DeeSpencer

Lovely spoil by K Turner on jvr, then recovery and handball out infront of Langdon. AMW closed quickly and disrupted the handball though. More of that from Turner and he’ll get the last list spot

Lot of quality in the blue team. Chandler, Dunstan, McVee the only non best 22 starters. Jeffo rolling in too. White has Oliver, Grundy, Hib, JVR but otherwise seems the lesser side and Fritsch

Pert, Lamb, Richo, Kelly OD..good crop of admin here on the outer wing Lot of quality in the blue team. Chandler, Dunstan, McVee the only non best 22 starters. Jeffo rolling in too. White has Oliver, Grundy, Hib, JVR but otherwise seems the lesser side and Fritsch Lovely spoil by K Turner on JVR, then recovery and handball out infront of Langdon. AMW closed quickly and disrupted the handball though. More of that from Turner and he’ll get the last list spot K Turner switch to JJ. JJ hits corridor kick to Max. Gets the handball, hits Jeffo on the wing, he rolls to Spargo. Spargo plays on, bounces, hits up Dunstan 35 out filling in from midfield. That’s the game plan. Nasty clash between Hibbo and Hunter after a Tracc marking contest. Hibbo in a bad way He’s up and gingerly walking it off. And jogging back to position. The pig lives! Kyah banana! Young fella kept involved running down the flank, Nibbler kick missed JVR, Kyah pounced, stepped through traffic and nailed the snap from 40 out. Exciting Blue team are dominant forward of centre (having BBB, TMac, Tracc and Pickett) but being held inside d50 at times leading to long bombs. The lack of May and Salem is showing. White a bit the same, but Sparrow long to JVR seems an effective match up. Andy Moniz-Wakefield was filling in on a wing and I think JJ had 15 touches on him, but when he did get around the contest he looked handy. He’s wearing bigger shorts than Eddie Betts Messy low intensity start to this sim. Adams now doing sprints with Hibbo, AMW, BBB who have been pulled out Good stint in that drill from Jeffo, finding space on Disco by timing his leads and leaps. Very very messy period of match sim. Honestly I would’ve called it off and given them a bake. No doubt they’re running on fumes down rotations but there’s a lack of off ball running to create switches and corridor looks. You can’t beat a zone purely by accurate kicks, you need guys moving in and out of gaps. Not sure why the coaches are so keen to keep practicing JVR and Petty crunching in to each other over and over again. Not sure if it was the defensive pressure dropping off but they just finished a much sharper period with far more corridor play. Pretty willing session from what I saw between 10:05 and 11:20. One big full ground drill that seemed to be a mix between 3 cone kicking, some defenders involved and hit up kicks. I couldn’t work out who went where so good on the players getting this one sorted. Otherwise periods of match sim for about 10 minutes at a time mixed in with some high tempo small handball drills. Standouts: Fritsch, playing as a lead up target on team white and just racking it up in the corridor and facilitating nicely. Sparrow, showed an exceptional turn of speed to take the game on and used it well. Tracked back in defence hard. Looks ready for more midfield time Oliver was Oliver. Gawn dominated the air early. Grundy got involved at ground level, he links up in traffic very naturally. Liked the work of JJ on one wing, and Langdon had the better of Hunter on the other. From the young guys Jefferson was really good. You can see the way he reads the play and times his leads. Even showed the ability to push back in to a defender then hit up. Only one mark that I’d even remotely call contested but plenty of others with natural extension towards the ball. Then he makes calm decisions with the ball. Kyah also had a good day. He’s a proper tall ruck so can make an impact at marking contests even if he’s still learning positioning and timing, then he has the athleticism to get back on to the ground ball first. It will be 5 years until we know for sure if he’s any good but early signs are he has the tools. Schache has moments were his tank to present to space really looks the goods and his skills are solid. But he got worried out of a chest mark when 3m clear on a lead and he had a one on one with Gus that was halved but they were side by side competing. Not sure his fatal flaw has improved. Deak Smith had some willing contests but didn’t stand out. McVee throws in some classy moments with a cheeky underground handball and the likes. SLARTIBARTFAST'S TRAINING REPORT JOEBOY'S TRAINING REPORT KEV MARTIN'S TRAINING REPORT

Trained today, still listed as training on Wednesday. If that’s the case then surely anyone expecting anything more than a captains run will surely be disappointed

Comes in to consideration down back a bit more if Salem is out, but I only really want him down back if Lever is out. Intercepting is what he does well down back, manning a zippy half forward opponent or fast ball use are certainly not strengths. In general I’d have Gus as the 3rd winger and 4th or 5th on baller. He’ll be needed as a tall winger or tagger at times.

I’m inclined to agree, but Tommy at his best is so important to our ball movement as a link man, and BBB is a proven goal kicker. JVR in theory cover both roles and give more defensively but if he isn’t nearly as effective in attack that won’t really matter. I’d like to know how we think we can get more out of Grundy and Fritsch if we go with the older less mobile talls. Can Grundy truly swap on ball as a big mid allowing both rucks to play midfield as the same time? Can Fritter play high half forward and defend to a reasonable level. One or both of those things would make it far easier for the big talls to do their thing without being exposed defensively.

