demon destruction

another tragic out at Casey for a little bit this morning, spoke to Petracca for about 5 minutes, straight from the horses mouth, he is a week ahead of schedule will start running next week has no pain, when he first did it, he didnt think much of it, iced his foot then went for a run the next day and felt fine, it wasnt until he kicked a footy that it hurt. Anyway doesnt expect to play NAB challenge but will play a praccy match and is on track for round 1, in his words, "he will be playing somewhere" whether that is Melbourne or Casey is not up to him but you would think if he is good to go it would be on the MCG. I must say he is a very positive individual! said the boys are really improving and putting on size. the focus this preseason has been on attack he tells us, expect to see a different team this year, must say got a little bit excited!!!!! Go Dees

True Old dee I did mean in comparsion to the white one we wear now, I would prefer we didnt have one at all but if we have to then the new training one looks good.

I was there for about 40 minutes this morning at Casey - overheard a couple of people saying the truck was there to put together some advertising material for AHG, They were doing some filming at Casey then heading back to AAMI park to do some more, truck looks great. I will leave the reports to someone else who spent more time than me there but just couple of quick observations; Hogan - Pounding out the KMs on an exercise bike in the window of the change rooms, looking to be really pushing hard just love his endeavour, dont think he will be sitting out for long Clark - Usual session off running on another oval Tyson - Just looks so comfortable and a genuine smart footballer Viney - Didnt see Viney s- tarting to worry me a bit as last session I went to he wasnt out there either. I think someone mentioned on here before a hip problem at the moment. All the boys were sweating up big time but no one in my short stay looked to be lacking the drive to push through it; cant wait for 2014 to begin just to see what progress we have made from last year! This is the third session I have been to and one thing I have really noticed is that not only is every drill being done with energy but always in numbers, someone always running past for a handball or support, one thing that certainly lacked last year. There was some considerable chatter out there to keep the intensity up, at one point during an in close handballing drill Brett Allison would stop them to start fresh, he would throw the ball to someone not expecting it to get it started, at one point threw it to Jetta who wasnt paying attention, straight onto him about everyone needs to be focused don't let the intensity slip. Last thing, new training tops are awesome I actually like the white one for an alternative strip during the year.

Also no hip recovery like last year for Jimmy, I think he will be a big improver next year will show why he was so highly regarded

its not cricket pitches, they are just working on the ground, about 4-6 weeks ago they clawed the grass (golfing enthusiasts will know what I mean) and about 2 weeks ago I saw a group of suits and groundskeepers inspecting the oval to see how it was coming along, ( i go past often) they didnt look to happy with the centre area from end to end, they had shovels out etc. I assume they are just trying to fix those areas again by drying them out and starting again. I think you will find that the ground will be mickey mouse in a couple of weeks and we will start training on it as it is to be our training ground now. we moved from junction oval because of cricket pitch issues I am pretty sure we wouldnt be that dumb to move somewhere they are about to play cricket on again!

Great friend of mine went to the draft combine with the assistant coach of the stingrays. According to the asst coach only club at the draft combine who made serious enquiries about Zac Jones with the coaches of stingrays was the Swans. The feedback on him that whilst he is a more naturally gifted footballer than his older brother he is known to be a little bit selfish amongst the coaching ranks, a good development program would probably be able to get that out of him, this is coming straight from the coaches at stingrays so dont shot the messenger. They believe he is 2nd rounder in this draft but depending the reaction to his attitude he could potentially slip to late 2nd rounder or even early 3rd.

surely we could get one of them, Adams or Shiels either would add depth that we desperately need!

a friend of mine who was questioning whether to sign up again for next year rang in today to renew his membership based on Roos coming on board, the membership team said they have been very busy with similiar reasons since Friday! Would be great to get to that 40k mark and really start to lay some foundations for a new culture and club!

