Maldonboy38

No one can question Bartram's endeavour, application, heart, willingness and toughness. He has these qualities in spades and usually beats his opponent each week. Also, he usually is involved in a few plays that break out of our back line with linking, multiple kicks and handpasses. It is in this setting where his main deficiency is demonstrated - his kicking efficiency.

It is not only about landing it on someone's chest, however he does miss easy targets when running with little or no pressure. For me, in some games, I have put his disposal into the Darren Gaspar or Ben Holland category. I simpy did not want him to get the ball because the team would run forward according to plan and his kicking would not be effective enough for that plan to work.

If he gets his kicking game right, he is absolutley in our best 22. If not, he will come in and out of the team according to the opposition on any given day.

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I have really enjoyed all the uploaded youtube videos of some great footy memories. As I was watching a few I noticed a certain B Wilson flash through the footage and wondered what Dees people think of him all these years later?

I remember so well the year he won the Brownlow medal - the channel 7 commentators were a little bit dumbfounded as it was a complete surprise to most footy watchers. A few of mates bagged me at the time that such a "nobody" could win the greatest individual prize available in footy. As I watched those youtube clips I was reminded that he was a bit slow, but he was amazing at getting to where the ball was. His reading of the play seemed as good as any others at the time.

I always thought he was better than a one year wonder and that he was an important part of what happened under John Northey, but he rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as Stynes, Lyon, Greg Healey, Grinter, Sean Wight etc...

So, how do you remember him?

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Has to be out of Grimes, Watts and Trengove. I choose Trengove. If you put a scale together of every skill and quality required of every footballer, regardless of position or size, Trengove would rate very highly in every category. I see him as a cross between Bartel and Gibbs.

Smokey: Jordan Gysberts. He just keeps getting to where the ball is. A few more kgs and a bit more aerobic capacity and the sky is the limit.

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On the afternnon of the last home and away round of '987 I was driving to Stawell from Maldon with my parents, who were about to meet my then girlfriends' parents for the first time. Mum is a mental Dees fan and remembers the glory days of the late forties through to sixties. We were going nuts inside the car listening to ABC radio, who were constantly crossing to the other grounds for scores. I almost drove off the road when we realised Hawthorn had won.

As for John Northey, totally agree. By far the best Dees coach in my living memory. If only the club had been more functional we could have been anything in hte late 80's. He introduced a new crop of players and he could get the best out of all comers. He could really give a spray and had a constant mongrel streak in everyhing he did. I like to think what he could have achieved with the 1994 team?

I went to the Dees v Swans final that year at the MCG and couldn't speak for three days after. Still the best footy day of my life.

Unfortunately, '87 also included a certain 15 metre penalty...

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Working your backside off is not of the highest importance when talking leadership. We would be stupid to think that anyone at an AFL club gets through a season without working their backside off. Bartram as a leader is mystifying because few of us have ever seen him influence his team mates for the betterment of the team. Is he tough? Bloody oath he is. Disciplined and ever ready - yes. But not once have I heard a team mate or coach speak of his influence among the team. That is why I question his place in the leaderhip team.

As far as Clark goes, this is a complete unknown and he may be a natural leader. But I cannot believe that in 4.5 months over summer preseason that he has demonstraed more leadership ability than Rivers, Davey, Moloney and Green.

If Neeld and the coaches want a fresh start, a clean slate etc... then they are on the right track with Trengove and Grimes whose leadership credentials have followed them throughout their football from juniors through to AFL. But to move players aside who have built up strong leaedrship qualitites over a 5 - 8 year period says either their leadership was based on the fact that there was no-one else, or their leadership failed. I find it implausible that the coaches cannot find leadership qualities in one of Rivers, Green, or Davey at a level to include them in the leadership group.

As ar as Moloney goes, good leaders are those who have shown character through diversity. Moloney handled his very low-level drinking misdemeanour with strength and honesty. For mine this adds to his leadership quality rather than detracting from it. He was never going to be our skipper, but for mine he is required in an ongoing leadership role in our club.

