Roger Mellie

Yes, just not much margin for error for 2 teams. Still I suppose they can make up the numbers with the development side with local leagues

Thanks KCLooking at the signings to date, there are only 30 players listed. Is that it?

Alex 'Ingo' Gorgiou

Player stats: http://live.fanfooty.com.au/game/matchstats.html?id=4703

Got a little taste of his brilliant kicking skills with a couple of clangers in there as well. Still weak one on one. Good start for him

Try this on for size then: From CAPTAIN JACK at Big Footy: Toumpas looked great, really running over the ground unlike last year. Trengove likewise - running much more freely. Tyson also looks a class act. Dawes was in the main group for most of the session, looking pretty good I think. He doesn't look far off playing - obviously will be in the intra-club next week, not quite ready for Friday though apparently. Hogan was really put through his paces off to the side on the rugby field... his fitness would have to be below par at the moment you'd think. Should play close to goal when he does make the grade IMO. Clark looks nowhere near it. I would be surprised to see him before Round 7-8 or so. Spencer is definitely the incumbent first ruck ATM... Jamar walking laps as above, Gawn did a fair bit of training too but the Spencil will be the preferred, bigger bodied option IMO. Blease looks bigger I think. Like tas said he could be a weapon off half back... getting through the pre-season is a great start for his (limited) fitness base. As soon as he falls behind he's not going to catch up that fitness gap, that's just the sort of athlete he is, so it's good to see him in full training - and he should be named in the team for Friday too. Tapscott was an interesting one - had a bad case of the fumbles. I suspect he hasn't been in the main group much from memory. Viney might still be behind the 8-ball a bit - he won't play Friday as he dropped out of the 'playing' group near the end of the session along with a few others. Hopefully he is good to go next week... if not he would have to be in some doubt for Round 1. tas should have a full list of this part - who will play and who won't. JKH is so smooth. Love it. Should play games early I hope. Barry is obviously in a similar mould... has put on some size but is still pretty skinny. Lowlight of the session was, as above, seeing the Purple [censored] himself, the oxygen thief, the speculating gossip masquerading as a journalist, Damien Barrett. Ew.

I think the problem with your leg is the foot part of it is stuck in Champ's mouth

Dean Bailey back home and hopefully on the mend - best wishes http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/dean-bailey-returns-home-after-cancer-treatment-20140211-32fiq.html

Nobody's mentioned Terlich at all - not one post. Just curious as to how he gets in.

Lighten up you old fart. At least they'll all be having great games

I was very excited by the prospect of making it to Wednesday's training - bummer . I cant get there tomorrow so will be relegated to cutting and pasting (hopefully Tas will post himself). Good idea though master! Satyriconhome can have Bail, Byrnes and Westrupp

This all has to be balanced with the need to get these guys playing together - specifically a midfield who aren't familiar with each other's game. We need to see Jones, Trengove, Cross, Vince, Viney, Tyson and Michie playing together and knowing what to expect. The games are far enough apart to warrant this so I would expect to see these guys out there a fair bit (not Viney yet). Same goes for the forward line, but our A team forward line is coming from a fair way behind, so we'll have to wait for them.

Pedersen is the only fully fit (tall) forward. He'll play as I cant see Dawes, Hogan, Clark or Fitz playing. They might give a half each to Hogan and Dawes (maybe Fitz). It's still nearly two weeks off so things may change.

Jealous? of what?

Riley was running around the boundary line at full tilt of Friday. Exhausting viewing!

