DeeSpencer

Running solo. And he didn't seem to be doing a huge number of them to test endurance/repeat speed. It's too early to tell what shape he's in regarding speed and endurance for footy. I'm just positive that he and staff have the freedom to let him sprint 150 or so metres. That'll do me for now.

I'd love for them to just run some laps like in the good (bad) old days and I could simply report on who finished where but those days seem long gone. They were really getting creative today with some of the starting positions for these drills. I'm guessing the theory is simple. Get the players in strange spots so they can then spread (both in an attacking and defensive way) like it's a game scenario. But it did look interesting seeing them jog up in a line around a cone before spreading out and playing keepings off with the footy.

Got there after 2, stayed for 90 or so minutes, wasn't paying awfully close attention as I was meeting a friend for a catch up. Frost and Dawes were gone 5 minutes later. Seemingly just making an appearance. Lumumba not much after that. No sign of J Smith, Harmes or Newton. Vince (with a finger/hand bandage), Jetta, Watts, Spencer running laps. Trenners having a kick, then out in to sprints in very good time. Got a big cheer from the boys. Tyson and Brayshaw did kick to kick with Crossy then in to some paired runs. Tyson put a gap on Gus. Jeffie doing some drills with the young fellas and then boxing with the boxing coach. The 4 draftees did some boxing as well. Including where the boxing coach hammers in to their guts whilst they are kneeling and doing upper cuts. Clarry in particular was copping a hammering and grunting and swearing his way through it. Great stuff. Nath Jones back in the main group! Petracca as well. Usual pressure ball movement style drills. Different ones I remember: 1. Lining up in a line like a tug of war without the rope, ball thrown to one group who have to handball to another 2. 5 v 3 defenders in tight then 2 more handballing from congestion up to a trainer 3. Kicking from backline to goals up 1/3rd of the ground v 3 defenders 4. Forming a conga line and running around a cone before the ball being thrown out for one group who then had to handball through the congestion Lots of pressure on the skills and there were some clean moments. A group featuring Garlett, Petracca, Vanders had the ball motoring from the backline through to goals. The highlight of the session was in a handball drill where it became 5 v 2 at the end to weave through handball to a trainer, young Ben Ainsworth (who's usually all class) sold too much candy and stalled momentum leading to the ball movement breaking down. I think it was Ben Matthews who yelled to him "Benny if you to sell candy then f off to the candy shop". Maybe a little harsh on the kid but the point was made clear and he's talented enough to take the criticism. Made for a chuckle from the crowd and a few others though. Otherwise it seemed a pretty straight forward session.

Fitness will be Petracca's issue. Hogan's a good endurance athlete, Tracc isn't and still isn't in full training. He won't kick 40 goals either, but if he combines with Hogan, Garlett etc then suddenly having a potent forward line with multiple options might change the way we play and improve results. Hogan and Garlett were a huge part of us going from 4 to 7 wins. Petracca could be worth another win or two which is heavy praise on a young kid in a team sport (and also an indictment on our forwards of previous years).

Seattle - with the amazing stat of Jimmy Clausen becoming one of only a few QB's to face the same opponent on a different team. He failed to score last time with the Bears in week 3. Washington New England

I'm not sure about whomever mentioned Gaze and Maher, both seem apolitical or too stupid to make compelling political arguments either way. But Francis Leach is undoubtedly left wing. Probably why he keeps running back to the ABC every few years. As long as he keeps his politics mostly to himself when not related to the topic as well as dimming down his arrogance and St Kilda love he's a good host.

If we weren't young after another rebuild then it wouldn't have been a rebuild........ The draft is the only way to build from scratch and when Roos came to the club that was the job. We've traded for Vince, Tyson (a young player), Michie, Cross (did the job), Garlett, Lumumba, Frost, Melksham, Bugg, Kennedy but most of those deals were about paving the way for the young group. We've got experienced talls in most spots, experienced defenders like Melksham and Jetta and some mix of mature mids in Jones, Vince, Viney, Vanders at least having the bodies to mix it inside. I wouldn't want us to be more experienced unless it was due to having quality mature players and you can't manufacture them.

With ANB it's not what he has in terms of stand out traits but that he shouldn't have too many weaknesses and will be a really nice bottom 6 player. He's fit, finds the footy, uses it pretty well and whilst not big or fast he's not small or slow either. He'll also be a good culture guy. Stretch has a bit more x factor being a really good natural outside running type.

He's reached Neeld level in the press conferences as well. The only saving grace for him might be that the franchise is suffering through similar turmoil as San Diego with uncertainty about their future. And maybe the Bradford-Foles situation wasn't his choosing. Either way I can't see how the Rams would let Fisher be in charge of the next OC or develop the QB of the future they surely must draft.

