Demonland

Mitch Cleary is here

Tom Campbell is here training separately with trainers not in Dees training gear.

Training: JVR, McVee, Windsor, Tholstrup, Woey, Brown, Petty, Adams, Chandler, Turner, Bowey, Seston, Kentfield, Laurie, Sparrow, Viney, Rivers, Jefferson, Hore, Howes, Verrall, AMW, Clarry

Clarry in the house!!

I’ve headed down to Gosch’s Paddock today to bring you some observations from Preseason Training.

I think they also awarded Cripps the 2025 Brownlow Medal too.

They are great. I got gifted tickets there for the Bulldogs game. Seats were fantastic. Result not so much.

Analysis (Melbourne Demons) From a rest point-of-view, there isn’t a plethora to be concerned about at Melbourne, with one five-day break and one nine-day break in the first half of their season. Match-up wise however, they look to have struck gold if 2024 results are anything to go by. They’ll play all of North Melbourne, Gold Coast, St Kilda and West Coast twice, who they will back themselves in to give a good run for their money each outing. The main downside of note? The Demons intriguingly play three away games in a row, with a bye in between to break them up. As a result, they won’t play in Melbourne between Rounds 14 and 17. The Demons look winners from the fixture release, but how much will that time outside of Victoria run them down? Fixture difficulty (based on double-ups): 2nd-easiest Grade: A-

2025 AFL FIXTURE BRACKETS (Based on 2024 ladder & finals) Top six: Brisbane Lions, Geelong, GWS Giants, Hawthorn, Port Adelaide, Sydney Swans Middle six: Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Fremantle, St Kilda, Western Bulldogs Bottom six: Adelaide Crows, Gold Coast Suns, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond, West Coast Eagles EVERY TEAM’S 2025 DOUBLE-UP OPPONENTS Adelaide Crows: Collingwood, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, West Coast (2x top 6, 1x middle 6, 3x bottom 6) Brisbane Lions: Collingwood, Geelong, Gold Coast, Hawthorn, Sydney, Western Bulldogs (3x top 6, 2x middle 6, 1x bottom 6) Carlton: Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide, West Coast Eagles (2x top 6, 2x middle 6, 2x bottom 6) Collingwood: Adelaide Crows, Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Fremantle, Hawthorn, Melbourne (2x top 6, 2x middle 6, 2x bottom 6) Essendon: Carlton, Geelong, Gold Coast Suns, Richmond, Sydney Swans, Western Bulldogs (2x top 6, 2x middle 6, 2x bottom 6) Fremantle: Collingwood, Port Adelaide, St Kilda, Sydney Swans, West Coast Eagles, Western Bulldogs (2x top 6, 3x middle 6, 1x bottom 6) Geelong: Brisbane Lions, Essendon, GWS Giants, Port Adelaide, Richmond, St Kilda (3x top 6, 2x middle 6, 1x bottom 6) Gold Coast Suns: Adelaide Crows, Brisbane Lions, Essendon, GWS Giants, Melbourne, Richmond (2x top 6, 1x middle 6, 3x bottom 6) GWS Giants: Geelong, Gold Coast Suns, St Kilda, Sydney Swans, West Coast Eagles, Western Bulldogs (2x top 6, 2x middle 6, 2x bottom 6) Hawthorn: Adelaide Crows, Brisbane Lions, Carlton, Collingwood, Melbourne, Port Adelaide (2x top 6, 2x middle 6, 2x bottom 6) Melbourne: Collingwood, Gold Coast Suns, Hawthorn, North Melbourne, St Kilda, West Coast Eagles (1x top 6, 2x middle 6, 3x bottom 6) North Melbourne: Adelaide Crows, Carlton, Melbourne, Richmond, Sydney Swans, Western Bulldogs (1x top 6, 2x middle 6, 3x bottom 6) Port Adelaide: Adelaide Crows, Collingwood, Fremantle, Geelong, Hawthorn, Sydney Swans (3x top 6, 2x middle 6, 1x bottom 6) Richmond: Essendon, Geelong, Gold Coast Suns, North Melbourne, St Kilda, West Coast Eagles (1x top 6, 2x middle 6, 3x bottom 6) St Kilda: Fremantle, Geelong, GWS Giants, Melbourne, Richmond, Western Bulldogs (2x top 6, 2x middle 6, 2x bottom 6) Sydney Swans: Brisbane Lions, Essendon, Fremantle, GWS Giants, North Melbourne, Port Adelaide (3x top 6, 2x middle 6, 1x bottom 6) West Coast Eagles: Adelaide Crows, Carlton, Fremantle, GWS Giants, Melbourne, Richmond (1x top 6, 2x middle 6, 3x bottom 6) Western Bulldogs: Brisbane Lions, Essendon, Fremantle, GWS Giants, North Melbourne, St Kilda (2x top 6, 3x middle 6, 1x bottom 6) AFL 2025 FIXTURE DIFFICULTY (from easiest to hardest) Based on the 2024 percentage of the teams they play twice in 2025 1 (Easiest). Richmond 2. Melbourne 3. Carlton 4. Adelaide Crows 5. Gold Coast Suns 6. West Coast Eagles 7. Western Bulldogs 8. Geelong 9. Sydney Swans 10. St Kilda 11. North Melbourne 12. GWS Giants 13. Fremantle 14. Essendon 15. Hawthorn 16. Collingwood 17. Port Adelaide 18 (Hardest). Brisbane Lions

