Slartibartfast

For what it's worth I've not noticed any changes in our training this year to last. The ball movement drills (which happen on Wednesdays) have always focused on finding a bloke in the corridor. But these drills are only 12 v 12 or 14 v 14 and it's easier to do. I'm not expecting any great change to our game plan. It will be more direct if JvR and Petty get up and firing but if not I think it will be the same. Unless they move Tmac forward we've only got one competitive KPF at the moment (I don't include Schache, he's just not competitive) and we will rely on McAdam and Fritta to provide aerial targets.

Could be Mono but you’re a little late. Demonstone has already had some fun at my expense!😀

Agree Dante, Schache 2024 is the same as Schache 2023. He's a very good trainer and able to do really good things in the training environment but in a truly contested situation he doesn't seem to be able to do it. Treat training form with care, Andrew Strauss was one of the best trainers I've seen over the years.

Much busier.

It was a good day at Casey apart from the weather and the wind but fortunately as the players started the match sim both abated a bit and conditions were not too bad. Watching this match sim is so much more informative than the ball movement drills they do at Gosch's as it's genuinely competitive but tackling is very soft and the intensity is limited. Nobody crashes packs for marks much expect JvR who seems not to be able to help himself. There is the occasional tackle but it's more to impede someone than to take them down. In the ball movement stuff on Wednesday's the main players don't seem to dominate and the youngins do well but today was a different kettle of fish. Trac did what he liked and really ruined the game in the first quarter. Gawn, Trac, Viney and ANB were against an assortment of players the most notable being Rivers. But Gawn had no opposition (KFW played forward all day) and the centre group had a field day. Viney is great and looks set for a continuation of last years form, as someone else said ANB was very good and was heavily involved. But again, as noted, Bill was right up there. He's just a very smart footballer who does smart things. One goal in windy conditions from the boundary and another where he dodged the man on the mark and kick truly from 45 were highlights but he was involved inside and dished the ball out with good vision and precision. I'm not sure he'll play because of the logjam for spots but he'd be an automatic selection at most clubs. I know it's easy to get carried away at this time of year so I've got to be careful but keep and eye out for him. Kade Chandler is another to impress. Sure hands, good kick and quick today with at least 2 goals and perhaps more. He ran out of petrol tickets last year but this year he'll be better and better for longer. Problem is he's competing with Kossie, Spargs and a number of others for a spot in the forward line but he certainly put his name forward today. Howes played deep back and started on Fritta. What he did he did well and he looks taller than last year to me. He's got really good skills and seems to have picked up the pace of the game well but of course with the midfield dominating for Fritta's team Howes had his work cut out. He's an interesting choice for third tall because you'd think it means Lever has to play more accountable footy and that's not his go. Another interesting watch. Kynan Brown is also an interesting watch. He certainly gives it his all and can find the ball well. He played the game on Langdon and they were on the side where a lot of the play was (due to the wind). He did some nice things but in a fully contested game he'd be ragdolled I reckon. But his hands are clean, he is quick enough and he's showing a bit. A great Moneyball pick. I was also impressed with Seston. He was involved in quite a lot of play in the wing/back area and found quite a bit of it in one patch. He used it well and was clean, he's clearly made improvements to this game this year although he's not close to best 22 at this stage. But for a smokie he's not disappointing, he's got some really good attributes, his kicking being the main one. Jake Bowey was really really good. His disposal is first class, his ball handling is very good and his decision making was good. He found it a lot today both inside and outside and was a real standout for me. McAdam is a class footballer but he didn't play the whole game. In the third he, Brayshaw, Billings and some others were just running laps and McAdam was the tailender so I think they are still trying to build his tank. But when he was on he finds it and uses it and will be an interesting addition unless his fitness stops him being selected. Rive played midfield for the last part of the game and did well. He just looks to be continuing his confident run from late last year and as I type this I'm wondering if Howes takes his spot if Riv plays more up the ground. Tmac was good today but he wasn't on anyone much. But he found it and much to DL groupthink kicked it well on all but one occasion. By the way, he wasn't the only one to miss a kick. It was a kickout from a point and I don't expect him to take any of them in the seniors. But in my view he was the third best tall back on the field with the caveat that he didn't really have a challenging opponent. Fritta took some really good grabs, Kossie did some Kossie things and Woey looked composed with the ball but struggled against the first picked midfield. The Kolt and Duke had little influence that I saw but Duke played on the grandstand side and I wouldn't have noticed much of his play if he was involved. Best for others to comment. Kolt seemed to have little input and is still picking up the pace of the game. My final point is that the kicking for goal was very good in difficult conditions. As I commented to others, if we'd kicked like that in the finals we'd have won the flag, but enough of channelling Masie. I can't be bothered proof reading this so apologies for typo's and mispellings. @Demonstone will no doubt do that job for me and this report will be covered in red ink.