The co-captains idea is one I am not a fan of, but considering the long, dark tunnel the MFC is emerging from, this is the exact right way to go. These two boys are natural leaders and in our top 10 players.

I am less convinved about the assistant leaders. Bartram as a leader? I have never heard nor seen any evidence of this. Clark?. He hasn't even played a game with us.

Like Deevoted, I attended training and saw about 1½ hours of it.

After some warm ups and run-throughs, they split into two groups.

1 - the main group did some short leading and running with handballing that you see at any suburban club but one thing was interesting. One of the assistant line coaches gave instructions before this drill, saying he wanted to see the players changing pace. So, when they led, or marked, or gave off they then had to alter their pace. I am guessing this has to do with unpredictability around packs but am unsure.

2 - the rehab group that consisted of McKenzie, Tappy, Evans, Spencer, Jurrah, Bartram and Clark. They did some enclosed handball drills. I am not sure why Bartram was with this group but considering his promotion to the leadership group it may have been more about that.

After this the main group did some kicking, and then a drill using the whole ground. Basically, the backs kicked one short pass, then a long one onto the wing where the player calling for it was running with the flight of the ball, who then played on and was encouraged by team mates to run as far as he could before delivering to  a leading forward. The skills were very sharp and I saw most players do the drill twice, and a few three times. It was great to see and would have functioned at about 90% effectiveness. However, Davey, Fitzpatrick and Bail all used the ball badly. Davey was heavily strapped and left the field soon after with a definite limp. He looks a long way from match fitness to me.

After this, some payers went inside and the rest split into two teams and played a full ground match simulation. However, Neeld was in control and at certain times he would stop the play and say "back pocket stoppage" or "kick-in from goals" or something similar. If it was not perfect, he made then do it again. At stoppages there were specific instructions about positioning and they had to be followed. Everyone was accountable. When the forwards were trying to hold it inside the attacking 50, there were instructions about a ring of players making a horseshoe shape about 40m away from the ball to hold the ball in.

Bennell was definitely doing a tagging job. He had touch on Trengove for most of the match and was annoying the tripe out of him.

I can understand the bigger recruited bodies of Magner, Sellar, Couch etc ... but during the match-play simulation, these players were overshadowed by the ability of Trengove, Gysberts, Bennell and even Morton  to actually read the play and get to where to where the ball was. It will be interesting to see whether Neeld prefers the big bodies or the ball skills players.

A few times at the centre bounces only one man went up, but when it was fully competitive, Jamar slaughtered all comers. His tap work was a delight, and Moloney just seems to know where it is going when Jamar is rucking.

Gotta love the way Jones trains. He must be a coach's dream. He has two switches - off or on - and when he crosses the white line he switches into gear. I put Nicholson in this same category. He trains at full intensity.

Bennell was very clean by hand and foot, as was Lynden Dunn.

I agree with Deevoted - fitness should not be an issue this year. Every pre-season is hard work but there has been a real edge this year in comparison to the last three.

I will go along to training this morning - Casey Fields is only 20 minutes from my home. I will type a report later in the day.

Can't resist posting in this thread.

The ride in 1987 was the most anxous, thrilling ride and I still say we would have beaten the Blues on GF day.

1994. Best Melbourne side I have seen. Young Shwarz and Neitz, Lyon, Tingay, Jimmy, Brett Lovett, Febeys, and the mercurial Jakovich. When we were "on" no one could get it out of our hands. You know that dreadful constant feeling you have as a Dees follower - that we can stuff up any game even if we are 6 goals up? I did not have that feeling in '94.

2002 - Semi final night against Crows. The best football I have ever seen, but it only went for 2.5 quarters. Oh the pain.

2004. Top of the ladder and then... oh well.

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OK - here goes, in chronological order because rating them against each other is too hard:

Gary Hardeman. Still the best CHB I have seen, including Glen Jakovich. Strong, skilful and a great mark. Came 2nd in the Brownlow in 74 to Keith Greg. I went to bed crying.