Not good news but obviously better now than in the middle of the season. Would be pretty miserable trying to complete full training sessions with an overactive thyroid. Hopefully it settles quickly and he’s able to keep good fitness. If he’s not right for round 1 do we go with Brayshaw down back like last year OR do we go for a more like for like replacement in Salem’s mop up and quick short kicking game and go with Hunter at half back? I’d be experimenting with both options in the match sim/ practice games.

Half back Brayshaw makes me feel a little bit ill. Get Bowey and Rivers in. We need speed and flair from half back. Harmes, Sparrow, ANB, Spargo and even Gus and Hunter competing for one less spot in the 22. Left over is the sub. Similarly it’s too tall and JVR, Brown, T Mc and even Grundy are competing for 3 spots. JVR had a great start to summer. Tommy moving well. BBB apparently very up and about in the recent match sim. Grundy settling in. It will be a good battle for spots.

Yep when I said grandstand I meant the racecourse ones. They could host your corporate and dining facilities. Definitely agree that you could sink the oval down a little and run maybe a one story low rise stand along a wing with some seats and weather protection. Some similarities to the Lions new venue. The development area after removing all the trainers is huge. I think they'd appreciate a pool, gym, medical rooms, business shared spaces etc if they could be shared with the community. They could link in with Glen Eira College to help present the case to the government.

Before the redevelopment works - straight in the gate off Kambrook road, underneath the track and park by the BBQ's. Plenty of dog walking space and even some fishing in the lake. Never seen a snake either. All that's likely changed now because it's one big earth moving site last time I saw it. And the next time I'll go there's probably going to be a couple of footy ovals arranged in the middle of the place, whether we are training on them or not!

I had heard rumours of this. The big question is whether it would be large enough to host AFLW games. Probably on non race days (or nights). That would be a game changer if it did. You could have the bare minimum in terms of fan facilities around the oval supplemented by the grandstand infrastructure. Otherwise if it's purely a training facility it still ticks the boxes as it's in the heartland and is a blank canvas for an oval or two and club facilities. That said, pretty sure the Swans tried to line up Randwick before getting their new facilities next to the SCG. So we could just be working on the same game plan.

18 hours ahead of Mitch Clearly. 7 might have to slot you in as deputy chief footy reporter in behind Tommy B

A bit more versatility, free wheeling and enjoyment in the way we play. I love the defensive effort the players give and the joy they have in that but our best footy is fast, creative and brave. It trusts the next guy in the chain calling for the ball is either free or can win a contest. Do that and if the coaches and footy department make enough of the right calls managing the players we’ll be in with a shot.

What’s that extra ‘B’ for?

What picks in the draft were those guys?

If you want another highly unreliable training time I believe the boys are having a game of cricket at Ferndale park tonight

I’d imagine Gresham and Dyl Moore would both be targets (for 16 other clubs too). And every club should make Stengle a big offer just to keep the Cats honest. Same goes for Harry Himmelberg and Ben McKay. Redman would be a handy stopper but probably doesn’t come cheap. Plenth of veterans and previously delisted types. One off broadway option is David Cuningham. He didn’t return at all last year from an ACL but he’s a player I have a little bit of time for if he gets healthy.

I’ve been to Gosch’s several times when training isn’t there. Mostly gambling on unadvertised sessions which is fine, you know the risks, but I think other times have been late changes too. I’ve never once seen media there on the wrong day. Maybe they know to call the media manager to check, but one way or another they are always informed. It hurts that supporters aren’t given the same respect.

Apart from a 2 minute interview with Jefferson there’s been nothing with any of the draftees have they? Not even sure most of them can speak

15 or so people here. Including 3 kids under 5. Imagine hating your fans as much as the Melbourne football club

Henry’s yet to play any role at afl level with success and hasn’t looked up for the physicality. He’s still young and might improve but he’s far from a priority at the moment. His best trait might be his kicking and he might end up a half back rather than a wing or forward. Also I’m all for being pragmatic, if Henry does make Pickett stay then maybe it’s worth it, but it’s a little insulting to Kossie to suggest he’d make a decision purely based on bringing in a friend. Seems to be more common with Indigenous players too. No one was saying we should trade for Trey Ruscoe to get Jacko to stay

The second game will be. The first game has consistently been referred to as unofficial so I’d imagine a club operate stream would be best case scenario

Yes, he’s mostly been stationed at half back from what I’ve seen. He’s worked hard, had a few nice spoils but also a few turnovers

Taj reminds me of another father son in Billy Stretch with his preparation and as you know Stretch was a great influence on Oliver and probably others. I think we're already seeing the influence Woey can have with the way JVR and McVee have come back from their break. My biggest concern with him right now is whether the move to half back is wise. Obviously there's a bit of a log jam on the wing with Hunter coming in and Howes hopefully progressing in addition to Langdon, JJ, Gus, Harmes so it makes sense to move him from the wing. But I thought some of his best footy including the grand final came as a high half forward. He could develop in a mid/forward role and set his sights on being a successor to ANB in that specialist role. He has a lot of good attributes as a half back - fit, quick, good tackler, solid overhead for his size but if his kicking doesn't hold up he'll struggle to make it. Maybe half back is a good stepping stone on that journey and will sharpen his kicking and contesting work up.

My sources tell me the Demons will be at a different local Melbourne park beginning with the letter F on Wednesday night for a social t20 game. I wonder if anyone from demonland will stumble upon it.