THE DEMONS suffered from a lack of depth and consistency last season but improving fitness and an injection of youth have Melbourne fans looking toward 2009 with more optimism.

Senior coach Dean Bailey joins afl.com.au and shares his thoughts on how each of his charges are shaping up in the run-in to round one.

SENIOR LIST
Rohan Bail
Aerobically, he’s very good, he covers the ground particularly well.  Of all the young guys we recruited this year, he can cope a bit more with training at the moment. Rohan’s a good kick, a good decision maker, and he’s a player who I think will surprise a few this year.  He’s a chance to play AFL football in 2009.

Clint Bartram
Clint’s put on around three kilos in muscle, he’s maintained a very low skinfold, and his speed and endurance has really improved. We have a much stronger Clint Bartram this year, and we’re sure that this will translate into better on-field performances.

Matthew Bate
I’d like to see him kick a few more goals this year.  I can see him playing as a lead-up forward, but I think there’s a nice opportunity for him to come out at full forward.  He’s quick, and as part of rotating the forward line, he could play a number of positions up forward.

Daniel Bell
He is incredibly strong one-on-one, and he’s super competitive. We need to explore the opportunity of him playing on a half-back flank, but also through the midfield. Daniel is another one who needs to be more consistent with the level he gets to, but he’s had a really good pre-season, and he’s got stronger again.

Jamie Bennell
Jamie’s a player who can play anywhere on the ground. He can play down back, and be a really good decision maker from behind the ball.  He can certainly come through the middle of the ground.  There’s no doubt he’s also a very good contested mark for a smaller player.  Again, he’s a bloke we need to develop.

Sam Blease
We hope to develop Sam’s body.  He’s got great speed, and he tackles and chases.  He’s a very good kick at a really high running speed, which is a strength of his.  We’ve just got to take our time with Sam, and make sure that his body is ready.

Cameron Bruce
Cameron prepares himself really well, he’s a professional in his attitude, and his pre-season has been fantastic.  He’s a fantastic trainer, and a really good leader amongst the guys.  He explains the game well to his teammates and the younger players at the club. 

Simon Buckley
I think Simon’s great strengths are his kicking and his speed, and I would like to see him exploit those this year.  He’s an attacking player, so we expect Simon to be carrying the ball more and still taking players on.  Physically, he’s much further advanced after a solid pre-season. 

Kyle Cheney
Kyle’s a very good mark, and he likes the physicality of the game. There’s no doubt that he’ll have shown us some things during the NAB Cup.  He’s competitive, and he can probably defend on the taller players. He’s a young kid who’s really improved over the pre-season. 

Aaron Davey
Aaron’s been outstanding in the pre-season.  I’d like to think he’s quicker, stronger, faster than he was last year, and that’s due to the fact that he’s been able to train more.  His attitude has been first class.  I would expect Aaron to have a great year.

Lynden Dunn
‘Dunny’ has put on about four or five kilos and has trained the house down. He’s been exceptional in his attitude and his preparation.  He can play forward for us, and he had some good run-with roles last year.  We also need to give him some more experience around the stoppages.

James Frawley
‘Chippa’ has put on at least three kilos of muscle, and he’s gained some confidence from that.  He’s a kid who, after two or three pre-seasons, has developed really well.  He’s quick, he’s agile, he’s a great bloke and really well liked around the club. Now, we’ve just got to get some game time into him.

Col Garland
The challenge for Col is can he build on the pretty good year that he had last year? He can play on the talls and smalls, and we’re going to try and encourage him to attack and take the game on.  He’s a good decision maker, and he’ll again be given the chance to play on some of the big stars, which he thrives on.

Brad Green
Brad’s a guy who just doesn’t miss pre-season.  He’s always training.  He had a thumb operation, but was still able to run, and do most of pre-season.  He’s got an amazing capacity to train and play in discomfort or pain. His leadership and his mentoring of players has been fantastic.

