TRAINING: Friday 6th December 2024

Posted December 6, 2024Dec 6

Some veteran Demonland Trackwatchers ventured down to Gosch's Paddock to bring you the following observations from another Preseason Training Session.

WAYNE WUSSELL'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Rehab: Lever, Spargo, McAdam, Lindsay, Brown

Sinnema is excellent by foot and has a decent vertical leap.

Windsor is training with the Defenders.

Windsor's run won't be lost playing off half back. In 19 games in 2024 he kicked 8 goals as a winger. I see him getting shots at goal from HB by being involved in a chain. Houston kicked 7 goals in 2024, Zorko kicked 9. I don't think we lose much in goals by playing Windsor off HB.

Just had a short chat with Browny, who is running 200 at a fair clip. He said his break from main group was “awareness”.

Main group now in competitive 3/4 ground match sim (of sorts). Tracc hemmed in and tackled in forward pocket, quick handball to Clayton, snapped goal!

McAdam now in various runs around boundary. He looks fit and is running freely.

Sharp skirting in front as Riv is spoilt from marking. Sharp passes wide to Woey who slots a nice goal from 45.

Fritsch just kicked a Fritsch goal in traffic/snap from 15.

Tracc turns it over with a scrubber low pass which is intercepted.

Very good chain through the middle, Bill long low pass to Max, handball to Kossie, kick to Mentha, finds a deep forward.

Ball movement is quick, non-stop, disposal is mostly sharp with limited pressure on ball carrier.

Fritta just chased Ed and Howes from behind wing to inside 50.

"Bill" Laurie continues to nail long passes to leading players in corridor.

Bad kick by AMW from back pocket lands with Kossie intercept, who sends it back in to a leading Fritsch. AMW meets him head on and brings him to ground earning a coaches free kick.

Whole group now doing sprints from 50 to 50 arcs. Only a couple, then sprint to drinks.

McAdam still running.

Brown still running!

Players broken into several groups now for contested work.

The competitive, 1 on 1 marking with the talls was great to watch. Disco out pointed Maysie with his regulation sticky fingers. McDonald got the better of Max. Jeffo also competed well.

Jefferson now looks at home among the big boys. He is stronger and able to jostle for position without being shoved aside. He is enjoying the work and has good goal sense, with crafty snaps and some length when required. I get the feeling he now knows he belongs.

Lever is certainly doing a power of running through and over obstacles, building up leg/foot strength and flexibility. It's reassuring to have McDonald and Petty in peak fitness at this stage.

Have to head off now. I look forward to other’s more detailed observations to come.

DANNYZ'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Woey's physique is seriously impressive. As big an off-season change as I can remember seeing. Not that he was in poor shape to begin with, however, impressive gains!

A lot more hand balling and lateral movement through the middle. Less kick in hope and reliance on territory only.

Windsor with the backs. Adds class to our ball transition.

Radford involvement has increased. Seems to have a lot of say in game plan/tactics.

Kentfield & Fullerton focus areas are their one touch with marking.

Jonesy brings the group in between 25-33 closer together.

6 hours ago, DistrACTION Jackson said:

Keen to get your thoughts on the following:

- Harry Sharp - do you think there's a best 22 spot available based on what you see at training?

- Jed Adams - do you think he could come in a do a job if needed in 2025?

- Tholstrup - is he another that will lock in a best 22 spot this year based on training?

- Back up ruck - who at this stage do you think will be the second in game ruck? Please don't say JVR....

I believe there is a spot for Sharp on the wing. He will be fighting with Bowey, XL & Woey for that role.

Jed Adams for mine probably isn't quite at the level and I was surprised the club re-contracted him so early. Happy to be proven wrong.

Tholstrup would be an on-field starter in the 18. Everything he does is with intent. His defensive efforts in the front 50 are infectious.

Second ruck will be Aidan Johnson.

DEESPICABLE'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Ok, I went down to training and after writing a lengthy report for you on Monday was going to quietly avoid putting fingers to the laptop. But then, the shot that was heard around the world happened and I thought you'd enjoy knowing about it.

Ok, what shot. Well here's a test guess which player I am talking about from this detail.

