Demonland

I do not know whether this statement is true and would have no way of knowing.

I heard someone there talking about calling the club and the people in the office thought that training was a Gosch's today and weren't aware of any change.

I would do it for free.

Out of bounds ...

We should start counting from 2012 when GWS entered the competition. Hawthorn 3 Richmond 3 Geelong 1 Melbourne 1 Sydney 1 West Coast 1 Western Bulldogs 1 The Rest 0

No training on Friday either.

No training at Gosch’s today. Apparently it’s out at Casey today. I know the training times page comes with a caveat but they should have some comms on social media if an advertised open session is moved or canceled.

This is the book where the claim is made.

1870 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1870_Victorian_football_season 1872 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1872_Victorian_football_season 1876 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_Victorian_football_season

And 7 more for the Cats … How the flag table would change Including VFA 1870-1896 1897-2022 Carlton 22 16 Essendon 20 16 Geelong 17 10 Collingwood 16 15 Melbourne 16 13 Richmond 13 13 Hawthorn 13 13 South Melbourne/Sydney 10 5 Fitzroy 9 8 North Melbourne 4 4 West Coast 4 4 Brisbane Lions 3 3 Footscray/Western Bulldogs 2 2 Adelaide 2 2 St Kilda 1 1 Port Adelaide 1 1 Fremantle 0 0 GWS 0 0 Gold Coast 0 0 Brisbane Bears 0 0

I assume the club will stream it on the website as they have done the past few years.

He has been in rehab for the last few sessions (since Wednesday 25/1 at least). Prior to that all reports had him flying, figuratively not literally, at training.

What's your pass mark for the Dees in 2023? Finals? Top 4? Top 2? Grand Final? Flag?

PICKET FENCE'S TRAINING REPORT NO SHOWS JACK VINEY, MATT JEFFERSON, CHRISTIAN SALEM. Also Did not see ADAM TOMLINSON INJURIES MODIFIED DUTIES MAX, JOEL SMITH, ANB, AMW,( NO 47 Not sure who ) and during training CLARRY ( More on this latter) SKILLS , DRILLS AND MANOUVERS After warm ups and Run Throughs, players broke of into 3 Groups doing a variety of Close in Handball through traffic to hit clean target with players pressuring. One on one groundhog day ground ball gets Telescopic Talls in Marking contest situations Pressure the ball carrier, two meters away closing fast to kick to a lead Dodge through stick men and kick for goal ( Forwards only) Greg Safford masterclass for Rucks but specific emphasis on newbies Will Verrell and Kyah Farris White ( Gee what a huge unit he is) Half ground transitioning including stoppage work on both boundary side wings and emphasizing manned positioning and quick breakaways using precise handballs to break out of traffic and finding leading player on lead or further handball, chip kicks to favored positions to free up play and present scoring options closer to goal. · Highlight is always the full ground Match Simulations and today Two Official Umpires were in charge of proceedings adding to the Life like and professional dimensions of this aspect PLAYER WATCH Firstly, a downside. CLARRY Is clearly still hampered by his hand/Thumb injury to the extent that after one drill he went to the medico’s on the boundary and disappeared to get treatment strapping and was then on modified duties running light ball work drills but he did not play in match sims. FWIW I would be totally keeping him away from all ball work for a week or two to avoid any further damage. He is far too an important player at this point of time, but the Medicos must know what they are doing! GRUNDY put on a masterclass in ruck after being pitted against Josh Schache and Will Verell. What he also provides is Run and carry, he uses handball well and is pretty good below his knees. The other standouts for me were JAKE BOWEY, who was pitted against Kyle Chandler. He mopped up at will and was instrumental in launching attacks time and again with that precisity of kicks for which he has become adept at delivering. BAILEY LAURIE was involved in a couple of excellent passages of play and perhaps he may still be in calculations for game time this year. He was creative, smooth with maneuvering and fired creative handballs to advantage. BAYLEY FRITSCH was opposed to Pig and toweled him up kicking the Blues 3 out of 6 goals . He looks more or less on song for another standout season. PIG was good with a few good marks and line breaking run but overall Bailey got the chocolates. LACHY HUNTER is my pick for a most important role this year. He just continuously bobs up in dangerous positions and gets plenty of the ball and sets up forwards with precise kicking and canny running. He was on Taj Woewodin for a time and he got a bit of the ball as well but was no where near as damaging. TOM SPARROW Impressed me greatly today with style and flair, he looks like “He Belongs” and is gaining confidence in all aspects, a dasher with speed, he posses flair and takes the game on, His kicking to position has also improved. Although WILL VERALL was beaten in the ruck, he showed on a couple of occasions a turn of speed when he got it and the flair which he played reminded me a bit of David Schwartz with those flashy run by. BLAKE HOWES dis a few nice things and seems to be gaining confidence, as did DEAKYN SMITH of Half back and thereabouts who intercepted well on a couple of occasions and delivered to a target. I thought JAMES HARMES was very very good today in match sims and set up play after play as we know he can and does do. JOSH SHACKEY ATTACKEY took a brilliant Pack Mark and goaled from 40 and was busy and will no doubt come into calculations, particularly if Max is not right ( Incidently Max completed many Running drills almost at 3 /4 pace and I would say he will be right back to full training next week) LUKE DUNSTAN gets his fair share of the ball but isn’t dynamic or damaging with it but is always reliable and dependable. TRACC was Trac and KOZZY was Kozzy and he looks like he will be given more Midfield time this season. Same with MAYSIE and PETTY.

