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I posted this else where but thought it deserved it’s own topic Well boys, we knew this day was coming a long time ago and we've come to terms with it. Truth is Dec was a bit over football anyway, to be putting in all that blood, sweat and tears to not be playing regular senior footy isn't easy. That being said, the family and I will be forever grateful to the Melbourne Football Club for giving Dec the chance to live out his life long dream, and he got that chance on a sunny afternoon at the MCG. Not only that, but they won a close game, and himself having an impact on that result (his centre clearance for those who remember) He and us will never forget it. To everyone at Demonland, since I first started posting here 5 years ago when Dec started playing some decent footy at Casey, thank you for all your kind words. I have had a great time being able to share this experience with super passionate supporters which are sometimes hard to find. I have sincerely enjoyed the conversations and experiences I've had over the years and I'll be sure to pop back in ever now and again as I now and will always bleed Red and Blue. Dec's career wasn't the most glamorous by any stretch but only a very small percentage of people who ever play our beloved game get to say they played in the AFL. Cheers everyone, and have a drink on me!

Disclaimer: Saw on the socials they were down at Gosch’s Paddock so headed down for a quick look. Little to no presence of other track watchers and no current live thread, so as a first time contributor, giving what the people need! It won’t be as expansive and comprehensive as what we’re used to… but it’s something. Conditions: Hot and windy (no explanation needed). Training Format: Tailored match sim; line grouping skills; running.. and lots of it. Observations: Tailored Match Sim: Offense orientated simulation. Focus on transitioning the from defensive wing to forward 50. A team forwards appeared to play on the A backs, with Midfielders having cross representation of personnel. General observations – We still bias to target kicking into the pockets. Attempted to lower the eyes on several occasions to get into the corridor, but the defensive group were strong at intercepting and pushing the rebound. Goal kicking was accurate in windy conditions. Oliver – completed his 2km Time Trial pre-session and was fully integrated with the main group for match-sims (so yes, first session back with the group). Was on a modified running session program separate to the others. Had plenty of the ball in match sims. Was great to see close to the start of the season. Schache - appeared to be the A forwards, along with Fritsch and Van Rooyen. Assume he’s in the starting line up whilst Petty is out. Was a key target on the long kicks into the F50. Pickett – so active and such a livewire in the FWD line. Was the most dominant and damaging player. Billings – genuinely looks to add class synergy in D50 and F50 connection. VanRooyen – not quite as big as May (direct opponent), but is the closest thing we have to a big bustling forward. His development this year will be so important. Tomlinson – looked very settled in the A defense team. Played a lock down defensive role on Schache. Viney and Trac looked very silky in the midfield, as did Sparrow. Other observations on the mids were challenging… I’m bamboozled by the detail you guys can provide on the mids at training. They all look the same to the untrained eye. Line grouping skills: Only observation was that Windsor and Langdon were with the defenders. Perhaps Windsor is the emerging winger for Prac Games if Hunter remains out? Running: Various running drills, split into running groups that have been well documented on previous threads. To my surprise, Kolt was in the second group, albeit on a modified program - clearly has some speed and tank to build on in coming pre-seasons. Started to feel nauseated watching the efforts in the conditions so decided to call it a day there. Anticipated and frequently asked questions: Petty was not partaking in training – stuck to the side with a ball in hand. Salem was on the track and fully training in at least the match sims and line grouping skills. Hunter & Fullarton were on a modified running programs sticking to the boundary line. Fullarton was doing some larger kms so looks to be recovering well. Don’t have a comprehensive list of non-trainers, so would only be guessing - which I want to avoid! That is all I have. Enjoy!

Well the home and away season has come and gone, very quickly, I might add. Just want to give those who keep this site up and running for very little return a big genuine thank you for all their work. I've had a few health issues this year and often this site has been more than a place of info, venting and knowledge. More often than not it has been a great source of amusement and laughter with not a few some posters having great senses of humor( is that grammatically correct Demonstone?) There have been many times this site has been a huge valve release during a game, keeping me to drinking healthy levels of alcohol intake and less comfort eating. On a more serious note or a lesser one, many posters have given me much free amusement ( aside from my paltry donation to the site) and even more made me laugh out loud even if I didn't feel like it. It also seems we have been less cranky with one another this season with less sniping and more positivity. Maybe a flag after 57 years will do that. So thank you again to those keeping the site going and to those who have shared their unique humor, wit and time over the six months. May we blessed with at least another one of the same fun up until the siren sounds our 14th flag. I wish I had cut and pasted a highlights reel for some of the top posts and we could have handed out some awards, for there have been some posts up there with ... Jesaulenko You Beauty 😃 maybe next year. Cheers fellow Dlandees. Litd.

Things are still very raw and I thought about waiting a bit but there's no time like the present. When you truly love something, you need to love it when things are at their worst as well. Demonland means a lot to me and I wanted to express my gratitude to all of you for providing the best place in town for all talk regarding our beloved Demons. I'd firstly like to give a shoutout to Andy and the moderators for keeping Demonland running smoothly as usual and taking the podcast to yet another level with a great format and tons of great content, quick shoutout to @george_on_the_outer and @binman too for their efforts throughout the year. This became the only Melb and Footy pod I listened to this year and the analysis went to a new level. Looking forward to seeing what's in store next year guys! To @WalkingCivilWar for providing a weekly update on the making of the banner. Something I've never been exposed to before and it was amazing to see how much time and effort goes into these things. Also thanks for giving us amazing insight to how much the Demon Army accomplishes based on the little resources they have to play with. Again, a realm I'd had very little exposure to and I'll be taking out a DA membership next year no doubt. @kev martin Your training reports just like last year were amazing. This was another reason why I tuned out to the main footy media so much this year because I was getting so much info from these reports alone! You do all this work off your own bat and I can assure you it is much, much appreciated on DL. @Lucifers Hero Your workings of the contract details and number crunching is info that is not readily available in a short space of time on the interwebs. You pull this all together into one concise format and it is an amazing resource. Thanks also for the 'what they are saying' threads. There's so much respect for you here and deservedly so. To @joeboy the 3 word reviews are like an exclamation point on a game just played. I still don't know how you front up each week and do it knowing what might be coming back in response but you do and I'm looking forward to seeing many, many more. Thanks also to anyone who is able to share contents of an article behind a paywall. You guys are the lords of the dance! If I've missed anyone I apologise, feel free to fill in some blanks. And finally there's you, the Demonland poster. Thank you. There's those of you I get along very well with and think alike with, those that have slightly different views that really make you think and those that I may rarely agree with but the bottom line is that I've learned that 95% of the people who frequent this site (That have been here longer than a day) seem to have a mutual respect for one another. Disagreements and conflict are admittedly not my forte, I used to be someone who never ever wanted to rock the boat or put noses out of joint but I really appreciate those of you that express your different view but don't make it personal or hold grudges. It's a great skill to be able to disagree with someone but then put that out of your mind when you move on to the next point which might actually be something that the same two people agree on. I'd even go as far as to say I've learned a lot from those of you who are like this so thank you. Anyone who frequents Demonland is usually highly invested and regardless of agreement or disagreement I have respect. It's a cruddy feeling going out in straight sets two years in a row, it will burn, I will not want to watch anymore footy this year but probably will. However this is our club, we live by the sword and die by the sword. I'll never lose the passion and I doubt any of you will too. Enjoy the Grand Final if you watch it and have a great/safe Xmas and New Year period. I'm looking forward to chatting about the hot topics with all of you again in 2024. 2023 the year of the Dee rhymed so we won't have that but I'm sure we'll be in the thick of it. GO DEES!!!

You would have to be a puffin muffin to drive all the way down to Casey (about 45minutes down the freeway from the city and on to Clyde Rd) on a day like today. And yes it certainly wasn't like Gosch's Paddock when I arrived - no coffee shop nearby, no Saty, no guys video recording behind the goals, no bike riders cycling through the park. In fact, aside from coaches, fitness guys, players and physios, it is fair to say no-one attended at all - except of course for a silly old fool like me standing behind a fence in a rainjacket at the Wilson's Prom end like a Mexican in Tijuana trying to cross the border. The roads around Casey have been improved since my last visits there about five years ago for an intraclub practice match that featured a demoted Lynden Dunn playing on Jesse Hogan. It was incredibly windy that day and if you ever watch Casey games on TV or club footage, you will know that wind and Casey Fields go hand-in-hand like Scotland and rain. This morning, however, the constant rain seemed to scare the wind away. We are in the middle of summer and the first thing I saw as players did a circular kicking drill was Trac in a long jumper taking a one-hander and as my gaze followed him, he kept hitting his targets with ease. He wasn't alone in the long sleaves - Gawny, Kossie, Rivers, Salem had them and plenty of others as the morning progressed and the rain got heavier asked for a jumper switch. A quick look at the rehab group saw Bowey, Smith and Mitch Brown doing various leg drills and soon after Angus came wondering around walking laps - most likely a layday for him on his road to recovery from all those onions he ate at Gawny's. Melky was also a late starter for the scratch match, but a trainer told me he was fine. Hibbo wasn't sighted at all. As I'm sure we all do, the first thing I wanted to do was have a look at Ben Brown and yes he's big, but his prominent mop top was lessened because of the rain. His first touch wasn't a good one - he spilled a mark like you or I would and it's fair to say it wasn't his morning - the rain rarely is friendly to the talls and when the scratch match started he was pitted against Steven May. In fact there wasn't much joy for any of our bigs because Lever is mega-disciplined at training and had Weid or Fritter covered while Tomlinson is also aware that he has to perform to stay in ahead of Petty and therefore was staying close to his man. Just before we get to the match, let me make a quick observation. There is one coach who has a loud voice. He's 62 years old and he was out there in shorts while others were rugged up. "Pick easy targets, not long and wide - that sort of thing just doesn't happen" he bellowed to make his point crystal clear. It could have been Tom Hafey reincarnated, such was his vehement passion for the game. You all know who it was. Mark Williams will annoy the [censored] out of Goody and Ooze and our other coaches all year with his comments, but he will inspire the players with his gung-ho spirit and love for the game. I was almost about to jump the fence for him. But let's get to the bit you all want to read - the match practice. Such was the constant rain that it ended up being two 30-minute halves before training was called off early. In terms of matchups our No.1 defenders were pitted against our No.1 attackers while our No.1 mids were up against our Casey-headed mids, so it gave me a clear insight as to Goody's current thinking. A lot can change between now and Rd 1 though. Prior to game starting Olly was sent off with the rehab group to work on the oval across the road - obviously they didn't want to risk him yet, although he did all the other drills - just not the game. Viney also seemed to disappear as well - sorry I am not even sure if he started in match practice game - I somehow missed his departure. The first half was a bit like watching the last quarter of the 1987 preliminary final again - everybody was missing the big sticks. One nice passage of play saw Harmes (who was fairly prominent in the middle) kick long to Trac, but sure enough he missed from about 40m. I think it was 0.5 to 0.3 with the A grade defenders with the B grade forwards and mids ahead. Sparrow, Bedford and Kobe Farmer were among those to miss, while Rivers almost nailed a long bomb early for the A grade mids and forwards team, but eventually the drought broke early in the second half when Neiter (Aaron Neitschke) had a bit too much time and sent a long bomb home from the 50m. Moments later a clearance from Swallow ended with Kobe who got on his left and snapped a clever goal. Both Neiter and Kobe were mobbed. There weren't too many goals though - Spargo snagged one from a good crumb by ANB and T.Mac set up ANB for another, but really the game was a mass of fumbles, tackles and outnumbered forwards at both ends. Jonesy got injured at one point and went off for a check before returning, while Brown was crunched by May a couple of times on the lead. Rivers getting caught by Jackson was another highlight - although I'm sure Trent wouldn't say so. If I was giving Brownlow votes on the game I probably would have 3 Gawn (even though Jacko was also prominent on him), 2 Spargo (yes, he did surprise me and was clever and looked a tad quicker than normal and 1 to either Harmes or Swallow - the two most prominent mids IMO. Honourable mentions also to both May and Petty who were dominant full-backs for their two teams. As to the most interesting duels aside from May on Brown, it was probably the wings. Langdon was up against Rozman and T.Mac (playing for the As) was up against Baker. All four got plenty of it and T.Mac was probably the most influential of the four and gave his team a longer marking outlet. Rosman, sporting the No.19 top, was clearly the most interesting to watch and most of his kicks got a chorus of cheers from the coaches area - I think it was Goody, but given I was 150m away in the dugout, it might have been our man Chocco letting rip with praise. Rosman is an undoubted talent and is a thumping left-foot kick - whether he is another Brent Grgic just bombing it onto his boot is yet to be determined, but at least he will have good coaching. Such was Rosman's game that I reckon, given Goody's previous annual ritual of promoting players way before they are ready at the expense of his senior men, that we might even see him in Rd 1. Bailey Laurie was also quite prominent and clever in his role as a high half-forward for the B team. Based on the side that was picked today, here's your Rd 1 combo (not my team, how the A Teams lined up today). Excluded because they weren't out there at game time are Olly, Angus and Melky. Spargo played more as an onballer today and was lively - hence my votes for him above. Probably my biggest surprise was that Rivers wasn't playing with the A grade defenders side. B: Lockhart May Lever HB: Hunt Tomlinson Salem Centres: T.Mac Trac Langdon HF: ANB Weid Fritsch F: Spargo B.Brown Pickett Ru: Gawn Harmes J.Jordan As the rain strengthened the players split into gps of about 8 and finished with some one-on-one tackling drills and there was one voice bellowing encouragement to his gp - yep that 62yo guy from Port Adelaide. Could be our best recruit of all this year. With my shoes soaked I wondered off through the puddles back to my car. As I threw off my wet gear I noticed the COVID testing centre, which is located 100m from our ground. I then let out a huge sneeze. I think it was from the rain and chill - but maybe I'm coming down with COVID-19 or maybe I was taking away some excitement from our new covert operations No.19 - Goody picking Rosman for Rd 1.

I’m going to take one for the team here, I don’t do a lot of in depth reporting normally because my time is precious (and I don’t have really fast typing skills). Having said that; I may end up rambling a bit as I enjoy a Merlot at the keyboard. I live in Ballarat but I was house sitting in Emerald for a couple of days and finished up this morning. I had to pick up some stock for our business on the way home (in Moorabbin). I thought I would swing by and see what I could see. (All they could do was ask me to leave) I got there around 1000 (I seriously wish I had got there at 0900). While checking out the parking situation I could see Crossy on another oval putting Hannan and someone else (I couldn’t make out in the distance) through their paces at a serious fast clip. They were running up and down the field handballing to each other. 1hr 30mins later they were still at it. For other track watchers, Hannan can’t be that far away now can he? I just walked in and proceeded around to the side opposite the grandstand. There was a full ground match sim going on Pinks vs Blues and the scores were up on the electronic boards 2.6 to 4.2 as I walked around, the player I noticed the most was Smith. He seemed to be everywhere in defence. There was a family standing outside the fence observing proceedings so I went up and said G’day. Turned out to be the parents and siblings of Tye Hourigan who had been invited along to train today. The family and Tye had no idea that would include 2 x 30 mins full ground sim! Ty is from Traralgon and has been playing defence for Gippy Power. He looks a likely type about 6’2 in the old and around 80kgs. From hips and down looks like a ready-made footballer. Soon after the sim stopped and they moved into a number of drills for the different groups (mids/rucks, fwds and backs that have been largely described before. This was all done at a great pace and with good skill. After about a half hour of this it was back into 30min full ground match sim. Max got on top of Pruess early resulting in a number of centre clearances. One of the early ones ended up with Petty on a great lead and I walked around to stand directly behind him. The wind was blowing around 40km/hr across from right to left and I was muttering aim at the right point post. Standing behind him he looked to be aiming 2m inside the right goal post. It was a lovely kick off the boot and in the last 6m of its flight it went hard left by 5m. This was the only real negative I saw for the day and both teams went on to score around 4.2 so the adjustment to the windy conditions largely improved. In the match sim I could count 4 Casey listed players. Stockdale clearly being one and a couple of others I didn’t recognize. I know that can’t be right and there must have been more but I couldn’t spot them. Having said that it is the most First’s I’ve seen playing in sims, at this intensity, in January EVER After the match sim they went into more position related drills again. I moved around more to a the pocket /half back position on the grandstand side. There were a couple of tackle coaches I haven’t seen before working with all the talls; Max, Preuss, Jackson , Lever, Weid, TMac, Hore, etc . They were working in a 10m circle and the object was to escape with the ball. This went on for 20min and I was exhausted just watching them. To the left of me Goody was controlling a drill where 4 or 5 players would be in a small circle doing quick handballs. When he blew the whistle the last player with the ball had to break away and run and kick the ball 40 m to Greg Stafford. The remaining players would run both sides of the ball carrier in support. Stafford would punch/ tap the ball in the path of the “wave” and they would share the ball around till a leading forward presented or one of the wave was close enough to shoot for goal. Both Tomlinson and Spargo participated in this drill so I would expect them both to be very close to rejoining everything. They didn’t do match sim. Unsighted on the day: Baker, KK, Melksham, Neitzke, Bennell and Chandler. May was there but I didn’t see him do much, however the dressing was missing from the leg (happy face, mine and his) Some general obs. Our older brigade are up and about, Nev is back and handing out lessons to anyone he comes near. Hibby is not handing over his role this year if he stays fit (although Rivers did impress me and looks ready to go if a spot presents). Tmac is also back, leading well, finding space and clunking marks. Jones may surprise a few in the forward line. Lever was outstanding today in the cut off/ intercept role. Viney and AVB will take a lot of teams by surprise if they stay this fit (yes, AVB did everything today including swapping bibs at one stage to even things up). Sparrow was good in the guts at times. To go to another level this year: Max, Clary and Trac (that should put the wind up a few teams). OMac looks to have bulked up and be quicker, is that possible? Jackson was willing but not that effective in the match sim I saw today. The practice matches will be interesting and I can see a difficult decision coming re Cossie. Is the magic he brings enough to play him even if he goes missing sometimes due to fitness? On today’s observations I would play him round one. He will make a lot of defenders nervous and he will have that reputation very quickly. Nibbler however is giving every indication that he wants a spot in that forward line. I’m excited!!! (In a BBO kind of way) They finished around 1215 today so it was a really solid session. I had a great time today and couldn’t get the smile off my face. I also noticed this with Goody and a number of the other coaches. A great way to lead into Maroochydore. Near the end of the session I got Tye Hourigan’s family to come inside the fence near the entry gates and while we were chatting a fella in his 20’s came in with his dog on a lead and asked if it was ok if he came in to have a look. He was wearing Richmond shorts so I told him very sternly, “It’s a closed session and you will have to leave” He was very apologetic and left. Made the day even more worthwhile.

