Not the most inspiring session . Quite scrappy
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players or the watchers?
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Early finish today. Fairly light session that went under 2 hours. Hard to really report on today. Josh Eyre staying behind still doing constant goal kickingā¦ and nailing them just quietly. Shiel also focused on his goal kicking and looks to have improved
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So thatās where all the camera crews were standing during the saga.
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What km is the wind at though?
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This pic will be famous when we are 0-3 at the start of the season!!!
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being switched on to intercept the mark 
getting your kick intercepted 
Well done for making the trip out lads, ya never certain what the session holds but you make the journey anyway, much appreciated as always.
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So back to more learnings then.
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They look so sloppy.
Was that Eyre who took the mark @ 0:45?
Thanks to everyone who attended, even if it wasnāt the most interesting session to watch.
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Cody Brand
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@CJohns at the start of the clip where a yellow kicks deep inside fifty to a coach and a red singlet - was that part of the drill i.e. to simulate a turnover deep inside 50 and then defend for the yellows/work the ball out for red team? Or, was that an example of sloppy ball movement inside 50 - the good old Essendon kick it deep to nobody weāre all so accustomed to seeing?
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Obviously the definitive report will come from Nackers but Iāll throw in my 2 cents.
Cloudy, cool, breezy. Most of the match sim involved setups from halfback. A player such as Hind, Zerrett, Burns or Guelfi would start with the footy and all players would zone off along the Hangar side off the ground (opposite to us watchers). The aim was to chip 15 to 20 metre foot passes through heavy traffic. This naturally resulted in slow ball movement unless a Langford or Shiel could create some run and handball. Passing was a little hit or miss, partly due to the tricky breeze, and the general murmurings from the peanut gallery (your correspondents) was that this made it a scrappy session. I wasnāt as critical as the others, but bit my tongue because I didnāt want to sound like carrotsalad in the lid on thread.
If one were to conclude that this was our new game plan then one wouldāve been disheartened. But I donāt believe thatās the case, I think Truck is challenging the players to learn how to work through a forward press. Passes had to be pinpoint to succeed in such heavy traffic and the defensive team had some quality players whose sole task was to intercept. Pidge with his speed and agility was particularly strong in this area.
When the two umps werenāt umpiring they ran laps and I tried to convince my fellow Blitzers that we should be practicing our booing as they went by, especially if weāre going to hit the ground running in Round one.
It was my first session for the season, so naturally I kept an eye on the new boys. My observations:
- Archie Perkins completed much of the session and looks in good shape. He has a presence about him and I reckon heāll learn quickly in the VFL and get a debut by May/June
- Cox looks to be the pick of them, not having seen Reid. Tall and athletic with a haircut that looks like the shearers called a snap-strike and downed their clippers before theyād finished, he moves beautifully and looks assured.
- Eyre is a specimen, looks like a footballer, just the way he runs and kicks. Hard to judge his footy nous on todayās performance though, as he wasnāt often in the thick of it.
- Brand was more advanced than Iād been led to believe. Looks to be a hard worker and is a well-constructed young man. Looking forward to watching him develop.
- Nick Bryan. Iām excited about Nick. He was up against Phillips in boundary stoppage drills (BSD was rested) and used his height and surprising strength to advantage. Heās about 10kgs, 20 VFL games and a decent haircut away from contention, but keep an eye on him.
- I kept the glasses on Ned Cahill for a bit because Iām a fan. Heās a natural footballer and will be good for us this year. Iāve heard heās going to play half-back but didnāt notice whether he was doing any special defensive training in the drills.
- Caldwell is quick and agile and gets to contests. Didnāt notice him that much to be honest but when I did it was generally positive.
- Jones didnāt get a lot of it but the slow ball movement in the match sim didnāt help. Looks great, definitely bigger and stronger this year and when he does get the footy he has a nice step on him and looks like he knows what heās doing.
EDIT: Forgot to mention Tom Hird. Small, quick, skilful, and looks to have a footy brain. Weāll need to see him in match play though, you just canāt tell from the skill sessions.
As for the usual suspects, Ridley, Langford, McGrath all looked sharp, Hooker and 2MP look strong and fit. Hepp seemed to be moving well, Zerrett and Shiel are good to go, Cutler looked in good nick (but I have to add Iām not a fan - hope he proves me wrong), and Ham and Guelfi were both assured with the ball. I reckon both those boys are best 22 and either or both could go next level in 2021.
We didnāt get much out of Walla but I reckon heās saving it up for match day.
The most striking thing about this playing group is their youth. Itās going to be a roller coaster year, we all know that, and the practice hit out against Geelong might get a bit ugly given that theyāll be fine-tuning a very good list on their home paddock and weāll be playing a bunch of kids, but thereās plenty of great young talent in our list so itās going to be pretty exciting watching them develop.
Great meeting up with fellow Blitzers - Nackers, Jackie, Sof, CJohns/Scooter, Matt Pocock and many others. Special shout out to Nackersās shirt which may have been distracting to some of the players, possibly resulting in the occasional skill error.
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An excellent report, and lovely to meet you as well.
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Was more a turn over drill situation. The kick was not bad in itself
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