Can anyone see Petty? Yep, on the bike.

Brayshaw isn’t wearing a helmet. That’s the intensity. They play at full pace but not much physicality.

Lever doing all drills.

And they’ve locked off the grandstand for the comfort of the supporters😀🤪

And now a shower! Petts doing all the warm up.

Sparrow doing warm up drills. Correction, someone wearing Tommy’s number, doesn’t look like Tom.

Jefferson, Sparrow, Salem and AMW in rehab. Left Melbourne in a breeze and arrived at a cold and wind ravaged Casey.

Interesting comments on KFW. He’s a young kid who hasn’t played much footy and it shows. But I’ve been told by people who know him just how dedicated he is to achieving an AFL career. His body is bigger than last year, he’s taken serious time off his 2km time and he’s much more involved at training. The club will have to assess whether he has the skills to make it but if they think he has he could be a very good long term prospect. It may take him another 3 or 4 years to get there but he’s a big boy who shows good agility and would be a cheap long term investment as a category B rookie. One thing for sure, he won’t die wondering if he could have made it.

I'm just back from training and it's really interesting reading others views of today as they differ from mine a bit. JvR said in a recent interview that today is ball movement day and Friday's are match practice so take that into account when you hear about players scoring goals. It's non stop movement and there is plenty of space and lots of room in the forward line and there are goals scored all the time. It's not "match practice" and the tackling is done with care. For me it's more like intensive circle work but maybe I'm wrong. Perspective at training is always interesting. Bowser has been mentioned a lot particularly for his disposal but I thought he was a bit off today missing some kicks he would usually hit, but he was very involved and very focused. He's agile and tough. Yze was very involved and looks a good prospect. Got lots of the ball and didn't look out of place out there. But my standout for the day was Jack Billings. He's a Moneyball pick and he'll be a beauty. His kicking today was better than anyone out there as he hit up hard targets all day. He's clearly fit and covering the ground well and will be regular best 22 from round 1. JvR is looking very imposing taking contested marks and finding space well. He's put on some bulk but it hasn't impacted his speed or spring and he is still super aggressive at the ball. His kicking is also very reliable. Windsor was more involved today than I've noticed on other days and certainly has a turn of pace although on one occasion when he was out by himself and running down the wing McAdam nearly caught him. Unlike others I don't see him as a round 1 candidate but who knows. All the older players were involved in ways you'd expect and I endorse the comments made about Viney and Trac. I saw Petty in the match sims early but he either didn't get much of it or didn't do much of it because I didn't see him involved much. I hope others can clarify his day. It was a tough day today, hot, humid and they ran for a full two and a half hours. There was also a good crowd, amazing what happens when you advertise training and give people a bit of notice.

