DeeSpencer

Cranbourne have a team in the Women's VFL, they could possibly be co-opted. But at the moment Geelong and other teams who didn't get an AFL license are working on fielding VFL teams. I think it's a while off AFL teams having VFL reserves like the men's system. Especially when the AFL season will be a novelty short season before the women return to their VFL or local clubs for the rest of the year.

Nope sorry he was injured in this drill. Just copped a ball right on the end of a finger. Couldn't tell if it was dislocated or just jarred but as he went back to AAMI after it I assume he managed to dislocate it.

I'd just be guessing but I'm kind of hoping the theory is: 1. We'll never kick (or run) as well as Hawthorn so we can't recreate their ball movement. 2. Pressure is going up and up with each year to the extent that having clean skills is becoming nearly impossible - even the Hawks have fallen back 3. Our list is strongest in ball winning and competitive ability of our players so pin point accuracy isn't required That's if it's to become a major part of the game plan. If not, it might just be a subtle tweet to get some basic competency out of some players whilst encouraging those who can use both sides to keep doing that. I can't imagine it's a major factor but given these guys work in small percentages I'd imagine the sports science staff would like more balance between using both sides. It's got to be good for the back and hammies to work both sides in a long training session.

The highlight of the short bit of training I watched today was Petracca marking with a group of forwards. He'd take up front spot and a kick would come in and he'd go head to head with some of the other tall forwards, with the winner staying on. Tracc used his strength and athleticism to mark 3 in a row against Hulett, Watts and Weid (I think). There was a lot of cheering and hollering. Then he went against Gawn who had too much strength and reach and out marked him. Garlett was too strong/clever for Ben Ken and JKH.

Just got here to see JKH sprain a finger and walk back to AAMI. Then ANB got caught up with Lewis diving for a loose ball in a beach flags type drill and immediately grabbed his knee and looked very upset. Walked off unaided back to AAMI. I wonder if his patella popped in and out again. No Jetta or Brayshaw here since I've been here

If we aren't in full contact we are pretty close. They are bumping, tackling, spoiling, crashing in on loose balls. It wouldn't surprise me if after Monday they pull back and focus on skills and running for the next 2 sessions to get through til the end of year break then ramp up the competitive stuff again. Then again, they are trying to train at high intensity and under pressure so they'll probably just keep it going.

He was definitely sore and feeling his ankle after clashing with Stretch. Not sure it's major but it's not just blisters. Brayshaw had me more worried but I was happy to see back on his feet and do some run throughs.

Max had a lovely kick for a big guy but his body didn't come on at all and he was often in the rehab group. Mitch looks more solid this year after the year off, but he's in the rehab group so it's hard to judge. Macca was getting in to him after he dropped a mark on the lead to just keep attacking the ball hard and he was doing that. His kick is decent and leaps ahead of Spencer and probably ahead of Gawn for the same age. There's not a lot more to report until he gets back in to full training and games. They are doing a lot of fast paced handballing under pressure including handballing over the shoulder and even underground handballs in some drills. Not sure it's at the Dogs level of throwing it but I guess the coaches are working on the theory of practising handballing legally and hoping the umps clamp down on the Dogs. Athleticism and holding his marks are my concerns with the Weid but I agree he's slowly filling out a very solid frame and he does have a lot of class with the way he can gather and kick. I think he leads to all the right spots as well. Totally agree about the Spencil. Although he still managed to falcon one throw in. He just looks stronger, faster and far more coordinated at the moment than he has before. I really like DJ's kicking on both sides and he doesn't panic with the ball in decision making drills. I doubt he'll play much in year 1 but long term I think he'll be groomed to play forward and midfield rather than as a forward pocket specialist.

