Demonland

Probably in reference to his previous comment regarding CJ.

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Yes and no. 😜 2026 AFL Numbers | The Reveal

New Demon Numbers: 4 - Harvey Langford 5 - Xavier Lindsay (Training Guernsey does not have a number) 9 - Jack Steele (Wearing #46 at training) 13 - Jai Culley 14 - Changkuoth Jiath 19 - Xavier Taylor 20 - Thomas Matthews 27 - Max Heath (Training Guernsey does not have a number) 28 - Brody Mihocek 33 - Latrelle Pickett 34 - Kalani White (Training Guernsey does not have a number) 38 - Oscar Berry (Training Guernsey does not have a number) 40 - Riley Onley

Riley Onley is #40

He will likely only start running before Christmas. He appears to be further back in his rehab and recovery from his PCL injury than Xavier Lindsay was at this time last year.

This Training Report from the 15th of January 2025 makes mention of Lindsay now being in full training.

Both will be in the first 23

Melbourne's midfield ensemble under new coach Steven King continues to take shape in the wake of the exits of premiership champions Christian Petracca and Clayton Oliver. The Demons and their rookie coach will be tasked with finding the right mix of midfielders to commence their new era of the red and blue, with a balance of youth and household names set to lead from the middle. Captain Max Gawn is set to be surrounded by a new-look pack of ball winners, with his vice-captain Jack Viney and livewire Kysaiah Pickett now the most familiar of faces to their eight-time All-Australian. His old St Kilda counterpart, Jack Steele, is among the new names set to roll through King's engine room, while first-round draft selections Harvey Langford, Koltyn Thlstrup, Caleb Windsor, Xavier Lindsay and Bailey Laurie will each get their turn. The Demon who could take on a much larger midfield slice looks to be second-year onballer Jai Culley, who has continued to impress at pre-season training under King. Having added size and strength, as well as bringing a high-level work rate, Culley could be the Melbourne midfielder who helps fill the hole left by Petracca and Oliver. The 194cm talent, who will coincidentally wear Oliver's vacant No.13 jumper, is positioned to be a key piece of Melbourne's midfield unit for 2026 after just four games at AFL level this year, three of which came in Troy Chaplin's trio of appearances as interim. Had it not been for Andy Moniz-Wakefield's cruel ACL injury midway through the pre-season, and the AFL's decision to approve the signing of Culley as his replacement via the Supplemental Selection Period following the acquisition window's deadline days prior, Culley would have likely spent the entire 2025 season in the VFL for Casey. A rise to prominence for Culley would see that exception bear fruit for the Demons, while also leaving West Coast to rue their decision to part ways with the 22-year-old at the end of 2024. Taken with the first overall pick in the 2022 Mid-Season Draft, Culley managed just a dozen games for the Eagles in his two-and-a-half seasons in Perth Culley couldn't break into West Coast's midfield pack during his time in WA, however the Eagles have since looked to uncover bargain options to aid their centre bounces, adding cut AFL trio Harry Schoenberg, Finlay Macrae and Deven Robertson via the SSP last week. What was West Coast's has been Melbourne's gain, with both sides set to put forward refreshed midfield groups in 2026. The Demons have looked to add height and power to their cohort, with Culley, Langford and Rookie Draft addition Riley Onley all stopping the tape above 190cm tall. The latter was among the new names to impress at training on Monday. The taller trio will complement Pickett's speed and agility, with Steele and Viney bringing experience and proven contested games. Viney has been one of several senior Demons limited on the track so for this pre-season, with the likes of Jake Bowey, Shane McAdam, Jack Henderson, Moniz-Wakefield and draftee Thomas Matthews not taking part in skills drills at their latest session. Bowey was kept to running for the entirety of training at Gosch's Paddock, while key forward Jacob van Rooyen joined him after some friendly fire left him with blood pouring from his mouth. The Demons returned to Melbourne last week after spending time in Bright as part of their pre-season community camp.

