Whispering_Jack

I believe we have a Demonlander on the spot at the Magic Millions. Redleg has been hobnobbing with the greats of horseracing all week including the great Gai Waterhouse, trainer of Driefontein which is the hot favourite. Redleg's tip is Amorino with jockey Larry Cassidy on board.

If anyone had any doubts about Neeld as a media performer or his public personna then that interview should have dispelled them. Hoepfully, it will be available soon for replay through SEN's website. He also made it clear that irrespective of whatever is happening at the moment, the big test will be when the team starts playing games. He made it very clear that he is implementing a very different game plan and that's how it should be IMO. Supporters of Dean Bailey and what he did in the past should not take offence at that - Neeld is his own man and is bringing a new and different stamp to the club which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

No need for the panic to set in. Most clubs have players on limited programmes at this time of year and there are probably a number of reasons why not all players took part. With seven weeks to go before the NAB Cup, it means there are 11-12 weeks to go before Round 1 - that's ample time. In the world of cricket, 11 weeks ago,Pat Cummins and James Pattinson had yet to debut in test matches, Ben Hilfenhaus was in the wilderness and who would have thought that Dave Warner would have been doing anything other that hitting 6's in the BBL? There's a lot of water to flow under the bridge yet and while the ideal would be to have everybody on the track throughout the preseason, that's an unrealistic expectation given that our game is a high pressure contact sport.

A couple of significant things from time trial results assuming the times provided above are correct but first let's not get carried away with comparing the times to those of Scully at GWS. At these distances there are a number of factors that influence the time - weather conditions, heat from the sun, winds, topography, running surface, pressure from other competitors, even things like the time of day. Some courses are out and back (start and finish at the same place) while others are point to point. Some are hilly, others are flat. That's why, even at 3k it's not all that helpful to compare times at different venues and one of the reasons why many involved in road running don't recognise world records but rather world's best. Further, I understand that GWS conducted their trials at the Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre which generally would be conducive to producing better times. So enough of Scully and those soft nancy Giants who need to run on a professional athletic track to show the world they can do good times From Melbourne's perspective, the best news would have to be that all bar two of those tested posted better times than the last time trial which shows that the players have been working hard and the arduous programme set by Dave Misson is starting to pay dividends fitness wise. Obviously, we need to wait a while before it can translate into results in actual matches. About five years ago, it was usually Cameron Bruce who produced the best times in these trials with the likes of Brock McLean just behind him (McLean won his first time trial when he crossed to Carlton). Then along came Nathan Jones who competed closely with Bruce, as did Morton a year later and more recently Scully and Jack Trengove were neck and neck in these trials and other endurance testing. What we now have is Trengove and Jones coming in at third and fourth which indicates that we have some real standout improvers in our ranks:- • Daniel Nicholson - taken in the December 2010 rookie draft which means this is his first full pre season. He has been impressive in running work throughout the last 2 - 3 months and this result is outstanding. Remember, one of his main attributes is his pace over short distances which makes him one of a rare breed who possesses speed and endurance. During his debut season there were some question marks about his disposal skills and sometimes, his decision making but they were certainly by no means anywhere near major issues. With the right coaching, these things can IMO be easily ironed out and, in time we could have an elite footballer on our hands. • a late draft pick a few years ago, Rohan Bail has improved enormously in a short period of time. Fully fit (and all the indicators are positive in this regard), he will be a strong challenger for a spot in the midfield. • Tom McDonald - similar to Nicholson in that he is no slouch for pace and also has good endurance. The thing is that he's listed at 194cm 88kg so he's certainly not built like a scrawny Ethiopian distance runner. Moreover, he is a good mark and kick, only 19 and will get bigger and better. He's being trialled in our forward line where he will be competing for places with Clark, Watts, Howe, Green and Jurrah. Interesting. • Trengove and Jones obviously posted good times and appear to be in good nick and while we don't know Morton's time, I'd be surprised if it wasn't close to the top five. What it does mean is that we definitely have a group of runners who are at the top level of fitness at this stage of the year and Misson has expressed some satisfaction in this regard. It's also heartening to hear that Sam Blease and Jordan Gysberts are improving their times. Overall, the indications are that high standards are being set and we can now look forward to the lead up to the season with some optimism which I suppose is par for this time of year but this time, there's actually some evidence which backs up that view.

No, that's definitely their senior squad.

Shhh ...

There's been a time change for the intraclub game. Now starts at 3:00pm. Intra-club time change

Sorry but I think that's a secret too!

