flashdance36

Yeh look let's get this discussion out of Cranbourne and back into Melbourne. - Wheels cruised through training, during a kicking drill the other players were marvelling with his ability to kick the ball with the out side of hit foot to a player in his peripheral vision - Good call on Danny Hughes Benno, looked impressive, very comfortable on the track, has sound skills, a boomin kick in fact and hopefully he can stay on the park this year and show us some of his freaky skills - Riv did very little, didnt see him at the start then wondered out mid session and stood around with the modified group. From all reports he didnt train on wednesday either, i cant give u any information on what is wrong with him although maybe he is having a light week after being re-introduced to training or has been pulling up sore. I highly doubt he has had a re-occurance of such a rare injury. - Benno in reference to your concerns re: urgency and intensity, i think that as the session was very skill based the focus is more on skill execution than intensity and noise, i think ud find that during sessions where more contact and competitive work was being done you'd get plenty of hunger on show.

I got down to training this morning to check out how the boys are looking and to validate what everyone else has been writing this pre-season. 1. Casey fields are in ripping nick and the whole complex including the leisure centre which is nearing completion creates the feeling of a sporting Mecca. 2. Like every pre-season the boys look in great nick, as everyone is boasting Col sylvia looks in top shape and flies through the session which is a major positive given he has never completed a pre-season. When fully fit he really does have all the tools to be a quality AFL player. He trained with the forwards for most of the session and I can see him playing a high half forward role working up the ground in not dissimilar to Ryan O' Keefe. 3. Nath Jones is carved out of stone and his kicking looks to have improved. While he is never gonna kick the ball like Wheaters, his consistency of hitting the leading target was good. 4. Aussie has definately lost weight. I watched him for a lot of the session and he genuinely would have missed only a handful of targets in 3 hours. He is a great kick and in the game simulation drills he showed a lot of smarts in where to run. He was training with forwards and looked to have a prominent role, I see him moving in the midfield and even onto half back in the future although for now he'll continue as the crumbing forward. 5. Bucks is a dead ringer for Buddy Franklin from a distance. I expect a break-out year from him, with his acceleration he could be anything, although he has a habit of recieving the ball running onto his left side (which is non-existent) then having to double back onto his right. Although that is easy fixed and its encouraging to see he wants the ball and is not afraid to take the game on. 6. Its been mentioned before and for the non-believers ill validate this, Juice is TTHD (training the house down). He attacks the ball, is clean, showed intensity which has never been his strength and his kicking top shelf. 7. Watts looked good, always smiling and do some nice things, left the track early although was no reason to be concerned. The most likely youngster behind Watts has to be James Strauss showed geat leg speed chasing down Lynden Dunn from a long way back and we know about his kicking ability. I like Neville Jetta he is pacy and his skills very neat, would like to see him a little more involved in the game type drills to make an assessment of whether he'll play NAB cup. 8. Shane Valenti trained very well and his kicking on both right and left was impressive, his a bundle of energy and i see him as the first promoted. Another who impressed was Kyle Cheney, he has nice kicking skills and was drafted for his attack on the ball. Should play NAB cup. I was interested to get a look at spencer, i didnt see him doing much competitive ruck work but other than that he trained very poorly. His kicking is absolutely shocking and should carry a bucket of sand around the ground, a groundsmans nightmare. Zomer was a little more positive, a big boy and has more presence. John Meesen, i just dont think he's up to it, looks impressive in the running and has reasonable skills, yet in the game simulation drills he's slow with his actions and decision making and subsequently makes poor decisions. I'd love to see him prove me wrong but i cant see him having an impact 9. Morton, McNamara and Blease spent the first hour running laps, before McNamara and Morton joined in the second half of training. Chooka joined them for some laps at some stage to "add some muscle to the group" in his own words, although did most of the session otherwise. 10. Jack Grimes trained well, he keeps it really simple and is very good at it. He's your socks pulled up, jumper tucked in future midfield general. He reminds me a bit of Bryce Gibbs, he trained with the backs and expect a role coming off half back or playing on a small. 11. Modified group included Flash, Jamie Bennel, Liam Jurrah, Jamar, his moon boot, Rivers. The 3 indigenous boys did very little but walk laps, tell jokes and do some stationary ball work, Flash didn't kick on his left at all which makes me think he has some hamstring soreness. Its not incommon for players to have lighter weeks though so dont stress too much, Jurrah especially will be eased into training as the workload would be a shock to his system. Robbo ran 200's at a fair clip and looks to be progressing nicely. 12. Bater worked really hard and looks to play a prominent place in the forward line, Bailey encouraged him to use his right foot when appropriate although had little success. 13. Ricky Petterd was kicking choppers. 14. Stef Martin fumbled a bit at times. 15. Beamer is looking massive and expect him to continue on from 08 where I think he crashed in when it counted and proggressed as a player and leader. 16. Bail, Healey trained ok without doing anything spectaculer. 17. Everyone else was out there and working hard. 18. The focus of training surrounded skills, ball movement and decision making. If you've got any questions please fire away.

