Anyone attend? Hanging out for more training reports

I'll get is started:

The boys looked good today and skills were good despite the windy conditions.

The skills were unacceptably bad for this time of the pre-season in spite of the windy conditions.

The windy conditions were unacceptable at this time of the preseason. I don't know why they are forced to train in the open air...

I wasn't there but I can assume:

• The boys are training so much better than previous years

• Mark Neeld is going to be so awesome for us

• Jurrah, McKenzie, Bartram, Grimes, Spencer, Sylvia, Evans in the rehab group

• Trengove, Nicholson, McDonald, flying

• Davey trained poorly

• Mitch Clark will be handy in the fwd line

• Morton needs to show more urgency

Can I also clarify. I enjoy ready the training reports and appreciate the effort of those who write them up Just feel they have been hijacked a bit too much lately by debates, but hey it is a discussiob board

I'll get is started:

The boys looked good today and skills were good despite the windy conditions.

The skills were unacceptably bad for this time of the pre-season in spite of the windy conditions.

The windy conditions were unacceptable at this time of the preseason. I don't know why they are forced to train in the open air...

He's training the proverbial, House down!

I'll get is started:

The boys looked good today and skills were good despite the windy conditions.

The skills were unacceptably bad for this time of the pre-season in spite of the windy conditions.

The windy conditions were unacceptable at this time of the preseason. I don't know why they are forced to train in the open air...

Yep, & they're calling it 'Moria'.

I wasn't there but I can assume:

• The boys are training so much better than previous years

• Mark Neeld is going to be so awesome for us

• Jurrah, McKenzie, Bartram, Grimes, Spencer, Sylvia, Evans in the rehab group

• Trengove, Nicholson, McDonald, flying

• Davey trained poorly

• Mitch Clark will be handy in the fwd line

• Morton needs to show more urgency

Funny - except you forgot Tapscott in the rehab group.

Ehh....rode my bike past the Paddock at 10 - no one there. Possibly because it announced on the club website there was no Friday training this week. Is that because there is an intra-club at the weekend (did someone say???)

I arrived fairly late around 1030 on the off-chance. There was a small-ish group of players on the main (Collingwood's) oval - maybe around half of the playing group. They were all in one half of the ground exchanging foot passes and then having shots at goal. I thought the skills were pretty impressive - the passing was way out in front of the player on the lead and very few went astray or caused the leading player to back track.

Missing were (presumably amongst others) Watts, Morton, Fitzpatrick, Bates. For the first time that I've seen, Sylvia & Jordie were in with the main group.

The second drill I saw was a hand balling drill with the players broken into three groups with one group at either end and one in the middle. The one in the middle then had to try and intercept the ball from whichever of the 'end' groups had the ball before they got to 10 hand passes. If they did, they got to have a rest while the losing group then had to run to the other end and intercept the other groups series of hand passes. It looked exhausting for the losing groups.

After about 15 mins of that, they then broke into two groups working in one half of the ground with one group trying to prevent the other hand passing up the ground to the centre. If they lost the ball the defenders wer then encouraged to have a shot at goal on the run.

If enthusiasm is the key to success we're in with a chance. No-one seems to be taking their ownership of a spot in the 22 for granted and that's positive. All of the leadership group was there as were those dropped from the group. However like a true Dees supporter, I would say that I am assuming nothing until the 2012 season finishes - 'gun shy' does not do justice to the scepticism gathered over the last decade or two

Aren't they all doing their community visits like all the clubs?

Does anybody know if we are eventually taking over the Pies existing corner of Gosch's Paddock when they move to the thieved " McGuire-Brumby" Oval ( formerly Olympic Park ) ?

The reason so many players were missing from the main training session was that the rest were playing a scratch match against collingwood at Victoria Park. I was only able to attend the first two quarters during my lunch break, and it was sometimes hard to differentiate betwen players due to the absense of numbers on jumpers, however, here is what I observed:

The coaches (Neeld and Buckley) were able to call plays i.e. we kicked a goal and rather than having a ball up in the centre, Buckley would call out and it would be a kick out instead, providing boths teams an opportunity to practice certain stuctures. Each coach had this kind of conrol for a quater. We dominated the first quater but the Pies came back into it in the second, smashing us in the clearances on many occasions, however when I left we would have still been up by a couple of goals.

From what I saw (which was somewhat surprising considering the bashing he has received here) Cale Morton was a stand out. He played across the backline and disposed of the ball well by foot and finding targets in space, he competed hard in marking contests, kept his feet and, and made good decisions under pressure.

Steph Martin was playing in the forward line, while Fitzpatrick was rucking. Unfrotunately Fitz got absolutely smashed in the ruck, although he is tall, and relativley fast for his size, he does not look to have much of a leap and was continually beaten.

James Magner and Tom Couch are tough as they come, in and under, see-ball-get-ball midfeilders, while Seller is a physical beast and played well in the back line, it would not surprise me if he plays quite a few games this season, freeing up Frawley for a more attacking role.

Jack Watts is all class, he did not have many touches, but whenever he got near it looked dangerous. Although he does not look much bigger compared to last year, he was able to demonstrate great strength in contested marking contests and his ability at ground level once the ball hits the deck is a real weapon. This kid will be a gun.

Sam Blease is super quick. He played mostly in the forward line, and looked dangerous whenever he got near it. He ran hard, chased and tackled. Rohan Bail looks really good, he has great speed and can find the ball. Mathew Bate and Gysberts competed well in the midfeild, but had very poor service in the ruck. Jeremy Howe played a high half forward/midfield role, and looked good, this guy will be a gun. Jamie Bennell has pace to burn and if he can find more of the ball this season will be a real weapon, he is also one of the few MFC players with the attributes to be able to shut down top-line small forwards.

Overall the tackling was great, they stuck most, forced plenty of turnovers and applied more pressure than I saw in most games last season. There seemed to be good defensive structure, and when players were out of position they worked hard to fix it. On the flipside, kicking was average. Many kicks missed targets, during the 30 minutes I watched there would have been at least six kicks that went out on the full. Dan Nicholson may well be an elete runner, but he still cannot kick!

As I said, I only saw 2 quaters, but from what I did see, there is promise for this season. However, it is worth noting that there were very few of the starting 22 for Collingwood playing, and this really was just a training drill for both teams.

Snuck that one under the radar, I wondered what Sellar's tweet had been about. "Loved the first hit-out of 2012... Great fun... Many more good times ahead #godees"

Also, a bit of a write-up in the Age:

Buckley, Neeld hoping practice makes perfect

They also singled out one Cale Morton for (independent) praise. Perhaps our Giant Leap Forward will come from unexpected sources.

would not read into that match they just going throu thr motioins

Thanks jimcor and El Demonio..informative reports and interesting and helpful for us who couldn't be there. Well done.

Edited February 11, 201213 yr by 3031

Interesting insights boys. Have to agree though, Nicholson will not make a player while his kicking is like it is.

It is atrocious!