I can support the decision to go for it on 3rd down. A 48 yard field goal to go to OT isn't exactly great odds of winning the game. The FG is probably 90% and winning in over time against a good team on the road is probably about 40% depending on the coin toss. A quick out increases the odds of the FG and you never know when you'll get a blown coverage and the winning TD. What seemed to be the issue from what I've read was Norv's play call. There wasn't a lot of help for the O line and there seemed to be a lot of receivers in the middle of the field when the pass could only go to the sideline. A bad mistake and loss for Teddy but otherwise a good game and learning point for him. Unless they create an unbelievable defense I can't see Teddy winning much if he progresses to Alex Smith style safe QB. Running the ball is fine but you need at least enough of a pass threat to open up the run. Anyway, the last 2 Thursday nights combined with the Bears missing FG's and throwing a win last week has led me to my continued belief that the rest of the NFC North only exists to support the Packers. Because just when they start looking awfully shaky the other 3 teams all conspire to gift them the division. I guess it's better than the AFC East where the teams just roll over for the Pats every year besides a Rex Ryan team that decides to make it more comical before losing.

Yep good post, although I think there's room for a shut down small/mid defender. Stratton is an important player for the Hawks in that regard and so is Duryea. Fair call about Frost being under 23, I think that's a key part of my thinking, he's still got lots of development in him, I just see him more as a project type who is coming off missing pretty much a year of footy than a lock for a spot in the 22.

Popped by for about an hour. Didn't see Dawes, Lumumba, Frost or Trengove. Did see Brenton Sanderson, Shifter and Cal Twomey. So many drills with different groups it's kind of hard to report on what was happening unless you take notes. Certainly nice to see Brayshaw, Tyson and Garlett doing some ball work as well as runs. Jones, ANB and Petracca had a bit of kick to kick at the end with Crossy taking turns to shadow defend one of them as they led off. Fair to say Petracca knows how to mark on a lead. Hulett impressed me of the new boys, good size, lovely kick. Joel Smith was with them for a fair few drills. Weideman kicks well on his left. Nothing wrong with Oliver's physique. Wagner was with the main group. The usual drills all focused on fast ball movement. A full ground drill featured 2 teams going head to head in non stop footy with no stopping for marks. Vanders was prominent in the midfield, and Viney. Billy Stretch found the ball in space. Bugg got the ball at half back a bit. JKH was involved. The one player who really made things happen was Hunt, using his burst of speed through the middle. But he does seem a bit one dimensional and his kicking isn't fluent, so I'm temper expectations but still he showed a bit. Ben Kennedy moved well to get in to space. With at one stage Grimes refusing to handball to him until it was late enough to be a hospital handball. That said Jack did kick nicely a couple of times. The thing with BK is every now and then he misses a kick or fumbles a handpass. I wonder if it's just confidence and belief, because he does have good skills. I think he needs to just relax and slow down a bit. Melksham was very impressive running and using the ball well from half back.

That would be Lake. Maybe not elite but he rarely turned it over at the Hawks and there were suggestions at times that Lake and Frawley shouldn't play in the same side. Salem and Melksham might be 2 but we need multiple options. Jetta is solid but doesn't get involved in rebounding enough. Doesn't exactly add up to Gibson, Birchall, Duryea, Hodge, Burgoyne. I've seen Frost at training a few times and in a handful of games for GWS, that's enough to know he's not a great kick or decision maker. Only need to watch his highlights to see he's not fluent by foot. McDonald's intercept marking was strong at the start of the year, plus his defending, run and his ball use was solid for patches. Once he lost confidence in his defending the other aspects of his game started to suffer as well. His disposal has improved but watching him with the ball is still heart in mouth stuff. I'd be reluctant to add another similar type is all I'm saying. If Garland doesn't improve then he'll be replaced, but if he improves his worse games and think he'll keep his spot over Frost.

The problem with Frost and McDonald in the same backline is you then have 2 players whose kicking skills, footy smarts and intercept marking aren't all that flash. I think it can work if surrounded by 4 medium/small defenders with good skills and smarts, but we might not have that. Dunn as the 2nd tall and Garland the 3rd tall might be better short term options and Oscar Mc and Hulett might be developed as key defenders as well. He's certainly not a forward but does provide a potential short term option as a second ruck and then can mainly be used for his defensive skills when forward. Versatility ruins consistency but he could swap with Dunn or McDonald who then go forward in games. I like Frost, but until he starts playing regularly again I see him more as depth and a utility than a long term solution down back. He's yet to show he's more than just a good athlete.

