Whispering_Jack

Keyser, it's good to see the "usual suspects" supporting the club. I might have to borrow those notes if they're any good. Cheers WJ

You're not being a smart arse but for those of us who haven't seen the new players before (or as in my case I've been to one training session) and there are nine of them, it won't be easy to differentiate. I haven't seen Kelvin Lawrence but I'm told he looks similar to his cousin Neville Jetta so numbers would help there. Cameron Johnston is a redhead and I think I can differentiate him from Matthew Bate and he has different colouring to Jordie McKenzie. With Kyle Cheney out at Hawthorn, I think I might safely be able to work him out. I really haven't seen enough of the others to differentiate them - other than Lucas Cook. So the numbers would help even people like myself who have been to training once. By the way, I hope I haven't said anything politically incorrect above - no offence is intended.* * If I have then I'll surrender to the Hague or the UN Human Rights Commission as soon as they produce an arrest warrant

I wonder how much gloss will be taken off the contest by the fact that some of our inigenous players might not take part in the game due to its clash with next Friday’s All-Stars v Richmond game which has been moved to Alice Springs after monsoonal rain flooded Darwin’s TIO Stadium. The game will now take place at Traeger Park Oval (close enough to Liam's Jurrah's home - give or take 300kms) but I haven't seen a selected squad at this stage. If we lose a few players to the All-Stars (and I reckon we might have four in contention), will we have enough players for a full game and will we have to draw on some of the Casey boys as we did last year to make up the numbers. And speaking of numbers, this is my annual call to the club to make the players' numbers available on the club's website by the evening before so that we can download and copy them and be familiar with the newer players in particular!

Thanks for that (article corrected). Now that I come to think of it, I remember Ottens in his later years wearing the Sturt guernsey which wasn't too flattering when he put on weight in the twilight of his career.

Enjoy the morning folks. I can't make it this week so look forward to your contributions.

Gosch's Paddock. Sounds like it's time for bhima to make a return to produce one of his informative reports on Friday's session. And hopefully the club can fix a time and place for the intraclub in time for us working people to juggle our calendars to enable our attendance.

It's really pleasing to see Jim Stynes tweeting away on Twitter. Four messages this morning and, as usual, despite the circumstances of his adversity after further surgery this week, he's thinking of others -

Hi Cranky Franky, I did get to see Michael Graham playing for Sturt in SA and he didn't look big to me. His height in the books I consulted was given as 175cm. However, if you saw him in his later days I bow to your greater knowledge. Cheers, WJ

The idea was floated a couple of years ago but I don't think it ever got off the ground. It was going to be called the Aaron Davey Scholarship but when I asked about it subsequently at a club function, nobody knew anything whether it was in operation. Since then, I've heard no more about the concept and assume it's been shelved. I think it would be great to get a young Inigenous player to the club but I suppose from a club viewpoint, the problem would be that you can't ensure that you will secure the player for your own club if he looks the goods. Perhaps the AFL could look into allowing each club to take a player on a scholarship system in circumstances where a community service can be provided?

Ross Lyon has to be kidding with this, surely - Don't sledge us: Lyon? How soft is he to think that opposition players aren't going to ask Nick Riewoldt, Sam Gilbert, Zac Dawson and Nick Dal Santo about camera issues, 16 year old schoolgirls and Brazilians? Such questions don't offend against anybody's human rights and I'd be disappointed if some of our boys failed to raise such matters in general conversation on the ground.

Rollo, The wedding I have on 20 February starts at 2.00 pm so don't count me out yet. Happy to help the coach or alternatively, do special comments for supermercado. I'm pretty certain that Redleg is also invited to the same wedding but I'll see if his arm can be twisted. And if we can attract Tom Scully then why can't talkingcarlton get Chri$ Judd? On second thoughts, forget Judd ... his missus will do just nicely.

How many hours have Strauss and Trott spent together at the crease this summer? You would think they've been together long enough not to stuff up a run like they did today.

I've SMS'd our resident sports medicine guru to see if he can enlighten us on the injury. He's up north at the moment doing vital hospital work but hopefully, he'll have time to contribute on this subject.

Those lamenting James Frawley's injury take note of what's happening with our friends over at Carlton - Carlton's bad bout of the Blues I'm certain it's not as disastrous as it sounds (Brock should get over his bout of the runs by the end of March) but the effect on their pre season is going to be more extensive than the loss of one defender (albeit an important one) to us.

