The foot issue has been with him most of his career.
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I hope he just runs right over the top of him and takes his spot.
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It was the added weight from the hair. Should resolve itself now.
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He’s wearing someone else’s clothes, but does have a beer in his hand.
I think you will find they both play with belly playing up forward quite a bit
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Sounds like a good session. Hopefully we can continue to get more of the players out in the main group.
“… Nackers IS replying”
Go you good thing
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I love a good walk of shame.
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Yeah Nackers!!
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Will there be a session on Wednesday?
Going to one at the Royal.
I can only refresh so many times at work Nackers!
He’d be way better off in more ways than one, if he just opened notepad or Word or such, & typed it out there, then copy pasted.
No Blitz loss danger, … no fking harassment from impatient prickz, …
Win/win. 
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Maybe N sees it for what it is; excited, encouragement rather than taking it from a position of being a smug ■■■■.
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Have they started match sim drills?
Training started today just before 9am and finished about 11.40 in warm conditions, so a good solid workout.
No sign of Joe or Stewart who I imagine were training indoors. Hooker and McQuillan came to the sidelines on a few occasions in training gear but didn’t join in, they would also have been working inside I imagine. Gown was on the sidelines in a moonboot.
Johnson did a little bit of work in the modified group as well. I had a quick chat with with him, he said it’s all going well and is expecting to join in with full training by the middle of the year, but still not expecting to play at all.
Merrett started off in ball movement drills for about 30 minutes with the main group before spending the rest of the time with the modified group, mainly running.
Heppell was with the modified group, again mainly running for about 75 minutes before going to the bike on the sidelines. I would expect him to be right for the start of the season without any further setbacks.
Redman, Zaharakis and Draper completed the modified group with Redman finishing a bit earlier than the others, but all seem to be coming along OK. Draper in particular looks in fantastic shape, I can’t wait to see him this year.
Towards the end of the session Zerk went to a physio to have his left knee looked at and then left the track. It looked very minor but possible he may be restricted for a short while.
Mo22ie did the whole session with the main group but did seem to sit out a few of the drills. He looks to have lost a bit of the weight he was carrying earlier in the pre season and generally went OK.
Otherwise everyone else completed the full session except for the first year kids he sat out a few drills but still did nearly all the work. Great to see Shiel, Fanta, Hurley, Ambrose, Guelfi, Gleeson and McKenna over their earlier concerns.
There were a few occasions were players broke off into smaller groups and did drills, as well as the inevitable running, however the bulk of the session consisted of full to 3/4 length match practice. On a lot of occasions this started with a player given the ball at half back and kicked to a marking contest, with play developing from there. As I mentioned earlier the intensity seemed to have picked up considerably from pre Christmas, with the big difference being the tackling pressure being applied.
It was very noticeable to me that with the addition of players like Townsend, Smith and Hibberd, along with other renowned pressure players like Clarke, Snelling and Tippa that the tempo was much hotter, with several big tackles being laid, but the ball movement still appeared to be very fluid when they had the opportunity.
One who I find it hard to take my eyes off as i have mentioned before is Townsend. His intensity at the contest is insane, similar to Smith but with a much bigger body and hits much harder.
With the strong wind coming down the ground it was still difficult to hit a target accurately by foot but overall it wasn’t bad considering.
The player that I was really impressed with - wait for it - was Fanta!! He had a great session. On a few occasions he did his individual sprinting away from the pack thing that was virtually absent all last year. A well as that in the 200-300 metre runs around the ground he was in a a group of some of the better endurance runners in Ambrose, Clarke, Ham and Hibberd, and only just lost out to Ambrose on each occasion. He looks in great nick and should be fully fit and raring to go by round 1.
It’s very interesting the ongoing duals between Belly and Phillips. Great to see that Belly has some real competition for the first ruck spot. I’m not sure which way it will go but Phillips has been very impressive so far. He spent a bit of time doing one on one marking work against Smack and at least broke even and probably won, but is also much more athletic than Belly.
Of the new kids again the one that stood out and probably the only one I can see getting more than the odd game or two (if that) is Cahill. When you see a lot of first year players most of them are fairly quiet and reserved and are trying to find their place within the group.The ones that play games early are just like this kid. He just seems assured and confident in everything he does, and doesn’t look at all overawed. On top of that he has some quite nice skills off both sides of the body, reads the play pretty well and is clean with his hands. Definitely one to look out for.
The next main training session is on Thursday at 8.45, but probably 9.00 until they have finished their warm up. If anyone wants to head down and see them this may be the last chance this to see them at Tulla until Feb 2, with the pre season camp at Coffs Harbour taking place in between.
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Great work @nackers as always. Makes it feel like I’m almost there even though I’m not even in Australia.
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Keep going I’m almost there!
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Great report Knackers, thank you, you’re a blitz legend.
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