TRAINING: Wednesday 10th February 2021

[Earl Hood 5,788]

Beautiful day for a drive so I decided to take the Corvette out for a test drive and headed down the Eastern to the Monash and on to Cranbourne. Got there late but watched for about 50 minutes or so from behind the bloody fence! I found it difficult to identify the newbies during the session and one group kept their yellow tops on for the whole session, so no numbers. Conditions were near perfect, the ground surface looks superb, it was sunny, warm and there was no wind! Very odd conditions for Casey. 
 

They were doing full ground ball movement when I arrived, then broke into 3 groups, 2 doing the handball keeping off routine that has been described in other training reports, the 3rd group included the big boys, Max, Bradtke, TMac and LJ contesting marks and kicking passes back to Farmer, Harmes, Jetta. They then moved to another full ground more contested, ball movement exercise, yellows vs blues. This went for two 10 minute halves. 
 

one group was doing exercises off to the side for most of the session, Viney and Gus in a harness pulling weights up and down the boundary. AVD, Weideman, Chandler, Mitch Brown, Petty, Smith  all working hard on a weights circuit that looked punishing. Melchum was in and out of routines, then doing laps, then disappeared into the gym. 

The last full ground contest was interesting, they are certainly looking sharp and energetic, they all look to be in great shape. But as this routine progressed I found it was a mix of the good and the average. Players at times missed targets, turning the ball over at worst or picked a poor option passing to a player that was clear but because the delivery was not to his advantage, too high or to the wrong side, defenders were able to make ground to intercept or punch the ball away. The other disturbing thing for me anyway was that I don’t believe I saw a goal kicked from beyond 25m in this exercise. Shots on the run from 35m missed, the few set shots from 35 to 40 looked like they missed as well. However Goody was watching this intently and seemed pleased with the play, he only pulled play up once and reset everyone because maybe there were players out of position?  As I say the ball movement looks good but there was a lack of polish given the contest meter was at about 70% compared to game day but of course the coaches may be urging them to push their ball movement skills to their limits.
 

Individual observations:

 LJ took a screamer on top of Jonesy, who ended up face planted in the turf but got up OK. He is moving very well and has clean hands.

May and Lever on opposing sides were each standouts for their defences, May took a great pack mark, one handed, played on and passed off to an opponent unfortunately.

TMac generally playing forward of centre, he did some nice things, he does seem to be moving better this year, still managed to get tackled, holding the ball when he took on one defender too many. What’s new? You always have your heart in your mouth when Tommy decides to take on the opposition with ball in hand. 
 

I think it was Rivers for the yellows who took on all comers from half back to sprint past 2 or 3 blues and deliver a pass to the forward pocket. Very impressive piece of play. 

Bradtke took a couple of nice pack grabs and competed well against Max at the centre ball ups, umpired by Jordon Lewis. He just might develop into something. He has always had skills and agility just seemed he needed to put on some muscle and learn to throw his weight around. 
Salem stood out as the link man when the yellows were transitioning the ball from defence to attack, he had a lot of it and I don’t think he made a false move all session. Best on ground today. 

Rosman took a good contested grab up forward for the blues and had a set shot from 45, it was close and no problem with the distance.

That’s about it, sorry with half the guys in yellow and often on the other side of the ground I could not identify many of thee new guys.

As I left most were doing goal kicking practice and the rehab guys were still busting their guts on the weights circuit. 

It was time to head off to Tooradin and lunch at the Jetty Cafe! The Vette never missed a beat
 

[DubDee 20,537]

heard from a mate that the Weed has a stress fracture in his foot??

say it aint so?!?  can anyone confirm?

[Lucifers Hero 36,991]

5 minutes ago, Earl Hood said:

But as this routine progressed I found it was a mix of the good and the average. Players at times missed targets, turning the ball over at worst or picked a poor option passing to a player that was clear but because the delivery was not to his advantage, too high or to the wrong side, defenders were able to make ground to intercept or punch the ball away. The other disturbing thing for me anyway was that I don’t believe I saw a goal kicked from beyond 25m in this exercise. Shots on the run from 35m missed, the few set shots from 35 to 40 looked like they missed as well.

Thanks for the excellent report, Earl.

That sloppiness/inaccuracy is rather concerning at this stage of the pre season and in near perfect, windless conditions.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,394]

50 minutes ago, DubDee said:

heard from a mate that the Weed has a stress fracture in his foot??

say it aint so?!?  can anyone confirm?

 

[BW511 2,241]

4 minutes ago, DubDee said:

heard from a mate that the Weed has a stress fracture in his foot??

say it aint so?!?  can anyone confirm?

