Was waiting for Jackie's report to post this but mods can merge this with the other thread when it comes...
Headed out again this morning to have a look at the session which was fairly light and easy for all involved, but there was a good atmosphere around the traps as the boys went to work with a fair few coaches and staff happy to chat with fans lining the fence, so thought I'd share a few largely meaningless details again and hopefully someone else picked up something from the session that might be worth reading!
Early part of the session saw the squad in two groups, one using the MCG oval and the other on Etihad in fairly blustery conditions again. I was focused mainly on the Etihad drill which was simply one team working the ball out of the center of the ground down to the forward line with only light physical pressure from defenders, who if intercept work the ball back to half way for the drill to restart. Daniher marked nicely on the lead on the first two plays and slotted two goals from 45-35 meters respectively. From what I picked up the drill on the MCG oval was quite similar except with forwards at either ends of a full ground drill, effectively they were both light match style simulation drills.
Noticed that Carlisle struggled to find much space in the forward line apart from on the tougher angles, and definitely isn't as comfortable leading directly at the ball and marking, being reminded on several occaisons to "get the mitts out in front" by one of the coaches (Byrne I think) following spoils from Sticks Gregory as he tried to mark on the chest. Bomber told the etihad group at one point not to completely bust themselves trying to go too quickly and focus on being clean and converting chances- to which Del followed up by dancing through 3 and snapping a nice goal. Comment was made by the High Performance Staff that the Etihad drill wasn't working as it should due to the players going to fast and rushing it. Overall though it wasn't terrible and coaches didn't seem to displeased. Found it hard to pick out any standout individuals due to the two ground situation.
One of the few pieces of play I saw initially from the MCG drill ended up with Kommer being told to "play right to the whistle" to which he quickly replied, "fine then I'll just farking run straight through him next time." Like the way he goes about it. :lol:
Was a day full of good quotes actually as Johnny Elliot made comment to Doc Reid that he thought the atmosphere was better training at Tulla (was another good turn out from supporters), and Doc replied "Just wait until September!"
Not long after that Bomber pointed a bloke out of the crowd and gave him a subtle message to GAGF saying "mate you better not be taking photo's, seeya later champ" and as the fella who i had seen at training on the Monday walked off followed up with "If any of you see this bloke here again feel free to have a chat and distract him for me, Brisbane scout."
Few of the group were on "heart limits" - whatever that is, including Hams who stopped training about 35-40 minutes early and 3 others who must have trained through the session. Shaun Edwards and Johnny Rayner were the only two I saw away from the main group, doing some light running and kicking. Edwards said his ankle was feeling pretty good. He's also a good head taller than I thought he was.
The last few drills were pretty casual, both groups on the main oval simply working the ball up the ground with phantom pressure fromt the opposition. Ground was then split in half again to work on forward entries, two teams with the defending team with the extra number. Focus was to make the ground bigger and creating space for team mates to lead with blocks and decoys etc. Did notice Paddy Ambrose for the first time in this drill, he's a very smooth mover and will be interesting to see how he goes. Hardy also looks to be getting the hang of the role up forward.
Session ended with players working with their line groups again quite casually, midfielders doing set plays from ball ups, defenders some one on one work and it was the forwards who up the other end as far as I could tell. Overall a much lighter session than Monday, biggest highlight for mine was a quick chat with Hep and getting the customary "g'day mate how ya garn" :D
