DeeSpencer

A mixed bag. Got there pretty early but wandered over to AAMI to get a coffee at one stage so missed a little. 5 different sections of training stood out 1. A mini match play drill that involved 3 teams (blue, green, orange) with 2 on the field and one resting rotating after about 5 minutes. It was interesting to note that the team fresh off the bench would apply more pressure and get the upper hand. I think each team had about 10-15 players and with that number of the field there was much more open space and we were attacking and using the ball pretty well. Besides in front of goal where we missed a bunch of goals. Either way I was impressed with the attacking flowing footy 2. 4 man handball. 4 v 4 aim to get it up 50m using hands then the attacking team becomes the defenders then switch out. The usual quick and classy players stood out - Jones, Tyson, Lumumba. 3. Running players handball weave from the back flank then kick to the forwards (Hogan, Dawes, Garlett, Kent one end, Jamar, Gawn, Oscar Mc, Fitzy the other). The kicks to the forwards were pretty good in this drill. Well placed, fast and accurate. Fitzy grassed a few earlier but then found his range and started leading and marking out in front with purpose. Gawny the same, the coaches getting on him about marking out in front and he responded. Hogan and Garlett making it look easy at the other end. 4. Match sim. I'll have more later 5. Sprints. Most of the more senior players and mainly midfielders plus Pedersen, Garland, Dunn, Dawes did quite a few sets of sprints with Misso after the match simulation. I was impressed by the intensity. Only disappointed with Garland who once again trailed in most sprints even following in Pedersen, Garlett etc. I don't know what the deal is with him, I really thought he would've found his fitness by now. Rehab: Neal-Bullen did a truck load of laps Howe and Vince, sometimes with King did a lot of sprints and laps No sign of Terlich nor Trengove Watts, Lumumba and Fitzy were pulled out of the match sim as it progressed but I didn't noticed any issues. Brayshaw took a couple of bumps and tackles, he gets in there. But towards the end Salem tackled him and Brayshaw managed another head knock, got up and looked ok.

He can have a hug for the personal problems he had last year. But he needs a stern talking to at a minimum and a warning about honesty. Dishonesty is the worst thing in a club, it's worse than screwing up, which in this case is missing the court attendance. The actual drink driving is last years problem, he was sacked from Carlton. If Roos and Co determine that missing a court case and more importantly not telling the MFC about it in the first place or being so stupid not to know is worthy of a punishment for either blatant stupidity or more likely dishonesty then I think that's fair enough. You can cuddle and discipline at the same time!

Can't remember if they are the standard 20 minutes plus time on quarters or something more funky like 17, 17.5 or 18 minutes. Definitely 4 quarters though. So I'd presume the game goes for about the usual 2.5 hours for now and then watch Thursday's game to see if it's any different.

All the first year kids regardless of injury. Trengove obviously. Watts. Vince. King. They are the obvious ones. I think Howe did enough prior to injury to say he's done a preseason and I think Terlich and Spencer were back running and then training early enough. There are probably others besides the new guys, Dean Kent might be one, who can lay claim to improvement with another good full preseason, as those above (Howe, Terlich, Spencer) might be able to. But it's not a reason to blame poor form. I can understand players being keen to improve at the end of a year and saying things like 'I want to attack pre-season in order to be fitter and improve', but I don't want to here about guys not performing due to lack of preseason. If they haven't done the work then get them out of games and in to a month long training block then put them back in!

Disagree with that. CHF is really tough to play. Half forward is very tough to play for Melbourne 2012-2014, but in a half decent side isn't as hard. If you don't focus on possession totals and instead focus on doing the little things right you can make an impact. JKH in year 1, Kent in year 2 and a limited player like Bail had their shares of good games last year playing half forward. Riley had some moments as well even when not fully fit. High half forward you pretty much come up to all stoppages and then just spread forward and defend your man on the way out a bit differently to the midfield. A limited player like Magner will struggle, but if Vandenberg makes it he will have more strings (he already has more height and possibly more footskills) than Magner. All the good sides slot developing players in to half forward before they get midfield minutes - think Brad Hill and Langford from Hawthorn and Jake Lloyd and Cunningham from Sydney. I think he'll be judged from his form at Casey. If he plays well there then he's had a good year. Yes he might not be in his best position at AFL level but you don't hand the reigns of the engine room over to a rookie from the NEAFL. So if he shows signs forward he'll get a shot in the midfield.