DEMONLAND’S TRAINING REPORT Rehab Group: Lever (in runners but kicking the ball well and seems to be moving well), Max (not present), Melksham, Howes, AMW, J Smith - then later joined by the following not participating in contract drills/Match SIM - Brown, Spargo, D Turner, Verrall, Adams Stafford was out early with Grundy & Verrall doing ruck drills. White Guernseys: May, Bowey, Trac, JVR, Rivers, Sestan, Nibbler, Kozzie, Grundy, Hunter, Harmes, Fritsch, Laurie, Jordon, K Turner, #46 (may be Cooper Simpson from Dandenong Stingrays Blue Guernseys Clarry, Salem, Langdon, TMac, Brown, Tomlinson, Brayshaw, Dunstan, Spargo, Chandler, Petty, Burgoyne, Jefferson, Adams, Sparrow, McVee, Schache, D Smith, Hibberd, Viney (wearing #24), Woey, #44 (May be Zane Duursma) Disco Turner doing some short sprints and sideways runs with a trainer away from main group and rehab group. Farris-White in civvies behind the fence not doing any training. Been told he is not training as a result of concussion. Jefferson lovely hands and very clean disposal Kozzie is everything, everywhere all at once. I’ll eat my hat if he isn’t playing more midfield minutes this season. Reiterate Laurie’s poor disposal that someone mentioned the other day. Missed a couple of targets. I normally wouldn’t have noticed but someone mentioned it the other day and I saw 2 instances in a couple of minutes. Bowey and Salem are so clean with long disposal off half back. Lachie Hunter is going to be a weapon for us on the opposite wing to Langdon. I don’t know what our forward setup will be with so many options at our disposal but JVR will be playing Round 1. If you wrote off Hibberd write him back on. Impressed with Schache’s marking and disposal. Time will tell whether he can break into the team and be more than just a like for like for Weid. Disco Turner now just running laps at a decent pace. Doing the whites vs blues 5 on 5 handball drill in a small circle with an alternating player on yellow as the both teams player. Goal is keepings off the other team and handball through the goal at the other end of the circle. Yellow was Trac now Brayshaw. Harmes is in yellow now. Woey is very skinny & wirey. Wouldn’t mind him bulking up. Like what I see though in terms of skills and intensity. Langdon came off second best tackling JVR. Limped off to the side but is back amongst it now. Adams doing some work with one of the trainers away from the main group now. I would assume it’s because the main group is doing a contact drill and he is recovering from a shoulder injury. Impressed with Adams size. Was running laps later with the ruckman Verrall and is not much shorter than him. Full ground SIM about to start. Beautiful kick from Laurie hit up long target. Earlier poor disposal were handballs. Maysie very vocal and at times quite matter of fact in his critique to players. He has a high standard that he expects from his defenders. At one time he called Kye Turner over to him and ask him to run over to him. Kye proceeded to jog over and Maysie yelled "I said [censored] run". Trac untouchable. I’ll say it again Jefferson has solid hands. Once he builds up and does his apprenticeship at Casey he will be a very good addition to our forward stocks. Spargo running laps and not participating in the Match SIM Oliver didn’t participate in the 5 vs 5 handball drill and I haven’t seen him handball much if at all today. Is taking marks (on the chest) and kicking the ball. Intensity in the Match SIM is high. Another group of players doing the 5 on 5 handball drill. Viney in Yellow then Dunstan then Chandler. Grundy took Viney down in a great tackle. Would love to know what role we play JJ in this season. Looking very slick at training. Fritsch gets a free kick against for a sling tackle on Viney. Verrell, Adams and Turner doing some kicking drills on the rugby field adjacent to the main oval. I’ve been very impressed with Trent Rivers this training session. Another match SIM about to start Sparrow getting amongst it. TMac tries to take on Kozzie and gets dumped in a tackle. Holding the ball. Any question marks on Gus’ fitness should be put to bed. Ben Brown has not participated in any of the Match SIM or contact parts of training. Grundy vs Schache in the Ruck Clarry marking balls on chest. Not quite comfortable using hand. Something’s NQR Langdon wearing the invisibility cloak. No one near him and he’s racking up possessions. A note about the match sim; every time a player takes a mark they have about 3 seconds to dispose of it. Stafford taking the tall forwards in some marking and leading drills. TMac, Schache, JVR & Jefferson. Chaplin taking Grundy & May in some one of one marking contest drills That’s it from me. In summary we’re training the house down SLARTIBARTFAST'S TRAINING REPORT Demonland and others have reported most of what happened so there isn't really much more to add. I concur that 44 and 46 looked very good, 46 the pick for me with this strength and poise but I've no idea who it is. The Wednesday format at training seems to be fairly consistent in terms of drills but the match sim today was quite different from last week. Today was a "real" match, contested stuff, full ground and at high intensity. There was much more kicking I thought with less overlap handball and the defenders stayed deep with the forwards making it a real contest. Last week was more focused on working the ball forward with overlap run and kicking to a forward out the back. Make of that what you will. I was standing close to where the players interchanged and when they came off they were spent. I thought Hibbo was going to have a chuck at one stage but thankfully kept it in. Verrell did some of the match sim for the first time and I liked what I saw. He's pretty coordinated and not scared to take the game on. He did limited minutes but is out of the rehab group and now getting involved in the drills. AMW was running laps until late in the session and Sparg's was doing running and not the match sims but he was doing the handball drills. I left before the end to beat the parking inspectors so look for later reports. Impressive today were Riv who I thought was everywhere until I realized Viney was also in 24! Confusing at a distance. But the real Riv was pretty impressive and looks very strong. Tmac really does look in good condition and played well despite his error with Kossie (again, I thought it was Riv but I was obscured in my view. JvR looked very good too and just continues to impress. Kade Chandler won't let the coaching staff forget him, he's been very lively and his tackling is a real standout. Kossie not as impressive today but still lively and as reported Langdon and Hunter look very good on the wings. I'm with those that think Hunter will be excellent for us if he keeps his mind on the job. If you had to summarize today's session beyond those I've mentioned our good players did well and the younger players struggled to get into the sims as much but almost everyone did some good stuff. And just to save Dazzle the trouble, J Smith was in the rehab group, I just don't understand why we gave him a 2 year extension. (actually I can but that's another story)! Just having a bit of fun Daz! DEESPENCER'S TRAINING REPORT Bit of a mixed bag out there today. I think the heat and grind of summer took a bit out of them and they were down a few numbers. Match sim was 14 on 14 with not too many on the benches. Viney was probably best on, just consistently helping out down back and then chaining up again on the way forward. JvR does look ready for a crack at it but he’s also consistently battling and often beaten with Hibbo who is having an incredible summer down back. JvR will find it easier against most afl key defenders IMO. Petty was about the cleanest out there in a small tight handball drill. Looked good in match sim too. I really want to see him embrace his attacking game this year. May seemed to be playing higher up and had a heap of the ball. Sometimes should take the easy one faster, which is true of a lot our players, but his aggressive kicks looked good too. K Turner is an interesting prospect, he was often the full back for May’s white team and probably got caught between opponents at times. But his athleticism when coming at the ball stands out. Got a fist on a few balls too although one went straight to the corridor. Not the most fluent kick but his right foot does have potential. Had a good battle with Jefferson. Jefferson: obviously a lot of work to do and doesn’t hold too many marks but there’s times where he hits the contest nicely. Has a touch of time and class to the way he moves through traffic. Got on the end of 2 early goals in a row in one of the match sims. Grundy was a mixed bag. At times his tackling, kicking and ground ball work is excellent. Other times his marking isn’t great and he’ll take on more than he can chew trying to evade smalls. Seems to be building though, so hard to know how much is rust. Rivers and Bowey were good. Salem was excellent, always looks completely spent when he comes off though, but it was a hot one out there. Hunter had his moments but probably spent a fair bit of time chasing Eddie. KEV MARTIN'S TRAINING REPORT A bit of a hot day, very little wind, great time to get the conditioning up. They worked hard all session. Finishing with running the fartlek program. They were pushing hard. The training's have a pattern about them now. They start with some goal kicking before the 9.30 official start, some are still making their way down from AAMI. Today the emphasis was on snaps. 