tasmanlvr

Not really. A lot of occasions it was really get and give off, although there was one occasion where he had a stroll. Didn't really get to assess his pace because he himself was assessing his options. I'm curious to read some of these as well. I also do not watch the show. Brayshaw hasn't bulked up an awful lot, it really depends on what Roosy and Goody want to do at the moment, whether they still see him as a defensive forward or trying to get him into the midfield more often. Expect him to line up in the midfield for longer periods on Saturday given Jones and Vince's absence. We will see how he goes once those two come back in.

He was. The really pleasing thing that I should really have mentioned was that in about 10 minutes of a drill that I mentioned his name in he had six or seven touches.

Went over... here's my report One more training session before the lads’ head off to Adelaide to play at the wonderfully named Playford Alive Oval, which joins the pantheon of great grounds such as 1300 Smiles Stadium, GMHBA Stadium (believe me, say it quickly) and the good old Woolloongabba ground. Up and coming names for grounds include “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood” Oval and also the “She sells sea shells by the sea shore” Park. For the slightly less eloquent, training today returns to the familiarity of Gosch’s Paddock. Gosh. Additionally, today is the very antithesis of everything Melbourne has stood for over the past two weeks or so as the less-familiar February feel of the cooler autumnal air is replaced by the more-familiar but steadily disappearing scorching variation of Jesse Hogan’s 2015 season. It’s going to be a bloody hot one, not that anyone in the area, by now, need this piece of ‘breaking’ news. Anyway, less jabbering on about how hot the weather is and speculation over how I can improve the names of our simplistically named grounds, and more about how the Dees’ train this morning. If they want to come out and train, that is. At 10:15, not one of the boys fit for full training appear – it’s all, in fact, the rehab group. White, Newton, Dawes (solely walking laps of the ground), Petracca, Vince et al are all out on the ground, not doing an awful lot. Kennedy-Harris was out there, but has since disappeared. Finally, out of the AAMI Park mire, a wild Dean Kent appears, hopefully keeping in mind that we need someone with Mean Look just to keep him there in a move not seen since the good old days of trying to catch Raikou, Entei and Suicune all the way back in Pokemon Gold and Silver. #throwbacktuesday A couple of things I notice as the boys file through – firstly THE CLUB HAS TAKEN MY ADVICE and invested in the new cloth I called for last week which is excellent. Secondly the sight of Christian Petracca in full flight getting the dukes up and reminding us all that Daniel Cross (who is acting as his direct opponent) is a retired footballer is a sight for sore eyes. As the boys gather in to do their traditional Billy Stretch-es, the boys are all up and about cheering a couple of times – the first, and loudest, I presume is for Jack Trengove’s return to full training; the second (not as loud) cheer is for Max King training with the main squad again and the third (small) cheer… you can make up a story to your own liking, I couldn’t tell you that one. A look around as the boys pass by the faithful for the first time, Hogan and Brayshaw are embracing in the manliest cuddle you can see; Tom McDonald has borrowed the #5 jumper just to confuse us all and James Harmes seems to have recovered from the unusual sort of claret formation that he had on Friday; obviously I presume most of you would have seen the photo of him looking more like the Flash than a professional footballer. The stretches are such that I decide to replenish my water/sugar supplies across the road, and are perfectly controlled when I sit back down on return as they start their drills for the day. In between I see a bloke who I thought was Stevo and was ready to give him the ‘how do you do’ until I realised that it evidently wasn’t old mate, and then I see Hogan drill a goal from a difficult angle with frighteningly consummate ease. He goes okay. That first drill that I mentioned for the day, split into two groups, goes briefly. One on the far side of the wing doing some sort of stoppage drill, and another group doing a triangle-like drill focusing on ball use and delivery inside 50. It looks like it was set to start well but believe me, Maxy Gawn coming close to barrelling into the fence just near where I’m at isn’t fun. The next drill is this kind of zigzag formation which goes all around the ground and then ends with a burst down the middle and delivery to the goalsquare. Seeing Viv Michie absolutely streaking down the middle is a good sign, seeing Billy Stretch dart through the centre equally so. Meantime in the rehab group there seems to be this sort of goalkicking competition going on between Petracca, Jones and Cross which gets super competitive – Petracca absolutely nails it with a savagely beautiful goal on the run, and then you see the unusual sight of Jones shanking not one, but two kicks on the run that you would expect him to kick 11 times out of 10, the first going completely across the face and on the full. Such is the competitiveness between captain and arguably one of our two most prized talents I take my eye off the wider drill to focus on all the banter going on. It’s fun to watch. The next drill in the meantime is more of a quick decision-making drill involving the use of handball in a small confined space. Easily the highlight of this drill is that man again – Hoges. Fairly corralled to such an extent by Jetta, the big boy not only finds his way through ole mate Neville but also two other players with ease to break open, almost midfielder-like. I wouldn’t exactly be against seeing Hoges put into the midfield for small bursts. Even if he is our best forward. He’s capable. Another bloke who’s doing well for himself in this session is Wagner. I haven’t talked a hell of a lot about him since he’s come to the club, anyway, bottom line is he’s a competitor, a fierce one at that, and he doesn’t mind a tackle. He might be a decent chance of getting on to the senior list in place of Melksham. The next drill is one which goes both ends, two groups in the middle trying to win a stoppage and two groups in either forward line jostling for the footy. A team in green bibs tries to defend against a team of jumpers. Near side, Weideman has the hard task (again) of manning Tom McDonald, while a couple of balls go in his direction, McDonald is just too strong for him at the moment. Meantime on the far side there is the extremely pleasing sight of Trenners’ going for a stroll, and also winning a hard ball in another contest. This drill lasts another 10-15 minutes or so. The next drill after that is a spreading drill much like the one I detailed last week. Again, like last week, it’s pretty much the jumpers who are all over the bibs. Having the two best readily available players at the moment on form (Hogan and Viney) does that. Additionally pleasing was Bugg muscling his way towards getting Jetta in a crunching tackle which is a dead set ripper. Also pleasing was seeing Kennedy get the ball three times in the middle of the ground before delivering an absolute rip-snorter of a ball to Watts inside forward 50. One more thing about Hogan, he’s on both teams at various stages of this drill and also, this drill is showing how much he’s outright dominating today. At one end, he delivers a low chizzler to a team-mate (might have been Bugg) in a crowded forward 50, and then at the other end he delivers the most perfect ball you could imagine, scything through a pack to find Stretch all on his own. You had to be there to appreciate it really, Hoges’ field kicking is so underrated. In the meantime, Jeffy misses a sitter from 20 out. His set shots are something he has to continue to work on. He missed a whole heap of simple opportunities last year and if he sorts it out, we will be a much better team for it offensively-wise. Mind you there was nothing much wrong with the lead up, he took a ripping overhead mark from a very solid Viney ball, and he is still positioning himself really well. I think it’s five of the last six years he’s kicked over 40 goals, the challenge for him with me is to increase that to 50. If he’s kicking 50 goals a year he’s not far off his old mate Eddie Betts who some reckon is worth a million a year (except for Carlton, obviously, who reckon he’s not even worth $650k a year!). The boys put the footy’s away now at least and then get into some running. Just as a measure of Trenners’ running capacity at the moment he gives Bernie a slight start then overhauls him at top speed. That’s always a good sign. Does that mean he could be finally over all those foot problems for good? As a finishing up kind of drill (or at least the way I see things because the surrounds are getting cleaned up) there are various different groups. One doing a kind of fending off drill, one doing a stoppage drill and one doing a goalkicking drill. Nothing of the sort really standing out, but with the clean up in mind and the lure of airconditioning at Edwin’s too great knowing there isn’t much of the session left, I get over to the joint for a spot of lunch.

