Slartibartfast

In the absence of Harvey and Ghosty I'll do a quick summary. Absent: Viney, Lever, Turner, Melksham, Rivers, Tmac, Hore, Campbell, McAdam and AMW Rehab: Woey, May, Sesso doing some ball work and Hendo was running laps. Great day at Gosch's, beautiful weather, warm with no wind. The players came out about an hour after scheduled time and did some run throughs to start with. They then broke up into three groups. The first played head and foot only volleyball, the second a short kicking drill exercise focusing on accurate low sharp kicks. The third, who were on the other side of the ground to me were doing some sort on handballing drill but I really didn't see much of it. They rotated through these drills which they did for about 10 minutes each. There was the usual goal kicking practice at the end but they didn't stay long and finished up after about 35 or 40 minutes. The atmosphere was positive but reserved. No soccer games today and one onlooker noted Judd had an aeroplane ticket hanging out of his back pocket. Personally I didn't see it but you never know Pickett, you might get your bottle of Scotch yet.

His form and therefore confidence has really turned around since he has gone forward. He's been very impressive given his very compromised start to the season.

Rest Ghosty, saying it more than once won’t convince those who don’t think you’re right!

I'm disappointed I missed it Dazzle, oh well.

More intellectual content! Wow. DM me if you want to swear. 😀

Nostradamus!

The Strathmore in North Terrace. Lovely day in Adelaide, looking forward to supporting the boys. Too many here worried about the destination and not the journey.

I had a different take. Ball skills were excellent, lateral movement seemed good, good speed, ran in a straight line well, smiled when spoken to, disappointed not to be approached by Ghosty, body shape a bit like Sesso, good endurance, good teeth. Did you notice any of those things?

No Jeffo, no Casey.

For a young tall like Kentfield it's not about dominating games it's about attributes. He's got them. One grab mark, lots of athleticism, professional approach, good hands and adequate pace. Rookie. A one year contract. Sometimes you need to look beyond the stats sheet.

Just a few points from this morning's session: Turner trained with the backs and Petty with the forwards so I expect that's where they'll play this week. May was doing some marking craft work with Jeffo after the main structured session based on positioning and body work while the ball was in the air. Viney was doing some ball work with one of the trainers. He still had a glove on his left hand and didn't do a left hand handball at all during that exercise. Max was doing a lot of around the body goal kicking with Choco and he seemed to be testing how far out he had to be before he couldn't use that technique. Viney and Kolt seem to have special thing going, lots of wrestling and clowning around. Ball skills seemed good to me given the ground was quite wet. There were very few fumbles in the full ground drills. Looking at the set up for the FGD's I think there is a good chance Jeffo plays. Lots of goal kicking at the end for the forwards and a few others. Melk was off target today. Chandler was doing a lot of work in a drill where he centred the ball to the top of the goal square rather than go for goal. Howes and Rivers trained with the backs at one stage with the other likely starters. The goal kicking was very serious. It's not just grab a ball and have a shot, it's a serious set shot and players clearly unhappy when they missed. It's not just an end of session kick and giggle, they really work on it. It's been the same all season.

Jeez Ghosty, hats off to you in this weather. It's cold enough sitting in front of the fire! Are the girls wearing jumpers with numbers? It would be hard to working out who's who otherwise. Hope they gave you some appreciation for your dedication. Were you lonely? Bet you were the only one there!

Are people serious about referring to JUH as a "gun" KPF"!0

That’s really unnecessary.

The thing that frustrates me with you Picket is I’m never quite sure where you stand!😀

Because it could be better. On your theory Viney doesn't come in?

Not so Bin, I’m on the Picket train and would replace AJ with JvR. In four games AJ has had 23 disposals, two marks, 2 goals and 18 hit outs. I said it about Fullarton and I think the same with AJ; people are looking for positives but the reality is he’s not AFL standard yet, he drops marks he should take, he isn’t clean below his knees, his disposal is poor and when teams play two rucks against us because of Max he isn’t competitive. He was quite poor against Callum Brown as well. Like everyone I love his attack on the ball, but you need more. IMO JvR is a better player all round and if you compared the two players JvR is clearly better. What people are doing is saying that JvR is well below his best so shouldn’t be in the team. Even well below his best JvR offers more. To those that say AJ has played in winning teams and JvR hasn’t I say it is correlation not causation. Our results would have been the same with either. It probably comes down to JvR’s mindset. If he believes he needs another game at Casey then fine but if he’s got his confidence back it’s a no brained for me.

If that’s what you took out of my post then I’m either not expressing myself clearly or you comprehension is very poor.

Oh yes I would Dazzle. The system is broken. Every time a FS or Academy is taken ahead of you your pick is now one lower. We would have had Mills and we bid on Ashcroft. We probably win a flag in 2023 if the Pies don’t have two Daicos boys. Win or lose, at least you’d know the system isn’t rigged. Who knows if Viney was the reason we won in 2021, we might have been much better off or we might have missed the 8 in a fair draft system. I believe the system is unfair and want it changed and whilst FS are romantic I think it’s a small price to pay for a better system.

So many GF have been won because of FS. Collingwood with two Daicos boys, Geelong with Albert’s, Hawkins and Scarlett. Brisbane get two Ashcroft boys while contending and winning flags with Will winning the NS. Added to that the Academies gift players to club. Add Coleman to Brisbane, Heeney, Mills and Guldon to Swans. The Suns will be very powerful for years with 2 or three more first pick academy kids to join them at the end of this year. It corrupts the competition. How do you think NM fans feel as all those players are taken from the draft as they struggle? FS romantic? Go and watch Days of Our Lives if you want romantic, I want a fairer competition where more teams have a chance. I’m with RJay but we ain’t going to get it. Perhaps teams should be limited to one top 10 pick every 3 years or some such rule and no more trading your top pick down for a points bonanza, that’s just a Rory.

You'll be pleased to hear they couldn't do it.

AMW and McAdam also miss. I miss them and held high hopes for both this year.

Good to hear all AFL players in attendance. How did AMW and McAdam go, light training presumably? Thanks as always for your input.

I think too much is being made of the soccer game. These sessions are for recovery, get the bruises out, get the legs moving. Further because the main weekly training session is at Casey we’ve no idea what they are doing there. We don’t know what they are doing indoors. We’ve too little information to judge. Until you look at the whole training program I think many here are drawing too much from far too little information.

Where is Stevethemanjordan when you want him. It’s very simple. No Oscar, no Freo.