Training today

No shows Trengove, Petracca and Fitzy who is crook

Viney got a belt in his head/stomach/gonads during match sim and left early

Jack Watts confirmed he will play NAB but not this week, same with Jayden Hunt

Spoke to Dean Kent, highly amused at the rumours, said he thought he was signed to MFC for 2016

At end of session Goodwin ran some one on one drills with Lumumba against Newton and Brayshaw against Jones, skinny Brayshaw more than held his own, apart from when Jones pushed him slighly in the back and he dived full length forward, much to everybody's amusement

Some of the match sim was excellent today, players seemed happy with it, Tommy Mc was going really well, except for one kick from backline straight to Crossy front and centre 45 out, of course he was on the other side

One nice bit, White, now fully fit, testing out the cannon of a left leg, took a shot from the edge of the square and put it through the centre of the goal post height

Pig trained really well but finished early with Terlich and went and ran laps after he had tickled the ribs of Billy Stretch with one fearsome tackle in the match sim

Pics on Twitter Demonpk soon

I took some notes today:

I think Newton will be our find of 2015, he looks a very good well rounded player and his training and attitude are very solid.

Chris Dawes to me looks to be moving a lot better, i think he will play up the ground a fair bit this season and he, Watts, Hogan and resting ruckman should pose headaches.

Toumpas to me is back to the level where i saw him in the SANFL, looks to be moving really well.

great to see alot of guys lowering their eyes and delivering into the forward 50 now, not too many blokes just bombing away which is great, plenty of targets hit in match sim.

Brendan Mcartney again doing a great job, this week telling Watts to use his body more, he is a big boy and shouldn't be getting pushed off the line by many blokes, needs to impose himself,

got stuck into Jeff for being a bit lazy with his forward pressure at one point, this picked up right away after that.

The overall spread of the team from stoppages is noticeably better imo, i think our ball movement has improved a lot

Sounding more and more like Watts has become a McCartney project. Everybody in football has an opinion of Watts and I doubt he is any different. Here's hoping the McCartney blowtorch in combination with the Roos touch can get the best out of Jack!

I like the idea the idea of the coach being on the bench during games as he can deliver instant feedback and get interaction with the player coming off the ground - the downside being you obviously get a better picture from up in the box. However with McCartney onboard I think we can have the best of both worlds. Roos up in the box and McCartney down on the bench

Sounding more and more like Watts has become a McCartney project. Everybody in football has an opinion of Watts and I doubt he is any different. Here's hoping the McCartney blowtorch in combination with the Roos touch can get the best out of Jack!

That is McCartney's role at training, he roams around, a word here, an observation there, he talks to all the players, not just Watts, if he has something to say

That being said Roos pulled up the drills today more than I have seen to make points, we are getting close

I really like the sound of what Mcartney is doing. Not allowing our players to drop from the high standards we are trying to set.

Watts certainly needs something to push him further.

I really like the sound of what Mcartney is doing. Not allowing our players to drop from the high standards we are trying to set.

as TDI said he really just floats around training and offers advice to everyone, just listening to him is amazing, i have been listening closely for my own football haha, but i can see exactly why he is so highly regarded as a development coach.

That is McCartney's role at training, he roams around, a word here, an observation there, he talks to all the players, not just Watts, if he has something to say

That being said Roos pulled up the drills today more than I have seen to make points, we are getting close

Saty, can you please clarify what you mean here, especially the underline bit. Do you mean "getting close" as in it's close to our games being played, or do you mean "getting close" as in we are getting close to playing the way Roos wants us.

Cheers.

Saty, can you please clarify what you mean here, especially the underline bit. Do you mean "getting close" as in it's close to our games being played, or do you mean "getting close" as in we are getting close to playing the way Roos wants us.

Cheers.

Well the way Roos wants us to train any way.

Well the way Roos wants us to train any way.

Thanks for clarifying, Saty.

Saty, can you please clarify what you mean here, especially the underline bit. Do you mean "getting close" as in it's close to our games being played, or do you mean "getting close" as in we are getting close to playing the way Roos wants us.

Cheers.

Both, he seemed to be tinkering a bit more today, wasn't raising his voice, fine tuning, we still had a couple of horrible passages of play, but that is to be expected

What I liked today was if the kick went astray, there was a player backing up to tidy up and carry it forward.

A couple of times the wind picked up and the player put too much oomph into the kick and it went over heads, rather than taking the shorter option Roos pulled this up, and then there was once when the defence went missing on a turnover

Did Salem train?

Did Salem train?

Yes, he had a pressure bandage on his calf, didn't seem to hinder him, whilst discussing the soccer, did remember to ask him, said it was fine, he did the whole session, suppose they will see how it is tomorrow over in the west, not worth risking him

Brendan Mcartney again doing a great job, this week telling Watts to use his body more, he is a big boy and shouldn't be getting pushed off the line by many blokes, needs to impose himself,

Again, great to hear but it's pretty bloody obvious stuff that Watts shouldn't need to be told.