Cheers mate. I went on Fox Sports last night after posting it on the Facey page. Turns out they were keeping an eye on me for a little bit (following me and all) and wanted me to post in The Crowd. Hopefully I can get a few more posts in in the near future.

Ahem... It’s been a while coming, but I’m finally back on the track. The last month and a bit I really apologise for not being able to make it down - firstly the Aus Open shifted training anyway, and then uni got really hectic. Summer school does that when you try to pack everything into a very short period of time. So yeah sorry for not being able to get a few reports down. Regardless, I’m finally at Gosch’s for the first time in a long time and the scene somewhat surprises, a couple of players are already into their rehab and there’s a few players here and there doing extras. It’s a credit to the work Roosy has done to ensure that players are a lot more thorough and professional in their training habits. It certainly would not have been seen under Neeld. One thing that maybe the club can perhaps invest in is a new cloth – the cloth used still has the old Schwab logo emblazoned all over it. Irrespective, I carry on. Jay Kennedy-Harris is the first player to walk past of those who isn’t doing any form of rehab – I would say that he’s somewhat more shredded than the last time I was here. Clearly the boys are putting in a lot, especially in their upper bodies, from everything I’ve read and seen. Looking further up and I notice Heritier Lumumba in the rehab group – even he’s looking a little bit slimmer than the last time I saw him train. Perhaps the most pleasing aspect of one of the first to arrive is the fact that there is an umpire walking across. Can’t work out who it is but that only means one thing – match simulation. You beauty. Not entirely unexpected because our first game is in 12 days, but that also means I get to have a serious look at what Goodwin has planned for us. That’s pretty exciting. So some Billy Stretch’s to get into it. Christian Petracca is having a bit of a kick-to-kick with Crossy and Max King over on the near side. Christian’s still looking fit and is starting to kick the ball around. I don’t realistically expect him to play in Round One to be honest. Not unless he absolutely kills it in whatever NAB Challenge game he’s slated to play. Expect him in the VFL to start with. Put him on your SuperCoach bench. The first drill is split up into two groups, one of them doing a handball drill where they have to work their way past a defender who’s wearing a bib, the other group doing some kicking drills. There’s a couple of things I notice. The first of which is Sammy Frost looking really strong on the training track, which is really pleasing – of course Sammy had his injury issues throughout all of 2015 with that toe of his and I’m really looking forward to him giving Hogan a chop out up forward this season. The other is Jack Trengove. Also a well-documented case in 2014/15, and I’m pretty sure regulars who’ve either gone to the track or seen photos of him circulate on social media know how ripped he is. It’s really promising to see him running at a good pace, using the ball as if he was never gone and backing himself to take on faux defenders as well. It’s really promising to see. The second drill is a full grounder and more or less I’m keeping my eye in on the new blokes more than the ones who were in the best 22 last season. Sammy Weideman is the first I’m keeping an eye on as part of our hopeful future forward line dynasty. The pleasing thing is Weideman’s looking really good out on the track to start with physically. He’s moving around really well after coming off that well documented five-month injury layoff. There’s still a bit to work on, and that combined with just getting some regular game time into the bloke means that Casey supporters will be seeing a lot of him to start off with. Which is understandable and I’m willing to wait. ‘Clarry’ Oliver is the next bloke who comes across over to the far side where I’ve found myself. Early indicators are everything I’ve expected from a bloke who’s been a rather late bloomer, but also one who has a truckload of potential. He does not miss a beat with his kicking. It is probably the definition of ‘low and hard’ which I hear on the regular. If there’s something I question about him it’s probably his explosiveness off the mark, but then again it’s the first time I’ve seen him in full training. I’m now happily convinced I might see him play a number of games this year. Not as many as Gus Brayshaw managed straight off the bat, but I’m expecting Neal-Bullen and Stretch-like amounts of games (so around 10 then). The next drill passes by and it’s a bit of a change up from what I’ve seen previously. There’s four groups – one which wears white vests, one which wears green, one in pink and one wearing their normal jumpers. The aim of the drill sees one team try to move the ball as quickly as possible through the ground, mostly incorporating good decision making and use through the middle. While the other group sits out, they are asked to sprint from the near-side wing to the goalsquare. Some things which are pretty evident – Tom McDonald continues to up his leadership game as he organises the defense, where he also makes some excellent tackles whilst defending. The drill also sees a bit of an injury scare for Dean Terlich, who lays a tackle then gets up relatively gingerly, holding his right ankle. After some consultation with a physio, Terlich is able to jog off, but it’s certainly the last thing he needs as he battles to get back into the side. The drill, irrespective, carries on. Another bloke who continues to impress with his decision making and ability is Salem. He always seems to find a bloke in space, even under pressure. It’s a very special ability