very good early. Tough at selection this week.

Some people are comparing COVID to the Bubonic Plague but they had an oversupply of rats back then.

For those who didn't get to see the game - worth noting for future reference that all AFLW games are shown live on the AFLW website. And replays are uploaded there as well, usually a few hours after the game. (Go Dees!)

Even spread of performances. We have a good balance, strong across each line and good depth Harris is a monster. By far the most physical ALFW player i've seen McNamara BOG. Love how she goes about it MaGee and Parry will be the 2 worrying about their spots 2 from 2. really solid start to the season Go Dees

McNamara is looking like a blonde Ed Langdon striding up and down the wing in peak physical shape and occasionally shanking it but also laying great tackles and providing a defensive and offensive number both ways.

Visiting Casey Fields for training reports now seems to have ‘blown’ into Burke and Wills expedition proportions. Firstly after sorting out the baggage train with errant camels at the Zoological Gardens it is no Caravanserai. Then one needs to negotiate the trollway and the Monash Freeway which is not easy from the saddle of a long-legged ruminant and it’s already a ‘Highway from Hell’ without Bon Scott’s curdled wail and Malcolm and Angus’s three cord thrash. By the time you’ve arrived and survived fruitless hours in the PCR queue your beginning to wonder ‘“What’s this all about Alfie”’. And you don’t give a 🐀’s (test) when you find you are still very much on the outer beyond the cyclone fence. Despite being dutifully doubly vaxxed and patiently awaiting your booster. Meanwhile in the long summer grass you’re having to deal with the ‘locals’, deadly vipers and the natives who are according to some disjointed infrequent reports are not necessarily all that ‘friendly’. The final indignity some upstart probably the work experience factotum gets to choose today’s training Muzak!!! Makes you want to find a tree mark it “X”, dig a hole and bury your binoculars, ear muffs, pencil and notepad for next intrepid pith-helmeted expeditioneers. That will invariably fight their way out 'there' through the urban jungle attempting to illuminate the heart of darkness (sic) at pre-season training.

Wait...you mean they have literally "moved the goalposts"? Fantastic report thanks George

Great stuff George, many thanks.

Ha ha Knightmare. Wasn’t he the one who argued that Luke Jackson didn’t deserve to be picked as high as number 3 in his draft? 😀

Going to be quite a year isn’t it. Clubs that get hit with a covid outbreak mid season may be worse off than clubs getting it now. virus timing may influence the premiership. Then there is the possibility of massive outs for one side pre big games leading to one sided slaughters on prime time. Games cancelled, ring in players, schedule changes…. interesting times. I feel grateful we got a flag in front of 60k in a relatively simple year! It’s just so hard to predict what’s coming now. I’ll go to the g (when/ if it’s possible ) with a heightened awareness of the pleasure in it. Regardless…. we are premiers. No one and nothing can ever take that away now.

Not according to Darren Burgess. When asked on the Gus and Gawny podcast "who surprised you with their fitness when you started", Burgess mentioned that Pickett's endurance in addition to his speed was high level. So I'm not sure where you got that from.

Discourage X factor? A large dose of X factor took us from 19 points down to stunned and demoralised oppo in 10 minutes of football. Worker ants like ANB, Harmes, Spargo, are well and good (not discounting Harmes' little bit of X to start the riot) and every team needs them, but they don't give you bang bang bang to destroy a good team.

McNamara my new favourite player. Great skills and @Chookis spot on with the Langdon comparisons. She seems up and about with the girls tho - like a spark plug. I hope they can keep that midfield group together for a few years - they are all in the 21-24 age group. Great to see Harris playing like that too - so unselfish and she got a bit of reward. But that was great fun! Go Demons.

Fitter and stronger with a bit more class when it counted. Well done Dees!

Misfire, wait 20mins next time. Fair dinkum, you get hysterical when someone douses your flames.

Gee when they mentioned about lightning and if it happens the teams going off I thought oh no not again. But good win and bring on the saints next week.

Harris might kill someone one week. Absolutely amazing to watch.

Harris was great. Physical all game, got a couple too. Paxy, really bounced back after a quiet week. Was pleasantly surprised with West. Thought she did some good things. Also thought Goldy played well, given she missed last week. I know we were low on numbers but can't see Magee developing enough to become a regular player. Just doesn't have the footy IQ.

