Matthew Lappin = stick insect

Secondly, to those who think we have Luke Williams training with us, you must have gone back a few years in a time machine.

The Williams we have on the Permission To Train List is Leigh Williams from Norwood in the EFL.

Luke Williams played for us in the early 00's under Neale Daniher and was much loved on Demonland - especially those of us who attended games at Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval where (alas) he performed at his best.

Thanks for clearing that up, Jack. Yes, seems Luke was one of those guys who teased us with the "will he ever step up and deliver" questions. If my memory serves my correctly, think Scott Thompson was also causing frustration around the same period. Both Williams & Thompson were thereabouts, but not quite. Finally, Thompson came good, just before he ran home to Momma, but Luke never quite got there.

Thanks for clearing that up, Jack. Yes, seems Luke was one of those guys who teased us with the "will he ever step up and deliver" questions. If my memory serves my correctly, think Scott Thompson was also causing frustration around the same period. Both Williams & Thompson were thereabouts, but not quite. Finally, Thompson came good, just before he ran home to Momma, but Luke never quite got there.

True but Scott was always a cut above Luke.

Pity he couldn't be persuaded to stay in/come back to Melbourne.

Fortunately, we got Brent Moloney in exchange.

(Those were the good old days when the rules allowed a club to get a fair exchange when it lost a player).

Any in the last decade?

Not too many - Dustin Fletcher, Cam Bruce, Robert Murphy, Nate Fyfe spring to mind

I took one for the Demonland team and went this morning.

They started off by splitting up into 2 groups, who then split up again into either blue or white singlets. From there, the game was to handball your way through traffic from one end to the other end of a coned-off space. So pretty confined handballing. Jones was great at this, as well as Stef Martin, Watts was pretty good too. There were a few players in there with pads hitting some blokes, keeping them under the pump so that was pretty good to watch.

After that, it broke into a full ground match simulation type drill. I'm not sure what the focus was but there was a non-Melbourne staff acting as the umpire who gave the odd free kick away. Mitch Clark was great and was very physical even though it was a token pressure tackling rule placed over the drill. He even swore at the umpire when a 50m was awarded against him. That said, there were some good tackles including morton taking down Stef Martin which got a bit of support. Watts found a bit of space on the wings and the Frawley and Garland had a lot of the ball (mostly because the ball would start at one teams backline at every opportunity). There was a blond haired kid, about 6'3 who i think was called "leroy" looked quite good. He is a big guy and whilst his kicking isnt great, he moves really well. Can someone tell me who that was? There was also a massive emphasis on the interchange bench with players being strongly instructed to not enter the field until the player had fully entered the interchange area. They had a coned off area representing the interchange and this was a big focus. Big Gawn is horribly slow around the ground and I'm far from sold on him. He ran to the interchange bench twice and was encouraged many times to hurry up and get off as he was going at a snail's pace. Sellar looks good when he doesnt have the ball. He seems to read the play well but looks a little shakey under foot. Looks handy though.

On a side note, at one stage during the game Jones was yelling at Gysberts to get out of the space etc. but Gysberts wasn't actually even on the field he was walking the boundary. Gysberts yelled back to Jones 'I'm off!!!!'

There were a lot of people missing today. No Sylvia, Jurrah, Jamar, Davey, Jack Viney, any of our new recruits, Petterd, Grimes, Strauss, Tapscott, Cook, Joel Macdonald, Lawrence, Jetta and many others but it was a high tempo training drill. There were no running intervals which was good as I wasnt there to watch people run. The footy's were out for the whole session.

After that, Jade Rawlings got a bunch of the guys to get involved in a drill where a team had to try and handball it 10 times without turning it over or going out of bounds. It was a tough drill because there was not much space. Rawlings was participating himself and applauded Jamie Bennell twice for his efforts. Martin was great at this drill and I think he may even become our number 1 ruckman in many games next season. Troy Davis is massive and has lost a lot of weight in his legs and hips which were needed. He needs to work on his kicking now.

