I could not make this training/practice match.Please give us a report on what you found? Did Sylvia train?. Did Watts play at Full forward? please advise.

Managed to get there and this is what I saw

No - Shows = Bruce and Tapscott

Rehab = Meesen, Johnson, Gawn, Blease

Managed Loads group = Bate, Scully, Garland, Watts

Main group = everyone else including Aussie

Only about a 1 hour session all told

No real standouts

Observations = Trengove great, Davey beautiful skills, Jurrah sublime, Sylvia looks a million bucks as did Maric.

Any questions happy to answer if I can

Sorry to say not all that much happened today. Apparently they'd had a long day already and weren't planning on doing much. Some handball and kicking drills. Running. Watts did a few minutes of ruck work, which was interesting to see.

Blease spent his time running up and down on the far side of the ground, then did some reflex work with the tennis ball.

PJ jogged a few laps and then vanished.

Meesen likewise not involved. A few laps and some tennis balls.

Scully spend most of the session doing handball work. A little kick to kick and tennis balls. He has freakish handballing skills. I think it was McKenzie with him for most of the session.

Having watched the session today I can see where Crawford is coming from about the skills. There were some pretty shoddy efforts here and there. Also some very good ones. Davey's kicking is awesome to behold, even with the short passing. Grimes almost never makes a mistake. Saw Watts kick a couple of goals before the session started.

In the really good news column:

Garland did almost the complete session. He looks really good.

Wona did the whole session and looked fine.

No sign of a hamstring problem with Davey

That's about all I really noticed. I've never been to a training session before, so it was quite interesting.

Anyone know who the blonde guy was who was working with Blease all session? Is he a player or one of the physio staff?

Sorry to say not all that much happened today. Apparently they'd had a long day already and weren't planning on doing much. Some handball and kicking drills. Running. Watts did a few minutes of ruck work, which was interesting to see.

Blease spent his time running up and down on the far side of the ground, then did some reflex work with the tennis ball.

PJ jogged a few laps and then vanished.

Meesen likewise not involved. A few laps and some tennis balls.

Scully spend most of the session doing handball work. A little kick to kick and tennis balls. He has freakish handballing skills. I think it was McKenzie with him for most of the session.

Having watched the session today I can see where Crawford is coming from about the skills. There were some pretty shoddy efforts here and there. Also some very good ones. Davey's kicking is awesome to behold, even with the short passing. Grimes almost never makes a mistake. Saw Watts kick a couple of goals before the session started.

In the really good news column:

Garland did almost the complete session. He looks really good.

Wona did the whole session and looked fine.

No sign of a hamstring problem with Davey

That's about all I really noticed. I've never been to a training session before, so it was quite interesting.

As always appreciated

Is there something wrong with Tapscott?

A lot of training reports I've read have had him training with the tennis ball doing reflex work (or so it seems...)

Has he got an injury, or is just being forced to take a more measured approach to prevent burnout/stress injuries?

Seems like he is being held back more than most.

Edited February 8, 201015 yr by Enforcer25

Thanks for the Reports guys, skills can still be tightened. At least there were no injuries.

Just watch those speeches from the AGM again. We are in good Hands, But i am actually Glad Shane Crawford gave us a bake.

Maybe our skills are not too bad, it's just that everybody elses are better.

So we must improve..Good.

There was no practice match........just a skills session. Started at 4 ish and finished by 5.45pm.

I counted 42 players in general training including a couple of young "ring ins".Bruce appeared later for a light run only. Meesen, PJ and Gawn and Blease all doing a bit of slow running and tennis ball skill stuff. Wonna, Flash etc all in main group. Lots of handball work and short kicking/ballhandling. Short, sharp and fairly impressive with some overall improvement in disposal being apparent again. A couple of players still need work on kicking and/or wrong side disposal but I was impressed with the quality of the work done.

The Flash brigade (Davey,Wonna,LJ,Jetta and Bennell) all look after each other with drinks and distribution of footy's etc. They really thrive on each others efforts and I reckon this will benefit us enormously in the long run.

It was interesting to see (Killa) Watts doing a drill at one point with 4 players where he rucked the ball down to a nominated player who in turn passed it on to the next, then the next, etc!!! I dont think he missed the chest of any of those players once in a 10 min exercise. Interesting!

There was no practice match........just a skills session. Started at 4 ish and finished by 5.45pm.

I counted 42 players in general training including a couple of young "ring ins".Bruce appeared later for a light run only. Meesen, PJ and Gawn and Blease all doing a bit of slow running and tennis ball skill stuff. Wonna, Flash etc all in main group. Lots of handball work and short kicking/ballhandling. Short, sharp and fairly impressive with some overall improvement in disposal being apparent again. A couple of players still need work on kicking and/or wrong side disposal but I was impressed with the quality of the work done.

The Flash brigade (Davey,Wonna,LJ,Jetta and Bennell) all look after each other with drinks and distribution of footy's etc. They really thrive on each others efforts and I reckon this will benefit us enormously in the long run.

It was interesting to see (Killa) Watts doing a drill at one point with 4 players where he rucked the ball down to a nominated player who in turn passed it on to the next, then the next, etc!!! I dont think he missed the chest of any of those players once in a 10 min exercise. Interesting!

watts doing this ruckwork drills could really suit him with his basketball background, dont be surprised to see him get some sort of ruck duties through out the year probably mostly in the forward line

Laughed a bit when I heard a few players call out to him, "Killa, Killa" when leading towards him for a pass.

I was very happy to get an indication that Jurrah has bought some of his magic into the new year - he was slotting goals from the edge of the centre square during the final, goal kicking, drill.