Stan Alves. This bloke was an absolute gun. Skills, poise and never-say-die.

Robbie Flower. Every skill in an era when most players were single side players; untackle-able and could get round anyone, Glorious mark, courage to burn and the shining light during the horrible 1970's.

Garry Lyon. SUperstar and next to Fevola, the best long kick for goal I have seen. Inspirational leader.

Brett Lovett. Unsung stalwart who never lost his cool, was tough as badly cooked beef, had great vision, and was the launching pad of many forward thrusts in thre 80's.

Stephen Tingay. Oh, what could have been. Seriously could have bee anything. Injuries killed his career.

David Schwarz. Was the equal to Carey in many respects. Probably the most dominat Melbourne player in my memory. When he was on, no-one could stop him. Match winner, goal kicker, physically dominat, and mentally aggressive.

Allan Jakovich. Give this man half a brain and get him fit, and we would have won a GF in the early 90's. He was incredible.

Jeff Farmer. What do you say about this bloke? Absolutely scintillating, quick as lightening, a great mark with a touch of mongrel.

Jack Trengove. I put him in because the current list deserves one current player. You will notice in my list above the absence of midfielders. Trengove is class and skill and coud easily become a Melbourne great.

Hard to leave out Rod Grinter and Ray Biffin but there is only 10 spots.

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The oval was in magnificent condition - even, firm and a good, deep green. Last year same time it was in horrible condition with the middle section roped off due to flood damage.

I left my money in the car and adults had to pay for snags so I didn't get one. Kids got one free and my boys devoured them so they must have been OK.

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i just posted a thread "Casey Demons Christmas Party".

I took my boys along to this today, and I have to say it was a really good event.

Congrats to the Casey Demons people who made the event feet like a local club function but with access to AFL players.

The players were doing match simulation again, in a now very familiar format to what I have seen at other practices. There were 26 players on the track split into 2 teams, including many of the rookies. It was a fairly heavy session, and on this occasion there were some significant tackling and physical pressure being applied.

After this they peeled off into groups doing contested marking, goal kicking and some stoppage set plays.

While that was happening, over on the far side of the ground there was jumping castle for young kids, free show bags with a drink and a sausage included, as well as a bloke with a microphone interviewing people. I would estimate about 600 people, but it was really hard to judge with people moving in groups all the time. 2 of the 3 club mascots were moving through the crowd having photos taken with the kids and giving high-fives. Heaps of kids were kicking footies.

The highlight by far was that once training concluded, all the players (with the exception of poor Max Gawn who injured his knee) came over to the crowd and stayed for half hour or more, having photos taken, signing posters and guernseys and mixing with the fans.

Jordie McKenzie, Brad Green and Colin Sylvia were very chatty and these three stood out as far as being bright and engaging. Jordie stood in the one place for the entire time, and was having some good conversations with heaps of kids and adults. Brad Green was magnificent and was still smiling for photos at the end of a long period of time. It was the most accessible experience that I have with the Dees since going to the MCG for a MFC family day in 1973 and being in awe of Robbie Flower, Paul Callery and Ray Biffin!

I had a really good chat with Nev Jetta. He has had major shoulder surgery and has had an extra pieace of bone joined to his shoulder joint so it stops popping out. He has a huge scar behind his shoulder. He has been able to do a lot of the running, but no arm or body work with his right arm at all. It looks about half the size of his left arm and he said all the boys were ribbing him for having a stick for a right arm. I reckon he is a long way behind the most of the team in terms of readiness.

Jack Watts was a magnet for all the young kids and a heap of teenage girls, and even a few mums were hanging around him. But he was great with the kids. He is just so natural in chatting and laughing. The really young kids (2 - 5) just loved being around him. Almost as much as the teenage girls.

