Zerrett and Francis watch please.
How is Zerrett going with the big 10 back? Is he still very much a leader out there?
From afl.com:Daniher trained away from Essendon’s main group on Wednesday because of knee soreness.
Skipworth said the spearhead was expected to return to full training in three or four weeks and was hopeful he would play some part in the Bombers’ JLT Community Series campaign.
Late Jan/Early Feb then now.
Interesting that McNiece’s name has hardly been mentioned anywhere since his recruitment, but everyone that was at training today spoke about him positively.
Zerrett and Francis watch please.How is Zerrett going with the big 10 back? Is he still very much a leader out there?
I thought Zerrett was quiet in the first clearance drill, got caught a couple of times etc. Then later, in the match simulation, he was the best cleanest clearance player and disposed of it very well. Ahead of all the established vets like Watson, Heppell etc.
However, I think you have to take clearance work in the pre season with a grain of salt, due to the lack of physical pressure. No-one was tackling hard or putting real physical pressure on today. The pressure was all mental, as in having players around you and feeling the need to dispose of it, rather than real. When the real game pressure comes on, it can all change. For example, at this same time last year I recall Will Hams being prominent in match practice, and it didn’t flow through into seniors performance.
Francis hardly even got a sniff today. If he participated at all in the early match/clearance practice, I didn’t see him, and later he just ran laps.
Justin Crow and his department must be doing a massive amount of work . There are 44 players out there with what seem to be individually tailored programs some of which appear to be changing on a daily basis. The performance monitoring, player assessment and adjustment of all these players programs is obviously why he is called the high performance manager. He needs to be.
I read somewhere that Doc Reid had finished up as Club Doctor at the end of 2016. But I think he is still there and TBH, absolutely nothing has been said by the club about him retiring . I would expect that he would be given a very big send off by the club after all these years.
Is Doc Reid still visible at training?
Bombers challenge star duo to dominate up forward Nick Bowen January 11, 2017 4:25 PMESSENDON is challenging Joe Daniher and Cale Hooker to become one of the AFL’s most damaging forward-line duos, while explosive defender Anthony McDonald-Tipungwuti is also set for stints in attack this year.
Daniher was forced to shoulder a heavy load in the Dons’ forward 50 last season when Hooker was one of 12 Dons sidelined by WADA suspensions.
The forward performed admirably under the circumstances, finishing fourth in the AFL for contested marks (52) and topping Essendon’s goalkicking with a career-high 43 majors.
So Essendon is understandably excited to see what the 22-year-old can achieve with Hooker alongside him in attack in 2017.
Hooker, an All Australian key defender in 2014, has been training with the Bombers’ forwards group this pre-season, having kicked 20 goals when thrown forward in 2015’s final 10 rounds.
Essendon forwards coach Hayden Skipworth told AFL.com.au the Daniher-Hooker partnership could become one of the Dons’ biggest weapons.
“I have sort of put the challenge to those guys to be two of the best contested marks in the comp,” Skipworth said.
"Joey finished fourth last year (playing) by himself with not a lot of (forward 50) entries, not a lot of quality entries either, so if we can get a higher volume of entries and better entries we see him and Cale together becoming a real weapon for the side.
“They should be able to take a lot of contested marks this year.”
Skipworth said Hooker still had work to do on his leading patterns and goalkicking to make the transition to a permanent forward, but the assistant coach was extremely encouraged by the 28-year-old’s progress this summer.
“He’s going really well. He competes really well. The smaller guys love crumbing to him, he brings the ball down centrally and he’s probably our best contested mark,” Skipworth said.
“He’s got a lot of good attributes to play forward and with (Michael) Hurley back we’re spoilt to have two All Australian key defenders, so Cale was the one we decided to have a look at pushing forward.”
McDonald-Tipungwuti was a revelation for Essendon in 2016, coming off the rookie list to play 21 games and finish seventh in the club’s best and fairest award.
But as damaging as the former Essendon VFL player was rebounding from half-back last season – he had 10 more running bounces than any other Bomber – he has been training with the Dons’ forward group this pre-season to give him another facet to his game.
“I’ve coached him for the last five or six years and he’s really comfortable down back. It comes very naturally to him,” Skipworth said.
"I spoke to ‘Woosha’ (coach John Worsfold) about helping him with his leading patterns with other forwards and working together with them.
“We felt that if we could give ‘Walla’ (McDonald-Tipungwuti) the pre-season, especially pre-Christmas, with the forward group it just adds flexibility to the team. One, because he can help us score and, two, to really put that pressure on in the forward line.”
Skipworth is also buoyed by what recycled recruits James Stewart (Greater Western Sydney) and Josh Green (Brisbane Lions) can add to Essendon’s attack in 2017, saying both were ready to come into their primes.
Daniher trained away from Essendon’s main group on Wednesday because of knee soreness.
Skipworth said the spearhead was expected to return to full training in three or four weeks and was hopeful he would play some part in the Bombers’ JLT Community Series campaign.
Green was out there… took awhile to see him but he was out there, just not sure how long he actually was training for …
I went along and noticed a few things.
Firstly Green trained in the early part of the session but went off after a little while. It seemed more of a management type thing than injury.