I moved across to another drill which was a contested marking drill involving Jeremy howe, Jai Sheahan (a training invitee), Troy Davis and some other training invitee. It was a basic drill where one of the melbourne staff would kick a ball in the air to a 1 on 1 contest. Howe was the pick of the bunch by a country mile and outmarked almost everyone. I noticed Troy Davis grappling far beyond the rules of the game and if it was a real game, he would have had 10 Frees against. The coach actually told him to watch his holding but this is a big concern for me. He naturally wants to hold the singlet and grab the torso of his opponent from behind. Howe then suggested to the coach that after the marking contest, the players shoudl fight for the ball when it hits the deck. So they tried that but howe kept on marking in straight out of the air which got a bit of a laugh from the coach.

At the end of the session, Leigh Brown went one on one with Cale Morton something that would scare the hell out of me in a game. It seemed like a bit of a 'rough me up' session and Cale was hardly inspiring. Leigh Brown is retired but still a big guy. It was Cale's job to spoil Brown but most of the time brown either marked it or didnt get a chance to because of the poor delivery coming in. The other match up was Rivers on Jade Rawlings. Rivers did well but at on stage when the whole team was watching the drill Rawlings plucked one clean and the consequent cheers were pretty funny.

Anyway, the session went for about 80 mins and then Misson, the fitness dude, told the players to head inside for a pretty cruisy cycle on the bike machine and then have an ice bath to which Gawn replied with 'Geezice baths in Casey, who would've thought'..or something along those lines. Trengove stayed behind after to have some goal kicking practice

Anyway, my highlights of the session were:

Mitch Clark, Dunn, Jones, Watts (only did about half the session though), Martin and that mysterious 'Leroy' guy.

Low-lights:

Gysberts and Morton still skinny. No recruits there to see.

All in all, it was a good session.

What a brilliant report, in all seriousness.

one of the best i've read, well done

True but Scott was always a cut above Luke.

Pity he couldn't be persuaded to stay in/come back to Melbourne.

Fortunately, we got Brent Moloney in exchange.

(Those were the good old days when the rules allowed a club to get a fair exchange when it lost a player).

Ahh for those days pre expansion WJ

..............................

If they can play well I do not care how skinny they are.

So long as they are not tall, skinny choir boys, eh old dee?

I was at training also this morning and had to leave to attend a meeting for work. So, here is my two bob's worth.

The first drills were all about close in checking while giving/receiving handballs.The coaches were instructing the players that once they had handballed to a team mate, they should look for an opposition body to crash into to knock them off the contest. So player A would handball, be crashed into by a coach with a great whopping body pad, and then be expected to find an opposition player and likewise crash into him. All this had to take place in a small confined area. Leigh Brown was very vocal with his group and was making the players never stop moving at a stoppage. I thought this was intersting because a frustration over the past two seasons has been the lack of movement around stoppages during games.

The other drill happening at the same time was similar, but seemed to be about how to offensively get out of a tight space. One tactic was particulrly interesting. The player with the ball would be approached by a tackler, and when the tackle was about to take place, the player with the ball would run straight toward another oppostion player. This meant it was two on one and there was a spare man to handball to.

Once they broke up into the main game-play drill, the emphasis was on bringing it out of defence, and interchanges.

They were instructed to not leave the interchange box until the player coming off was inside it.

Players were instructed that an interchange should be occurring every 30 seconds during the drill so I reckon we will see higher rotations next year.

When bringing the ball out of defence, they were only allowed to switch play from deep in the back pocket. The drill they were doing defintiely revolves around the half back flank area. Once at half back, the coaches were yelling to remind them not to switch play across half back. Not once was the corridor used when the ball reached half back, unless it was knocked there by a defender.

After this drill they split up into various groups.

Dunn and Trengove had shots on goal.

Martin and Gawn were having overhead marking practice. Stef still looks but marked the ball almost every time.

One group were practicing a drill where five defensive players tried to force the offensive players into an out of bounds area. There was a lot of short burst running and a lot of tackling. Jones loved every second of this but Bennell (I think) was struggling.

Another group were split into three groups of four people. Again, in a confined space they had to string 10 handballs together or they had to complete the drill again. Dunn was also good here, as was Rivers. They were being instructed to hold onto the ball as long as possible and make a late decision of who to give it off to.