They train for one more week, and then are having almost two weeks off, and come January, almost all the players will be in full training.

It is likely Tappy, Jetta, Spencer, Cook, possibly Gawn, will continue to be part of a prolonged rehab group but the rest will be in full training.

Go Dees.

I was right near Gawn when it happened. He came down from a contested mark - which he won - and seemed OK for a couple of seconds. Then he grimaced, grabbed hs knee and tried to run. He then fell to the ground in some pain. It did not look good and was definitely in the same knee he has heavily strapped. Mitch Clark and another player helped him up, but by then hte trainers arrived and he was led from the field supported by two of them, not putting any weight on his leg.

Reflecting on the various drafts and our recruiting, the first point to really hit me is that our starting 22 is probably going to look fairly different from what we may have expected only 3-4 weeks ago. 

There is a definite emphasis on size of body mass, or mature body shape. This implies that Neeld is making a priority of players who can hold their position over the ball. For mine, Cameron Ling is the best example I can think of - he was so difficult to knock off a contest and often stood up under tackles from much bigger players.

Therefore, people like Bate, Dunn, Couch, Williams, Sellar are more likely to be considered for selection especially from half forward to half back including the midfield. This is the zone where the big bodies win the footy.

However, a game plan based on this body type needs the people like Bail, Bennell, Grimes, Blease etc... running the lines to break the game open and take advantage of the effective stoppage work of the  big bodies.

I am a huge fan of Gysberts' potential, but until he puts on body mass I can see him at Casey for a while in 2012. I put Jetta, Morton, Cook in the same category.

I must admit that at this stage I am holding judgement on any developments because:

• I have seen too many preseasons where everything looked rosy and we fell in a heap during the season proper
  
• I am yet to see Neeld actually coach in a match
  
• Most of our really skillful players have lighter bodies which means we may be able to win stoppages but then our skills will possibly let us down.
  

Time will tell.

I hope this is the same player I saw at training last week at Casey. He is very powerfully built and the highlight was his marking in the body-on-body marking contests. He seemed to have confidence and aggression in bucket loads. Time will tell but I am hopeful.

The biggest changes in training, in comparison the the past four years seem to be in three areas:

Specific drills. When a drill is set, it is not allowed to go its 15 minutes then followed up by dissection and discussion. The line coaches are correcting the drills while they are happening. When short drink breaks are happening, players are asking questions, correcting each other before re-setting. Also, the players sound a lot more vocal in all aspects of the drills.

Line coaches. Rawlings, Brown and Royal are very vocal, and allow no small correction to go unnoticed or unexplained. Often, all three of them will get involved in a drill and show what they mean. I have yet to see or hear Neeld give a specific instruction during a training session. It seems the line coach - player relationship is the actual mainstay of the coaching relationship. And the line coaches seem much more in your face than I have seen for a while.

Physical intensity. A lot of the ball work is about the in-close environment, including a lot of body work and positioning. It appears as if the players are being taught to initiate body contact deliberately, and practice your skills and awareness in hat environment.

I will say that Bailey seemed to have a much more hands-on role at training than Neeld. It will be interesting to see how this moves over into match day.

I was at training also this morning and had to leave to attend a meeting for work. So, here is my two bob's worth.

The first drills were all about close in checking while giving/receiving handballs.The coaches were instructing the players that once they had handballed to a team mate, they should look for an opposition body to crash into to knock them off the contest. So player A would handball, be crashed into by a coach with a great whopping body pad, and then be expected to find an opposition player and likewise crash into him. All this had to take place in a small confined area. Leigh Brown was very vocal with his group and was making the players never stop moving at a stoppage. I thought this was intersting because a frustration over the past two seasons has been the lack of movement around stoppages during games.

The other drill happening at the same time was similar, but seemed to be about how to offensively get out of a tight space. One tactic was particulrly interesting. The player with the ball would be approached by a tackler, and when the tackle was about to take place, the player with the ball would run straight toward another oppostion player. This meant it was two on one and there was a spare man to handball to.