5 mannequins in an arc, that a player moves from one to the next for a repeat of 5 snaps on the move. Sestan and Bailey thrived, Chandler did alright as well. Sparrow's kicking them from the boundary as Langdon attempts to keep up. Into the warm-up, then some small movement handballs along the lines to a central coach, then below the knee pick-ups. Kicking drill of 8 groups and about 6 balls. White group drill with white, and blue drills with blue. Appears chaotic, highly skilled, and makes them pick out their own team. They then expand the area. The next one, is the 3× line, run throughs, 3 balls and a player rotating the central position. Plenty of switches, short and long passes, handballs, bounces, and communication. Some have a bib on and seem to be defensive and/or swinging. No tackling practice this time, they made up for that in the sims. The scoreboard remained nil all. It started scoring as they went into the handball games. A group playing with goals at each end of a rectangle (20×45 meters). The other a game with goals near the handball contest and a leading forward 50 meters away. Blue got a jump on white, but was quickly negated when the sims started, as white got off to a flyer, then blue came back at them. The result of the session went down to the wire. The timer was on and three scores in the last 4 minutes (blue once, white twice), left white one kick from taking the day. Liked the way Hunter plays, runs the rails and keeps wide, reliable, hands, kicks, and decisions. Sparrow's working hard and powerfully., Viney’s everywhere, Jefferson gets to the right places, Verrall showed a bit, has agility and able to stay in the contest when the ball hits the ground, Schache made some good leads, Fritch working hard on his defensive forward role, May is getting stronger and appeared to captain the whites, Kossie looks to be doing the midfield work, Sestan is a smart player, though I haven't seen his defensive game yet. A few players were burnt when the ball mover decided to go down the central corridor, instead of to a player near the boundary. We locked the ball in the forward area a few times, which had Goody and Yze calling out with support. Some of our quick ball movement was a thing of beauty. A good crowd down there to watch them (more than 100), plenty of the players signed autographs. NUDGE'S TRAINING REPORT Well it was a real treat to get down to GP today and see the boys train well in the flesh on a lovely Melbourne Summers day!!! I’ll keep my notes brief and in summation or dot point format if possible, as always the Reginald trackies do a bang-up job 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Highlights: • First thing that really caught my eye right out of the gate was how much Clarry has altered his shape. Is far less top-heavy and far more ‘sinewy’ in I feel is an effort to utilise his first step more & be more explosive more often given the added midfield depth this year. Significant change imho • Thought JvR was super impressive in the flesh. Has come a LONG way condition wise & will only fill-out more but his touch in the 1-1 drills was absolute quality. What really impressed was the ‘un-teachable’ things, the nuance that comes with being a killer contested mark ala David Schwarz 1993-1994. I’m talking. About the angles, the deft touches, the use of both hands independently, the nudging of the opponent one-way whilst he angles the outside hand the other. His timing in air is still developing, but the bustling 1-1 with opponent stuff is 💯 craft that’s there and will be plenty good this season right outta the gate. He got away from Petty a few times on the lead, but was well quelled in the air by Pig or Petty, but JvR is only soaking it all up to build craft and you can see him rethinking the next contest. • Next standout was the all-around quality seen on both teams in the SIM on all lines. GAWN are the days where the class of a select few just scream out at you in comparison to the group. Sure, Viney, Trac, Clarry, May etc they shone brightly but it’s with 5% here and 5% there as opposed to just out & out utter domination! • Salem & Gus were silky smooth and the former’s hands were again sublime as always. Best marking mid in the game just about. Salem was reading the play well and breaking lines inc some forays through the middle. Just a class act that will benefit enormously from a full pre season. • Thought that TMAC looked in absolute RIPPING nick, combo of 2018/2021 with 10% more upper bulk on shoulders and 10% more pep in his step in movement. Fluent both ways and lateral movement was there too. In air timing looked sharp sharp sharp • McVee is a player! just has real poise, smart by foot — doesn’t get lost and has real 360 footwork as well, which stood-out. Seems to be a player looking for smart bagged with little kicks to set up teammates, inc a nice weighted kick to Gus that helped setup a Grundy i50 mark • May looked to be even more of a general than usual with Lever absent. Looks mega fit and will scare the he’ll outta most fwds this year. Never beaten and set up numerous forays and switches.. • Wingers delight!!! Hunter and Ed just looked to be two thoroughbreds out there tearing up Flemington straight… having double the wide run means we now genuinely have an offensive and defensive threat at all times and means we can switch to either side of the ground without hesitation which makes all the difference. Hunter sneaking behind the defenders was also encouraging but most of all seeing the joy he was clearly experiencing being out there was wholesome! • The ball movement for both teams in the SIM was controlled but maniacal. First option handballs were taken and the ball barely ever hit the deck unless there was a spoil or strong aerial contest. The hands were clean and there was a number of side-back kicks to space to look for that overlap and turbo charged speed lane to open up. Given nature of ball returning to play before the kick has even passed the line, it was damn impressive to see the teams moving constantly to create space & not afraid • Vines was everywhere, wearing White #24 and really does look poised for an AA year. Like Clarry? Looks stronger yet leaner, a real trend in our mids • Hibberd competes so dang hard he looked frighteningly strong and fast. His arms are such weapons and it is so great to see him set a std for all to follow. His competitive edge has already begun to help Riv, Bowser, Woe etc • AMW has some real size about him, looking fwd to seeing his explosiveness once rehab completed. Spargo running laps was showcasing those new arms, holy heck they’re huge haha • Fritta was himself, finishing well and moving with cleverness inside 50. Wil benefit a heap from having an attacking wing to help him get in behind the defenders as well as swifter movement honouring his early leads more often • Almost ZERO deep corner locked entries 🙌 this was my absolute #1 TAKEOUT from todays session. The i50 licks were almost exclusively precise and <20m to a target in space and even the penetrating long balls were always to a target leading into open space ahead of the d50 opponents ie over the top and not just bagged in there with a set defence!!! Was evident this was being driven by the coaches and both Ooze, Choc and Staff all commented to players at points re how dangerous we look with this M/O. • Kossie is not only gonna play mid in bursts but he is going to dominate while doing it! Just has soooo much time and space in close and even when clearly barely in 2nd gear, it was evident that he could toy with anyone at anytime. Footwork is sublime, explosiveness is off the charts bit he looks SUPER! • ANB did some nice finishing things i50, Chandler looked competitive but still behind Spargo, Nib etc.. Burgoyne did couple nice things in the handball drills, def quick off mark first 3-8m especially but it’s his lateral movement that is his 1Wood. • Both Turners looked a little lost at times and caught in-between the play when compared to Harry, May, Rivers, Pig.. • Banter and talk was consistent and the encouragement for younger lads was excellent! Gus was vocal, as was May & the usual suspects. • Schache impressed me on several occasions. Running the ground well and seems to have a slightly steely-eyed focus & gave me the feeling he was really confident in his body and base fitness right now inc his frame which is strong, nimble and has a real pep In his step. Could be the real sleeper form this years recruits and with not much expected it could be the right time for Him to really come into his own • Seston is a player. His old man said until now he’s always just been told ‘sit in the goal square and feast’ so he’s learning risky what it takes to be an elite footballer and is clearly getting a huge ROI in just what it takes. Powerfully built, he’s got a low centre of gravity and legs that offer him explosiveness that I’m not sure even he would be aware of just yet, but there’s some serious x-factor there and if he manages to get the Petracca-type fitness build he is potentially something scary. But he may not & could be gone in 24m, but the risk/reward ratio is abundantly clear and well worth taking. Has a bit of A Jakovich about him. • Grundy looked fit and will be much better for the preseason as he needs some touch but that’s to be expected considering the amount of footy he’s missed. But showed his agility and ability to match it at ground level with the smalls as well as doing some nice things in the air as well. Look fwd to him getting some touch in early rounds and then lookout!!! Overall, it was a sensational session and loads of takeouts. Forth and evenness the big thing in combination with the movement..