Another group went into the back pocket area. I reckon they were practicing a set play. Take a mark in the back pocket, turn toward the boundary, then spot a player leading up the half back flank close to the boundary.

One larger group did one-on-one marking practice, a bit like kick-to-kick at school. This was great to watch and gave real insight into players physical cabilities while a ball is in play. Howe was the stand out. Davis was very physical but would have given away a lot of free kicks with over scragging. One of the young train-with blokes was very good and aggressive.

There were only 26 players there and a group only completed about 2/3 of the session on the oval.

The three coaches Leigh Brown, Jade Rawlings and Brian Royal ran the sessions and I was really impressed with all three of them. I have been to a lot of pre-season training over the past 3 years, and these three blokes never let the drills run themselves. They are in there correcting, advising, changing. Even Brian Royal is a lot more vocal than I can remember in previous years. Leigh Brown comes across as a great coach; clear instructions, loud voice, high expectations.

Lynden Dunn's kicking to position was a highlight. I don't think that I am ready for an intelligent Lynden Dunn - it sounds like an oxymoron to me.

Matthew Bate is loving the physicality of training and is a stand out. During the game-play drill he was hitting bodies hard, getting up and having a second go, more like we are used to seeing Chip do.

Our main back three - Frawley, Garland and Rivers - are great to watch working together. Very sure, very intelligent players. Even so I reckon Rivers might lose his spot to Tom MacDonald in 2012 IMO.

Watts and Blease excel at running forward of the pack once our inside players have the ball, and find space very easily. The coacheds applauded this at times.

I have to disagree about comment above on Gysberts. First, he didn't look as exhausted today so his fitness appears to be rising. I don't think he will ever be bulky like Jones/Moloney but I reckon he is a good 4-5 kgs heavier than this time last year.

Morton looked composed, concentrated hard and tried his guts out at every drill, listening intently to instruction. He really is having a go. But in the game-drill his bumping/body work was almost totally ineffectual against anyone his own size. However, his tackling is looking stronger.

One of the train-with guys was impressive. About 6'3'', white blond hair and built like a brick toilet. Very strong over the ball, aggressive physically and coped well with the level of training. I hope he gets a rookie spot. I asked three people but no-one, not even one of the club trainers could tell me his name.

Howe is a brilliant mark. Regardless of opponent, he almost always won the best position, and would mark 3 out of 5. Very impressive.

Nicholson's kicking was really poor at times and he was getting mad at himself during the game-play drill.

There were a heap of faces there today I did not recognise, and these players were probably the permission to train blokes. Apart from the 6'3" bloke, none of the others really shone.

Cheers.

.

Thanks Joeboy, Freak and MaldonBoy - sensational work.

Robbie Flower comes to mind

Peter Matera went okay too..

So long as they are not tall, skinny choir boys, eh old dee?

It is the choir boys bit that is the problem mate

I have been lucky to attend a few training sessions and you always look for one player that is unexpectively training the house down. To me we have two this year in Bate and Bennell. Bennell in particular has looked good when the footy has come out and hopefully his efforts will see him lock away a small defender role.

What a brilliant report, in all seriousness.

one of the best i've read, well done

Agree with your sentiments and also say the same about M-boy's report along with Joeboy's great input.Very interesting that Dunn impressed all. Fantastic to hear.

Freak said:

After that, Jade Rawlings got a bunch of the guys to get involved in a drill where a team had to try and handball it 10 times without turning it over or going out of bounds. It was a tough drill because there was not much space. Rawlings was participating himself and applauded Jamie Bennell twice for his efforts.

Maldonboy38 said:

One group were practicing a drill where five defensive players tried to force the offensive players into an out of bounds area. There was a lot of short burst running and a lot of tackling. Jones loved every second of this but Bennell (I think) was struggling.

I may be wrong, but assuming this was the same drill, it's interesting to see how observations can differ ;-)

Having said that, thanks for the reports as being in no position to be able to attend these sessions, they really are appreciated.

Thanks for the very detailed reports guys. Hope you had the 30+ on...

Looking forward to JCB's report on Friday....

