Copuchas

"but it's about understanding there's roles that have to be played. For our team it's not about kicking goals and getting touches, it's about doing what's required for the team" Unclear? Really?? And with a player that Goodwin and McCartney have a history of having made personal interventions with in terms of what was required and who also was dropped for the last game of the 2015 season over similar issues. Don't get me wrong, I love Jack Watts. But clearly a few Footy Show appearances, some deserved accolades for his 2016 season have him believing it will all just continue to flow for him. The coaching staff know that's not the case and have taken the opportunity to make a point.

The Tom McDonald comments of afl.com.au make it clear that this is not a figment of ProDee's imagination, nor the original poster of the story. I think the Max Gawn interview did as well but accept it was somewhat open to interpretation whereas TMac is unequivocal and all that's left to ponder is whether a) Watts presented poorly for the intraclub; b) he broke or failed to adhere to team rules in the intraclub (presumably in terms of pressure acts / defensive actions). It is clearly not about how he presented for preseason training. Having said that, this is a storm in a tea cup and simply represents an early line in the sand from Goodwin around expectations and the fact that there will be no exceptions, nor any tolerance of non conformance. Only way to run a footy club that's seriously focused on a journey for mine. Watts will learn and others that have a propensity to end up in the same space eg Jeffy will sit up and take notice. All good. Move on.

And Mckenna. Possibly the logic of leaving Watts out is that they want to see how the forward line looks with both Spencer and Gawn playing (and Weidemann / Hogan).

Selection is going to be extremely interesting - 45 players on the list. Hibberd won't play JLT 1 and nor will Kent, Kennedy, King or White. I doubt that Hannan is yet ready or Filipovic. Tyson also improbable. That still leaves 37 to choose a 29 man squad from with a further 3 to be cut. Lewis will play apparently and so will Melksham (Peter Ryan article AFL.com). I'll be surprised if Jones plays and they may not want to risk TMac's shoulder. There's an interesting trade-off of refining the modified game plan versus injury risk to proven performers (Gawn, Jones, Viney, Vince) plus getting exposure in to the newbies (Keilty, T & J Smith, Maynard, McKenna etc).

main group and looked great. No residual bandaging or anything.

as was Brayshaw incidentally. I see quite a bit of training and am struggling to remember having seen the whole list on the park previously and having cross checked the playing list I believe they all in fact were, with only the 4 in the rehab group (and all of them moving freely). It's a magnificent achievement / happenstance or whatever you want to ascribe it to on the cusp of the season!

yes, Nev was fully involved with the main group and looked good

Stayed at training for a bit over an hour. White and Mitch King in the rehab group with Kent and Kennedy. And Hulett and Tim Smith were helping them out but rejoined the main group afterwards. Kent doesn't look too far off rejoining. I didn't tick off the full list but I believe everyone else was there and training. Certainly Joel Smith was back in the group, Tyson was moving well. Notably JKH was pared with Hunt in the run through session and was holding his own. Rucks practised their craft after the running with Gawn, Spencer and Flipper under Stafford's tutelage. I didn't watch it too closely. For the contested activity that Ken referred to a square box was set up at either end with the squad being split in half and then in to two teams. Essentially a game of keepings off with the focus on intercept marking and quick ball movement. The northerly had kicked in by this juncture so there was a stiff breeze but the overall execution in terms of kicking skills was good. Once again, JKH was prominent as was Trengove. Oliver sublime in traffic. One shank from Melksham in an otherwise polished display. Lots of enthusiasm as you'd expect on the eve of the first hit out. Pleasingly Hibberd joined in everything and looked unrestricted. There's still some issues in terms of Petracca's kicking skills - it's a s much about keeping his decision making in check with his execution capability. It will be interesting in terms of who makes the squad on Saturday - there's plenty to choose from.

I think the upgrade tickets are all gone and just GA left.....

He also cleaned up Wattsy's somewhat clumsy efforts from yesterday in terms of our hopefully newfound ability to show up and be competitive on a consistent basis! http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-02-03/exhawk-new-dee-jordan-lewis-training-like-he-has-a-point-to-prove-

3,623 posts and only 873 likes.....hhhmmm....if there was an algorithm for a troll you would most certainly trigger the threshold. Don't think I'll waste my time engaging.....

It's been discussed here before that a best 22 is fast becoming an esoteric concept as the list gets more depth to it. Billy Stretch doesn't seem to get much love externally and Wagner's debut year has obviously been dismissed as has Frost's late flourish. Not to mention Harmes' current form on the track. And that's prior to debating Pedersen ahead of Weideman and whether Bugg gets a look in over Vandenberg or Melksham and whether Joel Smith can be a smoky, Maynard or Hannan or Kielty or Tim Smith step up etc. The major point though is that the writer talks about the key issue for Goodwin being shallow depth after the core four midfielders he nominates. I think many of the so called experts will read it this way and may well be surprised. More importantly for us, we already know that Stretch's, Harmes' and Wagner's best is to be reckoned with and this should mean that whoever's on the park is performing.

or possibly he was just severely fatigued from sleep deprivation and not thinking as clearly as usual.....

I was somewhat surprised to see this: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-01-11/key-position-demons-tom-mcdonald-and-cam-pedersen-shoulder-the-burden as I understood the concept behind a closed session was that the media and "spies" from other clubs weren't welcome. Does it just apply to non-AFL media or is there a waiver if you write a positive article? !

