Melbourne 2016 pre-season

[Barra13]

Well, since the 1st to 4th year players hit the track today for pre-season I thought I would try and deliver updates on training as per last year. I will try to do what I can for us all to get the upper edge for our fantasy teams.

[Purple 77]

I love the Demonland training reports; it does give a great insight.

Unless its about Lumumba playing in the midfield and all of us getting him in our fantasy sides; in which case, they suck :P

[Ricochet]

Unless its about Lumumba playing in the midfield and all of us getting him in our fantasy sides; in which case, they suck :P

[Barra13]

Haha. Yes, he was one that backfired. That 130 in the NAB challenge had everyone licking their lips.

Although, there were a few others which lived up to the hype.

[Barra13]

MELBOURNE has invited Casey duo Declan Keilty and Jordan Moncrieff to train with the club, as the Demons start their pre-season campaign.

[Purple 77]

I've heard about Moncrieff before; big key forward.

Eh, can't hurt to have a long-term project forward. We don't seem to have any (Max King kinda I suppose).

[Pkbaldy]

Don't know if you guys care about this. But apparently Jimmy Toumpas struggled with Port's 3km time trial :P

[Barra13]

Expected players:

Hogan, Salem, Viney, Brayshaw, Stretch, Kent, JKH, Petracca, O McDonald, Hunt, ANB, Harmes, Matt Jones, Terlich, Ben Kennedy, Vanders, White, King, Joel Smith. Casey lads - Moncrieff, Keilty

Not expected:

Jones, Watts, Dawes, Lumumba, Trengove, Gawn, Tyson, Dunn, Frost, Newton, Garland, Pedersen, Michie, Vince, Tom McDonald, Grimes, Garlett, Jetta, Spencer, Bugg, Melksham

Garland, T mc, Tyson, Bugg, Frost here from the non expected.

Hard to look for all at once but seemingly everyone from the 1-4 group is here.

Tyson with precautionary taping on the left knee.

Petracca tape free. Arrived a touch after the others. Jogging laps with a staff member

Petracca doing agility drills on the rugby pitch with 3 staff members.

Ground balls, easy push off and marks, and a bit of soccer kicking for the main group divided into 3 stations.

Frost is a huge unit. So is Vanders

Moncrieff from Casey is a big boy.

Oscar mc looks a little thicker. Ben Ken looks so similar to Viney but a touch shorter and lighter.

Unless he's hiding I can't see Brayshaw. So he gets mystery injury of the week.

Spring carnival time as the boys put the harnesses on and pull a team mate 10 meters

Running time. Split in to 2 groups.

Hogan drops to last, 2 laps later he's near the front. He's in the a group.

Kent working hard to lead the B group, super stuff. Oscar and Tyson on his trail.

Vanders and Jhk take over the a group. No Tommy Mc in this. So they're the best we've got out there

Kents hit the wall.

Ben Kennedy is a long way back in the b group. Keilty, Frost then Max King behind him

[Barra13]

Don't know if you guys care about this. But apparently Jimmy Toumpas struggled with Port's 3km time trial :P

Struggled but still got 6th I believe?

[Barra13]

Handball drills at one end.

Kick and spread at the other.

Quite breezy here.

Terlich 0-3 hit targets

Hogan running laps with one of the fitness staff.

I'm thinking geez this guy must be fit.

Of course it's Crossy!

A - McDonald, Viney, Bugg, M Jones, Stretch, Jkh, White, Smith

B- ANB, Harnes, Tyson, Vanders, Hunt, Salem

C - Oscar, Garland, Terlich. Kent, Kennedy, Moncrieff, King, Frost, Keilty

Groups running from half forward around the boundary to the goal square then up to the other end.

1 group goes. Tags in the other groups who then goes back the other way and so on.

So it's 300m or so running followed by rest whilst the other groups go one at a time

TMac easily the best of the runners. Other notables were Harmes, Viney, OMac (he's building size and a tank), ANB and I thought Tyson did well. Strugglers were King, Frost, some of the Casey boys and Joel Smith.

TMac surging ahead in this pic and Smith was well and truly spent back at the light pole. They all got around him when he finished, lots of encouragement for SOS.

[Big Mac]

300m runs and Tmac's making up that much ground?

Poor Smith lol - Petracca might be able to empathise  :P

[Purple 77]

Thanks for relaying all this Barra :) is a great read

[Barra13]

Who:
Coaches - No Roos, no Goodwin as far as I could tell, so it was mainly left to Rawlings, Matthews, Allison
Fitness staff - plenty, including D Cross. And I hate to be rude but a young lady seemed to be observing and she was a solid 9 to 9.5. By far best on track.
Players - see earlier posts. But Garland, Tommy Mc, Frost Bugg Tyson (are they 4th or 5th year?) plus the 1-4 players.

