DeeSpencer

Not the best questions but seems Petty did the time trial and is mixing in and out of main drills. The part about working with Melk and Fritsch in rehab was a good point. He seems keen on the group improving their skills and I'd like to see that too, I think it will be a key part of whether he stays or goes. If he gets the delivery to kick 50 goals and doesn't get injured by having to stand under hospital balls all year he'll probably stay.

Tholstrup should be pushing for games but I'd imagine the club will try to not overload him and will give make him push hard for a debut and then rest him at times. I'd be surprised if he played more than 10 games. Even 5 games for Windsor would be a good result I'd imagine. AMW's a complete wildcard if his fitness can take a huge leap with a full preseason, but I expect in a really competitive role he'd do well to debut and just get a taste. Which leaves Turner, Laurie, Woey and Howes as the 4 who have the strongest cases to become best 22 regulars. They should all play very well at VFL level and get chances but it's a question of opportunity and whether they've rounded out their games enough for the coaches to really stick with them. If Howes can improve his contested work and defensive game he'll be hard to keep out. For Disco it's his one on one work and staying more involved when he's having a quiet game. Laurie has to be stronger at the contest and given some midfield time IMO, otherwise it's hard to see him not beaten for pace as a pure forward flanker. Woey it's a matter of adding some half forward craft if he's the 3rd winger or overall improvement to beat out one of the established wing options. I'd probably lean towards Howes from Laurie but I think any of the 4 are worthy choices.

Kai Windsor Played plenty of games in his draft year 2022 including 2 in the VFL with box hill, but didn’t seem to play in the VFL at all last year. Can’t seem to find any local stats either so I assume he missed all of last year. Kai Windsor highlights

Short of building at Fed square there’s no site that is accessible by all train lines. The inner south east is accessible for players and staff. That’s the main function of a training base. And yeah, it works for our fans for the 3 or so open trainings the club actually want fans at a year. What’s aiming bigger than that? Move to Seaford like the saints tried? Move to Geelong and copy the cats? I’d love to have the cash for a Hawks Dingley set up but even old tip sites aren’t cheap. The train from Caulfield to Richmond is 11 minutes, that’s a fact. Obviously you’d need a pretty quick fold up e-scooter if you want to race between the race course to Caul station, Rich station to mcg but it’s a quick commute. Renderings of the ovals (2 footy and 2 soccer fields) have been shared in this thread. It’s very early stages but there is confidence. I’ve got no doubt the ovals will happen at some time regardless of the mfc’s involvement, it’s wasted public space right now. The council want it, the state government needs to get use and revenue in to the area because the Caulfield trust are losing money maintaining dirt and a lake. The MRC don’t have a strong say in this. They rent the track and the grand stand area from the Trust. They will be co-tenants. There’s an opportunity to partner together but just as equally they can do their thing on race day and we can do our thing in the infield on non race days.

Video presentations are up on YouTube but the QandA as others have said isn’t published. From all reports we didn’t miss much

Any gen Z teenager with an iphone can shoot and edit video these days. The Swans head of communications is a former 3AW journo, the Swans head of media is Tom Chadwick the former fox footy/channel 9 journo from Adelaide via Melbourne. Its not a question of talent. We've done the full preseason mini documentary series before. And the stuff we produce now isn't poor quality. It's simply a lack of investment. We do the minimum required for sponsors pieces and bits here and there but evidently the plan seems to be less is more. I like that we aren't a meme club. Apart from GWS that's ended with a lot of junk content for most teams. But some more creative content and some longer form videos like the Swans one above would be lovely

Hard to know what she’s up against in these clips, but the way she moves in traffic is really impressive. Hopefully we’ve found a much needed big bodied mid.

Chiefs Niners Eagles

Our backline dominated against the Pies, incredible coaching job from Goody and co who nailed the selections down back. They stuffed up not going smaller up forward and the issues remained (as they have for 2 years) that we lack healthy tall forwards at the right time of the year and we lack midfield speed, class and run. Billings, Laurie, an in form Charlie Spargo are all important options. If Laurie is picked he needs to be trusted to play some midfield where he can create in space. 3 moves for me: 1. Blake Howes: if he’s up to the level he can really run and kick 2. Pickett and Rivers in to the midfield for the run and skills we need 3. Billings and Shane McAdam in to the forward mix

It’s Crown land that’s administered by a trust formed by the department of environment. They lock people out on race days and when horse training occurred on track the public was banned before 9:30, but I’d be very surprised if the public aren’t allowed in. The walking and cycling tracks are key components to the redevelopment.

