Melbourne Watch 2023/24

[Twodogs]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

Does it help in training? Eg recovery and or being abke to push harder?

I wouldn't think so. It makes your heart beat faster meaning that you can't push yourself harder without running the risk of heart trouble. It also interferes with your concentration and the effects don't really last that long and you quickly build up a tolerance.

If you were looking at something that lasted longer then you'd go with meth or ordinary amphetamine.

[1eyedog]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

I wouldn't think so. It makes your heart beat faster meaning that you can't push yourself harder without running the risk of heart trouble. It also interferes with your concentration and the effects don't really last that long and you quickly build up a tolerance.

If you were looking at something that lasted longer then you'd go with meth or ordinary amphetamine.

There are footballers playing who have a clinical ADHD diagnosis and take dexamphetamine medication for the purposes of increasing their executive functioning ability. The medication is necessary to help them generally, in life.

It doesn't assist you physically in any way but your ability to organise and focus go though the roof. It makes you super alert and your brain works quicker. ADHD medication provides and unseen cognitive advantage on the footy field no doubt and this is a topic that has been afforded zero air time.

[Twodogs]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

There are footballers playing who have a clinical ADHD diagnosis and take dexamphetamine medication for the purposes of increasing their executive functioning ability. The medication is necessary to help them generally, in life.

It doesn't assist you physically in any way but your ability to organise and focus go though the roof. It makes you super alert and your brain works quicker. ADHD medication provides and unseen cognitive advantage on the footy field no doubt and this is a topic that has been afforded zero air time.

I used amphetamine a lot when I was younger. Melbourne was awash with high quality and relatively cheap speed in the '80s. We'd buy it by the 1/4 ounce, none of this point nonsense.

But I always used to wonder why my friends would be bouncing off the walls after a taste but I'd be sitting in the corner chain smoking and doing crosswords.

Then in my mid 50s I was diagnosed as being ADHD and I almost felt the penny drop. I'm medicated nowadays and my life has improved no end.

[Axe Man]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

Only partially Melbourne related but a continuation of the AFL drug policy discussion in this thread:

Harley Balic?s father Eddie slams AFL drugs secrecy amid Sport Integrity Australia probe

The father of ex-Melbourne and Fremantle footballer Harley Balic, who died after a battle with substance abuse two years ago, says he blames the AFL and its illicit drugs policy for the tragedy.

Breaking his silence after the Herald Sun revealed Balic?s death had become the focus of a Sport Integrity Australia investigation into the league?s controversial drugs policy, Eddie Balic said:

?I believe that the AFL has a duty of care to formally intervene early into young vulnerable players who have been identified as having substance abuse issues.

?I also feel that had better support been put in place early for my son, it may have prevented this tragic outcome.

?The huge disappointment is that the AFL knew a lot and as a family we weren?t told. We may have saved him earlier.

?To this day it disappoints me that no one from senior management of the AFL has ever made contact with me over the terrible loss of my son.?

Balic died in January 2022, just four days after turning 25, following a battle with drug addiction.

During his three-year playing career, Balic was placed into the AFL?s ?medical model?, enabling him to take drugs repeatedly without penalty.

Balic witnessed Fremantle players using drugs just days after arriving at the club in late 2015, sources allege, and he soon became an addict in the AFL system.

He was traded to the Demons in late 2017 and retired the following year.

Balic?s case is referenced in a statement made by former Melbourne doctor Zeeshan Arain, which was handed to SIA by federal MP Andrew Wilkie last month.

In his statement, Dr Arain said: ?Often list management is used to solve a lot of problems.

?It gets to the point where they (AFL clubs) are like, ?Well, if we can?t help this player, we will move them on.

?And the problem is that the player doesn?t cease to exist to be a person once they are not in your club, the duty of care still goes on.

?Take Harley Balic, for example. A few years after Harley Balic left the Melbourne Football Club he was dead related to drug use.?

Dr Arain was interviewed by SIA investigators in Melbourne last week.

Under the so-called ?medical model? - which the AFL only detailed last month - players identified as occasional or regular drug users are exempted from the three strikes program.

The players can be secretly tested ?off the books? before games to ensure they are not positive, potentially being withdrawn from their team with fake injuries to avoid suspensions under the world anti-doping code.

Global anti-doping chiefs have pilloried the AFL over its secret testing procedures.

SIA has the power to investigate all sports integrity matters beyond whether the AFL has breached the world anti-doping code in authorising the ?off the books? tests.

SIA chief David Sharpe, a former Australian Federal Police officer who has pursued drug cartels in Mexico, Colombia and Vietnam, has previously warned that footballers taking cocaine, ice and ecstasy are *vulnerable to bikies and organised criminals who either sold them the drugs, or saw them taking them.

The AFL claims its illicit drugs policy puts players? welfare first, but sources insist the opposite was true in Balic?s case.

In July 2017, Fremantle announced that Balic had been granted ?indefinite leave? by the club after ?injuring his hamstring at training?, subsequent to another leave of absence for a ?personal issue?.

Mr Wilkie attempted to table Dr Arain?s statement in federal parliament last month as he accused the AFL of perpetrating a fraud on the public in a bombshell speech.

Balic, a star junior from Melbourne?s bayside region, was drafted by Fremantle with pick 38 in the 2015 national draft and played four games for the Dockers in 2017 before being traded to Melbourne.

He was delisted by the Demons after just one season without registering a senior game for the club.

Travis Tygart, the head of America?s anti-doping agency, USADA, last week described the AFL?s drug-testing policy as ?incredibly ill-informed? and reeking ?of nefarious behaviour?.

