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The premiership defender had his best year yet as he was given the opportunity to move into the midfield and made a good fist of it. Date of Birth: 30 July 2001 Games MFC 2024: 23 Career Total: 100 Goals MFC 2024: 2 Career Total: 9 Brownlow Medal Votes: 7 Melbourne Football Club: 6th Best & Fairest: 350 votes

Date of Birth: 28 May 1995 Height: 186cm Games MFC 2024: 3 Career Total: 53 Goals MFC 2024: 1 Career Total: 73 Games CDFC 2024: 11 Goals CDFC 2024: 21 Injuries meant a delayed start to his season and, although he showed his athleticism and his speed at times, he was unable to put it all together consistently. Needs to show much more in 2025 and a key will be his fitness.

The key defender has the height and has showed out from time to time with his pace in defence but has progressed slowly in his two seasons at the club. Will need to improve in 2025. Date of Birth: 14 May 2004 Height: 196cm Games CDFC 2024: 17 Goals CDFC 2024: 0

Champion ruckman and brilliant leader, Max Gawn earned his seventh All-Australian team blazer and constantly held the team up on his shoulders in what was truly a difficult season for the Demons. Date of Birth: 30 December 1991 Height: 209cm Games MFC 2024: 21 Career Total: 224 Goals MFC 2024: 11 Career Total: 109 Brownlow Medal Votes: 13 Melbourne Football Club: 2nd Best & Fairest: 405 votes

The Demons’ aggressive small forward who kicks goals and defends the Demons’ ball in the forward arc. When he’s on song, he’s unstoppable but he did blot his copybook with a three week suspension in the final round. Date of Birth: 2 June 2001 Height: 171cm Games MFC 2024: 21 Career Total: 106 Goals MFC 2024: 36 Career Total: 161 Brownlow Medal Votes: 3 Melbourne Football Club: 4th Best & Fairest: 369 votes

The years are rolling by but May continued to be rock solid in a key defensive position despite some injury concerns. He showed great resilience in coming back from a nasty rib injury and is expected to continue in that role for another couple of seasons. Date of Birth: 10 January 1992 Height: 193cm Games MFC 2024: 19 Career Total: 235 Goals MFC 2024: 1 Career Total: 24 Melbourne Football Club: 9th Best & Fairest: 316 votes

The Demon running machine came back with a vengeance after a leaner than usual year in 2023. Date of Birth: 1 February 1996 Height: 182cm Games MFC 2024: 22 Career Total: 179 Goals MFC 2024: 9 Career Total: 76 Brownlow Medal Votes: 5 Melbourne Football Club: 5th Best & Fairest: 352 votes

The tough on baller won his second Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Trophy in a narrow battle with skipper Max Gawn and Alex Neal-Bullen and battled on manfully in the face of a number of injury niggles. Date of Birth: 13 April 1994 Height: 178cm Games MFC 2024: 23 Career Total: 219 Goals MFC 2024: 10 Career Total: 66 Brownlow Medal Votes: 8