Once they broke up into the main game-play drill, the emphasis was on bringing it out of defence, and interchanges.

They were instructed to not leave the interchange box until the player coming off was inside it.

Players were instructed that an interchange should be occurring every 30 seconds during the drill so I reckon we will see higher rotations next year.

When bringing the ball out of defence, they were only allowed to switch play from deep in the back pocket. The drill they were doing defintiely revolves around the half back flank area. Once at half back, the coaches were yelling to remind them not to switch play across half back. Not once was the corridor used when the ball reached half back, unless it was knocked there by a defender.

After this drill they split up into various groups.

Dunn and Trengove had shots on goal.

Martin and Gawn were having overhead marking practice. Stef still looks but marked the ball almost every time.

One group were practicing a drill where five defensive players tried to force the offensive players into an out of bounds area. There was a lot of short burst running and a lot of tackling. Jones loved every second of this but Bennell (I think) was struggling.

Another group were split into three groups of four people. Again, in a confined space they had to string 10 handballs together or they had to complete the drill again. Dunn was also good here, as was Rivers. They were being instructed to hold onto the ball as long as possible and make a late decision of who to give it off to.

Another group went into the back pocket area. I reckon they were practicing a set play. Take a mark in the back pocket, turn toward the boundary, then spot a player leading up the half back flank close to the boundary.

One larger group did one-on-one marking practice, a bit like kick-to-kick at school. This was great to watch and gave real insight into players physical cabilities while a ball is in play. Howe was the stand out. Davis was very physical but would have given away a lot of free kicks with over scragging. One of the young train-with blokes was very good and aggressive.

There were only 26 players there and a group only completed about 2/3 of the session on the oval.

The three coaches Leigh Brown, Jade Rawlings and Brian Royal ran the sessions and I was really impressed with all three of them. I have been to a lot of pre-season training over the past 3 years, and these three blokes never let the drills run themselves. They are in there correcting, advising, changing. Even Brian Royal is a lot more vocal than I can remember in previous years. Leigh Brown comes across as a great coach; clear instructions, loud voice, high expectations.

Lynden Dunn's kicking to position was a highlight. I don't think that I am ready for an intelligent Lynden Dunn - it sounds like an oxymoron to me.

Matthew Bate is loving the physicality of training and is a stand out. During the game-play drill he was hitting bodies hard, getting up and having a second go, more like we are used to seeing Chip do.

Our main back three - Frawley, Garland and Rivers - are great to watch working together. Very sure, very intelligent players. Even so I reckon Rivers might lose his spot to Tom MacDonald in 2012 IMO.

Watts and Blease excel at running forward of the pack once our inside players have the ball, and find space very easily. The coacheds applauded this at times.

I have to disagree about comment above on Gysberts. First, he didn't look as exhausted today so his fitness appears to be rising. I don't think he will ever be bulky like Jones/Moloney but I reckon he is a good 4-5 kgs heavier than this time last year.

Morton looked composed, concentrated hard and tried his guts out at every drill, listening intently to instruction. He really is having a go. But in the game-drill his bumping/body work was almost totally ineffectual against anyone his own size. However, his tackling is looking stronger.

One of the train-with guys was impressive. About 6'3'', white blond hair and built like a brick toilet. Very strong over the ball, aggressive physically and coped well with the level of training. I hope he gets a rookie spot. I asked three people but no-one, not even one of the club trainers could tell me his name.

Howe is a brilliant mark. Regardless of opponent, he almost always won the best position, and would mark 3 out of 5. Very impressive.

Nicholson's kicking was really poor at times and he was getting mad at himself during the game-play drill.

There were a heap of faces there today I did not recognise, and these players were probably the permission to train blokes. Apart from the 6'3" bloke, none of the others really shone.

Cheers.