What:
Modified program:
Petracca: Agility drills, kick to kick, sprints over on the multi use oval
Hogan: Started with the main group before kick to kick, goal kicking, sprints. Went longer than Petracca
Brayshaw: Didn't see him do anything but was dressed and at the oval before heading back to AAMI
Tommy Mc: Sat out some of drills before doing some extra sprints at the end
Vanders: Took time away from the main group to complete some agility drills before rejoining

For the main group it was
- Warm ups
- Handball and kicking drills
- 7 v 4 drills
- Timed running drill
- 300m repeat sprints
- Goal kicking

The session lasted close on 2 hours. It was warm and a bit gusty. I don't think the players were flogged but they were certainly made to feel it.

It's hard on such a small sample to get any idea of where individual and the team in generals skill level was at. So that's part of the no surprises.

What I was looking for was if anyone had made significant gains in body shape/size or in fitness levels and again there probably weren't surprises there this year.

The big positive was that everyone (except maybe Brayshaw) was out on the track and working hard.

The 2nd year players were impressive. Oscar McDonald look stronger. He ran well and kicked the ball well in drills. Neal-Bullen and Stretch are pro's. White trained very well and is a beautiful kick. Vanders looks leaner but just as strong and imposing and of course Petracca might've training separately but was moving well.

From the 3rd years Hunt is starting to look like an AFL player build wise. Harmes was working hard and has a strong body. JKH was running well and whilst we might have strong competition if we played an intraclub basketball game if it was soccer Salem would win hands down. He was running solidly in the second group and as always using the ball beautifully come drills. His body probably remains a work in progress but there's no rush. Not everyone can or needs to look like Jack Viney who appears cut out of stone.

Of the rest it was nice to see Col Garland working hard to rebuild his fitness base and hopefully get back to career best form. Sam Frost needs to keep working as well but he's got great speed and is a big man, combined with missing time last year that's not a surprise. Dom Tyson impressed me. Kicking the ball well, making a note to kick often on his right foot (steady but not spectacular) and running strongly, early days but a bounce back year could on the cards.

All up it was more than enough to see in November and it's nice to know we have 2 dozen or so mainly young players working hard to improve. A good start to a long year ahead.

[Big Mac]

And I hate to be rude but a young lady seemed to be observing and she was a solid 9 to 9.5. By far best on track.

Would appreciate any extra info here barra

[Barra13]

A lot has changed since the previous occasion I was at Melbourne training, which going back, is now a bloody long time ago. Labour Day this year. So much has happened in my life now â€" it looks like I’ve got a gig at AFL Vic next year at this stage, I’m just about done with uni and the next stage of my life is set to be written.


So I get here at precisely 2:10 â€" 20 minutes early, which is okay because 1) I get a coveted spot with shade because it’s a very warm day, and 2) others are here too. Camera crews have basically been set up, the personnel are here and the Melbourne shade is up. Yep, I’m at the right place and I’m here at the right time. As for the camera crews, I’m keen to see which station they are for. A camera man is here and he curiously has a lot of Glenn Maxwell about him (mind you without the beard). Anyway, less jibberish and more actual reporting which is what I’m meant to be doing.


Anyway, there’s been a number of changes so far throughout this off season and there’s more to come. Out of the lineup goes Howe, Cross, McKenzie, Riley, Bail, Toumpas and Fitzpatrick, while in to the side (at this stage with draft picks still to come) include Bugg, Kennedy, Melksham and Smith. Melksham, as I already covered, won’t be here today, even though it is optional for other players to make their way across and train with the first to fourth year players (I’ll cover which ones are optionally here today below).


The first players out for pre-season are Vandenberg and Garland. Vandenberg has bright orange wheels which are almost as bright as my lime green ones. After those two, the rest of the boys make their way across. Garland and Tom Mc I believe are the only two who have come here optionally to do some extra training, which is a truly excellent sign. These two genuinely love the club. Our good mate Stevo is here too to report on the session for Channel 7.


For reference if needed, the first two out on the track were CP5 and ANB. After a very short kickabout, the boys go and start off with a short little run. Few rugby passes out and about â€" it’s not State of Origin lads! â€" and a few stretches start us off. There’s about 25 players on the track, including the likes of Hogan, Brayshaw, Viney and Tyson as well. Eventually I’ll go through a few more.


Petracca’s doing a modified program at this stage compared to the rest of the group â€" I imagine that this is related to the final preparations that he has to go under before joining the main group full stop. Regardless he’s looking bigger than he was last year and he was already pretty big last year! Good sign. Also another who noticeably looks bigger compared to the last time I saw him is Salem.


