Slartibartfast

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.

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.