he has and I’m hoping that he can make the most of what is hopefully a move to the midfield for season 2016 which is exactly what I want to see. Hopefully he stays injury-free. Additionally, a bloke who’s really flying under the radar as a candidate to see more gametime in 2016 is Oscar McDonald. What I’ve really noticed is that his improvement has been every bit as rapid as brother Tom’s. His running and ball use in this drill is very good. I think he certainly has the ability to win a spot in that Melbourne defense, particularly now that Melksham is out for the year. When you look back at his performance against the Giants in Round 23, I’d back him in for sure. The next drill is a bit of a change up, similar in nature to the previous drill but now much more tightly confined to one area of the ground and split into three groups. Both the group in front of the faithful and the one on the wing are trying to clear the ball either end – the one in the 50 are either trying to kick a goal (white vests) or are trying to get a clearing kick (jumpers), whereas the one on the far-side wing encourages more handball when trying to clear the area. On the near-side wing there’s an interesting quartet – Tom McDonald, Sam Weideman, Mitch King and Cam Pedersen. All four are working on their one-on-ones. The inclusion of Pedersen as a defender intrigues me in a sense, given that a lot of our supporters rate him as a forward higher than even Dawes. Then again, with Frost coming in and Pedersen still (in my eyes anyway) a member of the best 22, you have to put him somewhere. Anyway, I can’t help but admit that it’s pretty exciting seeing Weideman manage to beat McDonald in a one-on-one. As for King, he is regularly outpointed by McDonald, highlighting how much development he needs to get games. It’s a very eye-opening experience seeing the difference between a developing forward and a top-line defender. As the groups chop and change, there’s some pretty ordinary news with the sight of Tom Bugg heavily limping. It appears to be a right ankle injury, and seriously struggles to stay upright when he puts pressure on his foot with his boot off. Bugg leaves the track, his NAB Challenge campaign somewhat clouded at the moment. Bit of a highlight and reinforced confidence comes when Kent pursues a high ball which was kicked as the boys move off to their next drill, and marks at full tilt. Quickly, he then delivers a low sort-of chizzler to Harmes. Maybe not massive in the scheme of things normally but remember Kenty is coming off a hamstring tear which completely ruined his 2015 season, and he’s looking good out on the track. Pretty significant in terms of his fitness if you ask me. This next drill that I mention is a little closer to match simulation but there’s a great big flood of about 30 players trying to get the ball in one half of the ground, perhaps even only inside the forward 50. The jumpers have the ball first and work their way to about 20 out where Alex Neal-Bullen takes a good mark under pressure, and converts. The green vests side works their way up in a far more unconventional manner, which sees short kicks and switches aplenty. In particular, there’s a really good switch from Oliver which is rather impressive. The boys then get into a boundary throw in situation, and what impresses me is Vandenberg winning the ball from a Max Gawn tap, then progressing to work about 60-65 metres to win the ball on the opposite wing, delivering a good ball inside 50. Another instance seems to be bringing out the weird and wonderful today – Gawn CRUMBS a marking contest and gets the hands to Viney. Yep, it’s all happening. Speaking of Viney, he has been everywhere in this drill, collecting seven touches, a couple of clearances and a goal to boot in this drill. He has really taken his second half of the season by the scruff of the neck and looks to be building to an even bigger 2016. Remember, he played 16 games. He missed out on the B&F by just one votes to Vince who we all thought was a dead set machine all season. Viney is an animal. As the sides are changed around a little to even things up (the jumpers have provided much of the play), Kennedy and Vandenberg (who has also gathered plenty of the footy in this drill) combine for a svelte Kennedy snap around the body for a goal. While Kennedy still has a knock on his decision making which has again been fairly evident today, that kind of goal sense will be handy for us this year and it’s enough to see him in my SuperCoach side at the moment – albeit on the bench. Another couple of things I take out of this drill is that Gus Brayshaw looks to be carrying on his solid debut season, and collects around about nine touches and kicks a goal. Hogan (I surprisingly haven’t mentioned his name a lot, if at all) has had a very solid session, and although Dunn manages to get a hand on a marking attempt, Hogan’s cat-like reflexes allow him to outpoint Dunn on the ground. He still very much looks the player he was last season – set shot still on point, and really getting into a really good rhythm now. The only true difference you see with big Hoges’ is his electric green boots which are slightly less fluoro than mine – or so I’d like to think anyway. I’m just hoping I have something over him which isn’t our ages. Annoyingly, despite the boys heading off into match simulation, a combination of my mother returning from the Harbour City and Mernda starting training at 6 meant that I had to bugger off. Nevertheless, I remain very happy with the improvements the boys have shown since I last saw them train in December. Couple of other things I take out of it -There is an intraclub on Friday at Casey Fields at around 9:45 in the morning -Following the Dees/Dogs game at Craigieburn on the 6th of March there will be a practise match involving the women’s teams

