Demonland

Jeff round 1

Absent: May (personal), Salem (Hamstring), Viney (Achilles), Gawn (State of Origin), Culley (Arm), CJ (?), Bowey (foot), McAdam (?), Rivers (Origin), Campbell (neck), White (glandular fever), Petty (concussion), Pickett (Origin), Henderson (rehab), AMW (ACL rehab)

Nek minnut 4 goals kicked.

Blue: JVR, Langford, Lindsey, Windsor, Lever, Steele, Turner, Tholstrup, Langdon, Jefferson, Howes, TMac, Heath, Mihocek, Fritsch, Sparrow, Trelly White: Laurie, Melksham, Taylor, Matthews, Adams, Sharp, Berry, Mentha, Onley, Johnson, Kentfield

Fritsch is not wearing a number on Blue.

Note that any blank numbered player is a Casey top up and likely on the White team.

Interesting that even with all the injuries and State of Origin omissions that Langford isn’t in the guts.

I heard a whisper that the bruise was huge.

MELBOURNE’S Jack Viney has undergone surgery on his Achilles tendon. General Manager of AFL Football Performance Alan Richardson provided an update on Viney on Thursday. “Jack had surgery on his Achilles on Tuesday, and it went really well,” Richardson said. “It’s been really frustrating for Jack, who has been progressing through this rehab for some time now. “We wanted to give him the best opportunity to move through rehab without the need for surgical intervention, but unfortunately, he wasn’t responding the way he needed to and as the season drew closer, this was the best option to get him back out on the track. “He’ll be sidelined for approximately three months, and we’re hopeful that we’ll see him back in the mix for Round 8. “It’s obviously incredibly disappointing for Jack, but we know he’ll attack this next phase of rehab and continue to play a crucial role in our group over the next few months.” Jai Culley has successfully undergone surgery on his fractured arm, an injury sustained during last week’s match simulation. “Jai’s surgery went really well,” Richardson said. “He should be able to return to running from as early as next week, meaning he’ll be able to maintain his fitness while in rehab. “We’ll gradually introduce him back into football skills and then contact drills over the next month. Depending on how he responds, we’re confident Jai will be back for the beginning rounds of the season.” In disappointing news for Kalani White, the young Demon has been sidelined with glandular fever. “Kalani has returned to Queensland to be with his family while he rests,” Richardson said. “Our priority is Kalani’s health, so we’ll give him all the time he needs to make sure that he’s right and when he’s ready, we’re looking forward to getting him back in.”

No Christian Petracca or Clayton Oliver, and with Jack Viney sidelined, the Dees' midfield is set to look different in 2026. HARVEY Langford and Caleb Windsor, come on down. Melbourne will start its 2026 season with an unrecognisable midfield from the engine room that steered it towards the 2021 premiership and the many years before and since that drought-breaking flag. Christian Petracca wanted to go and was traded to Gold Coast. Clayton Oliver was told to look around and headed to Greater Western Sydney. They were big calls given the pair's long history as club champions but change was right for all parties. But now, Jack Viney will also be missing for at least half a season after undergoing Achilles surgery on Tuesday, to go with a recent back injury that has ruined his pre-season. New coach Steven King has known this time was coming and the Demons will start this season throwing the responsibility to a new group. They added former St Kilda captain Jack Steele in a deadline day trade for a third-round pick – essentially swapping Oliver for Steele – and he will add experience with Viney out. But the shift away from Petracca and Oliver had already started to happen last year, when matchwinner Kysaiah Pickett attended the third most centre bounces for the Dees (388) and had an average of 19.4 per game (equal second with Viney behind Oliver). Pickett will again be a midfield and forward half mainstay under King, having produced a career-best campaign last year. Champion Data showed between rounds four and 23, he was the No.1 centre bounce player at the club and remained the No.1 player at Melbourne and No.6 player in the AFL for total scoreboard impact over that period too. Then there was his touch as well, with 86.7 per cent of those leading to a clearance for Melbourne. Only Marcus Bontempelli had a higher rate of the top 75 first-possession players. Trent Rivers and top-10 draft picks Windsor and Langford are set to get more opportunity around the ball. They're ready for it. The Demons won a clearance 53.5 per cent of the time Rivers attended a centre bounce last year – which ranked as the best percentage of the top 125 attendees in the AFL. The majority of his midfield work was done in the middle of last season before returning largely to half-back (his season breakdown was 67 per cent game time as a defender), but expect to see him again at the feet of Max Gawn through this season. Windsor had disruptions last year but the wiry, pacy talent didn't attend a centre bounce until round 20. Three games of midfield presence has lit the fuse for the pre-season and the 20-year-old has made bounds over summer. Langford, the Dees' prized No.6 pick at the 2024 draft, finished fourth in the Telstra AFL Rising Star last year in his debut season but the Demons will have budgeted for him to hone in on an inside midfield position during their Trade Period moves last year. Certainly Langford will feel ready, with the Melbourne No.4 having the size and strength to take things up a notch after being sixth in line on the Demons' centre bounce attendances last season, and then there is Tom Sparrow, who had even less centre bounce exposure than Langford last season but will be one of the most experienced players in the Melbourne midfield this year. Xavier Lindsay started his career last season playing outside of the square but dominated his draft year around the ball and that also looks his long-term projection, with King's first year at the helm giving him a chance to mix and match the best group to fit the Dees. The change would have been on King's agenda before Viney's interrupted summer. Champion Data's statistics show Viney's first possession to clearance rate at 66.3 per cent was the second lowest of the top 75 players, with Oliver the fourth lowest in that list last year. In 2021, 2022 and 2024, the Demons' most used midfield combination next to Gawn was Petracca, Oliver and Viney. In 2023, Angus Brayshaw leapt ahead of Oliver but Petracca and Viney remained in the top three, while last year Pickett was in third place alongside Petracca and Oliver. A new dawn awaits Gawn.

