Training in sunny conditions with a strong cross wind at Tullamarine.
Absent/modified:
Hurley
Myers
Carlisle, Hocking, Dempsey, Hams, Kommer, Browne, Jerret, Aylett, Dalgleish, Pears and Gwilt.
The club has explained they are taking a conservative approach perhaps a bit like the harm minimisation programme the government uses for drugs if you are looking for some sort of parallel.
Training was gruelling today and the players are reacting very well to 500 metre reps, ball movement drills and practice match play.
In particular they are very vocal and give plenty of advice and instructions to teammates and you can see that they are really trying to implement the game plan. Goddard more than anyone is leading in this area.
Melksham is giving it everything in the 500’s almost to the point of injury and there was a keen duel all day between Stanton and Ambrose. Both are very fit. The experienced defenders in Fletcher and Hooker tended to be at the back of the pack but once the practice match started they were among the best performers.
Dempsey jogged some really slow laps while Browne and Hams worked out on the Clarke Oval. There is some hope for Browne to resume full training next week.
In the ball movement drills up and down the ground there was and emphasis on changing the angle when bringing the ball back into the corridor presumably to avoid predictability and this was generally handled pretty well although the windy conditions affected the accuracy of passing and kicking for goal especially for the less experienced players. Langford missed a number of targets and Joe performed poorly with set shots which he usually won at the expense of Steinberg whose form seemed a little down today.
The highlight of the morning was when Joe was lining up for a set shot about 45 metres out and Hirdy said “50 press ups if he misses” and when Joe hooked it badly they all did fifty. It will be interesting to see what you think of this negative motivation technique. To balance the picture a little it was only done once and I was told Joe kicked 15 goals 3 for Lloydy earlier in the week. Joe was also told that the players up field need to hear him calling for the ball when leading.
Edwards who shows great potential seems to get more advice than almost anyone from his teammates about where to run and it was pleasing to see that after some earlier criticism he did a good inside handball after earlier looking for a target to the outside. At the same time the coach continually stressed the importance of holding the ball inside the forward line.
Two players to show out today were Bellchambers who had a picnic in the ruck and Zerret who always looked dangerous but it was the experienced players such as Winderlich, Goddard, Jobe, Fletcher, Stanton and Cooney who did best in the windy conditions in what was a fairly scrappy practice match. Still a long way until the season starts so I am sure they will get better but I can’t help but feel concerned about the thirteen players not able to train fully.