I am one that actually hopes Hird keeps his job, We need to be the only ones looking for a coach so we get the best pick of the bunch. If you were Roos at the moment looking at the lists who would you prefer to coach next year Melbourne or the bummers?

I have and am a big fan of Watts, his last 2 weeks in particular seem to show he may have turned the corner, we criticise Neeld for playing him in the backline but I think that just showed Jack how hard forwards work having to chase them around for 18 months. I also think that since Jackson organized a bit of time with Jobe Watson, Watts' work ethic has gone up another notch. Great to see him dominate an average backline in the Doggies last night (mind you Morris is a good but is on his own back there) however I hope he can play like that against the Swans next week as being a tougher assignment if he can bag another 3 or 4 against them what it would do for his confidence could set him up for a big 2014!

If they AFL gave us an extra pick whether it was priority, end of first round I believe they would put in a clause that it can not be used to trade for a player and that it must be used in the draft. Other teams would scream if we got that pick and were able to bundle it up to poach a player from another club. The whole reason we are asking for an extra pick is because we stuffed it up the first time, and need to turn the list over more at the drasfting table, if somehow we ended up with Pick 2 & 3 we should draft the best midfielders we can then use later picks and some players to trade for some experienced midfielders to protect these young guns, viney and toumpas whilst they develop.

If we placed Clark on the long term injury list who do you elevate for him. For me it is a no brainer has to be Magner, we are getting smashed in the middle and throw ups around the ground, he is reguarly getting 30 - 35 disposals a week at Casey, will definetly help Jones & Viney, until we get more of the ball out of the middle we are going to struggle to kick a winning score. Whats everyones thoughts? Should we do it or does that mean Clark will spend longer on the sidelines due to minimum time you have to stay on the LTJ list?

I would like to know when does Scully start coming under the same scrutiny from the so called media experts as Watts does. Another no.1 draft pick but the difference his contract would be 10 times the size of Watts. Hasnt live upto any great hype except probably 2 - 3 decent games, all Watts has to do is break wind and he has done it wrong and should move on. I would suggest that if you look at Watts' form in the back half of last year he has had a better career to date. This is not another JW post but more about highlighting the fact it is time for Scully to have the blowtorch applied on his value!

If the Jack Watts match selections are being highlighted it looks like they are clutching at straws to get charges across the line. If the case they had built was strong enough that wouldnt even mention Watts as an issue. Blind Freddie could see he wasnt ready to play in that first year which was proven in those 3 games he played. If this is the type of questions they need to answer from that year then I would think we will be found not guilty, as this is a nothing issue. What a joke this is!

I agree we need somewhere to call home socially. There is a great pub in the city that we could use as a club and the owners are Melbourne supporters, hey the are even a bronze partner on our sponsors page on the website. http://wharfhotel.com.au/ The Wharf Hotel sits on the Yarra River opposite the Exhibition Centre just down from crown. Imagine having a Demon Boat Shuttle Service along the Yarra from the Wharf Hotel to the MCG and back again on game day. On the wharf hotel web page they even offer discounts to MFC members, with a bit of work between the club and the owners I am sure it could be turned into a great location to watch interstate games and a good spot for a beer before and after another Demon victory! Whilst not located close to the MCG or AAMI park it certainly is more appealing than the Bentleigh Club. I was in there a few months ago having a beer and they even have Demon pictures up on the walls. Just a thought!

No worries Rosso, one other thing I liked hearing was Neil Craig doesnt hold back, Troy Davis was coming out of the back line and kicked it behind the player leading to the wing, NC just screamed at him that he had just turned the ball over to the opposition for kicking behind the player and to get it right. Times are changing no longer accepting average performance!