Got there at 12, stayed for 45 minutes. It was very warm! Robbo was hosting a touring group, presumably the draftees families. Rehab: Tom Mc, Pedda, Wagner, King, Hannan, Flippers Not sighted: JKH, the prince. Garland had some tape on a knee but was moving fine. Ben Ken had his forearm padded. Viney, Trengove and Vanders were back in the main group. They seem to be training more in position groups now. When I got there mids were doing stoppage drills competing in 2 teams focusing on spread from the stoppage. Clarry won one of his trade mark beast mode and fast hands clearances and then burst forwards to receive the ball away from the stoppage and got on the end of it out in front of Stretch. That had Jones and a lot of the others cheering. For all the negative chat of late it was a reminder that he's a super talent. Bugg impressed me in this drill as well just with his smarts and pace to spread, he was racking up touches. Backs and forwards were working on kicking to or stopping leads. They main group then split in to 2 groups working in half a ground each between the arcs just keepings off 7 on 5. They what pretty fast and decent movement up and down the area. Unfortunately someone sailed a kick high and Jetta punched it away from Stretch's reach and seemed to injure his left ankle. He was up walking off shortly thereafter but I don't think he returned to training. Hopefully it's minor. Over the other side someone kicked towards Viney near the boundary who backed back and went to mark and ran in to the fence with a crunch. It looked really dangerous and momentarily I was worried about Viney but he grabbed the fence and flipped his weight to avoid injury and I really should've been more worried about the fence. After that they went in to 2/3rds of the ground shirts v bibs with the shirts having 2 extra in the midfield group but bibs having an extra down back and zoning. Highlights included a nice long switch from Melksham to open the ground up to then bring it in to the corridor. A kick wide from Vanders to Garlett, in to the corridor to spot up Oliver then a quick handball to get Salem running in on goal. And a nice piece of play with Brayshaw to McKenna to Gawn along the boundary line before handballing inside to a runner and in to open space. Brayshaw came off limping and had trouble with an ankle or even a foot. It had me worried about his foot, but they seemed to tape him up and then have him run up and down the boundary. Another one to watch. Tyson impressed me today with his movement and kicking. He's not fast by any means but he just looks a bit sharper to me and to have found a nice rhythm to his kicking. I don't think he's done a full preseason yet in his career. Salem had an impressive moment when he ran forward inside 50, the kick went to him but defenders closed in, so he spoiled or dropped the mark in front of him, kept his feet running on to the ball and very nonchalantly gathered and snapped a goal. The Weid got on the end of a couple of kicks but he did run up and down on the spot when he was chasing, was very warm though and we do have some defenders who can run now.

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Viney has better inside stats - clearances, tackles, contested possessions. He's far better in the air as well. A lot of Treloar's possessions are give and get handballs that rack up stats but aren't all that dangerous. He is a bit quicker and smoother running with the ball than Viney and get 2 more kicks per game, but that only balances him up with Jack's inside dominance. I don't think Treloar works nearly as hard defensively nor do I think he knows how to be a balanced contributor at clearances working as a unit. Collingwood's midfield leaked like a sieve all year giving up huge games to opposition mids. There's a reason why Pendlebury won the Pies B+F this year when so many thought Treloar would. Pendlebury is a proper elite player. There's more of a gap between him and Treloar than there is - if there is - between Treloar and Viney.

The premise of this article is just wrong. If I were a statistician at Champion Data I'd be annoyed by the way the stats have been represented here. I've got no doubt Scott Pendlebury is an elite player. Treloar is close. Wells (when fit) and Sidebottom are classy players. Close had a great year in 2015. But Wells has never played with those guys so there's no way of saying that group is the best midfield. How do they factor in players 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 in the midfield mix? The Richmond example is even worse. Caddy and Prestia are good players but Martin's ability to play hero ball and have 40 touches might change with the new additions and Cotchin might improve or either he or maybe Caddy could end up marginalised and not getting as much ball. Similarly the Dees midfield group is still coming together. They may improve quickly this year, particularly with Lewis' help, or they may not. But as a group of players they are clearly better than last over the last 2 years, yet alone how they rank for the future. I don't mind the champion data player ratings even if they can overrate particular players. They rate good disposal and I think that's a fair point, disposal is vital. Where they probably fall down is they probably can't qualify the difference between a clearance and a line breaking powerful clearance, or a regulation tackle and a tackle that saves a goal. That's where Viney probably doesn't get full value. More consistent ball movement across the team and better disposal will see our midfielders rise up the rankings pretty quickly.

Yes, it's called a TUE (therepeutic use exemption). But probably isn't even needed for most common asthma drugs anyway. Just some of the asthma steroids have been used in high doses to either mask drugs or to produce some form of short term benefit, you'd have to ask the cyclists if they work.They are corticosteroids not anabolic steroids, so long term they break down muscle not build muscle anyway so asthma meds aren't something you'd take to cheat.