We're off the grudge match list

The tough on baller won his second Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy in a narrow battle with skipper Max Gawn and Alex Neal-Bullen and battled on manfully in the face of a number of injury niggles. Date of Birth: 13 April 1994 Height: 178cm Games MFC 2024: 23 Career Total: 219 Goals MFC 2024: 10 Career Total: 66 Brownlow Medal Votes: 8

A couple of Demonland Trackwatchers braved the rain and headed down to Gosch's paddock to bring you their observations from the second day of Preseason training for the 1st to 4th Year players. DITCHA'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS I attended some of the training today. Richo spoke to me and said not to believe what is in the media, as we will good this year. Jefferson and Kentfield looked big and strong. Petty was doing all the training. Adams looked like he was in rehab. KEV MARTIN'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS 24 in the squad today. Fritsch doing his own program. He has put on a fair bit of upper-body muscle. The Sparrow and Rivers have turned up. Sparrow has very little fat, his skin folds must be near zero. Riv's has also filled out, looking strong. Unsure about Jed Adams, pulled out of the squad to do some work with the trainer, could be calf/Achilles awareness. Windsor, Tholstrup and Bowey, were pulled from the contact craft sessions. All participated in everything else. Bassett was much more vocal this time. Jones was animated and giving plenty of directions, it was Chaplin who was doing most of the work as Goody again sat back and observed. Troy was really active in making sure the forwards lead and make space. He was also instructive in the outside 50 area, making sure they get the right patterns and delivery. Petty (unhindered, body is in good shape) in the backline, as was TMac (focused on outside run). Forwards included Kentfield, JVR, Jefferson, Verrall and Sestan in the sims. AMW, has impressed me, gained plenty of confidence, side stepping them all, and tackling/pressurising well. JVR a bit rusty. Jefferson was marking well in the wet, unlike a couple of the others. Brown looks like he is only in second gear untill he gets the ball. Sestan is difficult to tackle. In the drill, a little hip swivel and a tight body turn, they fall off him, including Viney who had surprise all over his face, like grasping for the wet soap. Got a feeling they will rotate McVee through the mids. From today's forward structure in some sims. Looks like they are going with a 4 man set-up. 3 marking players high up, well spaced. One leads back, one leads forward and the other towards the boundary. When the ball transitioned in, Chaplin would call "go", he wanted the energy and acceleration to his system. The fourth (Sestan) was just outside the fifty and central to the game as he became the first receiver from the mids, and became the kicker. Though they only had two defenders in there, AMW and Petty, they stuffed up a few times. Mostly they were supportive. Early on in the stuff ups, a few got serious (Turner and JVR, "basic kicks" needed) and pushed Sestan (who responded well) to get it right. There was also a flood of players (small flankers) into the area after the first entry, often into the straight out and 30 infront, which worked once the ball became a ground ball get. Tough conditions as these sims happened in the rain and wind. I hope Chaplin has an abundance of plays in his "scrap book", as the players seem to be responding to him, with clear understanding of purpose and intention. Execution on the other hand, may take time. I reckon repeat, repeat and repeat again. I thought the same thing. Looks like Chaplin gets along well with Goody. Last Monday they were seen walking off into the setting sun together, or at least crossing the Yarra from the Paddock. It is a Goody/Chaplin team at the moment. Be interesting to see how the "oldies" adapt to the new methods. Seems like Chaplin will also have a fair bit of say in how he wants the mids to deliver the ball. It was the group he was hanging around with when the forward structured sims begun. He would talk and instruct the forwards after the action. They had the scoreboard out and running today. They used it during full sims. It seems the score is based on more than just goals and behinds. There is also a reading for possession of the ball. Today the possession percentage in the first 3 minutes was 6% bibs and 65% non-bibs (some time in dispute). Bibs came back at them as the sims continued. Amazing that they are getting their competitive juices flowing early. This pre-seasons training is similar to when they are in home and away mode. Skills, structures, and processes are emphasised. They are doing very little running, and