The reason so many players were missing from the main training session was that the rest were playing a scratch match against collingwood at Victoria Park. I was only able to attend the first two quarters during my lunch break, and it was sometimes hard to differentiate betwen players due to the absense of numbers on jumpers, however, here is what I observed:
The coaches (Neeld and Buckley) were able to call plays i.e. we kicked a goal and rather than having a ball up in the centre, Buckley would call out and it would be a kick out instead, providing boths teams an opportunity to practice certain stuctures. Each coach had this kind of conrol for a quater. We dominated the first quater but the Pies came back into it in the second, smashing us in the clearances on many occasions, however when I left we would have still been up by a couple of goals.
From what I saw (which was somewhat surprising considering the bashing he has received here) Cale Morton was a stand out. He played across the backline and disposed of the ball well by foot and finding targets in space, he competed hard in marking contests, kept his feet and, and made good decisions under pressure.
Steph Martin was playing in the forward line, while Fitzpatrick was rucking. Unfrotunately Fitz got absolutely smashed in the ruck, although he is tall, and relativley fast for his size, he does not look to have much of a leap and was continually beaten.
James Magner and Tom Couch are tough as they come, in and under, see-ball-get-ball midfeilders, while Seller is a physical beast and played well in the back line, it would not surprise me if he plays quite a few games this season, freeing up Frawley for a more attacking role.
Jack Watts is all class, he did not have many touches, but whenever he got near it looked dangerous. Although he does not look much bigger compared to last year, he was able to demonstrate great strength in contested marking contests and his ability at ground level once the ball hits the deck is a real weapon. This kid will be a gun.
Sam Blease is super quick. He played mostly in the forward line, and looked dangerous whenever he got near it. He ran hard, chased and tackled. Rohan Bail looks really good, he has great speed and can find the ball. Mathew Bate and Gysberts competed well in the midfeild, but had very poor service in the ruck. Jeremy Howe played a high half forward/midfield role, and looked good, this guy will be a gun. Jamie Bennell has pace to burn and if he can find more of the ball this season will be a real weapon, he is also one of the few MFC players with the attributes to be able to shut down top-line small forwards.
Overall the tackling was great, they stuck most, forced plenty of turnovers and applied more pressure than I saw in most games last season. There seemed to be good defensive structure, and when players were out of position they worked hard to fix it. On the flipside, kicking was average. Many kicks missed targets, during the 30 minutes I watched there would have been at least six kicks that went out on the full. Dan Nicholson may well be an elete runner, but he still cannot kick!
As I said, I only saw 2 quaters, but from what I did see, there is promise for this season. However, it is worth noting that there were very few of the starting 22 for Collingwood playing, and this really was just a training drill for both teams.