Just a few more observations (I got there a bit late): - Jayden Hunt is just oozing class in everything he does - kicked a 55m torp during some casual goal kicking practice towards the end, as well as others on the run from just inside 50 - Petracca was having major challenges with his goal kicking from around 50 and was the butt of several jokes. Some of his kicks were outright shanks. Nathan Jones queried whether he's holding the ball too angled and JKH chimed in with the ball drop possibly being too high. - JKH comfortably kicked a drop punt set shot from outside 50 and looks to have improved all facets of his game. I hope he gets a run at it. - Pedo and Garlett in running drills for the 2nd half - Declan and Bull two of the last to leave - PJ in deep but relaxed conversation with Todd Viney and Simon Goodwin at the end - Salem really working intently on his midfield craft Will top this post up if I think of any others.

Tim, thanks for the shots including my 10 month old wheaten terrier, Fergus. I was standing next to you. For the benefit of all, the pre-Xmas camp was at Mt Disappointment...near Whittlesea. Sounds like it was quite a hitout and hopefully it will live in name only, other than for Dom Tyson! Concur with the other comments posted. For mine: Viney more intense than ever, now that he's back in the main group, Oscar looks appreciably bulked up but still makes some basic execution errors, Watts made a couple of uncharacteristic errors (missed passes, dropped marks) and left the track early with some leg complaint, Spencer looks the best I've seen him in terms of executing the drills, Bull Smith's hands are a weapon, Keilty looks like he belongs, not sure Hulett is ultimately going to get there, Weideman noticeably bigger, Vandenberg moving much more freely, Garland shanked a kick or two (and I'm a fan). Overall, a very positive hitout for the first day back in warm conditions with a northerly breeze.

Website says 0930 tomorrow at Gosch's..

Jeez Rjay, I love your passion for the red and the blue, but Membrey kicked 44 goals last year! Does that make Watts (38 goals) a B grader or a C grader? It's commonplace to look at Membrey through the spud lens but the fact of the matter is he got the job done last year well and truly (particularly against us). Our forward line is a work in progress...we need consistency out of Kent, Garlett needs to return to his 40+ a year form (and I think he will with faster ball movement under Goodwin) and Petracca needs to become a weapon (which will require a vast improvement in his set shot routine amongst other things). Hogan has been discussed ad nauseum on here - I think he'll up the ante significantly this year.

Drunkn, any rational observer would concur that the Casey / MFC arrangement is operating optimally. There are control freaks who forget or choose to ignore the origins of the agreement and the stark choices confronting a MFC that was on its knees in every sense at the time it was made. For them it's something that could be terminated tomorrow in view of our recent financial turnaround and potential future onfield success. There is a hubris and arrogance that goes with such a view that fortunately doesn't pervade the current MFC administration. Fortunately those in charge understand the reputational kudos that attaches to meeting your commitments and making them work optimally.

Not only that, but with a young group any statistics based analysis is weighted against most of our list. It's classical lag indicator analysis applied to future forecasting. The Champion Data (or any other data) doesn't predict when established elite players fall off a cliff, nor does it predict breakout seasons. The excitement of the Melbourne midfield (and the team generally) is the upside potential in the young talent. If that potential is realised, we'll be smashing these analyses over the next few years. For now, it's a bit of a yawn...

Hulett spent quite a bit of time on the boundary getting treatment for a leg or hip related issue. To my eye, he actually looks a bit leaner than his Casey playing condition last year. Certainly larger than Weideman (who has only put on marginal muscle mass to this stage of the summer but who moves well). Just on SMJ's report, I saw Frost as the laggard of the running group and saw Lewis (wearing no 8 to confuse) in the concurrent handballing drills being undertaken by the others!

Got along to training today, obviously warm blustery conditions. As already noted, no Lumumba. No Garlett either. Everyone else appeared to be there and were either in the rehab group or the main group (with some rotating between, depending on the nature of their injuries). Some random observations: - Petracca already looks leaner, particularly his upper body - Hogan and Brayshaw continue to impress (as was noted in previous sessions) - there is a significant focus on non-preferred foot skills - the ground was segmented into three sections longitudinally with lines running end to end from about a metre either side of each point post. Not clear what role this played in the drills I observed - Lewis is already vocal (eg imploring those in a group that ran 4/5 fast laps to stand up at the completion and not hunch over) - Melksham trained with the main group, Hibberd with the rehab - other rehab group participants (not exhaustive) were Stretch, VDB, Viney, TMAC, Pedersen, Oliver, JKH, Trengove (running laps), King - the skill sessions were mixed - a bit difficult to be fair as conditions were atrocious. Harms and Neal-Bullen (in particular) have some residual challenges around their disposal Will revert with more if anything else comes to mind.

What does it take to get the thread title changed so the spelling is correct?

Must admit to being particularly pleased that Carlton hung fat on the Gibbs trade and in so doing exposed the disingenuity of Gibbs and his manager in requesting a trade to Adelaide under the banner of "personal issues". Whilst I'm not in any position to doubt that there weren't personal issues involved, they obviously weren't of a sufficient nature that Gibbs was prepared to do the right thing by Carlton and request they get him back to South Australia (Port or Crows) in whatever manner best mitigated the loss of his services to Carlton. In robbing Carlton of any possibility of competitive tension in the trade discussions, Gibbs leaves himself open to being accused of looking to jump in to a premiership window, having concluded the Carlton rebuild has a ways to run yet (given the list age profile) and considering he's 28 at the start of next season. Quite where the sanctity of the remaining firm three year contractual commitment fitted in to these deliberations isn't immediately apparent! Hopefully serves as a warning for others contemplating abuse of the "personal / family issues" contract breaking mechanism.

Barrett cops at least his fair share of flack on DL but I thought his observation in today's Sliding Doors was a good one: you intend to rough up Melbourne players next season ... ... make sure you go your hardest. We reckon they might like it. Viney always has. And now he's got Lewis to back him up. And Hibberd. And Melksham. And Vince, Jones and Kent augment those named with Oliver set to break in to the ranks in 2017. Intimidation should be a thing of the past.