Whispering_Jack

Monday at 02:533 days

𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐑𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 📝

@coachcavcam ventured down to training today:

▪️Hendo, McAdam, Vines and Tom Matthews didn’t train. They all completed an off field strength session.

▪️Bowey, AMW, Roo and Jeffo spent a huge part of their day running laps. Jeffo dealing with concussion from a couple weeks ago.

▪️Each drill Jared Rivers ran was about containing, keepings off and tackling. He produced three bloodied faces with those drills. Roo, Onley and Heath.

▪️CJ’s run and carry is so exciting, but just has to tidy up his foot skills. We’ll have a fun player to watch.

▪️Koz and Max stuck out massively in all simulation. Culley was really good, too - a big body.

▪️T Mac the best defender today. Chin super vocal in the front half. Onley is a big lad, who could surprise and Latrelle has such silky skills.

▪️Vibe of the session was hard work. It was drills ran by different line coaches treated as a circuit. Drill after drill rotating. Finished with some match sim and some transition work. Lots of running, they were cooked!

▪️Leading back at the ball carrier was a focus of the transition match sim drill.

Big thanks to Cam Burt for this 🙏

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2025 MFC Injury List

Sunday at 06:374 days

They’re training tomorrow so that should tell us a few stories about how the injured players are faring.

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PRESEASON TRAINING 2025: Bright and Myrtleford

Sunday at 06:344 days

Paul Guerra getting lost in a Victorian alpine region is a good omen for the club in terms of how the Demons are expected to fare in the coming season.

The last time Melbourne people got lost in the Victorian snow country, it was in the 50s when we were winning premierships.

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From the vault

Inside Melbourne’s pre-season camp to Bright and the top of Mount Porepunkah

Sunday at 05:574 days

The great Norm Smith in his playing days

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TRAINING: Thursday 27th November 2025

in Training Reports

Saturday at 00:345 days

On the subject of Where Eagles Dare, here’s a great article from Code Sports ~

Pretty ballsy of Steven King to lead his team to the site of the year’s biggest police manhunt. I assume he was assured that they were in no danger and that JvR sitting on a bullants nest was the most risky episode of the pre-season camp.

Casey Demons - offseason 2025/6

Saturday at 00:095 days

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From the vault

Friday at 22:305 days

This happened a long time ago but it would have been a sensation today with social media making it a gripping story of life and possible death.

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2026 AFL National Draft prospects: The next batch

Friday at 10:465 days

Kodah?

In what universe do people make up names these days?

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Hassa Mann

Friday at 10:435 days

Did someone mention Round 17, 1964?

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From the vault

November 28Nov 28

Two of the greatest ever Demons …

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2026 AFL National Draft prospects: The next batch

November 28Nov 28

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David Schwarz

November 28Nov 28

This is from a Facebook site VFL Rewind Radio Program about David Schwarz, one of my favourites, a player who could have been anything, give or take an ACL or three. And when he came back from his surgeries, he was still a champion.

David Schwarz - 173 AFL Games. Melbourne BNF winner, One of the great centre half forwards of the 90’s. Very strong & Powerful.

David signed at Melbourne Demons at just 14.

David was a star at a young age playing junior footy for Sunbury before Melbourne invited him to come play and he first began in the under 19’s before making his AFL Debut in 1991.

Image today one of the brightest AFL stars quitting to go work in a country town, well David did it at the back end of 91. He decided momentarily that footy wasn’t for him and spent a good part of quarter the year away from footy.

Thankfully he was talked out of it and came back in round 2 in 1992.

92 was a breakout year for the Ox playing 22 games and averaging 16 disposals a game.

93 was a challenging year but 94 is when we seen his best. He kicked 60 goals in 94 and looked like he was about to challenge Wayne Carey to be one of the great centre half forwards of the game for years to come.

This is unfortunately where the word knee enters the conversation. David first did his ACL in early 95 and defied the odds and came back 16 weeks later. In that return game he kicked 3 goals but sadly the week after he ruptured the ACL again.

After taking the rest of 95 off he headed to Albury to play a practice game and did his knee again, resulting in missing the entire 96 season.

It was a different time back then with knees. It’s not like today where we know it’s a 12 month absence including rehab, players often came back earlier but run the risk the ACL ligament hadn’t repaired fully.

Round 11 1997. Pretty much 2 and a half years of no footy and David come back and performed well kicking 18 goals from 10 games.

From then on David became a regular again until his retirement in 2002 with 1999 arguably being his best year after the knee injuries winning the Melbourne Bnf.

In 2000 in Queens Kings Birthday Vs Collingwood he had a grear game kicking 2 goals and having 20 disposals. In 2000 David wouid take his Dees to a grand final and he had a great year kicking 31 goals

He was a leader on the field, leading by example with his toughness.

David retired in 2002 on 173 games. In his prime he was one of the toughest players we ever seen, injuries sadly stopped us from seeing his best but it was great he got to 173 games and finish his career off.

Well done on a great career David

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TRAINING: Thursday 27th November 2025

in Training Reports

November 27Nov 27

Just now, Blistering said:
Many thanks for the report Where Demons Dare but you mention two of our recruits' kicking -
"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."
"Taylor still very green, but he did some great tackles and pressure during ball movement drills. Kicking was a bit iffy today."
Much has been said about the team's poor disposal. Are we going to pay for overlooking some of the top kicks in the draft?

