"We set out that night for the cold in the North
I gave him my blanket, he gave me his word
I said, where are we goin', he said we'd be back by the fourth
I said, that's the best news that I've ever heard
The wind it was howlin' and the snow was outrageous
We chopped through the night and we chopped through the dawn"
Selected Lyrics from ISIS BOB DYLAN
So to start let me paint the scene for you, given I have prequeled the view upon arrival at Casey Fields today. I could be forgiven when I cast my mind back to the Dystopian rain and Apocolyptic scenes that were reminiscent of Sci Fi classic "Bladerunner" It was so dark the illuminations of the scoreboard lights added to the errie backdrop of an enveloping storm coming in from the West. Not only was it as cold as a mother in laws kiss, the scene of witches hats and cones set up and the stark contrast of about a dozen footballs spread randomly but without owners just added to the ridiculousness of the situation. Where the hell were the players?? Had they been zapped of by Kevin Sheedys "Martians" into an entirely new space and time continuum?? Further confusion was added when just before the storm struck the lights of the scoreboard suddenly went of. Rain , Sleet, Hail ensued for about half an hour and then, like the dawn of time the clouds lifted and the sun started to break through and as if waiting for a divine signal the players appeared and started warm ups!
Notable absentees None that I could see although Mitch Brown and a few others Tomlinson I think and others were on modified duties ( Remembering that I was outside the ground) masked up)
Skills, Drills and Views Wet ground footy was the order of the day and the players were split into two groups, It appeared random and mixed between ones and twos although the core group and forwards were practicing contested footy getting it out into the open overlap and sending the ball to an unmarked and leading T.Mac interesting ly BB was also alone and one out in the drill. The others were practicing contested close in footy and handballing to players in hotly contested match simulations. It appeared to me that close on contested ball then moving it out quickly to a target and creating overlap were the possible instructions.
Another drill involved individual one on one contests and again emphasis was on quick , precise execution of skills and laying it of to best option.
Other observations The session went for about an hour only and just as quickly as it started within a few minutes all players had disappeared back into the rooms.
Player watch We seemed to have almost all at training I didnt see any notable exclusions, I would think Weeds might play again in the twos although watching Melksham, Bowey and Jones they all might be close, BOWEY Tantalisingly so, trained well he reminds me a lot of Caleb Daniel. After watching I could not get a line on selection and even though they would have the main team selected final inclusions might not be made until later. All in all it appeared to be an energetic session, no one appeared to be lethargic or just going through motions it was more like a "down to business" type session. I did not observe any goal kicking practice in the time I was there as an aside.
Finally, as you know I have been adverse to taking the tracks outside the ground for fear of slitheras, but today was so gloomy at the start I was expecting to see this posted around the ground.
Cheers PF