A couple of Demonland Trackwatchers braved the rain and headed down to Gosch's paddock to bring you their observations from the second day of Preseason training for the 1st to 4th Year players. DITCHA'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS I attended some of the training today. Richo spoke to me and said not to believe what is in the media, as we will good this year. Jefferson and Kentfield looked big and strong. Petty was doing all the training. Adams looked like he was in rehab. KEV MARTIN'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS 24 in the squad today. Fritsch doing his own program. He has put on a fair bit of upper-body muscle. The Sparrow and Rivers have turned up. Sparrow has very little fat, his skin folds must be near zero. Riv's has also filled out, looking strong. Unsure about Jed Adams, pulled out of the squad to do some work with the trainer, could be calf/Achilles awareness. Windsor, Tholstrup and Bowey, were pulled from the contact craft sessions. All participated in everything else. Bassett was much more vocal this time. Jones was animated and giving plenty of directions, it was Chaplin who was doing most of the work as Goody again sat back and observed. Troy was really active in making sure the forwards lead and make space. He was also instructive in the outside 50 area, making sure they get the right patterns and delivery. Petty (unhindered, body is in good shape) in the backline, as was TMac (focused on outside run). Forwards included Kentfield, JVR, Jefferson, Verrall and Sestan in the sims. AMW, has impressed me, gained plenty of confidence, side stepping them all, and tackling/pressurising well. JVR a bit rusty. Jefferson was marking well in the wet, unlike a couple of the others. Brown looks like he is only in second gear untill he gets the ball. Sestan is difficult to tackle. In the drill, a little hip swivel and a tight body turn, they fall off him, including Viney who had surprise all over his face, like grasping for the wet soap. Got a feeling they will rotate McVee through the mids. From today's forward structure in some sims. Looks like they are going with a 4 man set-up. 3 marking players high up, well spaced. One leads back, one leads forward and the other towards the boundary. When the ball transitioned in, Chaplin would call "go", he wanted the energy and acceleration to his system. The fourth (Sestan) was just outside the fifty and central to the game as he became the first receiver from the mids, and became the kicker. Though they only had two defenders in there, AMW and Petty, they stuffed up a few times. Mostly they were supportive. Early on in the stuff ups, a few got serious (Turner and JVR, "basic kicks" needed) and pushed Sestan (who responded well) to get it right. There was also a flood of players (small flankers) into the area after the first entry, often into the straight out and 30 infront, which worked once the ball became a ground ball get. Tough conditions as these sims happened in the rain and wind. I hope Chaplin has an abundance of plays in his "scrap book", as the players seem to be responding to him, with clear understanding of purpose and intention. Execution on the other hand, may take time. I reckon repeat, repeat and repeat again. I thought the same thing. Looks like Chaplin gets along well with Goody. Last Monday they were seen walking off into the setting sun together, or at least crossing the Yarra from the Paddock. It is a Goody/Chaplin team at the moment. Be interesting to see how the "oldies" adapt to the new methods. Seems like Chaplin will also have a fair bit of say in how he wants the mids to deliver the ball. It was the group he was hanging around with when the forward structured sims begun. He would talk and instruct the forwards after the action. They had the scoreboard out and running today. They used it during full sims. It seems the score is based on more than just goals and behinds. There is also a reading for possession of the ball. Today the possession percentage in the first 3 minutes was 6% bibs and 65% non-bibs (some time in dispute). Bibs came back at them as the sims continued. Amazing that they are getting their competitive juices flowing early. This pre-seasons training is similar to when they are in home and away mode. Skills, structures, and processes are emphasised. They are doing very little running, and seem to have come back in great shape. Perhaps they all had a running program during their break. Going straight down the alley when someone is defending infront of the lead was a problem today.. They often attempt the long get over the back kick, which is good in sims, but is easily defended during a game. That angle kick seems to be done by the skilled. Some get rushed, others as you say don't see the play, or just not good at this aspect. Angles are definitely encouraged, as well as kick to advantage by the coaches. Execution is the what makes a genuine star out there. #11 TONY ANDERSON'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Got to training today (from Tamworth) and got soaked. Was fascinating to see what they get up to. Sparrow, Viney, TMAC, and Chandler doing fast laps towards the end. Rivers and Petts doing slower laps towards the end. Given there were only 24 players training yesterday, I wouldn’t get fixated on where they played in the exercises yesterday. I.e. if they want to test out Jeffo, Disco, Roo and co, somebody had to play back. They were also rotating about 6 players at a time, with many more on the attacking side, so many times the forwards had no opposition. Once they are all back we might get a better idea of which group they are all training with. Petts seems to take a while to get up to speed even when running laps, perhaps it is just his gait. Riv seemed to be his ‘pacemaker’ in terms of getting a little in front of him. It was all timed by them both though. WAYNE WUSSELL'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS Got down to Gosch's for an hour before the rain set in. Kev has offered some excellent observations so only a few things I can add. I'm usually very positive in general about all things MFC, so excuse me if I note a few negatives on the way through. I was looking for improvement. On that scale, I was impressed with Jefferson's movement, pace and marking up forward. Roo looked good, but regularly ran to a spot on the spread (which was a focus of forward patterns) that was ignored by the incoming ball carrier. Verrall looked good in the ball movement exercises from the backline, agile and clean by hand and foot. Key backs were McDonald (who looked fit and sharp), Howes (who gathered cleanly and created change of direction), Hore (injury free and fit), Judd (Rolls Royce, who was also used further up ground), AMW (I have him in my starting 23 in 2025) & Verrall (on occasions). Woewodin looks fit and balanced with ball movement. Things that disappointed (because they were evident during 2024 season) Tholstrup occasionally gets into trouble with a fumble that allows defender to close him down and tackle. Brown sometimes holds on to it for too long, kicks under pressure and misses targets. Bowey seems in two minds with the ball, slows down flow and misses target enough to put the receiver under unnecessary pressure. Set shots, when taken, were still 50/50 proposition. Things that excited... Windsor continued on his merry way Rivers looked composed and strong (at one point he ran down Viney and tackled him to the ground in a face plant. No 7 was surprised but not impressed!). Sparrow is trim and looks to have added a little speed to his movement. One thing I noticed at today's training that I hadn't noticed to the same degree previously... Players immediately ran off-line when they took a mark and wanted to play on. In continuous play, the receiver's first steps were to either side rather than straight ahead. I understand that players who are evasive do this instinctively, but today it seemed uniform practice to get the approaching opponent off balance. HAWK THE DEMON'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS 23 in total by my count - 22 in the session - Adams doing laps. Tmac, Rivers, Sparrow, Chandler, Bowey, Hore, Viney, Salem from the oldies Sestan, Kentfield, Windsor, Moniz, Brown, McVee, Jefferson, Howes, Verrall, Woewodin, Tholstrup, Turner, Van Rooyen SLARTIBARTFAST'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS I’m not reading much into “positions” yet as there aren’t enough for a proper sim where players can play their usual positions. It’s still a wait and see for me. I'm usually not into “he’s noticeably bigger this year” as I’m not convinced you can notice that much development over 8 weeks but Verrell looks very fit and strong. Kentfield is a beast, what a bonus if he succeeds. Seston is another where his body looks more defined. I find it hard to see where he fits in but he’s got some real AFL traits. Very strong in the clinches and a great kick. His ball handling is solid. One to watch I reckon. He looks very focused this year and comfortable in the group.

