Whispering_Jack

Upcoming Preseason Open Training Alert: The team is travelling up country to Yea PLEASE NOTE: Training times and locations are subject to change at late notice.

Perhaps the move was prompted by an adverse report in today’s astrological charts for the precinct around Olympic and AAMI Parks and Gosch’s Paddock to move training to Casey Fields. The moon is in the Seventh House and Jupiter’s aligning with Uranus. I’m informed that Collingwood missed this vital news and, as a result, ruckman Darcy Cameron suffered a fresh hamstring setback at training this morning which could derail the start to their season. The Pies also have just realised they cleared their best ruckman during the trade period. Anyway that’s my training report for today.

And another ….

A little bit of what Demon fans who turned up a Gosch’s Paddock missed today …

And there’s a Melbourne connection with said Jamie Barham who played with both Melbourne (4 games in 1981) and Footscray (1 game in 1982). He was famous for being the first player since Vic Nankervis in the 1940s to have the misfortune of playing for two different wooden spoon teams in successive seasons.

There was some mention during the trade period last year that Henry might become part of the Luke Jackson trade but it came to nothing. You would think if the Kozzie-Henry friendship meant as much as is being implied in this “news” then the club would surely have tried a bit harder to get Henry across at the time.

Well, well, well Elwood. Your dream of luring Mitch Szybkowski over to Casey might still come to fruition. At one stage early last year, Szybkowski was considered a contender for a top 20 spot in the 2022 AFL National Draft but in the ruthless world of AFL football, he was overlooked in the end and couldn’t even win a rookie position at the Rookie Draft. Word was that while he was built like a bull, he lacked pace and the X factor to progress at AFL level. As mentioned by BangBnagBang, both he and Oakleigh ruckman O’Keefe were released today by Essendon from their SSP train on places. Being a local from the Stingrays, Mitch might find it an aid to his future development to join Casey where he might rub shoulders with some of the game’s best midfield beasts in the organization.

Eye on the future: 10 draft prospects to watch in 2023

Absolutely have no idea but Graham Molloy was no winger.

Sounds a bit more strenuous than the Demons putting challenge that the boys were put through on Wednesday.

Family, fun and clinic for the Casey Demons VFLW side:

The story of the two Academy players who are training with Melbourne (although more of it is about Zane Duursma) ~ Top AFL Draft prospect Zane Duursma impresses with Demons pre-season cameo

Today’s Herald Sun features some stories from yesterday’s preseason training sessions including one from Rebecca Williams on Melbourne training on Page 63 (no online link but here’s part of it covering an update on the skipper who trained early and beat most of the track watchers): The article goes on to cover some other aspects which I summarize below: FORWARD FOCUS JvR has impressed track watchers with his preseason form over summer. He “provided a strong and mobile marking target for the Demons during match play on Wednesday”, with some impressive overhead marking. With TMac in full training after the foot injury which curtailed him in the second half of last year, this augurs well for the club’s forward stocks. WELCOME BACK TMac’s teammates didn’t go easy on him during match play. Trent Rivers applying a heavy spoil on him while going for a mark and gave away a free kick but TMac decided to play on and had a free paid against him when Rivers launched a fierce tackle that brought him to the ground. INJURY LIST Melbourne GM of football performance Alan Richardson is on the injury list. He had his right foot in a moon boot yesterday at Goschs Paddock. LIGHT WORK Jake Lever (bruised foot), Jake Melksham (minor calf issue), Charlie Spargo and Joel Smith (ankle surgery) were among those on modified training loads. The Demons expect all of the players to integrate back into full training over the next 1-2 weeks.

My theory after seeing The Fabelmans which is based on the early life of Steven Spielberg is that the markings are designed as a message to the aliens who are trying to find E.T. and get him back home. This is based on the fact that the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was released in 1982 and his planet is reputed to be a shade over 20 light years away. Of course, Chocco Williams might have a different explanation.

My guess was pretty ordinary.

I’m guessing that the remaining training sessions this week (Wednesday and Friday) will take place at Casey Fields to avoid the tennis crowds. That practice match in March vs Richmond should also be at Casey.

Happy with a preseason practice match against the Tigers. We last took them on in a preseason game in 2021 (albeit that it was an unofficial game at Casey Fields) when they were the reigning premiers and we won narrowly to set the scene for our premiership. Encore!

KC - the news is much appreciated but there’s one thing that seems to be missing. The three players you’ve mentioned are all from the Dandenong Stingrays but the Casey Demons also draw players from the Gippsland Power and I would have expected some good players who were overlooked in the draft to also be training at Casey from that club as well. Jonti Shuback (mentioned above) is the obvious one that comes to mind but there must be a few others.