Absolute peach of a morning down @ Casey. Got in @ 10am & from the looks of it, the boys were already well into the session. Left just after 12pm & the boys were still out there busting a gut with some team sprints. Here’s what I saw. Rehabbers: Viney - walks & short slow jogs with trainer along the boundary. Looks to be favouring one side as he runs? Seems some way away from main training. Wasn’t there long. Mihocek - 80 - 100m run throughs boundary side @ a decent pace. Was doing so for about an hour. Wasn’t involved with the main group. Mathews - kick to kick with trainer. Trainer then kicking to a leading Mathews out the goal square. Rinse and repeat. Joined all the main running drills & moving well but wasn’t included in any other team footy drills. Edging closer from that PCL it seems. Sharp - not sure why he was in rehab today. A heap of kick to kick with trainer & boundary side running & at a very good clip to. Didn’t seem impeded in any way. Wasn’t involved in any team footy drills. Melksham - was a mix of main group & rehab. Looks fine. AMW - mix up between main group & rehab but was more so in the main group. Looking fit & obviously nearing full training very soon. It’s about 11 months since his ACL. Steven May, Xavier Taylor & Shane McAdam all unsighted. Drill observations: Quick ball movement. Everything done at pace. Windsor looking sharp & light on his feet. Kozzy dangerous. Always. 10v8: goal is to transition the ball from deep in defence to the other end of the park ending in a goal. Clear that we want to move the ball at pace. 5v5: stoppage scenario. Random ball up across the middle of the ground. Win ball & transition the ball to goal as best possible. Good to see the skipper out here training fully. Lindsay looking sharp. Trained fully. Culley strong in the contest. Gets through tackles. Needs to tidy up in-play skills. More full ground transition works from the back half to FF. This time, transitioning / switching down the flanks towards goal. Groups of 3&4’s running the boundary at a good clip. Slow pace for the first 20secs then fast pace for the next 30 or so. 3x groups of 7v7 - concentrating on a more controlled transition play. Match Sim: 5min periods at a time. Saw I reckon about 5 of these. All rehabbers sitting this one out Roo presenting well. Getting involved as a high half forward Kolt looking better today. More of a connector high half forward role, taking marks & hitting up inside F50 CJ looking in good touch. Dancing through traffic & delivering the pill well & very considered. Culley with the contested mark 30m out. Set shot goal. Can’t question his contested & aerial game. Turner v Roo - turner with the contested mark win deep in defence. Trelly bobbing & weaving out of traffic in defence… but then caught. Fritta converts the holding the ball free. Unlucky, but welcome to AFL. Good to see our defensive stocks are looking fit & settled. Rick, Petty, Disco, Salo, TMac & CJ. Bloody hell bowser is a loss though. Harvey getting busy. Sparrow just seems a lot more sure with his decision making this pre season. Less is more works better for him I think. Thats all from me folks 🔴🔵

Before we get bogged down in all the finals hoo hah, I really just want to take one darn second to acknowledge what an excellent home and away season this was from our club. Some clubs fall off a cliff in their title defence, some might skim by and make the 8 but our boys backed up and saw off the challenges to finish in an optimal position for another shot at success. Onto the bigger business but for now thanks MFC, that was a real joy to be part of ❤️.

Went down to Casey and watched through the fence. Don't know why you can't get into an area that could be partitioned off on the outer wing for supporters. Other clubs seem to have supporters around the grounds. A couple of rehab groups. Brayshaw, VDB, Viney and Hibberd doing laps. Bowey, Smith, Petty and Brown doing exercises, run throughs and similar on the outer wing. Bowey Petty and Smith together with coaches doing various drills whilst Brown just ran up and down the boundary line. B Brown doing a lot of body work drills with Stafford whilst other training going on. Apart from warm ups there were 3 main drills on whole ground. 1. Williams ran the first one where there were three teams. Yellow tabs, white tabs and Melbourne jumpers. going in triangular pattern HFF to HFF to FF anticlockwise with emphasis on fast continuous movement. 2. Two teams Orange tabs and melbourne jumpers run maybe by Yze. Full ground match play. They put cones down to bring the boundary in 20 m on each side so all play was through corridor areas. All about the side not in possession trying to touch the ball where it would be turned over to the other side. Kossie was one out with a white tab running through the middle going for runs bouncing the ball trying to avoid others. At one stage tracc chased him while he bounced it 4 times. Trac couldn't catch him but never gave up. Kossie kept the same 2 m in front. After Kossie kicked it Tracc collapsed to his knees trying to bet some breath - it was a great chase. Kossie just kept going. Nothing wrong with Kossie fitness. TMac is much fitter - at one stage he sprinted from the centre to the goal square to take a mark. Jordan looks really good. Jackson has gone up a level and has mixed the mobile ability to be more assured in his ball handling, especially at ground level. Bowey looks more advanced than Bayley. Oliver got tackled and went down for a while and one of the coaches convinced him to take 5 minute rest but then came back as strong as ever. The only other one to have a problem was Baker who was limping for a couple of minutes but then appeared to run it out. Rosman was the one who stood out for me. He's athletic, big strong and has a leap. Marked a few over the top of others and got a few handball receives running past. Plays like Bontempelli and even kicks like him. Wouldn't be surprised if he played first up. Spargo, Langdon and Hunt impressed. Weid presented well. Thomo, May and Lever main defenders but no close checking (emphasis on intercepting). Like the first drill it was about quick continous movement. 3. Two separate games on each side of the ground with little league type goal posts 2 m apart. Match play where eventually players tried to kick goal through the 2 m gap. No set shots - just snaps on the run. Rosman did a beauty from 40 m out. across his body. I left at 11 and they were still going.

Thought Demonlanders might appreciate having all this gathered in one spot. Comment anything I've missed and I'll add it to the list. PRE-MATCH Road to the Grand Final – MFC Past players video message AFLW players video message Channel 7 Grand Final intro Dees take to the field ‘One team; One dream’ RADIO SEN full call (audio only) Melbourne fans on post-game talkback SEN Chris from Camberwell Dennis Cometti’s last call: Qtr 1 Qtr 2 Qtr 3 Qtr 4 GAME HIGHLIGHTS SEN Commentary synced with vision [full game] – Yeah the Dees 3AW Commentary synced with vision [full game] – Yeah the Dees MMM (ft Dennis Cometti) Commentary synced with vision [full game] – Yeah the Dees Multi-Call: Angus Brawshaw Puts Melbourne in Front! – The Mighty Dees Multi-Call: Petracca Kickstarts the Demons – The Mighty Dees Multi-Call: Melbourne’s Third Quarter Blitz – The Mighty Dees Multi-Call: The Final Siren – The Mighty Dees Multi-Call: Bayley Fritsch Goes Back to Back! – The Mighty Dees All the goals – MFC Mini-match – AFL Petracca: Norm Smith highlights – AFL Fritta’s six goals – MFC https://www.afl.com.au/news/684511/drought-breakers-watch-each-quarter-as-demons-destroy-dogs PRESENTATION, CELEBRATIONS, GRAND OLD FLAG Lyon presents the cup – AFL Channel 7 post match Team song 1.0 Team song 2.0 In the rooms again Final siren and song in Melbourne cheer squad – gamblore514 Fans in Perth CBD Melbourne Demons sing-along ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Grand Old Flag’ INTERVIEWS Goodwin and Petracca presser – MFC Inside the rooms – post-match interview highlights – MFC Petracca – MFC Viney – AFL Brown – AFL May – AFL Gawn – AFL Fritta – MFC Fox Footy: Garry Lyon in the Melbourne Rooms Sunday Footy Show Panel commentary Goodwin Petracca Viney Oliver Brayshaw SOCIAL MEDIA ETC. Gus and Gawny and the Premiership Cup Podcast/Video Viney and Goody call Todd Hectic Fan Vlog from the MFC cheer squad MFC Social Wrap MFC Fan’s View Demon Fan Diaries Celebrations at Forrest Place, Perth Garry Lyon reacts on SEN The Age Real Footy podcast Jeff White reacts Ben Brown run-up meme ARTICLES At long last: For the Demons, this is a grand new flag – Jake Niall (The Age) Dee-Fence: the secret weapon in Melbourne’s drought-breaking season – Nathan Schmook (AFL.com) Luke Jackson re: Max Gawn – Sarah Black (AFL.com) Premiership skipper Gawn a captain for the ages – Peter Ryan (The Age) How the west was won: Decade of dysfunction wiped away in 31 seconds – Riley Beveridge (AFL.com) Everybody loves a happy ending - Demonblog Melbourne exorcises demons to rise from 57-year hell – The Sporting Landscape TV/ANALYSIS Fox Footy panel AFL 360 Countdown with Daisy Pearce On the Couch PHOTOS Oliver goal celebration Ben Brown realises he’s a premiership player The team and the cup Neale Daniher 2021 Premiers ANB ski mask Jack Viney snow angel Kozzie’s air time / team celebrates Kate Roffey and Simon Goodwin Famous Dees fan at 00:47 QTR3 Fritter points to his jumper (Michael Wilson) Gawn and Harmes video call Jonesy (Michael Wilson) POST MATCH Then and now: Jackson's rise to stardom - MFC YouTube Premiership Tales series - MFC YouTube Every Player's Grand Final Highlights - The Mighty Demons YouTube

I got down to Casey today. It was good to be back watching the boys live. I waltzed into the ground and moved around at will, until Benny Gibson came over and told me I was welcome to stay, but that I had to stay in a certain part of the ground. So I stood just in front of Jeff Farmer and Matty Whelan who were on the hill chatting for hours! Some observations: -Brayshaw, Pickett and Lockhart made up the re-hab group. (Although vandenBerg and May spent time working away from the group with the fitness staff.) Gus did quite a bit of light running and kicking. They ran Kozzie into the ground. -Jordan Lewis was there today. He even did the interval running with the players at the end of training. -Choco ran a drill early where the focus was on kicking. He was very vocal and dead against players kicking around corners. -Clayton Oliver was wearing a pink hat at training. I'm not sure why, but I overheard he was wearing it because he came first in something. -T-Mac was a stand out for me. He marked and moved well. He seemed to be involved in everything. -Jake Lever was by far the most vocal on the ground. He likes dropping the f-bomb, does old Jake. -Jayden Hunt was training with the defenders. Melksham was with the mids and spent a lot of time out on the wing in match sim. -Kobe Farmer and Deakyn Smith were training with the group. Both looked lively at times without standing out. -A lot of the drills were focussed around ball movement, defensive structures and delivering the ball inside 50. There was a lot of stopping of the play by coaches to talk through the way players were setting up on the ground at various times. I'm happy to answer any questions.

G'day all! Need an excuse to watch Max's glorious goal from 55m last night 7 more times? Then here's a lil' multi-call clip I put together featuring 7 different commentary tracks all basking in the brilliance of the effort! Enjoy!

Thought I’d give a little update on Dec for anyone interested This season he is playing at our home town of Moe as a development coach/player Back into his true position as a key defender and has killed it in the first 2 games On Saturday they played Maffra in Maffra and won 69-26. Moe haven’t beat Maffra away in over a decade He was dominating so much they sent a defensive forward on him but it didn’t work, he took a huge number of defensive and intercept marks and was a big reason Maffra only kicked 3 goals for the game Moe picked up a few good players this year including ex Giants and Carlton player Kristian Jaksch. Should have a good crack at the premiership this year He has floated the idea of possibly returning to Casey in the VFL next season so I will keep you updated Carn the Dee’s!

PREMIERS 2021

Trekked to Casey this morning. Arrived at 9.15 and players were already working on the field. When the rain came at 10.00 it was my cue to leave. So I was there for about 45 minutes. The view from outside the cyclone fence was very good but it was hard to make out what was happening on the other side of the oval – its quite a flat outer. It was my first ever training session so wasn’t sure what to look for or look at. It was hard to make out some players especially the newer ones or those that hadn’t played many games. So I had to work from their numbers (when they weren’t wearing coloured tops). So missed a lot of the detail of what was happening. Observations: · When I arrived there were some ball movement drills happening on the flanks of the ground with the ball starting fwd of the wing. · It took quite a while to work our who wasn’t there. The only ones I didn’t see were Aaron VandenBerg and Marty Hore (that is not to say they weren’t there). So a fairly fit list especially of our top 30 players. · Rehab group was Brayshaw, Hibberd and Petty. Its great to see it so small. I notice there is an injury report from Burgess on their status. · Oliver seems to have recovered from shoulder surgery. I didn’t notice shoulder strapping but that could be because there was no tackling/contact work. (Not sure if contact training is allowed by the AFL in these covid times). · Ball movement seemed slow and sloppy at times but it is early in the pre-season and there would be a few cobwebs to blow out. · They changed tops often: pink, while, and I think yellow. Couldn’t make out what each meant. · After a huddle there was ball movement training starting in the middle – it looked like transition work but not possible to draw any conclusion on what was happening or how it might look like in 2021. I saw Rosman and Rivers have a go in the middle then fwd and Bowey was fwd (but I wouldn’t take that as indication of when or where they might play). · TMac looked fantastic, moved well and was with the defenders. · I noticed B Brown at the end of my 45 minutes so not sure if he was out there the whole time. Was wearing knee strapping. · At one stage Fritsch did some goal-kicking practice from about 40 m out. · It was good to see Nietschke and Jordan training after missing two years with injuries. · No-one stood out for good or bad reasons as I wasn't there long enough. The person I noticed the most was Rivers. Really like him. · The music was fairly loud so couldn’t tell much from player voices but I didn’t notice a lot of animation which is not to suggest that is a bad thing. · I completely forgot to look specifically for Goodwin, Yze or Williams. But then I didn’t expect the rain to arrive so early. At least two of them were in the middle most of the time directing proceedings. · Overall it felt low key but that could be because I have no idea what to expect from a training session. Well, that’s it folks. Will try to get to training again soon. As an aside training is on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but it seems the club publishes pics only for Monday sessions. Not sure if that is due to cost savings.

