Trekked to Casey this morning.  Arrived at 9.15 and players were already working on the field.  When the rain came at 10.00 it was my cue to leave.  So I was there for about 45 minutes.

The view from outside the cyclone fence was very good but it was hard to make out what was happening on the other side of the oval – its quite a flat outer. 

It was my first ever training session so wasn’t sure what to look for or look at.  It was hard to make out some players especially the newer ones or those that hadn’t played many games.  So I had to work from their numbers (when they weren’t wearing coloured tops).  So missed a lot of the detail of what was happening.

Observations:

• ·         When I arrived there were some ball movement drills happening on the flanks of the ground with the ball starting fwd of the wing.
• ·         It took quite a while to work our who wasn’t there.  The only ones I didn’t see were Aaron VandenBerg and Marty Hore (that is not to say they weren’t there).  So a fairly fit list especially of our top 30 players.
• ·         Rehab group was Brayshaw, Hibberd and Petty.  Its great to see it so small.  I notice there is an injury report from Burgess on their status.
• ·         Oliver seems to have recovered from shoulder surgery.  I didn’t notice shoulder strapping but that could be because there was no tackling/contact work.  (Not sure if contact training is allowed by the AFL in these covid times).
• ·         Ball movement seemed slow and sloppy at times but it is early in the pre-season and there would be a few cobwebs to blow out.
• ·         They changed tops often:  pink, while, and I think yellow.   Couldn’t make out what each meant.
• ·         After a huddle there was ball movement training starting in the middle – it looked like transition work but not possible to draw any conclusion on what was happening or how it might look like in 2021.  I saw Rosman and Rivers have a go in the middle then fwd and Bowey was fwd (but I wouldn’t take that as indication of when or where they might play).
• ·         TMac looked fantastic, moved well and was with the defenders.
• ·         I noticed B Brown at the end of my 45 minutes so not sure if he was out there the whole time.  Was wearing knee strapping.
• ·         At one stage Fritsch did some goal-kicking practice from about 40 m out.
• ·         It was good to see Nietschke and Jordan training after missing two years with injuries. 
• ·         No-one stood out for good or bad reasons as I wasn't there long enough. The person I noticed the most was Rivers.  Really like him. 
• ·         The music was fairly loud so couldn’t tell much from player voices but I didn’t notice a lot of animation which is not to suggest that is a bad thing.
• ·         I completely forgot to look specifically for Goodwin, Yze or Williams.  But then I didn’t expect the rain to arrive so early.  At least two of them were in the middle most of the time directing proceedings.
• ·         Overall it felt low key but that could be because I have no idea what to expect from a training session.

Well, that’s it folks.  Will try to get to training again soon.

As an aside training is on Monday, Wednesday and Friday but it seems the club publishes pics only for Monday sessions.  Not sure if that is due to cost savings.

Top job Luci !!

17 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

 

 

·         TMac looked fantastic, moved well and was with the defenders.

Good.

Should be our second choice key defender this year behind May, with Lever taking less responsibility and more freedom to take his trademark intercept marks.

For instance, May takes Tom Lynch while T Mac takes Riewoldt.

Excellent training report by the way.

 

Edited January 15, 20214 yr by Bring-Back-Powell

Thanks for your effort Luci! great work

At long last... a training report! Thank you for making your way down to "god's country" LH, and a good first up training report. Hopefully many more to come! 

I'm thinking of heading down on Monday to see the boys in action and take a few pics for us die hard supporters. 

23 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Trekked to Casey this morning.

 

Awesome stuff! Been a training report sized hole in January til now.

Is it ok to ask a few questions to get your thoughts from today?

- Was anyone instructing Fritsch with his goal kicking or was he by himself?

- Similar with the skills, was anyone instructing them?

- Was there any match sim (non-contact of course), or more just drills?

Know it was just a short time you were there, but trust your insights.

 

11 minutes ago, Lord Nev said:

Awesome stuff! Been a training report sized hole in January til now.

Is it ok to ask a few questions to get your thoughts from today?

- Was anyone instructing Fritsch with his goal kicking or was he by himself?

- Similar with the skills, was anyone instructing them?

- Was there any match sim (non-contact of course), or more just drills?

Know it was just a short time you were there, but trust your insights.

 

Frtsch was by himself. 

I didn't see specific skills training.  The ball movement 'drills' were with coaches (forgot to notice which ones) stopping play when the ball came to ground. 

The closest I saw to match sim was about 10 minutes with the ball starting in the centre and it going to a designated end of the ground.  The players in the 'fwd line' were relatively stationery which looked deliberate with what seemed to be 'designated players' moving towards the ball carrier.  I was a bit slow to notice who.  Will know better next time.

