Demonland

We welcome any reports and/or photos from any intrepid Demonlanders. Official times are updated occasionally here: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/Team/training-times Men's Training times: Monday, 4th December - Gosch's Paddock 11.00am Friday, 8th December - Gosch's Paddock - 9.30am Women's Training times: Saturday, 8th December - Gosch's Paddock - 9.15am UPDATE: Due to severe weather warnings on Saturday 2nd December, the Melbourne Football Club have postponed the AFLW Open Training and Kids Clinic to Saturday 9th December. Please note: Training times are subject to change at late notice PLEASE REMAIN ON TOPIC AND REFRAIN FROM DERAILING THE THREAD OR ATTACKING POSTERS WHO ARE KIND ENOUGH TO PROVIDE THE REST OF US WITH MUCH APPRECIATED TRAINING REPORTS. IF YOU DON'T LIKE A POSTER THEN IGNORE THEM.

I think the most tactful way to do it would be to do a "history" of the number and include the likes o Peter Giles (80-87), Tony Campbell (88-91), Chris Sullivan (92-94), Andrew Obst (95-97), Brent Grgic (98-01), Craig Ellis (02-03), Ben Holland (04-08) and then the other guy who's name escapes me because it's never ever mentioned on this site. Or they could get creative with photoshopping Harmesy's 3 out of his footage or just show footage of him from front on or from only on the 4 side. Or the next logical option is to highlight AFLW player Karen Paxman.

I posted this the other week on the Demonland Facebook page and I neglected to post it here. These highlights have sat in VHS form for years on a dusty shelf and I thought it was time to convert it to digital form lest the quality degrade even more. Apologies for the quality that it is in as our almost 30 year old VHS copy was already a copy of a copy of a copy. At least now that it has been converted to digital it will now last as long as YouTube lasts. Enjoy.

PART TWO: INTO THE MIX The 18 AFL club lists were lodged during the week, ending the post season trade and draft period for 2017. For the Melbourne Football Club, it was a quiet ending to a spring season that opened in spectacular fashion when the club secured Adelaide defender Jake Lever in its early days, followed by the trading of Fremantle's Harley Balic for a low draft pick as a late exchange and the departure of Jack Watts to Port Adelaide. All that was now left for the club was to complete its set of changes with the selection of four draftees, mostly in the second round. The process was aptly described as a case of fine-tuning the list as the Demons prepare for what hopefully will be a long-awaited and successful return to finals football. The four players picked were a nice mix and the pundits generally hailed the selections as promising. Here are their pen pictures from Inside Football's November edition:- Oskar Baker DOB: 25-05-98 181.9cm, 75.6kg Apsley QLD “Oskar was cut from the Lions academy in January and made his way to Apsley as a rookie, but due to a raft of injuries he got his opportunity early in the year and never looked back. His ability to take the game on is his strength - even against the AFL-aligned reserves he looked to tuck the ball under his arm and run. He has skill, is good overhead and is mentally strong. One of the better state league prospects.” - Apsley football operations manager Mark Perkins Bayley Fritsch DOB: 06-12-96 186.9cm, 80.1kg Casey Demons “After two years tailed by injury, the left foot forward from Coldstream enjoyed a full season and was so impressive he elevated himself more into a draft certainty than a hopeful. Often spectacular in the air, deceptively quick, a penetrating kick, and crafty at ground level, the 20-year-old represented the VFL, topped Casey’s goalkicking with 44, made the VFL team of the year and received the Fothergill-Round Medal as the league’s best young player (always a reliable guide to a player’s AFL prospects). It won’t be a surprise to see him nabbed in the national draft.” - VFL expert Paul Amy Harrison Petty DOB: 12-11-99 195.3cm 82.0kg Norwood SA "He was the big mover in our group over the pre-season and the start of 2017. Originally thought to be a forward, Harry moved to defence early in the season and didn't look back. Reads the game well and his intercept marking is elite. Kicking is better all the time. Hasn't missed a beat in our program. A boarder at Rostrevor College." - Norwood Talent Manager Rick Shrowder. Charlie Spargo DOB: 25-11-99 171.6cm 70.2kg Murray Bushrangers "Charlie didn't play a game this year because of a shoulder injury after a handful of games last year. A really clever small forward, he would have developed in the midfield this year but because of the injury that didn’t happen. Certainly a draftable player and while the injury means he’ll slide I’m pretty sure he’ll get taken.” - Murray Bushrangers coach Leon Higgins. With Joel Smith's promotion to the senior list and that of Corey Maynard to the status of Category A rookie, there were no vacancies allowing participation in the pre season or rookie drafts and the club did not name any Category B rookies. The Melbourne lists going into 2018 are therefore:- PRIMARY LIST: Oskar Baker Harley Balic Angus Brayshaw Tomas Bugg Bayley Fritsch Sam Frost Jeff Garlett Max Gawn Mitch Hannan James Harmes Michael Hibberd Jesse Hogan Jayden Hunt Neville Jetta Dion Johnstone Nathan Jones Jay Kennedy-Harris Dean Kent Mitch King Jake Lever Jordan Lewis Oscar McDonald Tom McDonald Pat McKenna Jake Melksham Alex Neal-Bullen Clayton Oliver Cameron Pedersen Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Christian Salem Charlie Spargo Joel Smith Billy Stretch Dom Tyson Aaron vandenBerg Bernie Vince Jack Viney Josh Wagner Sam Weideman ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A Lachlan Filipovic Declan Keilty Corey Maynard Tim Smith