Didn't see him today. Either that or I missed him completely

I'm hoping someone noticed one of the tags. I really do.

Edwin’s Wi-Fi is terrible at the moment so bear with me for having this in rather late… Keen readers will have noticed that I was nervously awaiting the AFL Victoria announcement for the Community Media Awards last training report. It didn’t happen on Friday owing to an enormous amount of numbers, so I had to wait until Wednesday. But did I get one? Hell yeah I did. One of only two across the Northern Football League. Get around me. But as it is I only devote a little bit of time to myself and more so on the players who are actually training, and this is the first time I get to see the senior players in action after having to miss Monday’s session. At least, I hope that’s the case. A delay at Reservoir station means I’m not sure as I type when the hell I’m actually going to get there. 13 (!!!) minutes later, we’re off and going again, the train driver seemingly as sure as Mark Neeld’s assessment of training standards regarding what the hell was going on exactly. Anyway, regardless of whatever situation was the case, I’m there on time and just get there to see a whole heap of the boys applauding. Not sure why – maybe it was my presence. I wish. Regardless the boys head off for a quarter lap before doing some stretches. What I do notice is that rehab has increased markedly since last Friday, what with all the senior boys back. Jones is moving around really bloody well which is a positive coming off neck surgery, Terlich is in the rehab group, the big Spence train as well. At the moment I cbf’ed making my way over to see who else is in the rehab group, thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to sit in the shade on a quaint Melbourne November morning. Gus Brayshaw leaves early again after reporting early on. The warm-up, in the meantime, takes the boys to some weird and wonderful places. The boys run from the goalsquare to the wing… maybe perhaps a bit closer to the half-forward flank, with Dawes leading the way. Obviously he’s had the rocket up the ass from the drafting of Hulett and the other tall blokes (notice how they were going on about Hulett’s strong hands and his ability to play as a third tall?) and needs a big season. Viney is also up the front as he almost always is. Tyson and Garlett walk along the ground, not sure if there’s a serious intention for either of them to train, Tyson’s walking lap and Garlett sneaks off into the tent not to be seen again. Warm-ups carry on regardless, and I have absolutely NFI what the boys are doing. A sprint, sudden stop, turn back, jumping blind turn? Huh? Some blokes look graceful doing it (i.e the mids) and some blokes look atrociously clumsy (i.e Maxy). Next… after that the boys split into a couple of small groups. Nearest to me there’s a group with a two on one situation, where the two have to work out a way past the one which is defending and wearing a vest. The boys are getting through without too much difficulty but talk is non-existent. Mind you, whenever there’s the slightest sign of a feigned handball, the boys are up and about almost as if Steph Curry crossed over another bloke. Surest sign is when Jack Watts sells Goodwin some candy. Right, so the whistle goes and the boys rotate. Jack Viney gives a bit of candy out, and the bloke in the vest (can’t recognise who it is) is like “oh I didn’t want to hurt ya!” Righto… his ego takes a further blow when he is again sold candy not 20 seconds later. It’s also here that I get my first assessment of Jake Melksham. Skinny-looking bloke but by the looks of things good upper-body strength. Just think if he gets his disposal sorted he’ll be a handy pickup. The boys stop (for now) and it’s another chance to have a geeze and who’s doing what, especially in the rehab group. Bernie is taking (Max) King for a run, Spencer and Tyson bugger off early, Nate Jones is moving super well, he really is, and Terlich and Frost are running laps. Meantime Tom McDonald goes off to get his shoulder strapped, not sure what the prognosis is and whether he got a knock during the drill or it’s just your stock standard precaution, either way there’s a serious amount of tape on that left shoulder of his. The next drill is a handballing drill right in front of me, with a group of defenders trying to steal the footy off the team with possession. There is success in the second group where Salem reads the play beautifully and pinches it off White. In fact, White is pretty sloppy in this drill. Two handballs are intercepted, there’s a fumble when picking the ball up and his other handball misses the target. I’m backing the bloke to rebound as soon as he gets the chance. Interesting to note that the coaches are promoting “width” and “run and carry”. No doubt I don’t think anyone in the coaching staff want the panic handballs to set in like they always do. Anyway these quotes are mentioned about three or four times during this drill. On to the blokes who look in pretty good form at the moment. Grimes is having a good patch – thought he ended 2015 on a bright note which he can take into 2016 and he’s training accordingly at the moment. Came second in the time trial on Wednesday and has really settled in nicely and moving well. I still have a bit of a question mark on his decision-making but if he has a good season the Dees will be better for it. The boys have a break again, this time again I get a look at who’s doing what – BK’s running around, Bernie