The ball heads long to the wing and Roo looks set to mark but in comes this strong looking Dee with hunger and nudges Roo aside and takes a really strong mark. He then goes back to kick with his left foot and seeing Roo overcommit on the mark, beautifully baulks him and charges down field, get his balance and sees a player 65m away hoping for an over the back in the goal square. He balances after the baulk and then thumps his left footer over the top to his waiting teammate. It was by far the play of the morning and given I was standing on the far side of the ground, I had to check my glasses weren't fogging up. Could it be No.26. Surely not. I looked again as he made his way back and yep it was No.26 - Jed Adams.

The same Jed Adams who only minutes earlier before match sim had completely fumbled and left the ball behind in a drill. The same Jed Adams who I, like many of you, had put down as one of Jason Taylor's handful of misses. The same Jed Adams who later on in the one-on-one forward drills looked confident enough to outpoint anyone.

Yep, there are signs that in his third season since being taken with pick 38, that the 20yo is finally making headway. He's not about to push out Steven May or T-Mac for rd 1, but there's no doubt he's starting to show enough to get an AFL game at some stage if we get injuries. With Tommo gone, the queue for key backs isn't quite as long and even with Petty looking likely to play there, he's only two hammy twings or twangs from being named.

While Adams had that 'moment', there were three clear stars on the track that you couldn't help but notice on a regular basis.

The first was Clayton. Yep i know how frustrated we were with him the last two seasons, but right now he is back having fun and looking like a Brownlow Medal runner-up again. He kicked goals, he gave one off to tricky Ricky Mentha and he intercepted passes, made strong leads etc etc. He's probably 100-1 for the Brownlow right now, but given our draw, he might go close.

The second was Kossie. He may not be playing until round 4, but watching him weave and turn his way out of trouble was mega exciting. On what we are seeing so far, he may end up playing quite a bit in the middle as he is mega fit.

The third and most important of all is the positional switch that is going to make us exciting again. And I'm not talking Petty back to defence. In match sim, there's probably just 15 a side and so there are only five defenders. No prizes for guessing T-Mac and May with Petty, who may well be just there until Jake Lever is back over his knee soreness. Judd McVee and his precise kicking is also there again after a late (somewhat baffling) dabble in the midfield last season. And the other small down there is our No.6 Caleb Windsor. Those of you who are Robbie fans will recall that Barass even sent Tulip down to full-back so Goody's move is only somewhat revolutionary. Caleb waltzed off half-back like he was doing cone drills and at one point he flew across in front of Roo for a nice mark. Caleb has more height than Bowser and Salem and he has more pace and he's also a damn good kick like them. he also seemed happy to switch the ball - was it just me, but I reckon our defence switched way more often than last year - another positional adjustment for those of you looking for what we are doing differently.

Well there were quite a few other things that happened and yes I saw some improvement from Luker Kentfield and I reckon Woey looks quite a bit faster than last year and Aidan Johnson looks strong and promising and Disco Turner is up there with Olly for passion to win the footy. And I could go on all day, but I walked away from training second guessing one thing and I had to go back and ask a fellow track watcher one thing. 'Did you see Jed Adams take that mark over Roo on the wing?' I said. 'Yep' said my colleague. 'That was No.26.'

KEV MARTIN’S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Coaches are micromanaging, here are a couple of examples. For delivery of ball to Turner, 'look for where he wants it kicked'. To Sestan, 'Ollie keep moving, get to the next contest, that is your strength'.

Gawn and Cambell were rucking for the mids when they separated into their lines. I would assume Tom will be the back-up ruck if Max goes down. I doubt he will be the second ruck.

Lever and McAdam were running with gusto as they did laps. Both started the session in boots.

Charlie who is not in a training jersey, has to be closer to getting down with the squad.

Goody and Whitford took the backs for drills. I think Basset had the session off. Each defender had a mannequin as an opponent, 8 of them. They moved around it and kicked with precision to the next player.

Sinnemar was very clean. I sense the players appreciate that, a new young one that doesn't hold the drills up.

The sims.

Turnovers make it easy for the other to find space and go direct to for goal. Something I think we will need to work on.

Kossie was looking for Mentha.

They were keen for the contest, hard hits occurred and high marking attempts that hit through packs. JVR has his spark, he hit some packs, nearly marking it, bringing the ball to the front.

Wings included, Sharp, Billings (who is looking good), Langers and Woey.