Training - Wednesday 29th January, 2014

[Whispering_Jack 31,285]

Who's going to kick us off?

[All the Jacks 99]

Wayne Ludbey. ‏@WLudbey 4m

@JackWatts4 ,had 2 see the demons doctor today due 2 leather poisoning on the training track, #25 touches in 1 drill

[Akum 2,660]

Wayne Ludbey. ‏@WLudbey 4m

@JackWatts4 ,had 2 see the demons doctor today due 2 leather poisoning on the training track, #25 touches in 1 drill

Cue negative post from Hannibal

[Wormburner 674]

I could be way off, but wasn't today a closed session?

[Redleg 42,044]

I could be way off, but wasn't today a closed session?

No.

[DeeSpencer 26,480]

Rocked on down at about 10:20 and stayed until 11:30 when the guys were still going hard.

Roos in control of absolutely everything. Matt Rendell watching on in his Collingwood gear.

Absent (bearing in mind the time I got there): Riley, Barry, Nicholson, Jamar, Terlich and Garland. Edit: Plus, Byrnes, King, Harmes, Jetta.

Rehab: Dawes, Gawn, Fitzy, Hogan and Viney.

Rehab group doing some run throughs but also some ball work including taking some hangers with one of the staff holding the pads. Viney doing mainly running.

Modified program: Spencer, McKenzie, Frawley pulled out of one drill only to back in later. Same for Salem and JKH whilst Hunt stayed in but finished early. At one stage Spencer and Clark ran laps before Clark finished (after the other rehab boys were done) and Spencer went back in the main stuff. Kent got some work on his left hip I believe from the physio before calling it a day.

Drills. I didn't take notes so I'm going off the top of my head but the main message today was on spread and spacing.

3 group handball drill. A group in the goal square, 1 on either flank. Handball the ball around a defender and move the ball up to the next group. Very much working on getting players in to open space. Roos' message "don't go early".

A ball movement lanework drill with a kick at half back to a leading player leading down the line of the centre square who then handballs off to a player who kicks it to a leading forward. All about sharp kicks and following up your kick at speed. Had this going both ways so players pretty much kept moving at all times. Watts, Strauss, Salem stood out for continuing to hit targets. Michie and Tyson are classy as well. Howe for his ability to mark the ball whether its kicked 5m short or 5m over his head. Not too many really bad kicks. Jayden Hunt every now and then will do a poor kick but he's got that easy athleticism and can mark above his head. He's a bit like Howe in the easy movement stakes.

A simple drill 3 guys lead out, kick the ball to either of one of the 3 leading out 50m away. Just about sharp kicks and getting through the 40 or 50m sprint. Seemed a drill designed just to get voice up and run through.

Into some ball use simulation drills with about 15 in blue v 12 in yellow vests with the aim of getting the ball to a coach or player at full forward then starting again from the backline trying to work it to the other end. Not really tackling or competing just working on kicking through a zone kind of thing. The ball movement started off pretty well and this drill showed the smarter players getting more of the footy. Trengove, Grimes, Watts, Jones getting lots of touches. One nice piece of play where Blease got the ball at half back, took off down the corridor, handballed to Jones who then kicked it straight to the full forward. Another where Watts wheeled on to his left from the right forward flank and put it lace out 40m to Bail I think who was the leading forward. But also some dumb stuff considering the numerical advantage and not always fluent movement. Dunn gave Blease a polite ear full about getting out of the space and leading in to it at one stage. Also a couple of times Blease had some work done during the drinks break on the muscles in the front of his lower leg but resumed training. JKH as we are now used to very busy in calling for the ball.

Then they did a full ground circle work designed to move the ball as quickly as possible with defenders and forwards at either end and about 20 players moving in a scrum around the contest like midfielders do. Then they did the same drill but made it all about moving the ball slowly and methodically with short kicks and going back off the mark. Interestingly they then ran 2 footies at once with one moving fast the other slow. That was a bit strange to watch.