I ventured down a bit before 9.30am and missed the start of training. They were doing the usual drills and some short kicking. As reported Hunter and Jefferson were doing repeat run throughs which seemed to go on for a good hour. KFW was doing his own running but the good news was Petty did most drills other than the match sims. Fritta was in full training. McAdam was held out of match sims and there was no sign of Benny Brown. Smith, Clarrie and Melk were no shows. I'm also not sure if I saw Tommy Sparrow, I thought I did early but didn't notice him during the session so I'm hoping another trackwatcher can clarify. The match sims are of major interest to me and as you know it was just dreadful conditions. It rained heavily for most of the session but did ease off towards the end. I didn't notice any major changes in game plan from last year other than there is no long kicking to the forward line but this is as much to improve entry inside 50 than a permanent gp chance. It was the same last year. There were a few players that I really noticed. Judd McVee handled the ball beautifully in the conditions and found time to hit up teammates regularly. He won contested ball, stood up in tackles are was one of the highlights for me. I think he'll take another step forward this year. Didn't play midfield at all so I think we'll see him off halfback. I was impressed with Verrell in the pre christmas training and he did nothing to change that view today. He's very good below his knees and his contest work was good. He marked well in awful conditions and his kicking is fine. He could end up a good KP player the way his is going and not just limited to ruck where he is perhaps a bit small. I'm not sure where he fits in but there's a fair bit there to look forward to and I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a go at some stage during the season. JvR was another standout. He looks to me to have put on some real size and really imposes himself around the ball. He marked well and was his usual competitive self when the ball hit the ground and on my viewing so far he has developed well from last year. He has a real presence about himself now and is imposing in a way he wasn't so much last year. I was also impressed with Fullerton. He played mainly down the other end to where I was but seemed to be involved in a lot of play. He might surprise this year. But best on ground would have to go to Trac who is just so strong and clean. Found the ball with ease, did some freaky things and frankly just looked a class above, which he probably is. Kynan Brown was involved a bit but got caught on a number of occasions trying to do too much. Rick Lever was in everything and Steve May didn't let his opponent get a touch. The small forwards are going to be an interesting watch. Spargs, Kossie and Chin were all involved today, Nibber did his thing, Billings and McAdam are contenders and the Kolt just looks like a footballer. The other to impress today was Howes. He's tall, well over 190cm I'd think and he's got a lot of good attributes and looks the most likely to do a "Juddy" this year although where these kids play and who's spot they take I don't know. All in all it was a good hitout today but it wasn't done at AFL pace except for patches of the match sims. I'm looking forward to next week and seeing them in better conditions.

I doubt you'll change your view but the decision to select Tom was made based on his previous game not on his performance in the Carlton game. Yes he did zip against Carlton but against Collingwood his performance was on a par with Fritta and JvR and only behind JSmith of the tall forward options. When it came to selecting the team to play Carlton JvR was suspended and Fritta was injured. It wouldn't have made any sense to drop Tom nor to put an uncompetitive player like Schache on who has a history of being invisible in contested hard games. And it's a cheap shot to say an injured Weitering wasn't covered by Tom. Why not talk about Judd McVee not taking the body and spoiling the ball out of bounds in the last play for a goal. How did that player get free? And was Tom on the ground in that play? I don't know and I'm not looking at the replay to find out but there is a good chance he wasn't, he only spent 64% of the game on the ground. Perhaps if he'd spent more time on the ground we would have won. Nobody knows.

I want to just balance the views here and point out that those suggesting Schache or Grundy play instead of Tom are in a no lose situation playing Monday morning quarterback. You'll never be proven wrong, but you aren't correct either. Grundy was tried forward and couldn't do it, he couldn't do it even partially. He doesn't know how to play the position, he can't judge the ball well in the air and therefore doesn't reliably bring it to ground when it's in his area. Just look at how Phillips completely outpointed him in the Gather Round last year. Grundy is a ruck only, we know that now, so to pick him in the team or as sub would have been silly as he's only a back up for Gawn. If Gawn plays Grundy doesn't. Schache has been the most unreliable and uncompetitive tall you could imagine at all three AFL clubs he's played for. There is a reason he's at his third. He isn't strong in the air, he isn't strong in the contest and he doesn't play well in high pressure situations such as finals. Why was he picked as a sub? Because he can at least play in multiple positions as a KPB, KBF and ruck, but he does all of these at mediocre VFL level. In a low scoring game against Collingwood, who have a fantastic defense, Tommy kicked one and should have had two. He knows how to compete in the air, the opposition have to cover him and he can play as a defensive tall. These are all things he is better at than Schache or Grundy. He wasn't a poor option, he was just the last option after JvR, Brown and Petty were all injured. And Tommy was only half fit. I reckon that if Grundy or Schache had played that last game the same comments would still be made except it would be Tommy that would be called for at the expense of whoever played. Tommy's positive was that at least he's got the footy IQ to play the position and do a job, Schache and Grundy don't.