I arrived down at Casey (God's Country) around 9.15am and stayed until 11.30am. The players began with forward 50 entries, they were about 60 out and delivering it to leads near the goal square and forward pocket focusing on low bullet entries and then switched play to kicking out of forward line. Chocco was leading these drills and lead most of the drills all morning for the main group. Rehab we had Hibberd, Pickett, Brayshaw and Lockhart. Hibberd did the least of the group so he seems a fair way off, whatever his injury may be. Vanders and May joined the rehab group later in the session and conducted individual programs. Mostly repeat running. As mentioned by Tough Kent Petty is fully training with the main group which is encouraging. From what I've seen with the new recruits, Rosman is training with the mids, Bowey with defenders and Laurie with forwards. Rosman was the standout for me of the new recruits. He is fast, athletic and runs all day. Bowey is lighter than I expected he definitely needs a few pre seasons in the gym but I loved his kicking. Laurie has strong legs but small upper body and shoulders he also impressed me with his repeat running and endurance which was conducted towards the end of the session. The second drill it was a keepings off scenario 8 (yellow bibs) vs 6 (no bibs) starting from the back 50 and using handball receive to clear space and then go through the corridor with run and carry and hitting up a free player inside the 50. The third drill, forwards and backs were playing on each other while the mids played on each other. Lewis and Yze were coaching the midfield group. From what I saw Sparrow, Jordon, Nietschke, Vanders, Melksham all training with the mids. Viney and Trac the standouts for me and Clarry also sharp. I also made my way across the other side of the ground and Ben Gibson came over to me and told me to vacate back to the entrance area due to Covid precautions. I had a brief chat with him and I voiced the issue with him that not enough content is being put on the MFC website and encouraged him to do more interviews and podcasts to which he said they'll bring out a podcast tomorrow. But IMO I believe MFC should be doing a lot more to provide content for their supporters. They finished the session with interval training i.e run 50 metres, jog 30 metres and walk 10 metres and repeat continually around the boundary for about 10 - 15 minutes. Rosman and the new kid Smith were the standouts. They just ran all day basically lapping players. Poor Ben Brown was in a world of pain, i'm sure he would be thanking Burgess later for that session. Jeff Farmer was in attendance and chatted away with Matty Whelan the entire time. Yze and Goody came over later and had a good 30 minute chat with them. Farmer was impressed with training and mentioned it was like nothing they did back in the day. Farmer has lost a lot of weight and credits it to being off the booze... he's sitting on about 85kgs. I got some very good information that Lachie Ash (Pick 4 from 2019 draft) won't be renewing his contract from GWS and wants to be back in Victoria. His preferences are Melbourne and Geelong. My source said he heard it from two of people. That's about all the news I have for today. I hope you all appreciate the report. Cheers!

This is a first time post. I visited from Adelaide today. I don’t read Demonland a lot other than at this time of the season, and really appreciate those who do training reports. But knowing people involved in the club, this is not the place to spend too much time in season! I thought I would add my bit to preseason, although it’s 3 hours later so I have probably already forgotten half of it and Kev above covered some of it. I arrived at 9.15 and the players were already warming up. I stayed till the very end, which was just after 1pm with the last 3 off the track being Steven May, Jack Viney, and Marty Hore. They finished with goal to goal repeat sprints, which at the end of a 4 hour session was impressive. Even more impressive is May was side by side with Viney doing 22-25 second 170m sprints after 4 hours of training. It was about 80% ball work and 20% running at training. They started in 2 groups at each end doing non contact match sim inside the 50 arcs. The emphasis was on kicking skills. Every turnover was called out loud and clear by the coaching staff, even if was a poor that bounced. While this was going on AVB, Petty, and Bradke were doing repeat 200-300m sprints around the outside. AVB was setting the pace and looked in great nick. When he was leaving training he was saying that if 2019 was different he would have played in the back half of the year like 2018, and he feels he is 100%. From what I can tell he is doing lots of running but perhaps they don’t want to risk a Spargo like step on foot incident yet. After the skills match sim it changed to full oval match sim with the non contact players standing out. Lever, Weideman, Jetta etc we’re not standing around, but doing a lot of explosive agility type work in the unused forward pocket. The match sim was interesting. It would start with a congested activity somewhere upfield with an emphasis on ground balls. The players would repeatable roll the ball into a scrimmage, and then try and pick up and get a clearance and when they did just roll the ball back in. It kept going until the coaches blew a whistle which signalled it was real, and from a clearance they’d try and get it inside 50 to a lead. It was pretty willing, evidenced by Tmac (I think) leading out at full tilt with Hore drifting back and KK trying to spoil. Hore and KK were both flattened. Luckily no major harm although KK left training to get his elbow seen to. After the full oval match sim they broke up into various groups doing different activities. Mainly seemed to focus on skills, although some players would be cycled through activities that looked a bit like trying to work on explosiveness. For example, 3 players would be on their stomachs, and the coach would roll a ball near 1 and call out. 2 would jump up, the closest to get the ground ball and the second to tackle. Seemed to be working on recovery, getting to feet, evading or tackling etc. Another group were totally focussed on kicking to the wing. Others were doing 150m sprints, and other doing stoppages again with ground balls. For the ground ball stoppages, the coaches were continuously calling out for longer handballs to the outside. At one stage, Stafford was working on goal kicking. Hunt and Weideman did a lot of work. Then they setup a spot 40m out and had a camera directly in front and one to the side. Stafford was managing, and had Petracca, ANB, Oliver, Melksham, and Fritsch filmed for about 10 kicks each. No one else. Petracca still has a lot of work to do and I’m sure his routine will be sorted. Was still walking up to kick. The rest looked pretty good, but all seemed to be told to get some forward momentum, or at least compared to Petracca seemed to be accelerating in to kick with pretty good results. Especially Melksham who didn’t seem to miss. Some of the highlights for me overall were Petracca. He is in ripping nick, and ran in a group with Brayshaw and a few others in the repeat sprints. He is in better running nick than ever, was right up the front, and looked to handle it better than Brayshaw. Another highlight was May. It looked like he had to do extra’s, and he did not lag behind in any of the sprints. His group included Max and he was side by side with him the entire way. He also looks in great nick. In one drill, there was a handball chain that ended with a player at 40m running toward goal. May drilled everything. The other was TMac. He has his running legs, and was continuously getting in good positions and marking in the full oval match sim. Viney is doing all the running and more. His foot is not a problem touch wood, and he is loving the program Burgess has given him. Already he feels fitter than ever, and he did the extras. Oscar Mac looks in great nick and to have bulked up a lot. In the inside 50 skills match sim his kicking is really good. I didn’t see him miss a kick, which I probably couldn’t say about most of the squad. Overall, and I don’t have much to compare against as I didn’t see training last year, the squad looks in excellent nick. I did talk to a few of the veteran supporters to ask how it compares to prior years. They all seemed to think it’s the fittest they have seen them.

Managed to get down for my first session of this off season. Stayed from the start until about 10:30 when I had to duck off. I'll give a rundown of the session I saw and then go through each player at the end (it will be the only way for me to remember what I thought about them all!) Rehab: Tomlinson - walking laps, Baker - walking/jogging laps, and a grouping of Jones, KK, Hannan and Bradtke. Jones does look grumpy about being in this group. None appeared overly encumbered. Hannan perhaps a little but he has an odd gait. Tom Mac no show, though he did appear later before I left. Spargo & Bennell unsighted. A few extremely looking fit umpires running the boundary - more on that later. Started with warm ups and run throughs - nothing much to comment on here other than to say I enjoyed the work of the trainer (not sure it was Burgess). Loud, clear and funny too, had the boys in good spirits to start the session. We seemed to have a couple of random players training with us - not sure of names, background etc. Lockhart seems to struggle with the warm ups and exercises. Think he is far from a natural athlete. They then moved on to some kick to kick, but in groups of 4. 2 pairs kicking to each other, with the aforementioned training balls with the yellow line down the middle. One player marks and hands off left or right to the player who immediately hits up the target with a short kick. I know some of you will love this - but there was an emphasis on kicking with the wrong foot every 2nd kick or so. Fair to say there were some average skills here from all and sundry. Reports of Rivers' kicking appear far overstated - he is a long way off Fritsch levels to whoever said that. Pickett too, is not as natural on his wrong foot as previous reports led me to believe. Jackson on the other hand has very neat skills on his preferred right in particular. There is something there that reminds me of a little less polished Bont (at least in kicking style/elbows/etc). Some of the poorest wrong foot kicking came from Bedford, Sparrow (although his preferred has improved from last year) and Dunkley, all of whom were grouped together hence particularly noticeable. I was too far away from the other groupings to comment other than the draftees who I specifically looked for. They then broke into groups - Key position players down one end, with the wings occupied by the mids/flankers/pocket players. I was closest to the Key position guys so will start there. This drill involved a coaching member kicking out from the pocket to a 2v1 situation on the HFF - 2 defenders vs 1 forward. Forwards included Fritsch, Weideman, Petty, a train-with player, and Brown. Backs included OMac, Lever, May, Joel Smith, Hore. The first 2v1 situation seemed to be about one defender engaging while another went third man up. An umpire was on hand calling holding the man if the engaging defender held on too much, which was a good idea (even though the players didn't seem to notice or care when a free kick was called as the drill was moving too fast). The 2nd defender would then drop off and the forward and remaining defender ran into the 50, pivoted on a cone with the forward leading to the coach on the HFF. If the defender didn't check his man closely enough, the kick would be delivered to the leading forward. This only happened once. If there was not enough separation on the lead, the forward would double back around to receive a high kick at the point of the goal-square, with the defender trying to body and ultimately spoil/outmark. The 2nd umpire was on hand to watch these contests for holding too, and called a couple. In general, there were two stand-out players in this drill - being 1) May and 2) Joel Smith. May is just an absolute brute - he is strong, physical and intense, and with a running jump can fly as well as 3rd man up. Joel Smith is a very impressive athlete - as big (if not bigger) as most of these boys, but also faster and with more spring, reads the flight of the ball well too. He has sure hands and outpointed more or less every forward on every occasion, either punching or marking in a 1v1 vs the forward. Weideman was disappointing - to me he just doesn't have the required intensity to body up and shake clear of his opponent. He always seems to want to take a running jump or simply reach over the top, which didn't work in particular against Smith who just rises too high. I have been prepared to give him time but I have my doubts. The concern for him is that he shows no more than Petty, who is a couple years his junior but appears to have more of the intensity required. If Sam fails to perform this year, I think the coaching staff might just run out of patience. Fritsch was undersized in this drill so didn't star, but he's a fantastic overhead mark as we know, times his leap exceptionally well and positions himself to protect the dropzone. Brown is a funny one - appears much more comfortable with the ball on the deck than he is in the air. Can't jump particularly high. Lever isn't an especially impressive player in 1v1 situations, but won his share of contests purely by getting front position and drawing a free kick. Hore went OK, OMac is just too sluggish (I like him, but this may be his downfall) and the train-with player was a nice athlete too with a good burst of speed. Would have liked to have seen Luke Jackson in this drill though I imagine he would have been rag-dolled. I then moved to the wing where a group of mids/flankers/pockets were doing some kind of transition drill from end to end involving a player marking the ball from a kick, selling a dummy around the man on the mark and handballing out to a free player, who looked to be trying to deliver kicks clearing a pack of players that I imagine is supposed to represent the 'body' of players in the middle of the ground as we transition out of the 50. i.e. aiming to clear the centre circle ish and go arc to arc. There was some average kicking here from a few - Brayshaw (who was wearing #43 oddly), Langdon, Dunkley in particular. Langdon's kicking isnt great, very high ball drop. Dunkley likewise doesnt appear to have a particularly low or controllable kicking action - struggles to kick with any penetration by my eye. Brayshaw's issue was more of sloppiness than action. Jetta & Oliver looked good in this drill, didn't mind little Chandler either who is neat enough by foot. They then moved into a sort of semi-full ground match simulation. There was only one scoring end, teams split into training tops vs hi-vis vests. Fair to say the hi-vis team, who were not the scoring team, struggled, although there may have been a deliberate outnumber in certain parts of the ground, it was hard to tell. Due to the vests it was also a little more difficult to tell who was who in this drill. There appeared to be an emphasis on kicking out, then going back i50 and switching to the free side with speed. This wasn't always particularly well done and quite a few poor kicks were intercepted i50 by the attacking team leading to set shots on goal. In particular, one turnover to Weideman's lap who does have a good set shot kick and drilled it. Couldn't see who the culprit was. The absolute stand-out in this drill was Fritsch. He honestly made it look easy - either presenting up at the ball as a forward, or intercepting the hi-vis team's exit from the back 50 and just strolling into goal. An exceptionally skilled and smart player who has the scope to do very special things in the forward line I think. Other strong contributors in this drill were May, who took one very good pack mark when he had no right to, and I liked Lockhart's work as a small defender. He's tenacious, has good agility, is elusive, and creative by hand and foot. He shares many attributes with Jetta and I can see why they might have him in mind for that role. Because we know he can go forward, I wouldn't be surprised to see him make a few 22's during the year as he could be handy to move up forward when we need a goal at the end of games. LJ struggled up forward to be frank - hands to a lot of balls but couldn't quite bring them down. Being matched up on Lever and May is a steep learning curve. Individual Player observations: Pickett - Applied decent forward pressure in the match simulation, without ever laying too many tackles or getting much of the ball. Couldn't bring down Viney, managed to bring down Gus on the wing. Early days but I had hoped to see him with ball in hand a little more. Next time hopefully. Didn't seem lightning quick but there wasn't a lot of space to show this off. Rivers - a very good size that would allow him to play early if good enough. Didn't get overly involved in match simulation but I will repeat that his kicking is perhaps not as good as it has been touted. Kicked twice into the man on the mark. If he's to transition to a mid, will need to improve his speed of thought / hand in contested situations, but like Kossie, early days and he is getting used to the tempo. Jackson - Very interesting player. I can see why they think he might be a mid long term as he's good below his knees, makes good decisions by hand and is neat by foot. As above, struggled as a forward against the bigger bodies. If he plays early in the fwd line, I wouldn't be expecting much aside from the odd cameo. Tomlinson - Absolutely massive unit. Would have to be the biggest 'winger' of all time. Walking laps. Langdon - Does have good running patterns as has been touted, finds pockets of space to receive the ball and got a fair bit of it in the match sim as a result. I like the timing of his late runs into the 50 behind the forwards/backs, was found by Fritsch in the goal square with a particularly raking kick on one occasion. May - Discussed above - I will only add that he is absolutely crucial to this team. There is no other defender like him on the list and you can see he makes them all walk taller. Very vocal and a leader. My only criticism is that he does everything with so much gusto, he has a tendency to over commit to contests that he has very little chance of winning, and can sometimes leave his man free as a result when he misses the ball or something. Jones - Rehab, looked grumpy. A lovely left foot kick, was teaching Bradtke to drop the ball lower. Seemed fine and probably not far off. Salem - Looked his usual self, nothing of note. Skinny legs! Harmes - Watching him in the Match Sim, I think he is the Hibberd replacement. Similiar players - speed, can shrug a tackle, not easily beaten. A good player who has become a consistent trainer. Petracca - Other than wearing a funny hat, I did not think he was particularly noticeable. Didn't get a lot of the ball, though had good burst speed when he did. Needs to continue working on making faster decisions when he receives the ball as his indecision allows defensive numbers to get back. Viney - Looked good overall other than some loopy kicking. But strong in the contest, shrugging off would-be tacklers, and generally involved. Moving well. Lever - As above, a strange player who isn't overly strong, fast or athletic. Very vocal and a leader though; we are paying him for his brain rather than his body. Prone to erroroneous kicking out of D50. Spargo - Absent Brayshaw - One observation above, but not too noticeable otherwise. Just travelling along it seems. Brought down by Kossie when he should not have been. Gawn - The quietest session I have seen from him. Barely noticed. Good in the contest when called upon. Bedford - Got a little bit of the ball; he's got spunk which I like. His kicking can let him down though, quite loose action and tends to overhit his passes. Good height for a small forward. Oliver - Our best player. Good things happen when he gets the ball. Just understands where to kick it, when to run, and how to position himself and his team mates. No particularly outstanding moments but just consistently makes smarter decisions than the rest of the list. Hibberd - I thought he looked a little more like his 2018 self, industrious coming out of D50 and strong in the contest. A very important player still. KK - in rehab, barely resembles a footballer anymore in size. Honestly looks like one of the volunteers/trainers running around. I hold little hope. Melksham - With Fritsch, the most dangerous forward on the ground in the Match sim. Such a good user of his body when the ball is in the air and had quite a few set shots as a result. Hannan - in rehab. Weird gait, weird player. Can't help but think his days might be numbered if Fritsch continues to star and Melksham holds the other HFF. But injuries, declines or other circumstances can provide his opportunity if he can get fit. Preuss - Does appear leaner, though lost a little of his imposing presence as a result. Didn't get a lot of ball in the match sim. In no man's land in my opinion; neither a forward, doesn't look like a 1st ruck anymore and doesn't strike me as anything else. I liked his game against Carlton last year though when he was our 1st ruck. AVB - Our most physical player. Bashed and crashed his way around, including bringing down the non-contact Neitschke. Love having him back. Generally very involved; a full year of him on the park will make us so much better, as we all saw during our 18 finals run. Jordon - Can't say I noticed him too much but suspect he was playing for the hi-vis team and therefore absent a number. Has no particularly noticeable style, height, hair or hat so he is a tricky one! Tmac - As above, no show at the start though arrived later in runners. Not sure what the issue is. Weideman - Some commentary above, in short I have concerns. If he has put on strength/size, it doesn't show in terms of how he uses it. More intensity required. Nietschke - First I have seen of him and agree with others that he appears to naturally find space and the ball. Not a particularly great user but could have a role one day. Appears diligent if his form during the warm ups / exercises is anything to go by (much more than some other players). Omac - Some discussion above - I like his kicking skills and like his genuine size, I think he is effective on the gorilla forwards if they don't have much speed. Put space around him though and he's all at sea; if I was coaching the opposition I would be taking him deep to isolate at every opportunity. Got called for quite a few holding the man free kicks in the key position drill because once they get separation, he can't keep up and so holds on. At this point I think we may have seen close to his best in 2018. If May were to go down, he's a serviceable replacement but barely adequate. One thing I did notice is that he is perhaps too 'smart' for his own good - in the key position drill I described above he often wouldn't bother sticking too close to the forward on the first lead because most of the time the leads weren't being honoured; a quirk of the drill given they were trying to practise 1v1 contested marking. He began to double back almost immediately knowing that that's where the drill would very likely end up. Again, in my view this shows his lack of intensity. Nonetheless, he's not the worst depth in the world but not convinced he will ever be a best 22 full back, at least not in a very successful team. Hunt - I liked what I saw from him today. Seemed to be picking the ball up in the back half and looking a little like his 2017/2018 self running it out of the back half, but pleasingly lowering his eyes. One to watch, could be a quiet improver. ANB - Not too noticeable, as usual buzzing around the contest to receive exit handballs. Knows his role, has limitations but there is a place for him in the 22 when on song. Brings more energy albeit less skill than the nearest competition for an endurance small flanker (C Wagner). Fritsch - See above. A beautiful player who made quite a few look silly. Judging by the quality of his forward half intercepting (very prevalent in the time I watched), the time down back may have actually done him some good in this area. Appeared to read the ball coming out very well. Sparrow - I like his size, speed and power, but he needs a touch more guile or it will all go to waste. When he receives the ball in traffic he doesn't have a heap of composure in deciding how to get rid of it, and bombs it away quite often as a result. As I noted above, in the drills his kicking seemed slightly improved from his first year. He could be something but it's going to take some work; he's one who I think would benefit from consistent AFL exposure with its high tempo. VFL will help too, but won't exactly accelerate his development in his problematic area given you have more time at that level. Baker - jogging laps. Good size. I am hopeful for him as he showed a bit particularly against GWS at the G last year. Hore - a very non-fuss player and valuable depth. Bit of a 'tweener but does everything well without ever excelling. Not sure of his future. Petty - Moves like a big key forward should. He's imposing & heavy. Decent skills during the kicking drills, but barely touched it (that I saw) in the match sim. Chandler - Busy little player who I don't mind; has a sidestep and can work his way out of trouble. May be too small to make the grade given he doesn't possess the elite skills or pace that supposedly Pickett does. But he's a goer and will give himself every chance of making it you sense. Jetta - Looked good, free and running well after I have had concerns on his age/body/decline. Early days with a full season of knocks and bruises to come but a very composed leader. Rarely makes mistakes. C Wagner - Can get the ball on the outside and has OK skills and pace. Looks a million bucks at VFL level but can't match it with the big AFL mids I fear. May one day have a role as a flanker but it's not something he's especially natural at in my opinion. Reminds me of ANB. Lockhart - As above I liked his work today. Has genuine footy smarts and elusiveness in a way that many on our list do not. Not a natural athlete at all but knows his game. Will play games this year IMO. J Wagner - Same old. May have been responsible for a couple of turnovers but not sure it was him (hi-vis). Squeezed a lovely kick around the corner to Pickett down the other end. An error-prone player who is depth at best & I think knows he's potentially on his last chance. In his favour is that he seems durable and does not get injured. Growing his hair. Joel Smith - See above. Loved what I saw in the aerial drill. A bit of a clunky kick but when you watch him in training up close he's an absolute specimen. Would love his groins to stay trouble free and see what he can do with a bit of time in the 1s. Not sure it's the time for that given our ambitions, but he could be a very good player I think. Has a rare athletic profile that many would kill to have. Bradtke - Rehab. Beanpole. Working on set shots, hit them OK. Stafford working with him on his kicking as he seems incapable of hitting any kind of a low spearing pass (similiar to gawn though). Seems athletic, long way to go. Dunkley - I watched with interest as I find him difficult to judge. He's a relatively smooth mover over the ground but it kind of translates to his kicking in that his steps/run up don't change when kicking. That sounds good but it's not; it means he kicks in full stride rather than steadying himself with minor adjustments like some of the best do innately. This results in overhit, long kicks (we know he can hit long kicks from his set shot kicking last year). Does seem to be able to find the footy. A weird one, not sure on his future. Those who would draw comparisons to his similarly 'agricultural' brother when drafted would be missing that KDunk does not have Josh's explosiveness. Maybe he can develop it though? Brown - A few things mentioned above - he's alright. Decent depth. Not a lot of overhead presence but I like his searching leads. Notwithstanding he may all of a sudden become important, I'd like to think he's been signed to force Weideman to step up. Not sure it will work, but I like that idea. My overall impression was that training was fine. Not amazing, not bad, just training. I remain concerned about our key forward stocks as neither of Weideman or Brown showed much, and Petty is promising but still young and inexperienced at the craft. It's not a particularly strong group though. This was relatively glaring in my view particularly given the absence of TMac, and I think you'll find we still rely on him quite a lot this year at least if he is fit. If he's not, it might be struggle town again. The positive for the forward line was that Fritsch and Melksham looked absolutely terrific and would give many half back flankers a good bit of trouble. Nothing I saw convinced me that we've 'solved' the forward pocket role, but it's Kossie's 2nd or 3rd week and the drills weren't particularly conducive to small forward play, with the most contested forward 50 ever in the match sim. Our other small forwards are mostly 2nd/3rd year players. Personally, 2018 Spargo is still the best of the lot if he can rediscover his form. His footy IQ was very important to us that year. Backline looked strong with May, Joel Smith and Lever an interesting combination I haven't previously considered. If a team got picked from today, Joel Smith would be in it. Midfield is now stocked all through the depth chart, albeit with late / speculative draft choices, so let the best men win. But no one is touching Oliver. Not even close. That's actually turned out to be quite a long post....