Overall it was a decent hit out. A few missing. The big boys rehabbing but all moving well. Good numbers of supporters. Good numbers of 'official' people hanging around - Robbo, Josh Mahoney and several others in the official area. Nothing obvious to give away the captaincy news from the players, if anything Trenners was one I heard getting the boys in together and back on the track after a drinks break so good on him. As with Monday and last week I felt it was a productive session but also one that's about being patient and not going fully in to complex game scenarios or full on match practice.

[Roger Mellie 4,179]

Tasmanlvr's report lifted from Bigfooty

Not gonna complain, but cold + wet weather is insanely awesome. It is far better than yesterday's 'Blurghhh' conditions.

It's back to school and you know what that means. Traffic, people lining up to top up their myki and general chaos. Yuck.

Couple of young blokes here in training tops. Tyler Roos takes a hanger over Miller!

Mitch Clark and Fitzy running laps with the boys. A good sign.

Could be a light session by the looks of things. No reason why these names shouldn't be running with the boys alongside the Rehab Regulars: Byrnes, McKenzie, Nicholson, Riley, Jamar, Dunn, Frawley, King, Harmes, Barry, Viney, Terlich, Jetta. Clark runs with the boys but is now on the sideline.

Standard issue running, stretches to start off with.

Hogan and Fitz go to the sideline -

Hogan's so ripped, I'm jealous. He's a year YOUNGER than I am and he's a goliath while I'm probably the equivalent of Cale Morton. The 2011-12 Cale Morton, that is. 

Robert 'Tulip' Flower is here!!! Great to see more club legends reconnecting with the club.

Quite interesting to notice that Terlich's right knee is very heavily strapped.

Four blokes doing some short activities on the other track -

Fitzy, Hogan, Gawn and Viney.

Upper body strength drills after the runthroughs/stretching stuff. Wrestling drills and the like.

Split into three. Forwards doing lead up drills, midfield split into two and playing keepings off, defenders doing a switch drill trying to work it out of defense.

Voice is a bit down today! It seems the most vocal is Roosy. Which is a bit concerning.

Forwards not saying a word which is baffling.

Crowd looks solid.

Nowhere near as large as Monday but there's about 80 people here.

Captaincy discussion sweeping Gosch's!

Everyone thinking Chunk will get it.

Handballs and kicks in the meantime, got swept away by discussion of the captaincy. Damn.

Another bloke who's moving well off injury is Dean Kent. He's moving very solidly.

Boys are doing a switch drill up the opposite side of Gosch's. Defenders added after a little while wearing bibs.

We have journos here guys (Channel 7 at least) but we all know who the best 'journo' is here. The unassuming kid with the iPad. 

#futuremelbournemediamanager #moveovermattburgan

Mitch Clark progressively running faster around Gosch's. Great sign!

Full grounder drill now. Let's keep an eye on how people are moving.

Jayden Hunt's moving very quickly as he should with his natural pace.

Taking an understanding that James Strauss is battling some sore shoulders and has plenty of strapping but he's moving well nonetheless.

Howie moving well but drops his bread and butter overhead mark.

Trenners also moving well but not fast. Not a quick midfielder but a hard working industrial midfielder.

Boys come in for another chat.

Robbo's here too as the boys start another drill. Simple mark, run then 25m kick to player on the opposite side of centre square. Two defenders wearing bibs for good matter.

Full grounder after a chat. Drill is brief because the boys are called in. Assuming that they were doing something wrong. Anyway the boys are back out and there is an emphasis on FAST ball movement. Lots of noise!

Viv Michie looking good. Clean user of the footy and getting it a few times.

Noticing that Chunk is a lot louder than he used to be. Hint hint?

Emphasis on gut running in this one!

Cross and Toumpas are looking good in this department plus getting the footy and using it well too.

Boys are called in, on resumption JKH busts his gut 30-40m to get the footy. Brilliant! He's one of my favourites already.

This just got interesting. Two balls now.

A bloke who's looking solid in this drill is Lynden Dunn.

He's getting it often, using it pretty well and frequently using his voice too.

Dom Tyson, methodical with the ball as always.