Hunter (and Langdon) both failed to finish in the top 10 of the B&F despite playing every game bar the one missed by Hunter. In an award that favours those that play games and for blokes that are in crucial positions it's an interesting commentary by the coaches. Whatever Lachie was not doing he'd better improve because there is a lot of competition for spots from those that might not necessarily be seen a wingers - Billings, Chandler, Howes, Woewodin, Laurie, Spargo and perhaps even the Kolt and Duke. Langdon is under pressure too. It's an interesting watch.

I clicked on the link above and my computer froze and my display is now cactus. Anyone have the same issue?

I know I'm a bit late to the party but I've been down to a couple of training sessions including Monday's, I enjoy watching the boys do their time trials but really it's not as indicative as some might think. Trac struggles in the time trials because of his physique but that doesn't mean anything. The younger boys, particularly the talls struggled. Adams and Verrell were examples of this. Sestan is not a natural athlete but is working hard on his fitness by the look of things as is Jefferson. For a bloke of Tomlinson's size his running is outstanding. He ran with Nibbler until there was about a lap and a half to go and then just went. I thought he was on his last half lap when he broke away but no. He was so strong and was really impressive. But that doesn't mean he's a different footballer to last year, he's just an outstanding athlete. When I go to these sessions I'm really only interested in the young blokes because in the main that's where the improvement will come from but it's such early days it's not really realistic to take much away. But in the wet last week I was impressed with how good the ball handling was from all players. Verrell did some impressive stuff below his knees and it just shows he's got some skills which are rare in big men. He may be a key position player prospect as well as a ruck. His issue is his stamina, he couldn't play ruck at AFL level purely based on not being able to get to enough contests. McAdam is another to impress. He's just got that magical indigenous ability to make the difficult look easy and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do. But he was another struggling with his running so that will be a watch. As others have said The Kolt has swagger but it doesn't look like arrogance to me. And he can kick it, both distance and accuracy. He did a really good time trial so looks to have the fitness to play early. Windsor hasn't stood out but what he's done he's done well. Kicking is good and ball handling is clean. I've liked what I've seen Kynan Brown do but he's as skinny as so it will be a while before he's ready even if he's got the skills, and Marty Hore just looks at home. I've been a track watcher for a good long time now and I well remember watching James Strauss train and thinking he could be anything. Training form at this time of year is very problematic in terms of predicting players development but we look pretty good. As I've read the other posters comments the common comment is "I'm looking forward to seeing *insert player* get a go this year. The issue of course is there will be very few spots up for grabs if we have a reasonably fit list. Billings and McAdam can both play and would be in front of the young guys. Howes and Laurie (yes, I'm still a believer) have multiple preseasons under their belt and Woey looked promising last year for a second year player. The question is "who for". I mean how does Kolt get a go? Who does McAdam get in for and Billings as well. Spargo has been impressive. This brings me to my final point. At this time of year we have unbelievable depth with far too few spots for the players. But when we've lost a few games it's more like "we are just swapping the deck chairs on the Titanic". It's groundhog day.

I reckon there’s a good chance the Club has noticed😎

Gus!

Agree DS but I don’t think he’s rough around the edges at all. Seems like a level headed respectful young man to me. Like everyone I’ve really warmed to him and am hoping for a long and successful career.

Thank you.