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.

"I WISH I KNEW WHERE I WANTED TO BE WHEN I WANTED TO BE WHERE I WAS TODAY" Picture this.... temperature around 25 warm , balmy DAY and the Fence enjoying the majesty of the very pleasant surroundings of Casey Fields, does this sound inviting? Well I can tell you it beats the hell outa a weekend in Siberia anyday! But out here you still have to worry about slitherers but they are far more dangerous and bigger entities which have the capacity to be a .. more menacing presence .... which might or might not be related to the sign above! The usual drone of House music emanating from the Boom Box speakers at Casey Fields just blended nicely into the soundscape of what was another "Full On" Blitzkrieg Training session today. The following report was filed for the Demonland Brethren so what are you waiting for...... read on Absentees NO MAJAK No W.A Contingent except for Kossie On modified duties Jayden Hunt Warm ups This is done two ways 1 At the new indoor facility where players go through a thorough graduated stretching and graduated drill sequence 2 Out on the ground where small drills focusing on precise ball movement, quickness of delivery and rapid fire ball drill sequences are related to in tight match simulations One of these was a drill which I now call "Three Blind Mice" Players run backwards, with ball, Pirouette and run forward in a triangualar type sequence zig zag and then deliver the ball slighly off balance. It looks like the type of drill which equates to players being surrounded by opposition and then need to squeeze a correct delivery whilst slightly disorientated and slightly off balance. Skills , Drills and Maneuvers Two groups were maintained with one doing whole ground ball movements from various positions of stoppages both forwards and back and selecting again correct options for longer run and carry type work and also ground switching. The other group then continued in small confines contested ball work and again emphasizing delivery, blocking harrasing and disposal under pressure At the completion of this drill an excellent drill where players were involved in a triangular formation with 3 players moving the ball with precise handball which was punctuated by the gadfly tendancies of two harrasers who provided contest and pressure. This was an excellent drill in which hardly any group made a mistake! Delivery was precise, Handballs were given at the right moment then opening up the play. Following that a full match simulation was conducted under match conditions which again featured some at times breathtaking full ground transferance of the air conveyance! At the conclusion of that another minor activity some run throughs and Goal kicking was maintained and warm down completed a just over 2 hour pretty intensive and hard workout Player watch Several players really stood out for mine and I'll go through them now ADAM TOMLINSON A few on this site have commented on his "Readiness" but after seeing him again today he WILL be ready to go round 1. He marked well, moved well, was assured and showed NO sign of being hampered by his knee reco. He looked bloody good. DEAKYN SMITH Caught my eye on a few occasions with his Charismatic ball skills and skill level, will be one to watch in 2022 BAILEY LAURIE Looked much more assured and confident with some very "Astute" decisions and ball use TOM SPARROW Every time I see this kid I just keep thinking he plays like a turbo charged Ollie Wines, he is a bull who is becoming more confident and imposing. JAMES JORDON Scott Pendlebury Mrk 2 in the making here. JAKE BOWEY How much better can this kid get? Just never ever makes a mistake just cruises along the ground mopping up better than a thirsty Jex in the desert! JOEL SMITH Looks confident in body and took some excellent intercept marks and delivered very well in run and carry sim. N0 27 AND 42 Not sure who they are but boy did they do some excellently crafted runs and deliveries "Lace out" I wondered whether 1 was Luke Dunstan but not sure. OUR STANDOUTS Im putting a few buck on Clayton OLIVER for the 2022 BROWNLOW He just does not stop improving , some of his escapism and brute strength and dazzle from stoppages is almost impossible! Our culture is being driven by Max, Tracc, Stephen May and Jake Lever were irrepressible and Ed Langdon ANB, J.V, BBB, and Big Mac were all eye catching. Fritta snapped a couple of "Freak Goals" and Harmsy and Rivers assured as was Christian Salem IMPROVERS Fraser Rossman shows signs of steady improvement once smothering with full body on a Clarry Kick and Toby Bedford, and Kade Chandler committed very well. FINAL COMMENTS Competition for places is at all seasons high with selection headaches aplenty. Long gone are the days of limited backups and I forecast based on what I've seen little let up from the professional and exacting standards established in 2021

"Do you know the difference between involvement and commitment? Think of ham and eggs. The chicken is involved but the pig is committed!" The Observer 1982 "There is just one thing I want to commend you on and thats the way most of you are going in very hard to get the ball.BUT, he added with an ominous tone in his voice , there are a few of you that are hanging back from intense contact and unless these players show more guts , I won't put you in against Hawthorn" Ron Barassi during intraclub match page 40 "The Coach" Ibid And so it was forseen that in any given game at any given time unless you go hard even in a match simulation you won't get picked. So today as I ventuered out to CASEY FIELDS, The intraclub hitout was just that... Intense, hard, no beg pardons and on display around 35 or so players all striving to get noticed to show something, anything that might propel them in with a shot of the game Vs Geelong on Sunday. Skills , Drills and Manuevers, More or less same drills as desribed in previous posts with warmups, drills specifically attuned to busrting out from defence running in pack formation , canny use of the ground and with skills by hand and foot certainly noticeable. Of more specificity, protecting the ball carrier, creating options, two way running were featured. I certainly was a little concerned when I saw that match simulation featuring Blue probables vs Pink possibles ensued given that this is cause for injury concern , but given Ron Barasi's quote as above if its good enough for Ron then its gotta be good enough for Goody and co. The Match Ups Interestingly a Pink Forward line of Ben Brown (who moved well) Weeds, Majak and Mitch Brown is going to cause the opposition of May, Tomlinson and Lever some Alice Cooper moments ( Welcome to my Nightmare) but the Blues led by Clayton Oliver, Jack Viney, Angus B and Nibbler provided first use to McDonald, Kossie (who again put on a clinic) and Fritta. Others of note were Langdon, Rossman was involved, Chunky, Tracc, and Rivers. Gee Sparrow is as hard as a Cats head and Jordon is certainly improving outa site! Bowey and Laurie also did some useful things. Other than that at conclusion of match simulation players practiced goal kicking into a fierce North Wind but many shots were executed well. In particular Majak Daw hardly missed from a variety of angles. Harmsy ran laps but had no tape or any strapping on his injured Wrist and showed no discomfort. I would almost suggest that the team may go in unchanged from last week. I just cannot see how the possibility of Melksham can squeeze in in place of??? Maybe Hibbo might get a gig but again this current team is gelling well. One other thing gee this team looks fit, I reckon Geelong will find it hard to run out the game given how fit we are at present. Kudos to Darren Burgess! Cheers PF

I'll start with a negative.... Signs similar to this ( see the bottom of the page) were featured around the outside of the ground and were concerning. I thought about wiggling under the fence to get in but then had horrible visions of getting stuck and a slithera feasting on an unfortunate PF For dinner so decided against it. Training report . I arrived around 9.30 to see that the ground was in "Pristine" condition. The players were starting warm up drills and conditions were pleasant enough with the faint edge of a breeze to allow for comfort 1 No shows Kossie, Vanderberg 2 Modified programs Melksham, Gus, Austin Bradke Petty ( although he did feature in some of the drills) 3 Warm ups consisted of End to end 20 m apart with partner routine was to Throw ball in air spin on the bounce and kick left or right footed depending on where ball landed. Another one was to lie down flat jump to your feet and pass ball of 4 Simulated drill involved games of keepings of where pink jumpers would be running interference and players in blue jumpers were required to create options and to hit targets with close in handball 5 Simulated drill same as above but with ability to kick to targets further up the field the obvious match stimulation was to engender being creative and then defensive depending on which color had the ball 6 Whole ground simulation with tackling included. Again Pinks, and Yellows on rotation vs Blues in creating attack from defence and again being accountable for an opponent in zone like situations. Observations For me I remain concerned at the inability of players to hit targets mainly by foot, some of the kicks were either too short, way over heads or just sloppily executed. Although the wind did pick up the concern for me of addressing errant disposal is still a worrying sign. Point is at training your not going flat out so when real pressure comes on then skills under pressure will be found wanting. Similarly too many handballs are to players who arent really clear and therefore requires extra evasion to get clear. Having said that the players appear to be very fit and in good shape. Player observations OF NOTE Nathan Jones is not cooked yet was enthusiastic clean and robust, Bailey Laurie was very prominant with pace, class and cleverness, I think he will play very early Fraser Rosman, BELIEVE the hype, I actually thought I was watching Isaac Smith the way he moved and interceded the play with some lightning runs, he can hoof the Sherrin and can clunk a mark, Expect he will play sooner than later I was extremely impressed with Dogga Jackson ( yes thats his nickname) he's ready to take it to another level, athletic smooth gaining confidence and his body has developed nicely Another very impressive player was Tom Sparrow , for a big man he moved very well got involved in play and was no slouch in the skills department Tom Mc Donald has slimmed down but I'm not sure his pace has improved did some nice things but got caught with the footy a few times trying to do a "Dusty" dont argue Aaron Nietschke caught my eye a few times with some great solo efforts and displayed a willingness to be involved and with good skill set Toby Bedford , Kade Chandler, and James Jordon all showed something. Thats about it as I said when at CASEY WATCH OUT FOR SNAKES!! Cheers P.F

Have a great contact at Geelong who has worked in the football department for around 10 years. Spoke to him today and he couldn’t have spoken more highly about Steven King. Says he’s a ripper of a bloke, but he’s also a hard man with very high standards. Said he sees the game as good as anyone he’s ever dealt with. He said Dees have made a great choice By the way, he said James Kelly probably has the personality for a senior coach, but he doesn’t see the game anywhere near as well as Kingy Stated that there is a big gap today between those two candidates.

