Slartibartfast

He was. Something has gone wrong as he's back to gentle first stage rehab.

As usual the early bird gets the worm. Advertised to start at 10.30 training started shortly before 9.30 and to retain consistency I was straight over to the rehab group. In attendance were Hannan, Smith, Melksham, Brayshaw and Chandler. All did full rehab which includes agility, kicking, marking, goal practice, and multiple runs along the boundary at full pace. Interestingly though Smith was only kicking with his left so I'd imagine a small issue with his right foot but nothing major given his rehab program. All these guys will be good when over known issues and Melk and Smith look fine. Gawn and Spargo were doing slow runs along the boundary. We know Max's situation but Spargo has obviously got an issue. There was no indication what it might be but he is in the initial stages of rehab so I think he's weeks away. Bennell turned up later to do his usual program which hasn't changed since he's been at the club. These are based on slow half paced runs along the boundary. He clearly got bored as he grabbed a ball and was bouncing it as he ran but to mix it up a bit he'd bounce it with one hand and catch it with the other. He never used two hands. The guy is a freak. There was no sign of May, Petty (who watched for a while), Cory Wagner and KK and all others did full training. To cut to the chase let's talk Hibbo and AVB. I was standing about 20 metres from where he can off and the issue was with his right foot. He was limping quite noticeably. Shoe and sock off and he seemed to be looking at the ball of his foot. The trainer/physio spent quite some time taping the bottom of the foot but there was little or no "pushing and prodding" to identify sore areas. Boots back on and a small jog but to no avail and Vanders was off for the day. For my untrained eye I think is more blister related than structural and I'm not overly worried at this stage. While all this was going on Hibbo appeared to twist and ankle. He hobbled to the boundary behind the goals and seemed in some trouble but after a physio went to look at him he was back into the match sims and appeared okay but he too left training early. It doesn't seem a big issue. Preussy also left training early with what looked like a kick on the calf but his info was from Saty, I didn't see it happen or see him leave. So the good was to see Hannan and Melk look close and Maxy running. The bad was injuries to AVB, Hibbo and Preuss and the mystery of May and Petty. And the ugly was Harmes horror training session where everything (bar injury) that could go wrong pretty much did. He's been a star on the track this preseason but not today. Even kicks to him in match sim were cut off and I think he should ditch the new yellow boots he was sporting. As for the session itself it was pretty standard fare. Warm ups, kicking, handball drills, individual training for Weid who was practicing his marking and match sims. They mix it all up. There will usually be two or three three quarter ground match sims mixed in with a whole range of different drill usually involving about 10 to 12 players in 3 different groups rotating through the set. Of note today in the first match sim particularly was Oscar Baker. He was in everything, his kicking was really good and he outpointed Tomlinson for quite some time. But he faded as the session went on and was utterly spent at the finish and could hardly raise a gallop. So much for being "ready to go" when you get out of rehab. Of the rest of the players it was an even performance with nobody really standing out and everyone having a moment or two. Perhaps the other standout was Jones who looks in great nick. Let's hope for the best with AVB, we might not know for a while as he usually doesn't do Wednesday sessions. And news on May would also be good. ? SATYRICONHOME'S TRAINING REPORT ? MITCH CLEARY'S TRAINING REPORT ⚕️ STEVEN MAY INJURY UPDATE ? DEESPICABLE'S TRAINING REPORT

@McQueen I've seen a lot of VFL games played in similar conditions at Casey and the standard has been truly awful and dare I say it but probably worse than yesterdays game. Frankly the standard yesterday was much better than I was expecting and if that game were played in the first year of the competition it could well have been a scoreless draw. The women's game is certainly improving. Games played at lower standard than AFL seniors are really suffering from the level of pressure and tackling now so much part of our game. Tackling and pressure is more a mindset than a difficult skill to master and when it's applied at lower skill levels it can destroy games. Add conditions that make skills difficult to execute and you get pretty awful games. As a specticle yesterday was nothing but as a contest it was terrific and I can't help to get involved when the MFC are playing. Having said that I can't see that McQueen's comment was necessary or what it achieved. Why not just appreciate the effort and courage of these women because that was, without question, fantastic and well worth watching.

I find it amazing that people can pot the Club about the name of a doco they haven't seen and have no idea what it contains. No bias here. And still others pot the doco. Go figure.

Well said dworship. That mini doco on Daisy is really good to watch. Good production, good content and what a ripping person she is. If this sort of content continues we will be very lucky. Well done MFC.