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B : Nicholson Frawley Garland

HB : Blease T. McDonald Grimes

C : Bail Moloney Jones

HF : Howe Watts Sylvia

F : Green Clark Jurrah

R : Jamar Trengove Bate

INT : Martin Petterd McKenzie Davey (sub)

I am a huge Jared Rivers fan but I reckon Tom McDonald will take his place this year.

I hate leaving Tappy out but it is unlikely he will be fully match fit by round 1

We lack a small crumbing forward - Jetta may sneak into the side in this role

I had Gysberts in but Petterd is more consistent and has better skills so far in his career, so had to swap them.

I reckon Bate, Gysberts, McKenzie, Blease and Nicholson may spend a lot of the year battling each other for a spot.

Max Gawn is a huge chnace to play if they settle Martin in a spot.

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Grimes did a lot of solo running. Along with Howe he looks the perfect model of a footballer. He doesn't look too far away from the main group.

Bate looks big and strong with a great attitude. His legs are big like Dunns but he is running very well.

Watts takes it all in his stride. He was running with Green in a pair and appeared to handle the sprinting well. I am unsure if he was instructed to keep at Green's pace or not but he didn't look pushed at all. When it came to the match simulation drill he was leading very hard and fast when the ball did come out of the defensive zone.

Max Gawn has the most unco running style but is not slow.

Fitzpatrick is really quick for a big bloke, and during the last few sprints was being encouraged to try and catch Blease and Gysberts in front of him. During the brief kicking drill I was reminded of his natural poor kicking action. I remain unsure about him to be honest.

I also noted the red skin on Tappy's lower leg and I was unsure if it was a rash, or a healing skin graft. He had his sock down so it was clearly seen.

Agree on Tom McDonald, Fan. Kept up with Nathan Jones in each of the 10 sprints and his stride did not shorten which shows he is tough mentally. Also, in the forward-press simulation, McDonald was up forward, not a defender bringing it out. We will have to see how Neeld uses him.

The "Rehab" group seemed to be the blokes who were advanced in their rehab, had started late, or who were requiring specific attention on thier running and stepping technique.

Cook - injured his shoulder late in 2011 VFL season.

Jetta - I think it was arm or elbow late in the season.

Tappy - a big collision injury late in the year and is still recovering.

Davey - knee surgery

Petterd - unsure.

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Went to training this morning and stayed for almost two hours. It was a really interesting session considering who was doing what.

There were two separate groups - the main group - and I counted 26 players in this group. The other group was a strange mixture of rehab people and late starters like Jurrah.

Colin Sylvia walked about 10 laps before heading inside.

Luke Tapscott walked a lot of laps with a young member of the fitness staff.

Jordie McKenzie jogged a heap of laps.

James Strauss (who appeared for only 20 mins or so) and McKenzie did a light kicking drill together, about half way through the training session. Neil Craig was with them and he was correcting thier kicking actions. Although they were only 20 metres apart, Craig appeared to be making them focus really hard on a specific kicking method.

Jack Trengove, Mark Jamar and Dan Nicholson made a small group of their own that did not sem to attach to the rehab group or main group. They did some tap work with Jamar, a bit of lap running, and maybe 1 or 2 sprints, but nothing too taxing. 

Trengove looks to have really bulked up  in upper body and legs. His chest and biceps are becoming strong and a bit chiselled.

The Rehab Group

It was difficult to keep tabs on this group because they kept on splitting up into mix 'n match groups and doing little drills in small, ever changing groups.

Lucas Cook, Aaron Davey, Mitch Clark, Michael Evans, Ricky Petterd, Neville Jetta, Liam Jurrah, and about three others who had left by the time I began watching this group.

About five of the fitness guys were with this group and had them doing approx. 100m run throughs, but they were paying particular attention to the running action. Petterd and Jetta in particular were given some specific coaching on this and Cook was given the same a bit later on.

Davey, Clark and Jurrah were doing a change of direction drill that was really intense and exhausting. Davey was really focused. Clark and Jurrah seemed to coast a bit but were getting stuck in by half way through.