WIZARD333'S TRAINING REPORT I went down and it was locked out for first hour but could see through fence then allowed in. Max Gawn ran laps — it looks like a 3 to 4 week injury. Andy Moniz-Wakefield ran laps. Blake Howes was taken off late as was on restricted minutes. Adam Tomlinson loudest on track and a leader - surprised me but won't be in best 25. Jake Lever on bike and walking up n down stairs, yelling out as he does. Melky copped a niggle so ran laps but is in amazing nick. Think he and Hibbo play Rd 1, Hibbo always surprises how well he still goes. Grundy and Brown need to go for marks and not just tap to mids at times. Gawn a lot better than Grundy, significant but last 3yrs tells you that. Clarry went off with a hand injury and came back on. Hope it's not related to last year Our mids look fit, Viney, Trac & Harmes. They will dominate again Bayley Fristch will have another great year, just reads it so well Trent Burgoyne didn't do a lot to notice Kozzie Pickett will play a lot of midfield, goody push him along, he looks amazing and training in there Tom McDonald in full training and forward, Petty back. Not many injuries and we are fit so lots of positivity to be had. U just want to be fit this time of year Matt Jefferson will be a player, took some nice grabs. Think Fritter and Jeremy Cameron for who he is like. Two years away. We are so mature and train well and physically strong, no doubt a Top 8 team when you watch them. Good voice n leadership Angus Brayshaw looks good but doesn't stand out. He is a match day gun though Lachie Hunter will be handy, he cheats out to space well Questions remain - can Kozzie give midfield more creativity but at what expense up forward Tom McDonald always important to us so if he plays does JvR miss? I don't think Goody knows who plays yet in key forward roles, I like JvR and McDonald and a bit of Gawn - no Brown. Will give good movement and contests and defensive work, plus Fritta Can u play Brown, Grundy and Gawn? I don't think so. Are Laurie and Spargo, Nibbler & Melky good enough to allow Kozzie to play mid or good enough anyhow to create a better mid forward connection on last year? Not sold on it We need a fit Lever. Can Rivers and Bowey step up? Hard to see Jordan playing if Hunter plays Can't see Woey getting a game as mids and wings bat deep Goin to see alot of same players, hopefully JvR plays but hard to see many other youngsters stepping up so can goody find the players motivation and some strategy improvements as with TMac (Brown or Grundy misses) that same team should win another flag in talent but also went 6-6 on way home and lost 2 finals. Fingers crossed, go dee's. well worth trying to get to training, it's good to see our elite athletes, everything is timed to the second and micro analysed with cameras drones etc MCQUEEN'S TRAINING REPORT As mentioned previously, rehab consisted of Max Gawn, J Smith, AMW (looks laboured in his running) and Jake Lever. Max put in about 45 mins of light running and short passes without any venom in the kicking action and then disappeared into the rooms. I overheard Caitlin Nobes telling Tom Brown that Gawn’s hammy isn’t too bad. She also politely asked the CH 7 cameraman to not broadcast any of the recordings he’d done prior to her coming over. Adams and Verall doing some conditioning work and skills/positioning activities but did not join main group. All coaches in attendance apart from Choco Williams. Chaplin particularly vocal and demonstrative. Warm ups consisted of handball keeping’s off drills and then some end-to-end full ground overlap drills. Skills were okay in this but without any pressure I wasn’t expecting to see so many missed kicks and ordinary handballs. Main offender was Bailey Laurie in my opinion but there were several others. Match SIM then started with blues and whites. I couldn’t discern who was the first and second string groups were and they eventually switched it up anyway. Highlights - Jefferson has great hands and a well timed leap. He received praise from teammates and coaches on a few occasions. Pickett OMG he is sublime. Just cruises effortlessly when he has the ball and then cranks up his attack on the opponent when he doesn’t. Viney is in for a career best year based on what I saw today. In everything. Chandler will play plenty of footy this year if he can translate his training form into the heat of a game. Tomlinson was terrific down back and fair ripping it into anyone who was not doing what was required. Hibberd also very creative and was the main architect with switching the play across half back. BBB also performed strongly this morning and moved well. Howes looks a player. Lowlights - Laurie I thought was poor. Mainly handballs at teammates feet. Harmes lacked involvement in the match sim. Melky pulled out of match sim and ran a few 200m and was in discussions with staff about some niggle. Oliver was in real discomfort with that hand. He was point to the top part of his hand just below the wrist. I was thinking the worst given the carry on he was animating. Once he returned to the field he went straight back into match sim and got nicely winded but the hand seemed to be okay. Watch this space. Summary: Overall I was relatively impressed with the session. Grundy was moving well and the forward entry looked sharper with an obvious focus on neat entry into the 30m hotspot. There was a few Joe the Goose goals during the sim so it may be something in planning to create more of those opportunities. Melbourne traffic sucks. If I was a player I would quickly start to loathe the drive to Casey. No snakes seen. Any questions let me know and I’ll try to provide insight. Cheers

