Where Demons Dare

Howes went well from what I noticed in training. Playing in the backline, so no positional changes at this stage.

Not sure PF, probably just a minor niggle.

The boys had also done an epic 6km run followed by a hike up Mt. Buffalo the day before... so they can be forgiven if their skills weren't elite at training the following day. We have to remember they're doing a lot of physically demanding tasks outside of main training to help them become more resilient and use teamwork to achieve results. Gotta love team building, it's the quickest way to bring everyone together.

Skills weren't great to be honest today. But it's a new game plan and everyone is still figuring each other out with the massive turnover of staff and players this off season. Our composure will improve in the coming weeks. Even Kingy is absorbing a lot as head coach, I expected him to be more demonstrative and loud, barking instructions but he was quite tame.

Petty was with the forwards today. Most likely we'll have Mihocek, Petty and JVR as the tall bananas in the forward line. Mixing with Fritsch and Melksham as medium forwards and Chandler/ Laurie/ Sharp as the smalls but watch out for Latrelle... he'll be in that forward line in no time with his crafty skills, goal sense and elite pressure.

After watching him up close today, he ain't slow and his endurance is better than all the other new recruits doing repeat high paced runs finishing first every time. My only knock on him at this stage is his awkward kicking at times. But that's why we have trainers... to help players develop their technique.

From what I observed today, White fits right in already and is doing his bit in the team. I'm not worried about his confidence, Kalani is already showing better attributes than Verrall who was on the list for several years. I'd say he is on par with Kentfield and Adams at this stage, which is a huge compliment for a player that was only drafted last week.

White is training in the forward line. Possibly our new Fwd/Ruck Ala Jackson. Wouldn't that be a steal for a rookie selection.

Just an after thought, I'd love Melbourne to come to Wodonga and train at the state of the art facilities at Baranduda fields. There's a huge Melbourne following up here for some reason. A lot of ex-melbournians have moved to rural cities including myself, and I think it'd be great for the MFC to have a bigger presence in this area being so close to Bright. Albury/Wodonga love their footy, and the MFC should be doing community camps up here and building our supporter base.

In regard to Bowey, he was limping quite heavily and tried to jog it off with a trainer. Possibly ankle related, he spent the last hour in the rehab group.

We arrived in the quaint little town of Myrtleford at 9am with a small crowd of primary school kids and roughly 15-20 onlookers. The boys were already into their drills with two different groups on either side of the wings, roughly 15 - 20 players either side. Rehab: Viney, Matthews, Henderson, AMW, McAdam, Jefferson and later Bowey who looked quite ginger (pun intended). Viney and Matthews doing repeat walking up and down a flight of stairs with some black devices in their mouths. Not sure of its purpose but it could possibly be to ensure they breathe through their nose? They then followed up with hand and eye coordination and reflex drills (juggling, ball tossing to one another in rapid fire) at which point Henderson joined them. After that finished the 3 of them spent the rest of the session doing weight training. The other rehabbers in AMW, McAdam and Jefferson were all doing repeat 100m boundary runs for the majority of the session followed by some touch work (reflexes) where a trainer would bullet kick to Hendo or McAdam who were standing 1 meter in front of each other and they had to trick each other into marking or letting it go so the guy behind him marked it, if the ball dropped the guy in-front won. It was amusing to watch. Hendo got the better of McAdam. Jefferson integrated into the main group with some drills. Main training: I was mainly focusing on the big group in-front of us, where they would use just the arcs from back 50 to fwd 50 working on ball movement. In this drill it was a 5 v 7 match up with the bigger group attacking and the smaller defending transition. The bigger group would use either corridor or wing, there was no real preference. I was paying attention to the new kids on these drills and was really impressed with Onley, he's a great size and so agile. Taylor was a bit disappointing with his kicking, he shanked quite a few kicks. The next drill was 5 v 3 using 3/4 ground ball movement drills, taking the ball from the back 50 to a forward marking close to goal. Mihocek, Tmac, Adams and Campbell doing 1v1 marking/spoil drills on each other while a trainer kicked in a high ball deep in the fwd 50. The next drill had the boys doing quick handball movement where it was a 2 v 3 match-up with the trainers acting as the defenders and there were 3 attacking players who had to get past them within a 25m coned off area. Once the attackers had reached the end of the cones the next 3 were straight into play. It was non stop and the boys were pretty gassed by the end of it. Culley, Langford, Pickett and Windsor were the best in these drills. The boys then went on to do 9 v 9 full ground ball drills trying to score end to end. There was a passage where CJ took on Kosi through the corridor thinking he could break away but was quickly taken down by Kosi. CJ was filthy with himself. The boys laid some crunching tackles during these plays. I saw JVR take down May and then quickly get up to pressure the loose ball in play and take down the next player. I was impressed with JVR's repeat efforts. The boys were absolutely gassed from these drills at it's the closest to match sim they could replicate. A lot of the boys were on their haunches sucking in the big ones trying to recover. I don't think I've ever seen Kosi so gassed he and many of the boys took a full minute to get back up. The players then broke into their lines with their respective coaches (fwds, mids, defenders) I was paying close attention to who was in each group. Mentha and Laurie was in the fwds group and Chandler gave Laurie a big hug saying "welcome back, we missed you". Sharp, White and Latrelle also in the forward line. Rivers, Taylor and Turner in defence. Tholstrup and Culley with the mids. As the training was drawing to a close, the entire main group would do 80m - 90m repeat sprints that they had to complete in 10/11 seconds and rest about 20-30 seconds before going again. They did about 10 of these repeat sprints. Now that training was finished, Kingy brought the group in for a quick chat and then sent the players off to sign autographs and to some meet and greets with the locals. Observations: Draftees - Onley looked really impressive, I thought he moved very well and was so agile for a big mid. His kicking was a bit hit and miss. One definitely to watch. Taylor still very green, but he did some great tackles and pressure during ball movement drills. Kicking was a bit iffy today. Latrelle integrated well with the group, he moves well and has great pressure, he looks the most likely of our first draftee to break into the team. White was really good, he already seems like a regular player. I think doing the pre season last year with Melbourne has helped him to fit in right away with the team. Matthews was obviously doing rehab but is a good size and didn't look that much smaller than Hendo or Viney. He'll be good for us. Berry looks to be a medium defender in size and build. He'll need a bit of time to catch up to the AFL standard fitness levels, but I'm hopeful he'll strengthen our backline in time to come. Has leadership qualities. That's about all I can think of for now. I hope you guys enjoy the report. Cheers.

