Demonland

To be fair someone posted a thread about the video on the MFC website and asked for someone to post it. I posted it before realising that there was a thread already about it and then merged them.

LOL. That is new and has been updated today. When I posted the link that explanation was not there and McVee, Trac, Clarry and the other traded and delisted players were there.

A couple of Demonland Trackwatchers ventured out to a sunlit Gosch's Paddock to bring you their observations from the Demon's Wednesday morning Preseason Training session. DEESPENCER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSHendo and Viney on the exercise bike. McAdam and Matthews rehab. Bowser labs. AMW pulled out of some drills. Warm up exercises seemed really footy movement focused. Cutting hard after receiving handballs. Simulating a ground ball and burst from pack. Then in to a couple of groups of figure 8 kicking. This was sharper than I’ve seen us for a couple of years. Latrelle Pickett balances up and has a bit of a hunched over technique but he gets the footy low and fast to team mates consistently. Berry is a very reliable kick. Jeff Jnr (Kalani White) has good skills, well done to the Suns academy coaches. Ground split down the middle from goal. Group A gets the ball in the back pocket and has to switch then take the ball up to score. Group B doing the same the other way. Group C resting. On pretty quick rotation. 8 on 5 so it’s not difficult. But focus on running hard to space and establishing a deep forward. Quick fire handballs for one group of players. 2/3rds of the ground match sim for the others. Even numbers with a pink jumper going both ways. Couple of very quick Latrell run down tackles. He wanted no part in a mark back with the flight with May bearing down but he was quickly back on the contest and pulled the Kossie ghost step where the defender had no read on where he was going before he lasered a kicked inside (which was intercepted but it was a good bad kick) Xavier Taylor got the pink jumper and looked sharp presenting and using the footy, then bit of more that he could chew trying to run through 2 tacklers which sapped him off energy. Having a close look at Riley Onley in 40. He was out run for a loose ball by Sharp but then nearly chased him down. Then he just about took mark of the year. Missed a regulation handball to Xavier Lindsay who cleaned it up, got it back to him on the run and his burst of speed opened it right up. DEMON JACK'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSJust arrived and Jeffo is indeed training with the main group. Bowey and McAdam running along the boundary. Not sure if it's been touched on before, but it looks like AMW is also in full training Now AMW is doing some individual drills. Might not be quite ready ready yet but doesn't look far away. Tommy Matthews also doing some work on the boundary. Lever looks fit and over his ankle issues. Moving freely. Boys are currently working on a some quick transition drills. Handpass to a moving player who kicks it to a player on the lead. Once they mark it they handpass it and so on. All and all, nice skills on show. Not too many flubbed kicks. Both Taylor and Trelly Pickett know how to find a chest. Nice skills on show. Boys have now donned pink or white bibs and habe split into three groups and are playing a game of keepings off. Handpass to players wearing the same coloured bib while the other colour applies pressure. May wraps Trelly up with a big bear tackle. Welcome to AFL footy young man! Trelly hands it off to Kozzy who nails a pinpoint pass to JVR in the left forward pocket. JVR absolutely shanks the snap. Expletives follow. Disco's skills have been great to watch so far today. Looks primed for a big '26 wherever he ends up playing. CJ has been a bit off with his disposal by hand today. Looks better when he elects to kick. Jai Culley shrugs two tackles (losing his headband in the process) and is still able to get his handpass away. May now doing some running on the boundary. Windsor's kicking is sublime. Lever looks to be completely over his ankle issues. Doesn't look hampered at all. Riley Onley attempts an audacious grab in the centre of the ground to the gasps of the crowd. Doesn't quite nail his timing, but it looked great! CJ will be an exciting watch off half back. As long as he plays within his limitations (his disposal by hand looked a bit off today) I think he'll be a good pick up. Loved his evasive work in some of the tight contest drills today. Didn't notice Mihocek or Steele much. WAYNE WUSSELL'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSSome impressions from today's session, Bill continues to be a prolific link man, always trying to be evasive with the ball. generally, makes short kicks on all angles, but a few turnovers