TOUGH KENT'S TRAINING REPORT I journeyed out to Casey today and was fortunate enough to watch two quarters of match simulation. Here is a brief rundown of random occurrences/thoughts. First of all, there was no Jake Lever (ankle) or Joel Smith involved. AMW is still in rehab and was running strongly. It was Blue (Probables) v Red (Possibles) JvR was in blue. Ben Brown, T-Mac, Hibbo and Tom Sparrow were in red. Gus Brayshaw started at half back for blue and stayed there all game. Josh Schache rucked for the red team against Max/Brodie. Adam Tomlinson played in the Lever role. First goals were to Blue team through Fritta and JvR. Rooey followed his goal up with another strong mark but missed a very gettable goal. He contested strongly all game. The half forwards all pressed up the ground high, leaving lots of open space behind them. It was obvious that we have been told to move quickly from defence. They went short a lot and also moved the ball on by hand to defenders streaming through from behind. There was a definite urgency in the way they moved they footy. Max took a mark on the lead, but missed a gettable goal. Lachie Hunter was in everything. Kozzie and Clarry were dominant. Salo was very industrious off half back and looked like the Salem of 2021. Promisingly – Brodie Grundy finished the quarter off with 2 goals, one from a strong grab and the other from a handball over the top. At the break – Blue were 4-5 to Red 0-1. Chandler took the game on and evaded many tackles. However, I think his lack of a right foot might hurt him at senior level as he did run himself into trouble a few times. Ben Brown took a strong pack mark, but missed a very kickable goal. Kye Turner got a fist in a few times and looked strong in the air. Taj Woey got a little bit of the footy. Koz did a run-down tackle in the square, but only managed to hit the post. Melky was in the blue and missed two consecutive snaps on goal. I would say that he is very much in their round 1 plans. Sparrow snagged a goal from a push in the back from Clarrie. Fritta got a goal out the back – evidence of the open forward line apparent there. Ben Brown got one on the lead and goaled. Hunter hit Fritta on the chest. Fritta in turn kicked it out on the full from deep in the pocket. Viney was in everything. Nibbler, who was in red, was also busy. In the second half, Grundy took three marks leading up at the footy. He was a highlight for me. He competed strongly, and if he couldn’t mark it he made sure he brought it to ground. When Max was in the ruck, Grundy started forward. When Grundy was in the ruck, Max started forward. The ruck at the time would then drop behind the play. Kye Turner, playing on JvR, showed some real dash. He was good. took no part in the match sim. Hunter missed a very gettable goal after marking a Spargo chip. He was very vocal on field. He was my other highlight. I think Blue won the second period by a couple of points. YOKOZUNA'S TRAINING REPORT I also went to training. They worked really hard, was a long session, and the intensity was up. So the worry about missing skills is nothing. Nobody is prefect and when working so hard with very little rest, errors will happen. In the match sim I was happy to see more efforts to switch the ball (we didn’t do much of that last year) and also trying to spot up a short 45 kick to open the ground up or get out of congestion. Stand out players for mine: Trac, Viney in the middle were too good and strong - Oliver ran well so has recovered from his illness. Grundy was really good - very positive signs. Melksham was great, missed a couple of shots but was almost BOG for mine. Fritsch also dominant and so classy. Was impressed with JvR jumping at the ball and his run ing - seemed very quick and much fitter. Kozzie also dominated with and without the ball. From the backs Salem was very classy and used then all well and I really liked the look of number 47 - I think he was Kye Turner. Other notable/impressive players: Really impressed with Woey today - first time I had seen him get so much of the ball. The reds had less possessions so they did struggle to get a lot of it - Woey, Sparrow and Jibbers were there best. Like Hunter too - used the ball well and finds/creates space. He and Langdon will be a great wing duo. I also liked the attack om the ball of some of the younger guys like Deakyn Smith/Judd McVee/Chandler Overall I was happy with what I saw - all having a red hot crack under pressure and fatigue - senior players doing well - young guys looking better and some new ball movement. GATOR’S TRAINING REPORT Lots of targets missed in the modern day circle work pre match sims. But it was pretty frenetic and there were some great passes too. Match sims: Standouts were Petracca, Viney, Pickett, Hunter, and Salem is moving like Salem of 2021. Spargo was very involved also, while Grundy got better the longer it went. He isn't a great contested mark, but he'll pluck them occasionally and he fights tooth and nail once it hits the deck. Don't write off Hibberd. He's moving well and contested strongly. Schache took one good mark. He played as the red team's alternating ruckman, along with Farris-White. Does he compete like a big man? The talent is there. Oliver looked good. He's physically looking imposing. Brayshaw played in defence. It was a ''high'' back role. After match sim the fwds, backs and mids all did extras within their own groups and Brayshaw stayed with the defenders. Of the younger brigade Woewodin was great early, Kye Turner really impressed me, Rivers is looking strong and intense, JvR kicked a couple and took one excellent mark. He turns 20 one month into the season, so he's not some skinny 18 year old who'll take a long time to contribute. He'll be good in 2023. There's something about McVee also. He's a really nice kick and has footy IQ. Disco Turner took a nice grab but had to be helped off later after a marking collision. I'm not sure if he came back on, but I don't think there was much in it. Bowey was busy. It's going to be a tough team to crack. They finished off doing 100 metre sprints, then 80 and I think 70. They were still going when I left. Some were doing it tougher than others but Sestan was doing better than I expected. Unfortunately, I barely sighted him during match sims. He found it hard to get involved. But those sessions happen, especially with a young player. And he may have got more ball than I realise. When they've got caps on, like he did, you miss things. He lined up at HF. Chandler was OK. He tries to do a bit much at times, but is clever. I can't get excited by him, but I appreciate why others expect him to get games this year. All in all it was a good session with a few of the young guys impressing. I wouldn't take much notice that a few senior guys were in red. They have to balance it out from a competitive point of view. There was plenty of good play and plenty of turnovers, but that's what happens when you play yourself and both sides know what each other is trying to do. Adams, Verrell and Burgoyne did a lot of boundary running. Jake Lever was in good spirits. He was repeatedly walking up and down the outside steel steps in front of the pavillion before heading over to a stationary bike. Once or twice he was vocal in his encouragement to those training. No doubt he'd prefer to be out there, but he was walking freely and seemed in good spirits. Gawn ran off at good speed and I didn't even suspect an injury at the time. He didn't return. We've all seen players hobble off by two trainers after bad hamstrings, so I expect it's not severe. Let's hope at worst it's a regulation hamstring with a 21 day recovery.