I'll also add that in these "Match SIM" drills it is usually just two key forwards/backs in the forward 50 and maybe a smaller forward or mids running in with the ball. It isn't the traditional match setup with 6 forwards and 6 backs set up like in a game.

It’s difficult to pin down the exact positions of many of the mids, wings, and half-forward/half-back types because this isn’t an 18-on-18 match-simulation with players set up in their true roles at the start of the play. “Match SIM” might even be the wrong term to use, as the structure is quite different. As a result, players naturally push further up the ground. Culley is one of those players who seems involved in everything but he doesn’t appear to be playing a traditional wing role in these drills. Another factor is how each play begins. It’s rarely a standard centre bounce. Most sequences start with the ball already down at full forward, with play initiated from the pocket. Occasionally they’ll bring the ball to the middle, but even then there’s no proper ball-up and an assistant coach will simply roll the ball away from the rucks and mids in the square to kick things off. Next time, I’ll pay closer attention to which players are actually starting in the centre.

The team is back from their Community Training Camp and it is the first time that the whole squad is together at Gosch’s Paddock. A couple of intrepid Demonlanders braved the 4 seasons in one day on the first day of Summer to bring you their observation of the morning's session. DEMONLAND'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSPresent: May, JVR, Salem, Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, Lever, Steele, Turner, Gawn, Tholstrup, Culley, CH, Langdon, Laurie, Melksham, Taylor, Jefferson, Howes, Rivers, McDonald, Mihocek, Heath, Campbell, Sharp, Fritsch, Sparrow, L Pickett, Petty, K Pickett, Chandler, Berry, Mentha, Johnson, Kentfield, Onley & White Rehab: Viney, McAdam, Bowey, AMW, Henderson & Matthews Absent: Adams Rain is starting to come down so it’s a great opportunity to work on that wet weather footy. Lindsay (#5), White (#34), Berry (#38) & Heath (#27) don’t have numbers on their guernseys yet. Steele (#9) is still wearing number 46. Rookie recruit Riley Onley is a big boy. As tall as Lever and built much bigger. Kalani White is very tall and skinny but moves like an athlete. The squad has broken up into 4 smaller groups for some warm up drills. Ball dribble out by assistants to 3 players. One collects the ground ball handballs quickly to the next guy who handballs quickly to the next guy. 4 on 4 close quarters keepings off handball 7 on 3 ball movement up the wing. 3 defenders constantly swapping each time. Goal kicking practice. The sun is back out and the ball and field is drying. So much for that wet weather footy practice. Bowser running laps. Doesn't look too far away from resuming training with the main group. In the Shed doing rehab is McAdam on the rower. Viney, Matthews & Henderson are on the bikes. All moving at a fast pace. JVR off to the rooms to get what looks like his bottom lip stitched up. Apparently his tooth went through his bottom lip. AMW & Mihocek have joined in on the rotation of drills. Onley has come from the ground with a knock to the nose ….. and he’s back on. Mihocek doesn’t miss a set shot …. And having just said that just missed one. He previously kicked about 5 in a row on a slight angle 30-35 metres out. The squad has now split into 4 groups for another 4 small drills. 3 vs 3 have to run to starting in the middle of two poles in the ground and have to run towards them and then run around the pole and back to the middle to collect the ground ball before the other team. 1 vs 1 ground ball get. Player that doesn’t get the ball has to tackle the other one. 1 v 1 high ball marking contest. 1 vs 1 ground ball rolled in front of one player who collects it while the other guy tries to tackle and the guy with the ball has to break the tackle by karate chopping the arm of the tackler. First time I’ve seen Disco this preseason. He has such strong sure hands in marking contests. Heath is very strong in body on body marking contest and can take a grab. Kozzy’s evasive skills are sublime but ya’ll knew that already. JVR is back out and running laps. Full ground match SIM. Both Windsor & CJ getting a lot of the ball off half back. As a side note when we traded in CJ I had a lot of Hawthorn mates claimed that CJ was not a good disposer of the footy. They claimed he had no issues getting the footy but didn't know what to do with it once the ball was in hand. So far I have observed that he has very clean foot skills. Let's see how he goes when the full pressure of match day is at hand. Currently I am quietly impressed. Turner & Petty