Demonland

Grundy vs Gawn in the ruck. Grundy wins. Taps to Viney. Viney to Schache. Schache handballs back to Viney. Viney blind turns out of a tackle and goals.

Melksham vs May in this drill. No steaks involved.

Jefferson is tall and very skinny. Will benefit from a year at Casey, a year in the weights room and another preseason. Can Mark.

JVR & Grundy are the standouts for me. Both clean in the air and by foot.

And out of the next main drill

Deakyn Smith now taking part in the main drill

Kye Turner is a big unit and looks impressive in the air and has clean disposal.

No Thunder stealing. Please post any thoughts and observations.

Salem wearing #2 JVR wearing #6 Hunter wearing #35

Kozzy is back at training.

Can’t see Smith. I think Burgoyne is also amongst the rehab group.

One on one tackling drill saw two epic match ups. Trac vs Clarry Viney vs Sparrow

Hunter came off second best in a drill and is limping

Mids doing one on one ground ball drills Talls doing one on one marking drills

Demonland & @Whispering_Jack are at Preseason Training Today I’ll provide some updates and posts links to this post to any full training reports from our Trackwatchers Rehab: Gus, Hibberd, Jed Adams, Will Verrell, Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Burgoyne, Joel Smith, Deakyn Smith I will collate all of my posts/observations below: Mids doing one on one ground ball drills Talls doing one on one marking drills Hunter came off second best in a drill and is limping One on one tackling drill saw two epic match ups. Trac vs Clarry Viney vs Sparrow Can’t see Joel Smith. I think Burgoyne is also amongst the rehab group. Kozzy is back at training - looks massive, so clean picking the ball off the ground, superb disposal. Some different numbers being worn at training today. Salem wearing #2 JVR wearing #6 Hunter wearing #35 Kye Turner (train on player from Haileybury) is a big unit and looks impressive in the air and has clean disposal. Jacob Van Rooyen (JVR) & Grundy are the standouts for me. Both clean in the air and by foot. Matt Jefferson is tall and very skinny. Will benefit from a year at Casey, a year in the weights room and another preseason. Can Mark. Melksham vs May in this drill. No steaks involved. ----- observation after training - Melksham trained really well Grundy vs Gawn in the ruck. Grundy wins. Taps to Viney. Viney to Schache. Schache handballs back to Viney. Viney blind turns out of a tackle and goals. Some more epic battles; Disco Turner vs TMac Petty vs JVR Disco as the defender took a great contested mark against TMac. Some of the delivery into the forward line in this drill is poor. TMac not happy with it. TMac is impressing me as other trackwatchers have previously mentioned. Strong marker and straight, accurate shot for goal. All the defenders have been monsters and have been excellent as expected. Can’t see JVR NOT playing Round 1. Trac super competitive. Viney impressive as always. Clarry is a magician. As reported Sparrow has put on size and I expect him to be a mainstay in the middle. Kozzy will definitely play more midfield minutes next season. Ben Brown has also been impressive. So good on a lead up the middle. I wish we delivered it to him more that way than putting high on his head in a pack of player. Sure he is very good one on one with his height and long arms but if the ball is delivered high in a pack then forget about it. Let him lead up the guts. The race for spots in the forward line is going to be fierce. In summary, we’re training the house down. Grundy could be the recruit of the year especially if it means Gawn plays a kick behind the play (and not in the forward line). 3/4 length ground match sim. Max vs Schache in Ruck. Grundy playing forward. Max taps a beauty to Kozzy from a boundary throw in. You love to see it. I hope Kozzy sees more midfield time. Now JVR is rucking against Grundy and beat him. Max playing forward. This doesn’t bode well for my wish of Max not playing forward. Kozzy sells some candy, kicks it to Max who passes nicely to Grundy outside the 50 who plays on and drills a goal from 50. None of the new recruits (first years) are taking part in the match sim. JVR beating Grundy in many of the boundary throw in ruck drills that start off each match sim drill. this observation is not a knock on Grundy. TMac killing it up forward. Grundy kicks another. Lever left the track with a knee complaint. Currently in the hands of the trainers. Finished with the trainers. No one looks concerned. Is limping a little. The boys then took off their footy boots and put on the runners and then did so run throughs but Lever did not participate. He then hopped on the bike that is set up under the shelter. I don't think he looked too worried. That is they weren't icing it or sending him off to get scans. Gus was doing some light running and is currently on the rower. No visible strapping on his body. Joel Smith now doing weights under the new structure with the other rehabbers. It was a long training session. Started before 9:30am and was still going at about 11:40am when I had to leave as they were doing some running after a 2 hour skills session. I will say that the tackling and intensity was absolutely fierce and I was worried that there would be plenty more mishaps. Thankfully there weren't. I was up close and personal for a few Jack Viney tackles and if my arm wasn't already in a sling from shoulder surgery it would have been after witnessing that devastation. WHISPERING JACK'S TRAINING REPORT PICKET FENCE'S TRAINING REPORT

