Dee Zephyr

Bull trained strongly and wasn’t hindered at all mono. Weid was talking to a couple of staff members on the ground after most had made their way back to AAMI. Couldn’t tell if they were coaches or trainers. Hopefully it was some advice rather than talk of a niggle. I didn’t see him compete in any ruck work today. Maybe @kevin martin noticed him in ruck drills.

Like the theory Macca. I’m still dumbfounded at the French handball. Not even a yellow card. He should have been off IMO. The VAR seemed to work fine a few months back in the A-League. The only controversy with it was the constant decisions going against the Victory. Very enjoyable first half by the way. I think the Japanese keeper is still waving his finger in the dressing rooms. Ball was over by 2 feet.

Unbelievable Macca. Kettle hadn’t even boiled yet and whaaaaatttt...penalty and a red card?? Did I hear the commentator say it’s the 9th penalty of the tournament?

Fair enough buck. When i was leaving training I did take a look back and noticed Weid was the only left on the track talking to two people. I couldn’t identify if they were coaches or trainers/physios from the distance. I thought he might get included this week and hope he didn’t suffer some sort of niggle. Simply an observation though.

Personally Werridee, I’d be very surprised if Frost came in and played as a forward. Bull was just as impressive early in the session with the slippery ball. At least both are giving themselves every opportunity for a recall.

Kevin pretty much covered it with his response to you Brownie. My initial thought on seeing Max as a mid in the centre bounce drills was to just block/restrict some of our regular mids from getting the ball.

I’m a fan also LH. He was noticeable early in the session as the drill he was involved in was close to us. He got to the contest well, won his own ball and delivered some good passes up the field. As soon as I talked him up to a friend that also came along today he tried to sell some candy to Hannan and it went horribly wrong. He was crunched in the tackle but got up and shook it off. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see much more of him as the defensive drills of one on one combat shifted up the other end and by the time we tried getting there Goody blew his whistle. I honestly have no idea which way they go this week but I wouldn’t be against it if Petty was selected.

Not sure how close to selection Baker is but I did notice him in the midfield group along with Stretch during the centre square drills with the regulars. It looked like those 2 were being used as the outlets from stoppages at times.

On the money LDC. There’s some hope of it happening, nice little turnout today. Hopefully we get some pics later, noticed a regular with a camera.

Arrived around 10am and the session was just about in full swing. I’ll try my best as my fingers are frozen. The first thing I noticed was no rehab group. Lever, Hunt and Maynard the obvious absentees. Kent a no show also but overhead he might be lining up at Casey this week and was to train with them. Great to see McKenna and Vanders in the main group with the latter looking really sharp and vocal. I was surprised to see Vanders move as well as he did. A lot of encouragement throughout the session and it was a solid hitout. A lot of short drills in duration but no lack of intensity. To me it looked like the session was built up around rapid ball movement and frequent switching with players supporting the receivers for options. Skills were very good in somewhat slippery conditions. Good luck with selection as some of the players pushing for a spot this week were certainly a highlight. T Smith and Frost very clean and strong with marking. Interestingly, Frost was used as a leading forward in some drills and was excellent overhead and kicked accurately from distance. He took J Smith to school a few times one on one. A drill I found interesting was one of the centre square setups. I believe it was Filipovic used as the ruck with Max used as a blocking midfielder and his opponents had to find their way around him and win the ball. He didn’t let up on them. Another Max highlight was his 50 metre chase on Baker. He didn’t catch him but never gave up and was actually gaining on him by the end. Everyone around us commented at the effort that Max put in. That’s what you want to see from your leaders even if it’s just a training session. Brilliant work. Dion Johnstone was very good with his kicking and it was good to see him up close. Hopefully he gets a chance soon, I liked what I saw. I am a Tyson fan and want him back in the side but unsure if it will be this week. Looks bereft of confidence especially with his kicking. Missed a few targets where other players hit theirs. Towards the end of the session Jesse, Weid, Pedersen and T Mac were having the ball kicked to them and competing one on one. They swapped over every kick with each winning their fair share of contests. The other forwards, Melksham, Fritsch, Bugg, Garlett, Spargo and Hannan were setup around the goal square. A kick would come in and one of them had to deliberately tap the ball to ground whilst the others would try to rove it or pick it up cleanly from the deck. Garlett was very clean and smart around goals. A couple of times he kicked the ball off the ground truly as his opponents were too close for him to pick it up. Didnt see much of the defenders drills as they were on the other side of the ground so apologies for that. It was basically a full squad out there and impossible to keep track of all. Trac ran some solid laps after the session was finished. Happy to answer any questions as best I can.