Once again the club’s top goal scorer but he had a few uncharacteristic flat spots during the season and the club will be looking for much better from him in 2025. Date of Birth: 6 December 1996 Height: 188cm Games MFC 2024: 23 Career Total: 149 Goals MFC 2024: 41 Career Total: 252 Brownlow Medal Votes: 4

The first round draft pick at #13 from twelve months ago the strongly built medium forward has had an impressive introduction to AFL football and is expected to spend more midfield moments as his career progresses. Date of Birth: 25 July 2005 Height: 186cm Games MFC 2024: 10 Career Total: 10 Goals MFC 2024: 5 Career Total: 5 Games CDFC 2024: 7 Goals CDFC 2024: 4

It was another strong season from McVee who spent most of his time mainly at half back but he also looked at home on a few occasions when he was moved into the midfield. There could be more of that in 2025. Date of Birth: 7 August 2003 Height: 185cm Games MFC 2024: 23 Career Total: 48 Goals MFC 2024: 1 Career Total: 1 Brownlow Medal Votes: 1 Melbourne Football Club: 7th Best & Fairest: 347 votes

After sustaining a torn ACL in the final match of the 2023 season Jake added a bit to the attack late in the 2024 season upon his return. He has re-signed on to the Demons for 1 more season in 2025. Date of Birth: 12 August 1991 Height: 186cm Games MFC 2024: 8 Career Total: 229 Goals MFC 2024: 8 Career Total: 188

Lack of preparation after a problematic preseason prevented Oliver from reaching the high standards set before last year’s hamstring woes. He carried injury right through the back half of the season and was controversially involved in a potential move during the trade period that was ultimately shut down by the club. Date of Birth: 22 July 1997 Height: 189cm Games MFC 2024: 21 Career Total: 183 Goals MFC 2024: 3 Career Total: 54 Brownlow Medal Votes: 5

The luckless Salem suffered a hamstring injury against the Lions early in the season and, after missing a number of games, he was never at his best. He was also inconvenienced by minor niggles later in the season. This was a blow for the club that sorely needed him to fill gaps in the midfield at times as well as to do his best work in defence. Date of Birth: 15 July 1995 Height: 184cm Games MFC 2024: 17 Career Total: 176 Goals MFC 2024: 1 Career Total: 26 Brownlow Medal Votes: 1