has seemingly not stopped running since training started and Hogan has been taking set shots into the wind. Dawes is doing some marking drills with Jade Rawlings – he still doesn’t look overly confident above his head, preferring the chest mark wherever he can. Again the boys split in two, up the far end it’s a tackling/strength drill of sorts, while the drill nearest to where I am being a pressure drill of kind. Watts is one of the defenders and he’s always the threat in these drills and accordingly he pinches one of the balls. I wish he was given the natural progression to AFL instead of being thrown in, killing his confidence. In the meantime, as I watch, it’s good to see Sam Weideman and Liam Hulett show up and have a look around – shades of Super Pav in not only Weed’s looks but his ultimate swaggaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa as well. I can’t wait for opposition defences to be sorted just before a game starts, then they see Hogan and Weideman swagger along like the Beastie Boys did in the Sabotage music video. A fun fact about Hulett – I covered the Young Guns game for AFL Vic and didn’t mention his name, nor did I mention Brayden Sier who also played. I dun goofed with that one. I do remember, though, that Hulett was playing in the backline for the victorious green team and didn’t get much of a look in due to their domination after quarter time. Next drill – basically it starts around the middle with a couple of defenders with a kick coming in to a forward before kicking a goal. This happens at both ends. Nothing special’s really going on to be honest. Hogan has an uncharacteristic miss – in fact he’s having a bad day in front of the sticks – and then as I get the idea of typing that he nonchalantly goes off one step and puts in right through the middle. Okay then. Next drill is a whole lot of randomness again – on one side, the near side, you have two blokes going up for a marking contest; in the middle, you have a contest where two blokes are going after a rolling footy, and up the far side it’s more like a kick to five blokes see who gets it kind of drill. Petracca walks by and (I think) gives the new draftees the thumbs up. I’m looking forward to seeing Trac talking to Weideman for the first time. I reckon you could almost SEE the swag. As I type this actually happens. Petracca comes up and gives Weideman the swaggiest greeting you’ll ever see - quite the serious handshake it was, almost like they from da hood, and almost as if they’ve known each other for a decade. I already like this setup. Now to see Hogan meet and greet Weed for the first time and my day would be complete. After what felt like about 20 minutes of approximately nothing to report the boys get back into it for a bit of a run. And it’s a running drill out of the box here. The boys – in two groups of vests, white and green, go runabouts in what is like a game of tag, where the blokes have to run about to a pole before the other bloke. Maxy Gawn’s having a bit of a laugh as he’s running – he is the banter king that’s for sure. Anyway, after that brief exercise the boys run three quarters of the oval in twos, for what scientific purpose instead of running the entire lap only Misso knows. After that the space-time continuum is broken again as only Misso manages to do with his concoction of which groups should be what when doing the running drills, with the boys splitting up between white and green and running in two groups. It’s good to see Dawes running up the front with regularity, with Tom McDonald sandwiched in the middle much like a Melbourne Cup favourite around the 1200m mark. Some more continuous running then, and Petracca starts the second “groups of two” run by completely ghosting Dawes along with Grimes, passing Dawes and then evidently using all his fast-twitch stocks to run out of gas towards the end of the three quarter lap. Mind you his acceleration of the blocks is pretty damn impressive. It’s also pretty interesting to see the difference between a stock standard AFL player and an athlete. While most are absolutely puffed out by their final group run, Tom McDonald is still roughly as silent as a Charlie Chaplin film. The boys then finish up. I hang around just to see Hulk and Weed meet for the first time and begin the highest profile pairing since Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams fo-shizzled their way through Drop It Like It’s Hot. Roosy, interestingly, brings together Bugg, Harmes, Kent, Hunt and Salem together for a chat, for what I don’t know because I’m not a good lip-reader. As I start to embark on the route to Edwin’s Petracca, Watts and Hogan all come up to a young lad, wheelchair bound, and sign his cast, hat and promise a tour around the club during their weights session. It’s a timely reminder of how good this club is to the young blokes and what a fantastic gesture. I also wish the young lad well for the future. A further note – it appears that the first part of training will be finishing up on the 18th of December and restarts (at this stage) on the 8th of January, by the looks of things it’ll be a week of training at Gosch’s before buggering off during the Aussie Open. ​

Only caught a quick glimpse of him today so I'm not entirely sure. Will have to look further into that

Cheers man, it's been delayed due to amount of nominations! Mernda is more semi-rural. As for plying my trade I've been writing for the Northern Footy League the last three years and I'm Mernda's media manager in 2016.

