Well, if Redman was made captain, which would obviously involve him agreeing to it, it would put to bed any chance of him leaving at the end of this year.
I wonder if it might end up being a case of trying to eek out one final year of captaincy out of Heppell in order to buy a bit more time for either Redman to commit long term and all the while continue to establish himself as a player and leader or even for someone else to bob up like a McGrath or even a Draper if they significantly improved as players.
It pains me to say that though as I think with where Hepp is at as a player he ideally shouldnāt have the safety net of captaincy aiding his selection in the AFL team each and every week any longer.
It was REALLY interesting to watch the key backs and forwards compete before the ball was kicked into the forward line.
A LOT of bumping, shoving, scragging and pushing to give themselves the advantage.
Once again, Kingy provided good insight into how 2MP began well before the ball had been kicked. He hit the pack. Didnāt take the mark but his teammates got possession from the contest.
He told my son that he should go to games just to watch the work Tom Hawkins puts in before the ball gets to him.
You know what Iād add to that drill at some stage.
At random times during the drill one of the coaches blows the whistle to signify change of possession - defenders become attackers (and vice-versa). The Coach then puts a new ball in play by giving it to one of the (new) attackers. This means the (new) defenders have to immediately set up to defend - find a man or get to a zone.
This isnāt always true. If heās had to work on his cadence (possibly to lower risk of injury) he could have shortened his stride length to achieve it. The aim for him then would be to maintain the same cadence and then lengthen the stride without slowing his foot turnover to accelerate. This is a pretty economical way to run in my experience.
If that is a defensive drill, then that is terrible. Same stuff Ive seen from us the last few years. Defenders trailing, not knowing when to stay on your man, leaving your man and being caught in no manās land. Thatās Ham level stuff against Collingwood.
If you have a one on one with Zac Merrett, you have to be impressed with his footy intellect and his passion for success. We did not find him quiet and reserved at all, and more open to answering hard questions than any of the other boys, not that we got to talk to all.
Some think he would be a Brendan Goddard type, but Mrs Fox reckons a James Hird type leader. Zac does mention Joel Selwood as one of his mentors.
I hope he gets the job, as I reckon it will make him a better player.
To be honest, Iād be ok with this. I think there are issues with Zerrett and the other older candidates. To me the most likeliest is Reddog and McGrath, but Iād want both to have another year just focussing on their own game. I think Heppell handing over at the end of the year could make a lot of sense.
Itās a ball movement drill and defensive unit drill.
Ball movement is fast and changing directions and defenders are moving in unison.
The defence might look poor because itās 10 vs 5.
The end of 2023? Good grief, Iād be happy for the club to take a punt on either Redman or Zach at this point. Heppell is a relic, not even guaranteed best 22. We should have moved him on from the captaincy at the end of 2021. Leaving him as captain until the end of 2023 is just stunting another leaders development.