DEE ZEPHYR'S TRAINING REPORT Morning all. First time at Goschs for a while, there’s a scoreboard set up which I’ve never seen here before. Possible match sim? Williams yelling out to players to get their hands off hips during drills. Gus looks fine to me. Absolutely., first two mins of match sim and his kicking is exquisite on both sides. He’s moving incredibly well. Some observations from a match sim drill that lasted about 15-20 mins. The purpose seemed to be fast ball movement from the backline with players linking up through the middle and hitting forwards on the lead or over the defenders heads as the forwards ran behind them to an open goal. The play would end when a forward took a mark deep or scored a goal, play would resume instantly from the back with the non-possessing team now pushing back to defend really hard and fast. Coaches were screaming at players to do just that. Kozzie looks in immaculate condition and was a standout in the short time I watched. Spargo never misses a target and he’s really clever when you watch him closely. He has a very good sidestep. Viney is Viney, just doesn’t stop harassing and getting in your face. Hunter is really good at finding free space on his wing and drifting forward to become an option. Schache looks really good, I liked his movement and involvement deep forward. Will be interesting to see how we use him. Melksham another looking really good. Ben Brown was having shots at goal prior to the match sim drill. Left knee bandaged, didn’t see him after that. STIFF ARM'S TRAINING REPORT I'm here too. My God, Kozzie is all class. Very wet conditions but he's kicking like a dry day Haven't seen Blake Howes ANB looking super fit. Seston has hips and legs like Lethal Leigh! Must build a tank though Woey has put on considerable size Lever and J Smith were around earlier. Not doing match sim. Non contact Melksham good skills in the wet during match sim Fritter smothers Pig kick out of defence, collects, turns, snap on the left for goal. Classic Fritter Grundy last by a long way in every half ground run through Jefferson looks good but is very, very light. Knickname should be Pirate. Give him 12 months in the gym. Good hands and a beautiful kicking action. Needs time and development, but has much potential. Got a bit of it in match sim. JvR did well today, very assured, put on size over summer Setson and his tree trunk legs In the kick and mark session near the end I saw Grundy, Tmac, JvR and another drop 7 marks in a row. The marks that were eventually held were two or three grabs. I know it's wet and early January, but it no joke when fans over the fence are laughing at simple spilled marks. DEESPENCER'S TRAINING REPORT Grundy looked a long way off all session. Positioning and marking aren’t a strong suit, and whilst he got involved with some ground balls with good vigour he didn’t do anything with it. He was probably the biggest individual downside. The tempo is incredibly fast, I’d still like to see more switching and run and carry with forward handballs to open up space. There’s some lovely fast aggressive kicks that pay off but faster long down the line purely for the sake of being faster won’t make us better. I agree Chandler had a strong session with some good positioning, attack at the contest and tackling. Pickett, May, Hibberd, Salem, Petty, Langdon, Melksham were others that looked good. McVee was the big improver. Not sure about top end speed but he looks genuinely quick, and he was scything through traffic with ease with solid disposal. My immediate thought was he’s likely to debut this year. JVR was his typical energetic self, crashed in to some packs and his follow up is exceptional, he has a desire for tackling that we haven’t seen from a tall. Need to see a dry day to see if he can hold a few more. Hibbo and Petty mostly had him covered. Big Kyah contested for a mark with Gus and quickly came down and was back on to the loose ball. Whilst he’s a long way off it’s nice to see the athleticism is as advertised. Was good to see Deak Smith back in training too. K Turner had some moments, he covers ground very easily and looks a natural runner for a tall. D Turner had a great goal saving tackle at one point, he looks super fit and lean. Lockdown back has to be an option for him, and I even wonder if he finds himself stuck in the key back log jam if he can contribute to the midfield. Jefferson (unsurprisingly) got moved out of the way by May a couple of times in match sim and was otherwise quiet. But he did swoop on to a loose ball nicely. In fact that’s probably the standout flash I’ve seen from him - he changed direction and accelerates like a talented player. Burgoyne in full training, moves well, seems clean enough, got in to space a couple of times. But not heavily involved so far. Haven’t seen Howes or J Smith. Only briefly saw BBB. AMW did some repeat runs and has spent the time off legs building a solid upper body. No Lever. And Adams and Verrell doing their own thing as per usual Petty’s copped about 6 injuries in the last 20 minutes. Think he just popped a finger out. SLARTIBARTFAST'S TRAINING REPORT What a terrible day to be a trackwatcher, but wow, was it worth it. It rained just about the whole time and the standard of play was very good given the conditions. Ball handling was generally clean, very few dropped marks but of course very few contested marks taken. Training is great fun compared to the old days. Today’s training mainly consisted of handball keepings off game and match sims which are good fun to watch. At the start of training Lever, Howes and J Smith did a couple of little handball drills but not much else and were not sighted by me after the proper stuff started. AMW did his usual boundary running but there is no lateral movement in his training yet so I'd imagine he's still a long way off. Verrall and Adams also doing bits and pieces and quite a lot of running and as far as I could tell everyone else was in full training. The match sims are interesting. They are now played at full pace with what I call "respectful tackling" but the intensity is there and the players are really determined. There is also an "interchange bench" where players are practicing going on and off the field when the situation allows, but it's a designed part of practice, not just some random interchanges. Players like Trac and Oliver do their thing and look to be pacing themselves a bit to me but that doesn't seem to apply to Viney who is just in ripping form at the moment. There were two standouts for me today. Langdon must be invisible because nobody was near him all day in the match sims and just kept on getting it. His ball handling is good and his kicking was precise. The other standout was Chandler. His tackling was ferocious and he's so clean with the ball in the wet. He'll put real pressure on the small forwards this year because he just looks ready and very keen. For Dazzle I can report that Jefferson was quiet but it wasn't a tall forwards day. JVR and TMac were also quiet and that just puts it in perspective. Burgoyne was interesting. I thought he did quite well without dominating. He was involved in quite a few passages of play but to me he doesn't have the x factor that a lot of the First Nations players do. Based on what I've seen he'd be behind Chandler and AMW and I doubt he'd be picked up but there's a bit of water to go under the bridge yet. Others to impress me today were Trent Rivers who seems to be more imposing than previous years. He looks big and strong and is now a man rather than a boy. Judd McVee was clean in what he did and Woey was also pretty good at times. Fritter was good around goal and very clean and Melk did a couple of eye catching things. Kossie was just out there having fun, nobody could