Jack Grimes
Jack played in Round 22 of last year, and although he probably wasn’t quite physically ready, he is very mentally strong.  His work ethic and attitude have been first class.  He’s super competitive, and he’s been very, very impressive in pre-season training.  At 187 cm, he can play anywhere on the ground.

Mark Jamar
Until he fractured his toe ‘Russian’ had put on four kilos of muscle, was running really well, and hadn’t missed a minute of training pre-season. He’s a guy who needs to be consistent throughout the year – we just need him to improve, to play consistently each week, and to be competitive for us.

Neville Jetta
Neville’s quick and agile, and he’ll stand up for himself.  He’s a tough inside midfielder, who I think can also go forward to crumb and kick a goal, and provide forward pressure.  Again, like all the first year players, his body has to develop.

Paul Johnson
Recovered well following the hip operation at the end of last year.   He’s another player who’s put on three to four kilos, and his running and agility haven’t been affected.  At 191 cm we really need him to be taking the contested marks in the forward line, and kicking more goals.

Nathan Jones
Nathan always prepares himself well over pre-season, and he doesn’t miss any of training.  This year, he’s physically stronger, and the weight training he’s done has certainly improved his core strength.  Nathan’s got a really big tank and will run himself into the ground to try and win games for us.

Liam Jurrah
We drafted Liam because he’s got a high degree of talent but we don’t want to rush his development.  He’s a very good ball handler, he’s got really good agility, and he tackles particularly well.   At training he’s already done some things – not necessarily exciting things – but his tackling and pressure have been eye catching. 

Addam Maric
Addam unfortunately had a hip operation at the end of the year, and missed around six to eight weeks of the pre-season.  But he’s worked hard on his upper body and his core strength. I would think that Addam will be at a level where he’s knocking on the door to play senior football again.

Stefan Martin
Stef is very, very quick, but we’ve known his great test is going to come when he plays on guys who are the same size as him. At 198 cm, he can certainly play on the smaller players around the mid 180cm, because he has got that great agility. 

James McDonald
James is a guy who just continually looks at improvement in all areas of his game.  He’s put on between two and three kilos, and his body shape’s changed remarkably, He brings a very, very good level of intelligence to the discussion, and he’s got a great football mind.  He’ll make every post a winner.

Brock McLean
Brock gives you one hundred per cent one hundred per cent of the time, and that will be no different this year. He’s a terrific leader and has prepared himself incredibly well over this pre-season. He is a tough inside midfielder, and we expect him to be working really hard around the stoppages this year.

Tom McNamara
Tom is a young, tall back, who I think is going to develop with another year under Peter German at Casey.  He was the youngest player drafted in his year, so this is his first full pre-season. He’s got some talent, he reads the play very well.

John Meesen
John’s had a bit of an interrupted pre-season because of his ankle. One of the things we identified last year with him is that he needs to get a stronger upper body, and we need to develop a bit of power in him, and he’s worked pretty hard to do that.

Brad Miller
Brad’s pre-season has been first-class; he hasn’t missed any training. Last year, he showed he could take a contested mark and his goalkicking improved. I think he also showed some great leadership, grabbing hold of some games and kicking some important goals.

Brent Moloney
Brent hasn’t missed a minute of the pre-season training. Brent will need to use his great strength around the stoppage and he will be called on to tackle, and chase, and put the defensive pressure on.  He’s a very long kick, so we need him to be active for as long as he can.

Cale Morton
Cale’s come off a really good first year. We had to manage him carefully as a first-year  player, but he was able to cope because he’s got such great endurance. I think other teams will certainly be a bit more aware of Cale, and probably place some taggers on him. He’s going to be really important for us in 2009.

Michael Newton
Michael’s a player who needs to be stronger in the marking contests.  He’s a good chaser, and he does put a lot of forward pressure on, but he needs to take more marks.  He needs to show people that he has improved, by producing on the ground, when it counts.