Speaking of. It's another cross against his name. They are adding up on my score card. I just don't trust his leadership.

At least it's an old offence.. But ridiculously the club didn't know about it. That's very poor from Carlton, Melbourne and most of all Garlett. I'm willing to forgive all the sins of the past if he behaves from when he got to the club. That's what second chances are about. But not telling the club is a major error of judgement. I imagine Paul Roos would be fuming right now.

This will test if the MFC are monitoring the site!

I'm not having a go at you because I often express similar thoughts, but that's a very Melbourne fan view point. Let's hope he's the next Barlow and dominates!!! He's been training all summer, he's fit. He's played quality footy in a state league, he knows how to play. AFL uses an oval ball on an oval field with 18 men in a 360 degree game, nothing is refined. Well G Ablett is, but you can win a Brownlow being Priddis who cracks in, wins clearances and slams it forward and racks up footy in space. I certainly doubt he's a master of modern stoppage football which has turned in to it's own art form combined with the sheer force guys like Selwood and Josh Kennedy use in there. And game plans are important, particularly defensive organisation and responsibilities. But I guess when you break the game down the under 12 basics are still the basics of AFL: provide an option, win the ball, use the ball, man up, contest to win the ball back. I don't have huge expectations on him realistically, but it's about time we get surprised by one isn't it? I also see the half forward idea as a smart way to use his size and accumulation ability. He can play high half forward and it's really little different to midfield these days especially in a Roos game plan that pushes the half forwards around the ball. You learn defensive skills and contested skills just as well at half forward as midfield these days. Fairly or unfairly I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing him play NAB challenge almost as much as any of our players because he's such an unknown. Maybe 5 weeks in to the season he'll be slowly developing in the VFL working on his game at an improved level from the NEAFL. But until then I'm going to enjoy one of the joys of being an MFC supporter and enjoy the ride!

I have a firm no DH's policy unless they can crumb. Maybe Jeffy wanted to get all his court dates on the same day?

Can we not worry about delistings until the end of the year. I agree with most of the names and I'll gladly discuss the merits of them being in the team - be that best 22, round 1 or any other time. But they aren't going anywhere until October so why the rush? Spencer needs to win more ruck contests and take grabs around the ground, Terlich and Grimes need to stop turning it over, McKenzie has to find confidence winning the ball, Fitzpatrick has to hold marks because we have better crumbing forwards than a guy who's 6'6 and a terrible field kick. I get all that. I don't disagree with that. But why the need to discuss delistings?

My guess is there were about 500 there. Quite a few in the main grand stand and then some more near the entry wing with only a few on the far wing. I think on a Saturday they could've got 1500. They didn't have any membership sales. So 0 from 500. Maybe after watching Hogan, Garlett and Salem tear it up in front of 1500 there could've been 50 memberships sold. Which would easily covered the cost of sending 2 membership sales staff out there. It was bloody warm and would've been even warmer out there today. Surely one of the local footy clubs could've been found to run a drinks stand and maybe split the profits with the club. I was thirsty and couldn't see any drink tabs, I would've gladly paid $4 for the right to being ripped off for a nice cold bottle of water.

We are going round in circles. Let's presume the club purposely wanted to keep the intraclub as a low key affair. That's not unreasonable. The bigger the build up the more pressure on for players and coaches to make it entertainment instead of the focus on the actual football. Let's also presume (whether true or not) that having it on Thursday at 3pm provided the best conditions for the coaches, players and fitness staff to prepare for the season. That may have been the case. They didn't have to work extra hours and had and then had a 3 day weekend to break up preseason before our first game. I personally can't see how a few hours later and/or Friday and/or Saturday would've changed anything but so be it. What I don't get was why there was no BBQ, membership tents and some basic kids entertainment. It seems we dropped the ball on that at least. Even Saty with your fierce defending of all things the club does I don't see how you can say a membership tent and a BBQ wouldn't have been a good idea.

Let's also be honest, props are often the fat kids or to be more kind the beefy kids. From my days of school rugby it would usually take a very serious preseason of running to turn from a prop to a good footballer.

