Kev

Had a watch on him Wednesday. In a drill while the ground was still dewy (slippery), Heath had an easy shot for goal that went sideways off the boot. Loved his response, laughed and went to the back of the queue. In the sims he was clean when handling the ball (positioned himself well, good read of the plays) and had a kick that went straight through the sticks. My intial thoughts were, he may need some development, then the skills I saw, showed that his craft is already developing. Little Max will go alright.

The women came out while the men still had 10 minutes to go. Plenty of support from the men. Richardson brought the men back to the women as they were leaving the field, and circled them all up for a short speech and for bonding. The women got straight to “it”, following a joining of hands in a circle, and after calling the men to unite with them. Chaplin and Zanker working together in rehab. I heard a trainer say to Chaplin that they will go close to the verge. She is not kicking the ball. Very unlikely for this week. B.Macklin was in rehab, or light duties. Beasley continues to impress, big question on whether she is match fit though. Gall and Campbell doing lots of forward work. Gall being given the leading into space role and Campbell for the one on one contests. O'hehir also spent some time forward. Goldrick looks right to play, as she was heavily involved in the sims. Paxy brought maximum effort today, plenty of talk, support and run. Colvin spent some time down back in the sims. Appears to have a “niggle”, as she was on and off in the squad. Their spirit and belief is there. They are mostly serious as they get down to it, though the joy is just bubbling under the surface. Go Dees.

Second day in. They were keen and out earlier than advertised. Miochek and AMW are in rehab, and running extensively. They are pulling Steele, CJ, Henderson, and Johnson out of the group on a regular basis to run. They ran them much harder than on Monday. They ran 700 to 900 meter boundary runs (distance depending on which group), on two occasions. After both runs they needed recovery minutes, and got round each other. They also did a couple of team sprints through the middle approximately 120 meters. There was also less contact today. Jones is being given more responsibility in some sims, and seems to be handling it well. King continues to add his voice frequently. They are letting them play footy in the sims in a bit of a Laissez-faire mold. They were using plenty of spread, with leads out the back. One of the sims had them compete for 4 quarters. First two for 3 minutes and the next two for 2 minutes. The offensive had an extra 4 players at least, so the defense had not much of a chance. They changed the teams offense/defense style after each quarter. In the end, the winning team got a goal after the siren, they only had 15 seconds to go coast to coast (¾ of the field). Bowey finished it. Quick footy movement, about 14 goals each over the 10 minutes (84 to 90). They put a fair bit of pressure on the execution, as any misses slowed the scoring down. Lovely weather down at the Paddock. Great intentions and intensity, from the squad.

Goldrick looked good, most probable. Beasley only question would be that she is not match fit. Showing good skills. Chaplin has to tick the boxes, I believe she is possible. Hopefully she joins the main group by Friday, but I wouldn't be holding the breath. She would be a risk of re-injuring the hammy during the game.

I was looking for points of difference. The soccer became more of a bonding drill and the handball games were played with high intensity, last season. King may implement that type of drill in the future, but today he let them play footy (not full impact). He also didn't get them running. For a first up, not one of the players were on their haunches. Oh, AMW pushed, and doubled up after a run. Usually, they would all put the runners on and run laps after the skills, or sprint to the boundary during change-ups. None of that! My guess is, he will do things his way.

I didn't see much of Kentfield, as others took my attention. Great that he will get a full pre-season, unlike last season, was the conversation I had with another watcher.

Gawn and the rucking fraternity will take Heath under the wing. They are young men and it is easy to get "lost" on the first day in a new environment.

I thought Heath looked lost in respect to social capacity. I reckon he needs a buddy up system. He was searching, but didn’t have connection with anyone. Football wise he was fine. My guess is they will get round him and him around others, just needs a little time.

A handful of AFLW have arrived after the men. Beasley, Dethridge, Johnson, Hose, Goldrick, Pisano, Ebert, all doing a main session. Goldrick and Beasley most likely. They dominated the sims, with precision, and were constantly in the contests and handling of the ball. Pisano stepped away from sims and was working on her goalkicking. Chaplin (in rehab and in boots), jogged some laps, then started sprints at 75% effort, and then some change of direction drills. Did some handling of the ball. She is giving herself a chance to be ready, and recover from the hamstring problem. I didn't see any strapping, discomfort or restriction in movement. Purcell (footy boots) and working with some intensity, in rehab. Rigoni, McNamara, Pearce, Paxy, Hanks, Hore and Gall looked on, though returned to the sheds after about 40 minutes. Zanker dropped in late for a look on, from the sideline. A good session, lots of involvement and high standards by those on the periphery of selection.