Do you believe in Footy "Miracles"?? I don't, but I do believe that hard work, a good game plan, personnel, that can carry out the plan and a smidgeon of luck can quickly turn into something potentially satisfying lets say..... Success at MFC!! Welcome to training today from the magnificently manicured CASEY FIELDS. Although the obligatory 6 seasons in one day reminded me of Science Fiction type inbalances between an EL NINO event and a LA NINA Cross, training today was very very good! NO SHOWS Didn't see Rosman, Kysiah still interstate I would imagine and Obviously Aaron Nietschke with his latest tragic ACL, Sam Weiderman also no show ON MODIFIED TRAINING BEN BROWN ( More on him later) Jake Melksham ( Jack Viney almost normal training along with Hibbo) DRILLS , SKILLS AND MANEUVERS After obligatory warm ups I saw 4 drills being executed today. ALL drills had the essential elements of the following game type events A Choosing correct options to create overlap and positive disposal accuracy B Being able to execute skills under pressure C Creating space from turnovers thus turning defence into attack and break line running DRILL A KAMIKAZE TARGET SELECTION ( BY HAND OR FOOT) This consisted of players in 6 groups zig zagging fashion giving handballs or kicks to best option standing in criss cross formations firstly from 15-20 m away increasing to 25-30 m away. This was a very good drill which showcased positive decision making and pretty good skills by hand and or foot to best options DRILL B HUDDLE BREAK OUT PINBALL WIZARD This consisted of what to me was a very intricate set play where player would get the ball have options to pass but was placed under enormous pressure by players with those battering foam mats who acted as harrasers trying to stop the player and or smother the ball in transit. This meant that players needed to not only pick correct option but also execute with precission and value. The pinball element presented as the flippers of a pin ball machine similiar to the foam battering mats used by the players. Players would huddle and then give of corect option quickly. DRILL C OVERLAP AND LINE BREAK DRILL Consisted of players in precision timing a run and creating a target getting the ball giving of calling for it back if in correct position and feeding it of to presenting player. Player then had a shot for goal or gave of to another option in rotational work similar to creating options of the back line DRILL D GOAL KICKING DRILL Simply throwing ball in air turn pivot and kick either for goal or to target depending on judgments POSITIVES BEN BROWN On modified program but worked with physio on exercises , strengthening and being able I would guess to go through movement range pain free. Looked unhampered MAJAK DAW WOW On what I saw today there is not a shred of doubt he will be on the list. His agility was exceptional for a big man he moved well, hit targets and looks to be not that far of fitness for AFL. Looks like he belongs and plenty of hand taps between players for him JACK VINEY Was impressive on todays performance looks fit and was not hampered in any way that I could see with his foot. Did some modified training at end but looks on track for round 1 HIBBO DITTO JV report as above VANDERS I worry that he seems to get injured at the wrong times and then has to refind form and fitness. Today he looked good and completed all drills OF INTEREST Someone was in rehab with Jake Melksham wearing Kossie Pickets no 36 I have no idea who he was!?? Just to reiterate as above header suggests; Do you believe in Footy "Miracles"?? I don't, but I do believe that hard work, a good game plan, personnel, that can carry out the plan and a smidgeon of luck can quickly turn into something potentially satisfying lets say..... Success at MFC!! Have to say all players were interested, involved , you could sense the Camaraderie and purpose skills and pace at execution were good today and so who knows, with a largely injury free list continued hard work, let the year unfold.The blend of mature, maturing and young players just seems to be gelling very nicely! PS In one of the Drills Max gathered the footty and on the run from outside 50 ROOOSTED a GOAL. AND DIDN'T HE LET EVERYONE KNOW ABOUT IT GREAT STUFF Cheers PF

As Demon fans, we’ve ridden a rollercoaster of emotions over the decades; the heartbreaks, the near misses, the wooden spoons, and the endless waiting. But through it all, we clung to hope. And then came Simon Goodwin. Before he ever wore red and blue, he was a champion in his own right. A five-time All-Australian, two-time Best and Fairest, and two-time premiership hero and Captain with Adelaide, Simon Goodwin was always destined to lead. When he transitioned from the field to the coach's box, first as an assistant at Essendon, he began shaping a new legacy. In 2014, he joined the Melbourne Football Club as an assistant coach, handpicked to be Paul Roos’ successor. It was a plan built on patience and vision and when Goody finally took the reins in 2017, there was a renewed sense of belief. We could feel something stirring. Under his guidance, we began to see what was possible. He instilled defensive grit, relentless attack, demanded effort, and taught this proud but battered club how to fight again. In 2018, he took us back to September for the first time in over a decade. We stormed into a preliminary final after years wandering the football wilderness. For the first time in a long time, we believed. Then came 2021. It’s almost impossible to find the words to capture what that year meant to us. In the darkest days of lockdowns and isolation, Simon Goodwin led us to the light. He took a group of talented but unproven players and turned them into a ruthless, relentless machine. He dared them to dream. He made us believe again. And then, on a September night in Perth, he delivered us the moment we’d waited 57 long years for. A premiership. A demolition. A masterpiece. A drought-breaker. Simon Goodwin did what so many before him could not. He gave generations of Demon fans something to hold on to. For those who waited their whole lives. For the ones who didn’t believe they would ever live to see it. For the kids who now know what glory feels like. He made that happen. But footy is brutal. The expectations rise. The pressure mounts. And the same man who brought us our greatest joy has now been shown the door. It hurts. It’s confusing. It feels wrong in some ways. But above all, we are grateful. Grateful for the calm in the chaos. Grateful for the what he helped achieved for our club. Grateful for the premiership cup that now stands in our cabinet. He etched his name into Melbourne Football Club history, not just as a coach, but as a redeemer. There were lows, frustrating losses, finals heartbreaks, questions that went unanswered but no one can ever take away what he accomplished. He changed the course of our club forever. So thank you, Goody. Thank you for the belief. Thank you for the memories. Thank you for 2021. Thank you for giving us our time. You’ll always be a part of the Melbourne family. Forever a Demon.

Hi all. Been a while. Yze coming home

Today’s MFC main session: Rehab: Lever and Spargo running laps. Lever was running short distances at a fast click as well as having kick to kick with a trainer. He seems unimpeded. Petracca, Chandler, McAdam and Fullarton doing non-contact kicking and handball drills on the adjacent oval. All moving freely at pace. I didn’t notice Windsor, Melksham, Verrall, Tholstrup or Kentfield, but it could have just been an oversight by me. Today’s main session comprised of 3 x 20 minute quarters of contested match simulation under the guidance of two AFL umpires (no boundary umpires). And it was very much a probables vs possibles for round one, which is why Pickett was with the possibles. So when you’re trying to drift off to sleep at night while picking your best team from the backline to the forwards keep the following in mind. Probables – Blue: May, Petty, Howes, Salem, Bowey, and McVee in defence; Gawn, Oliver, Rivers, Viney, Langford, Ed Langdon, Sharp, Billings, Sparrow, and Lindsay rotating in the mids, and van Rooyen, Turner, Jefferson, Fritsch as the main forwards. Ed Langdon, Lindsay and Billings all spent time on the wing. Langdon and Billings also occasionally rotated through a half-forward flank, while I noted Langdon attended a lot of CBAs. Lindsay was predominantly just wing. Along with Ed Langdon, Oliver, Viney, Rivers and Langford had the bulk of the CBAs. It was quite noticeable that Blue had a heap of left footers: Viney, Langford, Lindsay, Billings, Salem, May, Fritsch. Just need to get Chandler and Brown into the team. • I’m saying Ed Langdon, because a lot of posters are saying Langdon when they mean Langford Possibles – White: McDonald, Pickett, Brown, Adams, Laurie, Woewodin, Mentha, Campbell, Hore, Moniz-Wakefield, Johnson, Sestan, George, Yze, Culley, plus a few other Casey players White got off to a flyer with the first 3 goals. George kicked 2 (one lead and mark and the other a good crumbing goal) and Mentha one on the run from about 40 metres. Gradually Blue wrestled control and ran out 38 point winners (10 11 71 to 5 3 33). I don’t believe there were any injuries, although Viney copped a high one, which set him back in his tracks. I think he was fine. Lots of switching with short and long kicks before trying to spot up forward leads if possible, or long kicks when necessary. The game was a bit scrappy with some skill errors, including dropped chest marks (my pet hate), intermingled with some quality ball movement. Gawn and Campbell nullified each other. Gawn wasn’t able to take his trademark contested marks, but I never expect ruckmen to be marking at their best in early February. Ed Langdon was prolific. He was constantly an option and seemed to be relishing a bit more freedom through the midfield. I was surprised by how many centre bounces he attended. Lindsay didn’t get a lot of it and made a couple of errors but generally used it well. Langford was busy and contested as you’d expect. Took a nice mark and kicked a goal from a left foot snap 35 metres out. Billings was one of the busiest. He’s finding the footy with ease and was used a lot. Salem is also finding plenty of it. Bowey also got a heap of it. May was his intercepting self and uses Salem and Bowey as the outlet kick. McVee was also busy. Howes was good. He links up well with his fellow defenders. He seems to be having a very good preseason. Petty did what he had to do, which wasn’t much. Rivers and Oliver were the best mids for Blue. It’s great to see Oliver looking like he’s back to his best and Rivers looks a natural mid to me. Sharp was neat. Did a great spoli which became a mark deep in defence and 30 seconds later was hitting van Rooyen lace out in the forward pocket. The tall forwards were pretty quiet. Jefferson took a double grabber 35 metres out and converted. He also kicked one off the ground in the last. I thought he competed well. Van Rooyen kicked a nice goal from a difficult angle, and he also went up against Johnson in the ruck for a while. Turner was quiet. Fritsch was the most lively of Blue’s forwards. He also got on the scoreboard. I liked the look of Culley. A very tall mid, but looked good. Kicked a goal for White. Lastly, a special mention to the brothers. Pickett was fantastic despite getting caught by Langford. He played 90% in the midfield and was just so clean, quick and creative. His delivery was very good. He teamed up well with Mentha and George, who both looked likely. He’s got a touch of class Mentha and the more nuggety George also looks like he could belong at AFL level. They were up against it with a strong Blue backline and White had no key talls to crumb off, but both looked dangerous and had multiple shots at goal.

Saty isn't everyone's cup of tea but I doubt there are many better supporters. He attended every training session at Gosch's he could get to, he'd organize his shift work to attend, he'd work the phones ringing past members asking them to re-sign in the dark days and he's worked outside the MCG giving members their scarves well into the start of game to make sure they were looked after. But more than that. When things were bad he wasn't. He was as supporters should be, supportive and helpful to the club doing what he could to improve us. And to many on Demonland he provided training reports and some information that wasn't available elsewhere on player's situations and injury. I haven't seen him here this year and that is in large part I imagine to training not being at Gosch's and the small minority on here who belittled his input and made life pretty unpleasant for him. But he's one of the true believers and I hope wherever you are Saty you are soaking up the thrill of the flag and it's rewarded you in some way for all your past efforts. Cheers mate, I look forward to catching up.

STAR TREK CHRONICLES SPACE, THE FINAL FRONTIER, THESE ARE THE VOYAGES OF THE STARSHIP “ENTERPRISE” IT’S FIVE-YEAR MISSION TO EXPLORE STRANGE NEW WORLDS TO SEEK OUT NEW LIFE AND NEW CIVILIZATIONS…., TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE! SEGWAY MUSIC! SCENE 1 Captains log 12122351 We have been requested by Starfleet command to search for and bring back deranged, megalomanic, psychopath and madman Colli Feral. He fled homeworld Klingon prime and has found a way to go back in time to wreak havoc on the planet earth in the early 21st Century with his desire for power and to create a like race of people which are despised around the cosmos. Spock: Captain, I believe I have computed Colli Ferals last known location and have situated it in a place called Lulie St. I am, however, unable to get a precise location, however a resident in another location would be receptive to our efforts to locate and apprehend him and I have the coordinates locked into computer, his name is Picket Fence! Kirk: Is there any chance that we attempt time jump that we might be trapped in a time warp that we may never return? Spock: A time warp from which we may never return. Why captain I can’t believe my ears!! Kirk: Neither can we Spock , neither can we! Scotty, prepare for the time jump! Landing party Bones, Mr. Spock, Myself and Yeoman Smith Scotty: Aye Sir but I canna guarantee the ships integrity, we will be approaching Mega Warp! Kirk on my mark Spock, 3, 2, 1 Go. Scene 2 On arrival, Kirk: we seem to have made it! Landing Party to transformer room on the Double ENERGISE ! Kirk what an inhospitable place, Spock is this it? Spock: Indeed, it is captain, captain look at this sign!! Kirk, phasers on stun, full alert, wait who is that over there Spock?? According to tricorder readings that is Picket Fence!! Picket Fence thinking What a shocking day wind up, no ground access, passed two slitheras enroute all in the name of Demonland!! Wait, who is that? Oh, hold the phone is that who I think it is!! Kirk: We mean you no halm I am……….. Picket Fence: I know who you are James Tiberious Kirk, Mr. Spock, Bones Mc Coy, Scotty and Yeoman?? Yeoman: Yeoman Smith!! Picket Fence, of course you are!! I am Picket Fence. We know who you are P.F P.F How do you know that ? Never mind Its probably in the script which I haven’t read yet! Kirk: Probably but let’s get on with it, We have been requested by Starfleet command to search for and bring back deranged, megalomanic, psychopath and madman Colli Feral. He fled homeworld Klingon prime and has found a way to go back in time to wreak havoc on the planet earth in the early 21st Century with his desire for power and to create a like race of people which are despised around the cosmos. P.F Hnmm have you a Picture? Kirk: His name is Colli Feral and he has limited teeth, speaks in Guttural Language and wears Black and White clothing often do you know him? P.F Yeah I can narrow it down to about 100,000 people like that, but I reckon I can help, but first I have to complete my training report for Demonland! Spock: ah yes we have heard something about this in Earth Archives, Mind if I observe?? Of course and you as well Captain, ow watch out a slithera is about to climb on Mr. Spocks leg! Scotty: Aye Captain that would be a trouser snake! ( stifling laughter) It attaches to your leg, That’s what we called them in Scoootland! I’ll phaser it of! Buuuuz! Mr. Spock, Mister Scott why are you laughing! Bones Mc Coy: Its humor Spock , don’t you get it? Spock: Humor is a narrative with a humorous ending, no I don’t get it! Bones: Typical Vulcan response Spock you humorless moron! P.F Ok Captain I’ll help on one condition! Kirk: And what would that be? P.F I have an acquaintance that owns a Manor with staff needing new uniforms, could I have a couple of those Yeoman outfits for his perusal? Kirk: Of course, just send the coordinates and we will beam them to him! O’k lets observe this report of Training at Casey Fields of the Melbourne Dees, Tricorders ON PICKET FENCE TRAINING REPORT CASEY FIELDS 8/12/2023 Blustery day at Casey, Ground NOT OPEN?? and the only other people I saw were one bloke on the far side and another Man and Woman also watching around the south Goals, had a small pair of Binoculars but looking through the fence was problematic. NO SHOWS Clarry, Kade Chandler, Petty, and Melky REHAB GROUP Gus, Salem, Bailey Fritsch, and later ……. Koltyn Tholstrup! A group of young players including Caleb Windsor was also on light duties. OSERVATIONS, PLAYER WATCH AND DRILLS INFORMATION Drills were nothing new and involved overlaps, weaves, clean ball handling and picking the correct options. All players looked pretty fit and a few have put on some beef. Among them were Jefferson, Sestan, Farris White, Sparrow and I really liked the look of TRENT RIVERS! After exercises stretches players were practicing goal kicking from various angles, distance and combos of set shots and on the run pivots. After that came an almost full match simulations between Red Kicking with the wind and White kicking against. Reds DOMINATED; however, it was at times difficult to differentiate as quite a few players had different numbers on for example VINES wearing no 3? As well as standing on the outside looking in this set another level of challenge! From the Match sim I have this to report! BEN BROWN will play round 1 barring injury; He looked really good unhampered and ran far and wide kicked plenty of goals and looks a new man. TRENT RIVERS Wow just watching him develop was just mind bending , he has gone to another level with fitness, confidence, poise and belief ran through midfield at times and just shrugged opponents at will. SHANE MC ADAM What an excitement machine knows where to run, almost took the hanger of the year, and kicks the ball beautifully , he will also play round one. JACK BILLINGS What an astute pick up, clever, crafty, uses the ball very well and will slot in as high half forward or maybe wing and did some very nice things. KOZZY PICKET, Did the usual Kossy things. TOM FULLARTON, doesn’t look out of place and is a presence in Ruck and forward. JOSH SCHACHE Bit of a surprise packet for me today was involved kicked a couple of goals and was good in contest. MATHEW JEFFERSON, Has definitely bulked up and did a few nice things and kicked a couple of goals as well. BAILEY LAURIE Was also quite involved in general play, but I don’t know if he just lacks something is it breakaway pace? BLAKE HOWES, Also did some good things , took the game on , his disposal was good and he looked quite confident! Other than that T Mac played back but gee he looks slow and I’m not sure where he will sit this year in selections. A few players missed REGULATION goals for example Trac from 40 out directly in from and really this again would not want to be part of our conversion going forward. Was training intensity up or down compared to what I saw last year at this time? I would have to say Slightly less intense than same time and maybe just building gradually. Skills looked sharper and there was a propensity to pick the correct option and seemed to be more creative handball. There was little evidence of Bombing into forward 50, but then again, this needs to be tested at the coalface in games to see if there has been a more systematic entry and conversions that equate to wins. Will try to watch again next week if possible. Cheers P.F

