Slartibartfast

Maynard, Stretch and JKH didn't add depth because they weren't really up to AFL standard with is why they are no longer on any list. We have more depth now as Petracca is a genuine mid, Jordan and Sparrow are better now than last year and are as good or better than Maynard, Stretch and JKH. As for wings I've been impressed with Baker both at training and at NM. He's got some real attributes for a winger. The other is Bedford who I think could play there. He has the tank and he has speed, skills and is competitive. Most importantly he now has some belief.

Very sad to see that those who bring so much to the site totally ignored - the forgotten track watchers!

Sorry Diamond but this sort of self pity and woe is me post really gets up my goat. 1987 12wins and a preliminary final 1988 13 wins and GF 1989 14 wins 1990 16 wins 1991 13 wins 1992 7 wins 1993 10 wins 1994 12 wins and a preliminary 1995 - 1997 a wipe out 1998 14 wins and PF 2000 14 wins GF 2002 12 wins 2004 14 wins 2005 12 wins 2006 13.5 wins and then it turned to crap which corresponsed to a period of terrible governance. So yes, from 2007 to now we bee awful but from 1987 to 2006 we were pretty consistent and did plenty right, unless of course you want to play the victim and say we "didn't win a flag". We played finals in 15 of those 20 years. That's pretty consistent. I get so sick of people wanting to feel sorry for themselves.

With Lockhart there was no indication of a pec, he pointed to his bicep, nothing more. Hannan is running quite freely but I've seen players do the same rehab routine as him and do it for 4 or 5 weeks (Tomlinson) so it's really hard to tell when he'll be back.

I went today and don't have time for a full report nor is it needed given the excellent coverage by others. I can only reiterate the comments on Harley who is fast becoming my favourite player. His skills are exquisite and today he thought he'd show off taking one hand marks - about 6 in a row. His kicking is fantastic, he never fumbles and his vision excellent. Fingers and toes crossed. The really good thing is he seems to be at peace with everything. He's clearly well liked and he's just following the instructions of the rehab staff to the letter. He's quiet but seems to be enjoying it. The only concern today was the non appearance of Salem and the injury to Lockhart. He went to tackle Vanders and immediately went off holding his arm. It was his bicep which was hurting, not a shoulder or elbow so hopefully it's just a corky. He was in everything in match sims and did the injury late. It may well be nothing. As reported Dunkley, Petty, Hannan, Smith, Preuss and Chandler made up rehab. Chandler is still protecting his wrist, Smith did some gentle kicking on his right at one stage but nothing serious, Preuss looks fit and ran without a bandage or limp but was wearing a protective shin guard but did no rucking, Hannan is looking good and Dunkley ran very well. May and Gawn did all the running and every drill so I expect them both to play Friday. It was a surprisingly long session today, about 2 hours and the standard was good and everyone was upbeat.

Bedford was second only to ANB in the 3K time trails and not by all that far. Fitness isn't an issue I don't think.

I was impressed with him too George. For mine I thought Spargo isn't getting the love he should, he was very good today and smart. I have commented on Bedford in my track reports and it was great to see him put it into play today, he too was very good. I thought Baker, who hasn't had much of a preseason, showed some good toe today and Lockhart is AFL standard. Sparrow and Jordan worked hard, Rivers was very impressive and Fritsch and Gus worked into the game well. Brown spoilt his game with some terrible set shot kicking and the Wagners were solid. But the takeout for me the last two games is how well we've run out games, it really has been impressive. Last year we looked slow and tired all season but today we bounced. Great to see. With Gawn, May, Hannan and hopefully Smith not far away we look in pretty good shape.

You still owe me a dinner don’t you? Frost on a wing........

Only because he wasn't training. We'll see.

It's possible Wise and I'm hoping we'll get a few reports on the Casey game to tell us. I doubt Fritsch will play tomorrow and he certainly won't play today.

Preseason is officially over judging by todays training session. In the training group were: Jones, Salem, Harmes, Petracca, Jackson, Viney, Lever, Spargo, Oliver, Hibberd, Langdon, Melksham, Tomlinson, TMac, Weid, OMac, ANB, Sparrow, Pickett, Brown, Jetta, Lockhart. In rehab: Gawn, May, Chandler, Brayshaw, Petty, Hannan and Bennell. Known injured no shows: KK, Neita, Preuss. No shows: Bedford, AVB, Jordan, Rivers, Hunt, Fritsch, Baker, Hore, Wagner, Wagner, Smith, Bradke and Dunkley No show mysteries: Smith, AVB and Fritta. The session was just fun. Lots of yelling and good humour, a little bit of agility warm up, some kicking it around to nobody in particular, no physical contact and no set running. The backs practiced some exit drills, the forwards their goal kicking and the mids some centre square work. Jackson was with the mids, Harmes with the backs and Petracca with the mids. All looked in great shape and they are obviously looking forward to tomorrow. Their was about 10 minutes of ball movement from back to front but only at about 80% pace with no opposition. The session lasted about 80 minutes of what really looked like AFL footballers going out for a kick. That's not to say they were casual, just doing the things you'd like to do if you had to train. In rehab Gawn looked very good. He's running at just about full pace, he's kicking, doing a bit of agility work and at one stage doing a bit of ruck work with no opposition. He looks on track for the last Marsh match to me and he was in really good spirits joking around and having fun. May did a lot of running and all of the agility work. Clearly he's not "injured" as such but doing some catch up running but not much kicking. I can't see him missing the start of the season. He was, like all of them, in good spirits. Chandler and Brayshaw have their specific injuries but no other issues and are just waiting for those injuries to heal before they are back in training. Having said that I think it will be a few weeks yet for both. Hannan looks great. Frog in a blender is how one person described him and there is not the slightest sign of discomfort in anything he does. I imagine it's just a matter of getting the appropriate conditioning into him now. Bennell hasn't changed his routine since I started going in November. Walk a couple of laps, some calf strengthening routines and runs along the boundary at about half pace. Petty looks a long way off to me. Walked two or three laps and then some gentle running along the boundary. No kicking. I won't be able to get to Casey today so I'm hoping some others will fill us in on what happens.

