Melbourne 2016 pre-season

[Barra13]

Update for those guys looking at a few players for their team. Mainly Trengove and Petracca.

“Heritier Lumumba had both of his ankles operated on in the off-season and he’s come back and is running really well at the moment. He’s not far from joining in the main skills and is probably a couple of weeks away,” he said.

“Ben Newton had a late operation to his ankle. He’s doing his first run outside on Friday and he’s done a little bit of work on the AlterG treadmill. He’s running at Casey on Friday.

“Christian Petracca started running this week and he’ll just continue with that running program for the next couple of weeks.

“Jack Trengove is coming towards the end of his rehab. He’s been doing a lot of work â€" and a lot of football work â€" in the last couple of weeks and he’s probably a week and a half away from joining in with the group. We feel like we’ve got his load pretty right. More importantly, he’s feeling really confident in that foot and he’s looking forward to joining in with the group â€" and the group’s looking forward to having him.” - Misson

[Big Mac]

I'm hoping now that Bugg is there that it might let Viney off the leash. I think he could really up his average this season.

can he really be 'let off the leash' though?

I feel like limiting his direct opponent will always be a big part of Viney's game

That's not to say he won't win a lot of his own ball though

[Barra13]

Dee's training..

I arrived there and H watts King Petracca boxing..

TRENGOVE! in the main group.

I got there about 10.. There were doing lane work but with a guy inbetween so they would hit up spin and then stab.. Yes stab the ball hard!! And most were hitting targets.. I mainly watched Trengove.. He looks sharp! Hope he pulls up well. Hunt looks fast.. The boys real revving into i about something.. Was funny..

Whilst there was lane work, there was a complicated 3 man weevish handball going.. Good intensity.. Macca yelling get the young kids a touch early, get them one in the first 30 seconds..

Then they went into circle work but would finish off with a goal at either end.. Kent moving well..

(Dawes took a mark)

Hullet is a monster and could start Rd 1 based on size.. Don't know about his kicking though.. All skills good.. Only misses I saw were from Spencer, Vanders, Wagner and TMac..

Boys still boxing..

They then moved to a halfback/wing/fwd drill.. Quick hands, play on at all costs.. Where my favourite part of the session happened.

Viney just ripped TMac to the ground, smashed his head face first ala Ablett tackles.. Tmac grab his neck and told him that's stupid.. Viney "your a sook go play netball" God I love Viney!!

Atm Dawes currently working with King (#34) and Weiderman.. Teaching them how to use their body in marking contests..

Oliver running laps..

Notes: Grimes is looking the fittest I've seen him and didn't miss a target or drop a mark.. Jones looks 100%.. Bugg is small.. But fast.. Kent looks to have that arrogance of a Dane Swan..

Didn't see Vince.. And Goodwin pretty much ran training..

[Big Mac]

Atm Dawes currently working with King (#34) and Weiderman.. Teaching them how to use their body in marking contests..

A tad concerning tbh

[Purple 77]

TRENNERS!

Atm Dawes currently working with King (#34) and Weiderman.. Teaching them how to use their body in marking contests..

A tad concerning tbh

Yeah, wtf. Get Jesse to teach them, you know, the guy that got the third most contested marks in the season?

[Ziplock]

I agree with tmac- nothing wrong with going hard at training, but there's no reason to tackle a teammate in a way that could injure them.

[Barra13]

Went along for 30 mins at 11.45.  Thought that I may have missed the best of it but arrived just as they were doing  an intense end to end transition drill.  Divided into 3 groups and rotating off the boundary every couple of minutes.  It seemed to be about getting to the point of exhaustion whilst still maintaining a high work load.  Whilst the overall standard was very good it became obvious that fatigue did start to affect skill levels.

Great voice from the onlooking group each time with lots of high fives, encouragement and general input.  They seem like a really tight group of young fellows on a mission. Great to see.

The sound that Brayshaw and Vanders made when they collided was extremely loud.  The group watching in front of me gasped and went quiet until Brayshaw got up and moving again.

Interesting session. I watched from about 10:15 to 12:15

No Vince, Stretch, O Mc.

