Back pocket

Agree! 5 minutes is being very generous as well!

Definitely agree with what you have to say Titan. In no way am I trying to write him off as a player. I have full confidence in his ability and believe he will be a star for us in the future. I was just trying to report on the one individual training session from today compared to the rest of his preseason (without sugarcoating anything). Our recruiting team has done a marvellous job over the last 10 years, so we have no reason to doubt them at all (especially this early in a player’s development). He did have a few nice passages out there today, I was just wanting to temper expectations that he is going to be a star in the 23 from round 1, and instead we should let him develop down at Casey and trust the process. Although I’d love to be wrong and would thoroughly enjoy seeing him out there on a wing against the Swans in opening round. Go Dees!

Great to see so many numbers show up and watch the boys - I imagine we will be inundated with reports from today. Rufus du Sol and Fred Again were blasting through the speakers as the boys warmed up before getting into 4 periods of match sim. No shows: Oliver, Brown, Smith Present but not involved: Melky, Hunter Running on side: Jefferson, Sparrow, AMW, Petty (Petty did get involved for the last period of match play) A few notes from match sim: There was a focus on changing the angle of the play, very aggressive ball movement Bowey was absolutely brilliant rebounding off half back, often linking up multiple times in the one passage - players were looking to get the ball in his hands As much as people won’t like to hear it, ANB was playing through the midfield and was one of our best On a similar note, TMac was also good down back - competed very strongly in the air, however you still have to worry about his decision making and kicking coming out of defence. Will be competing for that third tall spot Max could do what he wanted today. Manhandled Fullerton in ruck contests and was putting the ball on a platter to the mids. Fullerton not offering a contest at all. Update: Fullerton limped off with a lower leg injury right at the end - the only injury concern to come out of today. I thought Verrall was the most impressive of the backup rucks, at least provided contest at stoppages compared to the others - it is a bit worrying if Max does go down though (touch wood!) Chandler heavily involved in the opening period, both in the link up and on the scoreboard Rivers was great in the B teams midfield, Laurie also competed well in there and was heavily involved Hore solid, and will be fine if needed to come in Howes interestingly started in the A teams defence, however did not notice too much involvement The usuals: Trac makes things look easy, Viney is a gun, Fritsch our best up forward today, Kozzie and Roo got on the end of a few towards the end The wingers (besides Langdon) didn’t get near it today. Billings and Windsor hardly touched it. Windsor appeared to lack confidence out there. He was constantly on the receiving end of barking instructions from players and coaches - an overload of information. Obviously has plenty of time, but the other top few from the draft this year seem to be dominating their respective clubs’ trainings. McQualter seems like a terrific pick up to replace Yze in the coaching ranks, was very vocal out there today My best players today (in no particular order): Trac, Viney, Gawn, Laurie, Bowey, Rivers, TMac, ANB, Fritsch

Not sure what was going through my head this morning when I woke up with a sudden urge to drive an hour down the highway to Casey, however as a fellow track watcher today I can most definitely agree with PF's point about our sloppy kicking. Lots of mistakes throughout the whole session (Langdon with quite a few, Bedford too). Although this may be due to training at "the windiest place in Australia" as one tradie that walked past put it. Not sure how training down at Casey in the wind will impact our skills throughout the season and hopefully it may be possible to move back to Gosch's in the near future. Was hoping that their would be some more match simulation today however I believe they moved it to Wednesday because of today's weather conditions. Hopefully I don't cross over too much with PF, but I thought I'd add my two cents. A few points to make mention of: - Tmac was doing some 1on1 contested marking with other key position players (Weid, Petty and Tomlinson), and may be back training as a forward rather than the wing now that Brown is out. - Was good to see Hunt hit all of the kicks I saw him take (unlike many other players). Positive signs as this has been his downfall in recent seasons. He seems more mature and composed this year. - Petty training as a defender and looking very very good. Spent a little bit of time in rehab. He may be competing with Tomlinson for that last key back spot. - It was great to see Gus out there joining in with the main group for the first couple of drills before returning back to rehab. Neita back out running is a great sight as well. - Vanders and Hibbo weren't out on the track however I spotted them doing some work on a bike (with potentially Viney as well). Mitch Brown was doing running and kicking drills on the side as well with Melksham and Bradtke. Kozzie missed the session, although spoke to a staff member and they said there was nothing to worry about there. - Rosman definitely catches the eye and was the draftee I noticed most. A strange kicking technique which can hopefully improve as time goes by. Laurie did some nice things too and was very clean with his hands. - Deakyn Smith was out there training again, although without a number (Farmer already wearing 48) and looked nice. May look likely to get a list spot now that Hore is on the long term injury list. Speaking of Farmer, he did make a few basic handball errors right in front of where I was standing and looks like he has some work to do. - Players split off into two groups at end of session to do running. First group consisted of mostly fringe players (plus Weid, Lever and Jackson) and the second consisted of mostly best 22 players (Sparrow and Petty in this group too). Was a somewhat strange mix of players. The main thing i noticed here was that Burgo included footy's and kicking skills in the first half of the running session, before doing some more straight line running without footy's at the end. A few of the younger boys Sparrow and Rivers impressed me most with their running along with Tmac who led from the front. The 5 first year players sat out of the running and spent time with Chocco. - Didn't notice Trac in the second half of the session and saw him walking around in casual clothes at the conclusion. Hopefully nothing to worry about though! - No snakes sighted! Hopefully I'll get to another session soon. Enjoy.