Rosso it was Tynan that Dom Barry was running with, thing I found interesting was the back line group seem a really tight group continually encouraging each other and it looks like Jetta is being groomed as a small backman, dont mind it as I think he is a great tackler, there was one instance where Viney tried to run away from him with the ball and Jetta just kept coming and got to him, got some big slaps on the back after that!

i popped in for about 30 minutes, to answer a couple of questions when I got there Dawes was getting changed and going inside, obviously easing in due to his knee issue from last season, we trained on the collingwood ground as the nets were out for victory training. I read in the paper the other day that collingwood expect to be on their new ground by March, then that becomes our permanent training ground, cant wait for them to pull down the signs and put our own up, there it really starts to look and feel like our facility. One thing I noticed in the stoppage work was Viney lined up on Rodan and managed to hold his ground in most contests. There was one centre bounce were he got the ball from a ruck tap and took off. He actually had a quicker burst of speed than I thought he had, look forward to watching him develop in the coming seasons. Magner looks fit as a fiddle, hope he can find a yard as he has no issues getting the pill. Jamar and Fitzpatrick were on our training ground having a kick to kick I agree with BH about training, it looks so much more structured and planned. Pre-season games in Feb cant come quick enough now! In the match simulation Blease and Tapscott both lined up on the half forward line.

i am taking the blessing in disguise approach, whilst financially it will hurt to get off the ground, fielding our own VFL side gives massive upside to fast track player development. Not only that I live 15 minutes away and there is still massive growth going on in that area, several new housing estates surrounding the ground. Having the Casey Demons means the red and blue can be splashed all throught the school system in the area creating a new generation of demon supporters! Whilst it is a long way from the Melbourne, the ground is in great condition and the facilities are good on top of that within 2 - 3 years it will be surrounded by a new community of people. Just hope we can find the money to do it.

I thought they looked like they came back in far better shape than last year, with only fitzpatrick going in for an operation I think we are far healthier. I think the barometer for this is Blease, when they were doing the 200m sprints last year Blease was running in groups with the ruck group as he couldnt keep up. This morning he was running with Bail and doing a pretty good job keeping up, I think a few of them have come back looking more lean, I suppose trying to add some much needed speed rather than the slow muscle type eg. Moloney

dont think so would be pretty hard to do that at AAMI, there was other people exercising, ladies walking through with Prams, I was just sitting on the fence 20 metres away and no one said anything, no coaches were out there just misson.

I managed to pop in for 45 minutes this morning on my way back to the office, not much happening when I went past. Strauss and Garland running some pretty quick laps together Davey running laps on his own Mitch Clark was out there briefly didnt see him do any running but may have done that before I got there Grimes and Frawley did some run throughs together then got involved in the lap running (Session 1 I know but Grimes looks super fit, Frawley was stretching to keep up with him at times) Gawn and Spencer running together, Gawn looks the fittest I have seen him look, at one point they did a bit of kick to kick, not the most skilled session thats for sure! :-) Fitzpatrick was running on his own, doing laps and sprints Dunn & Watts did some warm up laps together then some run throughs having their running action filmed, where about to start laps when I left. For quick notes, Davey still seems to run with a limp, looks like he will play his career out that way. Grimes was really vocal even with only 10 of them out there. Everytime a group ran past he would encourage them to run harder and faster and to keep it up. To me it looked like they were assessing their fitness levels on these laps as mentioned in other posts and by the club. Great to see Mitch Clark out there even though briefly and for a bloke that hasnt been allowed to run until now looks in pretty good shape. I left just after 11 so maybe someone hung around longer than me and saw some other players come out as there was about half dozen people watching. New season cant come quick enough! Get some hope back!

Blease - Big pre season running alongside Jones should set him up to go up a notch next year Sylvia - I think he responds to the Neeld hardline approach rather than the Bailey do what you want approach as his second half of the year (injury interupted first half) was pretty solid. If he can do a full pre season and Neeld's no forgiveness for laziness this could be his year. We say this every year though! Watts - Full season across half back, bigger , stronger and more confident could be a big year

it sometimes takes several attempts to connect just keep trying over and over

My Dad bred it into me and my two brothers, we now have our own families and they dont have a choice either! Brain Washed from a very young age