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Gus is greeting the squad with applause and cheers from them. He is wearing the coaches colours. Looks like they have appointed him in an off field role.

Brayshaw is here.

At Casey fields

DEES PLAYERS RUNDOWN Jed Adams was quieter than last practice game. He did a few good things but nothing of note. Kynan Brown never gives in. He was interested and involved throughout. I have high hopes for this kid. Kyah Farris-White - same as Jed Adams, but still learning the caper. Tom Fullarton had a good game. He was involved, took some marks, kicked a goal or two and was good value. Matthew Jefferson played back pocket (despite being recruited as a key forward) and I thought he was one of our better players. He ran around, was involved, used the ball well and created the lose man a la Jake Lever to perfection. Bailey Laurie was good and mostly involved but faded right out after a bout half way into the 3rd quarter. I query his lack of pace. Andy Moniz-Wakefield was our best player. He broke the lines, used the ball well and kicked two sensational goals coming off half back. Harrison Petty - if he had a kick I must have missed it. He looked way off the pace which is not surprising. Shackey Attacky kicked three but two of them were out the back to him by himself. He just doesn't impose himself enough at the contest. Adam Tomlinson played well but did look flat. Made some crucial errors which should have resulted in goals but didn’t. That’s about it! AND NOW FOR THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY THE GOOD GREAT GAMES BY MONIZ WAKEFIELD AND TO A LESSER EXTENT MATHEW JEFFERSON AND BROWN DOG THE BAD GETTING DONE BY A JUST VFL SIDE IN COBURG THE UGLY OUR NQR PLAYERS WHO I DON’T THINK HAVE ENOUGH TRICKS TO BE REGULAR AFL PLAYERS

Rehab is out early. A beautiful Saturday morning, though plenty of dew on the paddock Verrall doing hard sprints along the boundary. McAdam individual program and has started, ball work, change of direction drills, and easy kicking and handball. Melky, carrying weights as he changes direction. Hunter continues his running program. Melky has joined him for some runs through the middle. Hunter is struggling to keep up with him (will need a block of conditioning). Captain's run cannot be far off.

Love hearing about Melksham's progress. He epitomizes courage and sacrifice. When on holidays in the Sunshine Coast after our finals exit last year my wife was on the beach with our two youngest and they started playing with Jake's kids and my wife got chatting with Jake's partner and they were super nice. On or off the field he is so important to our team and would love for him to hold up the cup in September.

Best news ever.

FULLARTON GOAL

Petty contesting centre bounce ruck thommo back, farris white forward, laurie on ball, Adams deep back, brown dog good early, Shache, easily pushed of the ball.

TMac definitely with the backs. Max also doing plenty of work with the backs. Salem with the mids. Howes and Rivers did some stoppage work high on the wings. Chandler was kicking well at goals. McQualter taking most of the structural sims. Goody taking the stoppages. Looks like they are looking for quick plays down the corridors, by hitting the inside players, short, middle or wide. Hore looked nervous at the start of the drills. Woey seems to have slimmed down since the start of the preseason, moving well.

Moni ZZZ wakefield on FIRE GOALS

There was a mob of the players wives and kids on the sidelines. They were really happy about TMac (dad of three), he ended his session rolling around with his kids.

MONIZZZXX another great goal running through the centre

Moniz Wakefield blistering run from half back chain handballs to Shache alone in square Goal

Could it be a matter of managing him to be able to play games where during the week its pretty much some skills work and light work on the track. I recall that Nick Reiwaldt barely trained with the main group during season in the second half of his career due to his knee and we probably only need Ben to play half a dozen games with Petty and Fullarton becoming available.

Petty playing forward, Jefferson back pocket minding the resting Rover???🤮

Surely he’s chomping at Chandlers heels if he is down again tomorrow? Has to be!

Big Ben would’ve done minimal to keep the load off his legs so there’s no inflammation before tomorrow’s match. Those knees are just holding together😂

Kossie was forward and on song, looking very good, and extremely focused.

Were you watching the same game? The Swans were breaking into open space and hitting targets cleanly by foot all night. They have been for a while now. They're an attacking side who take it on off half back and are usually a good team to watch. What you described is a Melbourne match under Goodwin; congested, defensive, low scoring and boring.

