Dees2014

Yes I have been immensely impressed by the level of improvement he has made from last season to this. Clearly he has put a lot of work in in the off season so he can improve rapidly after his hips became right. All power to him. Having Jack Trengove, Jimmy Toumpas, Jack Watts, Dom Tyson, Jesse Hogan, Bernie Vince (and pick 9) All top ten picks, and all firing in or around our mid field next year is a mouth watering prospect, especially since none of them have really fired up for us in the past, and if they all go off at the same time, it would make a huge difference to our performance.

Yes if serious it is a great shame. He was shaping up to have a strong uninterrupted preseason. Let's hope he is back on track very soon

I'm really glad for Liam. Obviously those who have been posting on here that Liam is simply a drunk and a drug addict are way off the mark. Either that, or heis the greatest physical specimen known to man. I rather think he might be trying awfully hard at a rehabilitation. Good luck to him. Wonder how Wonna's conditioning was today???

Very much agree with you WJ. I think a fully fit Max Gawn will represent one of our key areas of improvement this coming season. He is an enormous unit, and very athletic for such a big man. Since he has been at Melbourne he has never been fully fit (due to injury) and i think it is testament to the potential the club sees in him that he was played so often when available in the last couple of seasons. He has played some good games at AFL level, but some absolutely dominant games at Casey where his marking around the ground was outstanding and at that level unstoppable. From what I have seen from the first two training sessions, he is well and truly up for a big preseason. Interestingly on Friday's rather foreshortened session, he left early, I think to run around the tan with a couple of others rather than do the flat out competitive run around the oval three times. Maybe they are managing his fitness training slightly differently to the others as both Spencer and Fitz were involved in the oval run. Max is a potential A- grader for us, I have no doubt.

From what I have seen from two training sessions last week (and I know it is very early in pre season) Evans is slightly ahead of Michie but only because he is not in the rehab group, at least for Friday's session. Toumpas is ahead of both of them, and is looking very much improved on last year's standard, Matt Jones is miles behind them both even though he is in the main training group. At the moment he cannot even beat Spencer and Gawn in the running. He has a very long way to go to get the AFL standard mid field running fitness. My guess with Roos' improved list this year and his standards of excellence, Matt Jones will be no more than a Casey back up in 2014.

Good idea. A sort of half way to having our own VFL team.

At his best and fully fit Liam had a good engine and as others have said on here he could play tall or small, and was very good on the ground. He therefore would be very good on the wing or at half forward. If it is true he kept his life together under Stynes and Bailey ( and Bailey certainly used him very effectively) he is just the sort of "project" Roos is very good at managing. I reckon he is worth a go as a rookie, but only under strict guidelines. Maybe we should be suggesting the AFL a special rookie catagory for such cases eg have him on our list like Hogan was last year, but not under the salary cap, but eligable to be upgraded to the full list should his form and behavior warrant it. If it works we should also have another look at Wonna, also a player of immense talent, which has been wasted.

I didn't say he was better than Neitz. What I said was: "the next David Neitz". This post is as much an appreciation as to exactly how good DN was, as to the potential of Jesse Hogan. I think it is important to point out that particularly in our recent past we had some outstanding teams and some superstars (and Neitz certainly was that). If those same young supporters can get excited about the potential of our current crop to turn into an elite team, then that would be fantastic. Anything we can do to build confidence in that we should. It is not all gloom and doom, and being a demon supporter in the future will be as rewarding as it was in the past for us in the 1990s and early 2000s. Jesse Hogan has the potential to build in the younger generation the excitement we had in watching DN in his prime.

Thanks, as I said above.....

Not sure he is bigger. Neitz was a big unit but slightly shorter than hogan at 193 cm I seem to remember, as against Hogan at 195 (Although Neitz was heavier at 100 vs 97 although you would expect that to change as JH matures). I think hogan has got a bigger engine and may be a better mark, althought Neita was pretty good particularly on a fast lead overhead. Neita though was a thumping long kick for goal. Hogan is an accurate kick, but not a particularly long one, at least not yet. The things though that they both have, and which we desperately need was a bit of mongrel - it comes through in the testing of Hogan time and time again ie how tough at the ball he is, which is something Neita also had. The combination of Byron Pickett and David Neitz put the fear of god into opposition sides. I hope some of our modern day players will develop that. Hogan is certainly one, Clark is also a hard nut, and Dawes has that potential, as does chip Frawley. Of the smaller younger brigade, Viney shows signs, as does tapscott, Jones, Trengove and Grimes. I think Roos will teach them a lot about being tough around the ball. The comparative numbers: Height (cm). Weight. (kgs) Hogan. 195. 97 Patton. 197. 100 Daniher. 201. 94 Boyd. 199. 102 Neitz (playing stats). 193. 100

Well I actually walked o n the old Pies ground today, and it certainly looked like cricket pitches to me. Sort of makes sense,why else would we not be using it for ourselves?