seem to have come back in great shape. Perhaps they all had a running program during their break. Going straight down the alley when someone is defending infront of the lead was a problem today.. They often attempt the long get over the back kick, which is good in sims, but is easily defended during a game. That angle kick seems to be done by the skilled. Some get rushed, others as you say don't see the play, or just not good at this aspect. Angles are definitely encouraged, as well as kick to advantage by the coaches. Execution is the what makes a genuine star out there. #11 TONY ANDERSON'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Got to training today (from Tamworth) and got soaked. Was fascinating to see what they get up to. Sparrow, Viney, TMAC, and Chandler doing fast laps towards the end. Rivers and Petts doing slower laps towards the end. Given there were only 24 players training yesterday, I wouldn’t get fixated on where they played in the exercises yesterday. I.e. if they want to test out Jeffo, Disco, Roo and co, somebody had to play back. They were also rotating about 6 players at a time, with many more on the attacking side, so many times the forwards had no opposition. Once they are all back we might get a better idea of which group they are all training with. Petts seems to take a while to get up to speed even when running laps, perhaps it is just his gait. Riv seemed to be his ‘pacemaker’ in terms of getting a little in front of him. It was all timed by them both though. WAYNE WUSSELL'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Got down to Gosch's for an hour before the rain set in. Kev has offered some excellent observations so only a few things I can add. I'm usually very positive in general about all things MFC, so excuse me if I note a few negatives on the way through. I was looking for improvement. On that scale, I was impressed with Jefferson's movement, pace and marking up forward. Roo looked good, but regularly ran to a spot on the spread (which was a focus of forward patterns) that was ignored by the incoming ball carrier. Verrall looked good in the ball movement exercises from the backline, agile and clean by hand and foot. Key backs were McDonald (who looked fit and sharp), Howes (who gathered cleanly and created change of direction), Hore (injury free and fit), Judd (Rolls Royce, who was also used further up ground), AMW (I have him in my starting 23 in 2025) & Verrall (on occasions). Woewodin looks fit and balanced with ball movement. Things that disappointed (because they were evident during 2024 season) Tholstrup occasionally gets into trouble with a fumble that allows defender to close him down and tackle. Brown sometimes holds on to it for too long, kicks under pressure and misses targets. Bowey seems in two minds with the ball, slows down flow and misses target enough to put the receiver under unnecessary pressure. Set shots, when taken, were still 50/50 proposition. Things that excited... Windsor continued on his merry way Rivers looked composed and strong (at one point he ran down Viney and tackled him to the ground in a face plant. No 7 was surprised but not impressed!). Sparrow is trim and looks to have added a little speed to his movement. One thing I noticed at today's training that I hadn't noticed to the same degree previously... Players immediately ran off-line when they took a mark and wanted to play on. In continuous play, the receiver's first steps were to either side rather than straight ahead. I understand that players who are evasive do this instinctively, but today it seemed uniform practice to get the approaching opponent off balance. HAWK THE DEMON'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS 23 in total by my count - 22 in the session - Adams doing laps. Tmac, Rivers, Sparrow, Chandler, Bowey, Hore, Viney, Salem from the oldies Sestan, Kentfield, Windsor, Moniz, Brown, McVee, Jefferson, Howes, Verrall, Woewodin, Tholstrup, Turner, Van Rooyen SLARTIBARTFAST'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS I’m not reading much into “positions” yet as there aren’t enough for a proper sim where players can play their usual positions. It’s still a wait and see for me. I'm usually not into “he’s noticeably bigger this year” as I’m not convinced you can notice that much development over 8 weeks but Verrell looks very fit and strong. Kentfield is a beast, what a bonus if he succeeds. Seston is another where his body looks more defined. I find it hard to see where he fits in but he’s got some real AFL traits. Very strong in the clinches and a great kick. His ball handling is solid. One to watch I reckon. He looks very focused this year and comfortable in the group.

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