Freak

'hasn't run for a year?' He was playing basketball in balwyn several weeks ago. Not that well i might add

Thanks Bub, I'll do that a bit later. Anyway, I took one for the demonland team today and strolled down to Gosch's paddock to watch training. Unfortunately, I couldn't spot Jack Viney who is now going to be known as the phantom as he is one of the only players at the championships not to have a dedicated youtube clip. And now with his no-show at training I'm still yet to see how he kicks the ball. Anyway, other absentees were Tapscott, Strauss and Sylvia. There were probably some more but I can't remember. I was also approached by some dude today who asked me 'Hey, are you from Bigfooty?'. I said a 'No' and you could almost hear the crickets. Anyway, they were doing 150m run throughs with an appropriately paced running partner. Jones/Bail were a duo, as were Morton/Mcdonald, Nicholson/Howe, Watts/Bate, Martin/Macdonald, Blease/Gysberts/Davis, Bartram/Bennell and I forget the other pairs. It was a very cruisy session that only last 1hr 15minutes. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed as I wanted to see them getting flogged on the training track but other than the run-throughs it was a pretty low-key, jovial feel about it. Davey, Grimes, Cook, Mckenzie ran laps for about 20 minutes and Mitch Clark on the far side of the oval did some low-key running for the whole session. These players did some kick to kick and quick hands sort of drills away from the main group. So they didn't take part in any of the real stuff. The players then split up into different groups. I wouldn't read too much into who was in what group etc as Blease was in the group with Watts/ Stef Martin. Leigh Brown was active with the pads, bumping the forwards as the ball came in. Pretty hard I must say. Almost knocked little Sam Blease over at one stage. Watts, Howe, Green, Dunn, Blease and Stef Martin in this group. Someone asked how Evans was going and I saw Evans just kicking the ball in a triangle for about 30mins so he may be easing back off some sort of injury. All in all, it seemed a pretty easy session and I would have like to see them get punished a lot more than they did. At no point did I see Neeld address the players. They did some basic stoppage drills but nothing jaw-dropping or anything to suggest of a new game style. Anyway, Troy Davis looks sluggish and has poor skills. Carrying far too much weight. Morton is still skinny, along with Cook but its only the 3rd training session so what do we expect. I think Nicholson looked good. He was the most chatty guy in the team today and is looking in pretty good nick.

hey guys, i went to training today, before i post a report can anyone tell me how to upload a couple of pics

hey guys, how do you add photos? The image icon asks to enter in a URL etc.

how long do the training sessions usually go for guys?

Hey, I'm thinking about going tomorrow. Is there anything people want me to report on specifically?

Not sure how people can say that Lucas Cook won't be as good as Watts etc. I worked at every casey game during Watts first year and he was WAY OFF! Lucas Cook is far ahead of Watts at the same age so there is no way we would dream about trading away Cook. Cook is similar to Watts in many ways. A great mark and kick and exactly the same height. Watts is more athletic but Cook reads the game a bit better i believe.

a key position player that shirks contests...i'd like to see that!

embarrassingly sour about the scully departure. Scully was as hard as nails. just because he is gone now people try and pay him out

I don't think the jimmy comment was appropriate considering he is still alive and kicking. And i dont really care what Greeny says. We lost by 186 points and he was smiling at the press conference. Inexcusable.

so typical melbourne haven't asked for more

for f#ck sake, how long do we have to be chasing a big key forward for! We go out of our way not to pick up darling, then we recruit skinny key forwards that turn out to be more flankers and refuse to get busy in trade week. Grow some nuts melbourne and pick up Dawes or someone. anybody..and be done with it. We need an elite midfielder now with the loss of scully. we were already getting raped at clearances etc. and now we lose scully without a whimper. we will have 3 first round picks in next years draft but unfortunately 1 of them will be used on jack viney.

yeah and the maximum is gary ablett compensation. We should be seekimg more than Gary Ablett. That was never stated. Maximum compensation means we are settling for about pick 10 and 18-ish. Not good enough!!!!

oh dear. Scully had a terrible season yet still averaged over 20 touches a game.

Never heard him say that. definitely didn't in the press conferences or on sen just before

Yeah, you can take your head out of the sand now. Scully is better than any young player on our list. Thats why GWS went after him and they got him. Not his fault though. It's the AFL's. But just because he is gone now there is no need to trivialise his elite speed, elite handballing, awareness, reflexes, courage and elite endurance.

You know the reason why everyone loves Gary Lyon, because he is the only person that provides our club with a voice! whether it be on the footy show, or on footy classified he always states his frustrations about the club. But there are certain things that must be answered. -Why are we asking for 'maximum compensation' ala Gary Ablett? A strong club should ask for MORE than Gary Ablett. Scully is worth more than Ablett on the trade table considering he is 7 years younger so we should be getting more than Ablett. A strong club should at least pretend to demand it. -Also, a strong club would have asked for a logical explanation as to why a judd-Visy deal couldn't have been done for Tom Scully. Adrian Anderson came out with 'Oh, we've tightened the rules since then' and we just roll over and accept. The fans ought to know why they have changed the rules, demand to see the rule changes and also put pressure on the Judd-Visy deal to cease. I've seen none of this. These 2 points should and would be undertaken if we were a strong club. Fans deserve answers. Collingwood or Carlton were never going to let any of their players go let alone one of the best young talents in the game. And for anyone says that he isn't, it's like you've been dumped by Jennifer Hawkins and you're trying to rationalise by saying that she wasn't that good, when in fact she was. Melbourne fans, Scully will be a champion

Lost scully, kept morton. Good job melbourne

A lot quicker and harder at the ball than Pendlebury. That's been proven. Pendlebury is a better kick at the moment. Hardly a banged up body. He still played all of season 1 and half of season 2.

I believe that Scully will be better than Pendlebury. There is no evidence to suggest that he wont be. Losing Scully is devastating but I guess at least i have a viable excuse for the next 10 years to my mates whenever we lose a game. Carlton without Murphy, Collingwood without Thomas, Hawthorn without buddy, Melbourne without Scully. Huge loss with stuff all compensation.

guys, we have lucas cook. the club will have faith in him. this draft will be the time to pick up midfielders. especially with losing tom scully.

I agree ,Scully should be worth heaps more than Ward but you are under-rating Ward. He has been sensational this year. But scully is basically Ward with better vision and better pace. i dont really care what we get though because losing Scully will be the biggest loss in melbourne football clubs history. People saying he isn't that good or wont be that good are blind freddy. He was injury riddled this year but he is on par to be the best midfielder in the game in 2 years time.

completely agree.

Hey guys, I've been a long time poster on this site (as well as playing in a couple of inter-forum footy matches) and whilst a lot of people have had different opinions about football with me, I now come in peace I am running a marathon in October and am running for the Cancer Council. So far, my close friends have raised $383 dollars but i am trying to raise as much as possible for the foundation. Here is the fundraising page here: My link It's a 1 minute process if you feel it in your hearts to donate to a good cause. Freak

Okay by my calculations, our first pick will be pick 12 in the next draft. We will definitely not use the scully picks until next years draft as that is meant to be far superior. Gold Coast - pick 4 Port - Pick 6 Brisbane - pick 8 Adelaide - pick 10 Melbourne - pick 12 on a side note, i'm running my first marathon on the 9th October and am running for the Cancer Council, seeking kind-hearted people (or loaded people!) to chip in something for the foundation. My link. I've been a long-term poster on this site and whilst a lot of people have disagreed with my football ideas and opinions, i hope to put that aside and do something good. Sounds a bit like debt-demolition!