CHANGES 2017 by The Oracle PART TWO: INTO THE MIX The 18 AFL club lists were lodged during the week, ending the post season trade and draft period for 2017. For the Melbourne Football Club, it was a quiet ending to a spring season that opened in spectacular fashion when the club secured Adelaide defender Jake Lever in its early days, followed by the trading of Fremantle's Harley Balic for a low draft pick as a late exchange and the departure of Jack Watts to Port Adelaide. All that was now left for the club was to complete its set of changes with the selection of four draftees, mostly in the second round. The process was aptly described as a case of fine-tuning the list as the Demons prepare for what hopefully will be a long-awaited and successful return to finals football. The four players picked were a nice mix and the pundits generally hailed the selections as promising. Here are their pen pictures from Inside Football's November edition:- Oskar Baker DOB: 25-05-98 181.9cm, 75.6kg Apsley QLD “Oskar was cut from the Lions academy in January and made his way to Apsley as a rookie, but due to a raft of injuries he got his opportunity early in the year and never looked back. His ability to take the game on is his strength - even against the AFL-aligned reserves he looked to tuck the ball under his arm and run. He has skill, is good overhead and is mentally strong. One of the better state league prospects.” - Apsley football operations manager Mark Perkins Bayley Fritsch DOB: 06-12-96 186.9cm, 80.1kg Casey Demons “After two years tailed by injury, the left foot forward from Coldstream enjoyed a full season and was so impressive he elevated himself more into a draft certainty than a hopeful. Often spectacular in the air, deceptively quick, a penetrating kick, and crafty at ground level, the 20-year-old represented the VFL, topped Casey’s goalkicking with 44, made the VFL team of the year and received the Fothergill-Round Medal as the league’s best young player (always a reliable guide to a player’s AFL prospects). It won’t be a surprise to see him nabbed in the national draft.” - VFL expert Paul Amy Harrison Petty DOB: 12-11-99 195.3cm 82.0kg Norwood SA "He was the big mover in our group over the pre-season and the start of 2017. Originally thought to be a forward, Harry moved to defence early in the season and didn't look back. Reads the game well and his intercept marking is elite. Kicking is better all the time. Hasn't missed a beat in our program. A boarder at Rostrevor College." - Norwood Talent Manager Rick Shrowder. Charlie Spargo DOB: 25-11-99 171.6cm 70.2kg Murray Bushrangers "Charlie didn't play a game this year because of a shoulder injury after a handful of games last year. A really clever small forward, he would have developed in the midfield this year but because of the injury that didn’t happen. Certainly a draftable player and while the injury means he’ll slide I’m pretty sure he’ll get taken.” - Murray Bushrangers coach Leon Higgins. With Joel Smith's promotion to the senior list and that of Corey Maynard to the status of Category A rookie, there were no vacancies allowing participation in the pre season or rookie drafts and the club did not name any Category B rookies. The Melbourne lists going into 2018 are therefore:- PRIMARY LIST: Oskar Baker Harley Balic Angus Brayshaw Tomas Bugg Bayley Fritsch Sam Frost Jeff Garlett Max Gawn Mitch Hannan James Harmes Michael Hibberd Jesse Hogan Jayden Hunt Neville Jetta Dion Johnstone Nathan Jones Jay Kennedy-Harris Dean Kent Mitch King Jake Lever Jordan Lewis Oscar McDonald Tom McDonald Pat McKenna Jake Melksham Alex Neal-Bullen Clayton Oliver Cameron Pedersen Christian Petracca Harrison Petty Christian Salem Charlie Spargo Joel Smith Billy Stretch Dom Tyson Aaron vandenBerg Bernie Vince Jack Viney Josh Wagner Sam Weideman ROOKIE LIST: CATEGORY A Lachlan Filipovic Declan Keilty Corey Maynard Tim Smith

I've always liked vanders and when fit I rate him as a guy who can snag a couple of goals per game. The problem is he is also one of those guys who always seems to be injured. We've had a lot of very talented injury prone guys over the last 30 years. Best of luck to vanders. I hope he can make it on to the park more in the 2018.

It was from Wednesday I believe. I don't think he has put on or lost much in that time.

I guess time will tell but I wonder what the cost/benefit will be in terms of weight loss, fitness/endurance and strength. Will the weight loss have an impact on strength?

Thanks Saty. What is wrong with Garlett? Is Hibberd still the calf injury sustained in the International Rules series? Great news that Hoges performed well in the wet.

Let's stay on topic guys.

Thanks. Check two posts up. Any other information you can pass on?

One of the posters on this site will be able to answer you. Welcome to Demonland.

3rd photo of Petracca - click arrow on right side of picture.

A couple of photos from training today.

No more using this excuse. https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/the-age-and-experience-ladder-for-2018-where-your-club-sits/news-story/ec1626ea2a37e51263bd10b9084fc31d 2018 AFL AGE LADDER Average age of each club’s playing group Adelaide — 24.6 Hawthorn — 24.6 Geelong — 24.4 Collingwood — 24.4. GWS — 24.3 Port Adelaide — 24.2 Essendon — 24.1 Sydney — 24 Melbourne — 24 Fremantle — 23.9 Richmond — 23.9 West Coast — 23.9 Carlton — 23.8 Western Bulldogs — 23.8 St Kilda — 23.6 North Melbourne — 23.5 Brisbane — 23.5 Gold Coast — 23.1 2018 AFL EXPERIENCE LADDER Average games played by each club’s playing group Hawthorn — 74.1 Port Adelaide — 72.5 Collingwood — 69.9 Adelaide — 67.9 Sydney — 65.6 Geelong — 65.4 West Coast — 63.9 GWS — 63.9 Fremantle — 63.2 Richmond — 61.7 Essendon — 57.6 Melbourne — 56.5 Western Bulldogs — 56.4 Carlton — 56.4 Brisbane — 55.2 Gold Coast — 53.5 St Kilda — 52.6 North Melbourne — 51.8

Good time to practice some wet weather footy.

Your dedication to the cause will be rewarded.