Well I can hardly think of anything that is not now available of a phone, tablet or computer be it television or radio. And I suspect the "right type of media" is a phrase easily thrown out there but very difficult to manufacture. And what is "right" to some is fluff to others and boring to yet others. Anyway that's it from me, I've made my point.

I know times have changed rjay, I just have to look in the mirror! But really, is this complaint about "not enough pics"? We get them most training sessions, how many do you want? And if we got 150 of the last training session how many would you look at from the next? I get it, people are different but we are clutching at straws to pot the Club for this I reckon. We got fantastic vision of draft night, we got the members info night, we get regular player interviews, we get injury reports, we get radio interviews with players, coach and Mahoney, we are going to get an insight through "To Hell and Back". Not enough media? Really?

Maybe I'm different and grew up in an era when if you got one newspaper article a week on your team you felt lucky. I personally think there is too much media. It's all I could do to bring myself to watch the Michael Hibberd video and I knew what he was going to say. Goody's pressers during the season require large doses of concentration to avoid going to sleep (this is not a criticism of Goody, frankly the less we give the oppositon the happier I am). I could count on one hand the interesting video's I seen from anyone since seasons end and they would probably be Burgo giving his none too complete injury report. I understand it's different for everyone but it just seems that no matter what we do it's not good enough for some. And I'd also be interested to see how we compared with other AFL clubs, not those from different sports. How many clubs had an information night at the end of their seasons? And perhaps the Club think they have better places to spend their limited resources. Perhaps they think the information provided on Demonland is so good anything much they add is unnecessary. I'm with Lord Nev. Seems if we produce stuff it's just fluff and if we don't it's no good. Seventeen days to go, I for one can't wait.

I'd take all this with a grain of salt. Mahoney says Bennell is a medium term prospect and from what I've seen at training he hasn't got anywhere near full pace with his running, more like half pace. He's done no agility work either. When Tomlinson came back from his calf he was doing what Harley is doing in December and was not admitted to the main group until the last week. All this indicates to me that Harley is a long way away and not two weeks from full training. I hope I'm wrong but I'm not getting my hopes up that he'll be in the main group in the next two weeks.

@Docs Demons @DemonOX @Demon Spofforth @kallangurdemon This is an early request to tomorrow's track watchers from you're Melbourne brother. Players of interest will be: Kossie who didn't train with the group last Monday and seemed to be having shots at goal with the rehab group in media of the camp to date. We need some information. Is Melk running yet? Boxing workout last week. Is Oscar Baker in the main group yet. He was hoping to be so. What was Dunkley doing? Dubbed the "invisible man" by some he was truly invisible on Monday. Any progress reports on Hannan would be welcome. Thanks for any input you can provide.

This is an early request to tomorrow's track watchers from you're Melbourne brother. Players of interest will be: Kossie who didn't train with the group last Monday and seemed to be having shots at goal with the rehab group in media of the camp to date. We need some information. Is Melk running yet? Boxing workout last week. Is Oscar Baker in the main group yet. He was hoping to be so. What was Dunkley doing? Dubbed the "invisible man" by some he was truly invisible on Monday. Any progress reports on Hannan would be welcome. Thanks for any input you can provide.

You're seduced by the sizzle not the steak.

I watched him at training one day have about 20 shots at goal from his and other difficult positions. I reckon he got 18 of them. This shot was no fluke. Oh how I hope Harley gets better and plays for us. It would be truly exciting.

Great report Dworship, very much appreciated. I suspect that they have been doing most of the match sims (serious ones like this) at the closed sessions at Casay. Firstly because they want them away from prying eyes and secondly because Casey is a full sized ground. I suspect Hannan is a long way away. He was doing some run throughs prior to Christmas at about half to three quarter pace and I was hoping he would be close to joining the group after the Christmas break having continued the preparation over the break. But he hasn't trained at Gosch's since Christmas so I assume that he's a good 6 weeks away. I'm pretty sure (just from my observations) that he has OP to some degree and I imagine they will treat it very conservatively. It's just great to have so many on the track for such an extended period. Thanks for taking the effort, it's made my Saturday!

No mate, by making this comment you've potted him again and tried to show what a good bloke you are by dressing it up as restraint. And you've done it twice so you've got double your money. Why don't you show some real restraint and shut up about him this season. If he fails then you were right and you can remind us again of your great wisdom. Not that we'll need reminding.