And can you believe we lost to Sydney last week when they had their own 3 best midfielders out Adams 0 games for Sydney Mills who rarely played through the middle unless needed to run with someone played more off half back Parker was a very very good midfielder but Warner and Guiden have been there 2 best mids since early 22 But Kane Cornes was pushing the best mids out agenda and many bought it. If you watch footy and Sydney’s evolution you would realise how deep their midfield went They made the pies look second rate tonight

Could they be looking at him as coverage for Bowey???

Going about it well, head down, keeping a low profile, doing the team stuff. Certainly not as animated as previous years.

Thanks Kev Martin and Dee Zephyr for the great updates, greatly appreciated.

He looked ok to me, moved well during drills. He was very chummy with some of his teammates, especially Kozzie.

Jeffo actually doing well in defenve. Thommo just gotrun dowm,but a cut abobe in this level, Brown dog busy, Petty hasnt touched it

Max had some strapping on his lower left calf. Moving well and involved in everything. Tholstrup and Viney cannot stop tackling each other. Melky finished his session, tackling the bag, then attacks a ball put in by a trainer (plenty of intensity).

Are they helping to hold him up perhaps?

Kicking and handball drills along with linking have been met with some real sharpness in their short duration.

Is anyone watching the fox coverage? Did anyone else see the clip that jordan Lewis showed where Sydney were running it through the middle and Lewis was highlighting the lack of pressure then the clip showed Degoey and Maynard giving each other a high 5 in the middle. Sydney kicked a goal from that If I saw 2 Melbourne players do that while the opposition team were running down and scoring a goal I'd be mad.

posters reactions to the changes never stop being hilarious if we win, we do not speak of them if we lose… Goodwin must go [censored] me

Imagine how hard it would be to win away games if every Victorian team had a bespoke stadium that they train on, and then they only allowed 40,000 people in, and just 5% of that got allocated to opposition supporters? Thats what Geelong have. It’s the biggest advantage in the modern game by quite some margin.

That free kick was atrocious to Dangerfield.

he had a meeting with mahoney and the football dept the rumour mill has it that they asked him if he was prepared to give up the grog, and he said no hence we landed sideshow bob and won a premiership instead

There’s no alternate universe where we have both, losing Hogan got us May which got us the flag. It’s frustrating that we haven’t got a Tom Lynch to take us back to a flag like the tigers did, but who have we missed out on? Can’t buy if there’s nothing for sale.

Good to hear AMW doing well. He's my favoured smoky. Petty will take at least a month to regain fitness and touch, he's barely touched a ball in preseason. Fullarton we need

I can see why Thommo is out of favour, has made some critical errors which should have resulted in goals. Shache out the back for a goal. MONIZ Wakey doing well as is a busy Brown dog,Petty has barely touched it. FULLARTON Good. Laurie goodish but IMV lacks a yard in pace

So sounds like Fullarton and Laurie will play in the VFL practice match and Tholstrup to be the carry over emergency. Good experience for the kid.

Brown hasn’t joined in a couple of the drills and is doing solo work (snapping at goals, short handballs) with a couple of trainers.

Tholstrup the only emergency training. Bowey and Spargo walking laps.

Verrall last session at Gosch's, looked like he may do a full training, though started with a test in rehab which he didn't pass. Was working on his hip, and stayed with rehab.

Hopefully catches up with the Visy 💰mob from Royal Parade soon too.

That ship sailed long ago. He won't be coming back.

Cops must have shown up.

I think he’s finally found his feet up there and will become a true star of the game. Not sure he’d put that at risk to change everything again.

So I think this is the sort of good news story this thread is about: What champion bloke. Said it in the other thread, that alot has been stated about our culture, but the media should have a good look at this bloke and see what character and culture is all about. Watched him in our practice match against Richmond and thought he's clearly too good for VFL. Best of luck to Marty on Sunday and hopefully there is a great second career in the making here at the Demons. Worthy wearer of the No.27 too - love that he's got that number which has belonged to some great MFC defenders in my time as a supporter.

I'm just here to put my display pic back in rotation.

Changes needed, chorused all the post-Sydney critics. Changes we duly got, and still no one seems happy. But apart from Tomlinson, rather unluckily omitted, and Fullarton, what other fringe players have staked any sort of claim? For TMac and BBB this is probably the final chance to show us whether they still have what it takes to compete at AFL level. I for one hope they prove the grumblers wrong. So far it has already been a good week anyway, with Collingwood going 0-2.

Hope he goes well, was once one of ours and left on good terms. Therefore I only wish him goodwill. There are some classless posters on here and a few who are clearly trolling