Preseason Training - Week commencing 4/12/17

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,685]

PEDO is looking ultra trim amazing

[Moonshadow 17,675]

6 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Got there about 11:20. Stayed for half an hour or so.

Absent: Viney, Vanders, Weid, McKenna

Seemed to be a group doing about a 2km time trial. 
Tommy McDonald took the win, Jones not far behind, Bugg behind him, then a gap to Hogan from Lever, followed by a gap to Kent who did well fighting to stay ahead of Lewis, then Jetta and Fritsch (who went out with the front 4 and fell back) with a gap to Balic and then to Flipper. 

Gawn and King were running together as they have been lately. Lots of short sprints and changes of direction as well as longer stuff.

The main group were doing repeat 200's.

A rehab group of Garlett and J Smith in a pair and T Smith and Petty were doing longer interval runs.

Hibberd, Melksham, Hannan were doing leading and kicking, as were Spargo and Baker with Crossy.

Spargo looks like a very technically correct kick of the footy and can snap it accurately as well. Baker isn't as smooth, his drop punts can be a touch more up and under but not terrible. These 2 plus the 3 I named above did a kick to a lead, get a handball and kick a goal drill and Baker's easy change of pace was obvious and he nailed a very smooth running goal. Baker joined the midfield group, Hannan the forwards after they finished running.

They split in to line groups. Chaplin again taking the defenders. Hard to tell if it's Rooke or who is in charge of the forwards. The forwards again had the soccer balls out to warm up with.

All 3 line groups did drills with the focus on kicking and moving.

They then divided in to 3 seemingly random groups to rotate through 3 drills.
1. Receiving the ball, turning off the mark and kicking to a short sideways lead right in close next to the boundary.
2. Picking up a ground ball under token pressure, straightening up and hitting a 45 degree lead (I like this drill because it replicates a more aggressive stoppage plan)
3. A 3 point kicking drill where you could either bomb to a target down the boundary or hit up a short inside 45 kick to a stationary team mate who would then wheel and go and kick long to the down the line man who has simultaneously turned and is racing towards goal.

They split in 3 lane groups about 50m apart for simple lane work in a race to be first to 10 completed kicks. Very fast and surprisingly accurate. Lots of laughing and arguing over who won.

Then the last thing I saw was the players pairing up and repeatedly leap frogging then crawling between a team mates legs. Another drill that seemed in high spirits but also probably had a decent point to it. Those explosive movements to jump up then get down and crawl repeated multiple times would be tiring stuff.

Great report as usual DeeSpencer. Lots of good, straightforward info

 

[Dr. Gonzo 24,199]

7 hours ago, Gorgoroth said:

 He will be wearing a Minnesota Vikings top under his MFC jumper?

Nah Lakers

[Roger Mellie 3,992]

18 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Got there about 11:20. Stayed for half an hour or so.

 

Thanks as usual DS. A question - there was mention of Frost playing a bit up the ground next year, not necesasrily as a forward. In 666s pics, there are a few of Frost with Hogan against Hunt and Vince. Can you tell if he's training exclusively with the backs, elsewhere or are they mixing it up a bit? Cheers

[Watts Jurrah Dunn? 735]

I got along yesterday for a look.  

Joel Smith is quite a specimen.  Let's hope he can stay injury free because he's a great size, super ripped and I believe he's pretty quick, so you can understand why Ben Guthrie said in the AFL.com.au article that the Coaches are incredibly keen to get games into him.

Spargo has used his year of shoulder rehab to master the leg weights.  Nicely defined quads.  I always cringe when small guys automatically get compared to Boomer Harvey in their draft profiles, but I'd suggest Spargo has the frame to become a little ball of muscle like Harvey was.  Seems to always look angry and very serious.

Hannan has bulked up significantly.  Didn't appear to be moving too well with the knee strapped and some more strapping coming out of his sock, but he's noticeably bigger across the chest and shoulders.

Dion Johnstone is another one in great shape.  Appears the right size now not to be pushed off the footy.  Couple of nice low, drilling balls in one of the drills too.  Let's hope he can take his chance in the NAB games.

Pederson super impressive in some of the running I saw, up the front with Hunt and ANB.  Oliver, Petracca and Tyson towards the back.

Lewis was helping Filipovic for a little while there with his lining up/visualisation while kicking for goal.

Lever just does everything well.  Petracca kicks the cover off the ball and I hope he can add a bit of touch into some of his passing to lead as some of the kicks were almost un-markable.

[Deemania since 56 6,609]

Great shots but of these, it really looks like Melscham has mad strides with his balance and poise over the past few weeks. Very handy bloke to have in the fwd line.

[Satyriconhome 10,737]

2 hours ago, Watts Jurrah Dunn? said:

I got along yesterday for a look.  