Im sure they rate everyone on their list highly, although you cant keep everyone. Plus clubs delist players based on more than just footy ability. He might be a d**k head.

http://www.geelongcats.com.au/tabid/3933/D...px?newsid=68977 The cats have delisted Jason Davenport after 1 year on the vfl list, another as a rookie and then 2008 on the senior list. Watched him play a few times in the VFL and the cats rate him highly. Suprised to see him get the flick. Although seeing as each club has to cut 3 players each year i could see him being re-drafted by the cats in the ND. He has just turned 23, so fits in our youth policy. 185cm and 82kg's and takes a good grab. If we use our PSD pick i could see us taking a young player such as this, or could even be a late ND pick due to the rule change. Another player is ryan jackson from carlton, 21 i think, big engine, plays midfield, booming kick though has been cut down by a broken hand for the past year. He'd be dissapointed to get cut although will almost definately get another crack most likely as a rookie. thoughts??

another good thing has to be that we lost %, will be hard for WCE to drop snatch the spoon now.

He is out of contract at the end of the year, seems strange they havent resigned him. If we have PSD pick number 1. we hold all the aces. If things fall through with Warnock or a trade is negotiated, we could get davey for nothing in the PSD. Don't be fooled by daveys low possessions, he is an absolute star. The Davey brothers in the same team would bring fans thru the gates, esp. the younger generation who follow the more exciting types.

Interesting to know that Alwyn hasnt signed a new contract this late in the year, especially after his season ended so early in the year, Usually clubs will jump in and sure up a players future when there is a season ending injury, for the players piece of mind if anything. So it makes the most sense that he has delayed contract talks for some reason.

agree, aussie and morton are making the games worth watching. Grimes is on the long term injury list, when a player is put on there they must miss at least 8 weeks from that point. Its been 2, so that means he has at least 6 and a maximum of the rest of the year if grimes doesnt get better before the years out. I watched the game again on tape tonight and after a big chase aussie pulled up a bit lame and took himself off and the commentators commented that it looked like he may have strained something or maybe it was cramp? any1 heard anything either way?

i missed the HS yesterday so would someone be kind enough to post the team that mark stevens did? cheers.

jee guys way to throw ur support behind a man who had a tough year. In fact wasnt it a tough year for the whole club. Theres not many who can still perform at their peak when carrying at injury. Its a credit to his character that he guttsed the year out, would have been very easy to slide onto the surgeons table in round 15. Seeing as though were a club changing direction how about the supporters get a little more protective of our own. And to the year 7 student who said that Junior boy Rioli was "faster and alot better than Davey", a) doubt he would be faster. B) not daveys **** hole atm, just cos he kicked a few cheapies in APS footy doesnt mean he can step into AFL and be instantly a premier small forward.

They are both contracted for 2009, neither will want to go anywhere nor could the dees afford to pay out davey's contract inparticular, which would be around 300K, while trying to fit in Judds salary. When a player is contracted they have to agree to the trade. I would think that if judd was coming to the dees he would want the likes of Davey, jones and Mclean in his side. The dees tried to trade fergy at the end of 05 to the hawks but he didnt want to go so it didnt happen.

Haha, on the TV commentry michael christian made a comment along the lines off, "jee i think caroll is picking the wrong bloke there, ive seen fraser really go before"!!! ur kidding "chrisso" fraser is such a lightweight, he's a nerd. Was trying to look tough in front of his cheer squad but Shi**ing himself on the inside.

How we will beat freo. F: Yze Holland Green HF: Davey Miller Bruce C: TJ Jmac Wheats HB: Ward Fergy Belly FB: Wheels Nath Bizzell Foll: White Jones Pettard Inter: Bate, sylvia or pickett, PJ, CJ In: Pettard, Pickett or sylvia, CJ, Bizz. Out: Brown, Godfrey, Moloney, Jamar. The boys have been training the whole summer emphasising the run and carry game, now is the time to use it to try and win using the cattle we've got. We have to play a western bulldogs style game, with Greeny filling the role of Brad Johnson. Having a smaller player as the number one forward means the ball has to come in quickly and low to the leading player in plenty of space, 3 commodities which have not been part of our game plan this year. Greeny is quick, a very good mark and can kick em from anywhere in the 50, he plays the full forward role in a similar fashion to brad johnson. Id place Greeny, ooze and either Holland, PJ or whitey in the square. The big bloke stays at home for the long kick to the square or is the first lead wide to rake there defender out of the way, then ducks back to the square. Ooze and greeny work the forward fifty leading up at the ball carrier. Space is important for this to work, Miller would play well up the ground being the link player between the rebound 50 and the attacking charge forward. He has a huge engine and must run all day, he is never going to take big contested plucks, though needs to be taking the ball out in front cos he is running his opponent into the ground like last time we played freo. Bruce has to play the HFF like Ben cousins does, he needs to work from the HFF all the way down to defence, like an extra midfielder. He will need to be a link player from defence to attack either leading up to the ball like miller or running behind the ball. He will be the most important player in setting the whole game plan up, he will have to run himself into the ground and almost be everywhere, but he can do it. He's our best player and the fittest at the club. Flash will roam around the top of the 50 and get front and centre to the 3 forwards or if miller/bruce has the ball on the HBF he can lead up to be the next option. Speed is almost the essential ingredient, unlike rnd 1, we have to move the ball quickly from defence to attack so that we can keep the forward line open for our small leading forwards. Almost everyone from the centreline back has to attack , run and carry the ball. For this to work effectively, playing on at all costs and taking risks must be the message, ward and belly have good run and dash and will be very important players. Belly should be used in a very attacking role rather than playing on the small forward. In terms of changes, Jamar must go as he will not get near sandilands in the ruck and is useless around the ground. PJ can give whitey a brief chopout and is alot more agile around the ground and versitile giving us an option up forward and can go back in extreme circumstances (today). Beamer has a groin Browny may be a bit stiff, although is our third small back and is slow. Godfrey is a run with player, but does he actually tag any1?, Bartel had 35 today? will be sacrificed for the game were going to play. Its time to give a young bloke a go and see if he can cut it, watching the 3 collingwood boys run around on friday night showed us that we are lacking a bit of youthful exuberance. pettard has played well for sandy and it would be great to see him thrown in at the deepend. Only 1 of pickett and sylvia cos we cant afford to carry underdone blokes playing this game plan. CJ is the perfect type for this gameplan Its about time bizz had a go, so many times he has done a great job in defence, without rivers we are a bit rudderless, hopefully he can do what he has done for us before. I really hope danners goes out and trys to win using what we've got, and doesnt resort to terry wallace vs the crows last yr. This is just an idea, tear it to shreds if u see fit!!!!!!!!

The form of Aaron is worrying. Its hard to see how a player who has dominated the game reasonably consistently over the past 3 years can churn out 3 stinkers in a row. Ive watched everyone of his career games and often i find myself just focusing on what he does rather than the game itself so ive got a pretty good idea on how his going. The few people have hinted that he is either not interested, injured or even staging some sort of rebelion against the club because they didnt rookie his brother at the end of 05', when alwyn had done absolutely squat in the SANFL. The first and last are rediculous conclusions. I thought that he worked extremely hard today, a man who isnt interested doesnt run as hard defensively to tackle, harrass and pressure as he did today, its the hardest thing in the game is to run when ur no chance of getting the ball. If the rest of our players pushed hard the other way instead of getting forward of the play we wouldnt have been smashed in general play and on the rebound. In relation to him carrying an injury, there is little substance to it. Im of the belief he had a few problems with ankle sprains in the pre-season and there was some evidence of this in round 1 when he had it re-strapped a couple of times but none since, he doesnt seem at all hampered through his movement nor his pace. If he was carrying something the club would surely make this public and rest him given how early in the year it is and the reluctance of the club to risk other players (mainly pickett, sylvia and rivers). I think his problems lie in what danners is just saying, he is simply out of sorts, the ball just isnt falling for him where it normally would. This happened many times today, for example in the first quater where a bate handball would have released him into goals although it was blocked or many times when he was open but the ball was turned over or smothered. There is also no doubt that Davey plays better when we are winning the ball, pumping the ball inside 50 regularly and our good players are playing well, this isnt happening at the moment. The attacking part of his game isnt conducive to unstructured, scrappy, stop-start losing footy. Davey has been played a little further up the ground this year also, this doesnt release the heavy tag he gets though. Even when on the HB line he still is heavily tagged, rival clubs are so aware of how dangerous he is they place great emphasis on stopping him everywhere. Any player would struggle with this and a player who is as lightly built as he is, he often gets pushed of the ball or blocked. Its not an outragous comment to say he gets as much attention from his opponent as judd does. The final thing which is pretty obvious, is whenever he is out of the play he is really blowing hard and has come to the bench alot more often this year, it was mentioned on the website in the report written on each player that he has had an interrupted pre-season. The game these days is so much about running hard to good spots that a player who is down on the fitness they need to perform will inevitably struggle. The high intensity repeated efforts game he plays means he is unable to recover sufficiently between efforts to perform maximally every time, if his fitness isnt there. I dont think that dropping him to the VFL is the way too go, he must be very frustrated although his body language and temprement on the ground (besides a few times in round 1) has been very good. He is still talking and celebrating with teammates after goals. Every time he gets the ball he still does somthing with it, so i think that a gradual improvement from week-to-week will get him back where he needs to be. To those of you on his back, dont get of board yet, every player goes through tough patches and remember it was only a short time ago he was rookied from port melbourne, his progress has been amazing since, cut him some slack to have a rough patch.

Yeh nick is his grandson i believe.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys, ive been logging onto this sight to get all the latest MFC info for the past year and thought it was about time i registered. I try to get down to training pretty often over the summer so hopefully i can scratch out a few training reports. demon_magik ill let u no when i come up with a new sign in name for you,the creation of flashdance36 was a year long process (not really i stole it from mike sheahan after the roos game this year), so dont hold your breath. cheers guys.

I went down to trinity this morning to watch the boys, on a cracking morning for training despite a bit of a breeze at times. There were a few others down watching, if you dont get down often friday is a good time to go as the boys do alot of full ground drills and you get to see alot of action. When i arrived they'd just finished the warm-up and were into some drills which involved some running to positions and long passing of the ball simulating movement of the ball up and down the ground similar to match days. After about 30 mins of variations of this kind of drill they moved into some more close drills with bags emphasising quick hands, blocking and decision making. They finished off doing a drill where everyone was split into two opposing teams and groups of 4 and 5, they had to work the ball up the ground keeping it from the opposition. The main emphasis being running hard to position, carrying the ball and playing a zone defence as the defenders were outnumbered. The main points to take out of the morning were: -Hayes moves really well, has good hands although early on missed some targets with his kicks in the breezy conditions tho this did improve as the session progressed. I didnt really get a chance to see his pace. Looks pretty tight with weetra. In the second drill i mentioned, he and flash were working the ball up together, the ball came to flash and without looking he palmed it to hayes who was off and running. A glimpse into the future perhaps. -On flash his passng of the ball is in the my opinion the best at club, in breezy conditions this morning he was hitting blokes on the [censored] effortlessly. He was working as hard as ive seen him at training, dropping for pushups when he made a slight error, running hard without the ball and was the main voice of encouragement. Seeing him and tigga compete against each other in the final drill was also good, an ex player told me they both love beating with each other, tigga took a mark infront of flash and let him no about it. -The talk and encouragement from everyone was something i also noted, it was very encouraging. -The boy from sydney, i cant remember his name, who was given an apprenticeship type contract with the club was at training with the boys. He reminds me a of a skinnier clint bartram, his only 16 i think and trained quite impressively. The boys were giving him heaps of encouragment, especially when he was carrying the ball down the ground in the final drill being chased by belly, he stopped and evaded belly letting him go passed him, then faked the kick getting around belly again. This was met by loud cheers from the other players and some ribbing for belly. -Isaac weetra is being called Horhay(Ben stillers love child in meet the fockers), the resemblence is uncanny. -Wheels, Barty, PJ, bater, Pettard and Beamer didnt take part in training, they just walked laps did some handballing and light kicking. Col sylvia wasnt there at all. -Brucey, Jace Bode, Wheats, Russian all left the track towards the end of the session although appeared to be fine. -Chunk was working really well. -As was Dunny. -As reported by others simon Buckley has definately bulked up. -Chrissy Jonhson was moving well. -Byron is looking reasonable although just crusied through training. -Thats all i can remember atm, will try and add to it.