Usually a post or two makes its way in here, but occasionally an entire thread turns into a classic, such is the case here.
Agreed. Here is a link to the Where’s the FKG team thread in the Hanger where it morphs into Blitz Monopoly in particular Community Chest and Chance cards.
Sheesh! 4 months later, is too long between drinks in this thread. Looks like l have been neglecting my duties, but l would be remiss not to include this gem from the 2021 trade spec(PArt 4) thread on the trade board.
Something a bit different. This link is not to any post, but to the EFC site and excerpts from an upcoming book to celebrate the club’s 150 year history. The excerpts are from ex-players and what the club means to them.
Fark Carlton, fark the AwFuL, and fark Fitzpatrick.
I can’t stand that ■■■■.
The highlight of the draft period has arrived once more, and once more Pevster has not disappointed, but delivered big time with the OP in his annual “What the List Managers Really Said (2021)” thread. It is another instant classic.
A long post by saladin from the Wanga Wednesday 15/12/21 training thread in The Hangar. Takes a while to get to the subject matter, and takes a wild, wide ride to Venus of all places, but has lifted the bar for all future training reports.
I do wonder if these are the same Venusians Sheedy talked about.
Conditions today at training were , perhaps, best described as “muted” . A continuous and seemingly impenetrable cloud hung low from horizon to horizon, bestowing upon the scene a pall of drab and low contrast grey. Picture, if you will, a typical training session on a typical morning on, oh, Venus, for instance. Sans the chokingly lethal sulfuric gasses, the boil your eyeball temperatures and the acidic rain that keeps Venusian Ashley and Martin franchises balls to the wall busy. Truly, preseasons for the Venusian Football League are gruelling affairs for all involved. If we can digress even further for a moment, things for training watchers on our sister planet would be even more tricky, since a day on Venus is actually longer than a Venusian year. How many times a week do we train? None. We’re coming off a 20 minute break between games, it’s too tiring. Fixturing is a nightmare, i imagine.
Hmm. Where were we? Oh yeah, so it was cloudy and gloomy and threatening to rain but it didn’t quite get so precipitous as to threaten to water our bonces. Quite. There was also some measure of breeze blowing , but nothing remarkable in that. There’s always some measure of breeze, if you measure fine enough.
I hadn’t expected to attend training today, but the opportunity opened up and I arrived somewhat late. The drab surroundings, thankfully, didn’t equate to the training standards, notwithstanding that they’d clearly been out and about for some time prior to my arrival.
This session, in contrast to the others I’ve seen, had more emphasis on running drills. At least, that was my feel of things. But it also seemed , when the footballs were in use , to also be a step up in intent to emulate match day. Perhaps as a result , or maychance as a more causative driver, the vociferous nature of the lads was more prominently displayed. I would still label it all as somewhat restrained, in keeping with earlier observations of methodical determination and consistency of message. But there was a feeling of upped intensity in the individual moments. “Match sim” continues to be truncated and spasmodic, but today it was allowed to run to more definite conclusions. The two squads were allowed to score, complete with set shots or scrambled snaps, if earned. Said scores were then celebrated to an extent not yet seen, at least by yours truly.
It was during this match sim that a large measure of the anticipated Wanganeen-fest is probably best directed. He played in the front half and was on the end of some nice delivery into a forward pocket. For reasons I could not divine , he opted to attempt the mark with his left hand, and the ball continued to run towards the boundary. Unfazed, he was onto the ground ball in a flash, deftly sidestepped the oncoming pressure and nailed a right foot banana goal from a few meters inside the line , probably 30 meters from goal. Much raucous celebration and high fiving ensued.
Fast forward perhaps 1.2 Venusian seconds and we find the skipper with the ball inside his defensive 50. He spots a target free inboard and sends the ball in that direction at some speed. Some. Alas for Hep, Insufficient speed. Because Tex has clearly spent his youth intercepting telegrammed messages and read the play before the rest of us even decoded the morse. He motored across the turf and took a perfectly timed intercept grab. Then proceeded to wheel around and plant a pass on the chest of a leading Francis. Aaron snuck the set shot home , and more raucous frivolity followed. Not for Hep though. He vented his displeasure and had to make do with condolences from Cutler and Ridley.
This latter point was somewhat instructive of the general vibe. Zerrett was intensely upset that Wright was paid a mark. Or if not the mark itself, then possibly at the gaping hole Wright was able to lead into. It should be noted that Wright ended up with the ball due to a typical cameo from Stringer on the boundary, cleverly keeping the ball alive by tapping it back into play almost like a tennis player with the between the legs shot.
Smith roved a forward marking contest and snaffled a lovely snapped goal. That was clearly touched. When it was called as such, he too voiced his displeasure in vocal fashion.
Voss clashed heads with, I think, Mcdonough in a contested ball drill. There was some concern initially for Voss, but he picked himself up and shortly after received a well-being check from a grinning Heppell. The contested ball drill , as it turned out, was quite a willing affair. Young Hobbs was paired against Shiel . Hobbs isn’t a small kid, but he ran into an apparently bristling Shiel who seems to have a point to prove. If nothing else, Dylan is in impeccable shape and Benny was willing but literally outmuscled. There may be a real edge to Shiel this year, time will tell. One thing to be immensely thankful for, though, was Hobbs emerging unscathed. His knee was in an extremely vulnerable position at one stage as Shiel fell across it.
