Buzzy

I'm not worried about our skills in this weather, more the fact that our decision making has been woeful and they've outnumbered us at almost every contest. GC wins 26 to 23. Hope we're better in the 2nd game but as Bailey would say; 'we need to be more COMPETITIVE'

Gold Coast all over us for the last 10 minutes of half 1 with more players getting to each contest. Scores level at Half Time. Both their goals have come from breaks through the middle and then over the top into space. Interesting to see if we lift for half 2. Horribly sh!te conditions for footy.

Was probably a better spectacle than I thought it was going to be today. The 7 minute periods were annoying but there were some nice plays and decent skills on show. - Clark is a crowd favourite already, just imposes himself and splits the pack like Neita used to do - which none of our existing forwards could last year. - Watts struggled in contested situations but was good out in space. - Crouch got a bit of the ball but was angry at himself for kicking a couple of long helicopters and turning it over. - Blease super impressive. Backs himself to outpace anyone and does. His kicking was spot on, kicked a really nice goal too. - Garland looking confident and assured - expert body work and was rarely beaten. - Sellar probably just beat Cook when he was on him but is probably 20 kgs heavier. Cook battled hard, he is very competitive and fights tooth and nail for the ball which is great to see for the future. - Josh Tynan was promising, granted a lot of his possies were uncontested but he didn't put a foot wrong and even courageously ran backwards to cut in front of a marauding Clark and punch away a pinpoint pass to him. Backed his skills. - Joel Macdonald deserves credit for the way he played today. - Moloney berates his teammates too much. - I love the straight lines that Bail runs, he's just a machine. - Davey didn't want to be there, his body language was awful from my perspective. - Loving Stef's attack on the ball all over the ground. He's turning into a pearler. -Fitzpatrick looked to be laughing on the bench after his injury, shouldn't be too bad. - Casey is not a pleasurable car trip. Feeling more confident about our skills in relation to the new game plan after today. Feeling REALLY confident about our forward line. Clark may be the recruit of the year.

..but there is something to gain... The coaches respect and a start in the best 22. It's a tough one but I wouldn't want to be the guy that looks like he's shirking any contests this close to the season.

Meh. 8 x 8 minute chunks?... how are they going to get any continuity going? I bet they'll swap players to and from each side as well. Can't argue with whatever training methods they think are best for the team....but it makes it hardly worth the drive out there. Everything has to be 'different' these days.

Yep we'll win this. Predictions: Frawley will shut down Brown. Mitch Clark will kick 5. Bennell will have between 7 and 12 possessions (are there really that many S's in that word?). and...Howe will be B.O.G. Last year the only reason we kept them in it is because we were incredibly soft that day. Everyone was grumbling at the 'G. I'd like to think that won't creep back into our season with Neeld at the helm. Demons by 30-40 points.

Have to agree with this... Definitely in the Fwd 50 anyway. If Watts took him further up the ground he might outstmart Garland in some situations though.

A little bit concerning - I thought club were originally saying that he was supposed to be with the main group by mid Jan from memory and that's clearly not the case... Anyway, if there's one guy we don't want to rush, it's Jurrah. We need his confidence to be sky-high when he plays his first game. Every time I pop into training the one constant is that Jurrah will be doing laps with Jack Viney...jeez he's done his fair share of distance running over the summer! Makes me think, does Jack Viney not go to school at all any more? Is he already finished? By the way, the other guy doing laps with those two today was James Magmer. The gun show. Thought the session was really sharp today. The pinpoint chip-kicks out of defence were effective in spite of the wind. Standouts were Mitch Clark up forward - he's just super competitive, Lucas Cook took a couple of pressure grabs and as per usual, Jeremy Howe shone. During the match practice he was wearing these ridiculous padded bike shorts, the kind that protect a corkie... but they were massive on both sides. He got a couple of good handball receives and took off like lightening - he really does look extremely quick out there, even though those shorts would have hindered him. Love this guy. Good sesh, looking forward to Friday. Nice timing for me to be in between jobs!

