dworship

Agree, and I think the lack of opposition at training had us all fooled a bit. That old analogy about dancing with your sister was compounded by the sister having two left feet. My observations of training on Monday looked like the sister knew how to dance.

Great report, thanks

HT lets put this to bed. SWYL has an opinion however Bennell will get a Rookie spot if we give him a contract. By definition Rookie spots are SPECULATIVE. I would suggest that the 6th rookie spot is not the list magic bullet that Bennell would be denying us.

The practice matches will be interesting and I can see a difficult decision coming re Cossie. Is the magic he brings enough to play him even if he goes missing sometimes due to fitness? I did say it will be interesting, I don't have to make the decision so I can vote with the magic factor. It's a long season so maybe you give a few games to him early and then back to Casey to continue building his fitness so he knows how hard he has to work, without burning him out. We know Bedford has a serious engine and can hopefully come in and create havoc also.

I wish

Thanks BB, I really wanted to go over to the other oval and check him out but it was so good watching the other boys I couldn't tear myself away. If you are accurate about his return it's not like we don't have any coverage and a nice build up through Casey is fine. Yes, the bigger ground certainly suits, if I remember correctly it's bigger than the Gee and considering how many games we play at the Gee this year spending more time at Casey is a good thing even if a bit inconvenient for watchers.

I just went back through the list to see how many we had for the full ground sim and I came up with 36 players. With Tomlinson and Spargo joining in next week that's 38. May and Hannan next fingers crossed

Like a good solid experienced forward. I will be disappointed however if he plays round one. I have Weid ahead of him at the moment.

I'm always intrigued when someone asks this question. What does that mean? Is it a document that sets out what we are going to do and how we are going to do it? If you mean have we thrown away the old one? Then the answer is no. Don't make me do all the work, if you tell me what your looking for I may be able to answer the question better. As far as plans are concerned though, I think any of the regular watchers will tell you the Club has had a plan for the pre season. That is to be meticulous, highly organised and focused on improvements in the skills and behaviors of the players. The overall strategy hasn't changed and is based on contested, combative football. If you are looking for specific strategies and tactics for game day then that is a bigger question and I think some of the more astute on here may be better equipped to answer. Training is about being able to implement everything under pressure and without hesitation when the time comes. I've never seen so many of them this ready at this time of year. So to me the plan is working

Yes, and in hindsight perhaps I should of mentioned that.

I’m going to take one for the team here, I don’t do a lot of in depth reporting normally because my time is precious (and I don’t have really fast typing skills). Having said that; I may end up rambling a bit as I enjoy a Merlot at the keyboard. I live in Ballarat but I was house sitting in Emerald for a couple of days and finished up this morning. I had to pick up some stock for our business on the way home (in Moorabbin). I thought I would swing by and see what I could see. (All they could do was ask me to leave) I got there around 1000 (I seriously wish I had got there at 0900). While checking out the parking situation I could see Crossy on another oval putting Hannan and someone else (I couldn’t make out in the distance) through their paces at a serious fast clip. They were running up and down the field handballing to each other. 1hr 30mins later they were still at it. For other track watchers, Hannan can’t be that far away now can he? I just walked in and proceeded around to the side opposite the grandstand. There was a full ground match sim going on Pinks vs Blues and the scores were up on the electronic boards 2.6 to 4.2 as I walked around, the player I noticed the most was Smith. He seemed to be everywhere in defence. There was a family standing outside the fence observing proceedings so I went up and said G’day. Turned out to be the parents and siblings of Tye Hourigan who had been invited along to train today. The family and Tye had no idea that would include 2 x 30 mins full ground sim! Ty is from Traralgon and has been playing defence for Gippy Power. He looks a likely type about 6’2 in the old and around 80kgs. From hips and down looks like a ready-made footballer. Soon after the sim stopped and they moved into a number of drills for the different groups (mids/rucks, fwds and backs that have been largely described before. This was all done at a great pace and with good skill. After about a half hour of this it was back into 30min full ground match sim. Max got on top of Pruess early resulting in a number of centre clearances. One of the early ones ended up with Petty on a great lead and I walked around to stand directly behind him. The wind was blowing around 40km/hr across from right to left and I was muttering aim at the right point post. Standing behind him he looked to be aiming 2m inside the right goal post. It was a lovely kick off the boot and in the last 6m of its flight it went hard left by 5m. This was the only real negative I saw for the day and both teams went on to score around 4.2 so the adjustment to the windy conditions largely improved. In the match sim I could count 4 Casey listed players. Stockdale clearly being one and a couple of others I didn’t recognize. I know that can’t be right and there must have been more but I couldn’t spot them. Having said that it is the most First’s I’ve seen playing in sims, at this intensity, in January EVER After the match sim they went into more position related drills again. I moved around more to a the pocket /half back position on the grandstand side. There were a couple of tackle coaches I haven’t seen before working with all the talls; Max, Preuss, Jackson , Lever, Weid, TMac, Hore, etc . They were working in a 10m circle and the object was to escape with the ball. This went on for 20min and I was exhausted just watching them. To the left of me Goody was controlling a drill where 4 or 5 players would be in a small circle doing quick handballs. When he blew the whistle the last player with the ball had to break away and run and kick the ball 40 m to Greg Stafford. The remaining players would run both sides of the ball carrier in support. Stafford would punch/ tap the ball in the path of the “wave” and they would share the ball around till a leading forward presented or one of the wave was close enough to shoot for goal. Both Tomlinson and Spargo participated in this drill so I would expect them both to be very close to rejoining everything. They didn’t do match sim. Unsighted on the day: Baker, KK, Melksham, Neitzke, Bennell and Chandler. May was there but I didn’t see him do much, however the dressing was missing from the leg (happy face, mine and his) Some general obs. Our older brigade are up and about, Nev is back and handing out lessons to anyone he comes near. Hibby is not handing over his role this year if he stays fit (although Rivers did impress me and looks ready to go if a spot presents). Tmac is also back, leading well, finding space and clunking marks. Jones may surprise a few in the forward line. Lever was outstanding today in the cut off/ intercept role. Viney and AVB will take a lot of teams by surprise if they stay this fit (yes, AVB did everything today including swapping bibs at one stage to even things up). Sparrow was good in the guts at times. To go to another level this year: Max, Clary and Trac (that should put the wind up a few teams). OMac looks to have bulked up and be quicker, is that possible? Jackson was willing but not that effective in the match sim I saw today. The practice matches will be interesting and I can see a difficult decision coming re Cossie. Is the magic he brings enough to play him even if he goes missing sometimes due to fitness? On today’s observations I would play him round one. He will make a lot of defenders nervous and he will have that reputation very quickly. Nibbler however is giving every indication that he wants a spot in that forward line. I’m excited!!! (In a BBO kind of way) They finished around 1215 today so it was a really solid session. I had a great time today and couldn’t get the smile off my face. I also noticed this with Goody and a number of the other coaches. A great way to lead into Maroochydore. Near the end of the session I got Tye Hourigan’s family to come inside the fence near the entry gates and while we were chatting a fella in his 20’s came in with his dog on a lead and asked if it was ok if he came in to have a look. He was wearing Richmond shorts so I told him very sternly, “It’s a closed session and you will have to leave” He was very apologetic and left. Made the day even more worthwhile.

