Whispering_Jack

AFLPA Induction Angus Brayshaw ~ very impressive.

My understanding is that all players receive education on doping on an annual basis which includes having instilled into them the notion that they are responsible for everything that goes into their bodies.Where would they go to for practical examples?

This is inspired by the Asian Cup. I was talking to a soccer fan who hasn't been in Australia for very long and he told me that whilst he didn't mind watching the top teams in the competition play against each other, the thing that he found wrong with the game was that the weaker teams never cause upsets. I did point out to him that in soccer, we only see a small number of clubs like Manchester United (and now City), Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal at the top of the EPL but he maintains that on any given day, one of the weaker sides can and does upset a stronger club. I know St. Kilda upset Fremantle twice in the past two seasons (perhaps the circumstances were unusual) and we beat a finalist in Richmond (when they were at a low ebb) but how long will it take us to get to the position where we can beat a genuine finals contender or are we and the other weaker clubs stuck at the bottom for a long while yet? Are we capable of producing a defining game that can change our destiny?

On Monday, the new recruits are at AFL induction.

The Herald Sun's Barometer is back but not much of this would really be news to anyone around here:-

Wondering whatever happened to Cameron Johnston? On the brink of greatness

Struggled through the last kilometre but did it in 14.50. Have been walking and doing light jogs for three weeks after an otherwise light year. Next time I'll take Saty's scooter.

I'm in Queensland at the moment but I'll do a 3k in the morning as long as it's not too hot. I'll post my time.

I know dazzledavey36 from the Demonland/Demonology inter forum games and if he couldn't do 12-13 minutes for a 3k, I'd be surprised. Fifteen minutes is 5 minutes per kilometre pace. I could manage that and I'm 65.Edit: I don't expect to be drafted any time soon.

No panic NAA - just keeping an eye on things.

Melbournemidfielder Bernie Vince back on deck Sounds mainly all good with the most ominous piece of news being the injury woes of Geelong's Lincoln McCarthy who suffered a navicular injury in 2013 and missed the whole season before playing only four games in 2014. He's back in a moon boot and on crutches which shows how tough it is to come back from this sort of injury and the challenges JT is now facing.

The little storm cloud above our heads from the first 2015 training session was that we saw a few injuries or players with niggles that could potentially work out worse than they looked initially. Of course, it started with the skipper who was a no show due to a surfing accident and includes reports that youngsters Jesse Hogan and Christian Petracca left the track early with some apparently minor problems. Hopefully, these things will sort themselves and not turn into an epidemic of injuries as happened last year after the break. Over to the people at the scene.

The club did very little in the way of recruiting for1975 and we certainly didn't have any messiahs at all that year. Tilbrook was recruited on big money in early 1971 and it took us more than half a season to secure his clearance. Although he looked a little bit like Superman when he ran out for his first game against South Melbourne and starred in our win, he turned out to be a bit of flop and never lived up to the hype (he had played in six premiership teams at SANFL level). I'm not saying it was his fault but we went from having a great start (8 wins out of the first 9 games) to missing out on the finals and then went backwards for the next three years. By 1975 "Diamond Jim" was well and truly washed up.He played as a HFF and when I looked up his stats, I was surprised to find how closely he matched Christian Petracca in size - 184cm, 94kg - John Tilbrook AFL Statistics These days they would try to turn him into a midfielder but I don't believe he was really fit enough for the VFL as it was then and I think he would struggle for a game at AFL level given the way it's played today. In any event, he was certainly no messiah and, as we now know, you need more than one individual to get you up the ladder these days.

I would take Deeman with little more than a grain of salt CBDees.

Don't worry ... Saty's on hand to bring you all the in depth interviews with players, trainers and medical staff. I'm sure we'll know soon enough.

The MFC site is silent on this *. * also somebody should tell them to change the links banner. It's now 2015 so it should be "News 2015"NOTE: CONFIRMED GOSCH'S PADDOCK 9.15AM

Better still, why not mosey across to Collingwood's training and give them a dose?

The Age's Ronny Lerner reports that "the Christmas turkey has been digested and the New Year's sparklers have been tucked away for another year. It's time for the AFL's 18 teams to return to work." It's uncertain whether turkey forms part of the paleo diet but it will sure be interesting to see how the boys look upon their return to training for 2015 tomorrow morning at Gosch's Paddock. Hopefully, our regular crew of track watchers will be on hand to let us know. AFL teams return to preseason training with injuries under control Here's hoping that Jack Trengove's tricycle is working magically and that his rehab is ahead of schedule.