The circumstances are a little different but I agree with Brett Lovett's comment about players trying to finish their careers at other clubs not working out as happened with the likes of Dermott Brereton and Dougie Hawkins. It's going to be sad watching Bruce go round elsewhere after such a long career at Melbourne. As for Sautner, Brett Lovett is saying he wants him but he also knows he would be better off nurturing a young St. Kilda player for the key forward role. While there's room at the VFL for local players and some good club men, at 34 years of age, Sautner would only be taking a young player's place wherever he played.

BREAKING A PROMISE by Whispering Jack I've lost count of the number of Melbourne pre season training sessions that I've attended over the years and of how many times I've walked away thinking that, "well this might just be the year when we step up and show enough improvement to really challenge the big boys!" So naturally, as we drove down the Narre Cranbourne Road in the direction of Casey Fields and passed the aptly named Strawberry Fields residential estate on this beautiful, summer's morning, I made myself a promise not to get carried away. The rose coloured glasses were definitely going to come off and I had to resist the temptation to say things like "the players are looking fitter than ever", "those previously labelled as ‘potential’ have matured" and "there are a fair number out there who are training the house down." To be certain, there was a slight pall over Casey Fields when we arrived. We already knew that our All Australian key defender James Frawley was going to be missing the action after news came through of his pectoral muscle injury but it got worse later with the diagnosis that it was bad enough to require surgery and would keep him out of action for up to 3 months with the season starting in under 2½ months. Bad news, but Chip's young and strong and looks the type who could make a quicker than expected recover and besides, good clubs need to show they have the depth to cover their injuries. I've got a lot of time for Matthew Warnock and this affords him the perfect opportunity to revive his stalled career after spending much of the latter part of last season in the VFL. Stef Martin looks refreshed, fitter and more refined and could get an opportunity in defence or attack so the club has its options in Frawley's absence. Colin Garland, who held Buddy in a game early in his career, should also take further steps in his second year back from that bad injury. Otherwise, we don't look too badly off on the injury front. There were a few blokes in the rehab group but they didn't seem to be major worries. Rookie ruckman and 2008 premiership player Robert Campbell (Achilles) walked laps for a while with Lynden Dunn but did take part in some light training. Others like Austin Wonaeamirri and Jack Watts were doing running work after taking part in some training sessions but sights of a large group undergoing rehab as we had seen in the past seem gone. And Aussie’s appearance certainly stamped out rumours that he would never return after the tragedy of his father’s death and of fellow Tiwi Islander Maurice Rioli late last year. The night before, I was part of a group that had dinner at Squires Loft, a steak place in Queens Road, Albert Park. There were a couple of athletic looking female tennis types on hand but the table that caught my attention was a group of ten Hawthorn footballers that included Cameron Bruce and Kyle Cheney (they’re in the background in this photograph). The former has been the most impressive pre season trainer at Melbourne for several years and I suppose that explains his achievements year in, year out in the club best and fairest awards. I reflected that it's going to be sad watching Bruce go round elsewhere after such a long career at Melbourne but who will take his place as best trainer now that he has defected to another club? The answer to that one is simple. Tom Scully is a rare beast. I mean the "beast" part not as a reference to his stature but to his overall presence and demeanour at training. It's more than just outstanding - it's beyond description. It's the way he burst through to accept a handball from Aussie without missing a beat and continued to motor at top pace without missing a beat to deliver the ball perfectly downfield while the rest of the training group remained in the background as if suspended in slow motion. There. I bet you think I've blown it. Halfway through my report and I've broken that promise about not to getting carried away about the team and its prospects. Not guilty, Your Honour. You can’t get carried away in Scully's case; I’m just telling it how it is and that means he goes 110% all the way to such an extent that's frightening! We all know that football has evolved rapidly over the years but I'm constantly amazed at the way these training sessions continue to surge in their intensity. It's a far cry from the first pre season session I attended when, back in my uni days, I dropped into the MCG to watch the boys train and was invited to join in (I kid you not. I was clutching a heavy bag - full of law text books, not footy gear. The fact that the bloke standing next to me was 6'4" tall, built like a brick outhouse and later played ruck in the ammos might have had something to do with it as