Strong marking youngster who plays forward and relief ruck, continued to make significant strides forward in his career path. The Demons have high hopes for van Rooyen as he stakes his claim to become an elite attacking forward. Date of Birth: 16 April 2003 Height: 193cm Games MFC 2024: 21 Career Total: 41 Goals MFC 2024: 30 Career Total: 58 Brownlow Medal Votes: 1

The move of “Disco” to a key forward post looks like bearing fruit. Turner has good hands, moves well and appears to be learning the forward craft well. Will be an interesting watch in 2025. Date of Birth: January 28, 2002 Height: 195cm Games MFC 2024: 15 Career Total: 18 Goals MFC 2024: 17 Career Total: 17 Games CDFC 2024: 1 Goals CDFC 2024: 1

The Demon’s key defender and backline leader had his share of injuries and niggles throughout the season which prevented him from performing at his peak. Date of Birth: 5 March 1996 Height: 195cm Games MFC 2024: 18 Career Total: 178 Goals MFC 2024: 1 Career Total: 5

Melbourne’s most important player who dominated the first half of the season until his untimely injury in the Kings Birthday clash put an end to his season. At the time, he was on his way to many personal honours and the club in strong finals contention. When the season did end for Melbourne and Petracca was slowly recovering, he was engulfed in controversy about a possible move of clubs amid claims about his treatment by the club in the immediate aftermath of his injury. Date of Birth: 4 January 1996 Height: 187cm Games MFC 2024: 13 Career Total: 189 Goals MFC 2024: 14 Career Total: 184 Brownlow Medal Votes: 16

Date of Birth: 12 November 1999 Height: 197cm Games MFC 2024: 20 Career Total: 82 Goals MFC 2024: 9 Career Total: 28 Brownlow Medal Votes 3 Failed to fulfill the promise of his breakout six goal effort against the Tigers in 2023 and was generally disappointing as a key forward. It remains to be seen whether Simon Goodwin will persevere with him in attack or return him to the backline where he was an important cog in the club’s 2021 premiership success.

Originally an NBL basketballer with the Brisbane Bullets, he moved across town in 2019 to the AFL Lions where he played 19 games before crossing to Melbourne where he was expected to fill a role as a back up ruckman/key forward. Unfortunately, didn’t quite get there although he did finish equal sixth in Casey’s best and fairest award. Date of Birth: 23 February 1999 Height: 198cm Games CDFC: 14 Goals CDFL: 13

Had to shoulder more responsibility as the club’s injury concerns deepened but needs to step up more as he closes in on 100 games. Date of Birth: 31 May 2000 Height: 186cm Games MFC 2024: 21 Career Total: 95 Goals MFC 2024: 6 Career Total: 34 Games CDFC: 1 Goals CDFL: 0

The clever small was unable to cement a place in the Melbourne midfield and spent most of his time this year with the Casey Demons where he finished equal fourth in its best & fairest. Date of Birth: 24 March 2002 Height: 179cm Games MFC 2024: 6 Career Total: 11 Goals MFC 2024: 2 Career Total: 2 Games CDFC 2024: 12 Goals CDFC 2024: 7

The son of former Demon Brownlow Medalist Shane, Taj added a further 16 games to his overall tally of games but a number were as substitute. He is slowly fitting into the team structure but without doing anything spectacular and needs to take further steps forward in 2025 for his career to progress. Date of Birth: 26 March 2003 Height: 182cm Games MFC 2024: 16 Career Total: 20 Goals MFC 2024: 1 Career Total: 3 Games CDFC 2024: 6 Goals CDFC 2024: 1

After a bright start to the season, playing mostly in defence, Howes seemed to lose his way in midseason but fought back with some good performances at Casey and finished the year back at AFL level. One to watch in 2024. Date of Birth: 7 March 2003 Height: 191cm Games MFC 2024: 15 Career Total: 15 Goals MFC 2024: 0 Career Total: 0 Games CDFC 2024: 6 Goals CDFC 2024: 0