That second effort work from Draper is encouraging, for him to use his speed and aggressively run forward could scare a few opposing ruckmen.
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Prior to Christmas he had a few really strong match sims up forward. He was clunking pretty well anything that went near him.
Hopefully he does start causing headaches marking on the wings and pushing forward.
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Top write up thanks for your efforts.
Great to hear Tsatas working hard.
What did you think of El Ackhar as a prospect
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Is Zach Reid injured yet?
That’s Pix El Ated. He’s lo fi trying out for a list spot, but I heard he’s dialling it in, so doubt he’s part of the future.
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I’m a huge fan of him.
Very smart player and knows how to get dangerous hitting the scoreboard. Being shorter and stocky he does well in tight at younger levels, but I can see him carrying it over as he plays pretty tough.
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I do know the time and it was impressive. Just promised i wouldn’t say it for now. Will say its under 6:20 as a guide
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do they wear super shoes for the 2km time trial like nike alphaflys or adidas pros or is it in footy boots?
high stack shoes probably not the best on the grass, maybe some nike dragonfly track shoes.
Normally their footy boots
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Sounds pretty quick but I wasn’t the guy the other day posting the specific time thresholds and player examples so maybe they could chip in!
Bill Murray?
wtf is Baldwin doing in the modified group?
finishing his last rep?
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I got there just after 10.30am
Nice conditions but it was quite hot and windy. First impressions were very positive. The team as a whole looked happy/upbeat. All the sessions I saw were groups of 10 or so broken down into lines. They were already in full training when i arrived & stayed on the field for another 90 mins.
The first was a full ground drill which the team have done for a number of years. Take a mark in the back pocket, 45 degree kick to a leading player, kick up to half forward.
Post this, for the forwards there were kicks to lead etc and the midfielders were doing a lot of one on one work.
Forwards then took a leading mark quickly gave the ball off then ran to the top of the goal square for a running back mark under pressure. Good dynamic movement. Caddy was the standard out here.
Tall fwds/defs then completed in a one on one where one of the coaches were calling out a coloured hat to start.
Midfielders were going really hard in a 4 on 4. Full contact/full tackles etc & were gassed.
2MP then started kicking to leading forwards again. We ducked into the cafe/bombershop at this stage so i did miss 15 mins or so before coming out to watch the end of the session.
Overall i’d say the skills were worst than previous sessions with the ball hitting the ground quite a lot and many missed passes. I noticed Heppell not being there as he generally had the loudest voice. Harry Jones and Duz were the only two who i heard were vocal the whole session.
Quick overview per player
McGrath - Was on the other side of the field so I didn’t see much of him. Was running strong and got around Lual a couple of times. Didn’t see him miss targets
Draper - Majority of the mullet is gone sadly. He impressed today in the forward drills and the midfield 4 on 4s. He pushed Goldy out of the way a couple of times
Parish - Missed easy kicks which was disappointing but got his fair share of clearances
Langford - Was the best in the forward drills in front of us. High marks, pushing hard on the lead and was clean. Very classy/made it look easy
Tsatas - Thought he also had a good session. Clean with ball in dispute, quick handballs, kicking was fine.
Merrett - Didn’t notice him that much as he was on the other side. I’m sure he would have been perfect 
Hobbs - Copped a knee to the head from El-Hawli and stayed down for about 20 seconds. SEH came to check on him a couple of times to apologise but he just was on the floor with his head down and hands on the back of his head. Got up and participated in the next drill with no issues, no medical attention etc. Worked hard in those drills
Shiel - Didn’t see him much/other side of field
Kako - Quick and clean. Kicking goals from the pocket for fun. Had a quick chat with his dad. Isaac has been a bomber fan his whole life and is loving it there. Club invited all the parents the day after the draft and have been very welcoming.
I think he’ll get picked for opening round.
Gresham - Didn’t to anything wrong
Setterfield - Didn’t see
Cox - Ran laps on both fields - didn’t participate in any of the drills
Ridley - Probably BOG for me today. Was amazing in the one on one drills. Hope he stays fit
Lav - Also played well in the one on one drills. Professional
Perkins - Trained with the forwards the whole session. Pushed hard on the lead with great kicking. Came back fit.
Goldy - Clearly the third in line from ruck performance. Came off with about 15 mins to go and did a lap or two at good pace.
Hayes - Didn’t do anything wrong whole session but didn’t stand out in any way. Matched up against Caddy/Jones in a couple of drills.
Gerreyn - TBH i wasn’t 100% sure who some of the new players were. If he was the player i think i was watching than his movement around the ground surprised me (in a good way). Quite agile, good kick and worked the whole session.
2MP - Didn’t participate in any physical drills. Did a bit of kicking to the leading players and missed 20-30% of kicks…
Roberts - Was pretty good. No noticeable mistakes in front of me. Best 22.
Durham - Slightly disappointing session IMO. Parish and Tsatas were better in the middle but overall good.
Jones - Good session - Jumping/marking at highest point, pushing hard on lead etc. Trained with forwards the whole session as well.
Bryan - IMO Draper was better today (and i want Bryan to be our first ruck) but was ok. Really hope he can take the step up.
Prior - Didn’t notice him/didn’t know who he was
Redman - OK session. Worked hard and was clean. Good kicking
Duursma - Don’t think he was in the main drills. Saw him running around with Hussein El Achkar at the end of the session. Maybe coming back from an injury.
Menzie - Scored a couple of nice goals from the pocket. Seeing Kako play makes me notice the deficiencies in Jye’s game. I think there is still a spot for him but needs to play at his best.
Caddy - Great session. Clearly best 22. Same frame as last year. There are some players who train at 80%. He doesn’t. Pushes hard in drills. Sprinted to try and kick a goal with a bouncing ball going to the line. Great hands.
Reid - Really happy with Reidy as well. Again, best 22 when fit.
McKay - didn’t see
Davey - Didn’t notice that much
Lual - I thought he had a good session. Kicking was nice, took a couple of hard kicks on that did come off. Nice/quick ball movement. He does have a light frame/needs to hit the gym a bit.
Guelfi - Didn’t see
Clarke - Trained with the defeners and played well. Wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a game in the first 5-10 rounds.
Martin - Was clean from what I saw. Still with the defenders.
Unwin - Didn’t know.
Visentini - If he was the player i think he was he was also good. Strong hands.
Johnson - Didn’t see
SEW - Clearly best 22… Was great
Nguyen - Didn’t get into any contest work. Didn’t see him train at all
ADW - Didn’t see/know.
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Help me out, SEW and ADW are … ??
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Saad El-Hawli
Archer Day-Wicks
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Saad El-Hawli and Archer Day-Wicks.
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Shabby treatment by them, to be sure.
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Saad Diary
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