I'm pretty obsolete this training session really as the other reports probably let you know the main issues. Smith and Petty were in and out of training but did the match sims so there's nothing much to see here. Brayshaw did the match sims but stood out some of the handball and running drills and I'd imagine they are just managing his work load. Tomlinson, Spargo and Baker continue with their rehab and look as good as fit to me and at one stage were doing some of the keepings off drills the main group do from time to time. Bennell is just quietly going about his business, he seems very popular amongst the group and it's hard to see him not being picked up at this stage. In the match sims Tommy Mac seems "back". His ball handling was excellent, he was selling candy when in general play and he looked confident and involved. Viney is also very impressive. I think we've forgotten how good he can be and he's having his best PS in years having hardly missed a session I've been to. He's in everything, his kicking seems to have more penetration and he's very clean with the ball. Oliver also is doing very well but we've come to expect that and Harmes continues his very impressive PS. Without wanting to go on about it too much I was again impressed with Jackson. He just seems to be able to get involved which is not something first year players find easy. His kicking is fine and he was surer with the ball today taking some good grabs. Kossie is also getting involved but the standout improver for mine (coming off a very low base) is Bedford. I doubted he's make it after his first year but he's really starting to look a chance now. He's got lots of good attributes other than finding the ball but he did that today. Gus got an awful knock where you don't want one today and I thought that might be it for him but after about a 10 minute rest he was back out there. He'll be a sore boy tonight if my experience is anything to go by! Overall, like DS, I thought the skills were really good today in difficult conditions. The ball handling was sharper and the kicking much improved from last week. It was a good session.

What did you think of training Hardtrack?

OD I've always been a fan because I've seen attributes. I've also seen one fantastic game on the big stage and a few servicable games. I also think that I can see reasons for his slow progress with injury and interupted preseasons coupled with the "big men take time". I've also heard from those close to the club that his agression and courage is not in question and his attitude if first class. He's training well but as I keep saying I don't really know what that means. James Strauss and Sam Blease were great trainers and Sam won a couple of rising stars. We'll just wait and see. Sam's done nothing wrong at training but he hasn't done anything that would allay your fears that he's no good.

With umbrella in hand I went to training, getting there early in the expectation that we'd start a little earlier to avoid the weather. We didn't. Only Saty beat me and we chatted until, as usual, Vanders arrived first and did some stretches before the rest wondered accross from AAMI. Spargo, Baker, Tomlinson and Petty headed to rehab and as we countered down the rest the other absentees were OMac, KK, Hannan, Neita, May and Melksham. Smith was with the main group initially which I thought was odd given he's missed a bit but as it turned out he was over to rehab after some initial drills where he did some running before heading off half way through the session. Joney was out of rehab and in the main group for all but the match sims and Tomlinson looked like he just wanted to get out there. In rehab they all look to be doing the same sort of exercises/running except Petty was not doing the intense agility work of the others. They are clearly managing something and I suspect it's a groin issue of some sort. Oscar Baker was doing more intense running this week and really looking at Spargo and Tomlinson you'd wonder why they are not in full training. After a while Bennell strolled past and did his normal routine which doesn't appear to have changed in a month or so that I've seen so nothing much to report there. May appeared and did mainly walks around the boundary with a light bandage behind his knee where the cyst was obviously removed. I had a brief chat to him and he said he was fine and running a bit ahead of schedule. He is a really approachable and nice guy. There were a series of different drills for the different groups with a lot of focus on delivery of the ball inside 50. The drills are organised very well and it's all very efficient. The players were on the track for a good 2 hours today and there is no rest or down time. Different players obviously know exactly what drills they'll be involved in and it's all seemless. The match sims started with the usual suspects doing well. At one stage Weid ran back with the flight of the ball and missed a mark he should have taken. But 30 seconds later he took a great contested grab and from then on didn't miss a beat. Sparrow was busy and just looks like a footballer with a great build and Harmes again had leather poisoning. Vanders tackling was a highlight in the sims and the drills, he's quick over the first 5 metres and catches many unaware. Jones, Brayshaw and the first year players sat out the match sim. After that there were a few ball movement drills where Rivers was impressive, Kossies delivery to leading forwards was a highlight and Vanders was in everything. And to finish; Dunkley and Jordon were with the mids, Hunt, Bedford were with the forwards and Harmes continues to train with the backs. Bradke was also with the forwards and not the rucks and Jackson was with the rucks. If anyone still has concerns with Jackson's kicking - don't. He can kick both left and right foot and is capable. His closing speed continues to impress but he is a bit unsure with his ball handling at times but that will come. Any questions, let me know.

