The Melbourne Football Club and DDJFL have formed a wonderful partnership, which will see both work towards strengthening and promoting football at a grassroots level, in particular throughout the DDJFL.

On Tuesday night, the Melbourne Football Club hosted a range of activities for the Dandenong District Junior Football League at Casey Fields as a part of the partnership.

The DDJFL Youth Girls representative side, under the guidance of Brad Miller and Mark Jamar, took part in a 45 minute session focussing on those skills and drills that Brad and Mark concentrate on daily at Melbourne training.

In chilly conditions, the girls were put through their paces and showed fantastic skills, as they trained in the lead up to the Metropolitan championships next week.

Brent Moloney, Lynden Dunn, and Jared Rivers also hosted a training session for the two DDJFL Under 15 boys interleague teams, as they prepare for their big matches this weekend.

The session focussed on competitive work, skills based activities, and gave a focus on teamwork, leadership, and what it takes to achieve results.

The session provided a fantastic opportunity for the boys to experience what it is like to train as a AFL footballer, and the sacrifices they have to make to play top level football.

In the Melbourne Football Club function centre at Casey Fields, around 20 DDJFL coaches took part in a ‘coach the coach’ session, hosted by Demons’ assistant coaches Josh Mahoney and Sean Wellman.

The session focussed on planning, structures, game plans, and various other aspects of coaching.

Participants were treated to a insight of how the Melbourne Football Club coaches plan for each opponent, and their week to week tasks.

Downstairs, in the Casey Scorpions change rooms, around 25 DDJFL club trainers were also treated to a ‘train the trainer session’, conducted by the Melbourne Football Club’s experienced trainers and physiotherapists, along with support from Victor Sports.

The session provided a good opportunity to learn various strapping techniques, rehabilitation methods, injury prevention, and how AFL players are treated at a AFL level.

Thanks must go to Victor Sports for their fantastic support of the session.

In summary, the day was a fantastic success and was enjoyed by all who took part, as the relationship between the assorted organisations continues to get stronger.