The boys come in and the drill is altered. Half of them are defenders now.

Grimes nails a 45m kick to Michie which is perfectly weighted.

JKH feasts on an errant Tom McDonald kick which is fumbled by Strauss, tackles Strauss, wins the footy, spins around and handballs to Bail for a goal.

Hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.

Christian Salem gets the ball, has a stroll, takes the game on with a couple of bounces and nails a pass inside 50. I like the cut of this kid's jib.

Boys come in and split into two. One group doing groundwork, whilst another doing goalkicking.

Let's give Crossy three years boys. He has his son here and he is cute.

#getcrossyto50games

Training finished afterwards and I noticed that Nathan Jones was having a very lengthy chat to Josh Mahoney walking back... think it's confirmed guys.

[Slartibartfast 18,039]

Great report Roger, thanks.

[P-man 13,367]

Outdone yourself again Roger.

[dpositive 1,838]

unassuming report i reckon "cut of his jib" where did that come from?

Great read.Thanks a lot.

[Arrow 1,257]

Rocked on down at about 10:20 and stayed until 11:30 when the guys were still going hard.

Roos in control of absolutely everything. Matt Rendell watching on in his Collingwood gear.

Absent (bearing in mind the time I got there): Riley, Barry, Nicholson, Jamar, Terlich and Garland. Edit: Plus, Byrnes, King, Harmes, Jetta.

Rehab: Dawes, Gawn, Fitzy, Hogan and Viney.

Rehab group doing some run throughs but also some ball work including taking some hangers with one of the staff holding the pads. Viney doing mainly running.

Modified program: Spencer, McKenzie, Frawley pulled out of one drill only to back in later. Same for Salem and JKH whilst Hunt stayed in but finished early. At one stage Spencer and Clark ran laps before Clark finished (after the other rehab boys were done) and Spencer went back in the main stuff. Kent got some work on his left hip I believe from the physio before calling it a day.

Drills. I didn't take notes so I'm going off the top of my head but the main message today was on spread and spacing.

3 group handball drill. A group in the goal square, 1 on either flank. Handball the ball around a defender and move the ball up to the next group. Very much working on getting players in to open space. Roos' message "don't go early".

A ball movement lanework drill with a kick at half back to a leading player leading down the line of the centre square who then handballs off to a player who kicks it to a leading forward. All about sharp kicks and following up your kick at speed. Had this going both ways so players pretty much kept moving at all times. Watts, Strauss, Salem stood out for continuing to hit targets. Michie and Tyson are classy as well. Howe for his ability to mark the ball whether its kicked 5m short or 5m over his head. Not too many really bad kicks. Jayden Hunt every now and then will do a poor kick but he's got that easy athleticism and can mark above his head. He's a bit like Howe in the easy movement stakes.

A simple drill 3 guys lead out, kick the ball to either of one of the 3 leading out 50m away. Just about sharp kicks and getting through the 40 or 50m sprint. Seemed a drill designed just to get voice up and run through.

Into some ball use simulation drills with about 15 in blue v 12 in yellow vests with the aim of getting the ball to a coach or player at full forward then starting again from the backline trying to work it to the other end. Not really tackling or competing just working on kicking through a zone kind of thing. The ball movement started off pretty well and this drill showed the smarter players getting more of the footy. Trengove, Grimes, Watts, Jones getting lots of touches. One nice piece of play where Blease got the ball at half back, took off down the corridor, handballed to Jones who then kicked it straight to the full forward. Another where Watts wheeled on to his left from the right forward flank and put it lace out 40m to Bail I think who was the leading forward. But also some dumb stuff considering the numerical advantage and not always fluent movement. Dunn gave Blease a polite ear full about getting out of the space and leading in to it at one stage. Also a couple of times Blease had some work done during the drinks break on the muscles in the front of his lower leg but resumed training. JKH as we are now used to very busy in calling for the ball.

