Melbourne 2016 pre-season

[Barra13]

Hahaha I know. He likes to stir the pot and get up to no good.

[Barra13]

Went to training today, really good session, mostly the same drills, match simulation had umpires, Jack Viney tackled Tommy Mc again and resisted temptation to face plant him.

Frost is definitely looking at being a forward, did match sim as forward and did goal kicking practice at the end of the session whilst rest were running, spoke to him, feellng really good.

Stand outs for me today Hogan, Garlett, Grimes, Kent, Hunt and Matt Jones, quicker ball movement is what they are looking for with two or three options by hard running.

There was one lovely coast to coast goal with Terlich being the one who had gut run to get himself alone in the centre square and he had options either side.

Weideman and the rest of the young guys did some match sim, he put a really nice left foot step on Oscar Mc to round him and kick a nice goal.

On the injury front Salem had slight issue with knee, same with Watts, Oliver is still growing so making sure we don't break him, Lumumba and Petracca are both a couple of weeks away from rejoining main group, Newton is back jogging, a few more weeks, Vince is being eased back in with his history of hamstring issues in preseason ... all this info from the players I asked.

I was pretty impressed by the intensity and general standard of the match simulation.  Our main issue is still going to be hitting targets by foot, but there were some nice passages of play; and the midfield is looking stronger.

I'll eat a little humble pie with Frost, as he looked very good today and as a leading/marking target in the forward-line.  While I much prefer him in defence i was surprised by his forward-line work.  His kicking for goal will be a bit hit or miss.

Weideman moved very well, but he needs lots more strength in marking contests.  A lot to look forward to, but he's a work in progress and I thought Oscar McDonald had his measure.  I was impressed with Oscar today.

BenKen ran on to some very good crumbs and used his pace.

Tyson looks strong and was again prolific.  He looks set for a superb season.\

Viney was fantastic.  He turned one over for a goal when he used his right foot in defence, but overall he looked a class above what he was last year.  His pace and tackling was first class.  He's been freed up and I doubt he'll tag this year. 

Stretch is coming along nicely.  As is Harmes who did some really good things in the midfield. 

Hunt's pace is an asset and he too found a bit of it.  He butchered a couple by foot, but also hit some nice passes.

Hoges was Hoges.

Gawn was excellent, but he dropped two marks in the goal-square he should have taken.  Clunked the third.  He should really impact the scoreboard this year.

Hulett continues to look a player.

Bugg worries me.  He turns it over with poor decisions and kicking.  He'll get games, but I'm not a fan.

Grimes was good.  Played midfield. 

ANB fumbled today.   

Kent and Garlett did well.  Kent has bulked up, but has maintained his pace and evasiveness. 

And a pat on the back to a player many of us feel is on his last legs.  Terlich was very good - again.  He gets lots of it and today hardly wasted a disposal.  I've been a critic, but credit when it's due.  He's been an excellent trainer throughout summer.

[Purple 77]

Frost reports made me happy  :) perhaps with Dawes going down, he is a little more motivated to perform in the forward line?

[Barra13]

By the time I arrived at Gosch’s at 10:30 the boys had been training for 45 minutes, so I missed the warm up and drills that followed. However, I did get to see the start of what was essentially an intra-club match (match sim) for the rest of the session. Three ‘quarters’ of approximately 20 minutes each with two AFL umpires officiating, one with curly hair and some other guy.

Firstly, I didn’t sight Dawes, Vince, Oliver, Newton, White, or Petracca- not to say that they weren’t there earlier or were on the other side of the ground. Max King, Lumumba and Trengove were in the rehab group in front of where I was watching, over on the Punt Rd side of the ground.

The remaining players were split into two teams-

Green bibs: Hogan, Watts, Frost, Garlett, Kent, Kennedy-Harris, Gawn, Tyson, Viney, M. Jones, Grimes, Stretch, Hunt, Garland, Wagner, Jetta, O. McDonald.

No bibs: Pedersen, Weideman, Hulett, Mitch King, Kennedy, Spencer, N. Jones, vandenBerg, Brayshaw, Michie, Harmes, Bugg, Neal-Bullen, Dunn, T. McDonald, Salem, Terlich.

I may have got a couple of those mixed up because I wasn’t taking notes but they’re pretty right.

Saty and ProDee have summed it up well. A few other things I noticed:

JKH started ‘on the bench’, came on to a contest in the goal-square and went straight off with something wrong with his upper leg/groin.  He lasted less than 5 minutes.