Joel Smith is quite a specimen.  Let's hope he can stay injury free because he's a great size, super ripped and I believe he's pretty quick, so you can understand why Ben Guthrie said in the AFL.com.au article that the Coaches are incredibly keen to get games into him.

Spargo has used his year of shoulder rehab to master the leg weights.  Nicely defined quads.  I always cringe when small guys automatically get compared to Boomer Harvey in their draft profiles, but I'd suggest Spargo has the frame to become a little ball of muscle like Harvey was.  Seems to always look angry and very serious.

Hannan has bulked up significantly.  Didn't appear to be moving too well with the knee strapped and some more strapping coming out of his sock, but he's noticeably bigger across the chest and shoulders.

Dion Johnstone is another one in great shape.  Appears the right size now not to be pushed off the footy.  Couple of nice low, drilling balls in one of the drills too.  Let's hope he can take his chance in the NAB games.

Pederson super impressive in some of the running I saw, up the front with Hunt and ANB.  Oliver, Petracca and Tyson towards the back.

Lewis was helping Filipovic for a little while there with his lining up/visualisation while kicking for goal.

Lever just does everything well.  Petracca kicks the cover off the ball and I hope he can add a bit of touch into some of his passing to lead as some of the kicks were almost un-markable.

The Petracca comment, that was part of the drill, a get out of jail ball, hence Hunt launching a torp at one point, it was a changeup with the kicks going the other way trying low flat passes

[Satyriconhome 10,737]

3 hours ago, Roger Mellie said:

Thanks as usual DS. A question - there was mention of Frost playing a bit up the ground next year, not necesasrily as a forward. In 666s pics, there are a few of Frost with Hogan against Hunt and Vince. Can you tell if he's training exclusively with the backs, elsewhere or are they mixing it up a bit? Cheers

Mostly with the backs from the sessions I have attended, the other interesting one is Salem, exclusively with the mids

[Fat Tony 5,221]

As remarkable as it sounds, Pedersen could be hitting his peak at 30/31.

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,685]

He's a gun Pedo

[DubDee 25,703]

Pedo has been hitting the solarium!

[Lord Travis 10,701]

24 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Salem, exclusively with the mids

Finally. We need him to step up and IMO he is best suited to playing midfield. If he can put it together, he could be the outside polish we need.

[Its Time for Another 4,196]

22 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Seemed to be a group doing about a 2km time trial. 
Tommy McDonald took the win, Jones not far behind, Bugg behind him, then a gap to Hogan from Lever, followed by a gap to Kent who did well fighting to stay ahead of Lewis, then Jetta and Fritsch (who went out with the front 4 and fell back) with a gap to Balic and then to Flipper. 

 

DeeS, Saty or anyone else who was there. I spoke to someone who was there yesterday and they said that Balic was way out the back on all the running and didn't look like he had any chance of keeping up and on that basis was going to struggle to get a game.  

DeeS you mentioned Balic in the 2km time trial. How did he go? Does he look ok or do you agree he's a long way off the fitness of the other players?

Anyone else have a comment about how his fitness is compared to the others.  

For all this guy knows he could be training with the flu or something. Drunken mentioned this about Keilts a few weeks ago. 

[Roger Mellie 3,992]

32 minutes ago, It's Time said:

DeeS, Saty or anyone else who was there. I spoke to someone who was there yesterday and they said that Balic was way out the back on all the running and didn't look like he had any chance of keeping up and on that basis was going to struggle to get a game.  

DeeS you mentioned Balic in the 2km time trial. How did he go? Does he look ok or do you agree he's a long way off the fitness of the other players?

Anyone else have a comment about how his fitness is compared to the others.  

For all this guy knows he could be training with the flu or something. Drunken mentioned this about Keilts a few weeks ago. 

I think the issue with Balic is that his fitness base was (and was expected to be) way behind the others having not played for so long. I cant remember when his last game was before being granted the last leave from Freo. As long as there is gradual improvement - anyone?

[Lucifers Hero 39,632]

18 hours ago, Wiseblood said:

I reckon no news is good news with Trac.  He gets talked up so much by all parts of the footballing world that I think it will be good to see him have a really solid, quiet off season where he continues to build his tank and his ability to play more midfield minutes in 2018.  What a weapon he can be if he is able to add this to his repertoire over the off season!

Thanks again as always @DeeSpencer, your reports and insight are much appreciated.

I certainly wasn't suggesting that Trac be talked up! 

My comment/question was related to his actual fitness and endurance not the 'puff type pieces' that are written around this time.  After all he does that himself - last preseason he declared he wanted to be a Hall of Famer!  So yes the fewer 'puff pieces' the better.  I would rather he let his football do the talking.

I'm hoping Petracca can make big advances in his preseason work, like Oliver last year.   Petracca certainly has talent to burn but needs to show more consistency; in games and week to week.  Doesn't need to star or win games off his own boot - his consistency and endurance will be huge for us...

