McQueen

Is the letter J any part of the theme?

12 hours ago, dworship said:

From the Hun: “The Demons reported Lever had a bruised foot after another player had stomped on him during a previous session, while Melksham has a minor calf complaint.”

I’m on the money again! 🤟

24 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Surely someone knows something about Lever. Too important to miss a chunk of pre season. 

My suspicion on Monday was groin related based on the type of rehabilitation exercises. 

Is there any source of information or just conjecture?

What a great day. Watched the boys go around at Casey. Caught up with an old girlfriend at the Botanical Hotel (had a chat with Gil there too) and slipped back to her place in South Yarra for some dessert. 
Reckon I’ll sleep well tonight. 😊💪

4 hours ago, Stu said:

Perhaps a policy of no-live takes from training is best. Demonland user heart related issues may drop as a result 😄

I do apologise. 
 

It was far worse watching though I’ll give ya the tip. 

52 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Great reports @Wizard333 and @McQueen. 

Disappointing to hear about Laurie. Starting to have concerns considering he's a first round pick. I suppose you can't win them all.

Also interested in your comment regarding Howes @McQueen. Having only seen limited vision of Howes he's the one player on the wheel list who intrigues. What makes you think he'll be a player? Athleticism? Good footy IQ.

Howes excites me, but he's a mystery for me as well.

Just looks smooth. Handles the ball cleanly and his skills are looking classy. 
Also like the way he covers the ground.  

As mentioned previously, rehab consisted of Max Gawn, J Smith, AMW (looks laboured in his running) and Jake Lever. Max put in about 45 mins of light running and short passes without any venom in the kicking action and then disappeared into the rooms. 

I overheard Caitlin Nobes telling Tom Brown that Gawn’s hammy isn’t too bad. She also politely asked the CH 7 cameraman to not broadcast any of the recordings he’d done prior to her coming over. 

Adams and Verall doing some conditioning work and skills/positioning activities but did not join main group. 

All coaches in attendance apart from Choco Williams. Chaplin particularly vocal and demonstrative. 

Warm ups consisted of handball keeping’s off drills and then some end-to-end full ground overlap drills. Skills were okay in this but without any pressure I wasn’t expecting to see so many missed kicks and ordinary handballs. Main offender was Bailey Laurie in my opinion but there were several others. 

Match SIM then started with blues and whites. I couldn’t discern who was the first and second string groups were and they eventually switched it up anyway. 

Highlights - Jefferson has great hands and a well timed leap. He received praise from teammates and coaches on a few occasions. 

Pickett OMG he is sublime. Just cruises effortlessly when he has the ball and then cranks up his attack on the opponent when he doesn’t. 

Viney is in for a career best year based on what I saw today. In everything. 

Chandler will play plenty of footy this year if he can translate his training form into the heat of a game. 

Tomlinson was terrific down back and fair ripping it into anyone who was not doing what was required. Hibberd also very creative and was the main architect with switching the play across half back. 

BBB also performed strongly this morning and moved well. 

Howes looks a player. 

Lowlights - Laurie I thought was poor. Mainly handballs at teammates feet. 

Harmes lacked involvement in the match sim. 

Melky pulled out of match sim and ran a few 200m and was in discussions with staff about some niggle.

Oliver was in real discomfort with that hand. He was point to the top part of his hand just below the wrist. I was thinking the worst given the carry on he was animating.

Once he returned to the field he went straight back into match sim and got nicely winded but the hand seemed to be okay. Watch this space.

Summary:

Overall I was relatively impressed with the session. Grundy was moving well and the forward entry looked sharper with an obvious focus on neat entry into the 30m hotspot. There was a few Joe the Goose goals during the sim so it may be something in planning to create more of those opportunities. 

Melbourne traffic sucks. If I was a player I would quickly start to loathe the drive to Casey. 

No snakes seen.

Any questions let me know and I’ll try to provide insight.

Cheers 🍻

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

Any signs of Lever or Howes?

Howes trained fully. Lever was restricted to the bike and walking grandstand stairs. 
 

I’ll get back soon to you legends with a proper run down. 

Oliver back on field. 

4 minutes ago, tiers said:

Can anyone tell if it is an overuse injury?

