Training - Friday 25 November, 2011

[RalphiusMaximus 6,054]

LJ is a bit in the Aussie boat. He needs to decide whether he wants to be an AFL footballer or a talented guy who almost made it. If he really wants this then he has to suck it up and do the hard work so he can do more than the odd inspirational act on game day.

[monoccular 17,432]

LJ is a bit in the Aussie boat. He needs to decide whether he wants to be an AFL footballer or a talented guy who almost made it. If he really wants this then he has to suck it up and do the hard work so he can do more than the odd inspirational act on game day.

Each and every player, regardless of status, experience, talent or x-factor needs to make that call and that commitment.

I have no doubt that Neeld will tolerate anything less, from anyone.

[Matt Demon 1,469]

Well at the pace of Liam's laps surely he was either injured or sore?..that's all he really did was laps at about 1/2 pace max

He's been running laps at half pace for 3 weeks now.

[Striker475 696]

Maybe it's just to outright get his tank up? They're trying to cardio-boost him?

[dee-luded 2,959]

LJ is a bit in the Aussie boat. He needs to decide whether he wants to be an AFL footballer or a talented guy who almost made it. If he really wants this then he has to suck it up and do the hard work so he can do more than the odd inspirational act on game day.

Yep!

He needs to decide IF he wants to be a Michael O'Loughlin type,,,, Or a Daniel Motlop???

[DeeSpencer 25,718]

I don't mean to judge but LJ may well have done little training in his break. So putting him straight into heavy stuff might cause injury. 3 or so weeks doing a lot of jogging just to get the miles in the legs might lead to really running the laps in the next few weeks before full training after Christmas.

But yeah I do agree that he has to decide how much he can commit, but at the same time we can't run him into the ground physically and mentally in November.

[Demon 16 213]

He's only done 1 proper preseason before so he probably wasnt expecting this level of demand on him - hopefully holding him back from the footballs will encourage him to come back in fitter shape next off-season.

If he heads back to Yuendumu in the off-season, it must be pretty hard to do a decent amount of running etc. I imagine its 40 degrees plus every day out there..

[sylvinator 96]

People worried about Jurrah, Gysberts and Blease being unfit at the moment, should remember it's only November.

The most important thing is that they are participating in all running training.

If they continue to be involved with the running part of training for the next 4 months, running several times a week, they will definitely be fit by March 2012. It is impossible to stay unfit when you are running so much and being trained by elite sport science people.

The only thing people should be worrying about is the players who don't have proper pre-seasons because they have spent the entire summer in the rehab group. It is almost impossible to have an outstanding season without having completed a strong pre-season

[Webber 10,468]

Thanks for Redleg's phone in- interesting that he confirms many of our thoughts whom attend training . Bate is the fittest I have ever seen him, and in match par tice skills he is working with the midfielders and as such seems to be training for a role there.He played a similar role when he won the Under 18's B& F.

And he was BOG there in our last game this year........look out for the re-invention of Matthew Bate!

[jayceebee31 761]

Looks like Bate is this years "training the house down" award winner

let's hope his does not suffer the same fate as last years winner Adam Maric

Well, this is on the cards, this is the year he makes it or doesn't. Neeld has shown confidence in him, Bate is giving everything he can and good luck to him. Going to be a very interesting year for Bater and many others as there are heaps under the microscope this year.Neeld has shown he will give the one's that want to achieve the chance to do so-re Sellar ,therefore all I can say here ,Bater give it all, that is only what we can expect.

[Flying Cloud 152]

The updates on Gawn sound awesome. I really hope he gets some games for us in 2012, I definitely think that he is up to AFL standard, even though he isn't finished his development. It will be very interesting to see how Martin, Jamar and Gawn are used this year, and whether they will all be played in the same side or not. One thing is certain though: we are not lacking in our ruck stocks.

Imagine the opposition ruckman dismay when we interchange Jamar for a fit and experienced Gawn.

[Guest DeesPower]

I too was at the training session on Friday morning. I've been away for the weekend, so sorry for the late report.

A few observations:

1. I arrived at about 9.50 so missed the first part. When i got there, the main group was playing a practice match basically rehearsing movement out of defence, and defensive pressure in the backline. They played Stef Martin at centre half forward, and seemed to deliberately kick to him into a high marking contest. He was outstanding in his overhead marking, better than i have ever seen him. Maybe an omen of things to come. Others to stand out were Jones (who is one of the hardest trainers i have ever seen), Nicholson (always runs at full pace, and is hard at the ball), Jamar (well he was merely being Jamar), and big Max Gawn. Tom macdonald was also being played up forward and is developing into a very skilled and quick big man. He is a find.When i was walking towards the ground, some distance away i said to my friend "who the hell is that man mountain?". It was of course big Max Gawn. He has bulked out a good deal, but is still a hard runner, and i think his marking is now mare reliable. Others to impress were Bate (looks much fitter and faster, also a hard trainer these days), Jack Trengove (what we have come to expect) and the affore mention TMacD.
   
2. While this was going on, there was individual training going on, some in groups, others individual. Petterd, Grimes, Jetta, Mitch Clark and Lawrence were all doing laps individually, as well as 100m interval training. The interesting one was Liam Jurrah who all through the training session was doing interval laps accompanied by one of the training staff. I have to admit he looks as though he was struggling, not because i believe he is injured, merely less fit than maybe he should be. When they ran past, which was often, you could hear the trainer continually pushing him to go harder, most of the time though he was behind the trainer. I must say this is probably the first full-on pre-season for Liam at Melbourne. If the club persists with this personal attention for him, and gets him really really fit - well who knows what will happen. It is very exciting.
   
3. After the match practice, the main group did handball drills, tackling practice and other set pieces. Mitch Clark, Jack Trengove and i think Lawrence were doing kicking and leading practice in the forward line.
   
4. At the the end of the session, the main group did what looked like 5 minute time trails in groups of five or six. The stand outs were Maloney, Jones, Dunn, Nicholson, and very pleasingly Brad Green. I was very impressed with his commitment. For effort Matt Bate as well. Apart from the main running groups, Gawn, Jamar and Fitzpatrick did laps as a group of three. All were very impressive for their efforts, but when it came time to sprint to the line, the big Russian was the one. Maxy Gawn though is amazingly agile for such a big man. There were however, some serious concerns. Jack watts, who is supposed to be in the two or three best runners at the club, came last in his group of six led by Maloney, but not a close last, in the two and a half laps he was up to 50m behind the leader Maloney, not once but on about four occasions. He doesn't look fit, barely touched the ball in the practice match. Presumably if he was injured he would not have been in the main group. Now in his third season, you would expect of such an outstanding athlete to see some elite behaviour and leadership by now. It must be concerning the club. If he trained half as hard as Jones, he would be another Wayne Carey. There is no sign of it yet, at least from what i saw on Friday. Others from whom i expected more were Bleeze, Gysberts and
   
5. I did not see Aaron Davey, or Jeremy Howe at all, and Stef Martin left after the practice match (perhaps to go to uni exams which are currently on)
   

[Guest DeesPower]

I should have added above that I agree that training under the new regime is very very different than last year. The intensity is so much greater, and those that go at less than full pace are identified and counselled by the fitness staff. I was very impressed by the personal program that Liam Jurrah appears to be going through. Maybe something similar for Jack Watts should be considered. He was by far the biggest dissapointment of the morning.

[Clucka 55]

I heard Watts say to a couple of players after training that he wasn't happy with his session ....so he knew he struggled ..he might have just been a bit off..