Not yet! Nervously waiting at the moment Bang on.

Friday, November 20, 0945 hours Pretty big day for this individual. First of all, my one and only exam was completed yesterday, and secondly, today I find out whether I’ve been nominated for AFL Victoria’s Community Media Awards for the second year in succession, which at the age of 22 I see as a massive achievement. Anyway, I get here missing part of the warmups, as is almost customary for me nowadays, I couldn’t explain properly why that is the case. Anyway as I get here the boys are doing the same drill that they normally do when they start off with their drills for the morning, the handball drill where there’s a defender putting pressure on. In the middle there’s a different drill, where the boys are asked to kick to players in the same team until called to kick to the other team. I’ll probably try to better explain – there’s two teams of about four or five players, one wearing vests and one not wearing vests, plus a couple of players wearing orange for that matter as well, and the coach calls out which colour kicks to whom. If that makes sense. In the meantime, as I walk through to Gosch’s, Terlich finishes up early and walks by me; Smith and ANB are doing some running and I can’t really explain why, and Trengove makes a very welcome appearance. Not entirely sure what he is doing at this point. Vandenberg is having a run around the joint as well. Meantime checking out the personalities around the place Mahoney is hearing watching, as well as King Jackson who’s made himself a dead set legend yesterday by signing on for a couple more years. Top bloke. Next drill is a full grounder drill, two full teams, boys are going hard at it. Brayshaw is crashing into blokes and in one case manages to bring down Maxy Gawn. It’s not quite the full monty yet until everybody else joins the party anyway. In the meantime Kenty is still moving very well considering he hasn’t played for a few months, and Tommy Mc is still showing his versatility whenever the ball goes nearby. Having said that there’s quite a few slip and sliding around due to the wet conditions experienced after last night’s awesome storm. Speaking of storms, an early look at a possible game plan sees the boys storming forward whenever they get the chance to do that. The ball movement at this early stage is noticeably faster and there’s more of an emphasis on players moving positively whenever the chance is there to do so. There is still a bit of an emphasis on switching play – as most coaches probably would. Having said that despite all the positivity, there are still a few disappointing errors by foot. Some of these errors come about as a result of risky kicks, but there are also errors which come about due to poor kicks. Another bloke who’s moving around really well is Dom Tyson. This bloke’s going to be an interesting case in 2016. I think all Melbourne supporters agree that 2015 was disappointing for him but I think we also all agree that we knew he was somewhat affected by injury. Anyway, on the track at the moment, he’s moving around like he’s finding the 2014 silky-smooth movement again, even though that there is still a bit of tape around his knee, which is really good to see. I’m therefore looking forward to seeing what he does when he’s fully fit. More on the drill – the skills have improved markedly since I commented that they left a lot to be desired. Also it seems that there is a lot more confidence about with many players. Probably none more so than Jayden Hunt. He seems to be backing his speed a lot more and he’s also getting the chance to find a lot more space, which is really encouraging. I think 2016 is the year we’ll finally see him get games, and we’ll finally get to see the great #29 grace the field for the first time since the great days of Michael “Juice” Newton. Drill stops and the move to the other side of the ground to do some form of a defensive drill. On the near side of the ground where I am it’s good to see Dunny here a bit early like he normally is, having a bit of fun and having set shots… hold on, he’s a defender isn’t he? On the other side of the ground, it’s really good to see JKH all over this defensive drill, and intercepting a couple of kicks, which is exactly what I want to see. Just hoping that this year was just the classic case of second year blues. The drill stops for a period before the roles are reversed – the team with the vests are attacking and the team without them are defending… but that’s a loose term. Good moment comes when a kick opens up big Maxy 15 metres in the clear, Maxy gets there… but only just. One quintessentially classic panic handball later, the vest team are able to kick a goal having broken open the defensive structure that the plain team tried to implement too easily in the end. This is the same deal when the defensive structure is tried again, with a kick down the corridor breaking open the play way too easily, which is either good or bad depending on which team you want to focus on. After a short micro-break the boys go at it again… and again it’s basically the same deal without the result this time around. I’m looking around trying to work out whether it’s just that the team with the vests have more numbers or that there is a weak link which is hurting the plain structure. At the moment, it appears to be a case of the former. On closer inspection, there’s the same amount of numbers on both sides. Bit of a break, Frost is running laps around the oval, Hogan has seemingly appeared out of nowhere given I hadn’t seen him during the drills (not sure if I haven’t paid enough attention for that one TBH) and is having a few sprints just over a patch of the oval with Viney. There’s clearly a bit of friendly rivalry when they run around – think it’s almost like they have to start line astern with an alternate leader and then they have to make sure that they stay in front. Bit of a similar drill to what’s been going on basically all morning after a short break which is another pressure-based drill with game simulation. Again JKH is performing well when applying pressure, laying another couple of tackles. Really been impressed with his application this morning. As they have another chat all you can hear is the solid BEEP BEEP BEEP noise that the Storm are doing. It’s not entirely a beep test, but (BEEP) it’s (BEEP)in annoying. Thankfully the boys get back into it, coupled with the beeping noise stopping, so that I can focus entirely on the drill at hand and see who’s doing what. With Hogan, Viney and a few others sitting out of main group training for the time being it’s two groups of nine on nine… ahem, AFL 9s. The drill restarts and immediately there is an orgy of players all over the footy. Again, JKH doesn’t give an inch whenever anyone gets the footy, laying yet another tackle, this time on Harmes. Mind you there was about 15 or 16 players within two metres of the footy this time round so laying a tackle was straightforward. There was a bit of solid banter during the drill when Tom McDonald gets the footy and tries kicking it to King… only to have his brother intercept it! During the same passage of play, Hogan (who’s running on the oval) cracks the shits when he has players interrupt his run (as I said before, it’s a friendly rivalry with Viney that he has and he’s trying to better Jack’s efforts). The next time they go about it Harmes gathers from half back and goes for an electrifying run that last until about 20m from goal before he gives out a Joe the Goose to a teammate. I am a bit disappointed he didn’t take the initiative and kick the goal himself because that was every bit as good a run as Phil Manassa’s (albeit this is in training and not in a Grand Final with the game on the line). After that there’s more of a handball drill this time around. It’s similar to the kicking drill except it covers a much smaller patch of ground than the kicking drill which was basically a full grounder. It’s more of a five on five drill than the nine on nine we’ve become accustomed to, with all players basically starting side on. The boys then stop for a bit, have a casual kick to kick and then change into their running shoes. As ever they come with instructions – Press B to run like the wind! (points if you get the reference). Okey-dokes. The running. There’s two groups and one quasi-group which I’m not sure just starts slowly or is part of the other group, I don’t have a clue. First bit of running sees the boys go from the back pocket to the goal posts. Either side. Pleasingly for those who likes seeing epic running battles, Tom and Oscar McDonald are in the same group, which will make for good viewing when everybody else invariably slows down. Pleasingly, for the time being, Dom is up the front. Kennedy, by the looks of things, is up the front of the other group. Mind you, that group has Gawn, Frost, Kent and King in it, so it’s the same running group as when I was last here last Friday. For the time being though I’m really pleased that Dom looks back to his injury-free best, staying up the front the whole time. After a leisurely walk around the oval the boys head off for a spot of lunch, which is what I also do. ​

