Rigoni Rigoni

Attended the AFL Victoria community football media awards yesterday where Mike Sheahan was the guest speaker. After giving a really engaging talk for 30 minutes, Mike took questions from the floor & someone asked him what he thought Paul Roos would do for the group as coach, & when he (Sheahan) had first thought Roos was interested in the job. He said after they film 'On The Couch' they head to Lamaro's for a few 'post-show frothies'. He said the debate was going on about Melbourne's list (as it often did) with everyone putting in their two-bobs worth except Roos, who sat back, just listening. Sheahan said there was then a pause where no one spoke for a second, and Roos piped up & said, 'you know, Melbourne's list isn't as bad as you think'. He said Roos & Alistair Lynch (who was also there) then proceeded to put together their best 22 on Lynch's phone, with Roos giving a full synopsis on each players' strengths & weaknesses, how he'd play players differently etc. Sheahan said Roos' clear knowledge & research of the younger 'unknowns' said to him that despite Roos indicating to that point he wasn't interested in the role, he was already clearly informed on the entire list, beyond that of someone who wasn't interested in coaching the club. Speaking specifically about certain players, Sheahan said Roos said that Jack Watts has until now believed he's been working hard, but that this summer he'd truly discover what hard 2-way running was & that he would 'vomit more in the next 3 months than he has in his life'.

The other thing I found interesting (and personally I think it differs somewhat to last year) is that the players seemed to know the drills so well, despite there being some pretty confusing drills with bibs going everywhere, players swapping on and off the ground so quickly etc. You got a real feeling that they understood what looked from the outside to be pretty 'busy' drills. The boys were there in the St Kilda rooms 2 hours before they were on the ground, so I dare say the off-field instructions would be sinking in.

A few short notes from training: The boys had an extended warm-up for about an hour, consisting of laps and shuttle runs. They then moved into two exercises, with players moving quickly from one to the next. The drill was getting players to move the ball quickly in heavy traffic and not overuse it, but rather find the right option. This meant many players didn't get a touch for a while until they presented in the right spot and on the move. Neil Craig was essentially running these two drills. The full-ground session was essentially a game simulation, or a semi intra-club. The most interesting points were: * Dawes was plucking everything; * Viney was streaming across half-back picking up plenty of touches; * Toumpas got plenty of it in the middle and spent a notable amount of time talking to Rodan throughout the training; * Leigh Brown spent time with Tapscott and Tappy spent his entire time with the forward group; * Barry twice streamed down the wing, bouncing it several times. He seemed to blow up a little each time (as you would); * Sylvia looked leaner to me this year, and less top-heavy; * Watts seemed to roam from centre half-back to centre half-forward without going into the 50s. I know it's said every year, but he looked broader than he's been; * Davey looks like Ben Harper at the moment, and had it on a string playing entirely forward. Basically, they look great when there's no opposition! Let's hope they still look great once they throw a few opposition players into the mix.

The ground is in great shape - St Kilda's full squad trained on it earlier this week, and Richmond have trained on it regularly over summer. St Kilda still employ full-time staff to look after it - it's not a ground issue.

Also a dodgy source, but another supporter said he thought the player was blond. Sorry, wish I had more!

It was really tough to see as the drill involved a huge number of players substituting in the forward and back halves from behind the goals, with minimal players in the middle. Mitch definitely wasn't there - he and Trenners were the only notable players missing.

Not from where I was unfortunately - paramedics had a neck brace but I would imagine and sincerely hope it was only precautionary.

I still haven't been able to find out who the player is, but the team was in the middle of a full-ground drill when the player went down. They didn't move him at all and the training finished for the day soon after he was stretchered to the ambulance. There were a handful of supporters watching on; can anyone else shed any light on this one?

I'm watching Melbourne train this morning, and whilst I can't yet report on who it was, a player went down in the goal square 30 minutes ago and is being attended to by an ambulance. I'll try to find out who it is and what the extent is.