catch him and he just did what he pleased. The other positive was Salo who was involved more than I've seen him. Hunter found the ball regularly and his kicking is just great and to confuse the selectors even more JJ was clean and involved with good kicking. Oh, and Seston produced some really good kicking during the sims. All in all most players showed good patches but the comment from Monday's reporter about the young kids looking good in the drills but a bit lost in the sims is so spot on. The major problem we will face at the beginning of the season is going to be the selectors trying to work out who to play. There are a lot of contenders for multiple spots and there will be some disappointed and hard done by players. KEV MARTIN'S TRAINING REPORT Lovely day for it, that is, for going hard and making an effort (without the heat). They made the most of it, plenty of omf, hits and gut running in the sims. Amazed by the number of fans, at least 80 of us. Made a good atmosphere. The players really are happy out there, I have seen and heard the talk, support, and camaraderie that shows our culture is fine at the Dee's. There also seems to be a sense of equality amongst them. The warm-ups included some funny movements and body positions. High knee runs, with arms folded, and body turned sideways. I think it creates balance and gets the legs carrying when the body is contorted. Must have a purpose, no matter the Monty Python funny walk appearance. Anyway, the kicking drills aren't much better. Six points in a rectangle by two sets. I think six balls a set. Appears chaotic, as they lead and kick into (what has some method) each of the points. They handled very well considering the slippery conditions. The next drill is through three lines and grouping at each end, 80 meters apart, with a player starting in the middle who rotates in and out. They kick and handball to either leading players from the other end or use a short pass to the central player, or go lateral to one of the other lines. Eight players involved, with three balls moving from end to end. Really making them use the eyes and brain to make decisions. Then they extend the length of the run through. They break into two stations, one a handball game, the other handball with a team being able to kick to a leading player and his opposition, or score the handball. Both competitive. Next one is some tackling practice, then the sims. I liked K Turner and McVee, Salem doing some beautiful long passes, Schache was having some good involvement. May and Tomlinson stopping lots of attacks. Langdon and Hunter competed well against each other. Plenty of action in closed areas, as tackling and fumbles made for some scrambling footy. A few kicks and hopes, but generally most plays were done with intention. The sims were played at great intensity, as there were no stoppages and another ball was in quickly once the forwards got a mark or kick on goal. After sims, they broke into stations of, goal kicking or one on one marking. Then some hard boundary running to finish. I've seen the score board twice now. It seems red versus blue the blue tops. They appear to keep score in all activities they have a competitive edge to them. Blue won the day by 2 points, I think 217 to 219. Blue led most of the session then red hit the front late into sims, and finally blue kicked an easy goal to win it. There was a score that favoured blue even before the drills started, must have done some pre-field competition. He's getting fitter, doing much better in the runs, though not fast he has some endurance capacity. His kicking and hands were great today and he got a fair bit of action in the sims. Both did well in the sims, though a few ball fumbles (tough conditions). Jefferson made separation for himself, the backs either couldn't go with him or gave him some freedom. He still needs to lift his eyes but did some nice plays. Burgoyne was in lots of plays in both the back area and forward area. He was very team focused, making room for and bringing in other players. A few occasions his second and third efforts made a difference. JvR has been slamming him. Likes to use his body to create space. Good contest, he is so close, not easy for a marking forward in these conditions but contest very well. Petty just gets on with it, though I think he puts it into the old memory bank. They were very eager in the sims. Good hard play and lots of gut running. Laurie, is always hunting that loose ball off the packs, but seems to be a bit away from the contest and is often blocked and others get to it first. Did some nice tackles, finds it difficult to be involved. Woewodin, is running the lines very well. His endurance is building. He and Chandler both started the sims on the wing. Tackling well, creating overlaps and links. Looking strong. McVee, good involvement, bringing pressure, finding the ball and making good decisions. I felt the same early on in the sims. Late into the action he came into his own. He ran hard and got to more contest and covered the zone in the back-line area. He made good decisions with the ball and was the factor that brought the red tops back onto contention. GEORGE ON THE OUTER'S TRAINING REPORT Kade Chandler was in absolutely everything. Tackling Steven May to the ground, that's hard for someone twice his size, but Kade did it!. He just kept throwing himself into every contest, and would have to be making a serious tilt for a full time slot in the seniors. Viney v Petracca head on? Frightening to watch as the immovable met the unstoppable. Both bounced off and continued on their merry way. A bit worried about Grundy. Just doesn't take one grabs (and yes it was slippery), but he doesn't look to be all that fit. Was streets behind the others in his running group, but was also lagging in the match sim. The usual benchmark of who is on the track post 1 Jan is promising. J Smith seems to be the only semi permanent out, at the moment, although AMW looks a long way off with only running exercises. Hopefully Lever and Howes are just temporary stays from the main group. BITTER BUT OPTIMISTIC’S TRAINING REPORT Just back at The Manor and thawing out - I dressed for a balmy day rather than arctic conditions. The comprehensive reports above cover most things but I will add couple of observations. For me, the standout player across all drills was May. He started with some goal kicking (pretty good too) but was very prominent in all the simulation drills.He wasn't saying much but was very physical and aggressive towards getting possession and using it well. He was setting an example and a standard . He looked super fit (although I didn't stay for the final run throughs) and, on today's showing, I'm really looking forward to an AA season. It appears BBB still has some work to do. He looked ok in the short goal kicking drill but when he had a kick from about 50 it fell well short. I didn't see much of him after that and I suppose he's on a special program. Saw a first (for me anyway). Clarry came off during one of the simulations. He was blowing a bit and was handed an inhaler. He had a couple of puffs and seemed fine. Is this usual for him? Had a few looks at JvR. Good shoulders and lean rather than bulky upper body muscles. There's physical development left in him. He flew for a couple of marks but I didn't see one stick. However, he wasn't alone in that given the conditions. My overall impression of the session was intensity and enthusiasm. I was close to the "interchange area" for one of the match sims and was interested to note that players on the "bench" were having animated discussions about tactics and positioning - again a high level of passion about doing the job well. The overall "vibe' was very upbeat and made me very upbeat about 2023.