I'm not against Casey and made it out there. But there would've been 500 people there. Collingwood had 5000 in a centralised area at a fan friendly time. Of course they have swindled their own training oval which is now a mini stadium fit with lights etc which makes things easier but the point remains. You'll notice Richmond and Carlton held intraclubs at their traditional homes today as well. I hope Casey brings extra members, but they weren't there yesterday and they aren't going to VFL games. Meanwhile there are thousands of demons supporters who live much closer to Gosch's paddock and the MCG who don't turn up for games yet alone intraclubs. They are the disenchanted base of supporters. PJ has already mentioned the desire to get them back. They may be whingers and soft whatevers but they are supporters who probably just need a winning games and a bit of extra TLC to come back. We can't provide that TLC to the majority of fans whilst being way out at Casey without any fan engagement at all.

Listened for about 5 minutes. Was so West Coast focussed I couldn't handle it. Might try a bit more later. Hopefully our boys get involved.

Maybe more to let him keep the same match up when his opponent goes forward. Kent didn't see much of the ball. I could see Jordie filling in for injuries on a back flank or rotating for parts of games. Flexibility is key. Long term though I would have doubts on whether he's quick enough to defend around goals in a Jetta style role and even more so whether he has the attacking game to play half back. He found a bit of space in attack to get the ball out at Casey, but you didn't really want it in his hands.

Fancy actually going to the football and seeing your team win. I'd like to do that. Probably the glaring weakness in our team is the ability for our players to kick. Matt Jones is not a good kick, he lacks penetration and control and often has the ball bounce in front of his target or sail over their heads. Grimes is worse. Grimes will likely play round 1, but if our backline players are pretty healthy then he most likely wont still be there in round 4 based on the form he showed yesterday. You have to ask yourself why Salem goes to half back and looks like a star after one intraclub. Or why Billy Stretch comes in and looks so comfortable. Same can be said for JKH last year. It's because these experienced players are ordinary. Of course their is bias to the youngsters and against the whipping boys. But I went to Casey hoping to see Jack Grimes freshened up without the captaincy and after a fit and healthy preseason. I didn't see that at all.

Also not sure what happened to the BBQ and other activities that were planned. That said I did leave right on 4. Anyone stick around and witness anything? Seems a bit of a balls up really.

Forgot to mention that some of the umpiring today was comical from recognisable AFL umps. They triggered a poor Casey kid for holding the ball when he got crunched and landed on the footy and 3 guys piled on him. I really hope it's preseason rust for them because if they want to dial up holding the ball and blabber on about making an effort to get rid of it quickly then we are in for one long and frustrating season.

It's not even in question. There's more than one flank and no Howe for the time being but Salem has put his name forward for the kicking back flank spot and I think every side needs at least one of those. Didn't get to see much of Salem's defending but if he used the ball like he did today in real games then as long as he wasn't hopeless defensively he'd be in the side for sure.

There was talk of a soft tissue injury as well. Saty might have the latest

I want to give Spencer and Terlich a bit of time because they've missed a lot of training. But Spencer particularly was poor today. I'm surprised he gets beaten by Jamar in the ruck so easily given he's had 3 decades on the list training against him. Have to give Jamar some credit though I guess. Terlich wasn't terrible with the ball, my bias watching him just takes away the benefit of the doubt. McKenzie really did find space well, he looks fitter and more free in his movement, but he just looks incredibly uncomfortable with the footy. He should be at the stage now where he knows and embraces him limitations and does it with confidence (like Cross) but I don't see it. Grimes running through the middle linked up beautifully then wobbles a kick straight to a red jumper, it's actually a bit sad to watch. Today wont be his last trip to Casey for the year.

Highlights: - Garlett, Salem and Hogan. - The attacking play. - The physicality in close. Lowlights: - I mentioned many of them in my post above but most players aren't going to magically fix the weaker parts of their game and some of them will again leave you scratching your head at what seem like simple basic mistakes. The team will win more games by bringing in new players, more experience as a unit etc. - Poor handballs - A few more missing that I would've liked!

