Was Ben McKay doing handball practice, seemed to have a bit of a deficiency in this area good to get sorted while his in rehab group.
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thanks
did anything stand out about how we were moving the ball - was it more long vs short, hand vs foot, down the wings vs the middle etc?
lol, shiel to release martin from half back. his kicking should stand up well under the pressure inside defensive 50
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I loved Stringer but it was time for him to go.
He wasn’t part of the future. I wish him well at his new club, just not against us.
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Good summary JB. 
I was also at training. Agree, like the way Nguyen goes about it. Zippy, takes players on, evasive and not scared to put his body on the line.
Lual also impressed both Tuesday and today.
In one drill pressured the ball carrier and laid two consecutive takles, one of which brought Durham to ground.
Didn’t see Baldwin but Tyler Sellers trained. Big unit.
Issues close to Blitz’s heart:
Reid trained and participated in match sim 
Tsatas field kicking was fine
Kako rarely missed his shots on goal.
At this stage, yes after only 2 sessions, El-Hawli makes my 22. Laser like kicking!! Quick and good shot on goal.
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nup, our wished for order for clubs not winning is:
- Melbourne
- St Kilda
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Ahem…. there is another…
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- FARKCARLTON
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ha - i did have a third one typed in but decided to leave it out as i think it will be a hotly contested spot…
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McKay was doing handball drills haha.
Training was completely on the Marvel oval, the had it divided into 3 thirds and were practicing rebounding out of defence. Main focuses was remaining dense when defending and then creating space when attacking.
I was wondering who that big unit was.
Yes, Lual and Davey look improved.
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Definitely more short, mostly handball to release then hit a kick. Mostly around the edges.
(Mind you this drill was only on one side of the ground).
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could see lual developing in a nick kommer type ‘out numberer’
We were pretty good at that in the last few rounds.
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I’m just happy to see Lual develop, seems to have improved heaps over the offseason. Impressed with his effort in the 2km.
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Can’t wait for us to challenge for a flag this year.
In the VFL.
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Our VFL should be pretty fun to watch this year. So many prospects.
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Hearing my boy Nguyen doing well.
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My training notes from today on a rare occasion I was able to make the trip out to Tullamarine.
To start with the group was split into 3 groups and rotated through stations which included standard kicking drills and a ‘keepings off’ drill where players needed to move the ball by handball only and score by reaching one side of square.
I mainly watched the keepings off drill. When defending players were instructed to put on body contact rather than attempting to smother with hands. The draftees were split up evenly for these rotations so each was in a group with mainly senior players. As stated above by other posters Nguyen was a standout in this drill and used his speed to zip past opponents. Looked composed and confident as compared to other draftees in this drill who were understandably nervous and fumbly. Kako got involved but just a little rushed.
Rhys Unwin stayed on the outer mostly, a bit nervous to call for the ball.
Gerreyn’s tactic in this drill was to create space by hanging onto the ball and drawing defenders toward him, then fend off or dish a handpass. Against the senior players this didn’t work as they were able to tackle him or affect his disposal every time. But he got a fair bit of it and kept trying. Obviously needs time to adjust to playing against opponents who aren’t significantly smaller than him.
Day-Wicks tried to get involved but didn’t get a whole lot of the ball. Clearly keen to make a good impression, he would react to his own mistakes by reprimanding himself rather than staying with the play. I did watch him during the kicking drills and he looked an excellent left-foot kick, hitting his target on the chest every time.
Following these 3 rotations the players progressed into gameplay drills. Split into teams of 7 or 8ish players, the drill started with a ground ball get on the wing and teams had to spread and head towards goal. Kako did this drill while all other draftees did interval running around the boundary. The drill always started in what the coaches referred to as “lane 1” or “lane 2” and these lanes are painted with lines on the oval. The oval is split lengthways into 6 sections/lanes, with lane 1 the closest to the boundary. Players would generally use handballs first to clear congestion from the wing area and look to then kick to a forward or into the corridor.
The last part of training was match sim. 4 x 5 min qtrs. Kako sat out of this along with the other draftees, who had finished their running and watched from the sidelines. There was also some goal kicking practice after match sim concluded.
My notes on match sim and in general. I’m not a regular training watcher and watched match sim from one end of the group so absolutely would have missed some things.