8 games on a Friday night since 1991?

Roosy touched on this on the DL podcast. His take was to start T Mac forward all the time as opposition defenders lick their lips when they see him starting on the wing. Put the pressure on them immediately.

From a Q&A with Oscar on the website. Least-preferred teammate on road trips and why: Christian Petracca – because he eats the whole buffet

I prefer your report. I found this for Friday. Friday 22 June Adelaide area Partly cloudy. High (70%) chance of showers, most likely later in the day. Light winds becoming north to northwesterly 15 to 20 km/h during the morning.

BOM predicting 70% chance of rain on Friday, showers likely later in the day.

I was talking about Trengove, Watts and Dom Barry pushing their claims to get a senior spot this week. Those 3 played yesterday in the SANFL.

“Fiesta” time in Russia. The Mexicans have a knack of performing during the group stages and we have our first real shock of the tournament. We shouldn’t be surprised though as the Mexicans have some world class players and questions are now being asked of the Germans. Brazil, Argentina, Spain have all dropped points and France can count themselves lucky but they have the 3 points when other top seeds failed. You’d expect them all to bounce back though. Plenty of drama in these early stages which sets up an intriguing finish to the first round.

Macca, Macca, Macca. I’m a Bears fan mate. ? Haven’t followed the NFL as closely the last few years but enjoyed the rivalry over the years. Anyway, back on topic. Do you sometimes find some of our horses are under the odds over here when they race overseas?

Well...3 former Dees put in strong performances in the SANFL today to try and get a spot next week against us, none more so than Trengove. 27 disposals, 13 marks and 2 goals. Barry also had 27 and Watts kicked 3 in a winning team. Like Ethan said, the short break might go against them this week but it would be good to see Trengove get a game soon.

Not a bad game at the G so far. Geelong dominating centre clearances and getting no reward due to a well drilled Richmond defence.

In regards to Carlton. I have a close friend who’s a one-eyed Blue. He has been optimistic about his club and went as far as saying last year his team would be pushing for finals in 2019. He contacted me last night to say he’s finally conceded and can’t see a way out for his once proud club. Clearly disappointed with recruiting, coaching/game plan and just about everything else. No doubt a few of us had similar thoughts during our dark days but how many players on the Carlton list would you take to play at the MFC? Cripps and C Curnow would be the only 2 right now and maybe a fit Docherty but according to Gil it’s an exciting list that deserved multi prime time fixtures. I’m not sure getting rid of Bolton will fix anything down there.

Enjoyable game to watch. Argentina with almost 3/4 of the possession, around 5 times the amount of passes, more than double in shots, Messi alone had 10 goal attempts. Iceland looked very dangerous every time they attacked in the first half with their fast and precise passing. Agree with @Grapeviney, not a well hit penalty by Messi. This was the first game of the tournament so far that didn’t have a goal scored in the final 10 minutes. Early days but good for trivia night. Loving the reports @Diamond_Jim. Aussies unlucky in the end. The boos for Hernandez were coming through loud and clear. Sainsbury post match stated he wasn’t a fan of the VAR before and his mind hasn’t changed after today.

I was under the same impression Macca. VAR was comprehensive during the A-League season not only reviewing the play in question but also ruling on other infringements cited during the review such as players being sanctioned for pushing/holding behind the play. It seemed to me they went to VAR to confirm the handball but strangely forgot about the sanction.

Bizarre really. He didn’t even receive a yellow. I’ve seen red cards for less.

Off to Metricon folks....tipping a draw.