are costly. Langford has grown! He is now very close to May in height and not far below in build. (He did look sore mid-session with a tweak of his upper left leg) Salem is looking very good and will be in our 23 come round 1 Langdon motors on, and continues to give us drive Bowey spent a lot of time running the boundary Melksham had some concern with a leg problem. I thought I heard him tell a trainer that it was from the previous session. He got some massage fro the trainer for a while. McAdam ran hard on the boundary line for most of the session Started to notice the old run and long kicks from Riv. Tom McDonald looks very fit Petty is quicker than he is given credit for At one point early on the brothers were in a group taking around-the-corner shots at goal. McAdam, Ricky jnr, AMW (who has joined the group) and 'Cussey' all succeeded. The odd man out was Kossie! Watching the ruck pairs, Max v Tom Campbell, Max Heath v Kalani White. In summary, Max was impressive, as always, against a very strong and very experienced competitor. It is clear that Heath is too strong for Kalani at this stage of development. I was impressed with Steele and Mihocek throughout, both in the sims and in the runs. Mihocek regularly led his group and seems to have fully recovered from any 2025 season niggles. Heath impressed more than he has previously with his size, marking and athleticism. CJ bursts like a maniac from half-back. He seems to have that Russell Rhino Richards approach to run and carry! SLARTIBARTFAST'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSA good summary by all the track watchers so I've only these observations to add: Trelly was leading his running group easily and looks very fit. He was cruising along while those behind him were clearly working hard. He also shows great footy IQ when in sims. Riley Onley is not slow. I had that fear when we drafted him but today watching him he covered the ground really well and is a fascinating watch. Hendo did little if anything. He's been doing lots of running but not today. Hope his groin hasn't flared. Tommy Matthews is a chunky young man with a terrific grin 😁. Not doing much at the moment but I'm predicting "fan favourite" status. I really like our trainers helping the rehab group. Players like Shane McAdam are doing heaps of running which I'd imagine is fairly difficult and boring but the trainers were often running with him (and others) offering encouragement. Same with Tommy Matthews who is doing all sorts of different hopping and jumping exercises. The trainers are really good with their advice and encouragement. They didn't run with Bowser because they couldn't keep up! Tmac looks in ripping shape and Jed Adams was back today having missed Monday. Oscar Berry, who has a very similar body shape to Sesto (but taller) looks very comfortable in all the drills with good skills. He is a project but he's well along the way, not like some of our other B rookies. We will know fairly quickly if we've "found one". GHOSTWRITER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSTMac is the first person out. Very early and very keen. Tommy Matthews … amazing news I just heard. He’ll be fit for selection by Round One. Pete is the head physio and he’d know. Not a pleasant sight to see, Vines limping across from the rooms. And not just a slight limp, a prominent one. All good though, he’s just had an injection in his foot so it’s very tender. He’s here to support the boys. Vines said he’s doing a lot of both stationary bike and pool. And when he wasn’t tapping players’ hands when they came on and off the ground or helping out with the rehab guys he was on the bike. Oh my god. Adam Tomlinson just arrived and now my day is complete. 🥹 He’s really happy and is looking in great shape. He came to watch training and hang with the boys for a bit. Xavier Taylor’s nickname is indeed “Reg” (his middle name is Reginald, his grandfather’s name). He came to the club with it and wasn’t sure it would stick, but it has. He’s also fine with “Reggie.” We (the DA) need to know nicknames for the purpose of handheld banners and signs etc., as well as for chants. I was walking with Koz and Trelly and I told them we plan to chant Trelly Trelly Trelly Oi Oi Oi when he goals. Firstly, the look on Trelly’s face… priceless. He was rapt. He was like “Really???” I’m not 100% sure but I think he was blushing. But even more heartwarming, I snuck a look at Kozzie’s face (he was looking down at the ground but listening) and the unmistakable smile of pride was quite something. I told them some in the DA wanted to chant Kuzzy Kuzzy Kuzzy etc. but we’ve decided it sounds too similar to Kozzie Kozzie Kozzie. Trelly said “Yeah, I don’t want him (Koz) stealing the glory for my goals” 😅

Probably in reference to his previous comment regarding CJ.

