TRAINING TODAY----22nd January

[jayceebee31 768]

Tried to get to training today- what a mix up- website said 8am- rang the MFC and told 10am.

Anyhow, missed it totally. Can anyone that went please give us a report as was told and I was interested to see Scully in full training along with Watts whom also was expected to do all the drills.

We wait in earnest.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

Tried to get to training today- what a mix up- website said 8am- rang the MFC and told 10am.

Anyhow, missed it totally. Can anyone that went please give us a report as was told and I was interested to see Scully in full training along with Watts whom also was expected to do all the drills.

We wait in ernest.

Yeah keen to hear too!

And as long as you and Ernest are consenting adults, I don't see anything wrong with that.

(PS it's "earnest")

[GolfBoyPro 43]

Cmon Ernest, i am just hanging to hear your training report... lol

Wouldnt it be awesome if a club helper or something could give us an update occasionally. I dont think they put out enough info on the club website....

[joeboy 3,185]

I was there for about 90 minutes and witnessed an impressive and vigorous session.

My most enduring memory of proceedings though was seeing Jim Stynes walking the boundry and personally greeting every supporter . Certainly he continues to look frail and gaunt but his firm handshake suggests that he is doing well .

The young and lively recruits , as expected , tended to draw the most attention , and of the newbies Tapscott continues to impress me the most , and not just for his amazing build .

From my recollection all players were doing some form of training , but those precluded from kicking were in a group comprising : Wona , Bate , Garland , Spencer , Gawn , Blease , Jamar .

Scully was doing kicking work and as we can expect , he was focussed and driven in all his movements .

I was impressed with Sylvia's work ethic along with usual suspects Jones and Moloney .

Special reference should also be made of Mega who gladdened the heart of a 'slow ' young supporter by spending around 10 minutes of kick to kick with him before serious training began .

[jayceebee31 768]

I was there for about 90 minutes and witnessed an impressive and vigorous session.

My most enduring memory of proceedings though was seeing Jim Stynes walking the boundry and personally greeting every supporter . Certainly he continues to look frail and gaunt but his firm handshake suggests that he is doing well .

The young and lively recruits , as expected , tended to draw the most attention , and of the newbies Tapscott continues to impress me the most , and not just for his amazing build .

From my recollection all players were doing some form of training , but those precluded from kicking were in a group comprising : Wona , Bate , Garland , Spencer , Gawn , Blease , Jamar .

Scully was doing kicking work and as we can expect , he was focussed and driven in all his movements .

I was impressed with Sylvia's work ethic along with usual suspects Jones and Moloney .

Special reference should also be made of Mega who gladdened the heart of a 'slow ' young supporter by spending around 10 minutes of kick to kick with him before serious training began .

Thanks for your imput , very much appreciated. Noted your remarks with Jimmy. But who is Mega ????

[Dee Fan 3,247]

I was there for about 90 minutes and witnessed an impressive and vigorous session.

My most enduring memory of proceedings though was seeing Jim Stynes walking the boundry and personally greeting every supporter . Certainly he continues to look frail and gaunt but his firm handshake suggests that he is doing well .

The young and lively recruits , as expected , tended to draw the most attention , and of the newbies Tapscott continues to impress me the most , and not just for his amazing build .

From my recollection all players were doing some form of training , but those precluded from kicking were in a group comprising : Wona , Bate , Garland , Spencer , Gawn , Blease , Jamar .

Scully was doing kicking work and as we can expect , he was focussed and driven in all his movements .

I was impressed with Sylvia's work ethic along with usual suspects Jones and Moloney .

Special reference should also be made of Mega who gladdened the heart of a 'slow ' young supporter by spending around 10 minutes of kick to kick with him before serious training began .

Great to hear that Jimmy was at training, we can only hope his health begins to improve. I'm sure that he, like the rest of us is looking forward to the start of ther season.

Good to hear about Tapscott I'm looking forward to seeing him next year and I reckon he will be a beauty for us, don't be surprised to see him go close in the Rising Star. Some on here think he was recruited to keep JT happy, I don't think they could be further from the truth.

Thanks for the report.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

Thanks for your imput , very much appreciated. Noted your remarks with Jimmy. But who is Mega ????

Watts.

[jayceebee31 768]

MEGA = WATTS OR MEGA + WATTS

HOPE HE STARTS TO LIGHT UP !!!

THANKS

[Viney Vidi Vici 148]

alrighty, I was there this morning. I'm starting to realise I should probably get down there more often, dunno what time I left, but only took me four tracks of the cd. not bad.