in defence as are May, Lever & TMac. Turner, Petty & May were on one team and TMac & Lever were on the other team. Mihocek is taking part in the match SIM which is the first time I have observed him taking part in the contact drills at training. Jefferson (others have reported that he is recovering from concussion so not taking part in contact drills), AMW & JVR running laps. Viney, McAdam, Henderson & Matthews all doing weights and strength training in the shed. Rain coming down hard again. Heath playing forward on TMac Berry playing off half back. Kozzy everywhere in the middle. Latrelle playing forward but finding his way up the ground. Got the ball on the wing and followed the ball all the way to the forward line. Disposal fantastic. For the weather watchers the sun is back out. New drill. End to end. 10 vs 5 up the middle of the ground. This drill involves moving the ball quickly by hand and foot up the ground. When the ball goes deep into the forward line the assistants kick the ball to themselves up the field to the back line and all the 15 players on the field have to gut run from the forward line to the back line to do it again and then they switch out with another 15 players. A lot of running and fast ball movement. It's almost impossible for the 5 players to defend but the fast ball movement and gut running seems to be the main focus of the drill. Players are gassed when they take a break. The new recruits are not taking part in this drill. Latrelle, Taylor, Onley, Berry & White. Jefferson & JVR are taking part in this drill. Lindsay has been very impressive in the ball movement drills. Elite disposal. Same goes for Langford. CJ has joined the new recruits doing 100m sprints along the boundary. And after that they were jogging half laps from goal posts to goal posts. HARVEY WALLBANGER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSJed Adams the only absentee. Further to the other reports Viney, Henderson, Matthews and McAdam in what I would describe as "full rehab". Matthews getting special treatment related to his knee, so perhaps he is the furthest away from playing. Given Viney and McAdam are both achilles - hard to say about return dates. Henderson also hard to predict. Bowey running laps (but does not look far away) and Jeffo in and out as described above. JVR got a knock to the lip - went back to AAMI for some patchwork - and after that resorted to running. Pleasing aspects for me - Mihocek, Heath and Steele did the entire session unhampered and CJ did most of it. Trelly Pickett is a gun - not just his skills - but the running capacity, confidence and willingness to join in. Pencil him in for Round 1. Windsor everywhere, when the ball needed to be moved. I reckon Taylor will take a little while - in defence. Early call, but maybe not a lock for Round 1. Onley a good size and moved smoothly - all the draftees and CJ did quite a bit of running towards the end - obviously still building their bases. AMW looking better and better - let's see if he does full sessions from January. The word is that they will stay at Gosch's through until Friday 19 December. Training was scheduled for 10 am but they were out early and finished up around 12 pm. All the old boys doing good old boys' stuff, i.e. including TMac and Melky in that group. Lever moving freely. May - an interesting watch. SLARTIBARTFAST'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSTrelly looked really really good with his running and skills. Those having issues with using pick 12 need not worry I reckon. Lindsay is starting to look really good, he was involved and skillful. The full ground drills were significantly different to last year. Last year the focus was on ball movement and little if any contact. This year is was match practice with the ball being fully contested. There is no luvy dovey stuff at training this year. There is good spirit but no whopping and hollering at the slightest opportunity. Very business like. Culley very good. Windsor and CJ the "go to" players out of the backline. Kentfield a good chance to be this years bolter, moves well, good endurance, strong hands and a beautiful kick. I'm excited. It might just be me but Vines looks like the weight of the world is off his shoulders looking so much more relaxed this year. Did I mention Trelly? Oscar Berry looks like the first B rookie from a BB background that looks like he could make it. Sparrow in everything. That is all...... ALEX NO FANCY-NAME'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSFirst time at a training session (other than kids' clinic) so don't really have any insightful insights to share. CJ has been mentioned a few times; I liked the footwork and evasion, but was especially impressed with his delivery of the ball, he