Training on the McCracken Oval in mild sunny conditions.
Hambo is writing this report with me in the Sheedy Cafe.
Hocking, Myers, Carlisle, and Carlisle didn’t join in full training and the new recruits didn’t train today.
It’s interesting to see how Hirdy’s coaching might differ from Bomber’s and today there was an emphasis on moving the ball effectively out of defence and down the ground. We both thought that there was too much sideways movement compared to Bomber’s more direct approach straight down the ground when possible. This was partly due to some good defensive pressure but perhaps we will see more switching of play and use of the ball wide but today there were too many chains of passes slowly across the ground and not particularly to advantage.
The players were enthusiastic and vocal today as was the coach. Dustin wore Paddy’s number 30 but with tape over Ryder’s name which was a nice touch from the veteran who looks to be in good form early. Perhaps this reflects the anecdotal evidence I am hearing that the players are happier with Hird as coach although it is interesting that in Fletcher’s case Bomber saw him much more as the go to man on the back line than under Hird his stats averaging 19 possessions per game compared with 14 in the past according to a club source.
Last week I alluded to the rabbit problem and the groundskeeper was heard to complain that the rabbits are taking the grass from the bottom and Lloydy is taking it from the top which is my way of introducing Lloyd today as he continued to give Joe goal kicking advice closely watched by Carlisle who spent much of the session just talking to Lloydy. Joe is in great form leading and marking but when he kicks a goal the players shout in unison “goal Lloydy”
Training didn’t start until 10 am today so there was a bit of sitting around yearning and a story came up about Brian Sampson a player from the sixties who did well in finals. When asked to account for this he said he was a bricky and used to lay 1500 bricks of a Saturday morning before the game until the club offered to pay him not to at finals time and as a consequence he felt much fresher than usual and played very well.
Also had a chat to Ken Fletcher and many of you will be pleased to know that he was awarded the Alan Jeans lifetime coaching award for his good work as a coach - especially with the PEGS school teams - well done Ken.
Overall a moderately easy session easing into the season.
Great to hear about an old teacher in ken.
Hey Jackie, any idea who the shorter Joe was, wearing raynor's old #?
I have a feeling that when Kye and Jayden have their first training session that Hirdy will feel like he is playing with his new toys he received for Christmas.
How did you rate our draft Jackie?
Two carlises? Mint!Training on the McCracken Oval in mild sunny conditions.
Hambo is writing this report with me in the Sheedy Cafe.
Hocking, Myers, Carlisle, and Carlisle didn't join in full training
Thanks for the report Jackie. Ken also coached the number 12 pick in last nights draft.
On another note, is Hurley definitely training as a defender and again, any update on the role Edwards seems likely to play. I think he was shopped around too much and hoping he settles a bit more this year.
Who were the training invites who trained today?
How was Conor looking? Any significant improvements in skill levels?
Anything on Milham as well?
How was Conor looking? Any significant improvements in skill levels?
Anything on Milham as well?
only saw conor at the end (goal kicking practice with repeat sprint drill type thing). he still has that awkward kicking action but he's making progress, maybe someone that watched the drills at the other end of the ground can comment.
Just the guys on the official permission to train list, Milham, Tippa, Lill and LongWho were the training invites who trained today?
Lill is the guy described as shorter Joe above (in reference to his long hair). He's crtainly too short to be a KPP so not sure what position they are looking at him for. Possibly lead up forward. Looks to be an athletic beast. Also keen to show off his Jarrad Brennan-esque, run with the ball in one hand trick too.
its interesting that Tags is not on there anymore, hiding? Seen enough? Or something else?Just the guys on the official permission to train list, Milham, Tippa, Lill and LongWho were the training invites who trained today?
Lill is the guy described as shorter Joe above (in reference to his long hair). He's crtainly too short to be a KPP so not sure what position they are looking at him for. Possibly lead up forward. Looks to be an athletic beast. Also keen to show off his Jarrad Brennan-esque, run with the ball in one hand trick too.
its interesting that Tags is not on there anymore, hiding? Seen enough? Or something else?
Just the guys on the official permission to train list, Milham, Tippa, Lill and LongWho were the training invites who trained today?
Lill is the guy described as shorter Joe above (in reference to his long hair). He's crtainly too short to be a KPP so not sure what position they are looking at him for. Possibly lead up forward. Looks to be an athletic beast. Also keen to show off his Jarrad Brennan-esque, run with the ball in one hand trick too.
Was dropped off our permission to train list a week ago.
I don't have much to add as Jackie has it all covered, but here are a few thoughts:
-Joe's marking looked really good. When he kicked a goal, the whole team shouted "yeah Lloydy!"
-Lloyd spent a lot of time with Joe and Buckets working on Joe's goal kicking.
-There was a drill where Hirdy would begin the play by throwing up the ball to a ruckman, who had three teammates to tap to and three 'opposition' players. The aim was for the midfielders on the ruckman's team to move the ball forward quickly and effectively from the contest. Cooney or Heppell roved the ball 5 out of 7 times by my count. Those two are going to be a pleasure to watch in the midfield next year.