I’m sure there will be great interest in hearing more of Hobbs. So here you go. I was extremely impressed with his workrate off-the-ball in the match sim. He would shuttle from one wing to out wide on the other to close space on a switch of play at half back. His hands on the footy are rapid, small handballs gone in the blink of an eye. He seems to have a good radar in traffic. He’s certainly not scared of contact. And whilst he was outgunned by Shiel in the set plays, it may not work out that way in less structured and predictable environments. If he reads the ball of the ball a little faster than his opponents, it’ll be distributed before strength becomes and issue. With the way he plays, though, expect some careful management throughout the year. He’ll bash himself up a bit.
The other standout I took from the contested drills was Ridley. He is not a man of brute force, but rather of subtlety and nouse. Where some are ferocious and direct, Ridley would use deftness, a small touch to put the ball to his advantage, shield it with the body and then the gather and give. It was illuminating to see up close.
The rehab group was the now-familiar tale. Cox, Reid and Jones all appear in training for the Tour De France , churning out the kilometers on the stationary bikes. Tippa trained inside for most of the session, and then emerged to do some boxercise with Phillips. If anyone wants to know if he looks slimmer, I will say yes. About 74 grams to my eye. A nonsensical answer befitting of the inevitable question.
Perkins didn’t appear to be training today. Caldwell trained fully. As did Francis. Aaron looks in good spirits and is keen to fly for the ball. He fell heavily at one point, possibly rolling an ankle, but finished the session. Parish continues to up his match play training. Confidence exudes from him. The entire squad spent large periods just doing running sessions on both ovals. Andy Mcgrath is building, much more noticeable in match sim. If we’ve done any ruckwork, it has continued to elude me. But the match sim starting to become more flowing and played out in more entirety suggests it may not be too far away. I suspect Draper and Bryan will appreciate it when it comes.
We ran a drill for snapping goals from the pocket. Last time i saw one, Waterman opted for the left foot banana. Today, the right foot was forced into service. The ball ended up in the vicinity of centre half forward. More banana’s likely beckon.
The Davey boys just continue to fit like a glove. One would be forgiven for assuming that they’re already on the list. They can clearly both play, and seem extraordinarily comfortable in a senior training environment. Another anecdote from the Ridiculous Stringer file : during match sim, they called a "20 second to siren " finish. Stringer took the ball at half back, burst away for 10 meters and launched a massive barrel on the run that cleared the zone and put one of the Davey boys in the perfect position to track it and gather from 30 meters out. Sadly, he missed the hurried snap as the count ticked down to 3 seconds, but the speed to get there was notable.
In short - as if any of this waffle is ever short! - training was more of the same in messaging and teaching, with a hint of increasing urgency and intent. There are really only vignettes to glimpse, but they look good. It’ll all come together in the new year for a fuller picture. There will be some delayed starts, but none look debilitating. Pressure for starting 18 looks high. As does the groups spirits. That’s all you can hope for in December.
And finally, i was asked by fellow watchers if only allowed one, whether I’d list Wanga or Fejo. Upon consideration, that’s impossible to answer. Tex seems to have been more prominent in recent days, Ronald started well and possesses pace and skill that we may need. But what may be true today may not be true tomorrow. And you aren’t listing either for the short term impact. Ideally, I’d list both . Who knows how good they’ll end up being. If you think a week is a long time in football, spare a thought for the Venusians.
Thanks for reading.
Some visionary and perhaps prophetic dun from the Season 2022 - Essendon thread in the Hangar.
Some fallout from the R2 loss to the Lions in the Hangar. Best summed up as harsh, but fair.
I really enjoy most of your posts in this Thread.
But perhaps wait a bit until you include a venting Post after a loss, that has little or no humour, no insight other than that put up by the Match commentators, and more holes in it’s arguments than a colander.
That stuff belongs in the Review Threads. Where BS like the selection of Tex or our skill level can be discussed.
Thanks Captain. It will be seen as an overreaction but some… but they can circle back to it in about 24 weeks time.
I will have to agree to disagree on the content of the above post. There is plenty of insight included, and it is far from the mindless venting of any match day thread.
Another in depth analysis from the same thread, it is on the same topic and echoes many of the sentiments voiced in the last post. It is included here to show that the criticism has more than one source.
Fast Forward 6 weeks… only another 18 to go and we can focus on next years disappointment.
2MP kicks goals, and Scotty21 kicks some well deserved Blitz ■■■■ in a series of brilliant and funny posts from 2888, that are well worth a look and a laugh in the, Peter “2MP” Wright, 3 goals per meter, thread in the Hangar.
From the Ben Rutten - Back to the grindstone (Part 3)
An original and wry comment on the plight of coach Rutten, when filtered through a TV show thread or few. The result speaks for itself.
From the James Hird - 2017 Onwards thread in the Hangar. A brilliant post by BrickBomber that sums up our recent and appalling history, and possibly points the way forward.
But wait, there is more…from the Ben Rutten - sacked thread, also in The Hangar.
Can we agree in hindsight that it wasn’t just venting but rather explaining exactly what was wrong with our onfield set up?
No apology necessary but I called it in Round 3 and here we sit. A wasted season because the board, and people like you, don’t see the world in black and white. You look for grey and use that to delay and obstruct the truth. Eventually though, the truth wins out.
Another quality post from a frequent flyer in this thread, The Pevster strikes again with a thinly disguised review of our season 2022. Looking forward to his annual What the Recruiters Really Said thread in a few weeks time. In the meantime, we have this to enjoy. Notes from Ben Rutten’s Farewell Party 21/8 in the Hangar.