Terlich was good at buttering up and running out of congestion. A couple of less players on the field seems to suit a player like him.

Garland turned the ball over a couple of times- missing kicks to dangerous spots that resulted in rebound goals. As ProDee pointed out, both teams were guilty of this but I guess the one positive was that conversely they were able to take full advantage of the error and quickly move the ball forward for a goal.

vandenBerg knows where to run when his teammates have the ball.

Gawn continued his great preseason, working hard up and down the ground. Although he may have dropped a couple of marks, he did take a nice contested mark in the goal-square and also took a nonchalant one-hander running into goal on the end of a good passage of play.

Hunt and Harmes were good- they tried hard and although they made a few mistakes they kept backing themselves and taking the game on. Selection for the first few rounds is going to be very interesting.

Weideman uses his body well in marking contests but just couldn’t hang onto the ball today. Hulett shows promise- he is a natural forward.

Viney’s tackle on T.Mac was beautiful. Tommy, as he does quite often, took too long to kick and Viney grabbed his wrist and right hip and just pulled him to ground. Not as brutal as the tackle on Tuesday, but as effective.

[Big Mac]

Hopefully Tommy can take something out of these Viney tackles and actually quicken his decision making

[Barra13]

I saw all of the match sim - but missed the build-up stuff, but concur with most of what has been said and Terlich was probably BOG - Apart from twice intercepting errant Viney kicks, I think he was involved in almost every early goal for the no-bib side - which included the defensive A team. Grimes may have almost shaded him late in the day for BOG, although I'd reckon Viney was the most prolific - most turnovers too.

The green bibs side had basically our forward set-up for Port Adelaide game - subject to no injuries. This was Hogan, Frost, Watts, Kent and Garlett. Only 5 because the sixth played up the ground.

For those wondering if Hoges being Hoges meant he was starring, then I'm afraid he was having a day like against Carlton last year. In fact he even had to drift back to defence to get a kick or two after a quiet first but pitted against T-Mac or Dunny.

The run and dash from Terls, Hunt and Wagner down back meant our B defense team looked pretty slick.

The baulk Weeds did on Oscar was pretty nice and shows he knows what he'd doing. Hulet was very prominent and got on the end of a lot of breaknet speed breaks  but in my view there was nothing mega special that stood out - he looks to me a very solid citizen though.

Salem was good until rested, Watts laid a really strong tackle at one stage and showed he is over his quad setback. Kent led up ground like a full-forward and agree he might be a real livewire for us.

One the down side I actually thought both Col and Oscar were very tentative and out of synch with the more-attack minded style Goody is trying to  implement.

On the positive side, the tackling and more so the ability to stick tackles was the best I have ever seen. This was a practice session and yet almost everyone of our midfielders laid at least a couple of strong tackles - Stretch and Viney laid about 10 each.

I forgot to mention most of the midfield.

Nat Jones was his usual reliable self until instructed by Goody and switch the play which required a long kick - about 70m to Salem. He balls up kick massively and you could tell he was a little [censored]. A little later when Ben K was requiring a long kick down the line and Jones turned inboard and was caught in a tackle by Frosty, BK gobbed the skipper. Jones replied, what do you want, you were 80m away. I can't kick that f'n far.

VB looked dangerous and has great speed. His kicking still lets him down a bit but gees I wouldn't want to play on him. He manned Dom Tyson and I've got to say that Dom did a great job and a couple of his passes were lace up to forwards on the move. With Vince out, Dom will play in the middle with Viney and Jonesy against Port.  Vanders will be next one in the middle and probably Neal-Bullen the next after that.

Brayshaw was again forced to bide his time on the wing/high half forward. Him and Stretch had a great duel.

Michie was good also but like Angus had to do his time on a wing. Matt Jones provided a lot of dash from his wing.

The only other comment is that Gawn looked like a Brownlow Medallist to me - even the trainee ump gave him a couple of frees that he barely deserved. I don't know what his odds are, but I reckon a lazy 10 on big Maxy is a very good speculative Brownlow bet.

I went along today as well and left after the match sim.

Most of it's been covered but I'll toss in a few observations.

Really liked the look of the Weed. When he puts on some size he'll waltz straight into the team.

Mitch King played a little in the match sim but was on and off a bit. Good kick for a big (skinny) lad and moves well. Like the Weed, he'll be an asset down the track.

