Intra-Club Casey Fields 15 February 2013.

I think it was Kevin Sheedy who coined the phrase dancing with your sister to describe intra-club practice matches. Both could never be taken too seriously and a lack of true physical
contact would be a no no ...

So what to make of a match simulation for the same event, as described in press releases from the Club? Well, they had umpires. It all looked serious enough without the serious physical aspects, but keeping score was irrelevant especially when points scored saw the ball taken to the opposing half-back line for a restart.

Anyhow you looked at whatever it was called, it was more than a normal training run, but less than the real McCoy. It certainly provided the opportunity to gauge how the newer recruits would hold up in a more intense atmosphere.

No shows, as would have been expected were Clark, Dawes, Trengove and Gawn. Didnt sight Jack or Max, but the other two were seen on the boundary, with Dawes doing the warm-ups. So he cant be too far away from more serious work. Joel McDonald sat out and only did slight warm-ups with one of the training staff.

Four quarters of about 15-20 minutes in 30 degree temperatures was testing for everyone, but it must be said that it was hard to find anyone seriously affected by the heat and exercise.

No-one lying half dead on the ground after, as the whole group just walked calmly from the oval. Good signs, and the benefits of the current fitness regime and the Darwin trip may be showing already.

The two sides were in blue and white respectively, and while the blue side had the ascendancy on the day, with only a few exceptions, it would be the side that we can see on the park next week.

So just some observations:

■ Jack Viney is a seriously good player. He is simply into everything and just doesnt stop. His natural ability is matched with a ferocious competitiveness that mean he makes the ball his time after time. He will play plenty this year,providing he can tolerate the demands of AFL at senior level.

■ Jimmy Toumpas is silken class and another natural footballer. Still working his way into the rhythm and speed of the game, he shows more than glimpses of his underlying talent.

■ Get excited about Hulk Hogan, and make sure you get down to Casey to see him play this year. This kid could be anything. At just 17 he is seriously scary and already can hold his own against long established players.

■ Shannon Byrnes went off in the last with icing to his calf, but probably because he overused his leg from the number of kicks he was getting.

■ David Rodan will be another positive in the mid-field with strong body and simply superb vision in the packs. He can dance through bodies and finds space effortlessly, the hallmark of a truly gifted player.

■ And Cam Pedersen will be another more than useful pick-up from last year. Strength, height and the ability to open space in front of himself produced options that we simply didnt have last year.

■ Mark Jamar is back to his best. He is jumping off the ground again, unlike last year, and gave Spencer an absolute bath in the ruck. Sadly, Spencer still is not concentrating on the ball, despite his enormous height advantage, and apart from a good single mark, he did not touch the ball in general play or at ruck contests. By that I mean he did not touch the ball

■ Overall, it was good to have so many players on the field at this time of the year. The fitness staff have to be congratulated as it will give us options in the weeks to come.

■ Impressive was the speed of movement of the ball. Yes, it is difficult to judge when we are playing amongst ourselves, but some of the change of direction and ability to break through lines with swift and accurate handball was a delight to watch.

■ Dont expect too much from Aaron Davey this year. While his delivery is simply sublime when he has it in his hands, he has simply lost the yard necessary to make the electrifying moves of years past. He was unable to open space between himself and his opponent constantly, and barely touched the ball. A loose bouncing ball in the goal-square would have been a certain 6 pointer years ago, but today only resulted in a scrimmage and ball-up.

■ Have to give Rory Taggert a rub for a beautiful 50 metre goal from the boundary line ... and because his mum wasnt too far away from where we were sitting ...

Overall, the session was more than a dance ,,, it was quick, efficient and lacking in howler type blunders. There was plenty to be pleased about with lines of players like Watts, Strauss, M. Jones, Sylvia, Frawley, Barry, Tom McDonald, all showing the skills that they have consistently, repeatedly and properly.

Take this into the season, and we have plenty to hope for.

See you all next Friday

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Great review.
Spewing I couldnt make it due to work commitments.
We are all anticipating the years to come with Viney hiting Hogan on the chest, laces out.

Great work George.

I've always enjoyed these games in the past but things have changed a lot over the years. We all know these hit outs don't really help the average spectator all that much in the context of the season to come because we have no comparison with other clubs until we're into the NAB Cup and the real competition.

A couple of things I did note were that many players look fitter than ever before - Watts, Dunn and a few others look in fantastic shape and of course, because we (more than most others) need everyone healthy and on the park to improve and move up the ladder.

After all, we have lost a substantial amount of experience - Green, Rivers, Moloney, Petterd, Bate etc. so we need their replacements to come to the fore virtually straight away. In that regard, it was good that 13 out of 14 of the newbies were on the park and the odd man out, Chris Dawes, was being rested.

From what I saw, we are likely to get good value from the new blokes from other clubs. I was a bit hesitant about Byrnes and Rodan and, though they won't be 200 game players, they will be ample fill ins for a couple of years while Pedersen and Gillies will add a bit of steel and depth to the line up. The mature age recruits in M Jones and Terlich are interesting - can they make an early impact as James Magner did in the early stages of last year? Time will tell.

Of the young blokes, Jack Viney and Jim Toumpas look polished enough to walk straight into the team and fit in as though they've been there for years. If they let Hogan play, I would have included him in that category as well ...

Having seen Dean Kent in action for the first time, I like! Strong, hard, good delivery. More ready than I originally thought. Rory Taggert looks a balanced player who I hope gets a good run in the coming weeks.

Finally, Dom Barry has the makings but seeing him in person, I think he's destined for a development year to hone his skills along with the Hulk at Casey.

I don't think the loss of those players will make much difference to us because most didn't perform in 2012.

The exception perhaps was Rivers who had a reasonably good season but he was really all over the shop, back, forward and never really had a major role. Besides which, we've got Frawley, Garland, T Mac, Watts, Sellar and Gillies.

We will move forward on 2013.