PRESEASON TRAINING: Wednesday 31st January 2024

[Demonland 72,176]

Bit concerned with Petty. He rocked up to training in the white Jumper indicating  he was in one of the teams (Blue vs White jumpers). He had boots in hand but then didn’t train. Another uneducated guess but I get the feeling he was intending to train but then had a niggle or awareness and didn’t train. He didn’t do any running like the other rehabbers and just watched on the sidelines. He just walked back to the rooms with a trainer and whilst wasn’t exactly limping his walking did look hampered. Watch this space. 

[dazzledavey36 54,889]

 

[dazzledavey36 54,889]

 

[dazzledavey36 54,889]

 

[Gawndy the Great 9,011]

You just get the feeling of it being an injury plagued year. Much like 2019.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

Windsor with great closing speed to tackle AMW and stop a certain goal. With a cloud on Hunter could we see Windsor as an early round starter?

Maybe a tad prem but that would be exciting.  Certainly looks like a class winger in the making (touch wood).

[DeeSpencer 25,687]

Caught about 40 minutes today, some of the handball drills and then a few periods of main stuff.

I think Bowey was the standout, he’s really charging off the back in the handball receive drills and kept that going in the match sim. Using it well too.

The other player who really impressed me was Fritsch just much more involved as a complete player coming up the ground in match sim. 

Match sim was fairly messy and unremarkable. Certainly more focus on run and carry and switching. Bowey, Pickett, Viney Spargo all had moments in the corridor.

Blue team had Chandler and ANB at half forward and seemed to have an easier time pressuring and moving the ball than white team which had Gawn, Pickett, Tracc and a talent edge in the middle. 

Not too much on the new guys. Kolt had a few link ups and found space in the match sim. Windsor still iffy with some of his disposals but there’s times were his pace is a huge advantage. They’ve finally got him a jumper that fits and he looks stronger.

One that stood out a bit in the small handball drills was Jed Adams. Kossie burnt straight passed Schache and was planning the do the same to Adams but Jed quickly chased him down. I know he was impressive in the grand final sprint but he has really good speed off the mark too. Plenty to work on but that’s such an advantage for a tall defender.

Edited January 31 by DeeSpencer

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

Howes drills a beautiful pass down JVR’s throat on a lead. 

He's a natural winger., good two way runner and a smart ball user coming inside.

Hope the FD don't see him as a HB instead and waste his silk there.  I umderstand starting him there in the short term as an entre' but not for long.

Need to fix the connection conundrum and Howes will play a big part in that solution IF he's groomed to play there (hopefully sooner than later).

Edited January 31 by Demon Dynasty

[DeeSpencer 25,687]

9 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

You just get the feeling of it being an injury plagued year. Much like 2019.

2019 was a mess all summer, we’ve had good numbers on the track this year.

Would like to see Salem back in soon but he’s done a mountain of work. Same goes for Hunter back on track (he was in drills last week). 

A Viney cork isn’t much to worry about. Wait and see on May but he’s looked fitter than he has been since 2020 to my eye.

Petty is by far the biggest concern so far especially with the backs ups also sidelined. 

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,817]

12 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

The other player who really impressed me was Fritsch just much more involved as a complete player coming up the ground in match sim. 

 

He was also outstanding in last Friday's match sim. Looks ready for a big year.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,817]

17 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

You just get the feeling of it being an injury plagued year. Much like 2019.

Hope not.

Surely other clubs are copping niggles every other training session.

A corky is a relief for Viney. 

May is injured every pre season 

Petty is however a concern for the early rounds given he's still not in full training.

Hopefully Hunter gets himself right. He was good in the Carlton final. 

 

[waynewussell 5,738]

Got down there for 90mins. Clarrie was looking good and giving off good vibes. He said hello, I told him it was good to see him. He did some photos with a young bloke near me, who was stoked. He had affectionate interactions with BBB and Billings, then soft tackled AMW to the ground and held him down (in good humour).

I'm reporting a future injury... whoever tackled Viney, tore his shorts half off and gave him a corky!

Many impressions from the session have already been posted, so I only have a few observations to share. Fritta looks very fit and is in everything, more physical in the contest than I remember. Tom McDonald is very strong in the clinches and I now have him on a par with Tomlinson, with Disco very close behind them. Adams looks good on the burst, but doesn't yet have the strength of the other three. Adam's kicking is also a bit iffy target-wise.

I watched Stafford's ruck group closely. Max is dominant, as you would expect, but he provides elite competition for the up-and-comers. On todays form, Schache is the closest to providing Max with any competition, followed by Verall, who seems quite a bit shorter (even though listed as 199) and Farris-White, who is clearly improving.

I need to report a few well known negatives from today's end-to-end stuff. Lever still stuffs up the occasional short pass and Trac still murders a few passes and gets very grumpy with himself.

Petty was on the sidelines for this activity, but he and Tomlinson were yelling a lot of advice to the youngsters about positioning. They were particularly vocal toward Kynan Brown, who seemed only moderately interested in what they were calling out.

It's true, Caleb Winston is a talent. Quick, evasive and sure by foot. Glides around like a famous wingman who owned the members' wing!

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

Bowser is elite by foot. 

Would love to see him groomed to play a HF role in 2024 IF Salem's on target to complete a super pre-season (for a change!).  Most likely won't happen though, which would be a real shame.

Emphasis on finishing around the sticks is more critical with Melk being out for the bulk of the season.  Salem, and to a lessor degree Marty, Disco and Hunter (if fit), should be able to cover off on Bowser's role reasonably well.

Rivers / Billings / Howes could surely cover Hunter's 2023 wing role and will provide more dash, penetration and finish coming inside anyway.  Something that was sorely missing for us in 22/23, especially the finish coming inside off both wings!