well). The invite was declined by both of us even though back then, training was pretty well laid back, most of the participants were youngsters and unknown potential recruits while the old hands took things easy, feigning niggles that would spare them having to exert themselves too much in the February heat. It's so different these days. The sessions are longer, the drills are more complex and many are carried out with scientific aids (heart rate monitors, GPSs?) and seem to be specifically designed to cater for a comprehensive skills training programme mapped out for the whole of summer. There was no specific emphasis and many of the drills looked as if they had more than one purpose. There was lots of running and tackling, work on disposal of the football and on breaking through zones. Even some of the blokes who were walking or running laps were equipped with ear phones as they moved around, often in fartlek style of the great Finnish athlete Paavo Nurmi. I've already commented on Tom Scully but the likes of Jake Grimes, Jack Trengove, Brent Moloney and Nathan Jones looked great. Liam Jurrah was moving like a cat and though he seemed to come down awkwardly on his ankle just before we left, it didn't look too bad. He also had his shoulders strapped heavily but it didn't seem to affect his mobility. It was also good to see Ricky Petterd back training after his should injury last year. Brad Green and Aaron Davey trained like consummate professionals, with the former just ahead in favouritism for the gig in my book. Jamie Bennell has developed physically and I think this will help his game this year. Many are tipping him and Addam Maric, who also impressed, as the year's big improvers. You can add Jake Spencer to that group; he seems to be growing into that big body and his co-ordination at all levels has improved. I think most clubs are taking the view that with the new substitute rule coming in this year, a tall option resting in the forward line will be the order of the day to allow for four midfield types to come off the bench in rotations. This opens up a few interesting possibilities. I think Martin might firm for this position if he can do well in the NAB Cup. Colin Sylvia looks absolutely superb and, I think he might be the key to our season in many ways. He's hard and tough and is light years away from the precocious talent who arrived seven years ago yet who, at one stage, was in danger of never fulfilling his promise. I wondered why I have never seen his training efforts in this light over previous seasons and then I remembered his injuries, the osteitis pubis and the like and the poor attitude. Let's hope that he doesn't get king hit from behind in a practice match this year (how on earth did that @*%# get off without a suspension?). Anyway, it's at this point that I realise that Melbourne has at least a dozen players training at the levels reached in the past by only Cameron Bruce and that is probably the difference between 2007 and 2011. The players now have a deeper physical base and their skills are better. Here come the rose coloured glasses! I could go on forever and end up getting carried away but I do think we'll see strongly built Luke Tapscott in action over the NAB Cup and possibly also Sam Blease who showed he has pace and good evasive skills. Max Gawn is a big unit and he might come into contention later in the season along with Jack Fitzpatrick. I only wish that the players could train with their numbers as this would make it a lot easier to determine who was who among the newcomers. Generally, you can tell who the newbies are because most look so green. As training and fitness levels increase across the board, it inevitably becomes more and more difficult for players coming into the system to acclimatise to the rigours of training at a the elite level of any professional sport. This applies most to our taller recruits who looked as if they were doing it hard as the session wore on. Jeremy Howe looks the most advanced and might get a run in the NAB Cup. He certainly has clean hands and moves well. However, Lucas Cook, Troy Davis and Tom McDonald still have some way to go although it's good to have this much developing talent (which includes an All Australian CHF) in the bank for the future. I can envision a future where two tall forwards in Watts and Cook complement each other as twin towers in a dominant forward line fed by a class midfield. Of the new young rookies, I didn't see Michael Evans and Kelvin Lawrence who I believe are back home in WA for a week but Dan Nicholson and Cameron Johnston were not out of place in the heat of training. I know it's early days but Nicholson looks to have all of the attributes to make it in the big time so it will be interesting to watch his progress over the next couple of months. OK, I've broken my promise to keep a lid on things but, like many other Demon fans, I can't wait to see the first ball bounced in the coming weeks. I would even settle for an intraclub practice games and I believe one is tentatively scheduled for Casey Fields on Friday 4 February at 6pm, a week before the NAB Cup matches. I promise I won't get carried away next time. Photographs by Andy (Demonland) except for the first one which was taken by me on my iphone without the permission of the subjects. Geez, I hope they don't take out an injunction!