GENTS!!!!! I've known about this since yesterday but have had to keep quiet until the official release. Over 12 years of blood, sweat and tears has gone into this day. Dec has worked his [censored] off and finally gets his chance, debuting at the glorious MCG. I am lost for words. Lets hope he kicks a few goals. Carn Dec and Carn the Dee's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Demonlanders, thinking like you all, I imagined that training would be at Gosh's today and at 10.25 logged onto Demonland ready to read your reports! After the first few posts and reading no training and having the morning free thought..... Sod it I'll just dash down there and do a Mini Report as from Berwick its not that far away. Hope thats O'K So no T.V Show intros and setting scenes for this one so I'll just get straight down into it. REHAB CLARRY, MAX, FARRIS WHITE, MELKY, MATT JEFFERSON, JAKEY L, JOEL SMITH AND 1 OTHER I COULDNT PLACE. Glad to see the Club being ultra cautious with Clarrie's thumb BUT the fact he is still troubled with it is worrying ( God I hate Selwood) Got there at 10.50 to see Full match Simulation Game between the Blues and the Whites. Quite clearly the Blues were the A Team and the Whites were the possibles. Some interesting faces in the white Team headed by JvR and on todays form I couldn't pick him for a place in the ones just yet. JAMES JORDON also in White team as was MICHAEL HIBBERD and JOSH SCHACHE ATTACKY . Saw about an Hour and 15 of solid match sims. A few takes. BEN BROWN was in SCINTILLATING form. he must have kicked 5 or 6 goals gave about 3 away. Took strong marks in pack and on the lead. Completely overshadowed ADAM TOMLINSON who although tried was just outmanoevered. HE IS A LOCK FOR ROUND 1 IMV. BRODIE GRUNDY was all over it like a flock of angry seaguls fighting over a legless prawn. His ruckwork was great and his run and carry and work below his knees was flawless. BAYLEY FRITSCH was also in scarry good form kicking some goals and cleverly placing himself in irresistable and dangerous positions.LACHY HUNTER,?? He is going to be a weapon and a half with his Run and carry up and down the wing and Flawless disposal. JAMES HARMES, JV, and KOSSY were just phenomenal in the midfield and just racked up disposals at will.CHARLIE SPARGO complemented the run and carry of the mids and was involved in several chains which resulted in Goals. T.MAC was a little quiet by his standards but still imposes and with his hi end run and leads created many opportunities.JAKE BOWEY playing in the Blue team was impassable across half back and his disposals were alway creative and on the money smart. Looks to have maybe beaten Hibbo for that HBF spot perhaps. The defense of MAY, HARRISON (THE HEARTBREAKER) PETTY were frugal and meaner and madder than a mosquito in a manikin factory.KADE CHANDLER also played for the Blue team and he was busier than a one armed man trying to hang a picture! Kicked some opportunistic goals and was really involved. Thats about all I have and I'll be back at Casey next week with another Blockbuster training and T.V Show dialogue. I hope this mini report makes up somewhat for all you Landers that went to Gosch's which would also have infuriated me! Cheers P.F

Note, there is one more session on Friday at GP before the players break for X-mas. Firstly, there are a handful of players who now have been on limited duties for the past two weeks and it's fair to say that round 1 is starting to look unlikely for them, unless they emerge fit and fired up from the X-mas break and nail a heap of sessions. The five are: Hibberd, BB Brown, Angus, Joel Smith and Deakin Smith. On top of that two of our newbies - Will Ferrell and Jed Adams - have been on extra, light duities - it's possible they won't return after X-mas simply because they would have been bored out of their brains just doing endless run throughs and watching everyone else get stuck into it. Three other players copped knocks today but all seemed fine after them - May (ribs), Gawn (knee) and Sparrow (head knock from Spargo tackle). All kept going at match sim. Kozzie wasn't there today either, but he was the pick of the bunch the week before, so hopefully nothing untoward about his absence today. As to the highlights of the match sim (note I left about 11.15am, so those that stayed till the end can update anything extra as required). T-Mac: I can say that he is looking as good as new and I am not sure why some here said he may have long-term injury worries. Sure he is no longer capable of winning our 200m rep sessions and yes he's a tad porky around the hips from his all-meat diet, but the big fella is just a clever lead-up, lead-back player with strong hands and we all know he's a deadeye d*ck and has a huge tank. If he returns from the break with a passion for the sprints then he's a monte to line up forward with Fritter and JVR and his best mate Melky will miss out. It's as simple as that. JVR: Ok, I am sold. He is ready and only an injury will stop him playing rd 1 now. In fact it's a shame we have to wait until round 15 for his battle with De Koning. While his nice hanger over Lever today was the highlight, he was so much more than one grab. He dished, he tackled and he wore my pre-Robbie idol Greg Parke's No.26. I reckon he said I don't want Jonesy's No.2, I want 26 for Parkey because maybe his grandfather knows him or used to be a copper or something. Either way he is starting to take on that junior Schwarter look and along with T-Mac and Gawny, he is the frontrunner to play as our talls rd 1, subject to injury of course. A quick note here that Schache has also been looking mega impressive as well at training playing as a mobile forward swinging onto his left, but I suspect he will have to wait until injury to get his chance. And with so many TFs on the park, I can see why the club ain't moving Petty there just yet. CP5: Ok, I am not sold. Yes I know his 2020 was a breakout extravaganza and I know his 2021 was brilliance personified with his ability to lift in big games making him Martinesque. But right now he's like Danger or Fyfe - a turnover machine that looks like he's going to break the game open but lets you down big time by foot. Yes I know he was injured late last season, but everything you don't want to see was on display today and last week when I attended. He just coughs the ball up time and time again as he looks to split the game open through the middle. Yes it was windy so he was not alone in miskicks (even Bowey had a howler or two). I remember Goody eventually had to pull Clayton aside three years ago and explain to him that he had to take more responsibility for going forward than just giving it off by hand, but I reckon when Goody comes back from hols he will need to pull Trac aside and just tell him to back off the media, back off the nice guy stuff and just get down and dirty. Or find a new psych. Ultimately our year will be determined by whether Trac gets back to being one of the best five mids in the game. Hunter: As withT-Mac, he made sure the club knows his quality. He lined up on Ed 'Sheerin' Langdon and he was clever, composed and ducked on to his left with the ease of Karl Amon. He will play round 1 barring injury or returning from his break in the bad books and he will play the left wing which means us MCC members will get to see Langdon close up for the first time. Lever: After an injury-riddled '22, he's running strongly again and looking like the All-Aussie of 2021 again - although JVR postered him on one occasion. As with Trac and Salem, he's one of three stars who if they get back to their form of '21, then finals are looking likely. Grundy and Gawn: The quick take off from down back after goals (or likely goals) in match sim meant there was little centre bounce work done, but both these guys still look superb. Gawn's marking is just so clean, while Grundy is mega quick with a dish off. They bring so much to the table and are very different. The kids: Sorry but so far all our youngsters other than JVR are still a fair way off. I did like the work and run of Judd McVee though - he's really improving and looks likely to get a go at some stage this year. It's interesting that a decade ago, a new recruit just had to fart to get noticed, but now they have to train the house down over and over to even look like getting a game in the ones. And unlike in Jones's early years, there are so many well-ensconced senior players that it's hard to see changes anyway.

CAPTAINS LOG STARTDATE 422022 We have found ourselves stuck in timewarp and are seeing visions of something not yet identified. Captain Kirk. "Spock it seems we are trapped in a time warp from which we may never return"! Spock . "A time warp from which we may never return? Why Captain, I can't believe my ears"! Captain Kirk " Neither can we Spock", Neither can we"! Uhura "Captain I’m getting a voice message from somewhere called Casey Fields. From someone or something called Picket Fence"! Captain Kirk "Picket Fence sounds like a Romulan! Put it on speaker!” Training notes almost a three three and a half hour training session, a few casualties crackle crackle BANG CRACKLE STATIC Uhura "I'm losing him … “ Captain Kirk “A three and a half hour training session? Bones what do you make of it"? Bones McCoy" Sounds brutal some sort of games are played requiring levels of conditioning which go far beyond human endurance. Must be super fit!" Spock “Captain I’ve run a scan and it seems this Picket Fence is a native of planet Earth and attends training conducted by Melbourne Football Club, as a sort of Scribe" Kirk "Fascinating. Keep communique channels open Uhura Spock, Bones, Lets Beam down and find out more, Scotty get ready to beam us down.” Scotty "Aye aye Captain but I'm not sure the Dilithium Crystals can take too much more'"! Mr. Sulu " Captain there is a strange figure crew cut with a beard starting to materialize holding something in his hand" WTF IS IT? STAND BY Uhura "Captain, I’ve downloaded this Picket Fence summary, I'll put it through computer and relay, NOW” Arrived at training at 9.15 for what turned out to be a marathon training session lasting over 3 hours probably closer to 3 and a half and was it a brutal and punishing session. No beg pardons about training loads and INTENSITY. In fact I can't ever recall a longer or tougher session There were several notable injuries throughout which I will get to. A brisk wind was blowing down the ground towards the south end and although fine this contributed marginally to some skill errors by foot. REHAB Mitch Brown who ran a lot and hit the bike INJURIES Spargy went down after a hit to the head and was escorted of not to be seen again. Mild concussion a possibility. T Mac went down and limped of the ground with what could be an ankle injury. Both these occured in Simulated Match Practice. Then just near the end of training Trac was being attended to by a trainer/Doctor by what could have been a lower leg possibly ankle injury. He too walked gingerly of the ground but was not escorted by training staff. Hopefully all are minor. SKILLS , DRILLS AND MANOUVERS Drill 1 Possesion kick and weave In formation Drill 2 Full match simulations RED VS BLUE 4 QUARTERS of about 20 mins each Drill 3 a Tackling practice 3 b One on one grappling push of and then kick to leading player 3 reps by each pitted one on one player 3 c short kick handball and corridor football type style drill in small space 3 d Running running and more running. MATCH SIMULATIONS AND PLAYER WATCH CLARRY CYBORG Just cannot be stopped hence name Cyborg not being disrepectful, he is just like an indestructible man, again he just takes on the tackler and is impossible to stop, runs all day tank just got bigger and disposals are elite KADE CHANDLER Will clearly press for a place this year his skills and pace are major weapons and he knows where the goals are JACOB VAN ROOYEN Blink and he's gone, he is very elusive and not dissimilar to Bailey Fritta. He also took a magnificent contested mark from 20 out and duly converted. MAJAK DAW was respectable in the ruck vs Max and his work around the ground and in stoppages was very good. Also took a strong contested mark about 30 out and converted. JAKE BOWEY Has found another gear and continues to use the ball well and in my view is already better than Caleb Daniel which say plenty! FRASER ROSMAN Was pitted against Ed Langdon and got plenty of quality ball. is noticeably fitter this year. MICHAEL HIBBERD as hard as a cat’s head. Just does not know when to quit was prominent in match sims TOBY BEDFORD Was eye catching with some of his moves dazzling with pace and flamboyance - might be a wild card this year. DEAKIN SMITH Very steady in back half, never flustered and has telescopic arms. DAN TURNER ditto! STEVEN MAY and JAKE LEVER are rarely beaten and know each other’s games so well, it appears a telepathy exists among them BBB Watch out if he stays fit we might have a 70-80 goal Key Forward. Clunked marks, Kicked goals and roams far and wide. BLAKE HOWES, JUDD MC VIE, BAILEY LAURIE, All flashed into the play with deft hands and very precise disposal. MAX, JACK V, CHRISTIAN S all were their usual excellent selves. LUKE DUNSTAN The more I see of him the more I think he plays very similarly to Stephen Powell. Gets in good positions and his disposal is very good. SAM WEIDEMAN Took one great contested grab in the square and converted and did several useful things JAMES JORDAN AND TOM SPARROW Both had there fair share of the ball and used intelligently and tellingly. ADAM TOMLINSON Making some big strides one or two errors but a very solid game I thought. FINAL THOUGHTS As iterated this was as hard a session that I have seen and it proves one thing to me … that the defence of the Premiership is foremost in the minds of the players and coaches who clearly want mo more. There are just no passengers in this team and the healthy competition being created builds a strong unified culture of excellence. No beg pardons, No shortcuts, just hard relentless footy played at breakneck intensity. Welcome back we are hear to ROCK AND ROLL P.F Meanwhile back on the Enterprise Mr Sulu. ''That figure is materialising, I've seen his face before its ITS MAX GAWN and what's he holding""?? Captain Kirk " It looks like a cup a trophy of some sort and whats that number on it Spock. "2022!!! FASCINATING"!! Captain Kirk "WE MUST LEARN MORE"!