I think I heard some of that just as I was getting there. Sounds like our own version of the Oklahoma drill.

It's the last training for the year. They can't have it the next week! It's a shame it isn't the Saturday or even 3pm on the Friday so people could take the arvo off, but I guess they are trying to stick to their routine and get the year done before the players break for 2 weeks. Take the kids out of school in the morning and return them at lunch time?

I got there at closer to 10:30, so no surprise if I missed a few but: Missing: Lewis, Hibberd, Wagner, McDonald, T Smith, Hannan, Keilty, Flippers, Mitch King, DJ, Tyson, Jetta. Laps: Pedersen, JKH. Oliver doing sprints up the side line. Sprints and towing a sled behind them: Viney, Vanders, Trenners. These three guys look strong and fit. You barely notice the sled with the weight dragging behind Viney. The rest started in smaller drills and then were doing some full ground ball movement. Getting the ball under pressure from one end and working it all the way up to the other before swapping over. The usual standouts - Jones, Brayshaw prolific, Harmes involved with a nice fend off, Salem - so classy, Petracca's burst movement, Stretch getting out wide. Not sure what will come of it but Spencer's movement continues to impress me. He's running on top of the ground at least. Frost is such a zone defence weapon with his ability to break and intercept. Unfortunately, he's still a bit out of control when it comes to actually doing something with the ball. Right now though my choice for third tall defender isn't Frost and definitely isn't Garland. I'd be picking 44 and seeing what he can do. Ben Kennedy came back from AAMI with a band on his nose and a compression bandage on his forearm, think someone cleaned him up earlier in the session but he seemed fine.

And a 2nd round pick. It was in effect Toumpas for Kennedy straight swap. Howe for a 2nd rounder, which was then part of the Gold Coast deal to bring in the 2 first rounders and we dropped back to the 3rd round for it. We missed Howe's good games last year but not his bad and it took him getting traded to realise he's not a forward. Now we used a similar 2nd round pick this year that we got from Howe last year to bring in Hibberd who will play the same role as Howe and if Hibberd gets fit and in peak form he'll play it better.

Doesn't really bother me what he was on. If someone crashes in to my car and injures property or worse a person then I don't care if they are drunk or drugged. Both should be treated basically the same in my opinion. Yep, AFL players are young and have cash to splash. That said, plenty of uni students, apprentice tradies or factory workers at the same age have done the same thing.

Maybe he took an uber? Does it matter if he was high on drugs or alcohol. If he was intoxicated he was intoxicated, does it matter what the substance was? Either way, if he was drinking alcohol with energy drinks you can get pretty drunk without passing out or taking anything else. Crazier things have happened than someone crashes a car and taking off running just on alcohol.

I'd like to see us: Rest 5 of our best 10 in the first game ie. Gawn, Hogan, Jones, Tyson, Jetta Rest a different 5 or so of our best 10 in the 2nd game ie. McDonald, Watts, Viney, Vince, Lewis Then despite the travel I'd be keen to fly the full squad over and have a solid hit out against the Eagles. Plenty of time to recover between then and round 1.

It's not good. It's usually windy so if there's a southerly breeze that will help, but if it's a Northerly it will be very warm.

Details on club website. Seems a fair punishment. I like that it puts the onus on Clarry to go out and sort things for himself, although knowing AFL players the manager will do it for him! The most interesting bit is that they left a fair clip towards young Clarry in the penultimate paragraph.

Same kind of deal - Find the photo you want on the instagram app - which I'm sure you have installed . - Click the 3 little dots '...' in the top right of the photo which will bring down a menu list - Select 'Copy Share URL' - Open up demonland and the thread you wish to post in and then hit paste (push and hold on an iphone) and the link will come up.

- Just go to your profile - instagram.com/demonpk - click on the photo you want on here - copy and paste the link - the demonland forum does the rest, automatically embedding the photo, just wait 1 sec and the link turns in to a photo

The Adelaide media seem to be trying that. But I don't think clubs have any responsibility to turn a player in. The can't impede an investigation, that's all. Getting him a lawyer who then suggested to wait until the morning sounds fair enough to me.