Still waiting on the MFC Website to update their player page. melbournefc.com.auAFL Team | Melbourne Football ClubView player profiles for Melbourne's AFL team

Yes and no. 😜 2026 AFL Numbers | The Reveal

New Demon Numbers: 4 - Harvey Langford 5 - Xavier Lindsay (Training Guernsey does not have a number) 9 - Jack Steele (Wearing #46 at training) 13 - Jai Culley 14 - Changkuoth Jiath 19 - Xavier Taylor 20 - Thomas Matthews 27 - Max Heath (Training Guernsey does not have a number) 28 - Brody Mihocek 33 - Latrelle Pickett 34 - Kalani White (Training Guernsey does not have a number) 38 - Oscar Berry (Training Guernsey does not have a number) 40 - Riley Onley

Riley Onley is #40

He will likely only start running before Christmas. He appears to be further back in his rehab and recovery from his PCL injury than Xavier Lindsay was at this time last year.

This Training Report from the 15th of January 2025 makes mention of Lindsay now being in full training.

Both will be in the first 23

Melbourne's midfield ensemble under new coach Steven King continues to take shape in the wake of the exits of premiership champions Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver. The Demons and their rookie coach will be tasked with finding the right mix of midfielders to commence their new era of the red and blue, with a balance of youth and household names set to lead from the middle. Captain Max Gawn is set to be surrounded by a new-look pack of ball winners, with his vice-captain Jack Viney and livewire Kysaiah Pickett now the most familiar of faces to their eight-time All-Australian. His old St Kilda counterpart, Jack Steele, is among the new names set to roll through King's engine room, while first-round draft selections Harvey Langford, Koltyn Thlstrup, Caleb Windsor, Xavier Lindsay and Bailey Laurie will each get their turn. The Demon who could take on a much larger midfield slice looks to be second-year onballer Jai Culley, who has continued to impress at pre-season training under King. Having added size and strength, as well as bringing a high-level work rate, Culley could be the Melbourne midfielder who helps fill the hole left by Petracca and Oliver. The 194cm talent, who will coincidentally wear Oliver's vacant No.13 jumper, is positioned to be a key piece of Melbourne's midfield unit for 2026 after just four games at AFL level this year, three of which came in Troy Chaplin's trio of appearances as interim. Had it not been for Andy Moniz-Wakefield's cruel ACL injury midway through the pre-season, and the AFL's decision to approve the signing of Culley as his replacement via the Supplemental Selection Period following the acquisition window's deadline days prior, Culley would have likely spent the entire 2025 season in the VFL for Casey. A rise to prominence for Culley would see that exception bear fruit for the Demons, while also leaving West Coast to rue their decision to part ways with the 22-year-old at the end of 2024. Taken with the first overall pick in the 2022 Mid-Season Draft, Culley managed just a dozen games for the Eagles in his two-and-a-half seasons in Perth Culley couldn't break into West Coast's midfield pack during his time in WA, however the Eagles have since looked to uncover bargain options to aid their centre bounces, adding cut AFL trio Harry Schoenberg, Finlay Macrae and Deven Robertson via the SSP last week. What was West Coast's has been Melbourne's gain, with both sides set to put forward refreshed midfield groups in 2026. The Demons have looked to add height and power to their cohort, with Culley, Langford and Rookie Draft addition Riley Onley all stopping the tape above 190cm tall. The latter was among the new names to impress at training on Monday. The taller trio will complement Pickett's speed and agility, with Steele and Viney bringing experience and proven contested games. Viney has been one of several senior Demons limited on the track so for this pre-season, with the likes of Jake Bowey, Shane McAdam, Jack Henderson, Moniz-Wakefield and draftee Thomas Matthews not taking part in skills drills at their latest session. Bowey was kept to running for the entirety of training at Gosch's Paddock, while key forward Jacob van Rooyen joined him after some friendly fire left him with blood pouring from his mouth. The Demons returned to Melbourne last week after spending time in Bright as part of their pre-season community camp.