Ricky Petterd
Last year, Ricky suffered a couple of injuries. He’s worked really hard in the gym and his pre-season has been good.  He’s a very good drop off marker, and he reads the play very well.  Hopefully we can see Ricky get some continuity in playing and training and I think we’ll have a pretty good player on our hands. 

Jared Rivers
Jared is more advanced and fitter than he was at the same time last year.  Hopefully he’ll have had a bit of useful playing time in the NAB Cup games to get him up and running. He’s prepared well, and he really needs to play to get some confidence back.

Russell Robertson
‘Robbo’ has had a really difficult time in regards to the achilles injury, but to his credit he’s trained incredibly hard in the rehab group to the degree that his skinfolds are the lowest they’ve been, and his upper body is the strongest it’s been. Everything he’s done suggests he’ll have an impact during the year – he’s just working that hard.

James Strauss
James is a fantastic trainer and he kicks forward very well.  I think he’s a chance to play AFL footy because physically he’s probably a bit more advanced than the other first-year guys.  I can see his body really adapting to the pre-season and getting stronger.

Colin Sylvia
Last year Colin had a good pre-season, but this year he’s done even more.  He’s a guy who’s certainly going to play up forward, and I think he’ll probably get a bit of a stint through the middle of the ground at different times.  Colin needs to put the right foot forward this year.

Matthew Warnock
Matty’s a guy who just trains and trains and trains.  His work ethic at training and pre-season has always been very good.  He had a bit of a breakout season last year. He’s got stronger and quicker, and he’s raring to go.  He’s got a great work ethic.

Jack Watts
Jack’s year to begin with is going to be structured around getting him physically ready to play football at VFL level. Depending on how he develops and how his training continues, I think there will be a chance for Jack to play AFL football in 2009.  But Jack’s still got to earn the position, and earn the game. 

Paul Wheatley
Before Paul had a slight strain of a calf muscle, he hadn’t missed a beat, and his attitude in pre-season has been really good. He’s got a very good football brain, and really good football knowledge.  With a young back group, his leadership will be crucial.

Matthew Whelan
Matthew’s been outstanding with his pre-season.  He’s really prepared himself very well.  His skinfolds are down, he’s the fittest he’s been – he just looks ready to go.  It’s going to be great seeing him play, because he’s going to be very well prepared.  He’s put the running in, and the time in the gym, and I hope he gets the most he can out of this year.  He’s been outstanding. 

Austin Wonaeamirri
Aussie’s lost a bit of weight, and he’s put on a bit of muscle, which means that he’s a bit quicker and stronger.  Other teams will be paying more attention to Aussie now. I expect Aussie to probably come up the ground a little bit more so he can be that forward pressure and crumber player.

ROOKIES
Rhys Healey
Rhys is a terrific trainer, physically he’s got all the right capacity – good engine, good speed, good overhead mark and trains with intensity.

Danny Hughes
Hughes has actually slotted in really well.  He’s got good speed and he’s actually a very good overhead mark. If his body can hold together, I think he’ll be a good player for Casey, and I think AFL footy’s not beyond his ability. 

Jordie McKenzie
Jordie’s got a great aerobic engine.  He’s a fantastic runner.  He’s a guy who’s got to put weight and build on in the gym, but I really like his competitiveness. He’s got a super attitude to training and to footy, and I think that’s going to take him a long way. 

Jake Spencer
Jake’s a young, developing ruckman. His work ethic and attitude are just fantastic.  With some experience, can be really exciting for us.

Shane Valenti
We saw that Shane will be an important player for us when he played nine AFL games.  He showed that he can be comfortable at that level.  He’s certainly worked on the physical part of the game.

Trent Zomer
Trent came back in fantastic condition for the pre-season, and I think he’s put on between six and seven kilos. He’s an incredibly strong young bloke. I think there will be some games at Casey that he’ll really pull apart. 

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.