BK's an interesting one. At the moment he's been doing okay in the running. Not sure what doing the running with Kent and Frost et al was meant to represent yesterday, I'll have to follow that one up if I can.

Alrighty, first off as I type this I'm going to be a little late. Not that it honestly bothers me too much, I had to do a bit of running around this morning, but I wont be missing too much more than the warmup should the boys actually start on time. Perhaps they might be a little bit later than that. Okay, so I get here at 10:00, a tad late with the almost as fashionable entrance that Russell Westbrook assumes in the NBA, laptop bag strapped over my shoulder and all - but Im told I didnt miss much all I missed really is the warmups and one of those six minute runs that the boys do. When I get here the boys are walking around the oval, and then slowly gets to a bit of a jog. In the rehab group on the other side of the oval are Hoges (I was wrong about Monday by the way, it wasnt management, hes got a bit of a finger issue at the moment) and Petracca of course. What it looks like they are doing is that both are running and doing a bit of weaving before marking the footy, and theres also a bit of work to do with some hurdles as well by the looks of things. As we were then with the main leaders leading the way around the oval. McDonald and Viney are up the front, and the boys look like they are changing into their footy boots so that they can start using the ball in vastly different conditions to when I was here Monday the thorough Monday afternoon heat and gust replaced by Friday the 13th cold, wet and breeze. Its not a pretty day by any means but this provides an early season indicator given this will be the conditions the boys will be facing come the 2016 season. The boys go for this weird kind of run around part of the oval. I couldnt properly explain it except for its pretty brief. Afterwards theres a short kick of the footy. Its a good chance to see whos up here and training. Max Gawn is here and hes having a run around in his quest to make Todd Goldstein look like Paul Johnson an ultimately difficult task. Ive already mentioned McDonald being here, dont think Garland is here, while Brayshaw after missing Monday is here too training. The whistle goes the kick of the footy is all too brief. I hear loud noises, including a couple of mentions of over the shoulder as the boys assume positions for the next drill, with a whole heap of cones. This is an interesting drill. Theres groups of four in this drill, with a couple of players weaving around cones, one with the footy and one without, whereas another player comes in to try and tackle said player weaving with the footy. At the moment no one is really missing the mark, thats because the player with the ball seemingly runs straight into the man whos going after him. Again its all too brief and they move around again, this time to the edge of the square. Again this is another kind of pressure drill Theres about three players in vests and another three who go out and run to get the footy in kind of a simulation drill. There isnt a whole lot of pressure from those wearing vests, which is either disappointing or what is expected of them from the fitness coaches, I couldnt tell you which is which. From the ball users perspective there are a couple of handballs which miss the target and their trajectory is poor. Again (and this seems to be the theme of the day) the drill is very brief. Meantime over at the near end of the ground, Jesse up for a kick at the park tomorrow? Hogan and CP5 are having set shots. Hogans run up is even more painfully slower and more edgy than what it was last year with the stutter even more obvious you could make a verse about it in Stutter Rap. Meantime Petracca misses a sitter from about 35 out on a slight angle and hes pretty [censored] about it he knows he should do better. You can notice the higher standards though, maybe in another year, specifically 2013, the boys would have a laugh about it, but you can see the want to succeed now. Anyway, with less jibberish, the boys begin their next drill. The first group nearest is stopped and the coach over there (cant work out who it is from a distance) mentions that it shouldnt be too much of a handball game. There are a couple of average kicks I wont lie about that, especially one from I think Smith who just skids it along the ground, its a true shank. On the far end of the ground the drill is still going and theres a few kicks which are just hitting the mark with authority. There was one such instance where Harmes lead excellently to the ball and it hits him on the chest as he jumps, didnt catch who actually kicked it to him but thats always a good sign looking ahead. Theres a clear difference between the two groups the group nearest to where Im positioned are moving it slowly and with a bit of hesitation, but the group on the opposite side of the ground are taking it on big time. Its a massive difference and the group nearest to us are out to rectify that when they begin again. Rehab Hulk and CP5 are running laps now. CPs endurance has massively improved since this stage last year and hes running with Crossy, whos going to be massive for his ultimate development in being able to run all day. The conditions change again as the boys head into the next drill suns out guns out not quite. Not for me anyway. The drill here is that the boys start off in a