Watts, Petracca, Newton, Smith, Lumumba, Max King doing boxing only

Salem doing sprints and agility stuff ie. approx 50m timed runs and zig zag leading then marking. Nothing appeared taped or restricted. Oliver doing more distance/interval running and kick to kick with Crossy. He needs to work on his short kicking, the ball didn't come off his boot at all well today, maybe a combination of fatigue, technique changes etc.

Trengove in the main group for some simple drills, then back having a kick and finally over to the paddock for some intensive drills with Crossy and another couple of staff members. All about getting him used to footy drills but without tackling/taking a tackle or other uncontrolled movement at this stage. He looked good.

Weideman was part of the first full ground match simulation, before going over to the paddock and doing the same sort of stuff Trengove had been doing. Whilst Mitch King and Hulett sat out the first larger match simulation but took part in the second drill.

The first match simulation was about 14 a side full ground match practice. Spencer or Gawn would be given the hit out and from there the play would flow. Both sides set up with a man behind the ball.

Gawn, Brayshaw, Tyson, Viney, Kent all found a lot of it. Frost was used at both ends. Different talls were swapped. It was scratchy but willing.

They then moved in to 3 groups - blue, white, green. With 9 guys coming out with the ball from the backline opposed to 7 defenders, working it up inside 50, receiving the ball back from a coach and going again back to score a goal at the other end. Really the point of this drill was to move the ball very quickly and to get out and spread on the rebound/defend on transition. They went for 20-30 minutes rotating the teams and some of the boys were pretty tired at the end.

ANB impressed me with his work rate. Ben Kennedy with his ability to take off quickly and keep the ball moving. Brayshaw with his attacking running. Matt Jones did a few nice things. Frost gets separation on the lead and in space so easily, just has to hold his marks and work on his kicking. Michie was kicking long and in to space accurately and with nicely weighted kicks. Hulett handballs and works well with the ball through congestion. And as I said earlier Wagner was very impressive.

First time I have been to training this pre season and must admit that I was mostly impressed and just a little disappointed in how some of the players went about it today.

We'll begin with the positives;

- All of our new recruits and draftees impressed in different patches. Ben Kennedy is quick off and on the ball, Tom Bugg seems to be always working pretty hard, Oliver seemed to run lap after lap and could've gone all day, Hulett is a big boy who again is working hard and I could really say the same things about the rest of the newbies.

- I thought our skills have improved again. Players who weren't renowned for their high level of skills (Grimes, Tom Mac) seemed to be hitting target after target.

- We have a better understanding of structures. Players were running into space and defenders knew the space they had to try and protect.

- Intensity was high. People have mentioned the clashes above but even in some drills Goody was making players sprint towards him after kicking the ball to a leading forward. He was letting gawny know that his sprinting effort wasn't good enough at one point and he was really the only bloke not putting in 100% to those sprints.

And now negatives;

- Still think there is a "point the finger" type culture happening around the club with some of the blokes who came during the Neeld era. I saw Kent rip shreds off JKH for not delivering the ball to him. Kent was correct as he was the right option but I don't think yelling at him and waving his arms around was necessary.

- I don't know if it was due to where I was standing but I thought the group was lacking a bit of talk. I heard Vanders, Dunny, Jonesy and maybe Hulett but honestly not many others voices. This is more in relation to talk and encouragement off the ball rather than yelling for a lead.

The stand out performer for me was Josh Wagner. Not because he was the best out there but because he just totally surprised me with his skill level. I think he can become a versatile player for us. His ability to read the play makes him perfect for the backline (off half-back with the run he has) but he has a great leap and mark on him as well and that could cause a threat up forward for us. Viney, Chunk, Ben Kennedy, Kent, Brayshaw and Nifty also stood out.

[Barra13]

MELBOURNE'S Jack Viney and Tom McDonald engaged in a push and shove and an exchange of words in a spirited training session at Gosch's Paddock on Tuesday.

The session, which included an hour of match simulation, ran at a high intensity and the players were charged up throughout, emphasised by the incident between Viney and McDonald.

McDonald took umbrage at Viney's dumping tackle during an earlier drill and the pair had to be separated after things became heated.

The session continued without further incident but it showed the eagerness of the players to get into the season proper.

Ruckman Max Gawn looks well placed to build on his breakout 2015 campaign, continuing his fine pre-season with a standout display in the match simulation.

The 24-year-old was a constant presence during the hour-long scratch match, with his ability to get from contest to contest particularly noteworthy.