I don't think so. By all reports he is on light duties and would not have been participating in match sim or drills with marking contests such as this.

AFL Training Sessions Date: Friday 16 December Time: 9.30am Location: Gosch's Paddock *Please note: Training times and locations are subject to change at late notice.

BLAKE HOWES KYE TURNER I think that it Blake Howes. I haven't seen Kye Turner in the flesh nor a recent photo so I can't tell. It it definitely not Jefferson.

Easy mistake to make with a Jack and Jake involved in the story but should not have got past the editing process of a news outlet.

We have another entrant. Jack Viney ran rings around Aussie UFC star Jake Matthews so badly in a junior grand final, he decided to give up on footy and focus on fighting. A wise move.

It has been 6,675 days since Essendon last won a final. Embarrassingly they defeated the Melbourne Football Club that day on the MCG. Since that fateful day Essendon and Melbourne have been scheduled to play against each other on 19 occasions. Essendon have been listed as the Home Team on 15 of those occasions. Melbourne has won 12 & lost 7 of those matches. Between Rd 01 2005 and Round 15 2010 Melbourne were listed as the Away Team 5 times. 3 x Docklands 2 x MCG Between Rd 15 2010 and Round 03 2019 Melbourne were listed as the Away Team 8 times. 6 x MCG 2 x Docklands During COVID the Dees were scheduled to play Essendon in Rd 03 as the Away Team at the MCG but the match was infamously cancelled due to a suspected COVID case in the Bombers camp. The match was subsequently played in Rd 18 with Essendon the Home Team at Metricon Stadium. Since then both teams have had a Home game at the MCG with Essendon having the honour in 2021 and the Dees being gifted this rare gift in 2022. Now you might ask why is this an issue as the majority of these games were played at the Demon's Home ground the MCG. There are two reasons for this: 1. Cosmetics 2. Financial The first is cosmetic and ultimately not that important but for the majority of those games the Demons were forced to wear that horrible white clash strip despite the Bombers having their own clash strips during that time. Did the Bombers not want to wear a clash strip? The 2nd is financial and this is a problem because the Home Team takes the gate receipts for matches and for a 17 year period the Essendon Football Club has taken the gate receipts for 15 out of 19 clashes against the Demons. Crowds for Matches between MELB & ESS between 2005 & 2022 (Home Team listed by first letter) M 47,849 E 55,016 E 35,019 E 47,552 E 46,334 E 42,087 M 49,203 E 53,077 E 42,987 E 51,153 E 44,626 E 38,861 E 50,424 E 44,040 E 35,964 M 52,475 E 2,175 (COVID) E 19,414 (COVID) M 44,503 Melbourne Home Games vs Essendon Average Crowd 48,507.5 Essendon Home Games vs Melbourne Average Crowd 45,164.6 (not including COVID affected games) It is obvious that Essendon has benefitted financially over a 17 year period having taken the gate receipts in 13 more games (COVID affected games excluded). In 2023 Essendon once again have the honour of hosting the Demons however this time the game will be played in Adelaide as part of the AFL's Gather Round. Both teams will be compensated an estimated $500,000. Who will be the home team in 2024? Finally, this FUN FACT bears repeating; It has been 6,675 days since Essendon Football Club last won a final. You can follow along at home to see how long this astonishing record will last by following @FinalsEssendon on Twitter.

They're probably at Gosch's today.