Agreed, we've definitely improved in this area in the last couple of years. Nathan Jones is one who has impressed me with his improvement in this area, he rarely makes an error at training. Confidence is such a big factor as well, if we get on a roll, it will be amazing how much better our skills will suddenly look. The starts to our games are so important...it's like walking out to the first Tee. Get a good drive off and away you go!

Silly call. I've been playing footy for 12 years now and I'd like to think most posters on here would have enough experience to know the difference between a 'wind affected' kick and a total shank. To help you out, here's some handy tips on how to spot a shank. Ask yourself these simple questions: 1. Is the footy is spinning forwards, not backwards in the air? 2. Does the footy goes at right angles off the boot? 3. Is Cale Morton about to have a shot at an open goal on the run? SHANKS

I thought training was VERY disappointing today. I was down there for an hour (so missed the last half hour when apparently skills were up) - but I thought the kicking skills that I witnessed today were just woeful. Simple circle work to start off with, I saw heaps of balls either dropping short, going straight over their heads or helicoptering into teammates whilst the guy delivering was under no pressure. Guys were double grabbing simple marks all over the shop. I won't single out players but I saw targets missed by often 5-10 metres by half a dozen different guys, some senior players. The coaches were paying little attention it seemed, I didn't see them admonishing anyone. Not even Craigy who I normally see ripping into some poor bugger (Fitzpatrick). When the match drill started, it got worse, short uncontested chips missing targets, guys kicking on the full from full back twice in a minute. As soon as a tackler was within 5 metres, their technique went to water. Not good enough today. I've seen some awesome sessions so far and I can't fault how hard the boys have worked on the fitness, but today's skills were far short of what I would expect from an AFL team, whether it's early Feb or not. I'm really worried this will continue to be our achilles heel this year. Just hope it was 'one of those days' when the vibe just isn't there for whatever reason, I know it can happen. Really surprised to hear people say the guys looked sharp today, I certainly didn't feel that way.

I was down there as well to check out the match practice. It was a scrappy affair - but only because it was so hotly contested. I don't know what Neeld had told the players but it did look like the way he wanted them to move it out of defence was by repeatedly chipping it short around the boundary - dare I say it - Collingwood style. I look forward to seeing this strategy abandoned approximately 8-10 minutes into the 2012 season. Stef Martin really stood out to me today, his mobility and leaping for marks (and taking them) was great to see - I reckon we'll see him go up yet another level again this year. Magner was solid but looks noticeably less explosive than most of our midfielders. Blease's pace was fantastic - it buys him more time than any other player but his kicking let him down. In terms of Fitzpatrick - well..I admit I've never been a fan of his but I always keep a close eye on him. He was in the ruck against Jamar and was absolutely monstered as you would expect. He probably won about 1 in every 10-12 ball ups. He still looks ungainly and seems to lack confidence in the way he moves i.e I have more than once seen him fall over with nobody around him. He found himself in the forward line at one point, the ball came in high, he got a good block from another forward, went for a relatively simple grab and unfortunately .... it hit him straight in the face. I had to laugh. A little later he went for a long kick out of defence under little pressure and it helicoptered straight to an opponent in he middle of the ground. Most things he tries do not turn out well for him at this stage. I wish him all the best in his development but I would be very surprised if he gets into the senior team this year based on the size we recruited. Hot & humid day on the track - I was sweating it up just sitting in the shade.

It's just the angle, Mckenzie's legs and arms actually looked quite skinny at training today... Bate is big though.

