Not many watching....obviously unannounced on club website.

4 groups for a long period this morning.

Macartney - taking extensive handball drills; some of which I haven't seen before and may have brought with him from Geelong/Ess/Bulldogs. Zig-zag chain where 20-30 balls fed quickly. Relies on quick clean hands and accurate lay-off. One error just means the drill almost falls apart.

Matthews taking mids for body contact possession and footwork.

Offensive kicking group.

5-on-2 get ball and split offensively drill.

No Greg Stafford today. Is he still ruck-coach?

noted a bit of that zig zag in soccer where the ball is passed around a defender who was gaurding space.

The player who originated the move then moved forward into space providing an alternative attacking option.

Progress was made to attack . the only option to negate this is one on one which then requires getting a match up that is in your favour.

Theres more to this training than meets the eye. Hope it is an indication of an enhanced performance.

Theres more to this training than meets the eye. Hope it is an indication of an enhanced performance.

"Perfect practice makes perfect" Barassi (The Coach 1977)

"Pressure practice makes perfect" George Stone

Odd for us to be training on a Tuesday isn't it

Odd for us to be training on a Tuesday isn't it

No they have skills sessions every day, a lot of the time indoors though, not necessarily all the players either, day off is Thursday

Yes Stafford is still ruck coach, but only normally does one session a week, last week was Friday

So the ruck coach works 1 day a week? Doesn't make sense!

It means I see him out on the track one day a week, they film everything so assume there are meetings at other times, players on Monday said afternoon was weights and meetings

Would assume anyway that 'actual ruckwork' would only need one session a week during pre season, the rest of the time the rucks are just doing the other work,, which these days is equally important for them

So the ruck coach works 1 day a week? Doesn't make sense!

How often do you think they should work? The ball goes up, they figure out a way to jump up and hit it. Not really that complex is it? During the season I think Stafford works Friday as well as game day and maybe even another day plus I presume he travels with the team for away games.

How often do you think they should work? The ball goes up, they figure out a way to jump up and hit it. Not really that complex is it? During the season I think Stafford works Friday as well as game day and maybe even another day plus I presume he travels with the team for away games.

People that don't understand ruckwork tend to play down the intricacies.

If it were easy, anyone could do it, just get a tall dude.

Clubs are prepared to trade for ruckmen or develop them for years not knowing if they will ever be any good. Why is that? Ruckmen are important.

If ruckwork was not important why not just have an extra midfielder and concede the ruck?

Sides with dominant ruckmen usually win. So the opposition will plan to negate that influence. How? Position, timing, variation, blocking, aggression etc.

I use to love watching Jimmy play, not a dominant ball up ruckman but he would beat his opponents by running them into the ground, he would get to more stoppages than his opponent and give silver service to his onballers.

How often do you think they should work? The ball goes up, they figure out a way to jump up and hit it. Not really that complex is it? During the season I think Stafford works Friday as well as game day and maybe even another day plus I presume he travels with the team for away games.

So the ruck coach only teaches that does he? Wouldn't he be included in the midfield group when going through stoppage tactics? Center bounces are important too, "Get a bloody clearance" is a thing i hear often at games, and generally we get a clearance from a great STRATEGIC tap to a player on a run through, so everytime they do this it's a fluke is it?

I'm pretty sure all the ruck coaches in the AFL are part time.

are the umpires still part time? Bloody disgraceful that is!

are the umpires still part time? Bloody disgraceful that is!

AFL umpires do a much better job than soccer officials.

AFL umpires do a much better job than soccer officials.

I swear, you could openly bribe a soccer official and get away with it, they way players push them and argue with them is ludicrous.