I think it's high time that the law of averages operated in this area because over the past decade or so, Melbourne simply hasn't produced it's share of surprise packages. I think Lynden Dunn last year was one of the few surprises we've produced in that time. He really did lift his game to a level I certainly didn't expect. There may have been a few others in this time but our record has been that we've produced too many players who simply haven't come near the expected level. Our surprise packets have mainly been the ones who have surprisingly not produced the standards expected of them when they were recruited and that's one of the reasons we've stayed down for so long. Time for that to change.

On the face of it, this appears to be a good trade and it looks all the more so when you consider that we might have been forced to use the pick to secure Billy Stretch as a father son selection. There were a few experts around who were surprised that one or two clubs didn't bid in the high teens/low twenties for him given his performances in the under 18 championships (All Australian) and in the senior team at Glenelg later in the season.

Get to know: Who is shaping as a surprise packet at your club in 2015? And the nomination for Melbourne is ...

The idea that you must aspire for the ultimate and nothing else was fine when the code was essentially amateur and it belongs to that era which is now long gone. These days you need to have realistic expectations and that's why you don't hear the good coaches talking about premierships - certainly not at this stage of the journey. Even Alastair Clarkson would be talking at this point in time about making the top four and then "we'll see what happens from there". I started this thread not so much to discuss what we should be aiming for but rather, what would be a realistic expectation. I think we all expect improvement. I'm generally an optimist on these things and base my expectations on how far we can go given that a few things go our way - like having a fit and healthy list throughout the season, getting up in the close games, meeting opponents who would normally be beatable at the right time and other factors - call it "the stars aligning". If the players get the Roos game plan as they eventually did back in 1975 with Skilton and can start playing some good consistent football, I don't think that 10 wins and perhaps a couple more would be beyond expectations.

When preparing for the retrospective feature on 1975, it struck me that the Melbourne Football Club made enormous strides in that year after a disastrous wooden spoon season in 1974. That season was former Swan champion Bobby Skilton's first as coach and it saw the Demons record only three wins (out of 22 games) and a percentage of 77.1. The team improved on that three fold in terms of the number of wins to nine in 1975 and the percentage of 93.6 which was not far off that of Collingwood (93.9) which finished in fifth spot (in those days only five teams played off for the finals). Despite finishing in 10th place after three narrow losses at the end, they were only one game out of the five at the end of round 19 and if they had won the last three, would have made the finals for the first time since 1964 - a big "if" but they did lose by 6 points to Geelong in round 21 and 1 point to Collingwood in round 22. The team also suffered some other narrow defeats during the season and lived to rue a mid season slump which kept it out of contention. Back in those days, the club had some real quality players like Robbie Flower, Stan Alves, Greg Wells, Gary Hardeman, Laurie Fowler, Carl Ditterich, Ray Biffin, Peter Keenan, Garry Baker and Steven Smith but the depth of players wasn't quite there. There were no big name recruits either so the improvement actually came from the fact that the players adapted much better to Skilton's style of play and there were less injuries after 1974 which had been a tough year for the club on that score. I had always thought that the following year was one of major improvement. In 1976, the team won 11 games, had a percentage of 99.4 and finished sixth, only half a game behind Footscray which scraped into the finals after a draw against Carlton in the final round which kept Melbourne out of the finals for another eleven years (life was tough then). The big improvement however, really came in 1975. So much has changed since then - there are more teams, an expanded finals format, the game is played differently with more complex tactics and strategies, there are different rules, more players change clubs in the off-season, recruiting of younger players is done by the draft system, training and preparation are more scientific and intense, there are better venues and ground conditions, interstate travel etc. Back in 1975, Melbourne started in fine style with two wins. First gamer Marty Lyons (father of Adelaide's Jarryd) booted four goals in the season opener. Obviously, a good start to the season is needed but how far can we go in 2015? Can anyone see us achieving what we did under the coaching of another former Swan forty years ago - a threefold increase in the number of wins which would get us to the cusp of the finals? If so - how? If not - why?

True, he was behind the grassy knoll.