Demonland

Windsor will play this season is my hot tip. Skills, class and composure.

Match SIM about to start. Tholstrup walks to position into the forward pockets and hip and shoulders an unsuspecting Turner. Love the kid.

JVR is a Monster.

2 separate keeping’s off/tackling drills going on. 5 players not involved; Brayshaw, K. Brown, Turner, Tholstrup, Sparrow (all still doing their own tackling drills but importantly Brayshaw doesn’t have a “do not tackle” hat/bib on) 4 Rucks/Talls doing a separate drill - Fullarton, KFW, Schache & Verrell.

Trac is an absolute beast. That’s the post.

I was critical of Laurie’s skills last season but he looks to cleaned them up. Has been silky.

Tomlinson is looking super fit and skills are sharp. Always impressed me at this time of year.

He is in rehab wearing white. 🤷‍♂️

I’ll just be giving observations of players and not in depth description of drills. They have separated into 3 groups rotating different warm up drills.

NO SHOWS: Clarry, Smith, Ben Brown REHAB: Lever, Melksham, Salem, Jefferson, Andy Moniz-Wakefield BLUE: Trac, Brayshaw, Fullarton, Verrell, Hunter, McVee, Sestan, Woey, JVR, Sparrow, May, McAdam, K. Brown, Laurie, Chandler, Turner, Bowey, Tomlinson, Howes, Yze in #46, Billings in #48 WHITE: Viney, Max, Nibbler, Farris-White, Schache TMac, Adams, Rivers, Kozzy, Spargo, Petty, Fritsch, AMW, Tholstrup, Langdon, #44 (may be Windsor)

I’m at Gosch’s Paddock today and I will attempt to bring you a running commentary of my observations. I will collate all my musings in this post at the end of training. Collation of all the Training Reports

Given that these guys are all older (with the exception on Viney) I assume their kids would all be past draft age.

Report on AFL Website says (and shows) Lever hobbling off the field with an ankle injury and Salem not training due to hamstring awareness. https://www.afl.com.au/video/1073569

PICKET FENCE'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS NO SHOWS Clarry (More later), T.Mac, Joel Smith, also didn’t notice Koltyn Tholstrup, also not sure I noticed Trent Rivers, Tom Sparrow was doing laps as well. REHAB Christian Salem (Running laps), Jeffo (On Bike and weights), Melky Bike, weights and some sideways manoeuvers. Jake Lever ( Did what looked to be a minor leg injury and spent rest of session on the bike! Lachy Hunter did a mammoth running session and ball work at full speed and looked unhampered by his calf injury.Andy Moniz-Wakefield laps SKILLS , DRILLS and MANOEUVERS, I’ll leave the small drills out and you get the idea of multitasking, just concentrating on small group drills, ball, skills and interweaving patters focusing on correct options and correct disposal. These open and Clozed drills are more of less similar to others that I have reported for all of my traing reports. Discrete nuances of slight differences seem to keep things charged up and would also alleviate the potentiality of same old same old. Main Match Sims There were several components of each of the following 4 training drills 1 Running in waves selecting correct handball , kick and creating excellent options using ground space and alternative entries into the forward half from transitioning out of defence 2 Precision kicking to multiple targets on the lead. 3 Stoppage work near goals and either resulting in players kicking goals or creating avenues to rebound out of defence. 4 Whole ground transitioning using a lopsided manpower whereby the white shirts were outnumbered 10 to 18 With Red shirts running in waves. What this meant was the defence were outnumbered many times so had to choose to run to the player most likely to receive from the ball carrier. This was interesting in itself and players rotated through Red shirts and White so everyone had an even go of defender or attack. PLAYER WATCH Jack Billings Put on a clinic today, was in everything and his astute positioning , skills and polish were phenomenally good. Kyah Farris-White A quick learner, looks to be developing some skills, Pace and decision making. I thought some of his grunt and efforts were good today! Kynan Brown Will of the wisp, but quick hands, elusive and explosive pace, Might surprise a few early here. Taj Woey Looking like he belongs, has taken some incremental confidence into this year and links up well on the move! Disco Turner I know I haven’t been a fan but he looked composed in defence and took a couple of good grabs and ran well out of the rebound. Blake Howes, Likewise to Disco Turner looks like settling and created some good ball use movements Josh Schache Took some great CONTESTED Grabs and also played well as ruck around when required could be a surprise packet this year Adam Tomlinson, well I thought he trained outstandingly well today looked a complete and competent defender. Marty Hore, Played bigger than what he looks and I thought was excellent on the Half back Flank. Shane McAdam IS A FREAK,!! Just knows where to run, is stealthy, crafty and will make a HUGE impact this year. Caleb Windsor Well I can see why we drafted him, full of class, and excellent by hand and foot. Will play games this year! The usual Cast of Spargy, Kozzy, Nibbler, May, Tracc, Gus and BBB also were significant. Final word goes to Noah Yze. ON WHAT I SAW TODAY, he is a monty to be drafted by us, has skills, speed and is a very very good player already! TRAINING HIGHLIGHT FRITTA near centre of the ground, gathers the ball, CRASHES NOT 1 BUT 2 TACKLES and layed the ball off. VERY CLARRY LIKE. Now just to get the great man back!!! FINAL THOUGHTS It remains to be seen if we have fixed our forward entries and conversion rates, some relatively easy shots just miss, but it is the just miss that bothers me. In close game like last years finals and just goal or just miss can make all the difference. Great to see 100 or so people enjoying training INSIDE the ground for a change, nice one MFC cheers to all P.F Forgot to mention HARRISON PETTY, BACK IN FULL TRAINING AND LOOKING VERY DANGEROUS UP FORWARD!

Twice

Rivers featured in the photo gallery on the MFC Website. PHOTO GALLERY: https://www.melbournefc.com.au/albums/1482425/training-gallery-january-22?modal=true&type=gallery&playlistId=1482425&playlistSize=49

Training Gallery Friday 19-1-2024 BY @Six6Six. Enjoy = https://six6six.smugmug.com/Video-Folder/MFC-Training/n-P5DBPr/i-cGsLq8G/A