Training today

No shows Trengove, Petracca and Fitzy who is crook

Viney got a belt in his head/stomach/gonads during match sim and left early, after

Jack Watts confirmed he will play NAB but not this week, same with Jayden Hunt

Spoke to Dean Kent, highly amused at the rumours, said he thought he was signed to MFC for 2016

At end of session Goodwin ran some one on one drills with Lumumba against Newton and Brayshaw against Jones, skinny Brayshaw more than held his own, apart from when Jones pushed him slighly in the back and he dived full length forward, much to everybody's amusement

Some of the match sim was excellent today, players seemed happy with it, Tommy Mc was going really well, except for one kick from backline straight to Crossy front and centre 45 out, of course he was on the other side

One nice bit, White, now fully fit, testing out the cannon of a left leg, took a shot from the edge of the square and put it through the centre of the goal post height

Pig trained really well but finished early with Terlich and went and ran laps after he had tickled the ribs of Billy Stretch with one fearsome tackle in the match sim

Pics on Twitter Demonpk soon

Saty, any idea why White was not named in the squad for Freo? Also who do you think out of him or Harmes is due for promotion to cover Petracca and Trengove? (I am assuming Vandeberg will be the other one.)

Edited March 3, 201510 yr by CBDees

Saty, any idea why White was not named in the squad for Freo? Also who do you think out of him or Harmes is due for promotion to cover Petracca and Trengove? (I am assuming Vandeberg will be the other one.)

He is still on the way back from the toe injury, so may be fitness base, looked ok today, I thought Harmes would get a go against Frieo as well, maybe they are both not in Roos plans for AFL for 2015 along with Oscar Mc

He is still on the way back from the toe injury, so may be fitness base, looked ok today, I thought Harmes would get a go against Frieo as well, maybe they are both not in Roos plans for AFL for 2015 along with Oscar Mc

Maybe they'll wait to upgrade the second rookie once the season starts. You never know how it might unfold so they might need to cover a backman so would go with White, maybe we need cover at mid so go with Harmes.

Excited to assume that Vandenberg has the inside running!

Edited March 3, 201510 yr by watchtheeyes

The thing i became really excited about today was the forward line we have

Watts Dawes Kent

Garlett Hogan Gawn

all capable of kicking multiple goals and the delivery i think will be much better in 2015

Sounding more and more like Watts has become a McCartney project. Everybody in football has an opinion of Watts and I doubt he is any different. Here's hoping the McCartney blowtorch in combination with the Roos touch can get the best out of Jack!

If McCartney can help get Watts to the next level, it will only enhance his reputation in a big way!

One nice bit, White, now fully fit, testing out the cannon of a left leg, took a shot from the edge of the square and put it through the centre of the goal post height

I was pleasantly surprised when I watched White a few weeks ago in the scratch match.

It was pretty much his first hit out after the toe thing.

He is huge for a 19 year old and has a very nice left peg on him - certainly looked capable for the last guy picked on the list.

Wandered passed at about 10 for an hour.

Focus today was all about attacking spread from a stoppage and moving the ball quickly forward. Which made me very happy! The switch kicking across half back (not under much pressure) was very good. The last kick in to the forward line needed a bit more improvement but not terrible. And it wasn't really a full drill so some quick kicks in were spoiled but hopefully come match day they are cleaned up by crumbers. I'd rather the ball in quickly and forwards given a chance than too much stuffing around.

Watts trained strongly for probably the first time I've seen this summer. Bit of a reminder he's got pace and skill and not to discount him. Keen to see him in NAB 2 or 3 now.

Brayshaw probably had his best session as well. Very clean by foot and kept getting to the right areas.

Bail was solid. JKH impressed me with his run, but did probably bight of a bit more than he could chew running in to trouble a bit. Roos and co encouraging players to run when in open space though. Toumpy had some impressive patches, nice to see him running with the ball, that's the key to his game being successful.

Dom Tyson found plenty of it as usual in any drill that involves spreading. At one stage he didn't have the perfect option from a forward so just loaded up a left foot bomb from 50+ which impressed the crowd.

Sam Frost trained a lot with the forwards. Might have been just to get the numbers for the drills, at least I hope so. Not that I don't rate him forward, just we need key defensive depth.

More towards the start of the session it looked a fair bit like players who were very keen to get on a plane and get ready for a game. But they switched on as it went.

White has a suckling (or other strange) style kicking action but wow he kicks it low and firm. Waddles a bit. A little fumbly still as well. But if we can make an adequate defender out of him and he can find the footy in games then he can really use it.

I'm glad TDI got the news on Viney, was worried it might be a quad or groin. A whack in the nuts should be ok!

I took some notes today:

I think Newton will be our find of 2015, he looks a very good well rounded player and his training and attitude are very solid.

Chris Dawes to me looks to be moving a lot better, i think he will play up the ground a fair bit this season and he, Watts, Hogan and resting ruckman should pose headaches.

Toumpas to me is back to the level where i saw him in the SANFL, looks to be moving really well.

great to see alot of guys lowering their eyes and delivering into the forward 50 now, not too many blokes just bombing away which is great, plenty of targets hit in match sim.

Brendan Mcartney again doing a great job, this week telling Watts to use his body more, he is a big boy and shouldn't be getting pushed off the line by many blokes, needs to impose himself,

got stuck into Jeff for being a bit lazy with his forward pressure at one point, this picked up right away after that.

The overall spread of the team from stoppages is noticeably better imo, i think our ball movement has improved a lot

Don't say that.....I find SANFL footy very average...

Re Viney, I thought he got a belt to the head, a couple of the players thought it was to the midriff, and Jack Grimes said the gonads, so put all three, it must have been a decent whack, coz it shook him up, must be ok to be named though

Champion data had white ranked in the 30's for best 18yo last year. Kicking is his strength but he's also quite good at intercept possessions