Very happy to ditch them

Rogers Ramblings: After much cutting and pasting in recent weeks (thanks Tassie) I thought it high time to squeeze in a training session and have gone for quantity over quality. Being the last night before Febfast, I could not entertain typing stuff last night. I got there a little late but looked to have only missed on some stretching. The drills all looked clean and sharp so I looked mostly at what the smaller groups were doing. I watched the ruck group (Spencer, Gawn, King and Jamar) for some time with the big Spencil looking primed for Round 1. The drills were designed to work on technique, then later, backing up after the hitout. Spencer was reasonably dominant in this but one observation is that once hes out of the contest, thats it easy for his opponent to tap straight to his mid. Jamar was much better at impacting the hitout even when he knew he couldnt win the tap. A couple of times he was even able to sneak his big mit in there at last nanosecond and win the tap when seemingly out of the contest. One thing I noticed about Gawn (last year) was he would continually bend right down to brace against or give himself leverage against stronger ruckmen. Unfortunately his usual height advantage would be completely nullified. This time around hes looking a lot stronger but Im not seeing him maximise his height advantage just yet, but too early to tell. King is the best kick of the four and looks a bit of a prospect. He was completely out bodied and out muscled, then exhausted but he kept at it and even won a couple of hitouts. I then watched Dawes and Hogan have a really good workout with Rawlings. They were doing a lot of work on leading patterns, repeat leading followed up with short passes into 50. One drill started in the forward pocket with both players starting together then sprinting in opposite directions to the fence. One would go to the goal fence the other the hff fence. Theyd touch the fence, sprint back on a lead, Rawings would kick to the one on the hff who would then short pass, at speed to the other. Then they might do a push-up after hitting the fence and sprint to lead. After repeating this endless times theyd sprint to present as a target to the main sessions full ground drill. Exhausting stuff. I couldnt split them for drive and intensity. For the whole time I was watching, Hogan missed one mark and a difficult worm-burner at that jeez he was down on himself for missing. Fitzy was with them for a time, but a withdrew for some laps. On that note, Fitzy was used as a target for some of the full ground drills took some great diving marks from ordinary delivery and quickly dished off. Earned himself a bit of applause. I had a quick look at the drill of about eight players where you keep handballing around and can only tackle your opponent. The drill is supposed to be about blocking but I didnt see much of it. Looking at Watts, you can see the lift in intensity and the effort hes putting in, but sheesh, tackling is such as afterthought with him usually that fraction too late. Early days though. The Scratch Match: As to expected with the first hitout a very messy affair. The standouts for me were Tyson, Vince and Cross. Note, I was at one end of the ground and couldnt see a lot at the other. I was watching Watts very closely (his opponents were Vince and briefly Jordie). Watts got a free or two at the start to look dominant but that was probably about it. At one ball-up in front of us Vince got 15 metres away from Watts before he even realised Vince got the clearance. In another passage of play Vince lost him again and there was 50 metres between them. I was watching him (Watts) run though the middle with no opponent (possibly shaking my head and questioning this midfield experiment) with Vince down in the forward line, around the footy. Watts looked to be heading to pick-up someone (anyone) when I heard Roos yell out Stay where you are Wattsy. The moral of that ditty is it was just a scratch match and Watts was a step ahead of the play as it turns out. My first real look at Tyson suggests he was a bargain. Hes just a cut above the rest IMO and a huge acquisition. I love the thought of Tyson, Viney and N Jones at the centre bounces. Tyson has all the tricks with good disposal, great vision and outstanding hands that I hope translates to a lot of clearances down the track. Cross was just a picture of composure. His body strength gave him time to dispose of the ball cleanly, even with someone hanging off him. These guys (noticeably all in their first year at the club) stood out mainly because they played with purpose and knew what they had to do. The rest were just a blob of midfielders with the odd nice piece of play (one from N Jones, Barry and Evans off the top of my head). Again, its just a scratch match so very rusty but it will take them some time to gel with each other. There was a good defensive effort (as far as is possible when youre not really tackling), but they tended to revert to type when under pressure by getting pushed further and further back and making poor decisions. This may also be in part to the ground. It was 16 a side, but looked ridiculously crowded to me. Anyone know what the ground dimensions are? Kent was pretty good too. I was surprised he even played as he didnt join in many of the other drills if any. At one point N Jones gave Dunn the biggest gobful not sure what he did, but Jones not happy at all. The rucks for the scratch match were Spence and King one sided as youd expect, but I do like the look of King kills Spencer in the co-ordination stakes. Extra training: Quite a number stayed behind to do some extra work. JKH and Cross did some goal kicking. JKH didnt miss too many but probably struggles over 40 metres. Goes at it 100% - every aspect of training! Love it. Pedersen joined it a bit later. Nicho was standing on the goal line kicking the ball to anyone who wanted a shot just a bit of extra kicking practice I assume. Spencer was doing some extra work on marking contests with Stafford with Jamar looking on. Howe was lobbing a few in and Spencer pole-axed him (Staf) at one point got a few laughs. Thats about it off the top of my head apart from the fact that I love the look of Michie too.