First I see is Jared Rivers, working with Jefferson and McDonald. During the session he was quiet and observant. King has a strong presence, talks to them and regularly gives them instructions during drills and sims. Chaplin led the session, Jones taking some close quarter competitive drills. A few new others, trainers and tech staff. Taylor (drafter) walking around the paddock with Richardson (head of something), and at times they are with Guerra (CEO). They started with goal kicking and a few doing kick to kick, before they got down to the structured stuff. The emphasis was competitive footy, with some contact and plenty of intensity. They did a few drills that were mainly warm-ups, though predominantly did sims. They didn’t perform handball games or soccer. Finished with goal kicking. Not one of them did the snaps and trick shots from the boundary. Mihocek looks big, in runners and doing a variety of endurance runs. AMW runs hard, looks happy and is pushing himself, in Light duties. Steel quietly goes about it. Heath is a JVR double though bigger, appearing a little lost at times. Berry quiet, a little fumbly. Jiath has light duties, as is Johnson and Henderson (they did some of the sims). Langford is looking taller. Windsor missed a few kicks, though was in everything, getting to sequential tackles. I liked what Howes was doing, lots of pressure. The Sparrow looked powerful. Mentha has bulked up around the hips. Henderson is all muscle. Culley ready to go. General feel was one of getting down to business, didn’t appear to be much bonding amongst them. Weather was good for a first up, overcast, cool and no wind.

A good day for footy. A sprinkling of rain this morning after yesterday's drenching. Now, no showers. It is cold and we have a slight breeze. The sun is breaking through.

I agree, Saturday could have been the better option. Especially, since they need the kids to be on board.

Finals Open Training - Gosch's Paddock 📆 Friday, November 7 ⏰ 10:30am - 12:30pm 📍 Gosch's Paddock 🏃‍♂️ Session type: Finals Open Training 🎨 Facepainting 🍩 OMG Doughnuts 🛒 Demon Shop ☕️ Coffee Cart 🛍️ Partner Giveaways ✍️ Player Signings https://www.melbournefc.com.au/teams/training-times

Blustery conditions at Gosch’s today. The women handled it well, their skills and standards were of a high level. The warm-up had all players participating, other than Purcell. They then gathered in a circle with the Admins and AFL coaches (at least 35 people plus the players), Hose gave a talk. They finished in the usual way, with clapping and singing in unison as the observers walked to the boundary, appearing a touch stunned by the players' joy. The drills and warm-ups were quite competitive again. They had a drill, light contact work, moving in confined areas, with smoothers, and handballs, another, had them chase a player through the obstacles. There were the usual lead-ups, and short passes. A drill had them stab passing through a target to a stationary player. The first lot of sims, Stinear talked to them about structures, and walked them through the movement. They then had sprints, then back to sims, where the opposition was mainly trainers with a splattering of AFLW. The object appeared to be to move the ball quickly, create spread and lay angled kicks to the advantage of leading forwards. A few appeared to be carrying some niggles, O'Hehir, Pissano, Mahony as they stepped away from some of the drills where contact and or hard turning, was expected. They all participated in the sims (minimal contact). During sims, Goldrick, Colvin and Hose were loading (running) the wings. They also participated in some sims. I am unsure what to make of that. Unlike last week, Harris trained fully. After the sprints, Chaplin went to the boundary, indicating some hamstring awareness/damage. No ice was applied, nor any physio work. She stopped training. My guess is she will be a test come Saturday's Captains Run. They finished with a competitive goal kicking between the reds and the blue guernseys. Mackin worked hard, as did Rigoni. Paxy and McNamara in everything. Hore continues to show she has such a good footy brain, always finds extra time and makes those better decisions. Gillard and S.Taylor working well together. Fitzsimon and Wotherspoon doing everything right. Zanker is dominating, finds great separation, strong marking and finishing. Hanks is all class. Bannan and Gall having lots of the play. Stinear talked to them on about 4 occasions. They finished at 12.35pm, a good two and a half hours of training. They are good to go. Go Dees

Thanks Ghosty. Hoping the rain will finish soon!