Ridley looked really good in match simulation. He presented as a target in the forward line which saw him take the uncontested mark Jodi mentioned. He also pushed up onto the HFF and got involved. It wasn’t a whole heap but it showed me where his potential lays.
Hurley is a competitive beast! In a specific drill with Hooksy, Redman, Tippa and LAV, he lost a one on one contest and cracked it at himself. Skippy had to remind him “it’s training, it’s ok to make mistakes.”
Someone asked how Zach Merrett was going. He, Jobe and Heppell are starting to look like a formidable trio in the middle. The usual Zach of 2016 seemed to appear in the match simulation as did Brownlow Jobe with slick, quick hands and sharp skills that would leave any opposition dumbfounded as we quickly moved the ball forward. Heppell crunched Zach at one point in a drill and it took Zach a while to get up and compose himself again. Thankfully he joined straight back in like nothing had even happened and looked great.
And as for what Dell said about Draper, it seems spot on. I can’t say I’ve ever noticed him do much and today was no different. However, the other draftees joined in a bit more than usual today and didn’t look out of touch. Begley took a nice mark on the lead, McNiece definitely looks like he belongs and one of Jobe’s handballs was so slick Ooh Aah McGrath couldn’t handle it. They all seemed fine to me. BJ seems to be taking Mutch under his wing.
Redman looked a bit tired towards the end of the session as is expected but he was one of the last ones out there having shots on goal with Tippa and Hooker as they all tried to distract each other. Redman, as the man on the mark, pretended to moon Hooksy whilst he was having a shot on goal and subsequently missed it. Quite humorous for young Mason and particularly as Hooksy barely misses. Snapped a nice one from the boundary too.
If I think of anything else I’ll add it later.
Could be Woosha just trying to see who is best suited where … Think in the next couple of weeks we will see more of an idea on which way he is looking at playing who where …
From afl.com:Daniher trained away from Essendon’s main group on Wednesday because of knee soreness.
Skipworth said the spearhead was expected to return to full training in three or four weeks and was hopeful he would play some part in the Bombers’ JLT Community Series campaign.
From 2012 preseason.
"…Thursday, 20 December 2012
Essendon draftee Joe Daniher has had a minor knee cartilage operation and will be on a restricted training program in early January.
“He’s had a minor 'scope to clean up a bit of cartilage that came loose from his patella,” Essendon general manager of football operations Danny Corcoran said.
"He just cooled down after one of the sessions and felt a bit sore, and he just reported it to the doctors.
“They had a look and found there was a piece of floating cartilage that they needed to take out…”
I wonder if its the same knee?
http://www.footywire.com/afl/club/player-biography/3804.html
Green was out there.. took awhile to see him but he was out there, just not sure how long he actually was training for ..
Its been said that Green will not join in full training until mid Feb. Clearly some kind of modified program.
I read somewhere that Doc Reid had finished up as Club Doctor at the end of 2016. But I think he is still there and TBH, absolutely nothing has been said by the club about him retiring . I would expect that he would be given a very big send off by the club after all these years.Is Doc Reid still visible at training?
Yes he was there today.
If Jobe’s our best player then we’re in great shape.
I consider Zach our best player now after the way he played last season. If he reproduces that (or hopefully improves) and there are others going better than we’re laughing
■■■■■■ hell. Was there anybody there that wasn't on blitz?Apparently I had to go to work instead.
Thanks to all the reporters for what's turned out to be a great training thread.Can I ask one of them to comment on the mood today, especially if you’ve been to sessions before Christmas. Jackie M was always talking about how upbeat everyone was, how loud the talking was and how high the enthusiasm levels were. Then on Monday his report began by noting that the mood was rather downbeat, following the James Hird events. although he also said that it improved as the day went on.
So how was it today? Back to pre-Christmas levels, or a bit down?
I went to a few before Christmas and today’s mood was definitely up beat and business like. Lots of encouragement and hard work building towards the pre season matches.
I went today as well.The most promising thing I thought was there were no copies of The Age in the cafe.
Excellent summaries by all already. Begley is a beast for his age. Jobe looked a step above in the clearance drills.
First time at training in years so it was hard to compare to other sessions.
The good thing is I’ve been there many times and I don’t think I’ve ever seen one copy of The Age. Only the Herald Sun and a couple of magazines.
C7 just reported that Joey is still recovering from hip surgery.
C7 just reported that Joey is still recovering from hip surgery.
Or is that “suspected” hip surgery?
C7 just reported that Joey is still recovering from hip surgery.
Well what ever it is e.g hip, knee or quad he is at least doing a lot of running, meaning his fitness will not be affected. On the other hand no kicking on his left means his goal kicking practice is on hold.
I think in a few years Lav is the full package utility. Forward/mid/back. Has obvious class above head and at ground level to go with his aggression, work ethic and intimidating size. Hopefully he is good enough to become a genuine A grade utility who doesn't need to be pigeonholed in one position to make it.Goddard at his best was the best utility in the league who could impact in all areas of the ground so it’s good to know Lav has a good role model to lean on as he develops.
I know neither of them have had their big breakout seasons yet but how inspired are the Langford & Laverde selections looking?!
They’re looking arrogant. We’re putting another 2000 team together
I gonna party like its 1999