During the Christmas/New Year break, AFL.com.au looks at each club and how they're tracking for the 2011 pre-season
 
Introduction
There has been little doubt about the training objective at Melbourne. It’s been a mix of hard running and football education, with the simple aim that every action is what you would expect of an elite AFL player. One objective is to create an environment where all players must fight to earn their spot.
 
Medical room
The worst news of all for young ruckman Max Gawn, who requires a second knee reconstruction after doing his ACL just before Christmas, meaning he will miss the season. Liam Jurrah had wrist surgery in December after training away from the main group for much of the first part of pre-season to build his base. He is expected to be back training with the main group in mid-January. Lucas Cook has been recovering from hip surgery, while Mitch Clark joined full training in early December. Michael Evans was recovering from a hip injury while James Strauss will obviously be given time after suffering a broken leg late in the season. Jack Grimes has been gradually eased into training.
 
Summer superstar
Elite performance manager David Misson says he has been happy with the group’s improvement across the board. Daniel Nicholson has sparkled in virtually every session as the rookie pushes hard to impress. Nathan Jones as always has been one of the best performers, running hard and encouraging others, while 194cm key defensive prospect Tom McDonald has raised eyebrows by keeping up with most of the club's midfielders during running sessions.
 
Draftee watch
Mature aged recruit James Sellar was straight into training while young draftees Rory Taggert and Josh Tynan were on programs that reflected their age and experience. Several players who were rookie listed - Tom Couch, Jai Sheahan and Leigh Williams - were training with the club before their name was called out. James Magner had been training at St Kilda. The club was rapt to get four rookies who were well advanced in their pre-season and with Max Gawn out for the whole season, all will push their claims for senior elevation.
 
Putting the feet up
There will be no excuses for players returning to full training on January 4 in less than great shape. Pre-Christmas is all about conditioning and the footy component will ramp up after the break. Melbourne was chasing the competition when pre-season training started so the Demons cannot waste a second as they need to become fitter, stronger and understand as quickly as possible the way the new-look coaching staff expects them to play.
 
Membership
The tagline is 'Generation D. We bleed red and blue. Do you? but we suspect it's excitement about the Neeld era that has attracted about 20000 members already.
 
NAB Cup schedule
Round one (Saturday, February 25): v Gold Coast and Brisbane Lions, Metricon Stadium
Round two (Saturday, March 3: v Collingwood, Etihad Stadium
Round three (Saturday, March 10): v Hawthorn, Etihad Stadium
 
What they say
"I simply want to coach the team that is the hardest to play against in the AFL." - Neeld said in the middle of September when his appointment as Melbourne coach was announced.

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