Can't go to watch but keen to encourage those who do to put their thoughts and observations down for those of us who couldn't get to training...

The boys were at AAMI. I stopped for 5 mins on the way past but it was only the warm up. Had to keep going to work.

Hopefully others got along.

Be bloody right... the only day I drive past Casey on a monday and theyre back in town..lol

Theres been some marvellous reporting here so Ill just wait appreciateively for another .

Hot and blustery out there today. Some very general observations:

- Evans walked laps.

- Bartram, McKenzie, Spencer, Jurrah, Tapscott, Williams and Lawrence were on modified programs, although Bartram and McKenzie hit good speed in their interval running and kicked the footballs over fair distances.

- Magner mananged to get his hand on the ball first time in all almost all stoppage work with the onball group. He just knew where to be. I am confident he will play early.

- Taggert has a solid body and worked with the onball group. He may surprise by playing some senior footy this year.

- Blease and Davey got to the right spot at the fall of the ball in forwards V defenders drills when the ball was coming into the forward line. Davey had a great battle with Bennell, and Flash really harrassed JB when the ball got turned over. Blease kicked a beautiful right foot snap after crumbing the ball off a pack.

- Petterd took some good marks in drills today. Howe did also. He just times his leap so well and never looks like dropping the pill. Howie got away from Rivers a couple of times. I hope that's not a sign of things to come for JR.

- Garland was awesome at killing the footy in marking contests and getting it out of bounds.

- The players used Frawley a hell of a lot when rebounding the footy from defense. Look for Chip to have a big year.

- They practised kick outs. It was hard to notice any particular patterns other than the fact they hugged the boundary for a large portion of transition drills. Garland and Grimes did the majority of the kick ins, but Frawley and Morton did some also.

- They also spent time doing close in drills where considerable pressure was placed on a team carrying the ball from one line to another over 20 meters. Common themes for the ball carrying team were to dispose of the footy at first option and to keep it simple. (No fancy stuff was the cry from Aaron Greaves.)

- Gysberts and Blease were again yelled at to push harder in drills where the ball was moved up and down the ground.

- Moloney was the standout for me with his voice. He kept urging players to "Help your teammate."

- It was good to see the majority of players do the bulk of the session today. Overall, our list appears healthy and in good shape.

Great report thanks for that.

Did Strauss train with the main group?

Great report thanks for that.

Did Strauss train with the main group?

Yes he did. He did not stand out in drills but he was moving very well.

Yes he did. He did not stand out in drills but he was moving very well.

Just great to hear he is back in full traing!

Love the report Spirit. Bate missed Friday's training - was he there today?

Cheers

Love the report Spirit. Bate missed Friday's training - was he there today?

Cheers

He sure was, and as has been widely reported, he has trimmed down and looks fantastic. He worked with Brian Royal and the mids.

Choco is one angry little bloke. You wouldn't want your kids sitting with earshot when he is barking out the instructions. "Not [censored] good enough Nicho. Get to the right [censored] spot next time. Fark!" was one order I heard bellowed.

How is Sylvia looking? I have not heard to much about him this pre-season. I hope he isn't taking it too easy.

Spirit I think it was Jetta and not Lawrence in rehab as I saw Lawrence in the drills a fair bit.

(null)

Choco is one angry little bloke. You wouldn't want your kids sitting with earshot when he is barking out the instructions. "Not [censored] good enough Nicho. Get to the right [censored] spot next time. Fark!" was one order I heard bellowed.

From the little training I have seen this pre-season Royal always gets stuck in to Gysberts, no matter the drill.

Spirit I think it was Jetta and not Lawrence in rehab as I saw Lawrence in the drills a fair bit.

(null)

Mate, you're probably right. Those two look pretty similar. I assumed it was Lawrence because he has spent a big portion of preseason doing an individual rogram. Cheers

From the little training I have seen this pre-season Royal always gets stuck in to Gysberts, no matter the drill.

That's cos Royal and the rest must see him as lazy if that's the case. And admittedly he is a little but then again he's still building fitness so that laziness should move out of his game.

That's cos Royal and the rest must see him as lazy if that's the case. And admittedly he is a little but then again he's still building fitness so that laziness should move out of his game.

I think it is also because he does a lot well, but you cant just let the kids who have some natural talent keep coaching along like we have in the past, really push them,

I think its a bit like Neeld and Watts, put some extra expectations on the ones who have a higher ceiling than others and make them reach for it.

It's probably because what he (and Blease) do really well can't be coached, but what they need improvement in can be coached.

Improving their knowledge of team structures and defensive pressure can be improved through coaching and it is the coaches' job to make sure G & B play their roles properly. But if they can do that then their other, more unique, gifts can really add to the team.

I reckon AOB and JT are spot on.

Nice report So39.

I went down for a look this morning. First time so I can't compare it to previous sessions, but I'll add a couple of random observations.