How does this seasons recruits so far compare to previous years KC? Seems to me really solid numbers of kids coming in from TAC cup teams particularly Dandy and Gippy which makes sense. Is there a sense of the Casey supported by Melbourne are on a better track with player development? Losing Panozza and particularly Mitch Gent and Shannon Byrnes probably isn't good and they don't seem to have signed anyone delisted from the AFL or from other state league teams. I get the sense that if the budget is there it would be handy to sign a couple of ex AFL or consistent VFL players to make sure the team has some consistency from the VFL listed players.

By all reports Martin is not a great person and certainly showed that in this incident. But at the same time his biggest indiscretion before this has been abusing sleeping pills. I think it's a little hypocritical from some people to be labelling him as some kind of repeat offender when at this stage he isn't. There's no laws against having a bad haircut, tattoos, liking a party and not being nice. It's why when I hear talk about suspending Martin for an entire year or Richmond 'dealing with' him I am a little surprised. This is a serious incident. But I don't think it's trivialising it by also saying in the scheme of things it's not that bad. Bad stuff happens all the time in the world and I'm not really convinced of this idea that singling out Martin will solve all the problems of violence towards women, domestic violence (which gets dragged in to violence towards women), alcohol and drug abuse, AFL players behaving badly and so on. I think we've heard little so far from the police because in the scheme of things they have to deal with making a threat to a stranger before walking away and later apologising is probably not high on their priority list. Again, I'm sorry if those upset about violence to women find that as a weak excuse but I think it's true. Given that he is likely to receive a significant punishment via his work place and have it made public the police might be satisfied he will get his penalty. A regular season suspension of 2-4 weeks and a decent fine would be punishment enough. Others might think that is light but I don't think punishing any individual heavily will solve any of the issues involved. AFL players are going to continue to make mistakes just like every group of young men. Alcohol will continue to be involved. A change in attitudes regarding violence towards women will come from all of the community saying enough is enough and particularly dragging domestic violence out of the shadows. Dusty might not be a nice guy but I don't particularly think he deserves addition punishment for it.

West Coast, Port, Hawthorn, Geel Coll, GWS, Syd, Freo --------------------------------------- WB, Rich, North, Gold Coast St Kilda, Adelaide, Brisbane, Essendon, Carlton That's my best guest excluding us right now. I'm hoping we head to a pretty even comp next year. Carlton will be bad. Hawthorn will be some level of good. Everyone else will be inbetween which hopefully means unpredictable results and a bunched ladder. I get the feeling Hawthorn and West Coast won't be as good as last year (even though I've still got them top 4) and Freo and Sydney should slide. I don't think anything is guaranteed for the teams that finished 5-8th last year either (Rich, WB, Adel, North). So it could be a whole bunch of new teams in the top 8. Unfortunately I don't think it will be too many 'new' teams that haven't seen success. GWS might do it. Otherwise it's a case of Port, Geel and Collingwood jumping back in to the 8.

Cinci Arizona Carolina

So I'm just minded my business watching a movie on a laptop with my chrome browser on in the background. Beep. Through comes a reply to a Demonland post I made in the bottom right corner of the screen. Brilliant. A little scary. But brilliant. Great work guys.

From the CBA I presume they'll finish on the 18th and start back on the 4th but you're best to check with the club.

Still wish we did more kicking technique practise. This isn't going near the goals on a windy day Tracc. And Jayden Hunt, no wonder you can't kick reliably with whatever this is: Put you hand up if you can't kick

Real shame for him. It's obvious he has the skills and smarts to have a decent career, just doesn't seem to be able to cover the ground well enough and as it says he was working on his endurance. He's one of the best kicks on the list. To give him the best possible chance of saving his career I'd actually extend his preseason through until at least April, maybe even until May until he plays games. If we bring him back early he'll play well in the VFL but never be able to impact at AFL without improving his tank.

If we needed the reassurance that everything is fine before another bottom 4 finish and player X is good player before they get delisted we may as well have Saty back in full. We've been back in full training only a few weeks and already the little niggles are mounting up. I'm not impressed.

I recall other clubs doing it. I know they have other commitments and at other clubs but I'd love to see Yze, Rivers and White back at the club if/when these guys debut. All 3 were very good players for the club who might have suffered a hit to their reputations in how they left and getting them back in would be nice. I'd love to see Clayton Oliver presented with his jumper by Yze before debuting against and tearing up the Hawks.

Yet at the same time totally believable. It's the Browns. Pre game I think it was Steve Young saying the Browns can't be influence by the past and have to make decisions based on what really is right but I feel for them because they just can't seem to win no matter what they do. Not even the other perennially bad teams in the NFL compete with their level of misery. So with their history you'd say they needed to win every game they can, build confidence in their coach and build a winning feeling. But the other side of that is they need a top draft pick and to get one right for once and they need to decide if Manziel (or even Davis) is the long term QB. Plus they need to find the right coach and the right GM. I think they have the right coach but not the right GM. I'm really glad no poor bugger on here follows the Demons and Browns.