Will do, I'll add it into the report.

They were involved in a fair bit of the drills, but obviously they're still very green trying to soak it all in. Matthews was doing rehab with Viney and Henderson the whole time, so he didn't participate in any drills. Interestingly they had Mentha with the new guys as well observing. They also did repeat 120m boundary runs when not participating in drills going at 80%. They would run for 20 seconds and rest 40 seconds and repeat. Berry was in charge of the countdown and Onley led the way every time.

He was in rehab the whole session doing repeat 120m boundary running at 80% pace. He probably seems the furthest away from all rehabbers in joining the main group.

At the Brewery 😜 enjoying a cheeky Hellfire amber ale.

Training finished up at 11am followed by autograph signing with the local primary school kids. I’ll be doing a training report later. Just having a quick bite in Bright with the wifey. Any questions people want to know, feel free to ask away.

Jefferson and McAdam also in rehab.

They’re now doing ball movement between the arcs focusing on quick ball movement.

The players are out on the track. AMW doing rehab with the trainers. Viney and Matthew’s doing rehab walking up and down steps with some black mouth pieces on. Looks very odd.

Hey Daz, the training times are on the MFC website. McNamara Reserve, Myrtleford Thursday 9am-11am. But they'll probably be out a bit earlier knowing how they operate lol.

I'll try and get to the Thursday session as I'm based in Wodonga. Lot's of ex Demons have properties up this way. I ran into Rigoni and his brother and Schwarz at my work not long ago. Lever and a few other players also have properties in Bright which is why we've been using this area as a pre-season camp. Not to mention Spargo, Turner and Johnson are all from Albury.

Maybe I'm the only one thinking this, but the feel I got with all our selections (except maybe White jnr) is that our draftees are no choir boys. There's a hard edge to them with a determined resolve. If this is the new dawn under Kingy, then I like what I see... I'm getting a 'Sydney bloods culture' vibe with this new crop coming through. Very exciting times ahead.

Agree Redleg, I'd go after Ludowyke if he's still available (North are expected to pick him though). A potential gun key forward is too hard to pass up, even if we have plenty already. We still have pick 56 to pick up a midfielder later if needed. Someone like Sam Allen, Onley, Holmes could still be there at that range.

Phillipou didn't make it either. Could we snatch him with pick #37

With Robey and CDT most likely off the board, i'm warming to selecting Sharp with a first selection. He's basically the best contested mid in the draft and something I think we need due to the loss of Oliver and Trac and Viney in his 30's. We need a side kick to Langford in the guts, and not to mention he's quite a handy defender with work rate and footy IQ also his big strengths. With Pick 8 I'm happy with Lindsay (who could be a Salem replacement in future) or Dovaston as a much needed small forward but may be too higher price for a good but not great player. Grlj is another great option with our second pick and we could possibly take Latrelle Pickett if he lasts to our pick 37.