Then they did a full ground circle work designed to move the ball as quickly as possible with defenders and forwards at either end and about 20 players moving in a scrum around the contest like midfielders do. Then they did the same drill but made it all about moving the ball slowly and methodically with short kicks and going back off the mark. Interestingly they then ran 2 footies at once with one moving fast the other slow. That was a bit strange to watch.

Overall it was a decent hit out. A few missing. The big boys rehabbing but all moving well. Good numbers of supporters. Good numbers of 'official' people hanging around - Robbo, Josh Mahoney and several others in the official area. Nothing obvious to give away the captaincy news from the players, if anything Trenners was one I heard getting the boys in together and back on the track after a drinks break so good on him. As with Monday and last week I felt it was a productive session but also one that's about being patient and not going fully in to complex game scenarios or full on match practice.

I heard from a bloke who sponsors a player that they did a 'closed' training session at an elite Melbourne school yesterday to go through some of their actual drills and match tactics not with the media around. Helllloooooo

[Cards13 9,117]

Good to see the kid Tasmanlvr's doesn't have any ego about him... next MFC media manager... ppffftttt

[Bossdog 2,002]

Good to see the kid Tasmanlvr's doesn't have any ego about him... next MFC media manager... ppffftttt

I can see a few peoples sense of humour has gone missing......

[CBDees 3,167]

Good to see the kid Tasmanlvr's doesn't have any ego about him... next MFC media manager... ppffftttt

Bloody good job I reckon for a 19yo. We could do a lot worse than have him onboard the administration. At least he gives comprehensive reports, which are easy to read and issued straight after the training session!

[whatwhat say what 23,631]

That Tasman dude is fantastic, full of enthusiasm and reasonably perceptive of what needs to change re players' skills and possible niggles.

[binman 44,689]

That Tasman dude is fantastic, full of enthusiasm and reasonably perceptive of what needs to change re players' skills and possible niggles.

Perhaps DL can trade him in from Big Footy. We could swap him for posters who figure high on ignore blocks

[Salems Lot 2,691]

Good to see the kid Tasmanlvr's doesn't have any ego about him... next MFC media manager... ppffftttt

Hey Cards, where do you get your grumpy pills from?

[KingDingAling 3,758]

Tassie guy is awesome, thanks for the constant reports Tas, much appreciated.

[Carrot Top 947]

Good to see the kid Tasmanlvr's doesn't have any ego about him... next MFC media manager... ppffftttt

The same kid that mentioned he had Cale Morton's build?

I think he has a healthy respect for the both the sublime and the ridiculous.

[Redleg 42,044]

Outdone yourself again Roger.

You mean in pasting the other bloke's report.

Roger don't get upset, I am glad you do it as they are a great read, but I just thought the author should get the credit and I am sure you do too.

[DeeSpencer 26,480]

You mean in pasting the other bloke's report.

Roger don't get upset, I am glad you do it as they are a great read, but I just thought the author should get the credit and I am sure you do too.

Running joke Redleg. After Rog posts one of tasmans reports (always credited) then its customary for someone to thank him for the report! Unless you've taken the joke to the next level Redleg!

[DeeSpencer 26,480]

I heard from a bloke who sponsors a player that they did a 'closed' training session at an elite Melbourne school yesterday to go through some of their actual drills and match tactics not with the media around. Helllloooooo

That makes sense, but my point was more they aren't spending main trainings trying to work on highly specific tasks or on physical and unpredictable full match practice style drills. There's a mix of physical stuff usually at the start of training and some game style ball movement drills but mainly it looks like practical training when it's nearly 2 months until the real action. It's still patient Roos not all out stuff.

[binman 44,689]

Running joke Redleg. After Rog posts one of tasmans reports (always credited) then its customary for someone to thank him for the report! Unless you've taken the joke to the next level Redleg!

Post post ironic post.

[Machsy 2,858]

Didn't realise you were so young Rog, but good luck with the media manager application.

[hells bells 2,023]

You mean in pasting the other bloke's report.

Roger don't get upset, I am glad you do it as they are a great read, but I just thought the author should get the credit and I am sure you do too.

I just assumed it was the same guy posting in different places under different names...