[GVGjr]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

The Demons have announced superstar Christian Petracca will not attend the club’s best and fairest awards after recent turmoil.

It's just getting worse for them.

[Grantysghost]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

The Demons have announced superstar Christian Petracca will not attend the club’s best and fairest awards after recent turmoil.

It's just getting worse for them.

Gee wiz. Roffey wasn't enough.

[ReLoad]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

The Demons have announced superstar Christian Petracca will not attend the club’s best and fairest awards after recent turmoil.

It's just getting worse for them.

Absolutely they will be exploring trades for him.

I’ll start; straight swap for JUH.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

The Demons have announced superstar Christian Petracca will not attend the club’s best and fairest awards after recent turmoil.

It's just getting worse for them.

I heard it's because he's attending a red bull training camp in Austria.

There might be 2 seats available soon at Red Bull so maybe he's going to have a crack at F1.

[jazzadogs]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

I heard it's because he's attending a red bull training camp in Austria.

There might be 2 seats available soon at Red Bull so maybe he's going to have a crack at F1.

Hope he takes some signed guernseys to present to the F1 drivers, for them to frame and put up on their walls.

[josie]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

Absolutely they will be exploring trades for him.

I’ll start; straight swap for JUH.

The logical part of me says that’s a win-win trade. The emotional part says it would be sad to see Marra leave. Setting aside his really poor EF his recent form has mostly been good. And I am worried he will never be a particularly accurate kick for goal.

[jeemak]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

The logical part of me says that’s a win-win trade. The emotional part says it would be sad to see Marra leave. Setting aside his really poor EF his recent form has mostly been good. And I am worried he will never be a particularly accurate kick for goal.

On a recent podcast/ vidcast which was really excellent listening and viewing, it's clear JUH knows his kicking is unacceptable and he's trying to work through it. It's also clear he's putting in a huge amount of work to be at the appropriate level to compete.

The good news is he gets opportunities, even if he's not playing at his best. Hopeful that at 22 and working hard he can get it all together. Absolutely no way I'd be trading him for anyone, outside of him refusing to commit to us at the end of next season prior to the trade period and his second and final contract year.

A pick in the twenties and a future late first rounder from a contending team would be way too much to stomach for someone like him, especially after the Dunkley and Smith stitch ups. So if we're not the place for him, we may as well get it over with while we hold the whip hand.

[ledge]

Re: Melbourne Watch 2023/24

On a recent podcast/ vidcast which was really excellent listening and viewing, it's clear JUH knows his kicking is unacceptable and he's trying to work through it. It's also clear he's putting in a huge amount of work to be at the appropriate level to compete.

The good news is he gets opportunities, even if he's not playing at his best. Hopeful that at 22 and working hard he can get it all together. Absolutely no way I'd be trading him for anyone, outside of him refusing to commit to us at the end of next season prior to the trade period and his second and final contract year.

A pick in the twenties and a future late first rounder from a contending team would be way too much to stomach for someone like him, especially after the Dunkley and Smith stitch ups. So if we're not the place for him, we may as well get it over with while we hold the whip hand.

Smith stitch up ? We have no idea what is coming with regards to his trade . So I’m not sure it’s a stitch up as yet .

[GVGjr]

Max Gawn suffers fractured larynx in painful pre-season injury blow

t will be a quiet Christmas break for Max Gawn after the Melbourne captain was dealt a nasty injury blow in the final week of pre-season training.

A “hit to the throat” during a session has left Gawn with a fractured larynx, with the skipper to take at least three weeks to rejoin full training once the Demons’ program resumes on January 9.

Melbourne fitness boss Selwyn Griffith said Gawn remained in “good spirits” despite the injury, which can cause trouble speaking and swallowing.

“Max sustained a fractured larynx following a hit to the throat during training this week,” Griffith said.

“As part of his recovery, Max won’t be able to exercise for the next two weeks, followed by a period of non-contact training for an additional four weeks.

“Despite the setback, Max is recovering well and remains in good spirits.”

Griffith said Demons premiership duo Bayley Fritsch and Christian Salem had returned to full training before the Christmas break after both underwent arthroscopes at the end of the 2024 campaign.

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“They’ve done a fantastic job over the off-season and both have integrated into full training now, and coping really well with that,” he said.

Star defender Jake Lever, who also had a knee arthroscope before going for shoulder surgery, was getting “some good running loads up”, but yet to return to contact training while he worked on the range of motion in his shoulder.

“(Lever) will still be in a modified environment once we return from Christmas, more so from the shoulder perspective as we build his tolerance to contact training,” Griffith said.

“We expect that Jake will be full training, by the end of January.”

Griffith said small forward Charlie Spargo would be ready to resume full training when the Demons returned in the new year, after an achilles injury restricted him to a single senior game last season.

Recruits Tom Campbell (Melbourne) and Harry Sharp (Brisbane) began the pre-season on modified programs but had both been in full training before the break.

One of the club’s first-round draftees Xavier Lindsay will join full training in the New Year after being managed due to a knee issue.



Dees expect Petracca drama to prompt widespread AFL change
“He came into our program with a good level of strength but hadn’t done a huge amount of running,” Griffith said.

“We’ve had him in the re-conditioning environment, and he’s just gone from strength to strength.

“He’ll go into the Christmas break on the draftee program, which will be unrestricted, and we’ll look to integrate him into full training shortly after returning from that Christmas break.”

[azabob]

Simon Goodwin is saying Melbourne are rolling out a new game plan in 2025 - wonder what it will be?

[Axe Man]

Unconfirmed reports that BTC karate chopped Big Max to the throat.