I know a lot of us look at the club with rose coloured glasses, but intensity, game plan, physicality and structure seem to be the big changes from the reports we are getting. To Maldonboy, Freak & Joeboy as a supporter who lives in WA thank you very much for the updates becuase if it aint blue & gold we don't here about it in this town.

Have to say I'm looking forward to seeing how the new training and natural evolution of the younger players will see us perform on the real stage this season.

Keep up the good work guys

The biggest changes in training, in comparison the the past four years seem to be in three areas:

Specific drills. When a drill is set, it is not allowed to go its 15 minutes then followed up by dissection and discussion. The line coaches are correcting the drills while they are happening. When short drink breaks are happening, players are asking questions, correcting each other before re-setting. Also, the players sound a lot more vocal in all aspects of the drills.

Line coaches. Rawlings, Brown and Royal are very vocal, and allow no small correction to go unnoticed or unexplained. Often, all three of them will get involved in a drill and show what they mean. I have yet to see or hear Neeld give a specific instruction during a training session. It seems the line coach - player relationship is the actual mainstay of the coaching relationship. And the line coaches seem much more in your face than I have seen for a while.

Physical intensity. A lot of the ball work is about the in-close environment, including a lot of body work and positioning. It appears as if the players are being taught to initiate body contact deliberately, and practice your skills and awareness in hat environment.

I will say that Bailey seemed to have a much more hands-on role at training than Neeld. It will be interesting to see how this moves over into match day.

I know a lot of us look at the club with rose coloured glasses, but intensity, game plan, physicality and structure seem to be the big changes from the reports we are getting. To Maldonboy, Freak & Joeboy as a supporter who lives in WA thank you very much for the updates becuase if it aint blue & gold we don't here about it in this town.

Have to say I'm looking forward to seeing how the new training and natural evolution of the younger players will see us perform on the real stage this season.

Keep up the good work guys

I totally agree. From someone who lives in Brisbane, it's these fantastic reports that make me feel like I'm there and knowing what's going on at all times. So thanks a million guys!

............. From someone who lives in Brisbane, it's these fantastic reports that make me feel like I'm there and knowing what's going on at all times. So thanks a million guys!

Ditto from a Canberra resident. Keep up the good work fellas, your reports add so much value!.

Sorry -forgot to thank FREAK also for his SUPERB contribution as well, furthermore HT - hard to do a report when unable to be there. But I will be back Sunday so hopefully wil attend Monday's session

I know a lot of us look at the club with rose coloured glasses, but intensity, game plan, physicality and structure seem to be the big changes from the reports we are getting. To Maldonboy, Freak & Joeboy as a supporter who lives in WA thank you very much for the updates becuase if it aint blue & gold we don't here about it in this town.

Have to say I'm looking forward to seeing how the new training and natural evolution of the younger players will see us perform on the real stage this season.

Keep up the good work guys

My sentiments exactly.

I will be over for 11 days at Christmas (16th - 27th) anyone know if there will be a session available during this time?

Sensational Write Up guys - very happy with the way training is currently going. Excellent signs for 2012.

My sentiments exactly.

I will be over for 11 days at Christmas (16th - 27th) anyone know if there will be a session available during this time?

I think you are out of luck.

I believe they have a break over that period.

But welcome to God's country!!!!

Really appreciate the training reports. I've emailed a couple of them to other passionate supporters and they really enjoyed reading.

Of course I credit this forum when copying and pasting posts into an email.

Firstly, thanks Joeboy and Freak for your reports. They're most welcome and very telling.

Secondly, to those who think we have Luke Williams training with us, you must have gone back a few years in a time machine.

The Williams we have on the Permission To Train List is Leigh Williams from Norwood in the EFL.

Luke Williams played for us in the early 00's under Neale Daniher and was much loved on Demonland - especially those of us who attended games at Trevor Barker Beach Road Oval where (alas) he performed at his best.

Sorry about that guys. It was I who first mentioned Luke.

I asked one of the (older) attendants about that blonde guy built like a brick s$#@ house.

Whether that was Leigh Williams. His answer was you either mean Leigh Brown or Luke Williams.

It wasn't until I posted my thread that I realised my mistake and thought then it was too late to change.

How right I was.

(and no I know Browny is not a blonde)