After 7 years of crud, I'd do the same thing and see what the 8th year brings

Seriously? Of all Tapscott's shortcoming's that aint it.

Not reflected in his training intensity one bit

A good outcome. A bit surprised Dawes was overlooked. Good for JT! Congrats to Jones and Grimes

Tasmanlvr's report lifted from Bigfooty Not gonna complain, but cold + wet weather is insanely awesome. It is far better than yesterday's 'Blurghhh' conditions. It's back to school and you know what that means. Traffic, people lining up to top up their myki and general chaos. Yuck. Couple of young blokes here in training tops. Tyler Roos takes a hanger over Miller! Mitch Clark and Fitzy running laps with the boys. A good sign. Could be a light session by the looks of things. No reason why these names shouldn't be running with the boys alongside the Rehab Regulars: Byrnes, McKenzie, Nicholson, Riley, Jamar, Dunn, Frawley, King, Harmes, Barry, Viney, Terlich, Jetta. Clark runs with the boys but is now on the sideline. Standard issue running, stretches to start off with. Hogan and Fitz go to the sideline - Hogan's so ripped, I'm jealous. He's a year YOUNGER than I am and he's a goliath while I'm probably the equivalent of Cale Morton. The 2011-12 Cale Morton, that is.  Robert 'Tulip' Flower is here!!! Great to see more club legends reconnecting with the club. Quite interesting to notice that Terlich's right knee is very heavily strapped. Four blokes doing some short activities on the other track - Fitzy, Hogan, Gawn and Viney. Upper body strength drills after the runthroughs/stretching stuff. Wrestling drills and the like. Split into three. Forwards doing lead up drills, midfield split into two and playing keepings off, defenders doing a switch drill trying to work it out of defense. Voice is a bit down today! It seems the most vocal is Roosy. Which is a bit concerning. Forwards not saying a word which is baffling. Crowd looks solid. Nowhere near as large as Monday but there's about 80 people here. Captaincy discussion sweeping Gosch's! Everyone thinking Chunk will get it. Handballs and kicks in the meantime, got swept away by discussion of the captaincy. Damn. Another bloke who's moving well off injury is Dean Kent. He's moving very solidly. Boys are doing a switch drill up the opposite side of Gosch's. Defenders added after a little while wearing bibs. We have journos here guys (Channel 7 at least) but we all know who the best 'journo' is here. The unassuming kid with the iPad.  #futuremelbournemediamanager #moveovermattburgan Mitch Clark progressively running faster around Gosch's. Great sign! Full grounder drill now. Let's keep an eye on how people are moving. Jayden Hunt's moving very quickly as he should with his natural pace. Taking an understanding that James Strauss is battling some sore shoulders and has plenty of strapping but he's moving well nonetheless. Howie moving well but drops his bread and butter overhead mark. Trenners also moving well but not fast. Not a quick midfielder but a hard working industrial midfielder. Boys come in for another chat. Robbo's here too as the boys start another drill. Simple mark, run then 25m kick to player on the opposite side of centre square. Two defenders wearing bibs for good matter. Full grounder after a chat. Drill is brief because the boys are called in. Assuming that they were doing something wrong. Anyway the boys are back out and there is an emphasis on FAST ball movement. Lots of noise! Viv Michie looking good. Clean user of the footy and getting it a few times. Noticing that Chunk is a lot louder than he used to be. Hint hint? Emphasis on gut running in this one! Cross and Toumpas are looking good in this department plus getting the footy and using it well too. Boys are called in, on resumption JKH busts his gut 30-40m to get the footy. Brilliant! He's one of my favourites already. This just got interesting. Two balls now. A bloke who's looking solid in this drill is Lynden Dunn. He's getting it often, using it pretty well and frequently using his voice too. Dom Tyson, methodical with the ball as always. The boys come in and the drill is altered. Half of them are defenders now. Grimes nails a 45m kick to Michie which is perfectly weighted. JKH feasts on an errant Tom McDonald kick which is fumbled by Strauss, tackles Strauss, wins the footy, spins around and handballs to Bail for a goal. Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng. Christian Salem gets the ball, has a stroll, takes the game on with a couple of bounces and nails a pass inside 50. I like the cut of this kid's jib. Boys come in and split into two. One group doing groundwork, whilst another doing goalkicking. Let's give Crossy three years boys. He has his son here and he is cute. #getcrossyto50games Training finished afterwards and I noticed that Nathan Jones was having a very lengthy chat to Josh Mahoney walking back... think it's confirmed guys.