Can confirm this from observations today. Yes, there is a training thread coming but I'm going solo for this one so it might take a while to pull together. Cue the white noise .............................. standby.

Yeah,Yeah

You are a sad, sad Demon, are you by any chance OD's love child?

Cold ad windy?

No doubt based on your limited view, because of the trees

I think he had a few down moments during last season, where he was questioning himself and regardless of some of his statements he will have been aware of the scrutiny. It may be pivotal that Goodwins defense of him at the members forum is the catalyst for belief in himself and that can only be a good thing

Have watched Fritsch a lot, even during his Casey days and he has an uncanny ability to get separation between himself and his direct opponent. This is what makes him such a "natural" forward. Some of it is pace (at the right time) and some of it is guile. The other forward you immediately see this in is Kozzie. Yes, some players and clubs will attempt to shut this out but I feel both players will adapt and overcome what is attempted. I have been trying to think of past players that remind me of these two and although they are different body sizes and shapes, Brian Wilson and Alan Jakovich do come to mind.

Well he looks to be off to a good start

Bit selective to suit the narrative, how many games did he play in 2017?

Thanks for that, it reminded me to break out the Kevin Bloody Wilson song today. Not for the more "sensitive" members here. Please take note of the warning

Handing out the Book of Mormon in Uganda feels about right

Damn and now it's ruined. Should have had the post taken down.

Apologies for not contributing earlier, I've been having Optus internet issues and have had to revert to emergency Telstra dongle ( don't understand why, but I always feel a little dirty when I say that). I got down there today before any of the players appeared and spied a relatively young looking fella taking the shade under a tree at the City end. Turned out to be George on the Outer. Pretty much stayed in the same posi. till around 11 when most of the action dried up. During that time most of the brains trust turned up in Whispering, Urban Legend BB and D'land himself. Good banter and opinion ensued during this time and I'm happy to report we are all a bit bullish for the year ahead. I think we all agreed that while we temper our expectations, as it is preseason, observing training at the moment has way more positives than negatives. I don't intend to revisit what other posters have said other than to agree with their comments. The one thing I can add is that I stayed until the last player and coach departed. The last player was Petty and the last coach - Stafford. At the end of the session JJ, Chandler, Viney, Clarey and Petty spent 15 to 20 mins on goal kicking. In the end Stafford was working one on one with Petty on his run up. It appeared Stafford had identified a flaw where Petty was making contact with the ball either to early or to late. For any of the other training watchers; I would be interested in future obs regarding A/ this as on ongoing coaching with other players and B/ any observable improvements in individual performance in this area. I should have also mentioned I watched Langdon a fair amount and thought his disposal was much better today than on Monday. I also saw him celebrate this a few times to the amusement of his teammates. This shows he is very aware of his deficiencies and is working on them

Just a quick word on Kozzi; he is light and is susceptible to being pushed off the ball but so was Jeffy. What he does do is get a lot of separation from his opponent. Got to be unsettling for defenders when you don't know where he is. I saw this numerous times during match sim and his movement really catches the eye. This results in a lot of balls being kicked to him. The other effect I can see is; he makes some of our kicking look better because he gets to where the ball is with great pace. I really hope the other small forwards come on because I can see us creating havoc in this area like Rioli and Ryan from WC do.