McGrath. As per 2024 season. Got a bit of it, lots of run, generally a bit chaotic. Was in charge of organising his backline.
Draper. Could not be tackled and was fending off with ease, but disposal after this was as messy as ever. Was one of the very last to leave the oval as he spent time working on his goal kicking and general kicking with an assistant coach.
Parish. Looked great. Got the ball in space a few times with smart running and was damaging with his kicking.
Langford. Sat out of match-sim. Approached Nguyen during goal kicking practice to give him some pointers.
Tstatas. Kicking was fine. During circle drills at the start he hit every target, bar for one occasion where the player had to readjust his run to mark the ball. But no howlers during drills or match sim. Looked to handball first and didn’t attempt any tough kicks.
Caldwell – Rehab group.
Merrett. As per usual. Clean and always had time/space. Took the kickout at least once.
Hobbs. Very vocal and competitive. Got a fair bit of it.
Shiel. Hurt himself in a contest with Guelfi early on during drills and seemed to be pretty passive in the match sim.
Gresham. Wasn’t overly impactful in his usual high half-forward role. Got feedback from his teammates on more than one occasion for his decision making with the ball.
Setterfield. Was there but didn’t train, don’t think he was in rehab group either.
Cox – Rehab group.
Ridley – As usual
Laverde – Kicked a set shot from 40-50m during match sim. Didn’t notice a lot of him otherwise.
Perkins. Didn’t get heaps of it but was very good when he did. Was able to break lines and his kicking was damaging. Played as a mid.
Goldy. Wasn’t present
Hayes. Didn’t notice him too much, except for one occasion when his teammate had marked the ball, and Hayes ran past and called for a handpass despite having Caddy right on his hammer. Was immediately tackled and turned the ball over. Held his own otherwise.
Wright. Wasn’t able to be effective in my opinion. Took only one mark that I saw on the wing, but scrubbed the kick and turned it over.
Durham. Great burst speed from the middle. Came streaking through on a few occasions.
Jones. Played as a forward. Didn’t notice a lot of him but was down the far end from me most of the time.
Bryan. Nothing notable.
Redman. Vocal and competitive. Gave plenty of feedback and instruction. Was kicking long from the back flank towards the forward line rather than attempting to pick his way through the wing.
Duursma. Was on opposite wing from me so didn’t catch a whole lot of him.
Caddy. Took a good contested mark in the middle of the ground. Got involved with chasing and tackling around the ground.
Reid. Didn’t notice anything in particular but trained fully.
McKay. Rehab group.
Davey Jr. Looks fitter but still goes missing during match sim. Had one snap that missed and I didn’t notice him otherwise.
Lual. Didn’t notice him at all
Guelfi. Was lively in the forward line and had a few shots.
Martin. Totally different vibe about him than the last time I was at training which might have been almost 2 years ago. Appears very confident and has a bit of a strut on him. Got a lot of the ball and was damaging. Played off half back.
Roberts. So solid. Does not get flustered. Got a fair bit of the ball, kicking was good, very composed. Can see him playing every game this season.
Vigo. Didn’t get much of it.
El-Hawli. First time I have seen him in person. Looks an absolute jet. Excellent kicking, good marking, good decision making, was able to link up well on the run. Was kicking them from everywhere during goal kicking practice.
Menzie. Did some drills with his no-contact cap, then running while match-sim was on. Definitely trimmer and was running well.
No Baldwin.
Proir is bigger than I expected. When taking a kick-in he chose to hit a 30m lead-up target from Martin in the middle, then ran out and received the next kick back as well, resulting in a very neat exit from the back 50m.
Zak Johnson running only.
Kako – good size, much bigger in the upper body than other smalls like Unwin and Nguyen. Goal kicking looked great.
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Gold Coast should be hard to beat if they still have bigger list.
Hardwick bolstered their experience this year.
Rioli, Noble, Himmelberrg + Lombard wwalk into the best 22 meaning a few handy guys miss, only really lost lukosious
Thanks for the write up Bomber.drum. I look forward to a training report that doesn’t sound like Zach is the clear standout, but promising stuff from Martin and El Hawli…were they top 10 picks, I can’t remember…?
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