circle, then the boys spread out around the ground and become targets. Matt Jones scuffs the first kick, one which is wide of the mark to Terlich, which sees the vest team get possession of the footy. In fact the first two times the groups go out, it is characterised by missed handballs and a couple of scuffed kicks here and there. Its a little disappointing but then again the team with the vests are putting on good pressure much the same. The teams change and immediately theres a shift. Where the first team tried to move the ball too quickly, theres more a sense of surety with this team as the boys take a bit more time moving the ball, but not too slowly. The boys assess their options a lot more carefully and as a result, are able to transfer the footy from one end of the ground to the other. The second movement is even more impressive the team with the footy catch out the team with the vests through straight and direct ball movement, which goes nothing short of perfect until the final kick which drifts away late and hits the post. It was delightful to watch and hopefully theres more of that throughout the season as the boys cut through teams like a hot knife through butter. Now thatd be something. The boys, in the meantime, continue their drill, and while the early stages look reminiscent of the boys at their worst (what I mean is that when they handball backwards and they panic mercilessly) whats impressive is that they are beginning to realise that handballing to a bloke under pressure just doesnt work. Ever. Its Terls who sets this one up, sidestepping a couple of blokes and then delivering a good ball. In the meantime, CP5 leaves early. Im assuming therefore that OKC and his beloved Russell Westbrook are playing then. The boys start again. Salem gets the ball and somehow manages to break a Viney tackle. Not too often you get to say that but thats a representation of the standing of the bloke. In fact, every time Salem is getting it, he is using it extremely well and its so good to watch. Just nails almost every kick basically, no matter whether its a long kick or a short one. The boys then stop for a short break, be it either for drinks, to have a chat, or to watch Jesse Hogan walk off. Either one of the three. The boys then split up into groups of three, one with green vests, orange vests and one group without vests. Its two teams at the moment one sits out. Its the team without vests sitting out at the moment, leading to the ultimate See My Vest Cup (Byrnes coaching, anyone? Would be appropriate) which ends briefly after a miscued kick which just skids along the ground. Im assuming that the two just go at it until theres a mistake one which comes in the second game between orange and plain when a kick is spoiled well (to applause and cheers) by Gussy, the ultimate hard working kid. All three teams cycle through and we go again. Green team is unable to penetrate orange teams defensive structure. This time a loose kick is intercepted by (by the looks of it) King. The defensive structure of the two other teams is interesting. Plains defending is manic and high-energy, however some loose defending from Harmes brings their strategy undone, while Green seem to be loose, an ambitious kick into the corridor to Salem is quickly intercepted by two Green defenders. The drill then ends for either a pause or a switch to another drill. As it turns out, its a pause. After a brief restarting of the drill the boys start off again they stop almost as quickly, and then have a lengthy chat. They move down the ground and have another chat? Im assuming theres a bit of set shot work here because of the way this drill seems to be set up. This isnt the case. Instead theres only like four blokes actually having set shots, a big group having snaps and another small group crumbing and running in to goal from about 25-30 out. Meantime nothing has changed with Brayshaw in his training habits, always the prankster and always talking [censored] whenever someone goes past and has a set shot. On this occasion Stretch is copping an earful. Meantime theres a group with Crossy running around King, Frost, Kent and Kennedy. Dunno why they arent with the main group. As to be expected, Kent and Kennedy lead the way with Frost trailing and King a little bit further back in these running drills. This has been the way of the world for about 15 minutes so I have a geeze around and look at the world. While the training gear is somewhat up to scratch for a number of people its not quite up to scratch in other areas. For example, the cloth which covers the pavilion. Im not sure about you but you would THINK for a club which has worked hard to develop its logo that by now theyd have developed a cloth with the new logo on it in preparation for the release. Thats not the case. Old Schwabbolly-dobbolly-wobbollys logo is still taking pride of place. In the middle a beep test being sorted? It doesnt seem to be the case because after a short while with measuring et al, the cones are being taken away. Maybe they are otherwise preparing for it to be done in a future session (Monday?) Regardless theres a few at the moment who are on their way out. Its also my cue to bugger off myself as I look for a spot of lunch and either perhaps get to enjoy some old reruns of the footy or perhaps the cricket coming up as well (although thats not until later).

I dunno to be honest! I'll think about it next session... which is Friday apparently!