 

 

Thanks to you and others for the encouragement.

Edited January 15, 20214 yr by Lucifer's Hero

3 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Frtsch was by himself. 

I didn't see specific skills training.  The ball movement 'drills' were with coaches (forgot to notice which ones) stopping play when the ball came to ground. 

The closest I saw to match sim was about 10 minutes with the ball starting in the centre and it going to a designated end of the ground.  The players in the 'fwd line' were relatively stationery which looked deliberate with what seemed to be 'designated players' moving towards the ball carrier.  I was a bit slow to notice who.  Will know better next time.

Thanks to you and others for the encouragement.

So good. Thanks mate! Encouraging they're working on some forward line techniques.

24 minutes ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Frtsch was by himself. 

I didn't see specific skills training.  The ball movement 'drills' were with coaches (forgot to notice which ones) stopping play when the ball came to ground. 

The closest I saw to match sim was about 10 minutes with the ball starting in the centre and it going to a designated end of the ground.  The players in the 'fwd line' were relatively stationery which looked deliberate with what seemed to be 'designated players' moving towards the ball carrier.  I was a bit slow to notice who.  Will know better next time.

 

 

Thanks to you and others for the encouragement.

Thanks for the  Information  LH  good to hear that almost all are in a healthy state, and training.

What a relief....my life has felt so empty...

- until now!

Thanks a million Luce

 

Most grateful for the report, and the work you went to to get it LH.  Thanks

Many thanks, greatly appreciated!

3 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

       Ball movement seemed slow and sloppy at times but it is early in the pre-season and there would be a few cobwebs to blow out.

Thanks for the report Lucifer.

How often in past pre-seasons have we seen the above which has transposed into the real season.

God help us if it does AGAIN.

Time will tell.

8 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

How often in past pre-seasons have we seen the above which has transposed into the real season.

God help us if it does AGAIN.

 

Too true.

However the whole side has barely trained as a unit yet, so poor skills on a 'wintry' Melbourne day in January can be expected, especially at the wind affected Casey.

If we can't hit a target on the Wednesday before the Freo game, then it's panic stations.

Cheers for the training report LH

Wasn't aware of this at all.

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Wasn't aware of this at all.

Especially considering that [censored] is an anti-Vaxxer and ran a ridiculous tennis tournament that he, his missus and his mates all picked up covid from...$$$$$$

Training Report!
Thank you!

Very happy to hear that TMac is training with the defenders.  There’s a sport there for the taking if he’s up to it.

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Wasn't aware of this at all.

 

35 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

Especially considering that [censored] is an anti-Vaxxer and ran a ridiculous tennis tournament that he, his missus and his mates all picked up covid from...$$$$$$

Bullsh* it is just Bullsh* it whichever way you want  to call it.

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Wasn't aware of this at all.

Djokovic (and some others) are in quarantine in Adelaide. The ones who landed in Melbourne went straight to quarantine also (escorted by officials in full PPE).

It sucks, sure, but it's not as outrageous as twitter will tell you.

Edited January 15, 20214 yr by Lord Nev

29 minutes ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

Training Report!
Thank you!

Very happy to hear that TMac is training with the defenders.  There’s a sport there for the taking if he’s up to it.

I’d agree with you TPF as the quality of his intercept marking in defence was exceptional before he moved to the fwd line - however I still have nightmares about his subsequent field kicking from defence so I’m on the fence.

1 hour ago, Lord Nev said:

Djokovic (and some others) are in quarantine in Adelaide. The ones who landed in Melbourne went straight to quarantine also (escorted by officials in full PPE).

It sucks, sure, but it's not as outrageous as twitter will tell you.

He was sentenced to Adelaide quarantine..... hahhahahaha serves his right. 

I forgot to thank @george_on_the_outerfor prompting me to go yesterday.

To figure out which days were training days he offered to go on Thursday and suggested I go Friday.  He did go Thursday and there was no training.  And as I learnt yesterday, Friday is a training day.

I don't know where 'george' lives but I'm pretty sure it would have been quite a trek.  To make the trek is quite an effort, especially knowing there may be nothing there.   Ah, the lengths DL's go to bring reports...

Thank you 'george' for making the trek on Thursday for all of us and for prompting me to go yesterday.

 

 

As an aside, if anyone is thinking of going to Casey, avoid South Gippsland Hwy - the traffic is pretty bad.

9 hours ago, Cards13 said:

He was sentenced to Adelaide quarantine..... hahhahahaha serves his right. 

the Adelaide quarantine was for the top players only. Only around 15 players and very comfortable

not everyone is equal in the tennis world