How good is it having harris who just makes her physical presence felt. Her tackling has been good. Good having the experienced players in there Daisy and Paxman who have kicked goals when needed. We have been great after 1/4 time

Demons leading 48 to 25 at 3/4 time. It's live on afl.com.au Barney.

i suppose a score would be out of the question

Dees going bang, bang, bang.

Not so, he participated in most drills but tappered of and was doing Bike work with Harmes who didnt join in any main training and Rosman both did running the whole session

Crumbs, PF, that's a worry! Was it both Rosman & Spargo who were in parts? Or, just Spargo? Either way, still very concerning news. Roughly how many parts would you say he/they are in?

yes he was pictured at most recent training sporting some new ink

And whoever the filth pick was a bargain and masterstroke

Yep, said Jackson was a second rounder! Actually, he has made some horrible calls over the years. Didn't rate Oliver, Pickett was too high, compared Salem to a slow plodder, etc. Because he spends so much time on drafting, people assume he knows what he is talking about. However, his assessment of talent and feel for the game are terrible.

Man oh man the dreaded HS protocols have taken a toll. Swinburne Centre… sounds yuck. Good luck Dees, hope we can get two on the Trott!

Apart from my obvious typo [censored] up, any info would be welcomed …

#31 at first glance does not have an AFL ready body. I wonder if the body-size is overrated but rather what you do with it that counts.

Sam Weidemann? Would also argue that Pickett and Jackson were both drafted as development players that exceeded expectations early on.

Bigfooty’s Knightmare believes that JVR is a long term project ~ “With Melbourne's player development and all things firing though - from coach/veteran leadership/buy-in from the playing group, JVR can be a good piece in a few years if developed in defence.” “He's not going to play in 2022, and maybe not 2023 either.” I responded by agreeing that there’s no hurry to push him into an AFL debut given that he’s at the premiership club but pointed out that he’s physically ready to play against men. Which is what he has already done at WAFL level early in 2021 when he played 5 senior games with Claremont before succumbing to glandular fever. He also kicked plenty of goals for their Colts and the WA Under 19 championships later in the season. This didn’t dissuade Knightmare who answered:- “JVR was great during the U19 Champs in defence and was capable v Colts opposition but struggled in the WAFL at League level and showed he isn't ready to play against AFL opposition. There is a difference between playing at a level and playing well. I fully expect Melbourne's at the moment superior player development and everything that factors into it will help fast-track JVR in his development comparative to if he landed with another club, but he's not going to have an Aaron Naughton kind of first season as a point of comparison.” It’s an interesting debate. I see JVR as a future KPF and a likely replacement for the current key forward incumbents. He should be a fixture at Casey this year but the way things are going with Omnicron, I wouldn’t discount the possibility of seeing him at AFL level in 2022. From all reports, JVR’s efforts at WAFL Senior level were reasonable. He was impressive on debut with two goals and was affected by tonsillitis and glandular fever in his next couple of games but still contributed. He came back after missing several weeks and kicked just one goal but wasn’t 100% in his fifth and final senior game. He then went on to kick a bag of goals in the WAFL Colts and the WA Under 19s and also showed in one or two games that he can be handy in a key defensive position. We have a handy, versatile prospect on our hands.

Sparrow is an absolute beast. After Jackson, he is the young player I'm the most excited about.

I am with those who say Roos was essential to the development of our club. He and Jackson inherited a shambles and turned it into a professional, focused organisation. The Club is forever in his debt.

I agree, he has all the skills and attributes. I just don’t think he has had enough game continuity. You can never know until it clicks and you can see it but I tend to think he could be an amazing defender. His closing speed is stunning and he can play both tall and short. I’m really interested to see him after a solid block of games

I haven’t argued he should return to the middle, but his pressure last year was absolutely fantastic

I closed the last thread because people were getting too political. I’ll allow the discussion here to continue as long as we keep it general and not get political/name calling. Bans without warning for those that abuse.

Brayshaw’s lack of defensive pressure was previously an issue, but to bring it up after 2021 is just laughable!

I have never seen a player with cleaner hands and better decision making with less than 10 games under their belt. This kid is next level. Anyone can bomb it long, players like Bowey are so hard to find.

My red herring was the saying. I kept thinking of Rolling Stones or Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones.