Jrono64

Thanks but as pointed out by Moon, it was another poster from bigfooty, I mainly just lurk and read others posts haha The only posts I usually make are to report on the Maroochydore training's each year because I live up on the Gold Coast and like to make the drive up. I don't think they stack up quite as well as this guys though since I'm an engineer and not a linguist; I tend to look at the specific of training like who beat who in drills.

I noticed we didn't have any really for last week and found these for Friday 24/11/17 on Big Footy by Proper Gander. Not much to go off but better than nothing. Without delving further into the interesting area of the relative merits of adding bulk v drinking beers while on holiday - here is my general impressions of training. Also Starc just got Jake Ball’s wicket, which is nice.Notable absentees were Jack Viney and Michael Hibberd (unless he was in the rehab group on the far side, and I never saw him, but I don’t think he was there).In his own group, doing the special older guy with 4 premierships routine was Jordan Lewis who was doing laps early on checking his time every now and again. I gave him a supportive smile every time he passed that he totally ignored, which pleased me no end. He left soon after 10 AM and wasn’t seen again.The rehab group being tortured by Crossey for the day consisted of Kent (shoulder), Jones (something), Filopovic (why not), Lever (post premiership loss related angst), Joel Smith (things), Tim Smith (other things), Weiderman (eating disorder), Wagner (who knows), TMac (surgery for things) Buggy (pest patrol) and anyone else who was in the rehab group that I have forgotten. I think Jeff didn’t join the main group today - I saw him running a bit with the rehab guys at one point but he seemed to have left the field by the second hour so he probably went to have beers with Jordan to talk about how to get 4 premierships. TBH this group started early, and were doing things with Crossey with music on the far side of the field next to Punt Road, so I never got that good a look at them unless they were running the perimeter.The main group rocked up at about 9:35 - 9:40. Tardy buggers.Now to add a further layer of complication to the who is big, who is small debate for Topkent to argue about, my body shape observations are that other than Kent who looks to me much as he ever has only with bandaged shoulder, everyone appears to have come back in decent shape with some looking very good indeed. Max Gawn, as reported elsewhere, is leaner. Stretchy is really hard looking - this was evident last off season too. He seems to have one of those body types that shows muscle definition clearly. The ripped award goes to Joel Smith who was running with TMac at one stage, both wearing those silly GPS bra things. He looks like one of those Olympic sprint swimmers - washboard belly with clear 6 pack - and makes Tommy look portly if that was ever possible. Wagner in great shape too, but when is he not? His concerns do not include skin folds, which is just as well because in my view he has other issues to contend with.Channel 7 reported Petracca as ‘lean’ a few weeks back, which to my mind is media puff because he looks much the same to me. He is a big lad who has borrowed May West’s thighs, after either winning or losing a bet depending on your POV. He trains really well and is generally smiling, except during running drills where he looks like a guy hefting around 90 plus kilos who still has endurance work to do. The coaches are all over him, and Mitch Hannah who also struggles with running drills, but Ancient said Trac has improved already from a few weeks back where he was struggling to keep up, so maybe he can spend the summer shadowing Ollie shadowing Stretch and create a kind of domino effect premiership side.Clayton Oliver looks like a different person to the guy we drafted. He’s lean and has muscles and stuff, and is very focussed and effective all through the session, and the big surprise is none other than Mitch King who really has gone from ‘LOL you’re kidding’ to the heights of an interesting theoretical possibility. Hogan looking good and has come back relatively lean, in a big forward type way, and Pedo looks heaps better than last year post surgery when he was puffing his way though hours of Crossey type punishment.Goodwin also absent, but I think the draft might be held in Sydney this year so he’s probably heading there.I am now going to make a cheese sandwich and will return with more once I’ve eaten it and can recall some drills and stuff. The cricket has gone to [censored] again, so I will continue.The main group warmed up on some silly drills. They played soccerish stuff with a round ball which everyone seemed to enjoy. Our best soccer player is head-and-shoulders James Harmes who was having a Beckham-like blinder, and Dom Tyson isn’t bad either. Welcome to the next International Rules match boys. Then they play cone dancing for a bit - kind of footspeed, balance drill with players in turn having to skitter inside a diamond of different colour cones towards the colour cone yelled by a coach. Everyone okay at this. Of course there is the routine hilarious moment where the coach yells “red!” And everyone falls over their feet because there is no red cone. Wacko. What with the soccer drill then the invisible cone dance this all looks to me like a super way to do an ankle. By now I take two paracaetamol because my temper has taken a sudden nose-dive for no good reason.Then some real drills in ball movement. Interestingly with a spot of light body work, so we’re ahead of the curve, but no full tackling, just some friendly nudges. The players have split into three rough groups which are the defenders, forwards and mids (loosely speaking). I was closest to the mids. Thinking back to preseason a few years back, we look a much sharper, more experienced and generally better unit then back then. Plus Dawes isn’t here which is a relief and works even better than the paracaetamol on my head. Harmes is killing it in the midfield for sharpness and intensity. I’m pleased about this. His best footy is really valuable - read 1st quarter against Saints last we played - but like a true demon his consistency hasn’t been great. But he looks the real deal ATM so I’m hoping for a big year. Also he has terrible tats and his hair is achieving new heights of dodgy so I’m thinking breakout, Dusty type Brownlow year for the Horse.I check out Balic’s work and thought he looked okay, certainly not out of place. He has a good size and body shape for midfield, though looks a bit softer than some of our returning players which is hardly surprising given he is pretty young and hasn’t had much of a run at AFL game time as yet. I will watch with interest. He has an awesome totally deadpan expression, like a police officer reading from his notebook in the Federal Magistrates. His flat affect will no doubt drive Bigfooty posters to extremes during the year and I’m looking forward to it. Given he was a low pick, injury riddled past, only a year contract, and isn’t best 22 yet he seems totally the perfect character for a Melbourne sponsorship. Whoever goes to the BBQ has exactly 1 hour to make him smile or pay everyone here $50 (photo or it didn’t happen).We also did some full team drills where the Simon Goodwin changing lanes special is on full display. Skills are pretty sharp overall, though as Sir Hugh pointed out Jesse did some real worm burners from time to time. I like to think it was intended to sharpen the ground ball skills of his teammates, such is his generosity. But on the whole we look like a functioning unit rather than a group of randoms who showed up for a spot of kick-to-kick which is encouraging. Petracca is loud and somewhat ADHD but a few more running sessions quieten him down eventually (his recovery is very good - he is a complete goose again before home time). Track also does his tongue out thing at seemingly random times, so I’m now convinced it is totally unconscious. I hope he doesn’t get a surprise tackle while like that. All in all, I think we can be reasonably confident that the change lanes thing should be executed well in 2018. Hopefully in the season we can add in the taking marks thing, the not spoiling each other thing, the kicking goals thing and not going missing during random quarters for no obvious reason thing.JKH is training well, though I should point out that every time I have been to training he is going well - he’s very focussed and generally upbeat in training. But full marks for effort even though I’m not convinced he will make it as an AFL player - he won’t die not knowing, so good for him. Harmes is the dynamo of the day though - he is completely on and wins the intensity award. Also smiles a fair bit; but his teeth are pretty big so it’s probably just more comfortable to display bits of them from time to time and give his lips a rest.Late in the session there is some goal practice. Jesse redeems himself with some excellent kicking in set shots from various angles. He is also putting a fair bit of time now and after the session in practicing snaps for goal, so maybe this year he has decided to shrink and become a crumbing forward in the hope of winning over Ando. Jake Melksham has paired up with Jesse and misses virtually everything. Someone needs to get in his head and tell him its neck and neck in the 4th. Christians 1 and 2 both look good. One quiet and one loud. I’ll leave it to you to decide which. Oliver goes about his business like a pro. There are some nice moments where everyone is lined up watching the goal kicker and generally sledging to put the man off his game. So its a general testosterone competition of gruff swearing and raucous HaHa-ing - passing dog walkers glance over thinking its international pirate day. Harmes hasn’t tailed off yet and his goal kicking is solid from all angles.With some more running just for fun, the last bit consists of some positional work in pairs. Max has taken Mitch King off to one end and they do some light contested stuff. Max wins mostly but Mitch doesn’t look utterly out of place any more which is a step in the right direction. Jesse is working hard on getting some distance on his man (OMac), pushing off or out-bodying. He looks great now, and OMac not doing a bad job. Close by Pedo and Keilty are doing similar work but with more comedic misses and general pointless running about, falling over, scrambling etc, but who knows what the coaches are asking for so whatever they are doing could be perfect for all I know. So lets say it is perfect and give both a big hand.Some other coaches are doing contested midfield work tapping it to players taking turns in offensive and defensive roles. This group are all travelling well, even Balic who looks like a footballer (but still hasn’t smiled or for that matter twitched). He is getting a fair bit of encouragement but that could have been to get his face to move.And so it ends. I head off towards a tram. I try to hang by Christian Salem and Melksham who are in conversation to find out what interesting things footy players chat about. What I found out is that Jake reckons sessions like that are the pits for changing shoes from spikes to runners. He’s right. They all should get a pay rise. I slope off when both become aware that they have attracted a third person to their conversation and give me some WTF looks.Overall the dynamic looks good and we will probably get a premiership this year

Not at all, She eventually got Viney to sign her name on there along with his own. I got my jersey signed by the team and she couldn't understand why

It seems like most people have covered things really well but I'll throw in my two cents. I'll add to the praise for JKH, I must have missed all of the turnovers because I think at this stage he'll make Kent/ Garlett nervous about maintaining their spots in the best 22. Sure he missed a couple of targets under high pressure but they were still generally to advantage. I'm not sure I agree about Vandeburg, I thought he was a bit clumsy even though he was in everything, he seems happy he's in the new jersey though. In regards to Keilty, he took some great marks and seemed to be getting around the ground fairly well, I would have liked to see him in the forward/ backs drill at the end ( might have missed him in there earlier when I was watching the grappling drill). One moment stood out for me as it was right in front of me on the wing. JKH had gotten away from his direct opponent (not sure who it was) and sat underneath a bit of a floater. Keilty was about 15m away jogging over to pick him up when (I think) Lewis yelled at him to go hard and that he would make it so he put the foot down and absolutely bowled over poor JKH, he hurt himself a little bit in the process but received a lot of praise for the extra effort as it spilled the ball to the advantage of his team. Oliver was a bit of a standout, there's not much of his puppy fat left on him, he looks a lot fitter so I'm a bit confused by all of the reports from dlanders and reporters saying he is under done. Another standout moment was when he was leading for a ball that missed the target and went to his opponent heading the opposite direction. They managed to get the ball away quickly and got 15m on Oliver and ran up to link after the kick. Ollie put his head down closed the space to prevent that option. His opponent didn't get used so it probably wasn't noticeable but I thought that defensive gut running in that heat was impressive. Ollie looks like he can get up a bit of speed when he get going, i think he'll run out a few more games this year. Oscar McDonald also impressed me today, he still needs to put on a bit of size but he was very competitive against the much bigger Max and Hoges. The forward/ backs drill at the end had 4 talls standing in a diamond shape about 20m apart while one player had to compete for the ball as Lewis bombed it towards them, they then had to run to the next contest and compete with all four before changing out. Everyone was cheering on Weids at the end who was absolutely spent and really only lost out to Max who shoved him aside and took it out in front. I though Oscar Mac comepeted really well in this drill. Hogan, Max and Watts were obviously all very impressive in this drill but as far as winning the ball in the air O mac and Frosty made it particularly difficult for them. The wrestling drill was a bit of laugh, it seemed they almost had to wrestle each other to the ground before leading for a short kick. Pedo struggled towards the end against Mackenna which wasn't surprising at the end of an almost 4 hour session. Garland and Watts were fun to watch. I didn't really notice many of the new boys, Hibberd seems fairly surly, I either didn't notice or didn't see Tim Smith (hard when they're in bibs/ have new numbers) and only realised who Melksham was when my mate picked out his fleuro yellow boots. I was disappointed that Brayshaw was in the rehab group, I didn't get a chance to ask why but I was really looking forward to seeing him. Dom Tyson is a top bloke who came over for a chat sweating bullets from some boxing, he looks ready to get back to the main group, we might see him in the JLT series if everything goes well for him. He seems to think they're being cautious with him and said he would be spewing if he didn't play round 1. Flippas legs are massive from his soccer days, he may need to lose a bit of weight off them or build his upper body to match. Either way I can see him being a decent tap ruckman in the future because he'll be very hard to move off of the ball. Watts and a few of the boys enjoyed the fact I was wearing his Skwosh shorts. Hogan signed my little girls hat but she doesn't get the concept of a signature and thought he should put her name on it. Her words were "But now it doesn't belong to me, it belongs to him." It might be worth something one day. That's about it for the moment, sorry for the late post, hopefully it gets you through your Monday, questions are welcome. P.S I didn't go through and edit, hopefully it's not a tough read

I've watched a couple of pre-season games on it so far, all have been available so I would assume this will continue to be the case.

The Crowd: Melbourne Demons AFL 2016 pre-season training session report I just saw something pretty familiar on foxsports. Well done on the publication!

I went to school with her and she's a gold coast girl. Both her and Jaegers girlfriend went to my school and they're both friends. I've met them both before and Dion is the more likely to move down but I wouldn't count Jaeger out of moving either just not probably to the Dees. From what Dions girlfriend has said in the past, she would want to move down to Melbourne. She is best friends with Daniel Gorringes girlfriend who has just finished her degree and likely looking for a job down in Melbourne. Sorry, I know like this just sounds like a lot of school yard gossip but I lived with Jaegers Girlfriend and she was in my year at school and the other two were good friends and in the grade below, while Gorringes girlfriend was in my classes at uni. For some reason just about every girl in my grade or the grade below is going out with a suns player (another friend is going out with Tom Lynch).

Thanks fndee, Not during the two player contested drill at the end of training, I actually don't believe I saw any ruck contests all day if someone else can confirm? I think the trainers were just giving it to a player to start the full field contests. They may be taking a cautious approach to Max's knees, it would be the first time he made it through a full preseason I think.

I made the trek up to the training on Saturday from the GC to finally see the boys up here for the first time in three years. Most things have been covered pretty well but I thought I would share some things that I noticed as repayment for the many training reports I have sifted through. I know everyone is always keen to hear about the new fellas so I'l start with them: Oliver: The kid has a massive frame and knows how to use it as evidenced by his crunching tackle on VDB (who looks like a bigger Viney at the moment having lost his excess fat), however, it looks like it will still take a while for him to look the part, happy with the aggression for now. He looked right at home during contested work and was really enthusiastic in defense as well when playing handball keeping's off early. He did look a little bit lost on the outside and knowing when to lead for a ball but he may just have been catching his breath. I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this but he is one of the most energetic people I have ever seen when standing on the mark, this may be how he has increased his fitness. Weidemann: He's a pretty strong overhead mark and a fairly decent kick but it does seem that occasionally he loses focus and funnily enough it's the shorter kicks that go slightly astray, it looks a bit like his ball drop is still a bit high. He was a really great bloke and very happy to have a chat with the fans, he seems like he could be a potential leader at the club and a future replacement ambassador for Wattsy. Hullett: Everyone already knows he is a massive unit, he easily looks like 26 year old veteran entering his prime. Unfortunately, I didn't see a lot of him for some reason and i'm not sure if he was up the other end or doing other things. King: Still very skinny in the way that Oscar Mac was when he first started and needs to get up his fitness, one of the coaches kept on getting in his ear and the boys resting on the sideline were very encouraging while telling him where to run and when he put in the effort. Wagner: In my opinion he should get an upgrade at the start of the season, he reads the play quite well and had a pretty decent left boot. He was usually the centre of most drills and I found my eyes constantly being drawn to something he had done, not sure if it's just because of the blonde hair or not but he seemed a bit like the next VDB pick up with a bit less muscle and a bit more skill, he should cover for the loss of Melksham. Smith: I was really surprised when I saw this guy, from reports I expected a skinny kid who might look a little lost in training. He impressed me with his skills and seemed to be running really well. He has a good strength base to start from and his basketball background seems to have prepared him for football. He did not look at all out of place. Bugg: I'm pretty keen to this guy play, he was in all of the right places and found the ball easily. He did however take the completely wrong option out of defense at one stage kicking a long bomb to (i think) billy stretch on the sideline with big maxy 10 metres away who came thundering over with a massive spoil much to the fans pleasure, he completely crunched all in his path. He's very vocal on and off the ground and seems to have fit in very well pretty quickly. Kennedy: I think most people have covered it pretty well, his lateral evasive skills are excellent and his kicking wasn't nearly as bad as his 'highlight' reel made him out to be. Looks awful with the new shaven head but I can't hold that against him if he plays the way he trains. Some other observations: Maxy Gawn absolutely ragdolled Watts when he tried to run around him in the keepings off. Watts didn't seem happy and got up to push him back but I don't think Max noticed. Vandenburg layed a few very strong tackles and a big bump on Tommy Mc which is no small feat. I watched Trengrove pretty closely in the rehab group as I'm one of the many hoping he has a spectacular comeback. He looked very comfortable running and no longer looks like a sick cow during the sprints, while not the fastest, he certainly looks a lot quicker than he did pre-injury, more season debut Trengrove. I watched him do a bit of kicking too and seemed pretty comfortable but did not use his left. It was basically a kick to kick amongst the rehabbers and crossy, gawn? Hoges, spencil and King. He is also looking pretty big in the chunk style of body only taller. If I didn't know about his past injuries I wouldn't have thought he was that far away from a return to football, looks can be deceiving I guess. Chunk and Gus are ultra competitive during a drill at the end of training, a trainer would throw up the ball for spencer to tap down to two competing players. Chunk and Gus were only interested in versing each other. Chunk came out on top 4 - 0 last I heard and absolutely let Gus know about it chanting '4 nil, 4 nil'. Salem and Garland were up against each other and Salem was unhappy about having his arms held while behind Garland, it seemed a fairly even contest. Tommy Mcs kicking looks to have improved and he was switching the play really well, lets hope that translates to games. Gus and Terlich got blasted by one of the coaches for 'not running [censored] hard enough'. A bit unfair on gus as he was still bitter about giving a free away on wagner. A real stand out early on for me was JKH, he was really agressive in the drills and seemed constantly involved both defensively and offensively. Great hands in the hand ball drills. Kent also looked great, during a two on two drill he was dominating the others and wrong footed JKH and burst past which didn't look like an easy thing to do. Hoges left very early with the rehab group which included nibbler but both looked fine, might have just had a rest day. It was a bit of a shame I didn't get to see him but my sister ran him down in the car park and got a photo much to my annoyance. I didn't see Max king anywhere but it was hard to tell the difference between some with the hats on. Dom Tyson seemed to be on light duties and a fair few older supporters were asking me if I could see him out there, again, the hats didn't help. Our training gear seemed pretty flimsy, Salem, Bugg, Kent all had big tears in their gear or needed new singlets. Could just be the aggression? Let me know if you have any questions and i'll do what I can. P.S. I did not check for spelling errors, couldn't be bothered.

Rhiannon, I also went to school with Dions girlfriend and she lives on the gold coast so not sure how a move for him would go.

His girlfriend is a friend of mine and lives down in melbourne, possible factor in a move?