Rosso

The thing about Toumpy kicking 4 in the intra club last year is that he kicked 3 of them on Maia Westrupp, who was nowhere near AFL standard. I reckon this actually worked against him in the end, cos he was then played as a forward pocket early in the season due to so many injuries we had and barely saw the ball for the first 5 rounds, with no key forwards to feed off. By this time he was out of form and his confidence shot, leading to a long stint in the VFL. I really hope thy play him on the ball or half back flank this year.

Also for what it's worth Gary Ablett is not in the top 15 at Gold Coast time trials.

One thing that I can't believe has not been reported in the Australian media is that on the 1st of January, WADA increased the minimum sentence for a doping violation from 2 years to 4 years (see BBC article http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/30648392 ) If this applies to the 34 accused then it would double the time out suspended and have major ramifications for the AFL, even if as expected the players recieve a discounted sentence for cooperating. Whether or not the players are subject to this new rule or whether they fall under the law that was in place when the doping violation occurred I don't know?? If there's any lawyers out there reading it would be great to get clarification on this.

Regarding the 3k time trial, Roosy said towards the end of his pre-season update video ( http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2014-12-22/paul-roos-preseason-update ) that the players would do their 3k time on the Friday of the first week back (this Friday) and that they would be expecting personal bests from pretty much everyone. Speaking of that video, how tired does Roosy look!! Looks like he hasn't slept for a whole year (which he probably hasn't, given the mess he inherited!!) Thanks to all those who've posted reports from training, much appreciated. I've been down a few times this pre-season and 2 of the big standouts for me have been Jack Viney and Dom Tyson. Very excited about these guys this year!!

It's funny reading how different people who were all at the same game have vastly contrasting reports of the same players. I remember once going to a dees vs dogs game and thinking Scott west had a very quiet game , then saw in the paper the next day he had 42 possessions! For what it's worth I thought Tyson just oozed class today, what stood out was his ability to get the ball under pressure and then with a few quick steps get himself out of traffic and into a non pressure situation

Here's a transcript of texts I sent to same mates who couldn't make it. -Blues vs whites warming up. -Blues - hogan, Dawes, Viney, Strauss, McDonald, Dunn, Westrupp, Blease , Jetta, Barry, trenners, spencer, Mckenzie, Howe, jamar, Evans, Michie, Clisby Matt jones, kent Whites - Toumpas, Gawn, cross, Jonesy, grimes, georgiou, JKH, max king, Salem, Vince, Byrnes, pedersen, nicho, Tyson, chip, bail, terlich, Jack watts nowhere to be seen Tappy and Riley in rehab group Heaps of voice in warm up. Boys are pumped!!! Don mcclardy in the coaches and officials roped off area deep in convo with Todd Viney Fitzy also in the whites team Hot down here already, breezy conditions Clint Stanaway here for a look Spoke to one of the assistants watts not injured, but not here as he is feeling ill Ill hey?? Mmm, the bloke was a bit cagey when he answered. About to start here Spencer full fwd chip on him, Georgiou on hogan, Terlich on Howe Salem lace out to fitzy Salem picks up a half volley helicopter at full pace wheels onto the left and lasers it 40m to Toumpas who catches it at full stretch a foot off the ground. Slots it from 35 straight in front. First goal to the whites Hogan marks out on the lead in front of chip More good play from Salem and Toumpad results in set shot for Pedo Dobs it from 50m, 45 degree angle Toumpas goals from 50m after marking on the lead. Has a Josh Kennedy stutter on his run up but two beautiful kicks so far Salem another fwd entry to fitzy for a mark who Kicks to Toumpas free kick for in the back. Kicks his 3rd Iffy Free kick to hogan. Pedo fuming. Sprays it from 35 for a point Blease loads of running and a number of touched early Goal to hogan from open play from 10m out. Just before the interval Restart. Goal to Howe. Tyson and Michie getting lots of it Viney running laps, but is fully kitted up? Matt jones getting heaps of it too. 3 clearances in a row Hogan off this quarter Blease very impressive here Trenners not playing, not sure why?? Did the warm up Tyson is wearing no 9 after warming up in 12 Toumpas breaks through the middle and hits Nath jones 45 out, he misses his second set shot of the q and berates himself with a high pitched scream Toumpas again through the middle. Great vision hitting it diagonally 40m to JKH Who marks and runs into open goal from 25 out 2 out of 3 20m periods done. Best so far in order. Whites: Toumpas, Tyson, Salem, N jones Blues: Matt jones and Blease equally good for different reasons. Jones / clearances. Blease work rate and winning outside ball Very hot here. Boys are battling a bit Viney stretching out on a guy busting 300m, almost collapses as he finishes Garland appears to be doing some coaching with Pedo at the break 3rd period about to start. Whites back kicking with the wind again. Hogan back on for Blues. Georgiou goes to him again Blease half back lining up on Vince Michie first hands but Toumpas wraps him up with a great tackle Hogan strong mark 55 out Hogan and Jonesy brief wrestle. Stalemate Michie great at clearances Hogan great tackle in Grimesy Lovely work in half back by JKH Nice snap out of a pack for a goal by Pedo Toumpas marks from grimes and kicks his 4th Howe and grimes swap teams Blease handball to kent who misses from 10m Hogan marks and goals from 40 out on the boundary Roos has stopped play twice in last 5 mins, getting frustrated at the boys for not moving it quick enough Game over