According to MFC Twitter it is, he’s out for 10-12

 

[old dee 22,847]

Stress fracture in the foot. Forget him till June or July. 

[58er 5,607]

Thanks EH  good update and hope you enjoyed your lunch.

its perplexing why we can't get some players disposal issues Solved

A game plan can't work without reasonable disposal. 

I thought Choco was the kicking expert so what's happening there?

If Salem  can do it and Trac Does it automatically ( instinctly) then others should be able to improve.

Hope we don't ruin the new recruits that are Good disposers with all our rushed play on drills.

Lets look for some improvement In this over the next 4/5 weeks.

Thanks Again  EH.

[daisycutter 28,485]

5 minutes ago, old dee said:

Stress fracture in the foot. Forget him till June or July. 

femur, od.....that's the long bone above the knee...haha

[Lucifers Hero 36,991]

8 minutes ago, old dee said:

Stress fracture in the foot. Forget him till June or July. 

Not the foot, it is the femur.

[Demonland 64,743]

 

[dworship 3,342]

I was pleased to see Nieta holding his ground against Maxy in the vision. Would be fabulous to see him debut this season.

[Demonland 64,743]

Who wants a bucket hat?

 

[buck_nekkid 5,475]

TMAc last man standing as a forward,.....

[Pickett2Jackson 3,904]

 

[Earl Hood 5,788]

3 hours ago, 58er said:

Thanks EH  good update and hope you enjoyed your lunch.

its perplexing why we can't get some players disposal issues Solved

A game plan can't work without reasonable disposal. 

I thought Choco was the kicking expert so what's happening there?

If Salem  can do it and Trac Does it automatically ( instinctly) then others should be able to improve.

Hope we don't ruin the new recruits that are Good disposers with all our rushed play on drills.

Lets look for some improvement In this over the next 4/5 weeks.

Thanks Again  EH.

I think the real key from these drills is to get the players to present and give the ball carrier multiple options hopefully within 20 to 25m. Most of our players should be able to deliver a low trajectory pass to a target 20m away, surely. One of our deficiencies I believe in recent years has been players not presenting ahead of the ball carrier coming out of defence, hence the long bomb or hopeful 45m speared pass that gets intercepted. There are only 2 or 3 guys in any side that can deliver this miracle pass onto a team mate’s chest. So you need multiple options, short, long or wide. That was the great value Langdon brought to us last year, he always positioned himself on the wing to be a sideways option for the ball carrier. That made us a much better side and we needed the same on the other wing. It gives the ball carrier confidence to take on the opposition, knowing they will always have an outlet thru Langdon. If you can get others to always provide escape options, ball carriers will take the game on more and more. That’s my theory anyway. 

[DeeSpencer 23,109]

Bowey has one of the smoothest kicking actions I’ve ever seen. If every player could kick like that our disposal issues would be a thing of the past 

[dee-tox 4,796]

51 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Bowey has one of the smoothest kicking actions I’ve ever seen. If every player could kick like that our disposal issues would be a thing of the past 

Looks magnificent!

What I like is he doesn't lean back like a few of our other blokes. Almost Alan Johnson-like!

[dazzledavey36 48,707]

Sooo what's happened to Kozzy Pickett?

Has he been sighted at this week at training?

[Earl Hood 5,788]

10 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Sooo what's happened to Kozzy Pickett?

Has he been sighted at this week at training?

I think someone said he was given leave to go home for family issues? I was looking for him at training but didn’t notice him as I was looking to see if they would use him as a designated line breaker in the match sim today as we had heard from earlier track watchers. Didn’t see that. 

[picket fence 15,099]

On 2/10/2021 at 4:22 PM, Earl Hood said:

Beautiful day for a drive so I decided to take the Corvette out for a test drive and headed down the Eastern to the Monash and on to Cranbourne. Got there late but watched for about 50 minutes or so from behind the bloody fence! I found it difficult to identify the newbies during the session and one group kept their yellow tops on for the whole session, so no numbers. Conditions were near perfect, the ground surface looks superb, it was sunny, warm and there was no wind! Very odd conditions for Casey. 
 

They were doing full ground ball movement when I arrived, then broke into 3 groups, 2 doing the handball keeping off routine that has been described in other training reports, the 3rd group included the big boys, Max, Bradtke, TMac and LJ contesting marks and kicking passes back to Farmer, Harmes, Jetta. They then moved to another full ground more contested, ball movement exercise, yellows vs blues. This went for two 10 minute halves. 
 

one group was doing exercises off to the side for most of the session, Viney and Gus in a harness pulling weights up and down the boundary. AVD, Weideman, Chandler, Mitch Brown, Petty, Smith  all working hard on a weights circuit that looked punishing. Melchum was in and out of routines, then doing laps, then disappeared into the gym. 