Pleased to see that Maloney's 'lower leg injury' was not as season ending as it sounded the other day - he seems in terrific shape.

Wona looks to be working on his short passing - every one seems to be an attempt at a worm burner - does this signal a move up the field?

Watts seems to do everything at a pace that suits him - even after a lift in intensity has been requested by training staff - but maybe that is an indication of whatever it is that is causing him to have a slightly reduced program than the others than an attitude.

Frawley's shoulders/guns are huge.

Blease looks fit and seems to have grown a bit taller.

Same goes for Maric - he looks great.

Can hardly contain my excitement about Scully/Trengove/Gysberts. Scully's running is freakish.

Dunn's shape to me looks like he will take a greater role up either end of the field rather than getting the job to run with or tag an opposition player that he done a bit of over time.

The squad LOOKS fit, but I was surprised how much the boys seemed to be just going through the motions, during one criss-cross drill the balls hit the ground quite a bit but no one really seemed to get upset by this. It was a hot day and someone said they had been doing other stuff today so I guess they thought this was ok. I am not saying this due to what that dill Crawford had apparently wrote, I did not know about that until I got home after training and read others thoughts.

There was no practice match........just a skills session. Started at 4 ish and finished by 5.45pm.

I counted 42 players in general training including a couple of young "ring ins".Bruce appeared later for a light run only. Meesen, PJ and Gawn and Blease all doing a bit of slow running and tennis ball skill stuff. Wonna, Flash etc all in main group. Lots of handball work and short kicking/ballhandling. Short, sharp and fairly impressive with some overall improvement in disposal being apparent again. A couple of players still need work on kicking and/or wrong side disposal but I was impressed with the quality of the work done.

The Flash brigade (Davey,Wonna,LJ,Jetta and Bennell) all look after each other with drinks and distribution of footy's etc. They really thrive on each others efforts and I reckon this will benefit us enormously in the long run.

It was interesting to see (Killa) Watts doing a drill at one point with 4 players where he rucked the ball down to a nominated player who in turn passed it on to the next, then the next, etc!!! I dont think he missed the chest of any of those players once in a 10 min exercise. Interesting!

The importance of Davey remaining a Dee can never be under estimated

The importance of Davey remaining a Dee can never be under estimated

Absolutely, if The Flash had walked our club would be about 5 years behind the eight ball (again)

He is the leader of all our indigenous boys and some of the white fellas for that matter.

Edited February 8, 201015 yr by why you little

Thanls guys, can't tell you all how great it is to come home after work and read these reports regarding Melbourne training and players. It's fantastic and please keep the good work up. On that note, sounds like somepositive talk from the Watts perspective which is nice to hear. From anyone that has been down to training, is there any indication of what position Grimesy will blood, or does he just do an overview of different things at training?

Absolutely, if The Flash had walked our club would be about 5 years behind the eight ball (again)......

Rubbish.

GREAT news about my man Col doing the whole session. And Wona training with the main group. Fantastic reports from everyone, much appreciated

Bring on Freo.

In the really good news column:

Garland did almost the complete session. He looks really good.

Wona did the whole session and looked fine.

No sign of a hamstring problem with Davey

I like that story.

Laughed a bit when I heard a few players call out to him, "Killa, Killa" when leading towards him for a pass.

Wow. It's caught on then. I can think of worse nicknames. (Master-bate anyone?)

Rubbish.

Agreed.

Grimes doing a fair bit of running and putting even more polish on his disposal and ball handling. He has good pace and poise as well as positioning. He just needs more games and will become a great footballer IMO. Is becoming slightly more vocal too! B)

Watts ended training just before the main group to have some stretching assistance done with a trainer.He sat on the ground and had the trainers leg placed against his back so he could reach forward to touch his toes and stretch the quads as well.

He actually trained well but IMO he and Wonna both went at about 90% due to recent minor soft tissue probs. Both look good and we should look fwd to their input in 2010.

Is Tapscott okay? any one herad anything on him?

Is Tapscott okay? any one herad anything on him?

No doubt he would be on a modified program. Can't load the kids up too early

Wona looks to be working on his short passing - every one seems to be an attempt at a worm burner - does this signal a move up the field?

Same goes for Maric - he looks great.

Seeing Wona during the preseason last year his foot skills are very nice on the stab passes and his hands below his knees was also a highlight. Was really eaxcited about him last year I hope we get to see some magic this year from him.

Maric, even though he is still young is someone I had high hopes for last year and again this year. The coaches spent a lot of time with him last year working on his fitness and the defensive side of his game so again am excited to see how he has coming along this year.

No knowledge of Tapscott or his non appearance. Anyone else?

No doubt he would be on a modified program. Can't load the kids up too early

They havent modified Trengove or Gysberts and Scully hasnt missed a beat since the Christmas break. I hope nothing is wrong just noticed that he has been in the rehab group for the last 2 - 3 weeks.

In the really good news column:

Garland did almost the complete session. He looks really good.

Wona did the whole session and looked fine.

No sign of a hamstring problem with Davey

Awesome news. Garland especially.

Wona looks to be working on his short passing - every one seems to be an attempt at a worm burner - does this signal a move up the field?

I hope not (well, actually I wouldn't mind that much), since he played so well at FP in 2008. His kicking for goal was sublime.

Absolutely, if The Flash had walked our club would be about 5 years behind the eight ball (again)

Now that's hyperbole.

Rubbish.

Don't be too quick to underestimate the importance of Davey to both our team and the indigenous players. I'd say 5 years behind may however be rubbish as you say.