?️ Scoop Junior Training Report

?️ Baghdad Bob Training Report

?️ George_on_the_Outer Training Report

?️ rjay Training Report

?️ stranga Training Report

Other reports mixed throughout the thread.

The boys return to the track today after the Christmas/New Years break.

I'm overseas at the moment so I and many other desk bound Demonlanders would appreciate any training reports from our dedicated trackwatchers. I will post links to reports in this first post for easy reference once they come in.

AFL TRAINING SESSIONS

Date: Friday 10 January

Start time: 9.45am

Location: Gosch's Paddock

* Please note: Training times and locations are subject to change at late notice. Please check this page on the morning of each session to confirm the time and date.

Players may be available to sign any items at the conclusion of their training session.

Signing will be dependent on individual training schedules and not all players may be available.

Getting to Gosch's Paddock

Public transport
Gosch's Paddock is located a short walk from Richmond train station. Jolimont station is also located a 10 minute walk away.

Tram route 70 also stops near the ground at AAMI Park (stop 7D). Tram route 48 and 75 are also located in the vicinity near Jolimont Station.

Bus 246 (Latrobe Uni - Elsternwick Station) travels down Punt Road, stops at the corner of Olympic Blvd. From here patrons can walk to Gosch's Paddock.

Parking info

Non-event car parking is available opposite AAMI Park at the National Tennis Centre.

Jones, Hannan, Baker, Tomlinson, Spargo in to some kick to kick. 

Viney, May, Jetta, Vanders floating around waiting. Not sure what they are up to.

Main group looks to be arriving now 

Given they were all in their bralettes and not jumpers I have a suspicion the main group have come from the tan 

I'm interested to hear if Bennell has stepped up his running?

No KK, no Bennell, no Neita and as far as I can see so far no Joel Smith. 

May walked back to AAMI as training started.

A rather rusty kick to kick to start with in blustery conditions. 

Kossie P struggling to hit a target so far. 

 

Small group drills designed to kick to forwards one on one now. 

The kicking is gross. LJ on a lead is nicer.

11 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

 

Goods new Gus is fit to run time trial

2 minutes ago, don't make me angry said:

Goods new Gus is fit to run time trial

Big year for Gus he could not do 100 100 last pre season now he has done 2 

Rivers laces 40m pass to Sparrow who kicks long to set up the drill. 

Wagner centers, Kossie plays on, shakes the man on the mark, puts the handball in front of Viney who sets it up to T Mc. (Who spills the contested mark over Rivers).

Match sim. 10 on 8. Bibs moving it out. Blues moving it back in. 

18 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

May walked back to AAMI as training started

Hopefully to go to the loo or change his boots. 

At the other end it’s 4 on 3 running the ball from the backline 

2 minutes ago, Dee Zephyr said:

Hopefully to go to the loo or change his boots. 

No

4 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

No

Obviously a day off because it’s his birthday...

Hitting the fat side flanker - has been Melksham and Fritsch - seems to be the aim of the kicking half ground match sim

Max gets the short kick in the corridor and goes long to Melk who nicely bodies Oscar out of the way on this one.

Next one up. Chandler crumbs back to Vanders in the wing spot, in to Dunkley, out to Weid who hits Jackson on a nice lead. 

Next one: Weid on the flank, handballs up to Chandler who’s surveying options and RUN DOWN by Bedford. 

What station is this on......

3/4 ground match sim now. Mids deliberately mixing handballs and throwing the ball at each other’s feet under pressure to similate a stoppage. Then break in to match sim. 

Vanders, Fritsch, Nibbler involved 

VDB was my standout at training.. before I left after an hour. He still needs to work on building up his calf muscles but he looked clean, crisp and extremely fit and strong as he was fully involved with all training exercises.

Kickett will be a crowd favourite with his sublime skills which were on regular show despite the difficulties brought by the strong wind.

 

Lever and Brown look like porn stars with the hair growth on the upper lips

TMac seems to be a few kgs lighter whilst his brother seems slightly more robust.

Petracca definitely wins the body of the day award.. he looked ripped beyond comparison with anyone else at the club.

4 minutes ago, joeboy said:

VDB was my standout at training.. before I left after an hour. He still needs to work on building up his calf muscles but he looked clean, crisp and extremely fit and strong as he was fully involved with all training exercises.

Kickett will be a crowd favourite with his sublime skills which were on regular show despite the difficulties brought by the strong wind.

 

Lever and Brown look like porn stars with the hair growth on the upper lips

TMac seems to be a few kgs lighter whilst his brother seems slightly more robust.

Petracca definitely wins the body of the day award.. he looked ripped beyond comparison with anyone else at the club.

Did Tyson do anything Joe?

4 hours ago, joeboy said:

 

"Lever and Brown look like porn stars with the hair growth on the upper lips."

 

Joeboy are you going to provide a 3 word analysis of their sur le champ performances?

1 hour ago, DeeSpencer said:

The kicking is gross. 

Sounds promising.

9 minutes ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

Sounds promising.

Just picking up from last year. 

Those who I didn't see train with the main group: May, Jones, Spargo, KK, Hannan, Tomlinson, Nietschke, Baker, Smith, Bennell

Noticed Spargo, Jones, Hannan and Tomlinson on far side with rehab group. May have been a few others but couldn't see from the other side of the ground.

Started with a few kicking drills. First drill was just step to the side around the man on the mark and hit a pass about 20m away. The second had a player kicking to a leading target with three guys around the kicker (one on each side and one behind). One of the three players would then apply pressure. I thought this was quite clever because training often has fake pressure (as in you know where the pressure is coming from) whereas in this one, while you knew there would be pressure, it appeared as if the player didn't know if it was coming from the side or behind.

The next kicking drill was in a small group in a confined area with a few defenders/pressure players. It was basically get it and kick straight away, requiring a quick decision where to go and the need to balance and execute quickly off just a few steps.

They then did some match sim but not with the full group and only in half a ground. There was a bit of pressure but it wasn't a full-on match sim which I saw a few times prior to the Christmas break. Again there was a lot more kicking than handballing. Conditions were fairly difficult with the heat and a strong wind.

Just before I left they continued with the half-ground quasi match sim, but this time it started with a stoppage on the wing. Here there were a lot of groundball gathers and quick handballs, and then finally they would be told to release where a handball would set up a free player who would then clear the stoppage with a kick towards half forward.

For these guys to run a 3km time trial in that heat and then train for a few hours after that - AFL footballers really are exceptional athletes.

Not many individual observations different to what has been reported pre-Christmas, but one I did see was Luke Jackson take a set shot on goal during match sim. He has a nice set-shot kicking action, relaxed and pretty uncomplicated. It was close to goal but the action seemed fairly sound. People have queried whether as a basketballer he would need to learn to kick but to me (and yes it's only training) I wouldn't have even noticed he was new to footy based on his set-shot action.