He looks in great shape and his "match sim" form was terrific before Christmas. He also did a lot of running in rehab prior to Queensland so here's hoping.

Have you meet him OD or is this just another cheap shot which is something for which you certainly have "form".

I spoke to May at training (queue Dazzle telling me I'm a fanboy) and had quite a chat. It was a cyst that was giving him a little trouble, nothing major. My understanding is it got infected and they are dealing with that. I can't imagine taking a cyst out would cause any long term damage. But he's hardly done "the bulk of the preseason". He did the block before Christmas and has done the week in Queensland but other than that he's not been in training. It's a shame because he's lacked the chance to work with the other backs in match sims. I'm going with Chell on this. I reckon he'll play the second match and will play game one. Here's hoping anyway.

At training last Wednesday he wasn't even running. I'd say he's a long long way away but I'm only guessing.

Does anyone know what time the Essendon practice match is?

Did Melksham and AVB play?

I was the mouse today and got the cheese, commitments meant I wasn't there until about 9.45. Over to rehab where the participants were: Smith, Brayshaw, Chandler, Gawn. All but Gawn did a ton of running with a little bit of kicking and ball work. Gawn was running a little bit more freely than Monday I thought and doesn't have a brace but just bandages. Cory Wagner was there but I didn't see him do anything although when I got there nothing was on his knee but when I left it was iced so I assume he did some running before I got there. Bennell was at training doing nothing as were Vanders, Petty and Mitch Hannan. The good news, which has already been reported is that Spargo and Melk were in full training and there was no sign of Hibberd in rehab. It was a quiet day. Whites v Blues in ball up and boundary throw in clearance drills. Blues with Weed as ruck got away to a good start with Oliver, Petracca and Langdon dominating but the whites fought back with Viney, Tomlinson and Jordan working with Bradke. We were hoping for some genuine match practice with umpires present but no such luck. The session ended with some teachings which we thought was interchange stuff. Other than that not much to report. TMac's situation is well covered already, Kossies mark was spectacular, Dunkley was a no show, Neita was walking around which was nice to see and we're a week and a bit away from our first hit out. My preseason duties are all but over as I can't make it on Monday. It's been great fun down at Gosch's and good to catch up with old mates Saty, George, Tim and Scoop from time to time.

He usually doesn't train Wednesdays. But when he came off he didn't seem worried and nobody looked at his foot other than to put some more tape on it. Thanks @Satyriconhome, good news.

I haven't heard anything so my opinion is purely on observation. He's had hammy issues for a long time now so one wonders how they will handle it. At some stage you've got to pull the trigger. Perhaps they manage his time on ground but at this stage he's doing a lot of work in rehab. Can you "fix" his sort of hammy issues? He did almost all the stuff before Christmasso they must have been happy with it then. Yes I'd imagine Hannan will have to do a lot of work before he's available given he's missed a lot of the preseason. My mail was that Chandler was expected to push very hard and his pre Christmas stuff was very good. He can't be all that far away and when his wrist is "right" he'll be straight back into it. But with Melk, Spargo, Hannan and Chandler all suffering injury the door is wide open for Kossie or even perhaps Bedford who hasn't put a foot wrong or missed any preseason. It will be interesting to see but like most it's disappointing to see the injury list growing at this stage.

Dunkley is the mystery no show at training for the last two Gosch training runs, one before Queensland and one after. Not a good sign.

Oscar Baker was in full training yesterday. Mitch and Melk were in advanced rehab.

Melk is in what I call the advanced rehab group along with Smith, Brayshaw and Hannan. They were doing multiple 100m runs along the boundary at full pace, full pace agility work, kicking and marking (not Brayshaw). I've seen players stay in this group for 2 weeks (Tomlinson, Baker) but Smith, Melk and Hannan look ready to go to me although I'd imagine Hannan will be held back for some time given his lack of preseason to date. My guess is Melk has had a hammy twinge and that they will nurse him for a while to get him really right but if a final was tomorrow he'd play.

No, I didn’t see him.

You assume that the title refers to team performance. I think it probably refers to the players (and Club's) feelings and mindset indicating that whilst they were in hell last year, and understandably so, this year they have done the work and are fit and feel confident they can perform, hence "back". Of course I might be wrong, but so might you, the difference being you've gone off hald cocked without knowing the facts, most haven't.