I'll also add that in these "Match SIM" drills it is usually just two key forwards/backs in the forward 50 and maybe a smaller forward or mids running in with the ball. It isn't the traditional match setup with 6 forwards and 6 backs set up like in a game.

It’s difficult to pin down the exact positions of many of the mids, wings, and half-forward/half-back types because this isn’t an 18-on-18 match-simulation with players set up in their true roles at the start of the play. “Match SIM” might even be the wrong term to use, as the structure is quite different. As a result, players naturally push further up the ground. Culley is one of those players who seems involved in everything but he doesn’t appear to be playing a traditional wing role in these drills. Another factor is how each play begins. It’s rarely a standard centre bounce. Most sequences start with the ball already down at full forward, with play initiated from the pocket. Occasionally they’ll bring the ball to the middle, but even then there’s no proper ball-up and an assistant coach will simply roll the ball away from the rucks and mids in the square to kick things off. Next time, I’ll pay closer attention to which players are actually starting in the centre.

The team is back from their Community Training Camp and it is the first time that the whole squad is together at Gosch’s Paddock. A couple of intrepid Demonlanders braved the 4 seasons in one day on the first day of Summer to bring you their observation of the morning's session. DEMONLAND'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSPresent: May, JVR, Salem, Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, Lever, Steele, Turner, Gawn, Tholstrup, Culley, CH, Langdon, Laurie, Melksham, Taylor, Jefferson, Howes, Rivers, McDonald, Mihocek, Heath, Campbell, Sharp, Fritsch, Sparrow, L Pickett, Petty, K Pickett, Chandler, Berry, Mentha, Johnson, Kentfield, Onley & White Rehab: Viney, McAdam, Bowey, AMW, Henderson & Matthews Absent: Adams Rain is starting to come down so it’s a great opportunity to work on that wet weather footy. Lindsay (#5), White (#34), Berry (#38) & Heath (#27) don’t have numbers on their guernseys yet. Steele (#9) is still wearing number 46. Rookie recruit Riley Onley is a big boy. As tall as Lever and built much bigger. Kalani White is very tall and skinny but moves like an athlete. The squad has broken up into 4 smaller groups for some warm up drills. Ball dribble out by assistants to 3 players. One collects the ground ball handballs quickly to the next guy who handballs quickly to the next guy. 4 on 4 close quarters keepings off handball 7 on 3 ball movement up the wing. 3 defenders constantly swapping each time. Goal kicking practice. The sun is back out and the ball and field is drying. So much for that wet weather footy practice. Bowser running laps. Doesn't look too far away from resuming training with the main group. In the Shed doing rehab is McAdam on the rower. Viney, Matthews & Henderson are on the bikes. All moving at a fast pace. JVR off to the rooms to get what looks like his bottom lip stitched up. Apparently his tooth went through his bottom lip. AMW & Mihocek have joined in on the rotation of drills. Onley has come from the ground with a knock to the nose ….. and he’s back on. Mihocek doesn’t miss a set shot …. And having just said that just missed one. He previously kicked about 5 in a row on a slight angle 30-35 metres out. The squad has now split into 4 groups for another 4 small drills. 3 vs 3 have to run to starting in the middle of two poles in the ground and have to run towards them and then run around the pole and back to the middle to collect the ground ball before the other team. 1 vs 1 ground ball get. Player that doesn’t get the ball has to tackle the other one. 1 v 1 high ball marking contest. 1 vs 1 ground ball rolled in front of one player who collects it while the other guy tries to tackle and the guy with the ball has to break the tackle by karate chopping the arm of the tackler. First time I’ve seen Disco this preseason. He has such strong sure hands in marking contests. Heath is very strong in body on body marking contest and can take a grab. Kozzy’s evasive skills are sublime but ya’ll knew that already. JVR is back out and running laps. Full ground match SIM. Both Windsor & CJ getting a lot of the ball off half back. As a side note when we traded in CJ I had a lot of Hawthorn mates claimed that CJ was not a good disposer of the footy. They claimed he had no issues getting the footy but didn't know what to do with it once the ball was in hand. So far I have observed that he has very clean foot skills. Let's see how he goes when the full pressure