Tough Kent

https://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/1506837/vfl-petty-makes-return

AMW providing great run and dash off half back, jagging a couple in the process. Music to my ears.

What's Marty Hore like at ground level? Teams know to get the ball to ground in our forward line and they're half a chance. May, Lever and Thomlinson all shaky below their knees.

I've got no idea what he is like defensively, but he is a great user of the footy. If he plays of half back, surely we could put the footy in his hands a lot more than he's getting it at the moment. My question mark would be on whether he has the leg speed to go with a Weightman.

This is second hand information, so could well be wrong. I thought I'd share anyway. Bowsa is reported to have a crack in the coracoid process in his shoulder blade. He will need surgery and likely to miss 8 weeks.

Probably no surprise, but Caleb Windsor will debut Round 0. His family have been told to make their way to Sydney for the occasion.

When the seniors were done and all the Casey boys were out there with Salo, Clarrie, etc. for one drill the coach yelled out "If you're not in the 18 tomorrow, put on a yellow bib." Clarrie, Salo, Marty Hore, Jed Adams, etc. didn't put on bibs.

CLAYTON IS BACK! Clarrie will play in the 2s tomorrow. From the Captain's Run: Senior squad for tomorrow: May, Roo, McVee, Trac, Windsor, Viney, Lever, Gawn, Billings, Langdon, Laurie, Bowey, Schache, Thommo, Howes, Rivers, Verrall, Nibbler, Fritta, Spaz, Kozzie, Chin. Gus and Spargo nowhere to be seen. Didn't sight Hunter, Petty, Melks, Disco Turner. Shane McAdam did very slow runthroughs on the boundary line. The rest, including Clayton, Salo, Marty Hore trained with the Casey boys when the seniors finished up. T-MAC, Browny, Andy Moniz-Wakefield, Fullaton, Taj Woewodin all did stuff away and with the main group. I spoke to these boys and they all hope to play in the next week or two.

McAdam in a photo on the club website from training today. I might be clutching at straws, but he's in his footy boots as opposed to his runners. This indicates that he must have been doing some lateral movement/football type training as opposed to just interval running. I'm not sure he would be doing this if he had a pretty serious groin issue??

Fair enough, mate. Hopefully it's on the positive side of the ledger.

Thanks for the comprehensive report, Mr. Fence. You said you had more later on Clayton Oliver?

Three things that stood out about him today: 1. His elite speed. At one stage, he ran down Koltyn who was streaming towards goal and threw him to the ground. 2. His ball handling. He one-touched on a day where many balls slid through fingers. 3. His size. For an under 18 he didn't look out of his league out there today.

My highlight from training was having a quick chat to Col Garland, who was set up in a corner of Gosch's Paddock and chatting to Matty Whelan for a lot of the morning. I also couldn't help but notice Tyla Hanks out on the ground and in her full MFC kit. She looked like a drowned rat, the poor girl. Does anyone know her role with the club?

1. ?? 2. Craig Smoker 3. Nick Pesch 4. Luke Tapscott 5. ?? 6. Cameron Hunter 7. ?? 8. Tom McNamara??? 9. Troy Longmuir 10. Matty Bishop

It's his older brother. His junior coach at Lysterfield and South Belgrave said he was just as good as Caleb, but he had his under 18 year ruined by injury.

Dan Turner played forward in a scratch match against Carlton and apparently did ok. He was training with the forwards today and Greg Stafford spent a lot of time with him. Brown, T-Mac, Smith, Turner and Fritta were the hit up forwards in red denoting they’re in the selection picture. Roo and Schache were in the green vests. Grundy trained with the mids.

Laurie had 9 touches, 4 score involvements and 2 assists in a quarter and a bit. I thought he was good when he came on.

I saw the session. Kev did a great job with his write up. Based on what I saw of Clayton, if he doesn’t play in 6 days time there is something sinister going on. Jack Viney was definitely at training and in great spirits. I watched him and Jed Adams play wrestling in front of me.

Lots of plodders

This is not the end of the world. You can't replace an Oliver, but a bit of adversity never hurt anyone. The 22 who take the field on Saturday will know they'll have to give everything they've got to cover the loss of Clarrie. They'll be switched on and crack in.

Having had lots of issues with hamstrings, you can experience tightness and still be able to run at a reduced speed. There is the risk that you can advance the strain though. If it were a significant strain, he could not have played on. One would think it would either be hamstring tightness = 7 -10 days or a strain = 21 days.

I like JJ, but with opportunity in the midfield limited and at this stage, a minimum of 4 top 36 draft picks that I'd expect to be used on regenerating the midfield, I think he might be best placed looking elsewhere.

No White, Moose Munro or Baldi leaves us short in the middle at this level. I, too, worry about our midfield depth. We must use those 4 x top 36 draft picks this year to compliment our current on-ball brigade and look towards the future beyond Clarrie, Trac and Vines.

It was definitely him. I think the players were having a bit of fun with it. The kids were trying to get the camerman to sign their books.

I spoke to Jake Lever today at the kid's clinic. He was 100% adamant that he was playing Monday night. In his words, "I'm definitely playing Monday night. Unless I hurt myself at training between now and then". I also had a chat to big Maxy Gawn. He said that he was playing too. That was if they picked him, of course.