Anyway, today they started off with the main group doing some handball and close up skills, before moving into some sprint stuff, then some longer kicking, close in drills and then some simulation play.

All rucks were doing different stuff. Jake Spencer seemed to do something early in the session and just walked laps before finishing early. looked pretty upbeat though. Jamar mixed in and out of the main group. Johnson, Meesen and Gawn did a lot of reflex stuff with tennis balls before some tap work. From what I can tell, Meesen wouldn't be a bad slips fielder. He seems to be a bit of a leader with the talls. makes sense as hes been doing this training thing for a while. Fitzpatrick did some early drills with main group before leaving. Talls all looking good. Jamar looks very confident and even massiver than I remember. Glad we've still got him, compared to our other rucks, hes a step above.

Recovery group (for want of a better name) included blease, wonna, bate, jamar (early), garland and a couple others i cant remember right now. Even for this group though, they were all going about 75%. All are looking good, and as mentioned before, Bate is bigger in the shoulders again. Garland and blease are running well and nearly back to top speed, wonna was doing sprints with bate early and doesn't seem quite as fast as I remember. Might just be me.

in terms of the rest of the squad, from what I can remember...

Bartram- seems to be starting to take the lead with a few of the younger guys.

Gysberts- good skills, confident

Scully- Great skills, fantastic speed, as mentioned, Kicking still needs some work in my opinion.

Trengove- didn't see much of him, but great on both feet

Miller- good overhead, in a switch drill wore a different jersey as the go-to guy just outside defensive 50.

Morton- in same drill as Miller, played same role as run out of defence, very good at finding a target. Not quite stick thin anymore.

Sylvia- wow. looks like a player.

Macdonald- a solid rounded player with a good head

Newton- nothing much new, just trundled along, kicking at goal not great.

Maric- looks really fit, seemed to be playing as a forward in drills

Petterd- See Maric

Jetta- very competitive in air suprisingly, very fast and working very hard

Bennell- solid session, nothing outstanding

Healey- really interesting player, looks more like an athlete then a footy player, but is always in the play somewhere and really catches the eye

Mckenzie- great rookie pick up, can see him with a place in our midfield. hard working, good disposal.

Moloney- works very hard, very vocal, him against tapscott in a defensive drill was good to see. Pushes the younger guys well.

Jones- an amazing trainer, when others are jogging, hes sprinting. Expecting a big year from him, looks very good.

Watts- a couple of sloppy mistakes but overall good skills, and fantastic speed for a big guy.

Frawley- good contests between him and Miller, big and strong.

Warnock- definatly the defensive general. kick isn't fantastic.

Martin- works hard, good hands above his head.

Bruce- silky skills, good mark under pressure

Jurrah- training with main group, still learning the trade, but skills on show

Hughes- left early but was in the thick of things early, heard his name called a lot in drills. quick hands.

Bell- really looked past his prime. Things just not happening.

Dunn- Really big, hard working, good marks, looking for a big year.

IF theres people I've forgetten, just yell them out.

From what I saw though, there was no player, apart from Bell and possibly Healey, I'd feel uncomfortable with in Rnd 1. And Healey, only because his skills need a little bit of work. We've got a good squad.

As a training session, it was a good feel, and loved the efforts from Dunn and Petterd to try say hi to a youngster, even if they freaked her out. Bailey had a good chat to a 5 year old for a while, and most players make an effort to give a kid a hi5 etc. good to see.

geez, marathon effort.

[Bring-Back-Powell 15,372]

^^^^^

Top contribution mate, thanks!

Did you see Strauss in action?

[jayceebee31 768]

alrighty, I was there this morning. I'm starting to realise I should probably get down there more often, dunno what time I left, but only took me four tracks of the cd. not bad...

By your report we only have one fit ruckman--- Martin---is that correct??

[Vagg 2,449]

MEGA = WATTS OR MEGA + WATTS

HOPE HE STARTS TO LIGHT UP !!!

THANKS

Nah! Once he becomes the big, menacing, centre half forward we are all hoping for, he should be called "KILLER" WATTS! lol

[Jarka 767]

Hey BBB, great report, thanks for the info.

How did Green & Strauss go?

[joeboy 3,185]

By your report we only have one fit ruckman--- Martin---is that correct??

PJ

[1858 285]

Thanks for the reports guys, top stuff!

Is Rohan Bail still recovering on the sidelines?

[jabberwocky 2,301]

"Jones- an amazing trainer, when others are jogging, hes sprinting. Expecting a big year from him, looks very good."

Ultra competetive, durable, strong, fit. Set to rise a few notches this season.