of match day is at hand. Currently I am quietly impressed. Turner & Petty in defence as are May, Lever & TMac. Turner, Petty & May were on one team and TMac & Lever were on the other team. Mihocek is taking part in the match SIM which is the first time I have observed him taking part in the contact drills at training. Jefferson (others have reported that he is recovering from concussion so not taking part in contact drills), AMW & JVR running laps. Viney, McAdam, Henderson & Matthews all doing weights and strength training in the shed. Rain coming down hard again. Heath playing forward on TMac Berry playing off half back. Kozzy everywhere in the middle. Latrelle playing forward but finding his way up the ground. Got the ball on the wing and followed the ball all the way to the forward line. Disposal fantastic. For the weather watchers the sun is back out. New drill. End to end. 10 vs 5 up the middle of the ground. This drill involves moving the ball quickly by hand and foot up the ground. When the ball goes deep into the forward line the assistants kick the ball to themselves up the field to the back line and all the 15 players on the field have to gut run from the forward line to the back line to do it again and then they switch out with another 15 players. A lot of running and fast ball movement. It's almost impossible for the 5 players to defend but the fast ball movement and gut running seems to be the main focus of the drill. Players are gassed when they take a break. The new recruits are not taking part in this drill. Latrelle, Taylor, Onley, Berry & White. Jefferson & JVR are taking part in this drill. Lindsay has been very impressive in the ball movement drills. Elite disposal. Same goes for Langford. CJ has joined the new recruits doing 100m sprints along the boundary. And after that they were jogging half laps from goal posts to goal posts. HARVEY WALLBANGER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSJed Adams the only absentee. Further to the other reports Viney, Henderson, Matthews and McAdam in what I would describe as "full rehab". Matthews getting special treatment related to his knee, so perhaps he is the furthest away from playing. Given Viney and McAdam are both achilles - hard to say about return dates. Henderson also hard to predict. Bowey running laps (but does not look far away) and Jeffo in and out as described above. JVR got a knock to the lip - went back to AAMI for some patchwork - and after that resorted to running. Pleasing aspects for me - Mihocek, Heath and Steele did the entire session unhampered and CJ did most of it. Trelly Pickett is a gun - not just his skills - but the running capacity, confidence and willingness to join in. Pencil him in for Round 1. Windsor everywhere, when the ball needed to be moved. I reckon Taylor will take a little while - in defence. Early call, but maybe not a lock for Round 1. Onley a good size and moved smoothly - all the draftees and CJ did quite a bit of running towards the end - obviously still building their bases. AMW looking better and better - let's see if he does full sessions from January. The word is that they will stay at Gosch's through until Friday 19 December. Training was scheduled for 10 am but they were out early and finished up around 12 pm. All the old boys doing good old boys' stuff, i.e. including TMac and Melky in that group. Lever moving freely. May - an interesting watch. SLARTIBARTFAST'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSTrelly looked really really good with his running and skills. Those having issues with using pick 12 need not worry I reckon. Lindsay is starting to look really good, he was involved and skillful. The full ground drills were significantly different to last year. Last year the focus was on ball movement and little if any contact. This year is was match practice with the ball being fully contested. There is no luvy dovey stuff at training this year. There is good spirit but no whopping and hollering at the slightest opportunity. Very business like. Culley very good. Windsor and CJ the "go to" players out of the backline. Kentfield a good chance to be this years bolter, moves well, good endurance, strong hands and a beautiful kick. I'm excited. It might just be me but Vines looks like the weight of the world is off his shoulders looking so much more relaxed this year. Did I mention Trelly? Oscar Berry looks like the first B rookie from a BB background that looks like he could make it. Sparrow in everything. That is all...... ALEX NO FANCY-NAME'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSFirst time at a training session (other than kids' clinic) so don't really have any insightful insights to