STINGA'S TRAINING REPORT Went with a friend to watch training this morning. They have 3 sets of temporary grandstands set up next to the rooms for spectators and get a good view of everything. Fritsch was the only absentee and J Smith was on the bike for the whole session. Everyone in their own numbers except JVR in 44, Kye Turner is 47 and Burgoyne 33. Started off with goal kicking which has been described before. Then an agility routine where where they ducked around ski poles whilst marking short kicks, receiving and giving handballs. Then a couple of other similar groups (of which there were 3 of 15 or 16 players). In one a ball was tossed in with 5 in white tabbards trying to intercept or tackle whilst other team handballed it around. At this stage one of the groups was all the tall players probably 194 or more and their skills below their knees were great. The had to at least bounce handball through the group a couple of times. When you saw 16 such tall players together you realised we are going to be a tall side, even if 6 are at Casey. May's anticipation and tackling stood out. Then whole ground long kicks one way, punch to defend and switch with handballs from defence then run and handball or short kicks to the other end. Very slick movement. It was in this that I saw Grundy on a few occasions just take off and try and get ahead of the play into the forward line. From that and previous reports,I think that is what he is going to do. They then did different versions of match practice which included free kicks, 50 metres etc. In this it stood out just how far the 1st and 2nd year players are behind the senior players Hibberd, May, Lever and Petty work really well together. Of the new players Hunter stood out - just kept hitting targets and got a bit of the ball. Grundy was very mobile but Max dominated. Schache took one good mark but that's all I saw him do. The 2 Turners were OK but a level below the others. Burgoyne was in the match practice but didn't seem to do much. Kozzie was quiet but looked good if that makes sense. Brown was very good, TMac and Bowie were OK JVR was impressive. Chandler and Spargo got involved. Trac, Oliver, Viney Langdon, Brayshaw, Harmes and Sparrow were a level above the rest. ANB was quiet and at one stage came off with maybe a groin issue, but came back on. Thommo did well - looks to have lost weight and moves a bit freer. Salem, Melksham, Jordan, Dunstan and Laurie were quiet. The young ones do well in the skills drills but just don't have the body or presence to impact in the match play. Seston has a body that could compete but a long way behind. Howes is probably the closest but will take him a while.