Saw autographs being signed.
And they haven’t won a game yet.
Cue concern from some Blitzer that players are getting ahead of themselves.
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to the lid on thread!
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Training today at 8am in Ocean Grove in warm conditions with very little breeze.
Modified group of Parish, Daniher, Begley, Ambrose, Smack and McKenna did the warm ups and some running for about an hour before going across the road for a swim where they were joined by Dea, Bellchambers and Saad who didn’t run but did exercises on bikes and ropes.
Gleeson and Smith were absent while Redman was on the sidelines in his moonboot.
McNiece completed the whole session with the main group so appears to have overcome whatever niggle he had, and Fantasia completed the whole session just using one hand
Training started in an unusual fashion split into 2 groups, one group kicking while the other group played a game of keepings off alternating between a frisbee and a tennis ball. This was played in very competitively and in high spirits with lot of laughter an smiles. I’m sure this was put in there to break some of the monotony.
Later on another drill involved the groups having a ball thrown in to the ruckman of Clarke and Draper (which I thought Draper would win but Clarke pretty well broke even) who then tapped it to players on their group. The sole objective was for one side to get a single kick away which meant there was huge tackling pressure from both sides and again was played in great spirits. The were several loud roars when one side or the other managed to get clear enough to kick. Jok Jok again was in with the midfielders so I imagine that’s where they want him to play.
It was the first chance to see Mossie, Gown and Ham in action but most of the drills they were involved in were kicking and handballing drills without much pressure so it was hard to read too much into it except that Mossie is a very smooth mover (he certainly reminded me of Cyril) and all three of them were neat kicks, Mossie probably the best of them.
Mossie was involved in a drill with one on one marking teamed up against Dlarke. He was all at sea initially with Dlarke out positioning him easily, but after a bit of coaching and advice improved greatly the further it went which was good to see.
A reporter from Channel 7 was there to interview Langford and Zaharakis and we had a quick chat about training and I mentioned I was keen to see Mossie in action. He said he did a piece on him previously (I forget whether it was this year or last year unfortunately) where they film some action shots and interview him. He said normally when they do these they have to spend some time editing the action to show bits that make the player look good, but this is the first time there was no need for that as he completed everything perfectly. A very interesting insight.
The other thing about Mossie is he seems joined at the hip with Tippa, they were constantly together, often talking and laughing, and Mossie smiles A LOT.
The other interesting thing was the amount of people there to watch, much more than a standard training session at Tulla with maybe 200 kids there at different times (the oval was also right next door to a school which helped). It’s probably not a bad marketing idea to spread the sessions across different parts of the city and state occasionally to give different groups of supporters a chance to see them.
Overall it wasn’t a very strenuous session with much less competitive drills than normal.
The session finished around 10am with the players getting mobbed for autographs from the crowd.
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Thanks Nackers… been hanging out for the report… love the extra insights you give.
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Thanks nackers. What’s your read on McKernan? Does he look like he’s over his hamstring injury from last year? How is his general training form and confidence after last year’s breakout period in the seniors?
Thanks nackers. Another awesome report. The hype about Mozzie is going to be insane at the start of the season
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Thanks nuts.
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Really love your reports N. great stuff…
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mossie and tippa are going to be tearing apart backlines for years
Thanks nackers, as always. Had to do a post because a like doesn’t do it justice.
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Cheers nackers, appreciate the effort and the insight.
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How was the rematch between Jakey ‘Balboa’ and ‘Ivan’ Guelfi?
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Nackers is worth more blitz money than what he is being paid, doing a magnificent job with the preseason reports. Thank you!
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I wouldn’t mind some video footage with commentary tbh
Is that asking too much?
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Don’t know what we’d do without our nackers…
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Sing soprano.
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McKernan has looked great to me, I’ve seen no sign at all of his hamstring injury. His training form has also been excellent with the exception of Monday when for some reason he seemed to drop quite a few marks.
There has been quite a number of drills where the key position players have been matched up both in one on ones and in pairs and he has looked as good as anyone.
I’m a huge McKernan fan and all signs to me are that he will continue his form from last year.
His main competition for a spot in my opinion though of Stewart has also looked very good. He has bulked up considerably and with a lot of the emphasis in the pre season being on strength in the contest and body positioning he has made enormous improvement form when he first arrived at the club when he was easily pushed around in marking contests and in the ruck.
I think McKernan will get first crack at it but Stewart is certainly an excellent fallback.
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I know it’s probably a tongue in cheek comment but I was actually thinking of the same thing today and it wouldn’t be too hard to do. I think it would probably have to be run past the club first though in case there is anything they don’t want to be shown.
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All quiet on the western front today, smiles all round.
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