[DirtyDees DDC 190]

Jamar looks very fit and HUGE. For some reason he seems to have a separate training program to the rest of the group. Maybe they are afraid of him! He was running solo and had specific hand drills. At this stage it looks like Jamar and Martin will share the ruck duties. Meesen, Gawn and Johnson are all on restricted training. Spencer looked to be hampered by a 'flu and was limited to jogging.

It was great to see Garland, Blease and Wonna running flat out. They are all in the rehab group but still did some short kicking between themselves. Bate was also in the rehab group for some reason (any ideas?) but he was running hard. Blease has an interesting running style and holds his left forearm a little high. The running coach pointed this out during the session. Overall it looked like we had 34 guys at close to full training and about 10 in short term rehab or retricted training. There was also a kid from the AIS who trained for the whole session which lasted for 3 hours.

I didn't see Davey but someone told me that Davey's wife is expecting so he may have good news soon. Grimes nearly knocked himself out in a head collision but seemed to be Ok. He trains so well.

I will be very surprised if JoelMac, Maric and Trengove don't play a lot of senior football this year. JoelMac fits into the backline with his running and kicking game. Maric has had a full pre season and is too good a kick to leave out of the side. Trengove looked good in the matchplay and can cause some damage going forward. I'd pick him ahead of Scully becuase he got a bigger body, and he gets the ball more often than Tapscott. Scully missed a couple of targets but also impressed on his non preferred foot. Gysberts may have to practise this part of the game but he and Scully did a lot of work in midfield and completed all the sessions.

Watts and Jurrah took part in all the training up to the last matchplay, then left early. Not sure why but they didn't seem injured.

The best news of the day was seeing Jimmy at training. He did a meet and greet with the fans who numbered about 50 or more.

The highlight of the day - two banana goals in a row from Matt Warnock during goalkicking practice. Amazing. Are we playing this guy out of position?!!

[DirtyDees DDC 190]

Green Strauss and Bail all trained hard throughout the 3 hours.

[Redleg 42,053]

alrighty, I was there this morning. I'm starting to realise I should probably get down there more often, dunno what time I left, but only took me four tracks of the cd. not bad...

Thanks great report. Interesting your comments on Bell as someone posted last week that he was looking fantastic. Maybe just a poor session for him.

[DemonRevival 3]

Did anybody notice (during the match simulation) change in the style of play they will be attempting to perform this year or was it just an improved skill level of the plan of last year ??? eg: tall foward structure...

[Viney Vidi Vici 148]

Thanks great report. Interesting your comments on Bell as someone posted last week that he was looking fantastic. Maybe just a poor session for him.

Might just have seen the bad parts, but I wasn't impressed.

As someone else said, Green, Strauss and Bail all trained hard, and are doing pretty well.

and just looked at photos, and the person I thought was Rhys Healey, I realised I have no clue who it is. Anyone know who the guy with a giant mop of blond hair is? might have been the AIS kid.

[Viney Vidi Vici 148]

Did anybody notice (during the match simulation) change in the style of play they will be attempting to perform this year or was it just an improved skill level of the plan of last year ??? eg: tall foward structure...

Not sure about that as a few of the talls werent participating in that simulation. I think it was better executed than last year though, still with room to improve. There was real focus on continuity, with plenty of running (sylvia was great with this), with a definate aim to find a marking target in the forward line, not just running into the 50m arc.

and for all those that weren't sure where Petterd will play, he's training as a forward by the looks, same as Jetta. And by the class of Warnock's bananas vs Miller's, he should be too!

[Steamin Demon 401]

Thanks heaps guys for keeping us updated. Very interesting.

By the way Jack Watts nickname at school was WHOPPER. At Melbourne training I've heard them call him KILLER.

[Still Waiting 94]

Almost a full list at training but definitely no Davey! I overheard someone say he has a hammy but only from an onlooker so?????

Some notable things I recall;

Scully is very quick and pretty determined with his continuous running.

Watts trained well and has great ground coverage for a big fella.

Jurrah, a couple of brilliant dummy turns in contested work dazzled us.

Spencer jogged a lot of laps....ill???

The muscle definition on Jones, Beamer, Sylvia, Frawley, Jamar, Dunn, Bate and possibly Rivers a bit too.

Fitzpatrick working hard on his non preferred side handball..........needs to get more power into it.

Wonna looking to be over the hammy.

Another really strong session with better foot disposal than I can remember but not without the occasional fumble. Jimmy Stynes showing us all how to display Demon passion by just being there. The training intensity of Jones, Dunn, Beamer, Sylvia, Scully and a couple of others was at times breathtaking. :D

[Allen Jakovich 516]

Thanks for the updates all.