It's hard to envisage the match ups this far out although the one that would interest me would be James Frawley v Jack Watts or Mitch Clark. If you want to know what to expect from the game and going by past years' intraclub games, there would probably be around 30-32 MFC players with the numbers topped up by 10 to 12 young Casey players. With that happening and plenty of rotations, particularly if it's a hot day, then the likelihood is that there won't be too many match ups that last for long periods during the games. Rather than specific match ups I'd be more interested at that stage in where certain players are being positioned e.g Blease, Davey, Grimes and Morton. I think there will be a reasonable amount of experimentation and feeling out of where individual players fit in best with the coach's structures. We have at least, been given some indications at training as to which positions many of the players will take in the early months of the season

That person who was complaining earlier in the week about the MFC not having time trials now has his/her wish granted. The club is having time trials tomorrow (Friday) at an undisclosed venue. A few players are tweeting about them and I'm getting the feeling that Sam Blease might not be looking forward to them as much as would his old mate who nicked off to Sydney. Still, how tough could it be? For mine, I'd rather do a 10 or 11 minute run than a two hour training session (no I can't do 3k in that time but it's what I would expect from most AFL players). Anyway, that's about all they're doing tomorrow. The next open training session is: Casey Fields - Monday 16th January - 9.40 am (60 Berwick- Cranbourne Road , Cranbourne East)

ORANGE AND CHARCOAL - Recollections and tales of a tragic football club Chapter Two The coach, whose usual complexion was as red as the most ripened of tomatoes, sat ashen-faced throughout the pre match press conference. Alongside him and with a face that was equally as pallid was his club's new chief executive officer, the third in the new club's brief history. The press pack was having a field day interrogating its quarry about the defection of three players on the very day of their team's debut game on the national stage. The whole wide world was watching. The news had attracted the attention of the international media with coverage on CNN, the BBC and Al Jazeera. In the Middle East there was rioting and looting in a dozen countries after the news came through that the team from the heartland of their culture in the western suburbs of Sydney had been so ravaged. In the mid west of the United States, entire congregations massed in prayer, North Korean warships bombed villages in the south and on the subcontinent, bookmakers went on strike. Finally, the coach spoke. "I blame the Martians for this. One of our kids pockets the club's hard earned two million bucks and the Martians - they know who they are - make up loopholes in the laws just so that he can end up at their new franchise. Well, it's not fair and we're not going to put up with it, we're going to fight back!" He was careful not to elaborate any further on the form the fightback would take or about the so-called controversial "Demetriou rule" which the Launceston Lyre Birds had cleverly exploited to secure their first recruits for 2013, a 20-year-old now earning $5 million a year plus 10% of home gate receipts and a 25% stake in the new franchise, a former rugby league player who suffered stage fright and a kid straight out of the TAC Cup grossing $500,000 for making television commercials advertising a product that allegedly cures facial blemishes. The loss of the three players followed hot on the heels of the news that a highly ranked GWS recruit, sent to Sweden for consultation with a leading surgeon on his patella tendinitis injury, had disappeared with the specialist's nurse. Both are believed to be in hiding at the sprawling Swedish mansion of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. The media pushed ahead with their cross-examination. One crusty old reporter asked the question on everyone's lips. Were the players becoming uncomfortable with the fact that the GWS coaches simply hadn't attempted to train them to counter the forward press? The question clearly caused the coach to bristle. The colour seemed to rush back into his cheeks, his jaw jutted out in front of his face at an almost perpendicular angle and some later said they even saw puffs of smoke coming out of his ears. "I've had enough of this forward press stuff. We put these lads up for nothing at Breakfast Point. We feed them, we clothe them, we even organise the occasional blind date but we draw the line at doing their laundry. Show's over folks. We're outta here!" And with that, the coach and the entire GWS entourage left the room. The start of the game was two hours away and the Giants were still waiting for reinforcements in the form of a couple of rookies who had taken off on the 11:00am flight from Sydney. Meanwhile, as the media people began to shuffle out of the hall, one of the cleaning staff picked up a crumpled scrap of paper with a note written in the coach's handwriting that read: "Choko, why do they keep asking me these stupid, bloody questions about presses?" To be continued ...

I'll try to write up Chapter 2 now that I've been inspired by that run coming to within almost two minutes of the world record. Aiming to write it up in under 9 minutes and 37 seconds. In the meantime, here's a quote from Sheeds on Twitter from today:

I'm the last person to believe everything that's said about Scully and his family but distrusting the word of John Quinn is a bit of a stretch. For one thing Scully has done times like that before and has excelled at a number of different forms of endurance testing in the past. What reason would Quinn have for lying?