When you’re clutching your arm, bent over on your knees with you face in the turf grimacing in pain I would think not 

Clarry has sustained a hand injury. Didn’t see the incident but he was in considerable pain and has left the ground. 😩

3 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Is Gus out there today? Someone the other day mentioned he was going in for scans also.

Gus is training. 

Gawn, AMW and J Smith in rehab group. 

Max running medium pace laps unhindered. 

Righto, I’ve committed to making the journey to Casey tomorrow. 
🤞🤞 they let me in. 

1 hour ago, binman said:

I agree. 

He played CHF for a few games with the giants. I don't think he set the world on fire, but he's a bit small for a true CHF. 

He's struggled with agility and lateral movement since coming back from his knee. But is looking in great shape and seems to have trimmed down.

If he can get a bit more agile, high half forward is perfect for hom. He's big enough to almost be a key position player, and not bad one on one so he'd be a tricky match up. Good field kick too, which can't hurt.

A high half forward role is probably his best chance of getting a regular game in the ones. We are pretty well set for key defenders. 

If he were to focus on that role  he'd probably be competing with melksham and Schache.

Did we not play him on the wing early days? I thought the knock was ‘too slow’ back then so I’m assuming any HHF role would negate any requirement to steam back and defend when needed - endurance aside. 

2 minutes ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

Facepalm incoming…!!! 

I’ll feel left out otherwise. 

Just now, Lord Nev said:

Not totally sure that's a critique we should be throwing around tbh...

 

Well I’m totally sure you struggle with having a sense of humour. 

They’re having punch ups at Essendon. That’s intense. 
Culture going to a new level there. 😂

4 minutes ago, Gator said:

I can confirm Monday & Friday are both at Casey.

A few of us were lucky to get in today, as the gates were shut.  After being shut out for about half an hour they were kind enough to let us in.  

No guarantees.

Thanks for that. 
 

Being over from Perth, if a drive out Casey results in no access I’ll be [censored] [censored] off!

39 minutes ago, Whispering_Jack said:

It would be nice if the club could confirm next week’s training times and venues. 

With schools returning in the following week, the next week could be the final opportunity to get the kids to a preseason session and if they are taking place at Casey which involves special arrangements for most of us because of the distances involved, plenty of advance notice would be helpful.

I emailed the club today and they stated in their response that Wednesday was the only ‘open’ session next week. 
From this vague communication, I will assume that both Monday and Friday will be at Casey and are classified as ‘closed’ sessions. 🤷🏻‍♂️

8 minutes ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Headed straight to The Duke of Wellington for some necessary restoratives Steve, then opened a red back at The Manor.

Bravo. 
 

Rehydration is so important. 🍻

2 hours ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

Just back at The Manor and thawing out - I dressed for a balmy day rather than arctic conditions.

The comprehensive reports above cover most things but I will add couple of observations.

For me, the standout player across all drills was May. He started with some goal kicking (pretty good too) but was very prominent in all the simulation drills.He wasn't saying much but was very physical and aggressive towards getting possession and using it well. He was setting an example and a standard . He looked super fit (although I didn't stay for the final run throughs) and, on today's showing, I'm really looking forward to an AA season.

It appears BBB still has some work to do. He looked ok in the short goal kicking drill but when he had a kick from about 50 it fell well short. I didn't see much of him after that and I suppose he's on a special program.

Saw a first (for me anyway). Clarry came off during one of the simulations. He was blowing a bit and was handed an inhaler. He had a couple of puffs and seemed fine. Is this usual for him?

Had a few looks at JvR. Good shoulders and lean rather than bulky upper body muscles. There's physical development left in him. He flew for a couple of marks but I didn't see one stick. However, he wasn't alone in that given the conditions.

My overall impression of the session was intensity and enthusiasm. I was close to the "interchange area" for one of the match sims and was interested to note that players on the "bench" were having animated discussions about tactics and positioning - again a high level of passion about doing the job well.

The overall "vibe' was very upbeat and made me very upbeat about 2023.

How many pints did you manage afterwards mate?

Sounds like an exhausting morning. 

38 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Petty’s copped about 6 injuries in the last 20 minutes. Think he just popped a finger out 

4 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

The MFC offices have fully reopened today. It should be easier to find out where/when sessions will be held. 
That said, it’s never a simple thing to do as they don’t update often enough. 

Once they find out who I am I’m sure the club will pull out all stops to provide me with every detail and a cheese platter for my visit.