IMO Max King has put on more kgs (whoever was asking).

I thought Salem was very quiet and was going to say he looked underdone but it sounds like a (hopefully minor) knee issue.

Smith has a few tricks but looked pretty lost out there. He was getting plenty of coaching throughout, mostly telling him where he should be. Played on the half backline.

Grimes was in the midfield (it looked like he was last week to). Seemed to be lead to the ball to me. Makes me think a tagging role might be on the cards.

I though Van Demon was outstanding. Perhaps not as prolific as some, but every move, kick etc was spot on. Always took the right option, was creative and executed well.

Ben Ken used his speed well. Was a little Kent-like on the end of a slingshot - slotted a couple.

Viv was OK with sharp disposal and Wagner looked the goods too with his disposal but lost his opponent once or twice.

Viney and Tyson  great too.

I watched one of the drills where the backs and forwards were jostling for position with the ball coming in from the 50m. Dunn murdered Garlett. Mind you Dunn would've been pinged for holding more than once. Hogan murdered everyone. It was interesting to watch as most players were pretty intense and on the whole, impressive.

I was there for about an hour and a half from 10.30ish and the match sim was under way.

Just some observations and a spoiler alert, I can get pretty excited at this time of year, so maybe the hard-boiled cynics should look away. For me, lifes too short to be pessimistic.

The coaches seem to want the players to take it on and use the corridor more, I think we may see the team play some really exciting footy at times. There were some ugly turn-overs at times but there didn't seem to be any chastising for mistakes and we were much more effective near goal.

Max Gawn was clearly B.O.G for mine. He completely dominated Spencer and before anyone says "so what" Spenser is a big, competitive unit but Max was just too strong and his use of the ball at tap-outs was superb. Just to emphasise the point, last year Max wasn't quite as fit and was not our first choice ruckman, definitely behind Jamar and probably equal with Spense. This year he is the man, he knows he's the man and he looks like he's capable of delivering. His taps and the way he combines with Viney especially will give us first use of the ball in over half our games, a big advantage. We can't help but have a better midfield as a result. I think he's potentially our most important player and if he stays on the park I predict All Australian.

Viney was great. He looks super fit, is totally committed and should definitely improve on last year. He can still butcher it by foot and is much better by hand, I would prefer he handballs as much as he kicks, maybe even more.

Frost looked good down forward. Kent took a mark on the 50 near the boundary and spotted Frost way over the far side and nailed the pass to Frost who took the ball very high. Later he roved a ball in the pocket and kicked it to a player which ended in a goal. At one stage he cordoned off Jones (chunk) who was trying to get it down the line but rather than just keep Jones honest Frost hunted in on him, caught him and won the free. He looks hard to match up on, he ran and ran and although raw and a bit dodgy by foot he is probably the second tall in the forward line, with Watts third. Our forward line looks O.k. with Hoges, Garlett, Kent, Frost, Watts probably first five in and big Max coming down at times as well.

Lastly I was impressed by Wagner. He is tall and a natural defender, he got a bit of it and tackled and punched well at times. He is someone to watch at Casey for the first half of the year and will probably be a chance of a game in the back half of the season.

[Purple 77]

I have a feeling the turnovers that make you say

"Oh my g... Un. flowering. Believable"

Won't reduce as much as we hope this year  :-\

Over the summer though, purely based on training reports by Demonlanders, it sounds like these guys are having a blinder of a pre-season:
1) Gawn
2) Viney
3) Kent

I also can't help but worry (probably unnecessarily) whenever it sounds like Hogan is being grumpy  :-X

[kilbluff1985]

sounds like Wagner is a good chance for round 1?

[Big Mac]

sounds like Wagner is a good chance for round 1?

Nah not really

Most have Salem and Bugg taking the flanks, with Lumumba as well (pending fitness)

[quinny88]

Who writes all these training reports guys? I assume not someone from the club as they are often talking negatively of players but does someone actually go to every training session and write them??

[kilbluff1985]

Who writes all these training reports guys? I assume not someone from the club as they are often talking negatively of players but does someone actually go to every training session and write them??

i think there is someone that has like a media role with the club cause they were even at the preseason camp

[Purple 77]

Who writes all these training reports guys? I assume not someone from the club as they are often talking negatively of players but does someone actually go to every training session and write them??