Anyway our main man CP5 is off to jaunt on his own regime at the moment given the recovery from his knee. We’re taking every precaution at this stage and he’s off to the adjacent fields to do his own work while the rest of them are together.


Kennedy is out here for his first training session with the boys and when he beats (I think Stretch) in a small contest that the boys are doing a couple of the boys shout out “YES BEN!!!” Good start to his time here, hopefully he develops some friendships very quickly. Regardless the first drill sees the coaches roll the ball across the ground where there’s two players trying to beat the other to the footy. Basically it’s more of an upper body drill where one man is trying to push the other off. There’s four separate groups, and in fact there is also one using soccer balls. I can’t properly explain that, best ask Misso.


I guess to provide more clarification the four groups are in rotation drills, so you have the ones which I’ve described clearly, as well as a couple of overhead marking contests on the far side of the ground. The majority of players are in the two groups closest to us, while the far groups are made up of two lots of four.


As the boys embark on a brief break I take a look at the crowd, it’s certainly building and the club has done a good job with advertising this session. I would say at this stage there’s about 60 people, which would be more than anywhere else I reckon.


The next activity is more strength based and sees groups of two pulling each other with those rope things that they tie around their waste. Notable pairings include Hogan and TMac, while Harmes is dragging Jack Viney around.


Two groups of longer distance running follows. Leading the first group which starts nearest to where I’m stationed is White and Stretch, with Hogan up the back. Meantime Kenty is killing it in the second group. King is up the back of this one. The first group of runners are more tightly bunched together and pacing themselves really well. Joel Smith appears to be up the front of his group, while Oscar McDonald is working hard to get in front of Kenty. It’s also really encouraging to see Frost running around with the boys. The news we really needed to see/hear after 4-6gate in 2015. The boys are still going ahead of the six minute deadline. BK is working super hard to ensure that he’s maintaining a solid pace. Meantime JKH has assumed leadership of his group and has really come home strongly. Harmes is also finishing off strongly as he walks past, streaming by Jayden Hunt.


CP5 watch on the other ground and he is moving super strongly. It’s really good to see. I’m hoping he develops into more of the Josh Kennedy mould (the Sydney one that is). Brayshaw comes back after (I assume) a bit of an absence, while Tom McDonald did his own little thing while the boys were running… I presume to avoid embarrassment amongst the others because he always kills it doing the running drills. After a bit of a walk around the oval the boys are back into the groove a little bit and are having a drink of water. For now that leaves me on complete CP5 watch.


The bloke is doing it completely easy on the other field at the moment as a few actually turn around and watch him go about it. He is really moving well considering his recovery from his ACL and he seems to be confident of a few directional changes. I would say he’s going at about 80% at the moment which is about right for his stage in the development. He’s also kicking about 30-35m off one step with relative ease. There are, admittedly, a couple of shanks when he kicks it but otherwise he’s doing just fine and is also finding the confidence to jump for marks too. Hogan joins him later on and he does that familiar waddle over. Dunno why he left, maybe he just exorcised his rights as a God to do whatever the hell he wants. Extraordinarily I’m seeing people actually shifting their attention â€" quite a few â€" to Hogan and Petracca.


Anyway this all happens while the boys are changing into their footy boots, with a bit of footy going on now. Firstly there’s a bit of a brief kick, before more of a base which sees a full-blown contest between two teams utilising handball. That’s on one side of the ground, anyway. On the other side there’s a kicking drill at the moment and the focus is on a switch, followed by a kick down the line. On the near side which is where the handball drill is going on, the hunger is intense in the players’ eyes. You can hear it and see it. For the first day of pre season they’ve been pretty strong skill wise. There aren’t too many shanks which is impressive because it’s a reasonably difficult day conditions wise. Hot day, swirly wind about. JKH gets Frost in a tackle â€" you can tell Frosty is trying to get back into the swing of things after missing a lot of training as well as footy. It’ll take a little while but he’ll get there.


Pause â€" I need a drink…


Getting a drink at this point isn’t too bad. Firstly I don’t miss much as I go down to Edwin’s, secondly I still walk past and get to see how Hogan and Petracca are holding up. Hoges’ is okay and there’s nothing wrong with him (I presume they are just looking after him due to his importance), he’s having set shots and actually uncharacteristically misses one. Petracca in the meantime was talking to one of his mates (I presume from basketball â€" nobody understands how good he actually was â€" he has his own mixtape on YouTube), before heading off. He walks past me on his phone.

