DeeSpencer

I don't understand this. Either he's off the list for 2017 in which case we should be able to upgrade a rookie or he's on the list and should be able to go as a long term injury due to concussion. The ruling that he's a terminated player and therefor we can't promote someone is ridiculous.

Interesting. Pedda's never going to have the same body shape or endurance as Tom McDonald but from watching the rehab runs he's been keeping up with a strong group of runners including Trengove, Vanders and Viney. Shape wise he's certainly the bulkiest big man we have but that's always been him and I don't think he's in bad condition, certainly nothing like when he first came to the club.

JKH was training by himself with Crossy and a fitness staff member. Some sprints a bit of ball work. No one else in sight.

If he has medical advice that says he can't play then he'd be entitled to some form of payout anyway. Speculating on the details probably won't help. Regardless of whether he couldn't or wouldn't play we certainly didn't have any desire to keep him around so he's gone now.

Yep but big Oscar McInerny made his way up due to form and injuries late in the year. By all reports from his draft days Gach has a stack of talent and he's had the year in an AFL system so he could end up ahead of the young guys on our list. Flippers is pretty raw and King is coming of an ACL injury. Just establishing themselves at VFL senior level and backing up Spencer would be a good start for those 2 this year.

That's his media persona. When it comes to getting deals done he gets them done. Maybe he makes everyone feel nice and comfy then extracts 2.5 billion from them. He needs to be more assertive in the media but his personality and way of operating seems to be by negotiation and finding agreeable outcomes. Demetriou was an arrogant troll. Most people hated it. Some people loved it. I found him a bit reckless and greedy, if overall rather good for the game and well meaning. I'm far from a big business executive but when it comes to deals and running businesses I have seen people of all ranges of personalities be successful with the right knowledge, leverage and work ethic.

2.508 billion dollar TV rights deal over 6 years. That's 418 million a year without even adding the revenue from memberships, attendances etc. So at 1.7 million per year Gil has taken home about 0.41% of revenue from the broadcast deal. Is that really that unfair? Forget about if you like the bloke or not and look at his achievements and things aren't going too bad. We've got a women's league. The Dees have a women's team. The Dees have posted profits despite still missing finals A fellow battler just won the flag. The AFL took control of Etihad to help those teams out and secure an asset (Way too slowly but) the AFL is at least thinking of reigning in some of GWS' advantages The fixture isn't getting any more screwed up that it has been!

Hard to get an Uber out at Casey anyway. Presumably much closer to home so he can probably train and get picked up from Cranny station. In all seriousness it's good to see he's getting a 2nd chance close to the elite system. If he can turn around the off field stuff he could come good on field. You'd think he'd probably start back in the Casey 2's and have to work his way up which would probably be good for him. Clubs without VFL reserves must really struggle to develop young rucks

Yep and I'd stick with it. I think he'll start most games at half back and then rotate up to a wing and on ball for stints. Hibberd will help and hopefully Vince kicks it better than he did at the end of last year, but to really improve our ball movement I want Salem getting the ball at half back.

He's training midfield and back. I still think he's our best kick and decision maker and so will play back quite a bit. Too many other mids - Viney, Tyson, Oliver, Brayshaw, Petracca who are more suited to rotate forward and/or unsuitable to rotate back.

Where do you see him playing? I think to not overtax his body he has to play a fair bit on one of the flanks, and for team balance and the sake of the team I expect that to be a back flank. But also if his fitness has improved then to get more touches and impact forward of centre I think he has to rotate in to the midfield and is suited to play inside or outside. For his development it might be easier to leave him in one spot but once he matures he'll be best used as a utility like how the Hawks have used Burgoyne.

Stef Martin, Will Minson, Mike Pyke. All types can be a ruckman.

Our resident brother of might give us an update as they are starting him off as a defender but I think Dec Keilty has to be a chance in the back up ruck role. He's more athletic than Pedda and stronger than Watts or the Weed. I enjoy Watts in the back up ruck role but don't think it's sustainable long term. So early in the year it will come down to Weed or Pedda as the best forward, but later in the year they might look for the best ruck to free Watts up.

Viney: 60% on ball, 5% wing 20% forward Tyson: 55% on ball, 10% wing, 20% forward Jones: 55% on ball, 15% wing, 15% back Oliver: 45% on ball, 30% forward Brayshaw: 30% on ball, 15% wing, 40% forward Salem: 20% on ball, 20% wing, 50% back Lewis: 15% on ball, 50% wing, 10% forward, 10% back Petracca: 10% on ball, 70% forward Vince: 10% on ball, 45% back, 30% wing Stretch: 65% wing, 20% forward Gawn, 6 defenders, 5 forwards. Just rough figures and you can move them around but that's the kind of rotation I'd be hoping for. Viney, Tyson, Jones and Oliver I think are 4 that are used best when in at the clearances. Then we rotate a deeper line up through the forwards, backs and outside spots.

It's a public place, so the notion of any closed training for Melbourne is a bit of a silly one. But I believe there's an understanding between clubs to respect sessions that are deemed closed. I guess that doesn't extend to the AFL's PR arm.