share. CJ has been mentioned a few times; I liked the footwork and evasion, but was especially impressed with his delivery of the ball, he got it out of the back line and it kept going. It was great to watch Kozzie (and Latrelle and Ricky) kicking goals at the end of the session. Worth the price of admission! Final comment, I enjoyed watching the match sims, flowing footy without umpire interference, and no administrative 50s! Another final observation, on the way out I was going to take a photo of the Melb Victory training for my "other" son, and was told by their staff that photography was prohibited. I couldn't be bothered arguing the point, but if you're part of a league trying to build a supporter base I am not sure this is the best attitude. GHOSTWRITER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSIt looks as though my threats to burn down the MCG if the players continue to come out too early were taken seriously. Not a soul to be seen yet. I met Latrelle!!! What an awesome boy he is. Kozzie smiled and pointed towards him, as if to say have at him 😅 Latrelle is NOT shy. He’s so friendly and loves a chat. I also met Tommy Matthews. He’s a live wire! A lovely guy. Of course I met Riley too. He’s a little more reserved. Taller in person than in pics. Everyone is here. And omg they are looking fit af. Seriously, even the ones who already looked great look even better. The camp was a roaring success by all accounts. It’s obvious they’re still on a high. The energy is electric. Shane’s running laps. He’s running really well. Both AMW and Melky had some white cream massaged into their kneecaps by Pete the physio. Pete says it’s routine, nothing to worry about. Rooey’s on the boundary spitting out blood. Must’ve copped a hit to the mouth. Quite a bit of blood coming out. Now he’s being taken back to the rooms. Tommy Mathews is rehabbing his knee injury. He said he expects to be running “well before Chrissy.” Vines has an achilles issue (not serious) which is why he’s not training. After training the boys were going back to AAMI for lunch (together). After lunch it’s gym time (all together), then they break off into groups; some do more running, some in the pool, some do extra gym work. They get Thursdays and Sundays off. On Saturdays they do hill-running. It was interesting hearing about this from Xavier Taylor who can’t compare it to previous years. He talked about it in a very matter-of-fact way. I asked him if he finds any part of it challenging or even difficult and he said not at all. Vines on the other hand said training is “very different now.” He said it’s more intense and more specialised, but that “we love it.” Probs easier for him to say that while he’s on light duties. DEESPICABLE'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSWhat a difference three months make? It was hard not to be impressed by the new faces and the speed of the new-look squad. Gone are the distractions - sorry Trac and Olly - and in is pace. Sure we only had about 20min of match sim but you couldn't but help notice that slow, precise build-ups are out, replaced by manic speed of ball movement. Almost everyone who has commented has noticed CJ's run and I am trying to remember a bigger early-season influencer or wow factor - he already shapes as the recruit of the year. He didn't just run and carry and kick long drop punts down the wing to Windsor - he also laid a couple of crunching tackles - one on Langford was a clear free kick to our second-year player. When coupled with Kozzie's constant pressure and elite kicking, it's hard not to see why there's a sense of excitement. It was also hard not to like Brody Mihocek's lead up work, Turner's intercepting, Gawny and May's presence and the extra competitiveness of Sparrow, Culley and Laurie in the midfield. As someone said earlier, Xavier Taylor may not be a Rd 1 lock just yet, but he did show a willingness to take the game on - even after he was caught taking a little too long to dispose of the ball on a couple of occasions. All in all there must be 30 players at least in the mix for Rd 1 based on what I saw and that doesn't include Viney (rehab) and Adams (absent) who I'd expect to be ready post-X-mas. And I imagine there's another thread for it, but guessing the Rd 1 team of 23 correctly would pay about 5000-1 at this stage.

In the match SIM drill. Turner, Petty & May were on one team and TMac & Lever were on the other team.

No idea. He missed the full match SIM which obviously had contact but has rejoined the group to do the 10 vs 5 end to end which is more about gut running up and down the field with no contact.

CJ has joined the new recruits doing 100m sprints along the boundary