The last full ground contest was interesting, they are certainly looking sharp and energetic, they all look to be in great shape. But as this routine progressed I found it was a mix of the good and the average. Players at times missed targets, turning the ball over at worst or picked a poor option passing to a player that was clear but because the delivery was not to his advantage, too high or to the wrong side, defenders were able to make ground to intercept or punch the ball away. The other disturbing thing for me anyway was that I don’t believe I saw a goal kicked from beyond 25m in this exercise. Shots on the run from 35m missed, the few set shots from 35 to 40 looked like they missed as well. However Goody was watching this intently and seemed pleased with the play, he only pulled play up once and reset everyone because maybe there were players out of position?  As I say the ball movement looks good but there was a lack of polish given the contest meter was at about 70% compared to game day but of course the coaches may be urging them to push their ball movement skills to their limits.
 

Individual observations:

 LJ took a screamer on top of Jonesy, who ended up face planted in the turf but got up OK. He is moving very well and has clean hands.

May and Lever on opposing sides were each standouts for their defences, May took a great pack mark, one handed, played on and passed off to an opponent unfortunately.

TMac generally playing forward of centre, he did some nice things, he does seem to be moving better this year, still managed to get tackled, holding the ball when he took on one defender too many. What’s new? You always have your heart in your mouth when Tommy decides to take on the opposition with ball in hand. 
 

I think it was Rivers for the yellows who took on all comers from half back to sprint past 2 or 3 blues and deliver a pass to the forward pocket. Very impressive piece of play. 

Bradtke took a couple of nice pack grabs and competed well against Max at the centre ball ups, umpired by Jordon Lewis. He just might develop into something. He has always had skills and agility just seemed he needed to put on some muscle and learn to throw his weight around. 
Salem stood out as the link man when the yellows were transitioning the ball from defence to attack, he had a lot of it and I don’t think he made a false move all session. Best on ground today. 

Rosman took a good contested grab up forward for the blues and had a set shot from 45, it was close and no problem with the distance.

That’s about it, sorry with half the guys in yellow and often on the other side of the ground I could not identify many of thee new guys.

As I left most were doing goal kicking practice and the rehab guys were still busting their guts on the weights circuit. 

It was time to head off to Tooradin and lunch at the Jetty Cafe! The Vette never missed a beat
 

Thanks Earl, pretty similar in some ways to my previous report regarding missed targets and lack of goals. I do find this very concerning. Agree the Old Jetty Cafe is a winner, but the Bakery is tops. They sell magnificent meat and Veg family pasties for 17 bucks which do 2 meals easy. Thanks for report! I might send you a message so that next time we might hook up and do a dual report. Cheers PF

p.s Mitch Browns mark was excellent and he should play early rounds, I really like him, he moves well and puts himself into dangerous positions!

Edited February 11, 2021 by picket fence

[DemonOX 8,530]

On 2/10/2021 at 3:22 PM, Earl Hood said:

Beautiful day for a drive so I decided to take the Corvette
 

But as this routine progressed I found it was a mix of the good and the average. Players at times missed targets, turning the ball over at worst or picked a poor option passing to a player that was clear but because the delivery was not to his advantage, too high or to the wrong side, defenders were able to make ground to intercept or punch the ball away.

 

Thanks Earl. Vets are nice cars to drive. 

the above continues to concern me greatly. It’s something we don’t seem to be able to get out of our game. it also has been reported on other training threads too. 
 

Goody seemed happy with the drills. This is also concerning. 
 

God help us this season. 

[old55 21,264]

1 hour ago, DemonOX said:

Thanks Earl. Vets are nice cars to drive. 

the above continues to concern me greatly. It’s something we don’t seem to be able to get out of our game. it also has been reported on other training threads too. 
 

Goody seemed happy with the drills. This is also concerning. 
 

God help us this season. 

Yep we're doomed - no doubt.

[Earl Hood 5,788]

3 hours ago, DemonOX said:

Thanks Earl. Vets are nice cars to drive. 

the above continues to concern me greatly. It’s something we don’t seem to be able to get out of our game. it also has been reported on other training threads too. 
 

Goody seemed happy with the drills. This is also concerning. 
 

God help us this season. 

DemonOX yes Vettes are great to drive, do you drive the Camaro shown in your avatar? 

[DemonOX 8,530]

11 hours ago, Earl Hood said:

DemonOX yes Vettes are great to drive, do you drive the Camaro shown in your avatar? 

I wish mate. It will happen it’s just about timing. When I don’t have to cart the kids around and all their crap, that’s when it will happen which is in a few yrs time.