There is a forum called Demonland, for Melbourne supporters. There is always at least one user that goes to the training sessions, and gives us a report. Last year, there was one that went to every single one except for like 2 or 3 haha.

We're lucky to have these dedicated bunch  8)

[Barra13]

Yeah, as Purple 77 said. It isn't anything straight from the club, just supporters like ourselves gives report on what they see. They will criticize and give credit where due. I basically then sift through the crap and bring the good stuff here so it gives the lowdown on players that some people may be looking at for their teams.  :)

The ones from the Pre-Season camp were from Matt Burges. He is the media role person and does all the articles and video for DeeTV which is uploaded to melbournefc.com page.

[Barra13]

Short clip of drone footage from match simulation on Friday.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2016-02-15/drone-at-match-simulation

Our intra-club should be later this week.

[Barra13]

Just left gosch's paddock. Skipper was the only noticable absentee. Started out watching the rehab group which included Petracca, Vince, JKH, Newton, Lumumba, and M.King. Petracca, Vince and Lumumba looked in great physical condition and didn't look too far off re-joining the main group. The main group were doing a bunch of drills which seemed to have an emphasis on ball movement through the corridor. Goodwin was in charge and seems a natural leader. McCartney was providing constant encouragement and tips to the players. Of the players that stood out to me,  Vandenberg looks set for a huge season,  is in pristine condition and was all class - particularly by foot. Jayden Hunt provided an inspirational run down tackle on Harmes in one of the drills and the boys got around him. Just on Hunt, I was super impressed by his performance on the track today. Neal-Bullen was also in pretty good form and was probably the loudest player out there. Bugg left the track early with some kind of niggle in his right leg and didn't return. I'm so rapt to see Trengove training with the main group. Brayshaw was super in the match simulation and Weideman kicked a lovely goal from a tough angle 45m out. He still has a ways to go though. Oliver's positioning at the stoppages was impressive for such a young player and was often the first disposal in the chain. Everyone was in high spirits and you get the sense the boys are itching to get into the real stuff.

Just got back from training too, saw it from about 2.15pm when the warm up drills were finishing.

The first part of training consisted of standard drills and not much to report, but a few things caught the eye. I noticed that a few of the younger key position talls (Wiedeman, King, Hulett etc) were doing some contest work and it was mostly about body positioning and jostling, but that the actual mark was pretty much left uncontested. I thought this was strange as surely it would be useful to practice marking with more pressure on the mark itself. But Tom McDonald came over and showed how it was done and later on Hogan also got involved in this drill. His spinning moves and jostling really are great to watch, he tries everything to get space on his opponent.

Also noticed a handball drill where players would handball sideways 3-4 times either towards the boundary or into the centre square. It seemed the emphasis was on switching the play but not necessarily handballing backwards. There was still an offensive feel to it. I also thought that handballing was used quite a bit over the top to break a press, which worked half the time, but relied on good long handpasses and also would fall apart if an opponent pressed up onto the next contest from the other direction.

Hunt really does catch the eye with his athletism and his run down on Harmes was great to see, which was a follow up from a spilled mark, so it was good to see him make amends. He also broke the pack nicely in a match simulation later, although I feel that sometimes he kicks in hope rather than finding and drilling to a target. Plenty of others were giving him encouragement and challenging him and I can see why, because if he becomes a proper 'footballer' rather than just a great athlete and an OK footballer, then he could be anything.

The match simulation with two umpires later on in the session was pretty good. Plenty of stoppages held up play, but also some good breakaways too. Viney seemed to be in everything and Stretch is great to watch when he gets some space. Brayshaw just seems to know where to go and Gawn gets to so many contests and was doing well in some of the close in work by getting his hands free and the handball away. He really is hard to tackle to the ground. I though there was an overall attacking intent and plenty of mistakes were made, but the ball was generally moving forward and everyone was working hard to follow up on any mistakes. I think this will improve in actual games with our best 22 on the park, because keep in mind that the whole list was out there and most of the mistakes came from the inexperienced players.

Jones was a no show and Terlich seemed to hurt his ankle halfway through, then got some treatment and left the track. He seemed to be walking ok so maybe just a rolled ankle. Some ladies nearby asked Petracca what the 'problem' was with him, but he laughed that off and said nothing, just need to put a few more weeks on the leg again after the moon boot came off. No issue with the knee or toe. He joked and said he'd be back by Round 22, but then said he'll be fine for Round 1 or at least that was the aim.