1. I'd like to see AVB and Weideman play meaningful seasons. If this happens we are a significantly better team. 2. I know it's not one thing but I want to see two (or more) fringe/developing players became good AFL quality players. Suspects are Jackson, Pickett, Rivers, Jordon, Sparrow, Lockhart, Dunkley, Spargo, Baker, Chandler and Smith. 3. I'd like to see Bennell fit and firing. All of these things lead to a much better team and list. That wins games and all the rest will follow.

I think I saw you Yoko trying to stop your daughter running onto the ground to join the players!! I rarely comment on OMac because it invites comments like Chook who, despite the suggestion that social media might have been the reason for his absence last year, found it necessary to suggest that : on toilet paper? I mean, after all the crap this bloke has gone through, some still find it necessary to post these sort of comments. I just don't get it. But his kicking at training was elite, both left and right foot, and he was one of the cleaner ones with the ball. I also agree with you about Brown, he was very good yesterday. But I did think the standard was down on its preseason level and will be interested to see what it's like tomorrow.

Yes IT, when I wrote about smoke I thought of those throughout the country who would love such clean air. Perhaps a little insensitive. If so, my apologies.

Hunt: He's run two very good time trials and hasn't missed a session that I've seen. His ball handling is clean and he's also competing and taking some good high marks. He also appears to be training with the mids. He is a lot taller than you think and has developed into a fairly solid unit. His speed still impresses and he's capable of some good long kicking but he hasn't eliminated the kick he appears to miss of his instep that swings left. He'd be a real bonus if he could find his 2017 form and it's not out of the question. His hair is also quite long! Langdon: He is just doing what Langdon does. He's a terrier around the packs, he's clean with the ball and his first few steps are very quick which enables him to find space. He's also very good at finding space in match sims on the wing and being used. Hasn't missed a session and his last time trial seemed a significant improvement on his first. I think he's going to be fantastic for us and will provide something we just haven't had in the past.

I got caught in traffic on the way to the ground and thought I'd miss a bit but as It's Time has said it was a later than normal start at around 9.30. As usual over to the rehab group and a quick check as to who isn't there. Jones, Tomlinson, Baker and Spargo the four in rehab with Jones, Tomlinson and Spargo looking to be more advanced. Jones hasn't changed his training for about 4 or 5 sessions now and watching him it's impossible to tell what's wrong. Tomlinson was running very strongly as was Spargo so I'm surprised to hear Spargo is 3 to 4 away but that could be to do with agility on his ankle. There were many runs around the outer side of the ground by these three and they went for a good 2 hours before heading in. During that time they did a fair bit of kicking and a small bit of (sort of) circle work without any signs of a problem. Baker is a little behind by the look of things but seemed relaxed and raring to go. About half way through the session Bennell turned up and did his warm ups and then some runs around the outer side of the ground. No sign of any discomfort but he's only going at half pace. Again nothing much has changed and it looks like they are playing the long game with him. Once he had finished his running program he started some casual goal kicking practice. Around the corner, tight ankle, snaps, set shots you name it he did it and while I was watching he missed two out of about 20. Unbelievable. The no shows were Hannan, KK, Neita, AVB, May and Smith. Of that lot AVB is a usual "misser" of training and we know about the issues of the others bar May. Missing Hannan was disappointing but it could just be management. Wednesday will tell. It's Time has done a great job describing training. There was stoppage work, forward entry work built around match sims as well as specialist crumbing work, high marking practice, handball drills and some gut running. I liked it in one match sim where Trac decided to tackle Jackson and while on the ground pushed his head into the ground and then wouldn't let him get up. But Jackson got the better of him and had Trac on the ground at the end of the wrestle with lots of smiles and laughs between the two. Trac really does keep things fun and involves everyone. Trac provided the highlight for me in one passage where he was surrounded by a pack of players and dodged and weaved his way out of the pack. The other highlight was Brown who really did well today. Marked well and kicked very well which stood out on a day where skills were down and mistakes were made. I suppose it was their first hitout in a month or so but I'm expecting better later. Pickett did some really nice things, not so much spectacular but just really neat skills and Jackson continues to impress with his ability to be in general play once his ruck work is done. Harmes, Oliver and Viney were all busy and Melk and Fritter did well up forward. I left at about 11.45 when things looked like they were closing down and the smoke was getting pretty bad. It was a pretty solid session with another to come on Wednesday.

Very good indeed! Preuss was the only one to get the last goal from a tight angle about 35 metres out. Jordan skimmed the inside of the post according to the players. I didn't think it did but goal review wasn't installed!