BREAKING A PROMISE by Whispering Jack I've lost count of the number of Melbourne pre season training sessions that I've attended over the years and of how many times I've walked away thinking that, "well this might just be the year when we step up and show enough improvement to really challenge the big boys!" So naturally, as we drove down the Narre Cranbourne Road in the direction of Casey Fields and passed the aptly named Strawberry Fields residential estate on this beautiful, summer's morning, I made myself a promise not to get carried away. The rose coloured glasses were definitely going to come off and I had to resist the temptation to say things like "the players are looking fitter than ever", "those previously labelled as ‘potential’ have matured" and "there are a fair number out there who are training the house down." To be certain, there was a slight pall over Casey Fields when we arrived. We already knew that our All Australian key defender James Frawley was going to be missing the action after news came through of his pectoral muscle injury but it got worse later with the diagnosis that it was bad enough to require surgery and would keep him out of action for up to 3 months with the season starting in under 2½ months. Bad news, but Chip's young and strong and looks the type who could make a quicker than expected recover and besides, good clubs need to show they have the depth to cover their injuries. I've got a lot of time for Matthew Warnock and this affords him the perfect opportunity to revive his stalled career after spending much of the latter part of last season in the VFL. Stef Martin looks refreshed, fitter and more refined and could get an opportunity in defence or attack so the club has its options in Frawley's absence. Colin Garland, who held Buddy in a game early in his career, should also take further steps in his second year back from that bad injury. Otherwise, we don't look too badly off on the injury front. There were a few blokes in the rehab group but they didn't seem to be major worries. Rookie ruckman and 2008 premiership player Robert Campbell (Achilles) walked laps for a while with Lynden Dunn but did take part in some light training. Others like Austin Wonaeamirri and Jack Watts were doing running work after taking part in some training sessions but sights of a large group undergoing rehab as we had seen in the past seem gone. And Aussie’s appearance certainly stamped out rumours that he would never return after the tragedy of his father’s death and of fellow Tiwi Islander Maurice Rioli late last year. The night before, I was part of a group that had dinner at Squires Loft, a steak place in Queens Road, Albert Park. There were a couple of athletic looking female tennis types on hand but the table that caught my attention was a group of ten Hawthorn footballers that included Cameron Bruce and Kyle Cheney (they’re in the background in this photograph). The former has been the most impressive pre season trainer at Melbourne for several years and I suppose that explains his achievements year in, year out in the club best and fairest awards. I reflected that it's going to be sad watching Bruce go round elsewhere after such a long career at Melbourne but who will take his place as best trainer now that he has defected to another club? The answer to that one is simple. Tom Scully is a rare beast. I mean the "beast" part not as a reference to his stature but to his overall presence and demeanour at training. It's more than just outstanding - it's beyond description. It's the way he burst through to accept a handball from Aussie without missing a beat and continued to motor at top pace without missing a beat to deliver the ball perfectly downfield while the rest of the training group remained in the background as if suspended in slow motion. There. I bet you think I've blown it. Halfway through my report and I've broken that promise about not to getting carried away about the team and its prospects. Not guilty, Your Honour. You can’t get carried away in Scully's case; I’m just telling it how it is and that means he goes 110% all the way to such an extent that's frightening! We all know that football has evolved rapidly over the years but I'm constantly amazed at the way these training sessions continue to surge in their intensity. It's a far cry from the first pre season session I attended when, back in my uni days, I dropped into the MCG to watch the boys train and was invited to join in (I kid you not. I was clutching a heavy bag - full of law text books, not footy gear. The fact that the bloke standing next to me was 6'4" tall, built like a brick outhouse and later played ruck in the ammos might have had something to do with it as well). The invite was declined by both of us even though back then, training was pretty well laid back, most of the participants were youngsters and unknown potential recruits while the old hands took things easy, feigning niggles that would spare them having to exert themselves too much in the February heat. It's so different these days. The sessions are longer, the drills are more complex and many are carried out with scientific aids (heart rate monitors, GPSs?) and seem to be specifically designed to cater for a comprehensive skills training programme mapped out for the whole of summer. There was no specific emphasis and many of the drills looked as if they had more than one purpose. There was lots of running and tackling, work on disposal of the football and on breaking through zones. Even some of the blokes who were walking or running laps were equipped with ear phones as they moved around, often in fartlek style of the great Finnish athlete Paavo Nurmi. I've already commented on Tom Scully but the likes of Jake Grimes, Jack Trengove, Brent Moloney and Nathan Jones looked great. Liam Jurrah was moving like a cat and though he seemed to come down awkwardly on his ankle just before we left, it didn't look too bad. He also had his shoulders strapped heavily but it didn't seem to affect his mobility. It was also good to see Ricky Petterd back training after his should injury last year. Brad Green and Aaron Davey trained like consummate professionals, with the former just ahead in favouritism for the gig in my book. Jamie Bennell has developed physically and I think this will help his game this year. Many are tipping him and Addam Maric, who also impressed, as the year's big improvers. You can add Jake Spencer to that group; he seems to be growing into that big body and his co-ordination at all levels has improved. I think most clubs are taking the view that with the new substitute rule coming in this year, a tall option resting in the forward line will be the order of the day to allow for four midfield types to come off the bench in rotations. This opens up a few interesting possibilities. I think Martin might firm for this position if he can do well in the NAB Cup. Colin Sylvia looks absolutely superb and, I think he might be the key to our season in many ways. He's hard and tough and is light years away from the precocious talent who arrived seven years ago yet who, at one stage, was in danger of never fulfilling his promise. I wondered why I have never seen his training efforts in this light over previous seasons and then I remembered his injuries, the osteitis pubis and the like and the poor attitude. Let's hope that he doesn't get king hit from behind in a practice match this year (how on earth did that @*%# get off without a suspension?). Anyway, it's at this point that I realise that Melbourne has at least a dozen players training at the levels reached in the past by only Cameron Bruce and that is probably the difference between 2007 and 2011. The players now have a deeper physical base and their skills are better. Here come the rose coloured glasses! I could go on forever and end up getting carried away but I do think we'll see strongly built Luke Tapscott in action over the NAB Cup and possibly also Sam Blease who showed he has pace and good evasive skills. Max Gawn is a big unit and he might come into contention later in the season along with Jack Fitzpatrick. I only wish that the players could train with their numbers as this would make it a lot easier to determine who was who among the newcomers. Generally, you can tell who the newbies are because most look so green. As training and fitness levels increase across the board, it inevitably becomes more and more difficult for players coming into the system to acclimatise to the rigours of training at a the elite level of any professional sport. This applies most to our taller recruits who looked as if they were doing it hard as the session wore on. Jeremy Howe looks the most advanced and might get a run in the NAB Cup. He certainly has clean hands and moves well. However, Lucas Cook, Troy Davis and Tom McDonald still have some way to go although it's good to have this much developing talent (which includes an All Australian CHF) in the bank for the future. I can envision a future where two tall forwards in Watts and Cook complement each other as twin towers in a dominant forward line fed by a class midfield. Of the new young rookies, I didn't see Michael Evans and Kelvin Lawrence who I believe are back home in WA for a week but Dan Nicholson and Cameron Johnston were not out of place in the heat of training. I know it's early days but Nicholson looks to have all of the attributes to make it in the big time so it will be interesting to watch his progress over the next couple of months. OK, I've broken my promise to keep a lid on things but, like many other Demon fans, I can't wait to see the first ball bounced in the coming weeks. I would even settle for an intraclub practice games and I believe one is tentatively scheduled for Casey Fields on Friday 4 February at 6pm, a week before the NAB Cup matches. I promise I won't get carried away next time. Photographs by Andy (Demonland) except for the first one which was taken by me on my iphone without the permission of the subjects. Geez, I hope they don't take out an injunction!