Thanks for posting, my photos never work. 2 ovals and 2 soccer fields would be great for our teams to find ‘fresh ground’. Precinct 6 seems to be the one for our facilities from reading it. Long, skinny site. Might end up landlocked but hopefully not. Unobstructed views to the North/East. Precinct 5 is the interesting one. A few trees to navigate but not impacted by the race course at all. I suspect the council will want that one for basketball and other indoor sports. But we can get facilities to share without footing the entire bill for it.

Someone needs to post a photo of the CRRT master plan. The ovals are in the southern half of the infield, they don’t look like spectator venues. Hopefully they provide some cambering so there’s potential for small crowds for things like intraclubs but it doesn’t seem like it’s designed for aflw.

The Demons heartland as far as any exists outside the MCG is Brighton, Malvern, Glen Iris and Camberwell. Plus Bentleigh and surrounds. Caulfield is right in the middle of that area. You only have to look at the number of posters in this thread who live or have family nearby. Trying to argue against this is somehow more nonsense than your Star Wars mumbo jumbo. Those Port Melb options aren’t viable or desirable. A brand new training facility might not have ‘soul’ but it might be really great for staff and players.

I can’t believe we pay people for weird trick shots and a fascination with the new kids hair. If I was coaching Lachie Hunter and he was kicking the ball from a cone I’d shove it where the sun don’t shine. Come on MFC media, give us something interesting.

How is living in 1964? Guess you’ve seen a lot of recent flags. The MCG has bars for members and change rooms for post game celebrations, otherwise you can walk to one of 50 nearby pubs. Our training base can be on Mars for all I care. It could be at Casey but Casey is worse than Mars. Caulfield is a great combination of demon heartland that’s accessible to fans and staff.

Is there a way we can band together and start a gofundme to get you to stop carrying on about Fishermen’s Friends. The club has a very real thing happening at Caulfield.

This was from April. https://amp.theage.com.au/national/victoria/battle-over-caulfield-racecourse-access-as-trust-runs-out-of-money-20230413-p5d03m.html Short version is: trust is broke, race course hasn’t cleaned up some of their junk, environmentalists sniffing around trying to save a dam that isn’t worth pissing in. The new plan seems to cater for everyone without being as ambitious as what they first planned when the racecourse redevelopment was announced. Trust wants some cash invested. Council wants ovals. We want facilities room. MRC probably want some goodwill and someone to order some coffees and sandwiches.

Yeah the one thing I had really wrong was that we’re actually dealing with the Caulfield Rec Reserve Trust who oversee the site and the MRC are tenants. We’d obviously need a symbiotic relationship with the MRC too but really it’s dealing with a Trust who from what I can tell are short of cash and very keen to get development going. And a local council that’s serious short on sporting facilities. Here’s their Dec 2023 strategic management plan. https://www.crrt.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/CRRT-Strategic-Management-Plan-December-2023.pdf Go to page 14/15 to see the ‘recreation administration precinct’ that looks a lot like a code for Dees base!

Both sides have seen a mutually beneficial opportunity, so now they study just what it entails. Dees will say we need an oval, an office building, change rooms, a pool, a gym etc. Caulfield say we’d love to have an oval in the infield if it doesn’t disrupt racing, we can sell or rent you land for your building for x amount of cost. Both sides then present a case to the local council (and any government that will have them) on funding for the oval in exchange for allowing public access and community sport. Perhaps the same for the gym and pool. If the numbers line up for everyone involved we’ve got a deal. The best case for Caulfield is they’ve already got or need a lot of things: - hospitality and catering, we don’t need to spend on a cafe or members function space, we can use theirs. - the oval - every local council needs more and they have a heap of space at Caulfield - pool and gym - if we are willing to share they’re about to have 5,000 new residents who’ll need somewhere to swim and work out - medical facilities can be shared with the community similar to the Saints at Moorabbin There’s a lot of potential for something to work here.

I think the footy department cap cuts and probably the shorter preseason took care of the interstate training camps. Huge expense to get up there for a week +. A few days at Lorne can accomplish the team bonding for a fraction of the cost

If you're reading this Salo, please pack the brick in the bottom of the backpack.

Big year for Bill Laurie, a lot of competition for spots and I worry his lack of pace will see him never consolidate a half forward gig and lack of size will hurt him in the middle. But his game against Sydney as the sub was really good, he’s got some real class. Hopefully he can keep impressing on the track.

Colvin’s a good player but she’s old and injury prone. Personally I’d try Bannan and see if she can develop as a player down back, and if that doesn’t work I’d go with Tay Harris. We have forward options including using Loz Pearce forward and Campbell in the ruck.

Or more likely the AFL want them to experience success given their men’s teams disaster last 5 years

We had to include a pick to get a first for Birch, yikes