Demon Jack

Love this!

For what it's worth, Jake Lovett is one of the 8 top up players from Casey.

Certainly a chip off the old block! Some of those comparisons are eerily similar. It is early days though. Although, out of curiosity, when did Demonland start monitoring Jack Viney or Billy Stretch?

Couldn't resist dropping into Gosch's this afternoon to see if the rumours about Trengove recently returning to full training were true. H, JKH, Newton, Max King and Vince were all in rehab although most looked unhindered by their respective aliments and should hopefully be back in full training soon. Newton seems to be moving pretty well at the moment. Still has strapping on his ankle but was running laps with no obvious discomfort. H was doing some 100m sprints. Ran at a good pace and looked sharp, it really looked like he was galloping across the ground. Petracca seemed to switch between the rehab group and full training a couple times. Had his knee strapped as well (although this might be for his injury last year). Not sure where he is in terms of his fitness and if a NAB Challenge game or Round 1 are possibilities. In the main group, Captain Jones was the only noticeable absentee. As mentioned in earlier reports, today's drills were heavily focused on efficient ball movement. An early drill I took note of involved an in-close game of 'keepings off' where one group would quickly hand pass to each other while being pressured by the other group. O McDonald and Weideman made a couple blues here where their hand passes were smothered. Frost impressed me here. For a big lad, he has fast hands and can hit a target. He also nonchalantly hammered a 60m torp through the big sticks while waiting for the next round to start. Neal-Bullen also looked really sharp here. Next drill involved the full ground and players leading and kicking the ball to each other around the oval. Players would rotate around the oval as they completed their kick. Players in the forward group would lead up to the ball and then have a shot. There was a great moment when Stretch nailed a bullet pass to Weideman who subsequently played on, straightened, and kicked the goal through the big sticks. Kent, Dunn and Salem all looked especially classy here. For those wondering (like myself), yes, Trengove is in full training at the moment. Looks completely at home with no discomfort whatsoever. He kicked with his right foot. There was also some one on one training where Mitch King, T. McDonald, Hogan, Hulett and Weideman would pair up and compete to mark or spoil the ball. Although Weideman looked a bit out of his depth against McDonald, at times he showed great signs of his one on one ability. At one stage he completely out manoeuvred McDonald and marked in front of him. The final drill I stayed for was general match simulation practice. Jayden Hunt looked absolutely brilliant here, he has a real knack for breaking away from the pack with his speed (think Sam Blease but with more muscle and grunt). Laid some fantastic tackles and at one stage completely outplayed his opponent by spoiling his mark, subsequently crumbling the ball and delivering a brilliant pass to Sam Weideman who proceeded to kick the goal from a tight angle. I left soon after. All in all, the group is looking classy and starting to knuckle down for their first NAB Challenge match in 12 days time.

Maybe a chance at a late NAB Challenge game. Would love to see him out on the G for round 1 if he's fit.

Official Channel 9 Statement: “Garry Lyon will stand down from his various media duties while he seeks treatment for an ongoing mental health condition. “For several months The Footy Show and Footy Classified co-host has been suffering from a serious mental health condition and he will take time out from all media roles to recover. There is no set time frame as to when he will return to television. “We are all supporting Garry and hope he will be back to good health very soon. Our priority is his wellbeing. Garry has our full support. From here on, it’s a private and personal matter and we ask that be respected.” The Footy Show will return next month. James Brayshaw will host the show solo until Garry is fit to return. Damian Barrett will fill in for Garry on Footy Classified during his absence

I've been watching replays of our wins last year like clockwork over the last couple weeks. Absolutely itching to have footy back, even if it is just a spread of practice matches. Looking forward to watching some of the new recruits in action!

Vandenberg. Looked the goods last year. Will never forget him smashing Scott Pendlebery with a bone crunching tackle last year in our victory against Collingwood. Would love him to that again with the added bulk he's put on over the pre season.

Captain: N.Jones Vice Captain: Dunn Leadership Group: Viney, Vince, T.McDonald

If there are any Eagles fans out there, then you'll be devestated to learn that Glenn Frey has also passed away at the age of 67. Bowie, Rickman and now Frey. 2016 has been a sad year so far...

I rate Michie. He's played some handy matches for us since crossing over from Freo. I recall him being subbed on at around half time in the Richmond game last year and really imposed himself with 16 odd possessions in the second half. However, considering the circumstances, I think we need to upgrade the player who best suits our needs. Since we recruited Melksham to play as a half-back, I wouldn't mind seeing White promoted in his place.

Watts is clearly capable of so much as the highlight reel below demonstrates. He's also out of contract at the end of 2016, meaning it will be interesting to see whether the club considers Watts as a priotrity to resign based on the glimpses he's shown throughout his career. Personally, I have my fingers-crossed for Watts to produce a good season for us in 2016. I feel that he legitimately loves the club despite all of the criticism he's received since he debuted.

I was watching some of Jurrah's highlights the other day and boy could he play. If he put his best foot forward to get himself physically and mentally fit then I have no doubt he could make a comeback. I remember Andrew Krakouer returned to football at the age of 28 after three to four years of legal issues and went on to play pretty well at Collingwood.

Wines strikes me as the loyal type. Can't see him leaving Port unless he has issues with the club.

[censored], just thinking about it, how awesome was Bernie Vince in the Geelong game?

Max Gawn clunking everything that came his way is high on my list. But nothing can beat Nathan Jones' fourth quarter goal to pretty much seal the game. Loved Neal-Bullen's cameo as well.

On the topic of Goodwin... http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-12-07/goodwin-to-coach-dees-in-nab-challenge

The club has stated that we will play finals in 2016 but I still think we're at least a year away at best. However, that does not detract from the importance of this year. With the Goodwin era fast approaching, the club needs to show they are on the right track and improve on their 7 win performance last year. Big year coming up.

Things are looking great guys! So far so good with the new upgrade.

He realised he was first round pick drafted to Melbourne. He thought it was best to abandon ship before the club somehow halts his development and trades him to Adelaide for pick 78 in the 2018 national draft. In all seriousness, hopefully he's ok.

On his official Instagram page, it says it was posted about three months ago.

I've mainly heard "Hew-lett" so far.

You're my new favourite poster. Beautifully written report.