Gawn's endurance appears to have gone to a new level this pre-season and it showed out in his battle with Jake Spencer.

Gawn worked forward and hauled in a couple of big pack marks inside 50, but equally impressive was how he ran back to support the defence.

He has been working hard on his craft with ruck coach Greg Stafford and looms as a vital player in Melbourne's setup this season.

Midfielder Jack Viney was also prolific through the midfield, winning the hard ball as well as using the ball smartly.

Angus Brayshaw won plenty of the footy and third-year youngster Jayden Hunt, who is finally injury-free, displayed his breakaway speed on a number of occasions.

Lynden Dunn was often the linkman from defence, while Sam Frost trained as the club's second tall forward option alongside Jesse Hogan.

In a positive sign for Demons fans, Jack Trengove joined the main group for non-contact training earlier in the morning as he continues his comeback from a long-term foot injury.

Melbourne is hopeful the former co-captain can return to full training next week.

Senior assistant coach Simon Goodwin was especially vocal throughout as the session focused on defending repeat inside 50s.

Draftee Clayton Oliver and small defender Christian Salem ran laps around Gosch's Paddock, while reigning best and fairest winner Bernie Vince was absent.

[Barra13]

Trengove joined in the early stages of training on Tuesday morning at Gosch’s Paddock for the first time since his navicular stress fracture flared in late 2014.

The 24-year-old moved with confidence in his 20-minute stint with the main group and his participation was met with loud applause from his teammates.

Trengove continued with marking drills and goalkicking with coaches for the duration of training while teammates moved into match simulation.

Club medical staff will continue to be patient with Trengove’s recovery, but he’s aiming to play his first match since Round 2, 2014 by mid-March.

However Chris Dawes was a casualty from the major high-tempo session, with the club confirming he suffered a calf injury.

The key forward pulled up lame and finished the session with his left leg wrapped in a compression bandage.

“Chris has been in modified training post Christmas. Today during training he had an incident where he hurt his calf,” Melbourne football operations manager Josh Mahoney told foxfooty.com.au.

“He will be scanned tomorrow to confirm any damage.”

The 27-year-old has been plagued by calf injuries in his three seasons at the club and nursed a similar ailment through the pre-Christmas phase.

Key defender Tom McDonald almost joined Dawes on the sidelines when he was dumped in a crunching tackle by Jack Viney.

The pair had to be separated by teammates, with the key defender reacting angrily, telling Viney “that’s just stupid”.

Fellow forward Jack Watts failed to train with the main group for the second successive session.

There was a bandage strapped around Watts’ lower left thigh, however the club insisted he has no major injury and would be fine to take part in the Demons’ NAB Challenge campaign.

Watts was putting the finishing touches on a strong pre-season before this hiccup and is now on a modified program.

He completed boxing in the rehabilitation group alongside Heritier Lumumba (ankles), Ben Newton (ankle) and Christian Petracca (toe).

Lumumba has stepped up his running in recent weeks, while Newton ran for the first time on Friday and Petracca is expected to play some part in the NAB Challenge.

Christian Salem and first-round draft pick Clayton Oliver enjoyed a lighter session, running laps after a heavy block of training.

Bernie Vince and young midfielder Billy Stretch didn’t appear at all, but the club confirmed they’d been given the day off.

Viney was the standout on the track, along with Matt Jones, Max Gawn and Dean Kent, and watched closely by Collingwood assistant coach Anthony Rocca,

Young key forward Sam Weideman continues to enjoy a trouble free pre-season despite missing the majority of his final junior year with an ankle injury.

Sam Frost trained strongly after his 2015 season was ruined by a toe injury and rookie Josh Wagner looked comfortable distributing the ball across half back.

[Ricochet]

Good to see Josh Wagner getting some recognition 8)

[Purple 77]

Anyone here really care about Dawes getting injured?

Pedersen is my man  8)

Even Hulett for goodness sake.

Although he offers a lot in term of on field leadership and 1 per-centers, you can't ride your career on those accolades, especially in a lowly team.

[Barra13]

A couple of bystanders at todays hit out...  ::)

[T Dog]

Just got lost on way to Gosch's padoock   8)

[Barra13]

[Purple 77]

Not the first time Petracca has chipped in on an "issue" like this :P

Lol