STOP IT PLEASE "OH YOU MAKE MY MOTOR RUN, MY MOTOR RUN MYYYYY SHARONAAAAA! Just cannot get this song outa my head! Why??? Well it was one of the Classic songs playing whilst the players were training today. Booming over the P.A Others were "Working Class Man, "Stop Draggin my heart around", Run to paradise", "Country Road" and timeless classic, Sweet Caroline! Speaking of classic, I witnessed another "Classic" training session today staring... MFC 2021 Here is my report Maintenance group, rehab Ben Brown, Sam Weiderman, Jack Viney and I think Mitch Brown Pleasantly surprised to see Ben Brown doing short 15-25 metre kicks and he looks on track to step up training shortly. Ditto the others On lighter duties running , Hibbo, Melksham Main, Skills, Drills and Maneuvers! DRILL 1 GROUNGHOG DAY SHUFFLE Whole ground utilized which involved players coming out of defence in droves and giving passes by hand or foot to creative space player, then overlapping to recieve back and kick to leading forward option This showcased explosive run and carry of ball carrier and pinpiont precise passing to option, players in orange vests harrasing thus simulating real game pressure DRILL 2 BALANCED OPTION DISH OF This was a beauty, Two teams one in blue one in white On ballers in centre , wings and rest in other half of the ground, Ball was centre bounce contested and depending on whole took posession then dicatted whether those in blue became attackers or defenders dependent on which color got possesion. For example if White got possesion then whites became attackers and Blue team defenders. If Blue got possesion then Whites became defenders. This was intense and replicated the situations which arise in games when to run and create and when to man up and defend. Disposal and chioces again was very good with limited congestions and stoppages DRILL 3 KAMIKAZE GAME SIMULATIONS WHOLE GROUND This again was classic game day simulations which saw two teams chosen Whites vs Blues. Plenty to like regarding intensity and skill levels OVERALL OBSERVATIONS POSITIVES 1 Clayton Oliver. In Drill 2 and 3 he was "PEERLESS" He just could not be stopped, usual crisp desicive handballs , picked out targets with kicks and pace was exilerating. 2 Majak Daw. Well I will be astounded if we do not pick him up. He was good again today and was involved in some excellent ball movement, can clunk a mark and his kicking was precise ,also makes good decisions 3 Ed Langdon, just does not stop running to create options 4 James Harmes thank heavens he is now back where he belongs in the midfield 5 Gus Brayshaw, some pivotal moments in match simulations , his run and carry were excellent 6 Luke Jackson, belongs!!! Just looks ready to blossom 7 Jayden Hunt showed dash and importantly measure in disposals 8 Nev and Chunk, still not quite done as yet 9 Goody, Choco, vocal and involved 10 The invisable man, There was a huge bloke in a grey t shirt who was instructing and moving among the players displaying how to block where to stand, how to execute various maneuvers, He looked vaguely familiar but have no idea who has was!?? OTHER OBS Kye Deglace If he was training I didn't notice him unless he looks like Deakyn Smith who I did notice and who did some good things. Not sure if Kobe Farmer is in the frame at this time, Recruits looking promising Fraser Rosman, Jake Bowey , Bailey Laurie all had moments. Have to say if Training is an indication of match day and is replicated, then team looks very well prepared, Fit, Quicker, and with more Precicity of skills executed. Will leave on this note........ M, M M My SHARONNNAAA,,,, There, I think I've got "THE KNACK "of it!! PF

Lovely day down at Casey, blue skies and low 20's. A sharp contrast with the high 30's that we experienced last year with smoke filled skies. Only allowed to watch from outside the fence, so the track-watchers on Monday got it good! Today I was really "on the outer". In rehab: Brayshaw, Petty and Smith. Smith carrying a bandage on his left knee. Most of their work seemed to be strengthening type exercises. All were kicking intermittently, Brayshaw off his right foot ( I can't remember which one was injured).Hibberd was unsighted, but I may be wrong as half the players were wearing fluoro vests, making it difficult to pick them out. In bad news for fashionistas, Luke Jacksons mullet has gone. Nathan Carroll is reportedly heartbroken. A couple of main drills involving full ground transition, which I was told was all about stretching the field to create space in the mid-field. However, Pickett and Lockhart didn't participate, and later Pickett joined the rehab group, but nothing obvious as to why. Perhaps it was about loading, as he was involved with tackling exercises later, meaning he wasn't trying to protect and injury. Watching Rosman one can see the natural athlete and runner. He just glides over the ground effortlessly. But comparing him, Bowey and Laurie, they are obviously the new recruits. Physically they are a step below players like Jordon, Chandler and Rivers who have only had the benefit of barely one season in the system. Ben Brown is one seriously big unit and will be a major target up forward. Fans can be assurred he will be using the same long run technique when kicking for goal. He took a mark in the forward pocket at one stage and started his run up from the wing. Still he put the Sherrin through the big uprights, so you can't complain about that. He did leave the session early after about an hour on the track. Make what you will out of that. Clarrie had a Ronald McDonald look about him. A bright red cap and a face smothered with sun-screen. Good sun sense however for a red-head. The session finished with lots of re-runs of touch type football with what seemed like a focus on evasion skills, and shrugging tackles. Also an emphasis on short accurate passing and quick switching to outside runners. Sorry, not much more to report. Always good to see only 3 or 4 in the rehab. I can remember the sight of a dozen plus in rehab in early 2019, and we all saw what came of that. Even those that are away from the main group don't appear to be too far from joining full training. But then the first game is just 2 months away, and practice matches sooner......

For the first time I arrived before the players who wondered over at about 9.15. For consistency my first stop was rehab and there was some good news. Vanders and Petty weren't in it. Bradtke was along with KK, Jones, Hannan, Oscar Baker and Bennell. Jones was doing a lot of running scaling down to Bennell who was doing gentle 100m runs. Tomlinson was also there and doing gentle runs for the first time. The usual warm up drills with a bit of stretching and some short runs and kicking followed before they broke into groups for some kicking, leading type drills where the skills were pretty good. Viney was in fine form in front of me along with Chandler who was out in full training despite missing Wednesday (as did Vanders). Another drill involved some leading and marking against a defender in genuine contest work and the first player of the day to really impress was Joel Smith. He was in everything, marking really well and getting a lot of it. We noticed an umpire doing some warm up laps and were excited to see some real match practice. It was 100% flat out but with "respectful tackling". What fun!! Players to impress: Fritsch: If there was a "best on ground" it surely went to this bloke. Had the ball on a string, was clean and clunked mark after mark. The only downer was his kicking was a little off but he looks to have make another step up from last year based on today. Harmes: Just involved in everything playing half back. Made space, was clean with the ball, kicked it well and made good decisions. I think there is little doubt he'll play back this season and hopefully play that Laird/Lloyd role. Melksham: in everything. Jetta: he was back with his dancing feet, got plenty of it and kicked very well. You'd have been proud of him Saty! Langdon: Just did what he did at Freo. Up and down the wing, plenty of possies with his execution still a bit off. Dunkley: I call this bloke "Mr Invisible". Never seem to notice him but today he was on a wing in front of me marking Langdon and he got his fair share of it and looked comfortable. Bedford: I saw this bloke a lot at Casey last year and he never really got involved but today he did - often. Sadly he fumbled a fair bit and didn't make the most of his chances which was odd because he's got neat skills. Jackson: I don't want to hype this bloke too much but he did one thing in front of me that was special. Langdon was gathering a ground ball and for all the world looked like it was his. Jackson swooped (and I mean swooped) in at full pace, gathered it cleanly and gave a left hand handball off to a teammate. It was a thing of beauty. This kid could be anything. But to balance my report it's only fair to say he missed some marks he should have taken but it's the first time he's played in a genuine full pressure situation. He gets more of the ball on the ground than in the air and the more I see him the more I can believe the talk of midfield in a few year. Pickett: He was involved, had no trouble with the pace of the game and did some nice things but also make mistakes missing a chest mark he should have taken at one stage. But he's got that typical indigenous talent of speed and lateral movement. His closing speed is terrific. Oliver, Brayshaw, Gawn, May and Lever all did well but you've seen them do it often. There were two sessions of match sim each lasting about 10 minutes with the draftees sitting out the second along with Vanders and Petty. They finished with some serious running before the end at about 11.15. Spargo was there in a moonboot and TMac didn't train, I've no idea why. Vanders and Petty seemed to get through fine and Jones doesn't seem far away. Hannan was also doing much more than a week or so ago and Baker did some running at about half pace which I haven't seen before. Tomlinson and Bennell look a long way off and KK has been on the same program for the week it would seem. It was great to see something like real footy.

We arrived in the quaint little town of Myrtleford at 9am with a small crowd of primary school kids and roughly 15-20 onlookers. The boys were already into their drills with two different groups on either side of the wings, roughly 15 - 20 players either side. Rehab: Viney, Matthews, Henderson, AMW, McAdam, Jefferson and later Bowey who looked quite ginger (pun intended). Viney and Matthews doing repeat walking up and down a flight of stairs with some black devices in their mouths. Not sure of its purpose but it could possibly be to ensure they breathe through their nose? They then followed up with hand and eye coordination and reflex drills (juggling, ball tossing to one another in rapid fire) at which point Henderson joined them. After that finished the 3 of them spent the rest of the session doing weight training. The other rehabbers in AMW, McAdam and Jefferson were all doing repeat 100m boundary runs for the majority of the session followed by some touch work (reflexes) where a trainer would bullet kick to Hendo or McAdam who were standing 1 meter in front of each other and they had to trick each other into marking or letting it go so the guy behind him marked it, if the ball dropped the guy in-front won. It was amusing to watch. Hendo got the better of McAdam. Jefferson integrated into the main group with some drills. Main training: I was mainly focusing on the big group in-front of us, where they would use just the arcs from back 50 to fwd 50 working on ball movement. In this drill it was a 5 v 7 match up with the bigger group attacking and the smaller defending transition. The bigger group would use either corridor or wing, there was no real preference. I was paying attention to the new kids on these drills and was really impressed with Onley, he's a great size and so agile. Taylor was a bit disappointing with his kicking, he shanked quite a few kicks. The next drill was 5 v 3 using 3/4 ground ball movement drills, taking the ball from the back 50 to a forward marking close to goal. Mihocek, Tmac, Adams and Campbell doing 1v1 marking/spoil drills on each other while a trainer kicked in a high ball deep in the fwd 50. The next drill had the boys doing quick handball movement where it was a 2 v 3 match-up with the trainers acting as the defenders and there were 3 attacking players who had to get past them within a 25m coned off area. Once the attackers had reached the end of the cones the next 3 were straight into play. It was non stop and the boys were pretty gassed by the end of it. Culley, Langford, Pickett and Windsor were the best in these drills. The boys then went on to do 9 v 9 full ground ball drills trying to score end to end. There was a passage where CJ took on Kosi through the corridor thinking he could break away but was quickly taken down by Kosi. CJ was filthy with himself. The boys laid some crunching tackles during these plays. I saw JVR take down May and then quickly get up to pressure the loose ball in play and take down the next player. I was impressed with JVR's repeat efforts. The boys were absolutely gassed from these drills at it's the closest to match sim they could replicate. A lot of the boys were on their haunches sucking in the big ones trying to recover. I don't think I've ever seen Kosi so gassed he and many of the boys took a full minute to get back up. The players then broke into their lines with their respective coaches (fwds, mids, defenders) I was paying close attention to who was in each group. Mentha and Laurie was in the fwds group and Chandler gave Laurie a big hug saying "welcome back, we missed you". Sharp, White and Latrelle also in the forward line. Rivers, Taylor and Turner in defence. Tholstrup and Culley with the mids. As the training was drawing to a close, the entire main group would do 80m - 90m repeat sprints that they had to complete in 10/11 seconds and rest about 20-30 seconds before going again. They did about 10 of these repeat sprints. Now that training was finished, Kingy brought the group in for a quick chat and then sent the players off to sign autographs and to some meet and greets with the locals. Observations: Draftees - Onley looked really impressive, I thought he moved very well and was so agile for a big mid. His kicking was a bit hit and miss. One definitely to watch. Taylor still very green, but he did some great tackles and pressure during ball movement drills. Kicking was a bit iffy today. Latrelle integrated well with the group, he moves well and has great pressure, he looks the most likely of our first draftee to break into the team. White was really good, he already seems like a regular player. I think doing the pre season last year with Melbourne has helped him to fit in right away with the team. Matthews was obviously doing rehab but is a good size and didn't look that much smaller than Hendo or Viney. He'll be good for us. Berry looks to be a medium defender in size and build. He'll need a bit of time to catch up to the AFL standard fitness levels, but I'm hopeful he'll strengthen our backline in time to come. Has leadership qualities. That's about all I can think of for now. I hope you guys enjoy the report. Cheers.

Tomlinson outperformed expectations Hats off to him

Not sure what was going through my head this morning when I woke up with a sudden urge to drive an hour down the highway to Casey, however as a fellow track watcher today I can most definitely agree with PF's point about our sloppy kicking. Lots of mistakes throughout the whole session (Langdon with quite a few, Bedford too). Although this may be due to training at "the windiest place in Australia" as one tradie that walked past put it. Not sure how training down at Casey in the wind will impact our skills throughout the season and hopefully it may be possible to move back to Gosch's in the near future. Was hoping that their would be some more match simulation today however I believe they moved it to Wednesday because of today's weather conditions. Hopefully I don't cross over too much with PF, but I thought I'd add my two cents. A few points to make mention of: - Tmac was doing some 1on1 contested marking with other key position players (Weid, Petty and Tomlinson), and may be back training as a forward rather than the wing now that Brown is out. - Was good to see Hunt hit all of the kicks I saw him take (unlike many other players). Positive signs as this has been his downfall in recent seasons. He seems more mature and composed this year. - Petty training as a defender and looking very very good. Spent a little bit of time in rehab. He may be competing with Tomlinson for that last key back spot. - It was great to see Gus out there joining in with the main group for the first couple of drills before returning back to rehab. Neita back out running is a great sight as well. - Vanders and Hibbo weren't out on the track however I spotted them doing some work on a bike (with potentially Viney as well). Mitch Brown was doing running and kicking drills on the side as well with Melksham and Bradtke. Kozzie missed the session, although spoke to a staff member and they said there was nothing to worry about there. - Rosman definitely catches the eye and was the draftee I noticed most. A strange kicking technique which can hopefully improve as time goes by. Laurie did some nice things too and was very clean with his hands. - Deakyn Smith was out there training again, although without a number (Farmer already wearing 48) and looked nice. May look likely to get a list spot now that Hore is on the long term injury list. Speaking of Farmer, he did make a few basic handball errors right in front of where I was standing and looks like he has some work to do. - Players split off into two groups at end of session to do running. First group consisted of mostly fringe players (plus Weid, Lever and Jackson) and the second consisted of mostly best 22 players (Sparrow and Petty in this group too). Was a somewhat strange mix of players. The main thing i noticed here was that Burgo included footy's and kicking skills in the first half of the running session, before doing some more straight line running without footy's at the end. A few of the younger boys Sparrow and Rivers impressed me most with their running along with Tmac who led from the front. The 5 first year players sat out of the running and spent time with Chocco. - Didn't notice Trac in the second half of the session and saw him walking around in casual clothes at the conclusion. Hopefully nothing to worry about though! - No snakes sighted! Hopefully I'll get to another session soon. Enjoy.

Guys, it hasn't been reported yet, but to show you how tough & committed to the cause that Aaron is, he suffered a triple fracture to his cheekbone early in the second quarter and despite blood trickling continually down the inside of his nose & throat he totally downplayed the knock and kept playing. Was even the only player to go in and remonstrate with Stratton after the crude knock on Weid. You can see why the Coaches & teammates love him in the side.

It was hot and windy, difficult conditions that we handled pretty well. Rehab: Vanders and Petty. Pretty much the same as last week. Joined all drills other than the zoning drill I will describe later. Jones and KK. Walked a few laps and then did multiple 100 metre runs around the boundary at about half pace. Neither looked at all inconvenienced. Hannan. Similar to Jones and KK except he ran straight line 100m working up from slow to three quarter pace. Did some specific exercises with one of the physio's concentrating on gait and agility. Spargo: unsighted Bennell: a late arrival and did some gentle boundary running. Tomlinson and Baker: walking That's it for rehab. All the other players did the full session other than Jackson, Rivers and Pickett who joined some of the drills and some specialized drills away from the main group. It was a "craft" day today from what I could tell. There was no match sim but many drills concentrating on specific areas. The main drill of interest was two "teams" practicing zoning and kicking within the zone. The players were continually telling each other where to go, where to stand and alerting them to opposition positioning. The "playing area" was about half the size of a soccer field. Other drills involved marking and spoiling exercises in a three man up situation. Still others involved kicking to leading forwards and there was some "loose" goal kicking practice. The session was only about 2 hours and not nearly as intense as last week, nor as long. The session was one where individual players didn't really stand out but Steve May's kicking is a thing of beauty. In difficult conditions he regularly found tight targets. Beyond that no player really caught my notice for either good or bad reasons. Pickett was there and moves really nicely, is clean with the ball and disposes well. He'll play earlier than many think, particularly if Bennell isn't available. Jackson continues to impress with his skills (and I only mention this because of the concern prior to draft). All in all a low key session in hot and difficult conditions.