Edited January 31 by Demon Dynasty

[YesitwasaWin4theAges 6,702]

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

In case anyone isn’t aware Trac is an absolute beast swatting off opponents as he does whatever he pleases. 

Imagine him for periods of a game deep forward e.g against St.Kilda? A card to be kept close to the chest come September.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

50 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Bit concerned with Petty. He rocked up to training in the white Jumper indicating  he was in one of the teams (Blue vs White jumpers). He had boots in hand but then didn’t train. Another uneducated guess but I get the feeling he was intending to train but then had a niggle or awareness and didn’t train. He didn’t do any running like the other rehabbers and just watched on the sidelines. He just walked back to the rooms with a trainer and whilst wasn’t exactly limping his walking did look hampered. Watch this space. 

Probably everyone's just being super cautious here and any sign of a niggle he's under instruction to just play it safe from a training perspective.

Full assessment after a scan and then he rolls with the outcome, advice and his own feelings about it from there.

Finger's crossed on May's groin niggle.  Sounded like he was on track for a great pre-season.

[fr_ap 2,484]

43 minutes ago, Demon Dynasty said:

He's a natural winger., good two way runner and a smart ball user coming inside.

Hope the FD don't see him as a HB instead and waste his silk there.  I umderstand starting him there in the short term as an entre' but not for long.

Need to fix the connection conundrum and Howes will play a big part in that solution IF he's groomed to play there (hopefully sooner than later).

A large part of wingplay is understanding defensive positioning and being able to hold your own in defensive contests. If the attacking side comes more naturally to him, it could be that Howes training with the backline is for the benefit of his wingplay rather than as an out-and-out half back. If he could add that string to his bow with his height, it would make him a valuable player. 

Imo whilst Langdon/Hunter are solid in the contest and positionally sound, imo we've lacked a defensive winger with height since Brayshaw moved to other roles. 

Edited January 31 by fr_ap

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

Salem back training with the main group. Looks to be in exceptional nick. 

I told him exactly that except I said ‘ripping’ nick. He said he feels great, he feels better than he has in a long while. Then all of the sudden, he gritted his teeth, did a double fist pump and loudly said, “CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SEASON TO START!!!”

LOL… I thought I was meant to be the hyper, easily excitable one. He made me look like an amateur. 😁

[hemingway 7,627]

2 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

I told him exactly that except I said ‘ripping’ nick. He said he feels great, he feels better than he has in a long while. Then all of the sudden, he gritted his teeth, did a double fist pump and loudly said, “CAN’T WAIT FOR THE SEASON TO START!!!”

LOL… I thought I was meant to be the hyper, easily excitable one. He made me look like an amateur. 😁

Perhaps you need to consider hormone replacement therapy WCW. 

[kev martin 9,888]

Plenty out early, Rucks all drilling together, a few of the smalls drilling fast steps and shimmies around mannequins. Many are goal kicking. Tomlinson and TMac drilling together.

No Sparrow.

Rehab include, Petty doing mainly bike work, Melksham strolling around, Fullaton exercising with a trainer, BBB and Hunter very light duties. Jefferson training with an assistant.  Starting numbers of full training was about 31 players, no run-ons (Yze, Mentha).

We ended with about 27, 28 fully fit players. A bit of a worry given we are 5 weeks out. Viney was tackled between a player and the ground, shorts were ripped on one side, and he was limping. Kept playing, then left for some run throughs but couldn't complete them. Cork to the hip, I reckon. May ran some laps, as did Salem, who partnered Clarry in numerous laps. McAdam had some laps, though returned to the sim. Hore ran laps before the end of sims. Verral seems to have a running program going, fitness I reckon.

Warms ups were the same as usual, 3 stations, one funny walk, the other handballs and third was short kicks. They then do some run throughs, Tholstrup putting in more than the others.

They then go to more dynamic kicking drills, one precision, one lead to long kick to behind the player. A third was also used, (didn't observe well). They were boisterous, and playfully in the approach to each other.

Off to the handball games, which became interspersed with the sims.

They were still running many players through the on-ballers, Spargo, Billings, Bowey, Laurie, Viney, Gus, Tracc. The wings had some young players, K.Brown, Windsor, Woey, as well as Langdon there. At one stage they put Tholstrup down back up against Rivers who was forward. Jed Adams was looking good. Spargo ran the legs off the others, Kossie was playing a little selfish, Howes kicking was elite a few times. McAdams loves getting out the back for a goal. JVR holding some marks and getting on the lead. Fritta is back.

Edited January 31 by kev martin

[12345_54321 1,145]

2 hours ago, Demonland said:

Trac don’t argues Kolt and then somehow creates space in a sea of people accelerating out of the pack. Vintage powerful Trac. 

Teach the boy early 😂

[Guest]

46 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

I'm reporting a future injury... whoever tackled Viney, tore his shorts half off and gave him a corky!

More than a corky, surely. He came off and went straight to the medicos. He changed his shorts then stood on the boundary. He then left training altogether. His face told a worrying tale. 

[Roost it far 8,264]

55 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

It's true, Caleb Winston is a talent. Quick, evasive and sure by foot. Glides around like a famous wingman who owned the members' wing!

Take it easy big fella!

[12345_54321 1,145]

18 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

More than a corky, surely. He came off and went straight to the medicos. He changed his shorts then stood on the boundary. He then left training altogether. His face told a worrying tale. 

Club have said just a bad cork. 

[Dee Zephyr 19,267]

1 hour ago, Gawndy the Great said:

You just get the feeling of it being an injury plagued year. Much like 2019.

Tad dramatic there I think.

2019 was a disaster of biblical proportions 

Edited January 31 by Dee Zephyr

[DubDee 25,854]

Well Maxy said he’d be back in Jan 

Just made it!

Go Clarry!