I'd have to agree that Davey and Blease's running efforts were very disappointing - Blease's form just looks terrible and they were both wheezing their way through it. I've been surprised that Gysberts still hasn't managed to move up a group, (still in the Frawley, Garland running group) - with his body shape he should be a super long distance runner you'd think...we need him firing. A few weeks ago I heard Neil Craig really giving it to him. He also had it in for Fitzpatrick last time I was down, because Gawn kept beating him in the running...He's one that needs to lift, so I hope he gets a few rockets. Couldn't see him out there today though? Cook still looks stick thin.. quite an awkward looking runner. Still a season away from seniors I reckon. Rivers looks like he's really packed on some muscle this year... noticeably bigger arms and thighs, running really freely too - he kept gave a bit extra in the last 20 seconds of each run while others were dropping off. I have a feeling he's going to have a new lease of life this year. Down at the Yarra end, Sylvia, Jamar, Viney and a lot of the new blokes were running 30ish metre sprints at 3 qtr pace, with quite a gap in between... it sounded like they were trying to get exactly the same time each run - the trainer kept yelling out '4.3, spot on' or '4.1, too fast'... Not sure what this was achieving or why they were doing this? Josh Tynan was in this group, he looks a really good size, has some decent muscle already for a young fella and reminded me a bit of a younger Goddard... he runs very smoothly. The skills weren't perfect in the drills after the running, but the guys were all absolutely spent. Good sesh. Can't wait for footy to be back, I can't get in to this mickey mouse Twenty 20 rubbish at the moment.

I'm expecting big things from this guy in this category after seeing him fall over himself hilariously for no apparent reason in a practice match at Visy Park last year. Hope he becomes a champ but if he proves to be a massive clutz instead then at least I can get a chuckle out of it.

They're awful aren't they? ... Worst we've had in quite a few years. The red looks brown. Even last year's dodgy M T-shirts were better. Damnit!

Well 2011 just continues to deliver the goods for us doesn't it. Sucks that the whole team has a tougher job now because of his stupidity... Maybe he should spend less time getting haircuts and more time developing some common sense. We'd better not lose to the Lions in Round 1!

If he can be Melbourne's Campbell Brown then I'll be ecstatic (Minus the nude Thailand incidents and other miscellaneous stupidity)

Tappy & Strauss didn't exactly set the world on fire this year, I think a fully fit Bruce would have earned his spot ahead of them if we were purely picking teams to win games...but thems the breaks. Sad to see him finish this way, would have been interesting to see how he went without injuries this year... Loved the bloke but the Hawks would be silly to give him another year now I reckon. Wish he'd backed himself to stay a year with us and then had a ripper. Ciao Brucey, I'll always remember your goal square candy selling vanishing ninja goal in that Carlton Final.

I'm a massive fan - my question marks are over his kicking technique and body shape... he might be one of those guys that may not be able to muscle up but hopefully I'm wrong and he becomes a beast. We're crying out for a Scott Pendlebury in the guts so lets hope he gets there.

I just watched this vid, then right after that the All Blacks v France Haka kicked off on the telly. It's fair to say I AM UP AND ABOUT.

Dare I say it... Co-Captains in 2012? If there's no stand-out then share it until there is. Moloney & Green. Trenners is 2 years away, let him focus on his footy.

Totally agree with this. Jones has won me over with his kicking skills in the last year, I'd definitely back his skills over what I've seen of Grimes. If he continues on his improvement path, I reckon he'll be one to watch in 2012. In terms of who else I'll tip to stand up: :- Davey will bounce back to his best with more intensity, I think we'll see him chasing again too. :- Sylvia :- Gysberts ... this is more in hope, I'm really unsure of what kind of footballer he'll be in the future but we need another elite midfielder desperately.

If Ross was getting frustrated at St Kilda, he's in for a rude awakening down at the Dees! Not a massive fan of his game style or his wet blanket personality but if it makes the players better defensively then stuff it, I'd give him a go. Until we improve our kicking, it doesn't really matter what style we play.

I didn't. I did about Morton though, I guess I must be educated? Happy to go out on a limb with this one. I've made a note in my diary, are you sure you don't want to make it 4 seasons though? He is a tall after all...