Another picture perfect morning down @ Casey☀️👌 Arrived @ 10:15 & you would’ve believe it - THE GATES ARE OPEN!!!🤩First thing of notice, the energy & focus of the boys is super high! Rehab: McAdam running 100m gaps accompanied by Reece conca. Best i’ve seen him move. Running at 3/4 pace. Adams running the boundary resembling a 50 year old - don’t know what’s the go there but moving very very gingerly early. Max, AMW, Sharp, Mihocek & Mathews head across to another field with a trainer. Petty not training at all - whats the go here? Bowey & Vines also in attendance with the latter also not training. Chandler no show Few drills early then straight into full blown match sim with umpires. Here’s what I saw. 1st QTR: 20mins Straight off the jump, Jeffo with a lovely contested pack mark 25 out right in front. Nails the kick & the boys love it🗣️ Jeffo with the first two majors for the game. Fantastic start from the young man. Whites up early. The deck @ Casey looks a picture. Carpet like👍 Kalani White pegs one back with a goal at the other end. First for the Blues. Latrelle & Kozzy in-play connection is evident & deadly! Jeffo with another contested grab along the flank. The most confident I’ve seen the kid. Deadset SCREAMER from Kozzy👀🤩 You’ll see that on the socials no doubt!!! Come on Kolt. Better than that mate. Couple turn over kicks. Kozzy’s been magical with just about with every touch so far. Cant be stopped & just too damn good. Jeffo again gets separation & marks on the flank. Kick inside 50, lose ball win to Culley, breaks a tackle who then delivers to Luker. White’s with another. Crunching tackle from young boy Reg. Gone HTB! Roo getting busy. Assist in the goal square for Bill. Whites up & about Latrelle with the front and centre gather at break neck speed on the half forward flank. Boy he’s gonna be fun. Intercept through the mid from Reg (X. Taylor for those who may have missed it) who takes it on immediately with the forward handball to Kozzy. Streams forward with a couple bounces who hits Kolt out the back just about on the line. Goal blues. Jeffo running back inside the F50 pocket as he finds seperation again. Mark. Set shot just misses to the right. Been the dominant forward so far. Trelly with the dancing feet, bobbing & weaving through traffic. Chefs kiss. Reg gets forward & wins the 1-on-1 free. Kicks the set shot like a true back man. Shanks it from 40. Qtr time: Blues 3.2.20 - Whites 4.3.27 Heath not in match sim. White bib on & been running the boundary at half pace. Not sure whats the go there. Boys now break into groups of 4 or 5’s running the boundary at a serious clip 2nd QTR: 20mins Beautiful contested fly from Leb across the back flank. Nice mark from Luker (playing in defence now), shanks the switch kick across the ground which is intercepted by Mentha @ the top of 50 arc & in full flight runs & kicks truly from 50👏 Goal blues. Bailey catches Luker HTB, quickly gets it to Kozzy who runs in for the checkside goal. Laurie dancing & weaving who then hits Culley centre mid, Culley darts it to Trelly on the lead who marks & nails the set shot from 45. Riv looking solid, so to Sparrow. Another pressure soccer goal off the deck to Kozz from the top of the goal square. Lever vocal as heck. Love to hear it Low deep dart from a running Riley Bonner through the middle. Aiden Johnson with the lovely contested mark 25 out from Goal. Nails it. Well done mate. Stoppage LHS on F50. Contested win from Onley. Quick hands to Langford with the beautiful kick across his body from 45. What a beauty!👏 You can see why the coined Jeffo the name magician. Bit of flair about him & got 3 or 4 now. Roo aerial game getting stronger by the minute. Another mark. Trelly is a jet people. Sold candy twice deep in F50 then check sides the goal. Lollllll what an excitement machine we have🤩 Kalani on the right side of a Shane Warne wrongen which falls into his lap, snaps across his body 25 out. He’s got a couple. Luker’s had a couple mares across the backline but redeems himself with a beautiful contested pack mark deep in D50. Nice. Pup is all class. Wins a ground ball crumb, picks up swivels & kicks the snap from 15 out. Ball’s pinging at serious pace people. Flow state. Mentha growing. Looking more comfortable & doing some nice things. Blues making a gap in this game now. Great to see Sinnema out there & not looking out of place at all. Neet left foot. Kolt decision making in contested situations is not to the level… yet. Kolt again with the shank to the boundary with no pressure. It was all perceived pressure & that was enough to throw him off… not good signs tbh. Half time: forgot to catch the scores 3rd QTR: 20mins Noticed that the boys have swapped around a bit. Magnets have been flipped all over the place. Jeffo now in defence, Luker now up forward etc Off the opening bounce. Riv with the centre clearance to a leading Luker who marks on the top of the 50. Luker’s real good on the eye when in flight. Thumps it home from 50👏 Bills clearly got talent, just gotta be given a chance I reckon. Kicks another. The transition from Kozzy is amazing. It started with him deep in defence with an outlet kick to the HB Flank. 30 seconds later he marks the ball 35m out from goal & of course he goals again⭐️ May up forward, kicks a goal & celebrates ah la the Duursma bloke An unnumbered small HF named crossy? Looks ok. Kicked a couple Sinnema gets on the end of one. 3 QTR time: Blues 10.3.63 - Whites 12.8.80 Now some team running in between the arcs - aim is to get there within 10 seconds. Rest for 10 then back at it again. Over and over again. Boys are gassed. 4th QTR: 10mins Stoppage corner F50. Roo in the ruck who body’s his opponent, quick hands to Kozzy at pace, breaks one tackle, avaids and weaves, snaps from 40. Taking the absolute [censored] now ✋ So impressed with Roo today. Another contested mark top of the RHS 50 & bangs it home. Got 3 or 4 now. Looks in rippling nick, hardened & covering the ground beautifuly. Scores level now 81 apiece and the few in attendance are being treated here this morning. Liking what I’m seeing from Bill. Very creative, balanced. Surely he gets a good go at it this year under King. Fritta with consecutive goals now. In game scenario - 4mins left and a goal up. Aim for a more controlled / tempo game. Jeffo got a bag now. 5 at least👏👏 For a nice looking kick, Xlindsay has missed a few kicks he would usually nail. Another one to Roo Thats time: Blues 17.3.105 - Whites 15.10.100 It’s now 12:45pm & the boys are still out there busting a gut, but thats me done. 🔴🔵

Got to training about 9:50 & headed off by 11:30. Rehab / Light Drills: • Jed Adams • Kyah Farris-White • Will Varrall • I think i spotted Joel Smith, but could be wrong. The above doing light drills. Andy Moniz-Wakefield & Trent Burgoyne doing seperate laps / runs for the whole session. James Harmes, Angus Brayshaw & Steven May all started with the main group but then progressed to light duties / laps for the remainder of the session. The latter two did the bulk of the session before partnering up for some sideline runs. They all moved fine to me so you would think it's just a conditioning thing. Some key takes: Lever is the voice of the squad. Very vocal & always directing / encouraging. Got to be in serious contention to captian the side when Max's time is up. Petty is in ripping touch. He was the best tall defender out there today, no question. He aint playing forward, well not unless our KPF stocks take a big hit. Kozzie's left foot is all class. Used it a few times out there today & each time it was pure & hitting the target. You can tell he's super confident in his game. Strap yourselves in! Geez we missed T-Mac. He's training really well at the minute & one-grabbing everything. Hand's look really good. Nothing better than seeing Trac leap & mark at the highest point. Thing of beauty. Dunstan know's how to find it. Probably had it the most out there today. But we know he's limited. JVR, well he's ready. Strapping young lad who's just a real workhorse. Competitive af. There's something about Oliver Sestan. From the way he looks, to his build & the way he finds space. Once they get his tank up to the level he'll be one to watch. Oliver & Hunter were back at it today. Neither involved heavily... but they were crook just the other day so. Gus does seem a bit heavy to me. He's never been a specimen, nor will he ever be, but yeah, the rig doesn't look in top shape. He's got time to work that out. Last one, spoke to Choco, asked if there's any injury concerns & he said Nope. The boys looked good today. That's me done. 🔴🔵

This is a slow time of the year so I thought I'd put my thoughts down about our preseason to date. I've seen all but one training session but keep in mind it's one man's opinion and there is so much going on that you see only a fraction of what each player is doing on any particular day. But over the journey you get a fair view of all players. General Comments: Fitness: the players do appear fit and of particular note for me is the great condition our second year players have come back in. Windsor, Kolt and Brown all look really fit and have done almost the entire preseason. I think it's important and it indicates that they may not suffer "second year blues". We've also had the majority of players doing a full preseason. Those in the rehab group are well documented and none appear to have long term recoveries in front of them. Training: the drills have been similar to last year and to my eye there doesn't seem to be much change in the program. There seems to be an emphasis in using the corridor and moving the ball quickly but this is common with previous preseasons. On Wednesday, in windy conditions, when there was a little more pressure put on the ball carrier using the corridor proved problematic with a number of turnovers. Personnel May: he's doing another preseason and from memory hasn't missed a session. JvR: another that has done every session and looks fit and strong. He hasn't shone in the full field drills but many of them don't seem to be designed to allow key forwards much opportunity. He's a leader on the field and trains with high intensity. Salem: Started in rehab from day one with the 1 - 4th years running the boundary and has now progressed through his rehab and is in full training. He looks really fit and his skills and experience really show out in the full field drills. McVee: he's a rolls royce. Hasn't missed a session and is just so composed. He's trained mainly with the backs but has been involved with some clearance work. He's been pretty heavily involved in the drills and his kicking is a highlight. Petracca: well if you had doubts about his commitment you can just put that to bed. He's ripped, he's involved and he's special. Most importantly he doesn't seem hesitant about physical contact and regardless of what happens at the end of 25 I'm sure he's 100% committed to the 25 season. Windsor: Has moved to the backline and is an absolute standout for me this preseason to date. If Judd is a roller then Duke is a Lambo - so fast and with the skills to go with it. It's quite exciting to think what he could do this year coming. Viney: He only knows one way and you know what that is. Things haven't changed and he looks in great shape and hasn't missed and significant training. Lever: Slow laps have progressed to faster laps but he's in rehab and progressing slowly. See the injury update for more info. Spargo: For a bloke that hasn't played since round one last season he's been commented on quite a lot this preseason. Running, running and more running for Spargs as he progresses through his recovery and has now progressed into some of the skills sessions. It's been a long journey to get to where he is and I'd imagine it will take some time to get his touch back but he'll be a great addition to the playing list whether it be really good depth or in the 22. Turner: Another of the highlights for me and has shown some impressive skills and played well in the match play drills. Great hands, good kicking for goal and a lot of involvement when the ball hits the ground. Unfortunately tweeked something later in the preseason and has spent a few sessions doing what they do in rehab - run, run, run. He doesn't look in any discomfort and did the majority of the PS to date. Gawn: He's the best ruck and contested ruck in the AFL. It shows at training. He looks lean and fit. Shame about his injury but if he can still run with it I know what I'm going to be seen in January while he recovers. Tholstrup: the Kolt was a leader when it was the first to fourth years and I'm a big fan. He's hard to place but has been training forward and with the mids. Energetic, faster than I remembered, involved and very encouraging to his teammates. IMO can play and will surprise. Oliver: so much said but in the end Clarrie looks happy and relaxed and to my eye looks very fit. Perhaps not as ripped as in 21 but a different class of fit to 24. His ball handling is back and he's just getting it all the time. And his tackling is back too. I think we didn't really appreciate how much that hand injury impacted him last year. He's so important to us but things look good at present. Langdon: Lingers has been fantastic. So involved, so much running and his kicking is so improved on his earlier years. Laurie: Others have commented on his kicking and skills but I haven't noticed them this PS all that much. Where his running was elite last year (second behind ANB in the 2k trials) he's dropped a little this year. He's neat but there isn't much I can add other than he's done all the seasons and trained mainly with the forwards and some mid work as well. Bowey: Another standout who trained from day one with the young blokes. He looks terrific and his kicking is elite. Involved with high skills in ball handling and decision making. Hoping for a genuine break out year. All the signs are good. Melksham: I had him delisted at the end of 21 but initially in the 25 PS he was looking so fit and involved. He isn't there filling in the numbers he's right in the mix. Sadly he's done a hammy I suspect in the second last session and let's hope it's minor. Langford: Lots has been said and I can't add much. Just looks hungry and composed and "comfortable at the pace". Yes he's been caught a few times and he'll learn from that. Better in PS than in games. His footy IQ is elite, he just knows how to be involved, he works hard and his vision is great. I don't think his pace is an issue but his kicking is a little up and under over the shorter distances and is something to work on. He's a genuine class player in the making. Lindsay: really all I've seen from his is run, run, run and then do it again. He's been involved in a few of the quieter skills drills which are mainly done on the other side of the ground to where I stand so I can't offer much. But as I said to a mate "JT pick Windsor out of the pack and he looks great, no reason XL can't be the same. Jefferson: If you've read the training report, and if you've got this far into this I assume you have, much has already been said and I agree with it. He looks bigger and stronger. He's more involved. He's got very good skills and he's had some really good cameo moments. He's progressing nicely and I'm buying shares but they are slightly speculative. He's also done all sessions with is in sharp contrast to last year when he was on his own program well into February and if you remember he started in the backline for Casey. Howes: he's tall. If he's not as tall as Lever he's not far off it. He's just gone about his business. He makes very few mistakes and he's quietly involved if you know what I mean. He's one of those players you don't notice until you do and once you have you see he's much more involved than you thought. He's trained with the backs and done all sessions. McAdam: look there's been a lot of debate and quite a lot of criticism of him and while he's been in rehab and then absent I think he's looked in really good shape. He's just run so much with apparently no injury and I think they are just trying to do something different with him to get him through a season. So not much to report, make your own judgement but he looks fit and committed to me but I'm a glass half full sort of supporter. Rivers: looks great. Training with the mids and doing all the sessions. He's really powerful through his legs. There's no reason not to hope he picks up through the midfield and just adds to what he showed last year. Tmac: where to start? Well as one of the older statesmen he started from day one and was a standout for a good part of the PS. Perhaps a little quieter in the last few sessions but all he does is so clean and while many deny it, his kicking is very good. He's also extremely fit finishing high up in the time trials. It's hard to see him not in the starting 22 on form which makes it hard to see why Petty is going back. For me you can forget "Petty is the future". That's right but we are playing in the present and atm Tmac is a standout at training. I'll finish the players later and if there's interest. All this is really doing is summarising all the training reports of mine and others. I'd be interested in other track watchers view where they differ from mine because as I say, you don't see everything.

Look it’s nice to get the win but if we play like that against Collingwood on Kings Birthday they’ll kill us.

Ok. It's hard to talk with so many ears around, however the below points are what I gathered: Dees believe Bailey will ask for a trade He has committed to us as long as GC buy in on it Dees have offered a very attractive package Dees are trying to call GC bluff of not trading Bailey Dees are confident but can't say with certainty that GC would let him go We have had many attempts at Bailey and Bailey knows this Meeting in Maffra went well. Worlds best litres apparently Dees in contact with Baileys manager Wants to play under King Has a few close people at our club that he knows

Thank you Kate. You’ll always be remembered as the President who took us out of the wilderness after 57 years.

G'day Demonland Wishing you guys the best of luck this week in the GF. What a tremendous season you've had and I'm hoping it ends in Premiership glory. Melbourne has been the best team all year and thoroughly deserve to be favourites, and I think you guys will be far too good for the Bulldogs on Saturday It's hilarious that my 2 Melbourne loving daughters at ages 15 and 12 think they have had to put up with a bit to get to this point. If only they knew what a different generation of Dees fan has had to endure. I know I don't post on here anymore (that may change), but like I said, I just wanted to check in and wish the Melbourne FC all the best for the GF, and I hope all of you are enjoying the excitement of GF week and fingers crossed can celebrate premiership glory come Saturday night. Good luck, (and for this week only) GO DEES!!!!

Over the course of watching and supporting a lot of football in my life I had the privilege to see some greats of the game. Max Gawn is truly one of the very best I've ever seen. Sure I'm a bias Melbourne supporter but even non believers must find it hard to argue otherwise. He has year after year, been heralded as one of the best players in the AFL over the last decade. And rightly so. He has turned the tide of many a game and was the first captain of the club for half a century to help win us a flag. It's a shame ruckmen don't win Brownlows as much anymore. ( I'm perplexed why he hasn't). After all one could rote statistic after statistic about his on field prowess. But I wish there was another medal. One that encapsulates who Max really is. A damn fine human being and gentleman of gentlemen. Last week we saw Max get angry over an incident that I don't really know anything about. ( I don't know because it doesn't really matter). It doesn't matter because it rarely happens. Max Gawn may show signs of frustration and anger at times but it's not much for an AFL player. And more often than not when it does occur, it seems justified. But that's because Max Gawn has high standards. ( To my knowledge he's never been reported). Standards that go beyond just being a simple AFL player. He is a captain. And he takes this role seriously. Being captain is about leadership. But for Max leadership isn't something that happens for a couple of hours each week on a patch of grass. It's much ,much more. It's about standing up this week about homophobic slurs in the game. It's about taking in a teammate when he may be doing it tough. It's about standing by your mate when they have had to retire from the game. It's acknowledgement of being beaten by a better opponent. It's about visiting sick kids in hospital. Being an advocate of mental health or simply speaking to a fan when he's probably really tired and just wants to get a coffee at a cafe in peace. Like his on field performance, I could keep going. So thanks Max for showing us what a true captain of a club should be. On and OFF the field. I'm sure other Demonlanders stand with me in applause when I hereby award thee the unusually long but very aptly titled... "Captain of captains and gentleman of gentlemen and the best of blokes" medal. 👏. Thank you.