Scully's time is exceptional for an AFL footballer but we know that his aerobic fitness has always been first class. I suspect that the time of 9m 37s would easily put him in the top 5% for AFL footballers and I would be surprised if we get even one player bettering that time on Friday (noting that all courses and the conditions will deiffer thereby having an inluence on times). More interesting was the fact that the Giants sports science manager John Quinn does acknowledge that Scully has been in rehab - something of which I think we all suspected but to my knowledge hasn't been confirmed previously by the Giants. It really doesn't add much to the extent of the injury or how it will affect his preparation or his future and I'm sure we'll learn more when the practice and NAB Cup matches start.

I too can't believe what some people are reading into Mark Neeld's comments. I think he's been very straight forward, logical and consistent in how he's dealt with the issue of giving a few of his star players a rev at the start of pre season. That he compliments them two months later for responding the way he wanted them to suggests that he's happy with what he's achieved so far. There are no Martians or Seagulls in Neeld's world - thank god for that! I have no problem with Neeld's approach and it doesn't appear that any of the players have either.

After all these years it's still a worry that some players are so one sided in the way Bate is on his left side. I always though that would be a problem with someone who is going to be played in the middle but I must be wrong because the FD continues to trial him there.

Training continues at Gosch's Paddock and will apparently move to Casey when Novak Djokovic, Caroline Wozniacki and co take over the precinct the following week. Melbournefc twitter:

Intra-club confirmed

I checked the medical dictionaries and I don't think I'm suffering from Scullitis. I think it's a reasonable proposition to make that the money we would have spent on Scully is now being spent on Mitch Clark instead and the latter is my preference especially whilst the status of Scully's knee remains an unknown. Twelve months ago Scully was sparkling at pre season training sessions. That's a fact and he looked to be on his way to stardom as a midfielder. Since then, he got injured and did very little to demonstrate that he had the qualities of a star but I think most supporters would still have been happier to have kept him on a reasonable contract and not the ridiculous money that he and his father are getting in their package from GWS. None of that was to be and I'm entitled to my opinion that the two compensatory picks for a # 1 were inadequate. All in all, I'm happier with the balance of the squad post-Scully and that's where I stand on the issue.

Fair catch this -

Having commented about the impact I expect the arrival of Mitch Clark to have on the team and the forward set up in particular, I pick up the paper and I'm told that AFL key forwards are close to extinction in SuperCoach land - Gorillas on the brink The article states that the "fact no key forwards could find a spot in the top 15 priced players for next season is a sign they are on shaky ground." "The problem, as Champion Data's Glenn Luff explains, is that key forwards rely too much on other players to provide consistent value for SuperCoaches", and that "they are reliant on the midfield having a good day and statistically are the most inconsistent of all player types." OK. I'll buy that and confess I don't follow SuperCoach or any of those other football fantasy gimmicks but the last time I looked, there were still 22 and not 15 players in an AFL side and I would still be picking a Buddy Franklin or a Travis Cloke in my first five players if I were selecting my AFL team - one that actually runs out onto the ground rather than one that plays inside a computer. Still, this SuperCoach thing has certainly taken off given the amount of space dedicated to its promotion.

I'm never going to be sold on this game but the cream seems to always rise to the top and, once again. JP Faulkner proved his worth netting four wickets, despite him being expensive. He was not needed as a batsman Also watch out for Hanscombe who was 12th man for the Stars. The kid can play.

I would suggest that this is most likely due to the fact that in addition to having made the "public" comments in question about the players, Neeld would also be communicating with the players as well and fortifying the message he wants to get across to the individuals and the team. If only we could be flies on the wall then we might know the full story but I would be surprised if these things cause any major worries to most professional footballers of today. I can recall our own esteemed chairman getting an almighty public bake from John Northey after a rather infamous incident in the 1987 preliminary final which many might consider a public humiliation. The bloke came back and was instrumental in our getting to a grand final the next year, winning a Brownlow, a handful of b & f's and playing a thousand games in a row. I have a feeling he might have even attributed his determination to succeed and prevail at least in part to that experience. Times have changed since then but the effectiveness of a well placed message is no less on the right people if done in the right way.

Hi Rhett, Thanks for coming on and answering our queries. I was a big fan of White Line Fever and Grumpy Old Men back in the day of Fox Footy Channel Mark 1 and I realise we can't bring back the great Clinton Grybas or the legendary Bobby Davis but are these the types of shows being looked at in your programming? Also second tier state competitions, the National Under 18 Carnival and even TAC Cup games would be of interest along with indigenous football (and the summer NTFL competition). Understand these all cost $s to produce on top of the already substantial tv rights but will they come under consideration? Cheers

I'm a lawyer. Does that mean I have to watch Judge Judy to get a tax deduction?