The Main Group

Glad I am not an AFL footballer being coached by this group. Repeated gut running in pairs.

1 x 300 m sprint

4 x 100 m sprint

1 x 300 m sprint

4 x 100 m sprint.

Interestingly, they put Cale Morton with Jeremy Howe. Howe is clearly athletic and his running action and pace rarely changed over the 10 sprints. By the sixth sprint, Morton began to drop off and Jade Rawlings demanded that he stay on Howe's shoulder. To Morton's credit, in the last 2 sprints he busted his gut and did stay with Howe. I have to give it to him for sticking it out. Morton looks as though his body has developed but his arms are still muppet thin.

Nathan Jones, Clint Bartram, Howe and James Frawley seemed to be able to keep up the intensity the best. Jared Rivers was finding it tough going with Frawley.

Jamie Bennell has a lot of work to do. He was running with Bartram whose mental strength is telling when exhausted. In the last four sprints or so Bennell was dropping off approx. ten metres and some coaches were driving him to catch up.

Sam Blease and Jordan Gysberts ran together, and in the last two sprints, one of the fitness guys ran with them making them try and catch the team in front. 

Blease has a sprint a bit like Travis Johnstone. A really long stride and he seems to be coasting but he is actually very quick.

Bartram, Jones and Howe were the standouts.

After the running, they had a five minute break, changed into footy boots and did some kicking/handballing drills. Simple stuff really.

The interesting bit was after those drills, the 26 main group players divided in to two teams and practiced a match-like drill.

To me it looked like Jade Rawlings was in charge and they were practicing how to get the ball out of defence through an opposition forward press. 

Our defenders would start with it about 25m out from goal and were not allowed to take it out of the corridor.

First, the player who began with the ball would, each time, try and beat an opponent one-on-one.  

Second, they were instructed to use a pattern of one handball, one kick, one handball, one kick etc... to bring it out through half-back.

Third, the midfield would pour down into this defensive zone, and a player would eventually kick it long to leading forwards who had lots of space created by the midfielders pressing into our defensive 50. I hope that is as clear in typing as it is in my mind!

I watched a fair bit of the Dees training last pre-season and  there are some clear differences.

The number of repeat sprints is higher.

A lot of clear, one-on-one specific coaching about the minute details of skill. Neil Craig might be the instigator here.

Misson has very clear instructions for the warm up session.

The training looks more tailored. The rehab group were focusing on running action, changing of direction, short step change of direction etc. and this went on for a lot longer than it did with Bailey.

Go Dees.

I really like Neeld's direct approach, and the way he is doing things his way. But naming certain players via a public forum is unwise, and I reckon out of all the players from 2011 who played at a consistently decent standard, 19 yo Jack Watts was one of them. I maybe in the minority here, but I feel like Neeld is grandstanding himself here. The emphasis of the article is not on Watts, Morton etc... It is on Neeld's uncompromising standards in regads to fitness, dedication etc... It is a poor effort to lower someone else's public persona in order to heighten your own. What he is saying about Watts and MOrton and Davey is probably true, but an interview with a journalist is not the place to discuss these matters and it will not make the three players respond to his message any better.

For mine, this is a poor effort from our new coach.

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The session looked like a million other pre-season sessions to me. A lot of running to see players' levels in order to figure out a program. I didn't see anything different or unique to make me feel anything I haven't felt before. Gee it's easy to feel wonderful about pre-season and get all worked up. What was really good to me is that it wasn't hyped and ra-ra, but rather a sober measurement and test of our players.

As far as all the comments about Gysberts, Blease etc... let's see the situation after 3 months of gym work and tan track running. Remeber the difference last pre-season made to Watts? And think what a full pre-season free of injury will do for Grimes, Bail etc...

The only thing to note is the amount of players either in the rehab group, or doing an individual program due to trying to assess their starting point for pre-season preparations. MFC need to get this group as small as possible as soon as possible.

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