Parish has great hands, and his vision in close is great but his main weakness is overhead marking ability, which has has improved over the last 2 seasons. In the match sim, Parish, McGrath and Zerret were playing on the same team. They were cutting their opponents apart and dominated for half the game. I would expect that, tbh. they were 3 of the 5 mids that were in the top 10 of the Crichton last year and Hepp sat out the game.
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Who were the main mids they were going up against? Shiel, Zaka, Langford?
Those 3 and and Clarke. The 4 of them did not get much of the ball, but I am pretty sure Mutch played on the wing and got a lot of the ball out wide. As far as stoppages are concerned, Phillips dominated with TBell absent, Draper and Bryan in rehab
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Heās definitely contracted until the end of next year. Saad was the only one that took the 3 year contract.
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Thats it from me, I am waiting for Nackers report now.
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I also see that every time I watch him.
Special
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That really sucks if what you say is true.
His whole community should be behind him, ā¦ be his support, ā¦ not a weight upon him.
Someone needs to let them know theyāre doing it backwards.
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Tbell in for surgery this week.
Havenāt had the reason confirmed 100%.
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Currently in a picnic in the botanical gardens, beautiful day. Iāll probably put something out later tonight.
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There goes the season eh.
Ruckmen. The achilles heal of the modern game
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Alright here we go, pants immediately tightened when I saw numbers on backs and two distinct jumper colours as I approached the driveway hanger. Match play is on the cards, the suns out, temperature is rising into the mid 20ās and not a breath of wind. The perfect hangover remedy.
There was clearly a best 18 team(see below) in blue and the orange team had secondary mids and possibly half or a third non afl players. There were a few jumper changes here and there, mostly mids but nothing drastic. There was also a 7th resting player on the sidelines instead of a proper interchange. Langford had no issues with this.
They played 4 qtrs, 20 mins with umpires. At the half way point the blue team went onto the other field and both teams went into simulated full length scenarios without opposition. Caracella was in control of this and was questioning in detail as to what the players were going to do. I always come back to this but this is a drill Richmond have done over the past three years. Not sure whether itās a specific Caracella drill or whether he has brought it over from Richmond.
Rant incoming. For perfect conditions I wasnāt impressed with this drill, no opposition, balls were hitting the ground and players had to deviate off their lead to just keep the ball up. It also wasnāt at full speed either so skills by foot are still very much a work in progress. Frankly from a supporters view itās bordering on unacceptable. Stuff closing a session with Sean Murphyās shuttle runs do this until you perfect it 10 times in a row. End Rant.
So heading into the 2nd half is where it got a bit fuzzy, still feeling the effects of last night, suns getting to me and in desperate need of water the following may not be as accurate. The third qtr was either training a set play or the set play stuff occurred before this. The play was from a defensive position, hit up the short wide target and from there go long down the line. Some players kept going inboard and the play was reset. Now Iām not sure if the kicker was at fault or the man that should have prevented the kick inside. They let this play out until a stoppage in play and reset. What I was really excited about was the attack on the footy once it hit the deck from the long kick, this has been a weakness of ours. There seemed to be more of a plan just like a stoppage instead of winging it once the ball was spoiled down.
Throughout the match sim Truck especially was very vocal and providing real-time feedback along with Caracella, Harvey and I think Jordan. Truck is very imposing, I wouldnāt want to get on his bad side. There will come a time where heās going to give this group an almighty spray, itās inevitable.
Session ended with maybe half the group doing some gruelling shuttle runs. There was also some 200-300ās after 2-3 qtrs.
Observations:
Blue team could have demolished orange team but played quite conservative I thought. Maybe instructed but definitely werenāt free wheelinā.
The lack of another tall forward is telling and prevents us from moving it long.
Structure is very pressing and not at all stretched.
Ball movement is wider than usual, corridor is hardly used. Defenders also holding their line and not streaming forward to get involved in the chain. Itās not dramatic but it is noticeable.
McKernan pretty dogmatic during the game. Wasnāt afraid to give lip to those up the ground. He wanted it deep and probably should have been honoured more times than not.