It would seem that David King is impressed with Melbourne’s pre-season intensity ~ The AFL club that is “panels in front” of others with pre-season intensity

Given the issues that affected Max’s fitness in the latter half of 2022, any problem with his hamstrings needs to be managed properly. I’m sure our coaching, medical and fitness people will be right on top of this and they’ll do what’s necessary in his interests.

It would be nice if the club could confirm next week’s training times and venues. With schools returning in the following week, the next week could be the final opportunity to get the kids to a preseason session and if they are taking place at Casey which involves special arrangements for most of us because of the distances involved, plenty of advance notice would be helpful.

Casey Fields this morning STINGA'S PRESEASON TRAINING REPORT

A Herald-Sun article by Chris Cavanagh “DID YOUR NUMBERS COME UP?” (pages 76 & 77 yesterday) examined which club has the strongest draft hand going into the 2023 National Draft. Of course, it’s a long way off till November and the draft picks are dependent upon how each individual team fares in the coming season but the verdict has Melbourne ahead of the pack. Here are the picks each club holds – and why. ADELAIDE Rd 1: Own Rd 2: 1 x linked to North Melbourne, 1 x linked to Gold Coast Rd 3: None Rd 4: None BRISBANE Rd 1: None Rd 2: 1 x linked to Geelong Rd 3: Own, 1 x linked to Geelong Rd 4: 1 x linked to Fremantle CARLTON Rd 1: Own Rd 2: None Rd 3: None Rd 4: Own, 1 x linked to Essendon COLLINGWOOD Rd 1: Own Rd 2: 1 x linked to Carlton Rd 3: None Rd 4: Own ESSENDON R 1: Own Rd 2: Own Rd 3: Own Rd 4: Linked to Sydney FREMANTLE Rd 1: None Rd 2: 1 x linked to North Melbourne Rd 3: 1 x linked to North Melbourne, 1 x linked to Carlton Rd 4: 1 x linked to North Melbourne GEELONG Rd 1: Own Rd 2: None Rd 3: None Rd 4: None GOLD COAST Rd 1: Own Rd 2: 1 x linked to GWS, 1 x linked to Adelaide Rd 3: 1 x linked to Adelaide, 1 x linked to Collingwood Rd 4: Own, 1 x linked to Adelaide, 1 x linked to St Kilda GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY Rd 1: Own, 1 x linked to Richmond Rd 2: None Rd 3: Own Rd 4: Own, 1 x linked to Brisbane HAWTHORN Rd 1: Own Rd 2: 1 x linked to Western Bulldogs Rd 3: 1 x linked to Western Bulldogs Rd 4: None MELBOURNE Rd 1: Own, 1 x linked to Fremantle Rd 2: Own, 1 x linked to Fremantle Rd 3: None Rd 4: None “The Demons hold the best draft hand of any club with four picks in the first two rounds. Not only do they still have their own selections for those rounds, but they also have Fremantle’s as part of the trade that sent young ruckman Luke Jackson to the Dockers. Melbourne’s third-rounder went to the Western Bulldogs in exchange for Lachie Hunter, while their fourth-rounder also found its way to Whitten Oval in a swap for utility Josh Schache.” NORTH MELBOURNE Rd 1: Own, 1 x linked to Port Adelaide Rd 2: None Rd 3: Own, 1 x linked to Melbourne Rd 4: 1 x linked to Hawthorn PORT ADELAIDE NNRd 1: None NNRd 2: 1 x linked 
to Collingwood NNRd 3: 1 x linked 
to Fremantle NNRd 4: Own RICHMOND Rd 1: None Rd 2: Own Rd 3: Own Rd 4: Own ST KILDA Rd 1: Own Rd 2: Own Rd 3: Own Rd 4: None SYDNEY SWANS Rd 1: Own Rd 2: Own, 1 x linked to Hawthorn Rd 3: Own, 1 x linked to Hawthorn Rd 4: None WEST COAST EAGLES Rd 1: Own Rd 2: Own, 1 x linked to Port Adelaide Rd 3: Own, 1 x linked to Port Adelaide Rd 4: Own WESTERN BULLDOGS Rd 1: Own, 1 x linked to Brisbane Rd 2: 1 x linked to Brisbane Rd 3: None Rd 4: Own, 1 x linked to Melbourne, 1 x linked to Geelong

What about the enjoyment on the faces of the fans at attending a winning Melbourne match in Geelong at a time when the chances of us bringing home the 4 points was negligible and the prospect of that long drive home in the cold at the end of most games wasn’t exactly tantalizing.