Made it out there. I'm going to save you most my long story about stupidly thinking the whole of Eastern Melbourne is pretty close by, going to do the 1000 steps then battling traffic through Belgrave to cut down to Casey. Except for saying they're are now many more housing developments along Clyde road and each one comes with a roundabout and Australians seem to have absolutely no understanding of how to drive through roundabouts. So I made it there at about 5 passed 3 which turned out to be quite a bit in to the 1st quarter. They played 4 quick quarters with pretty quick breaks besides 3/4 time when they went inside but not for much more than 5 or so minutes. The red team won by about 5 goals. Reds:Hogan, Garlett, Dawes, Gawn, Spencer, Cross, Tyson, Viney, Garland, Dunn, McDonald, Riley, Stretch, Salem Blues (MFC jumper): Jones, Frost, Pedersen, Oscar Mc, Jamar, Toumpas, Terlich, Grimes, Viv, HL, Kent, Brayshaw Unsure what team: Newton, Riley, Bail, Matt Jones, Harmes MIA: Fitzy, Watts and White (running laps), Hunt (had been training), Trengove, ANB, KIng, Howe, Vince Can't remember seeing Vandenberg at all Jetta and JKH obviously in Perth Petracca there in casual clothes. Knee in a bandage/brace whatever you call it. Pumping all his fellow young guys up on the bench. Smiling. Showing great character. Hogan was largely opposed to Bryce Rutherford from Casey, so I'd temper expectations. He also had a few uncharacteristic drops otherwise he couldve kicked 6. Garlett was cleaning them up though. Dawes was double grabbing but presenting and bringing it to ground, had a good match up on Frost for the first half or so. Frost was solid, then went forward. Tom McDonald played on his brother, which allowed him to run off and get involved in rebound, he wasn't perfect but took a couple of nice marks. Playing with Dunn and Garland they were much more organised in the backline than the other team and Salem was benefited and capitalised from that. He has the most lovely pure kicking action and looked a natural back there at least rebounding. Unfortunately the same couldn't be said for Terlich and Grimes at the other end. Grimes had a couple of shocking turnovers. Preseason seems to have done nothing for his confidence, balance or execution by foot. Dished off a hospital handball as well and generally looked like he just can't find the right space to link up. I guess he's got a month to change that. Terlich was ok, but in an effort to move the ball on quickly he grubbed a left foot kick off half a step and he followed a great bursting run through half back with a kick straight to a leading CHF in the centre of the ground. In some ways its moving the ball on quickly, but if it's not marked it becomes a very dangerous spot to have the ball in dispute. This kick was easily spoiled by the defender right on the hammer of the forward. Newton got hold of the ball at used it pretty well at times. Stretch seemed a natural running player. Links up well, not perfect by foot but you can see him improving and being a very good running player, I think he'll get a shot this year. Toumpas had some good moments. Aidan Riley was really cracking in at the contests. Jordie McKenzie was finding space and the footy from half back, but unfortunately his kicking is still far from AFL level, went for a penetrating forward entry from 60m out but the ball went 30m deep but 60m high. Viv Michie had some moments, he seems a solid tackler, my main concern is he just doesn't play at the speed required. Jamar dealt with Spencer pretty easily in the rucks and probably had the advantage on Gawn as well. It annoys me we will still look to drop a ruck behind the ball from half forward stoppages, I hate that tactic. Gawn might have been edged in the ruck but he's as good as if not better than most of our midfielders on the spread and had plenty of touches of the footy. Draws men and gives solid handballs at times. Lumumba was pretty involved, playing a fair bit on the ball for the blues. At times he really broke the game open with run and spread. A couple of other times he ran in to team mates in contests though, which is hard to tell who's fault it is. Certainly rather them running in to each other than both sitting back at this stage. Lumumba will help us move the ball on quicker, but it wont always end well when he goes on his big runs. Both Matt Jones and Bail bobbed up in times. Bail finding plenty of space. Matt Jones with a nice break away from a pack and hit up kick to a leading forward. Crossy was involved in everything early, found a heap of the footy a couple of poor turnovers though before he settled down. With the ball running on in to space and the only two in the area Viney and Brayshaw contested a loose ball. Brayshaw (in a move he'll probably regret) tried to initiate a bump with Viney and seemed only to run his jaw in to Viney's shoulder. He didn't take part much after that but he stayed on straight after and then on the bench didn't have it iced or much concern for him. It was right in front of the main crowd so likely others saw it and maybe tracked him better than I did.