Without making too much of a fuss I am a little insulted that they announce the end of the year for fans and suggest further trainings are closed only to have an AFL.com.au writer do a report. Rude.

GB Pittsburgh New England

I'm not a huge fan of Casey but we do become the team of the East/Outer East whilst Collingwood are based at Olympic Park, Carlton at Carlton and the Dogs in the West. So much of Hawthorn's transition from minnow to power club has been on the back of the booming Eastern suburbs. I wasn't alive at the time but I'm sure the early travellers to Waverley felt the same way I do going to Casey now. I'm not convinced on the membership numbers in the short term. The women play either 3 or 4 home games at a busy time of the year. I'm not sure people will be buying memberships rapidly. Nor will buying women's memberships lead to men's memberships in the short term. But we do have a chance to get thousands of young girls from Melbourne's Eastern suburbs seeing AFLW in red and blue and hopefully overriding their dads or brothers and sticking with them. We might get the long term presence in the area that I doubt our current VFL and irregular trainings have achieved.

Betts is stronger in the air and one on one than Jeff is. Garlett is more like Eddie's team mate Charlie Cameron. The other forwards share a lot of the blame but the reason I ride Garlett hard is because he's one who can do it. He's laid some great tackles and done some really sharp pressuring work and impressed me a lot with that stuff in 2015, I just hope he gets back to that standard.

Agree Hunt's kicking has improved but it was coming from a low base technically and still has a way to go. Everything else he's doing is first rate. I've been watching Jeffy closely and critically. I know full well my bias for the way he played in 2016 is influencing my opinion. The run and kick through the middle was a beauty. Didn't see the tackle. I just think his decision making with and without the ball went way off last year and I've been looking for it to come back or even go to another level. I wonder if he lost confidence and then lost focus. I get your point about the ball out the back but that wasn't the situation that I reported and I think forward pressure is a massive part of a small forwards job. So without knowing the full details on when + how coaches give feedback on training I'd be drilling Jeff constantly to get to the right spots.

A mix of mids, forwards and in the rehab group. Decision making and skills aren't quite there yet but he cracks in and seems at least decent athletically. Wait and see until games.

Kicking will hold Hunt back but that's about it. Had a set shot on goal that went sideways and a running shot that went end over end and maybe it about 30m of the 50 required. Oscar's had some good moments. He's another who is moving faster and hitting targets with more confidence. I haven't seen him one on one with forwards very often, but in terms of his zoning off and disposal under pressure he's looked good. He's a nice size now as well. Porter they call him. When they yell Oscar at training it's in reference to the AFL Academy kid Oscar who is also a rangy tall defender and from what I've seen so far I think he'll go top 30 in the draft. Does a lot of things right for a kid mixing it with AFL players.

I think they have a 2 week break over xmas/new years which isn't really all that unusual, it just falls early this year. Unlike most of us they can't spend it boozing and eating. The long break from September (for non finalists) all the way to mid November is a different issue but if they want to play well they better work in that time. And who really cares how long they get off, the 22 weekends from March to September is when they earn their money regardless of if they trained 365 days a year or had 20 weeks off.

No Kent, no ANB as far as I saw. Rehab: Hannan, Wagner, JKH, King, Flippers, Melksham. Pedda and McDonald for some. Joel Smith and Mitch White did runs throughs instead of the final drills. Lots of full ground ball movement v opposition after some lighter drills earlier. Observations: - Frost is a hard one. Half the list couldn't get near tackling him today, not even close. But his disposal is a worry. - Oliver was certainly training hard. Sprinting passed team mates in drills on the spread. - Garlett's lack of brains with forward pressure continues to annoy me and he's not the only one who seems to switch off as a forward or not quite get the zoning right as a defender. They are working on them and some get it better than others. - Hibberd seems very good across half back at reading the play. - Lewis looks well versed at where to go as a mid. He'll often just sit inside and infront of a target down the line. Today was the most impressed I've been by him. Super sharp quick decisions and kicked well. - Vanders back up forward makes a difference to the work rate both ways, his skills might not be perfect but he works hard - All of the first year draftees were held out of the final match sim but Tim Smith impressed earlier, the tempo doesn't look too fast for him and Keilty took a nice grab and kicked well - Viney makes a noticeable difference to the pressure around the midfield. Players just know they can't run around or through him. Frost was running passed everyone but stopped with Viney. - Brayshaw was heavily involved in several of the drills. His ability to intercept and burst was really noticeable. Some of his kicks were picked off but other times his direct style of play led to getting out the back - Tyson is just better. Faster. Smoother on both feet.

Not sure what to make of the whole Casey thing. Probably the most practical option at the end of the day. We just don't have the cash or pull to somehow find our own training or playing base somewhere in the heartland (or even out in somewhere like Dingley like the Hawks). So the best option is to continue training at Gosch's which works really well for the players and to then have our VFL and women's teams based at Casey. So as part of that we invest in the alignment. Home for the MFC will always be the MCG anyway, even if I feel like a consolidated base for training, VFL and women's would be a really nice thing to have. I wonder if we should just up and move the entire club to Casey and to really commit to it but I think that's a risky move and we'd probably be like St Kilda and hating it.