And I think I speak for all when I wish Jim all the best and hope to see him in the crowd enjoying the Demons at our games during 2011.

Sorry, didn't keep it but Andy might have it on one of his backups if that didn't go by the wayside when he tried to delete the spammers that arrived during the process of migrating the old server.

Perhaps not. Same article- Robert Warnock should be handy as cover for Meesen .

We did catch up but there was not a single cup of coffee to be found in the neighbourhood. I will report at some time in the next 24 hours and Andy took some photos which will be up soon as well. Really, everyone who was training looked sharp; there were the odd slip ups but generally quite impressive. Just before we left Liam Jurrah seemed to come down awkwardly on his ankle but it didn't look too bad. He also had his shoulders strapped heavily but it didn't seem to affect his mobility which, as I said looked cat-like. I'm adopting Tom Scully as my big improver for 2011 - some of the things he does are truly awesome. Jack Trengove and Jack Grimes look like having big seasons as well. Jamie Bennell has developed physically and I think this will help his game this year. For Pitty, Jordan Gysberts was very composed with the footy and deceptively tall for a midfielder. If he's fully over his injury problems from last year, I think he might fit into Cameron Bruce's role. Of the new blokes I liked Dan Nicholson.

Liam Jurrah moves like a cat. Colin Sylvia training beautifully. Jack Spencer is bigger and surprisingly, looks better co-ordinated than in the past.

I can dispell the rumours about Aussie not returning because he is out there and looking in reasonably good nick for someone whose pre season has been disrupted. Robert Campbell and Lynden Dunn are walking laps.

I've managed to work out a way to take some time off work and I'm heading off to Cranbourne East to watch the boys at training. Particularly looking forward to seeing them for the first time since the drafts. I'll try to report on some of the activities at Casey Fields and have a full report with pictures tonight or over the weekend.

I travelled forward in time to be at that game and I won't give anything away grapeviney but you'll be pleased to know that we had have the double chance that year and that everything turns out fine. I also took a photograph of this vehicle located in the carpark at AAMI Park at the after grand final celebrations and the premiership cup was in the back seat:-