It was a hot and muggy morning as the boys hit the track and a couple of Demonland Trackwatchers were on hand to bring you their observations from Wednesday's preseason training session at Gosch's Paddock. DEMONLAND'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSPresent: JVR, Salem (Rehab), Langford, Lindsey, Windsor, Lever, Steele, Turner, Tholstrup, CJ, Langdon, Laurie, Bowey (Rehab), Melksham, Taylor, Matthews, Jefferson, Howes, McAdam (Rehab), TMac, Adams, Heath, Mihocek, Sharp, Fritsch, Sparrow, Trelly, Petty (No Contact Hat), Chandler, Berry, Mentha, Onley, Johnson (Rehab), Henderson (Rehab), Kentfield (No Contact Mask), AMW. Absent: May (Personal), Viney (Achilles), Gawn (State of Origin), Culley (Broken Arm), Rivers (State of Origin), Pickett (State of Origin), White (Illness), Campbell (Neck) Rehab (so far): Kentfield, Bowey, Henderson Others doing warmups. Kentfield has joined the group doing warmups. Bowey and Henderson handballing to each other. I’ll update the rehab list after the warmups. Salem, Melksham, McAdam and CJ all participating in the warmups. Henderson & Bowey walking laps with footys in hand. Laurie has peeled off from the warmups to work with a trainer in rehab. First time I’ve seen Melksham kick a footy in a drill all preseason. Moving well. McAdam is also back in some of the warm up kicking drills for the first time this preseason. Split off into a couple of different drills. Most of the players line up to kick to a leading forward running towards the kicker with one defender on his tail and another defender to his side as an interceptor. Immediately after that play another player will kick to that forward who has now tried to get out the back of the two defenders heading towards goal. 4 vs 4 close quarters keepings off handball drill - rucks Heath/Jamar Kolt, Trelly, Windsor vs Langford, Sparrow, Langdon. Lever and Jefferson working with one of the trainers. JVR vs Taylor one on one leading drill. Mentha vs Berry doing the same. Rehab: Johnson, Salem, McAdam all jogging laps. Bowey & Henderson on the bikes in the shed. AMW, CJ & Melksham (All in some type of rehab in previous sessions) all participating in the next drill. Split into 2 groups: 8 vs 8 keepings off kicking drill along the wing between half forward/half back. 7 vs 7 loose ball get on the half forward line trying to get the ball deep inside 50. Petty still in the fluoro yellow no contact hat. He has been in this hat for the past couple of weeks and missed a few sessions prior to the hat appearing. Ongoing concussion symptoms or reoccurance? Kentfield in the Batman mask. Heath now running laps with Salem. AMW with boots off walking gingerly back to AAMI. 😱 Someone else in the crowd seemed to think it could be a crook gut. Watch this space. Campbell arrives still with neck brace. Heath, Henderson & Bowey head back to AAMI. After participating in all the drills so far CJ is now running laps at a good clip. Full ground Match SIM/Circle Work. Can’t see Melksham out there. GHOSTWRITER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSHendo’s sacrum is healing well but he won’t be in full training for a couple of months. Luker says his face isn’t as bad as it sounds: a 4-cm crack from his eye socket down. He has no pain and his face looks normal. He’s swapped the no-contact hat for the mask. Bowser in great spirits. He said his recovery is tracking well and is actually ahead of schedule, hence the high spirits. Sharpie did his hammy just before Xmas but now back to 100% right as rain (his words). THIRTY ONE'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSSalo having work done on his hammy, running it out. McAdam and AJ running the boundary. Both participated in the drills. I think a few might be suffering from training yesterday. AMW looked unwell to me, lots of sitting and looking pale, and disappeared behind the shed at AAMI Park. Melksham wandered off too in the usual direction. TRAVY 14'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSNotes from today's session: T-Mac - how do we go past him. Looks great never beaten. Salem - not quite ready, looked ok but the pulled out and did run throughs. At a good pace though. CJ - looks to be almost at full training again Laurie - barely missed a target all training, could the King era suit him? McAdam - no where near it. Melksham - looks to be fully training Lindsay - will be a smart user big year incoming i think AMW - agility and speed looking good, power and drive to come. Petty - looks to be moving well, always hard to tell with his lethargic demeanour. Mihocek - will prove to be a great pick up, pulls the young key fwds a side and runs them through moments and