McKenna played 100% of his time forward. Heās pretty much unstoppable on a wide lead into the wings. Also bamboozled the man on the mark every time which could be a real threat if this switch is permanent. If they start predicting heāll do this every time another forward might just get enough of gap between his opponent and McKenna is deadly by foot. Smack was very vocal with getting McKenna into the right spots. Heppell asked him if heās enjoying the change with McKenna providing a small smirk in response. The option seems to be entirely up to him.
McBride played on McKernan and i was impressed. Heās like an Ambrose clone plus a few cmās. Fit as hell and could seamlessly have an impact in the defensive half in his first year in the seconds. Would reassess after a year or two once he understands forward patterns skills improve.
McQuillan has no idea whatās going on but his speed and kicking are weapons. He seems to spend a lot of time with coaches compared to McBride.
Parish was damaging in tight and at stoppages. Seemed to win nearly every second clearance. He also spread well and might need to be tested for leather poisoning.
Francis was McGovern like, was mopping up. Ridley wasnāt too far behind him. I thought they were really damaging in defence. Gleeson, Ambrose and Hurley seemed to play very tight and gave Franga and Riddles the freedom.
Stringer and Laverde played very similar roles, Stringer probably playing a bit higher. They didnāt have much input in the air or as a lead up. Actually looks a bit grim without another tall forward to go with McKernan. Stringer went into the middle in the last qtr and was damaging.
Gleeson and Mozzie took heavy knocks but were fine.
Ham was in the Blue(noteworthy?) and owned his wing. Heās still a lightweight but heās got an inch on McGrath and will hopefully bulk up in years to come. He also doesnāt mind putting his head over the ball.
Townsend had impact up forward and in the middle. Was solid.
As a collective the opposing mids did a pretty good job considering what they were working with.
One tall guy with dark hair took a few impressive marks down the line but I donāt know who he was.
I remember posting around this time last year from training that I overheard Myers talking to a coach that theyāre a long way off it, itās not coming together but should be right by the time season kicks off. Today I overheard a player speaking positively that weāre a good team and itās working well. Iām not entirely sure the context and for all I know he was talking about something entirely different but I thought Iād share.
Heppell, Redman and Stewart are looking great. Donāt know if itās the hair but thereās an aura about Heppell. The three donāt seem hindered at all, if they arenāt in main training within the fortnight Iāll go hee. Shout out to Draper too, itās a lonely place running the boundary but he has his head up and is constantly praising others.
Not sure where Hooker is at but he seems to be a few weeks behind the above 3. Didnāt seem to be in any discomfort and looks like heās in great shape.
Hibberd was heading back in when I got there but heās looking good, biggest traps youāll ever see.
Daniher and Walla werenāt running but weāre watching on.
If people were interested in the blue team it was primarily:
Ambrose Hurley Saad
Gleeson Francis Ridley
- 7th back Guelfi
Ham Merrett Zaka
Phillips Parish Shiel
- 7th mid McGrath
McKenna Stringer Snelling
Laverde Smack Fantasia
- 7th fwd Townsend
Smith, Langford and Clarke opposition starting mids
Heppell, Walla, Redman, Hooker, TBC, Stewart and Daniher are the main guys missing. Thatās your top 30 or so. Besides Zerk the rest of the list would have to be flying to get into the 22.
EDIT: Francis was in the other team holding down the fort, possibly some other defenders too.
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Looks OK to me. Could probably do with a groom though, would be very hot in this weather.
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That sucks.
Jolly good, Maxx. Thanks for an excellent report, mate.
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If suspicions on TBell are true then it makes the Phillips draft a vital one.
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Ham and zaka over Cutler is interesting.
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TBellās struggles with injury appear to be ongoing. l doubt that he will ever make it back, and if he does, he wonāt ever be more than 85% fit. Phillips was a necessity, more than just insurance. Kreuzer is also injury prone which makes the Blooos decision to cut Phillips loose even more of a mystery.
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Legs to this theory is evident seeing the trialling of Teakle and Ireland.
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