Welcome aboard Port Demons. I don't suppose you can tell us who you coached and what years?

Some observations from this morning to add to the fairly comprehensive run down that have already been posted. - I got there at 9:20 and the boys were out on the ground doing their warm ups. I left at 11:45 and there were still some players out on the ground, with the bulk of the group having just finished. The reason I mention this is that for well over 2 hours they really went at it and were still going strong at the end in hot (27degrees) and windy conditions, Simply put these boys are really fit (I assume all clubs would be at a similar level but it was impressive nonetheless). - the main session finished with some repeat effort gut running/strength work. This consisted of a set of about 15 push ups in the centre of the ground ,, followed by a sprint to the goal posts and back (JKH smashed them all there and back)' this was followed by a set of 15 or so sit ups, then another run this time to about 35m out from goal and back, (this time JKH paid for his earlier exertion and was well back in the pack., next was a sustained bridge (isometric ab exercise) then more run throughs, one more strength exercise and a final run through. Most interesting thing for me out of all of this was in the last run through back to middle of the ground Ie after 3-4 power/strength efforts with intensity running in between. Jack Watts was one of the first to finish, and ahead of T-Mac. - Watts' skills stood out in very windy conditions today, in a run and carry exericise 2hrs into the session, he lasered a ball 45m diagonally, and weighted it perfectly just over the fingers of Grimesy to hit the leading target in the chest. Extremely impressive given the volume of running already completed. I would just love him to assert himself a bit more, an example of this was in a transition drill moving the ball from backline to full forward, with a blue team and a green team. Jack (Blue) had put 5m on Grimesy (Green) leading out to the wing, and Nicho had the ball on half back flank looking for a target. Despite being clear of his opponent he didn't call for the ball, and Nicho ended up kicking it 10m past him to Pickles (For those wondering Nicho hit pickles with the pass. )I was thinking at the time if this was a game situation where a player had the option of pickles or watts both free, the ball simply has to go to Watts, and he has to really really want the ball in those situations and vocally demand it, so that he can hurt teams with his foot skills. - Dawes looks in very good physical condition. Compared to training sessions this time last year he is fmustve dropped at least 3-4 kilos as he looks far more chiseled. His Muscle definition is very impressive. He took his shirt off at one point while doing work with the rehab group and I instantly felt imasculated. And lastly from me it's been mentioned that one of the fun things they incorporated into training today was an exercise where players paired up standing opposite each other. Then each player with their right hand grabbed opposite players left wrist. The challenge was to slap the other player in the face with your left hand (which the other player tried to stop as they were holding your wrist with their right hand), whilst at the same time stopping your opponent from slapping you in the face with his left hand.... Sorry if that's confusing but it's hard to explain, essentially it required strength, peripheral vision and good boxing skills.... Anyway notable pairs first time they did this Nath Jones vs Trenners who surprisingly held his own (I expected Jonesy to eat him up). Grimes vs Watts (stalemate). The next time they did this towards the end if the session Jonesy was opposed to Jayden Hunt, and predictably dominated him, giving him 4 really good slaps in the face!! Hilarious!! By this time of the session there were only about 6 of us left on the punt rd side of the ground who saw it but suffice to say it provided us with great amusement.