Cue @binman

Casey Demons - offseason 2025/6

November 27Nov 27

The Casey Demons must be holding their 2026 recruiting cards very close to the chest. They had a very successful drive last year picking up the likes of Jai Culley, Riley Bonner, Mitch Hardie, Deakyn Smith (returned), Riley Baldi (returned), Wardell Lual, Tyson Sruk and a few others but this year, there have been no announcements. In fact, what we are seeing is a bit of an exodus with a few departures.

Code Sports had a feature this week on “The first 100 recruits of the VFL off-season revealed” which contained not a single Casey Demons recruit for 2026.

There must be a reason for holding back the names of the incoming Casey players - hope the wait’s worthwhile.

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Welcome to Demonland: Riley Onley

November 27Nov 27

A little known fact I’ve uncovered about Riley Onley is that in 2024 as an underage player, he represented Victoria Country in the National Under 18 Championships on three occasions. In so doing, he was a teammate of Harvey Langford and Xavier Lindsay which means that the Demons might well have recruited three future midfield stars from the one interstate representative team.

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Casey Demons - offseason 2025/6

On 03/11/2025 at 18:24, KC from Casey said:
According to the article:-
Casey Demons have farewelled midfielder Riley Baldi to South Adelaide but are believed to be targeting Box Hill Hawks wingman Ethan Stanley and delisted Kangaroo Miller Bergman.
Bergman, who played 16 AFL games for North Melbourne after being recruited from Dandenong Stingrays, has aligned himself with Berwick in local football.
Stanley returned to Box Hill this after playing two AFL games with Fremantle.
Meanwhile, the Sandringham Zebras have eyes on Casey's Jack Ferraro, who starred at local level with Dingley in the Southern league this year.
Stanley is a 188 cm, 81 kg midfielder who was on the Dockers’ list in 2023 and 2024.
Bergman is a 189 cm, 73 kg defender who was at North Melbourne from 2022–2025 and played 16 games during that period.

Paul Amy is now reporting on Code Sports that Ethan Stanley is now set to join the Hawks as a train-on player.

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2026 Player Numbers

1 minute ago, Salems Lot said:
So it is the early stages of the off season and I thought a nearest the pin might be interesting. We have already seen some existing players change numbers and it got me thinking what the new players numbers will be. Complete declaration (I Have No Idea) but feel free to have a go
Currently available numbers
9,14,19,20,27,28,33,34,38,40,41,46
Berry - 40 High number for a rookie
Heath - 28 seems to be a Ruck number at the Dees
Jiath - 20 - will suit him
Matthews - 9 Smaller than Spargs hope the jumper is not too baggy
Mihocek - 41 keeps his number
Onley - 33 - looks like a 33
Pickett - 38 - near Cuz in the dressing rooms
Steele - 14 - The usual St Kilda recruit number
Taylor - 27 - Has the right frame for a big number
White - 34 - well der Fred
Re-allocated - unconfirmed
Kentfield - 19 they are talking him up, wouldn't be surprised if he moves up

You've been snookered by the club which has issued the real numbers (see above).

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2026 Player Numbers

2026 Melbourne numbers —

1. Steven May

2. Jacob van Rooyen

3. Christian Salem

4. Harvey Langford

5. Xavier Lindsay

6. Caleb Windsor

7. Jack Viney

8. Jake Lever

9. Jack Steele

10. Daniel Turner

11. Max Gawn

12. Koltyn Tholstrup

13. Jai Culley

14. Changkuoth Jiath

15. Ed Langdon

16. Bailey Laurie

17. Jake Bowey

18. Jake Melksham

19. Xavier Taylor

20. Thomas Matthews

21. Matt Jefferson

22. Blake Howes

23. Shane McAdam

24. Trent Rivers

25. Tom McDonald

26. Jed Adams

27. Max Heath

28. Brody Mihocek

29. Tom Campbell

30. Harry Sharp

31. Bayley Fritsch

32. Tom Sparrow

33. Latrelle Sumner-Pickett

34. Kalani White

35. Harry Petty

36. Kysaiah Pickett

37. Kade Chandler

38. Oscar Berry

39. Ricky Mentha Jnr

40. Riley Onley

42. Aidan Johnson

43 Jack Henderson

44. Luker Kentfield

45. Andy Moniz-Wakefield

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What Now?

On 25/11/2025 at 12:29, Demonstone said:
What now? I think it's time to close this particular forum down for another year with our list already full.

Nah, agreed that the list is full and we're all likely to be done and dusted with our changes, but on the basis of what happened last year, we'll keep this going through the SSP, just in case ...

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PRESEASON TRAINING 2025: Bright and Myrtleford

November 25Nov 25

At least this is something ~

melbournefc.com.au

Live Updates | Community & Pre-Season Camp

Melbourne has headed up the Hume Highway to Bright for its annual community and pre-season performance camp

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PRESEASON TRAINING 2025: Bright and Myrtleford

November 25Nov 25

Isn't that whole area a beautiful part of the world?

Hope there were some Demonlanders out at McNamara Reserve, Myrtleford this morning to report on today's training session.

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W Awards 2025, Monday 24th November, 8.30pm

in AFLW Melbourne Demons

November 24Nov 24

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What Now?

November 24Nov 24

From SCOOPS All things footy 24/7 ~

List of train on opportunities at AFL clubs:

Oskar Ainsworth and Tex Wanganeen - St Kilda

Thomas Burton and Marcus Krasnadamskis - Richmond

Jaidyn Stephenson, Balyn O'Brien and Mitch Zadow - Port Adelaide

Tom McGuane - Adelaide

Chris Scerri - Fremantle

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2026 NATIONAL DRAFT ORDER AND SELECTIONS