-Loved the amount of physical stuff going on. Plenty of body contact and pressure during the drills. Players were sheparding for each other and looking to make space, basic stuff but we've been horrible at it the last few years. Late in the session Frawley and Clark had a bit of a wrestle. Clark had been killing Sellars in a drill where they'd burst from the goalsquare while one of the coaches kicked it in from CHF. Sellars took a knock and went off for a bit and Chippa moved onto Clark and started to bump him off the ball. After one or two Clark responded and before long they had each other by the scruff of the neck and were going at it about as hard as you can in modern footy. By the end of it a shredded orange vest lay on the ground but I couldn't remember who had been wearing it. Loved this from our big bloke bookends, neither will take a backward step.

-Bartram and Tapscott couldn't be far off the main group, they were very strong in their running and were told to ease up a bit more than once, Jurrah looked to be struggling a bit with the running but they did a lot of it. I think he'll be pleasantly surprised by what he's able to do in games with his increased fitness. Jack Viney looks physically ready to play AFL now, his biceps are thicker than my thighs were at 17.

-Clark is excactly what our forward line needed. His body work was excellent today. He was consistently able to push off his opponent and get a few yards on the lead against everyone but Frawley. Chippa gave him a much tougher contest.

-Plenty of blokes out there looking fitter than they've ever been. Gys looked fine to me, was still pushing hard late in the session and his face was barely pink. Bate's transformation is signifigant, completely different body shape. Howe is cut, don't know if he's any bigger but I'd guess his skin folds are down considerably. It's finally starting to look like there's more men out there than boys.

Great reports guy, thanks again.

Just wondering, who wasn't out there at all? Gawn obviously, but (for example) Cook?

Are we presuming from the above reports, that we'll have pretty well a full squad available for the first NAB match in a month?

thanks for the report guys

Nice report So39.

I went down for a look this morning. First time so I can't compare it to previous sessions, but I'll add a couple of random observations.

-Loved the amount of physical stuff going on. Plenty of body contact and pressure during the drills. Players were sheparding for each other and looking to make space, basic stuff but we've been horrible at it the last few years. Late in the session Frawley and Clark had a bit of a wrestle. Clark had been killing Sellars in a drill where they'd burst from the goalsquare while one of the coaches kicked it in from CHF. Sellars took a knock and went off for a bit and Chippa moved onto Clark and started to bump him off the ball. After one or two Clark responded and before long they had each other by the scruff of the neck and were going at it about as hard as you can in modern footy. By the end of it a shredded orange vest lay on the ground but I couldn't remember who had been wearing it. Loved this from our big bloke bookends, neither will take a backward step.

-Bartram and Tapscott couldn't be far off the main group, they were very strong in their running and were told to ease up a bit more than once, Jurrah looked to be struggling a bit with the running but they did a lot of it. I think he'll be pleasantly surprised by what he's able to do in games with his increased fitness. Jack Viney looks physically ready to play AFL now, his biceps are thicker than my thighs were at 17.

-Clark is excactly what our forward line needed. His body work was excellent today. He was consistently able to push off his opponent and get a few yards on the lead against everyone but Frawley. Chippa gave him a much tougher contest.

-Plenty of blokes out there looking fitter than they've ever been. Gys looked fine to me, was still pushing hard late in the session and his face was barely pink. Bate's transformation is signifigant, completely different body shape. Howe is cut, don't know if he's any bigger but I'd guess his skin folds are down considerably. It's finally starting to look like there's more men out there than boys.

Nice report FD - Thanks

Great reports guy, thanks again.

Just wondering, who wasn't out there at all? Gawn obviously, but (for example) Cook?

Are we presuming from the above reports, that we'll have pretty well a full squad available for the first NAB match in a month?

They were all out there other than Gawn, including Cook. As I mentioned earlier, Evans walked laps and I wouldn't expect him to take part in any preseason games. But every other player was moving at a pretty fair clip at one point or another, including those blokes on individual programs. (I just went through our list.)

And to answer a previous question from a poster, Sylvia looked a million dollars and did the whole session.

They were all out there other than Gawn, including Cook. As I mentioned earlier, Evans walked laps and I wouldn't expect him to take part in any preseason games. But every other player was moving at a pretty fair clip at one point or another, including those blokes on individual programs. (I just went through our list.)

And to answer a previous question from a poster, Sylvia looked a million dollars and did the whole session.

39 - you say Cook was there....but what did he do, if anything?

Thanks to all for their inputs. Much appreciated.

39 - you say Cook was there....but what did he do, if anything?

Thanks to all for their inputs. Much appreciated.

Every other time I have watched Cook train post Xmas he has been on a modified program. Today he did everything with main group, including some extra goalkicking with Dunn after training. He was fumbly and dropped some marks, but moved well and got through what was a solid 2 hour session.

I'm going to call it now: Strauss will become our first choice lockdown small defender.

Boom.