As I come back the boys are split into two groups where there are two teams, with the aim to retain the ball by foot. The ball use is decent at this stage by the near group, with only two foot errors so far in about five minutes.


During this drill, I get the information that the boys will be having a training camp in Seaford soon, and will head back up to Maroochydore in January (I presume during the Australian Open). So there’s one for fans up Seaford way and as well as our Queensland friends. Meantime the boys are having a bit of a break after this kicking drill thing. Hogan’s running around behind me on the soccer ground, which has been kindly vacated by Melbourne Victory because they’re probably thinking they can soccer better than everyone else while holding all three trophies at once.


Anyway, the drill continues on opposite wings this time, after previously being inside both 50s. The most impressive performers for mine so far include Tommy Mc, who is continuing to mature as a leader and is being as smart as ever with his positioning, running off his man and ball use, JKH, who has a new found hunger for the contest, I’m presuming he’s going to go after a big pre-season after losing his spot in the side, and ANB, who’s been classy by foot so far today under pressure. In the meantime Frost has shown how much he’s missed, with his first kick missing the mark and his decision making a bit skewed at the moment. Joel Smith is still a while away too from getting into the groove â€" gets the ball during one of these drills and panics a little bit, before missing the return handball.


On the other side of the ground, Terlich takes on (I think) White, but gets tackled. A good show of speed from White but Terlich needed to get rid of it. Obviously Terls needs a big pre-season and force his way into the 22 somehow, otherwise he’s off the list given he runs out of contract.


Some more running follows this and this running drill is similar to what they did last year. Run half way through, then run down the ground, turn, run back. Three separate groups are out and about. Tom McDonald is fastest of the first group with ease (because who else was going to be?) with Viney second. Impressively, Tommy Bugg (first training session today) is amongst the top three or four. Brother Oscar is fastest of the second group as he looks to maintain his spot in the best 22 over summer. ANB is quickest of the third group. On the second run for each group it’s a McDonald sweep again, while Harmes is quickest of the third group. TMac’s doing it easy.


Third run. No need to tell you who are quickest of the first two groups. In the third group, Tyson and Harmes run it pretty close but it’s the former who gets home quickest in the end. As we get to the fourth run, TMac again is quickest. Joel Smith is starting to struggle a little bit which is unsurprising given its his first session, but gets a lot of support from the boys as he crosses the line. I’m also going to point out at this point there’s a couple of Casey boys training with us. I think I recognise Jordan Moncrieff as one of them… can’t work out who the other one is but he is beaten by King across the line. Anyway the winners of the fourth run â€" TMac, OMac and Hunt.


TMac ensures he completely sweeps the last run of his group. He’s still an animal, and that’s good signs ahead. OMac also sweeps his entire group, impressively Frost is starting to get into his own and comes second in the final run. The final group don’t run… unsure why.


Anyway, as the boys switch from running to kicking again there’s set shots, and moreso the chance to give you guys information you didn’t necessarily need but will get anyway.


BK = Kennedy as I mentioned before had his first session today. He’s a little fella but he’s well built. From what I’ve seen so far, good running capacity. Also has a tatt a la Cyril.


Buggy = Tomas had his first run with the Dees as well and again, he’s smaller than most but again he is also solidly built. Not as nuggety as a Jones-type but not as small as Stretch either, I’d say he’s more in the middle. Again, he also ran well.


Smith = Pretty skinny, needs a bit of work in the gym and with time he’ll get to improve his running capacity as well. Obviously a project player but because he has a bit of knowledge in the game he won’t take as long to develop as, say, a Maia Westrupp.


Meantime, just behind me, the photographers that turn up get a bit excited â€" and I quote one of them â€" “Hogan’s got his shirt off!!!” The bloke generates excitement by doing the smallest of things.


After the brief set shot session, which I presume was just a warm down, the boys finish rather abruptly. I say g’day to a couple of fans and head off, with the knowledge that the boys would want to be as sharp in the next session (which I’m hearing is 10:00 Wednesday) as they were today. To finish off, Tom McDonald did a couple of extra short, sharp bursts and there were a few others (such as Viney and Salem) who did a couple of extra things too.


Okay, so summing up:

Petracca is looking really good even though he’s been restricted at the moment due to his continued ACL recovery

Hogan is also being held back, this I imagine more than anything is because we want to restrict his workload and make sure his back is alright

There was more of a running base than there was a football base which is normal for the firstpre season session

Regardless, the boys did well with the ball in hand today, not too many errors under pressure but there were a couple of decision-making errors

Tom and Oscar McDonald naturally are going to tear it up on the track all summer.

The boys are looking very fit

We still have to wait two weeks until the main group come back!

I look forward to the next session…