 

Thanks to @DeeSpencer and @Satyriconhome for reporting back that he is doing fine.

[Demonland 71,640]

Is there an open training tomorrow (Wednesday)? The official site only has Monday and Friday listed like they did last week but there was an open Wednesday session last week.

[Lucifers Hero 39,632]

2 hours ago, Satyriconhome said:

Mostly with the backs from the sessions I have attended, the other interesting one is Salem, exclusively with the mids

So we have our new 'link' player to roam between the 50m arcs!  Salem is the best placed to now play that role.  He will help reduce the loss of silkiness going i50 from our old #4.

Salem is not as big but I reckon he can be just as deadly delivering the ball inside 50.  Has terrific footy IQ, reads the play well, good decision maker and has reasonable speed, not to mention a terrific left boot.  Can launch from outside 50 too.  Cool as a cucumber.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Lucifer's Hero

[jnrmac 20,055]

On 12/4/2017 at 2:59 PM, It's Time said:

One of the other great benefits of having Lever around is the rate of improvement for both he and Hogan of getting to train on each other in a lot of these one on one drills. Should raise the standard for both of them.

That photo last week of the two of them grappling with each other was pure rolled gold. 

The video of Oscar and lever was the opposite ....

[jnrmac 20,055]

2 hours ago, Fat Tony said:

As remarkable as it sounds, Pedersen could be hitting his peak at 30/31.

Not much wear and tear there. Only played 75 or so games...

[Glenn Molloy 494]

51 minutes ago, Roger Mellie said:

I think the issue with Balic is that his fitness base was (and was expected to be) way behind the others having not played for so long. I cant remember when his last game was before being granted the last leave from Freo. As long as there is gradual improvement - anyone?

I suspect you're right Roger.  When they asked Ben Matthews about how Balic had settled in, he was hardly glowing in his praise and referenced some of the issues he'd been having at Freo.  I think he's in for a long pre-season to build his fitness base and will be entrenched at Casey for the first part of the season.   Hopefully he can chip away as I think he's got some talent.

[Gator 17,309]

39 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

The video of Oscar and lever was the opposite ....

If I'm not mistaken that video you're referencing is a drill where one player makes not much more than a token effort to restrict his opponent.  It's not really contested work.

In isolation that clip shouldn't be measured against intent.  Having been to a number of training sessions over the years there's a number of those types of positioning drills.

Edited December 5, 2017 by ProDee

[Cards13 9,117]

31 minutes ago, jnrmac said:

The video of Oscar and lever was the opposite ....

It was 1 contest of 1 drill and a terrible kick, don’t read too much into it.

 

edit: ^ as he said.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Cards13

[Demonland 71,640]

6 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

It was 1 contest of 1 drill and a terrible kick, don’t read too much into it.

 

edit: ^ as he said.

Agreed. The kick fell well short. Lever just read it alot better so make of that what you will.

[Satyriconhome 10,737]

2 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

I certainly wasn't suggesting that Trac be talked up! 

My comment/question was related to his actual fitness and endurance not the 'puff type pieces' that are written around this time.  After all he does that himself - last preseason he declared he wanted to be a Hall of Famer!  So yes the fewer 'puff pieces' the better.  I would rather he let his football do the talking.

I'm hoping Petracca can make big advances in his preseason work, like Oliver last year.   Petracca certainly has talent to burn but needs to show more consistency; in games and week to week.  Doesn't need to star or win games off his own boot - his consistency and endurance will be huge for us...

 

Thanks to @DeeSpencer and @Satyriconhome for reporting back that he is doing fine.

Trac is not a fan of the just running side of training methinks but knows he has to do the work, each session he is looking better and better

As for the Lever/Omac  before Xmas any one on one drills are half powered unless it is Jones/ Brayshaw or Gawn/Oliver   they can't help themselves 

[DeeSpencer 25,515]

2 hours ago, It's Time said:

DeeS, Saty or anyone else who was there. I spoke to someone who was there yesterday and they said that Balic was way out the back on all the running and didn't look like he had any chance of keeping up and on that basis was going to struggle to get a game.  

DeeS you mentioned Balic in the 2km time trial. How did he go? Does he look ok or do you agree he's a long way off the fitness of the other players?

Anyone else have a comment about how his fitness is compared to the others.  

For all this guy knows he could be training with the flu or something. Drunken mentioned this about Keilts a few weeks ago. 

2nd last in the group who did the time trial but not miles behind guys like Jetta and Lewis. 

Not saying Balic will do the same but it was around this  time last year that Clarry was battling and he worked his backside off and won the B+F. I'd say Balic is at a stage where if he works really hard and stays fit that he'll have caught up to a decent level by the time the games come.