patterns. Fritsch- looks fit and training with intent. Mainly a skills session today, ball movement much more dynamic, and a clear emphasis on sling shot footy and get out the back for goals. Fwds pushing up high mixing up in congestion, trying to lose their opponents and work back hard. FRITTA AND TURNER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSAn energy sapping day at training, even I was parched. Standing under a shady tree is hard work. Nearly all those present took part in the warm up drills. Kentfield had the mask on and was looking good, like phantom of the opera. There is an obvious concentration on quick ball movement and quicker decision making. I heard Kingy yelling this out. Kalani White I believe has glandular fever. TC still in a brace. Some players would drift over to the trainers/medical team, point to some part of the body, get some treatment, join back in or wander off to the sheds. Bowey moving well, the obvious limp is gone. Just watching Salem run the boundary tightens my hamstrings. Melky moving well, but at his stage of his career, in case of Brodie breakdown, break glass. AMW back to the sheds early, feeling ill. Lever very vocal. Taylor still learning where to run. Onley obviously has the body, kicking lets him down. Might surprise round 1. KEV'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSSome thoughts about the training in the balmy conditions, with no wind. They are not close checking or tackling, in the sims. The first lot were 8 minutes × 2 sessions of set plays from the half-back area. Then they did a 15 minute hit out. A little congestion to start, though they easily break the lines and get the ball moving quickly without the usual pressure. There was space everywhere. They hugged the boundary most of the time. The backs would switch with ease and the runners found separation and made the easy kicks. I was quite amazed to see our change in game style. Previously we had been looking for that central corridor, we were fighting to make space and get separation. It was a day with plenty of space and skilled kicking. Latrelle dominated, running forward to back and forward again. Really good tank, with a burst of speed as he steps, shimmies and sells the fake, definitely a starter. Nice kick as well. Steel sits back in the central area acting as a defensive mid. Made quite a few re-entries and links. Fritta was played on the wing in a few of the proceedings. JVR hands seem to be in a better position. Hoping it translates to cleaner marking. Looking good. The forward line is no-longer playing “ring a ring a rosie”. Much more about making leads, then getting back and going again. Though I have seen some drills where the forwards get in the way of back men so separation can occur when the area is congested. Interestingly, we can change it up (open or congested style). Some of the structured stuff had them getting front and centre as the big tapped the high ball. We struggled to read it well. They then hope for an “out the back” lead. They played with more freedom and gave each other space. The ball moved quickly At the end of the sims, they separated into groups of marking, I think low ball gets, and goal kicking. Goaling was much more structured then the old just let them have shots. Latrelle and Mentha seemed to have a licence to strut there stuff from hard on the boundary. The rest with set shots inside the 40 meters. The other lot marking from over the bag. Plenty of players finishing with doing fast and numerous laps. J.Rivers working hard on Taylor's positioning and decision-making. King with forwards of JVR, Jeffo, Miochek and Fritsch, just talking to them at the end. Last to leave was King. Lots of the board and associated Admins were also down. They have been regular attendees of preseason, including Guerra.

They could have meant the spot that @DistrACTION Jackson has highlighted. It is currently stables that are likely to be redeveloped. I have heard this too. I believe the sticking point will be access to the track. I have heard we want to build a tunnel under the track. The Track/Racing authority do not want that due to the time it will take putting the track out of commission. They expect the club to ferry players by golf carts or bus all the way from the facility to a tunnel further away. Not very convenient if a player needs a leak or treatment.

Isn't that where Glen Eira College and Glenhuntly Park Footy ground currently is?

We have the most of the Vic Clubs.

It was on the other side of the ground so it was hard to keep track. It was a fast lead straight ahead so it was difficult for the defender and JVR looks super quick off the mark.

Auto correct. Crook gut.