Training vision and report Friday 03/03/2017

Begley making one hell of a charge.

Just has “it”

Knows how to football that’s for sure

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That was awesome

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It was. But preface that with the knowledge it was Essendon vs Essendon …

I liked what they did with the slo mo. Often I find it hard to see who the player was during highlights packages, as it all happens so fast. Very good job

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I posted a new thread but it hasn’t appeared on Blitz so I’ll just put it in this thread

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It was really pleasant conditions for training today. Unlike many sessions down at Tullamarine there wasn’t much of a wind to speak of this morning, meaning that it allowed for greater ease of skill execution.

On the Etihad oval jogging laps were Mason Redman and Alex Morgan who must just prefer the grass on this oval.

There were a few guys who did their session inside the Hangar today most notably Mick Hurley, who popped out for a bit to have a chat with Matthew Lloyd who watched the session today with one of his little boys. Hurls seemed in good spirits and walking without much of a limp. He’s fine.

Anyway, on the main oval they started with some simple kick to kick in pairs with gradually increasing distances. Hooker and Tbell took part in this and then headed off to the Etihad oval to join Redman and Morgan (which incidentally sounds like the name of a law firm).

My eyes were drawn to Francis and it was just good to see he has recovered from his ankle injury from a few weeks back and moving unhindered but I have more on him a little later on.

Also worth mentioning it was nice to see Draper complete the vast majority of the session today with the main group.

They then split off into groups of defenders, mids and fwds to do some drills with their line coaches. Mark Harvey had the backs. This group was made up of Harts, Brown, Ambrose, Kelly, McKenna, McNeice, Gleeson, Stanton, J Merrett and Dea. Half of them wearing bibs were acting as pressuring forwards and the other half acting as defenders. The idea behind the drill was to get better at clearing the ball from congestion as a defensive forward. As the ball was rolled along the deck to a player about to be beset upon, he was under instruction to hit a handball to a team mate who would then find another team mate by hands and again and again if necessary until in sufficient space to kick to a team mate stationed on the defensive 50 flank.

Meanwhile the mids where working on their contested ball winning ability. The ball was thrown into the middle and both teams had to fight for it and link up to clear the area until they had reached a set of cones. Jobe was very vocal in this drill and his instructional talk was magnificent. He once praised Langford exuberantly yelling ‘great craft to give yourself space Langers’ after he’d turned his body just before picking it up.

There was praise from the group for Dylan Clarke in this drill too who showed his strength by slamming Hocking in a crunching tackle.

Jobe pulled Kobe Mutch aside after the final one and appeared to be giving really animated and instructional talk. It is really great to see Jobe so invested again after all the crap that has gone on.

They then moved to a full ground match simulation:

I can’t be bothered putting this all into a nice flowing essay but the points I took down were:

Joe moving well and unhindered again and kicking with 100% strength on his left foot but spilling or double grabbing a heap of marks. His touch will come but just nice to see he is fit.

Lav hit the 45’s quite well bringing the ball back into the corridor on a few occassions with precise flat bullets. I wouldn’t have said he was dominant but gee he does things that underline his immense talent and athleticism. He took a couple of marks on the wing on transition and just nudged his opponent under the footy and stretched back to take the mark.

Langford was fairly prominent, especially in the first stanza where he hit Smack and a few minutes later Begley lace out with that all important kick into the forward line. Something we have struggled with consistently over the last decade.

Connor McKenna impressed me in match sim and I wound it interesting that he was used as a +1 at the back of the stoppage in order to receive it in space with a backwards handball, run with it and deliver with his usually fantastic foot skills to a hit up target.

Zerrett and Parish were by far the dominant figures in the midfield throughout today. They both just get where the footy is and use it well.

I have to mention James Kelly though. He just dominated off the half back today. He would have had the most touches of any player. He just uses his smarts and knows when to peel off and which places to run to get the pill.

This next guy didn’t get a heap of the footy but as far as output vs expectation today Jackson Merrett was VERY impressive playing on a star forward nearly all day in Orazio Fantasia. He wore him like a glove and kept pace with him when the ball got out the back and in aerial contests his spoiling was great. Really commendable session and it got recognised by the boys who let him know how good a job he was doing.

The above also links in with the fact that Orazio actually spent 5 minute stints playing in the centre square. And he was SENSATIONAL in there, getting plenty of the ball and providing surging runs where he drops the shoulder and gets the one-two. I’m not saying he should play as a permanent on baller but I think throughout the season you will see that if we are struggling for spark in the centre of the ground he will spend some time there. He gives us a dynamic we lack.

A random point I had was Goddard yelled at Joe in frustration and then said ‘If you’re going to roll, give yourself some room!’ Basically, it was after Joe took a mark saw a bit of space and then went on the familiar massive arc before he wants to boom it up forward. In which time, the space closed and it got half smothered.

Quick props to Stewart who despite not putting it all together today was impressive in his aggression and attack on the ball and man. His follow up efforts were great.

After match sim they had some lower intensity drills and it was nice to see Hooker return from the other oval and engage in some light one one one marking work.

Finally, and sorry to end on a bit of a sour note but something is amiss with Francis IMO. His body language was shocking today. He lacked spring and his second efforts were almost non-existent. After the match sim one of the strength and conditioning guys called him over and told him he was to do repeat 400’s (all to a certain time) and the kid was almost in tears, sooking that he didn’t want to do them. This S&C guy was half consoling him/half motivating him. It was like a teacher with a stroppy kid at school. I really hope whatever is weighing on him, whether it be missing family and friends, or just struggling mentally and physically with the demands of being an elite athlete that we are putting our arm around him and showing him love where possible.

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Too right. New joint is already pretty boss, … and with tweaks and the inevitable eventual familiarity, is set to only get better.

I’m yet to even fk about with the editor to see how much character can be added to post’s, … I’m calling new blitz “The Force” … because it shitts on Vanilla from an extreme height already.

(Everyone remembers the “May the Force shitt on you from a Great Height!” buttons that went viral in the early 80’s … right?)

Hope Zac gets away with one of those throws against Hawthorn. Would be just.

Thanks Houli. Great job mate.

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JD’s left foot is back in action!

No dramas mate. Happy to give back when I can get a day off. It was a spirited session this morning and plenty of positives to take out of it.

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This sounds concerning. His fitness would seem to be all that is between himself and stardom, EFC has been working on it for over a year now, if he is healthy physically, we really need him to be in shape mentally to deal with the pressures and demands of senior football.

It must have been hard on him to leave his family so soon after losing his brother, so it would be understandable to be struggling emotionally with the demands on him.

Getting him fit and happy is a high priority, hopefully there is a way and they find it soon.

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Don’t think that is public knowledge…

His brother? Emma Quayle wrote a fairly long piece about it in the age.

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Geez, I was going to go all-in on Joe Panic after he chose to kick that first goal with his right foot, but I guess that’s been trumped already…

Loved the video.

Yep. was a well published backstory before he was drafted.

Ahh, took that as a recent event. Disregard.

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I just dream of the day I read hooker has joined in a full session

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Be careful how you phrase joining hooker for a full session.

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Of the wet variety?