-In one case, T-bell tapped the ball straight down an opposition player's throat. Hirdy stopped the play and asked "why didn't Tommy know where anyone was?" The players all agreed that they weren't talking enough and were much more vocal for the remainder of the drill. Heppell and Chappy were standouts in this regard.
-Chappy did a bit of goal kicking practise with young Long, with emphasis on putting pressure on him to kick quickly. "You only get 2 or 3 steps to steady in an AFL game, you've got to kick quickly."
-Zakka and Raz had a goal kicking competition at the end. Orazio won a game of scissors, paper, rock, and thus kicked first. The loser owes the other dinner :lol:
Thanks Jackie,
Well I am hoping that we are not going with too much of that slow cross passing exit after gaining possession in deep defence.
Its painfully slow. Sends me to sleep. Its pretty clear the idea is to pull opposition players back of out of your forward line, because in todays game they just run from one end to the other, depending on which side has possession.
But it is a drill that you train for. Sure do it, draw them up and wide then seize the moment and come back up the guts.
I have a feeling that when Kye and Jayden have their first training session that Hirdy will feel like he is playing with his new toys he received for Christmas.
How did you rate our draft Jackie?
I don't have any special knowledge but general consensus seems to be that we genuinely did well.
Thanks for the report Jackie. Ken also coached the number 12 pick in last nights draft.
On another note, is Hurley definitely training as a defender and again, any update on the role Edwards seems likely to play. I think he was shopped around too much and hoping he settles a bit more this year.
Hurley has been training as a defender so far and Carlisle as a forward but I would expect that he will be used forward as times. There was a theory that Gwilt with his ability to play tall might have been taken to free Hurley up to play forward but I don't know if that's correct.
Be a bit patient with Edwards and we'll see what emerges - he has been used mainly in defence in the limited amount of training we have seen so far.
How was Conor looking? Any significant improvements in skill levels?
Anything on Milham as well?
Connor didn't do a lot of training today but did kick a nice goal from a set shot.
I saw Milham take one mark close to goal under medium pressure but I didn't watch him closely.
Just the guys on the official permission to train list, Milham, Tippa, Lill and LongWho were the training invites who trained today?
Lill is the guy described as shorter Joe above (in reference to his long hair). He's crtainly too short to be a KPP so not sure what position they are looking at him for. Possibly lead up forward. Looks to be an athletic beast. Also keen to show off his Jarrad Brennan-esque, run with the ball in one hand trick too.
Lill would fit, plays as a CHF in whatever country league he's in but listed under 190cm
Surprised Aceman isn't all over him, grandson of a Norwood Margarey medallist from the '20s apparently...
Hocking, Myers, Carlisle, and Carlisle didn't join in full training and the new recruits didn't train today.
Baguley also didn't do any of the contact drills. He spent a lot of time having a kick in the forward pocket and running laps with Dempsey.
Just the guys on the official permission to train list, Milham, Tippa, Lill and LongWho were the training invites who trained today?
Lill is the guy described as shorter Joe above (in reference to his long hair). He's crtainly too short to be a KPP so not sure what position they are looking at him for. Possibly lead up forward. Looks to be an athletic beast. Also keen to show off his Jarrad Brennan-esque, run with the ball in one hand trick too.
Lill would fit, plays as a CHF in whatever country league he's in but listed under 190cm
Surprised Aceman isn't all over him, grandson of a Norwood Margarey medallist from the '20s apparently...
Plays WA Amo's
having cut half my hand off in a work incident on monday, i tagged along today in my massive plaster cast and got a hell of a nice red-neck.
just to expand on what jackie said-
all plays we seemed to go out wide. i heard guys like BJ, hep, stants and jobe remark 'why didnt you take the option down the middle?' quite a bit. i thought that was quite interesting. melksham had a stinker of a day, didnt hit targets, i heard stants yell out to him at one point 'make sure you square your shoulders up to your hips before you kick'. he later joined in kicking drills with dempsey and baggas whos bandaged hand didnt seem to phase him at all. Tippa played hard, but seemed a little confused at times with so many players yelling suggestions at him. gwilt seemed to fit in fantastically, was not shy to scream players names on a lead, where as giles seemed a bit more introverted and almost shy. spent a good 15 minutes after training practising his set shots, lloydy even spoke to him a few times. there was one drill where belly and giles were on the same team. belly hardly persued a player in a chase but giles gave 110% to try and chase a player, regardless of his size.
speaking of which, i think it was fantasia (who has one hell of a mouth on him, he was really giving it to hep when they were doing their snaps) during one drill strolled into an open goal thinking he had it in the bag and out of no where zerrett tackeled him to the ground and the ball spilled out. hirdy saw and was very quick to laugh at the situation. pears also ran a few laps, hocking and myers did quite a bit of running, i didnt see either with a ball in their hand too much.
i didnt see buckets at all during the course of the morning until the very end when lloydy came out and was helping him and joe with some goal kicking. watch the video to see what jackie said about the yells at joe. the irishmans kicking style seems to be getting honed. Neeld was showing him a few tips at kicking bananas.
in conclusion, seemed like a pretty good day of training. also, theres aparently a nation wide shortage of iron-on number 1s and 2s in white. i have to wait 8 weeks for my Z. Merrett gurnsey.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MtcP_YLtMc&feature=youtu.be