Training - 1st May, 2014

[Rod Grinter Riot Squad 5,636]

Missed the start, saw Spence was there but didn't see him as he was gone before we got there.

Lot of kicking practice when I first arrived and they looked great it what was perfect conditions, must have seen 100 running passes but only saw the ball hit the ground 3 or 4 times. The skills exist , just need to learn to execute them under pressure.

Next up, the boys moved the ball moved the ball from one end to the other, sprinting hard up the ground with players often receiving a handball from the person that had just marked their kick. Called for hard running this drill, the players all put in. Watching Watts run hard, couldn't help wonder why we don't get that body language and hard running in a game. The kid has all the ability in the world and just needs to back himself. Maybe he should call Brendon Goddard and invite him out for lunch one day.

Also did some match simulation work, not tackling hard but closer to the real thing than you often see at training. Here the skills were not as sharp, generally pretty good but the pressure led to some mistakes.

The mids, defenders and forwards (Watts in The later group) the split up. The defenders practiced clearing the ball quickly, the mids working on the centre bounce set up and the forwards finding a leading target in congestion, blocking was used to help here though marking was terrible to start with, only Dawes holding them, got better fortunately.

Goal kicking practice followed by quite a few. Watts (who I followed closely due to the fact my 4yo daughter loves him and was constantly having to show her where he was) then did a drill involving picking the ball up on the run while getting hit by a couple of trainers with the pads, then a marking drill where he copped a hit just before jumping for the mark.

Got some great pics of my daughter with Chunky, then the Russian, Wattsy and then Jack Viney. She was beaming in the photos and if the players happen to read this, thank-you for being great with her.

[Bitter but optimistic 21,369]

Thanks Rod good info. Do you happen to know if Spencer did any training at all?

[Rod Grinter Riot Squad 5,636]

Just what Viscout saw - walking laps.

Tapscott did a lot of training but finished early, seemed to be fine, assuming they r just managing his load

[Gorgoroth 12,331]

Thanks for the write up.

[dpositive 1,555]

Looks like they should be doing more of the match simulation work where they were/are not as sharp

Thanks for the report