No we are still at the old ground. At least it now has goal posts rather than rugby one. The Pies former ground looks like it is being prepared for cricket with centre turf and practice wickets. I think they have substantially improved the surface of our ground though. I was there for a short while. Also a short session, structures like Wednesday although they ended it with the major group doing a time trial of four laps which would in the ground I imagine to be about 2km. Tom McDonald won it easily from Tenners (who looks in top condition), Evans, toumpas (who also looks a lot stronger), Howe, M jones (who continues to struggle against the other medium sized players) Spence, Pedo, and Fitzy. Fitzy was about half a lap behind to me and looked to be at half pace. He may have been nursing some sort of injury because usually he is an intense trainer. Viney, Clark, Michie, and hogan worked seperately on skills and finished off with half a dozen one lap run throughs. God Viney is an intense trainer. He doesn't like being beaten by ANYBODY. Also saw Bleese for the first time and he worked with Tyson doing light ball work and finished off with jogs around the oval a couple of times. Pleasing to see Clark being more involved both in ball work and the runs although he was mostly seperately at least in the running. Looked a lot smoother than Wednesday. I can see why Roos was pleased with the way he pulled up two days ago.

Well ASADA will, and if they squib it, WADA will intervene to make sure the penalties are appropriate. This will happen no matter what self serving so called rumours are spread on 3AW. It won't make a blind bit of difference to the outcome. The train has left the station for Hird & Co. The competition will not look the same next year, and prepare for a year of ongoing litigation.

Really wonder what thought processes go on behind these sorts of comments. Neitz was a very strong character and had an incredible will to win. If that is selfish,and arrogant (which it isn't) then let's teach it to all the current team. It is the "will to win" which we need almost more than anything else after our last five years of mostly losses. Neita had it in abundance.

Good, thoughtful post. I've always believed since Roos was appointed was that our biggest upside will come from a radical improvement from our current list. I would also add Garland, McDonald, Kent, Jetta and yes Dunne. I have always felt Dunne has all the tools, but little of the performance. If PR can get him up and running could be a bonus. The new recruits will give us the cream on the cake and plug specific performance and capability gaps like our midfield. I trust PR to deliver, and much quicker than we all might think and expect.

I came across this on the AFL website. If it has been posted before I'm sorry, but certainly very interesting. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-09-05/best-of-the-best A comparison between Boyd, Daniher, Patton and Hogan by anonymous AFL recruiters and Kevin Sheahan. Hogan is seen as easily the most aggressive and the strongest, and an outstanding mark with a huge engine. Sounds like David Neitz to me, and you can't get much bigger praise than that.

I agree. It is one of the reasons I doubt the Sylvester scenario. WADA have always run their own race. They are famous for not being penetrated by outside influences.The suggestion that it is otherwise (as in the Sylvester item) to me is ludicrous, but it is just the sort of delusional, money driven tricks the Essendon/Hird legal teams will get up to. Stand by for more 3AW rumor file nonsense on this issue folks.

Agree. Fitz has always been a fantastic trainer, and he is no different this year. However, the standout in that group of talls was Spencer who was clearly at this stage superior to all of them, which i had not seen before from him. He has obviously put in a lot of work in the last couple of months which is all credit to him. it will be good to see hot competition for places in the ruck.

Whether it is Hird's legal team or Essendon's, it matters little. My legal friends acquainted to the Hird legal team (yes, as i understand it, they are still engaged) say he still expects to be re-appointed, and given Essendon's intransigence so far on this, it would not surprise me in the least. I would expect them to get up to all sorts of mischief this year to de-stabilise the AFL (I see the latest Robinson spat as the initial shot across the bows). It would not surprise me at all if they were behind this, with Robinson being their chief acolyte.

If that is the case, then clearly he is not for us. Wish him the best in whatever he does.

Thanks for that....

Yes I agree RR. this would go against WADA's behavior in almost every other jurisdiction, both here and overseas, and the pronouncements of their President John Fahey. From everything that I know about it, they (WADA) see themselves as the keeper of a fair system, not the hander out of penalties - that is the local arm's job, in our case ASADA. In fact I would be surprised if it has been discussed between ASADA and WADA (at least in a formal sense) - they usually only intervene if they think the penalties are wrong, where they take it to a judicial review process and nearly always it is to increase penalties and not to decrease them. I just wonder if this is a story planted with Sylvester by one of Hird's legal team. It wouldn't be the first time 3AW have got this story arse about. it will be interesting to hear what Caroline Wilson and Patrick Smith have to say about it. I think both of them have a lot better credibility in this story than either 3AW or the Hun (although I realize Sylvester is from the Age).

I must say I would believe Demetriou long before Robinson, particularly on all matters relating to Essendon. Robinson long ago lost his credibility when dealing with Essendon matter. For such a senior journo he is just too compromised.

I hadn't realized he was THAT elite at basketball - Australian Point Guard at Under 18 level is impressive. A big point guard I must say, but says a lot about his skill, mobility and elusiveness. I hope Roos does use him in this sort of role in the mid field ie being the distributor between the insiders in Trengove, Viney, Vince, Cross, Tyson, Jones, and the outside runners: Bleese (hopefully), Toumpas, Grimes, Michie, and hopefully Freeman. His skills by hand and foot are probably the best in the team, and playing the mid field General's role that a point guard plays could be extremely effective. Maybe put him in the centre rather than on the wing. Either way, I'm sure PR has it covered. In Roos I trust!

It was Paul Roos who suggested that Jack Watts should play more consistently in a set position, preferrably in the midfield, and preferrably the Wing. I think we can take it as read!