got it out of the back line and it kept going. It was great to watch Kozzie (and Latrelle and Ricky) kicking goals at the end of the session. Worth the price of admission! Final comment, I enjoyed watching the match sims, flowing footy without umpire interference, and no administrative 50s! Another final observation, on the way out I was going to take a photo of the Melb Victory training for my "other" son, and was told by their staff that photography was prohibited. I couldn't be bothered arguing the point, but if you're part of a league trying to build a supporter base I am not sure this is the best attitude. GHOSTWRITER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSIt looks as though my threats to burn down the MCG if the players continue to come out too early were taken seriously. Not a soul to be seen yet. I met Latrelle!!! What an awesome boy he is. Kozzie smiled and pointed towards him, as if to say have at him 😅 Latrelle is NOT shy. He’s so friendly and loves a chat. I also met Tommy Matthews. He’s a live wire! A lovely guy. Of course I met Riley too. He’s a little more reserved. Taller in person than in pics. Everyone is here. And omg they are looking fit af. Seriously, even the ones who already looked great look even better. The camp was a roaring success by all accounts. It’s obvious they’re still on a high. The energy is electric. Shane’s running laps. He’s running really well. Both AMW and Melky had some white cream massaged into their kneecaps by Pete the physio. Pete says it’s routine, nothing to worry about. Rooey’s on the boundary spitting out blood. Must’ve copped a hit to the mouth. Quite a bit of blood coming out. Now he’s being taken back to the rooms. Tommy Mathews is rehabbing his knee injury. He said he expects to be running “well before Chrissy.” Vines has an achilles issue (not serious) which is why he’s not training. After training the boys were going back to AAMI for lunch (together). After lunch it’s gym time (all together), then they break off into groups; some do more running, some in the pool, some do extra gym work. They get Thursdays and Sundays off. On Saturdays they do hill-running. It was interesting hearing about this from Xavier Taylor who can’t compare it to previous years. He talked about it in a very matter-of-fact way. I asked him if he finds any part of it challenging or even difficult and he said not at all. Vines on the other hand said training is “very different now.” He said it’s more intense and more specialised, but that “we love it.” Probs easier for him to say that while he’s on light duties. DEESPICABLE'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONSWhat a difference three months make? It was hard not to be impressed by the new faces and the speed of the new-look squad. Gone are the distractions - sorry Trac and Olly - and in is pace. Sure we only had about 20min of match sim but you couldn't but help notice that slow, precise build-ups are out, replaced by manic speed of ball movement. Almost everyone who has commented has noticed CJ's run and I am trying to remember a bigger early-season influencer or wow factor - he already shapes as the recruit of the year. He didn't just run and carry and kick long drop punts down the wing to Windsor - he also laid a couple of crunching tackles - one on Langford was a clear free kick to our second-year player. When coupled with Kozzie's constant pressure and elite kicking, it's hard not to see why there's a sense of excitement. It was also hard not to like Brody Mihocek's lead up work, Turner's intercepting, Gawny and May's presence and the extra competitiveness of Sparrow, Culley and Laurie in the midfield. As someone said earlier, Xavier Taylor may not be a Rd 1 lock just yet, but he did show a willingness to take the game on - even after he was caught taking a little too long to dispose of the ball on a couple of occasions. All in all there must be 30 players at least in the mix for Rd 1 based on what I saw and that doesn't include Viney (rehab) and Adams (absent) who I'd expect to be ready post-X-mas. And I imagine there's another thread for it, but guessing the Rd 1 team of 23 correctly would pay about 5000-1 at this stage.

In the match SIM drill. Turner, Petty & May were on one team and TMac & Lever were on the other team.

No idea. He missed the full match SIM which obviously had contact but has rejoined the group to do the 10 vs 5 end to end which is more about gut running up and down the field with no contact.

CJ has joined the new recruits doing 100m sprints along the boundary

Lindsay has been very impressive in the ball movement drills. Elite disposal.

Jefferson & JVR are taking part in this drill.

The new recruits are not taking part. Latrelle, Taylor, Onley, Berry & White.