Watts' injury didn't look serious , at one point after a rub down it appeared he might re-join training, but then must've got word not to risk it

I popped along for a look this morning. I got there at 9:50 and from reading Tappy's report I must've just missed seeing Hogan and Viney. In fact I didn't see any of the tall forwards (Mitch, fizzy, hogan) training today?? I had thought maybe a scheduled day off. Other than what Tappy covered a few other observations. - didn't see Max Gawn at all - Jack watts pulled out of training about 3/4 of the way through with what appeared to be a niggle in the upper leg / groin area. He received treatment for about 5 mins then spoke to chip who was watching on, before grabbing his bag and making his way back towards AAMI. On the way he stopped and posed with a group of love struck teenage girls for photos and autographs for a good 10 mins - also on watts he was imploring his group to be "perfect" in their execution of a ball movement drill which was good to see. - skills were pretty sharp on the whole, Nicho hit almost very target for the day except for one woeful helicopter. - as others have commented Roosy far more of a teacher during training than Neeld was. - I was impressed by Trenners today, sharp in everything I saw him do and hit targets well in the ball movement drills I left about 11:20 a group including T-mac, cross, Trenners, Toumpas, Jonesy, Vince , Pedo and Dunn were running a mix of approx, 800m then 600m at a reasonable clip. I timed T-Mac at 1:16 secs for a lap of Gosch's, with the others coming through in the order I listed. Pedo and Dunn brought up the tail in 1:26, with the others all around the 1:20 mark.

I personally would love to see Liam back in the red and blue. Liam undoubtably made some poor choices (for which he has paid the price) and I am certainly not here to defend what has occurred. However, I believe people deserve a second chance in life, and what Liam does have is more pure footballing talent than pretty much very player on our list. In 2012 he kicked 40+ goals in an ordinary side when it was fair to say football was not his main priority, given the fact that his home community in Yuendumu had been split down the middle following the stabbing death of one of his close friends in an incident in Alice springs. It is also worth noting that while he has had trouble with the law when back in amongst the trouble with his community, he never had problems while he was here in Melbourne and has to be considered a very low risk of re-offending here in Melbourne, where he has strong support networks through Bruce Hearn McKinnon and family. Additionally, Liam was and is well loved by those who played with him at the club. The situation in Yuendumu has improved significantly. Recently, there was a reconciliation football match, and the community has begun to heal. With a stable situation in his community, Liam can now focus on football again. He would cost us nothing and with the talent he has I think it is worth the gamble.

Mike has always been a harsh judge of Melbourne players. I guess so that he can't be accused of being biased. Dangerfield no. 3 in the comp this year according to Mike. I'd probably have him around 8-10, either way it makes our decision to pick Cale Morton at #4 in the same draft that Dangerfield went at #10 so so painful.

I have a friend who is a footy journo at one of the major Melbourne newspapers, and he/she told me that the reason their paper has gone so hard on the tanking issue, is because the AFL has for years so doggedly refused to accept that tanking exists. Essentially, without the repeated denial, it wouldn't have been as big a story. It just so happened that Brock, gave the media the material to really go hard after Demetriou and his denials. Incidentally, I wonder whether Mike Sheahan as a Melbourne supporter and Gerard Healy as a former player wish they had never had Brock on the show that night?? On the subject of the penalties, which have now left many media types baffled (how can we be cleared of tanking, and yet be fined $500k??) , it seems to me that all parties were in on the deal. Melbourne wanted to be cleared of tanking, and the AFL wanted a penalty of some description, and neither party wanted to go to the courts, but both were prepared to go there if necessary. So we offered up Connolly as a scapegoat, who for his part agreed to be the said scapegoat in return for a year off (fully paid), we got cleared of tanking and the AFL was able to save face by being seen to have run an investigation that (somewhat) recognised that foul play was afoot, BUT also showed that Demetriou had been right all along in denying the existence of tanking.

Whilst respecting your right to disagree Satyricone, I am 100% confident it was Joel MacDonald. He kicked 1 out on the full to where the tents were set up, kicked another 5 metres wide on the other side. Landed one 5 metres short of Jack Viney so that he was tackled to the ground by two fluro greens as soon as he picked the ball up, and fluffed another where Rodan was the intended target. With regards to the "consecutive" I apologise for the ambiguous description, I meant to say consecutive kicks from him, not necessarily that there wasn't others who had kicks in between his.

Throw in left footed, pace to burn and highly skilful. Troy Simmonds wouldn't want to pop in to training, that's for sure!!