Young Dee

There you go people: Jamar ready to defend ruck spot http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-22/jamar-to-defend-ruck-spot "MELBOURNE ruckman Mark Jamar will join full training soon as competition for the club's main ruck spot intensifies." "Melbourne football manager Josh Mahoney told AFL.com.au Jamar had enjoyed a good period since returning to training in January and would join the main group by the end of the month." "He is expected to be available for selection during the NAB Challenge Series that kicks off for Melbourne against Richmond on February 14 at Etihad Stadium."

I think the club will avoid any "secret" vault like locations from now on. As you can see Essendon has learnt from it's mistakes and has decided if it is going to cheat it better not get caught - so what do they do? They built a giant vault.

Nice to see Strauss up the top. People probably sick of me bringing it up but I see him as the greatest untapped player on the list. Big injury free year for Strauss and we may just have a decent rebounding defender (with speed and a good KICK)

Agreed - I think he was being slightly cautious/conservative with his statement.

If only he had pace so he could get to the ball drop and lose his opposition

Agreed - you can't question Trengove's effort/commitment. Not sure if the same can be said for Watts.

I guess looking forward you could say one of his (possible) key strengths is flexibility. Once he gets his body (and head) right then he should be able to play forward (if we have an injury), wing or back (again if we have an injury). Or we could deliberately move him around the ground just to frustrate the opposition and waste the coaches time.

Would it be beneficial to get him a sprint coach or focus his off-season on short distance (fast) running? We have to think long term here. Now that he doesn't have the captaincy to worry about he can really focus on his on game.

What I meant was he would be better on the wing then starting in the circle. I guess I wasn't really picturing watt's in the corridor so not really your typical midfielder.

From studying your post and profile picture I can only come to one conclusion: You are either Mark Neeld or a deluded Mark Neeld 'brown shirt' who is seeking revenge and will stop at nothing in order to take down the mfc. Feel free to fill in the blanks but I think I hit the nail on the head.

I think Watts best position would be wing. Don't think he has the balls to be a midfielder but surely it can't hurt throwing him in there - he may just grow some. With Watts height, speed, kicking/decision making and aerobic capacity he could use all of his strengths to his advantage playing on the wing. He could use his speed and aerobic capacity to burn off/tire opponents. He is no good in congestion but playing as a wing man he could drift from back pocket to forward flank either clearing the ball from defense or setting up a goal with his kicking/decision making. If learns how to use his height and weight he could also be a good target coming out of defense. Watts needs to become the kind of player which keeps his opponents always on his toes - not the other way round. I just don't think I could stand a whole year of Watts trying to chase midfielders around with half arsed tackles.

Just had to double check age wasn't getting the better of you.

Surely your joking.... right?

Classic

Are you sure? Under the photo is says 16 Jan. When I saw that I assumed that meant it was from Wednesday.

"There were a lot of PBs and a lot of blokes beat their times from the start of the pre-season, so that was good." Jack Grimes http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2014-01-10/nicholson-win-threekm-timetrial

He is a fringe/depth player in the worst team in the comp..... nuff said. Nicho, Byrnes and Pedo all have one thing in common - contracts are the only thing keeping them on our list.

Thanks. so it seems like Kent is the only one that can't really do much (running wise).

That would be interesting to know. We seem to have a few regulars in the rehab group (like tappy) and then some that just come and go. The interesting thing is we don't really have many injured to the point where they can't train (maybe Kent) Dawes/Riley doing some running. The rehab group seems to be doing quite a bit so I am not to worried.

Jeez does it really matter who invented the term? What happened to staying on topic? Thanks for the reports guys.

Muddy puddle? Murky waters?

I think that currently our backline looks something like this: Dunn/Clisby Frawley Garland Grimes Mdcdonald Terlich I think the problem with that is we have no class coming out of the backline. We need a quick rebounding defender who makes good decisions and is a good kick. I think Grimes and Terlich is too much - its one or the other and I think Grimes wins that one so its a matter of replacing Terlich with a classy rebounder. Our list doesn't have a whole lot who could fit that bill but Strauss (good kick and quick) and maybe Clisby (lacks class/speed though). Jetta is another possibility and maybe even Kent (bit left of field) but none of these really stand out so I think Terlich may be safe next year (until we can get a classy rebounder). Next year we may just have to put up with a tough but ill composed backline.

I think that is partly the problem who are our senior midfielders (apart from Jones of course). I like the addition of Cross and Vince - senior players that can lead by example on-field (unlike Byrnes and Rodan)

I think you can see we tried to address that through the draft/trade with big bodied mids and some outside run.

Photos of training on MFC website: Photo gallery: Friday 29 November