Excellent pics - thanks

Ya cant belt Simon Godfrey and get away with it - it's un-Australian!

Tasmanlvr's contribution from Bigfooty: (not as many hair-do/fashion appraisals to day) Dawes, Kent and Jamar returned to the main group today, guys. Dawesy in particular looked very good, even though he left to continue his rehab halfway through he lit up the track in the first half. Okie-dokes, we're back again at Gosch's for the first wet training session in like seven weeks. (I know we've had holidays but it's barely rained anyway). I'll accurately describe this weather as the equivalent of Justin Bieber's mugshot. Try convincing someone it was 40+ degrees four times last week. Dawes is still unbelievably motivated running laps. The new rainjackets the boys are wearing harks back to the 90s. Not the most attractive look TBH. Good to see Jack Viney is here. Not training with the main group but still, he's recovered from the head knock. The boys start off by running a lap. Dawes leads the way! Say what you like about his footy but his motivation and passion for this club are second to none. Some stretches now. Let me get this straight. Chris Dawes. In the main group. YES! Best news all day! Rehab: Fitz, Viney, Riley, King, Clark, Hogan. Jamar, Kent and Dawes have joined the main group by the looks of it. Great news. Matt Jones is in rehab too now. Maxy Gawn doing main group activities too. The boys are doing upper strength drills BTW. Some short kicks now. Jamar and Spencer kick to kick along with Georgiou. This ought to be a bit of fun. Group called in - Dawesy leads them in. He's on fire today! Making a mockery of this ugly weather. Group split into three - traditional forwards/mids/defenders in the same positions as the normally train. The forwards are doing some leading activities, mids doing some repetitive stoppage work, defenders doing some one on one work. Alright. Groups come in, and there's another drill with half wearing bibs. A few are sitting this out, including Strauss, McDonald, Kent, Bail, Tappy, Salem, Spencer, Barry and Dawes who's gone back into rehab. Was great to see Dawes in the main group for a while. I'm liking N Jones' form in the stoppage drills. Another big, productive year ahead I hope. Georgiou showing his defensive capabilities, laying a good tackle on Tyson. Group called in again. Apologies for lack of updates, its raining on my iPad and I don't want it to get TOO wet. Familiar switch drills. Skill level looking great in the conditions! Jack Grimes looking very solid. Jonesy going the slip n slide method to clunk one. He is committed as always. Howe picks up from a half volley and keeps the ball moving. Ground skills outstanding. Dom Tyson also looking very clean with the footy. Tell you another bloke who's looking solid? James Strauss. Having a very good week and pre season. Jimmy Toumpas continues to build on his form, as has Jack Trengove who's using it beautifully. Bernie Vince is as methodical and efficient with the footy as usual. Changing it up again, some ground skills/bump/handball drills, and then a 10m kick. Alright, another drill, half the list wearing a bib, half not, and both expected to do a kind of slingshot as well as defend. JKH and Dom Barry breaking lines! So exciting! Jack Watts is once again running on the burst. This is extremely exciting given I've seen it a few times now. Some pushups? Did my old club captain take over training? Full grounder now. Yes! Proper match simulation now. Dom Tyson stands out early grabbing three clearances in this drill under heavy traffic. Nathan Jones is another who stands out, using the ball very well and on the burst too. JKH makes time stand still when he has it, an excellent reader of the play. Training finished afterwards - not as many notes as usual due to the rain (apologies!) but a very exciting session nonetheless, probably because Chris Dawes lit it up very early on.