Training Wednesday 22nd

Football Discussion Dustin Fletcher Hangar
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Overcast, slightly slippery conditions, slight breeze
2nd Oval: Lewie, Myers
Absent: Laverde, Ridley
Everyone else trained in some capacity.

Early Drills focussed on kicking to position:
4 groups rotating around the key areas all with a emphasis on the final kick to a dangerous spot under no pressure.

Move into a 20min match simulation which maybe gave some idea of what the side may look like.

Blue:
Mid: Watson, Hep, Zerrett Smack, Goddard, Zaka
Fwd: Colyer, Daniher, Raz, Green, Hooksy, Tippa (Stewart the rotation)
Back: Bags, Hartley, McGrath, Stants, Hurley, Gleeson (went off), Kelly

Rest in red inc. Bellchambers who is just a question of whether he’s done the full match play kms.

If Blue are our starters then let’s go with the red team who generally smashed them in general play. Howlett, Parish, Hocking, Langford and Bird more than matched it. Goddard paid Long no respect who went on to have 3 shots on goal. Our fowards musnt like Irishmen as McKenna ran off and did what he liked, maybe it’s never mind Hurls will be there to stop it!!!

My concern is here and something I felt during the preseason once we lose the ball our mids aren’t capable of defending the space. Too slow- maybe, pushed too far forward as part of new attacking mindset- maybe…but it’s hurting & maybe why we saw Colyer, Tippa go through the middle at times.

Positive note is clearly depth. Fact we can have probables v possibles and it’s no way a one sided is only a good thing.

Couple of Individuals:
McGrath: Winning the lose ball and getting out of trouble, Classy. Kicking under pressure not so classy (yet). I think they will pick him

Francis: with Parish we knew we got good players, but didn’t know they will be match winning players. Love his presence and how big he looks on the lead (you can’t not kick it to him) then combine that with a midfielders ability to deal with the ground ball and ye ha…He plays foward for my liking and real soon.

J.Merrett: wouldn’t be surprised if he gets a game. Why, we need his speed down back and has worked hard on his one on ones, even if turned around has closing speed to apply pressure. One to keep watch on.

Parish: Mentioned above- week after week he just impresses with his animalistic (if that’s a word) work rate. His pre season has been outstanding for a kid that’s maybe still 19.

Mckenna: I’m a big fan based on his pure ability to run and kick with precision. Kelly and Stanton will hold up his progress and I really hope they find a dozen or more games for him. There is no reason he can’t be a genuine weapon.

Overall it’s feels like it’s still about finding balance down back and through the midfield, funnily enough our foward structure looks to make the most sense.

My team but who knows:
Baguley, Hartley, McGrath
Stanton, Hurley, Dea
Goddard, Watson, Zaharakis
Colyer, Daniher, Raz
Tippa, Hooker, Green
Smack, Zerrett, Hep

Kelly/Ambrose, Stewart/Belly, Langford, Parish

10 blokes stiff…

Apologies for long winded ness…little excited.

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Nice work!

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Thanks heaps!! So keen!

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Great summary

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Don’t apologise. It’s the lead-up to round one - we are equal parts football-starved and anxious given how long it has been since our team has played unencumbered. I’d personally read a training report the length of War & Peace if someone was willing to write it.

Thank you.

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animalistic
anɪməˈlɪstɪk/
adjective
1.
characteristic of animals, particularly in being physical and instinctive.
“these dogs are an extension of their owners’ animalistic tendencies”
2.
relating to or practising the religious worship of animals.
“images of animalistic ritual costumes spring to mind”

Yes, it’s a word.

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I was suffering from Training Report withdrawal symptoms, then along comes Azza with my fix for the week.

Seems like we have the depth to not have to compromise when considering matchups.

When you say Irish ran off and did what he liked, I take you mean in a good way ?

Thanks for the report Azza.

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Thanks Azza. Good report.

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Thanks for the great report - been checking in all day hoping that someone would write one! Agree that there’ll be a number of very unlucky guys who miss out this weekend. All good though for our future! Bring it on! Can’t wait!!

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Yes mate, in a good way. As I expressed im a big fan & I reckon what he’s done in a couple of years is pretty awesome.

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Champion Data wrote this about him in the prospectus.
“McKenna was underated defensively last season, conceding just 3 goals in his 12 AFL games and not losing in and of his 8 one on one contests. As a general defender he is poor at intercepting the ball, preferring to stay close to his man…”

Now, when you say he has started running off the forwards and doing whatever he likes, I just wonder whether thats after winning one on ones, or he is running off and intercepting, because if its the latter, then he is learning to read the play and has achieved a major breakthrough in his game.

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Supposedly in Conor’s first pre-season they threw him to half-back to learn the game and it was immediately obvious that was too easy for him. Hence he went forward.

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Generally feeding off the back of a stopagge. Raz got him out the back once for a goal but not without one heck of a spirited chase from McKenna which got him compliments from coaches.

Agree with the one on one query but not sure VFL will be his best learning curve- coaches will know best.

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If Francis comes in and is playing well by half way through the season do he and Joe (and Stewart?) become our focal points fwd and we place Hooker back down back?

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Can’t see why you wouldn’t do that.

I have a feeling Hooker will surprise a lot of people up forward though.

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Hooker stays forward I believe.

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Hooksy, Joey and Franga as the three big boys up front, with Fanta, Walla and Green buzzing around!

Me likey.

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Is Gleeson ok?

How about Jerret, does he stand out in any way (good or bad)?

Thanks for the report!

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Thanks Azza.

Fair to say starting to get excited.

Looking forward to selection tomorrow. I reckon there will be some surprises because the balance of the side won’t work without them.

And by balance i mean pace through the middle and in defence.

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Thanks for the report - much appreciated!

I’m fascinated to see what set-up we go with in our backline for round one, especially re our talls. Hurley is obviously a lock but we’ve had different set ups for each of the JLT games.

Personally, I think that Hartley is our next best key defender and then it comes down to match-ups as to whether you go with Ambrose, Brown or perhaps even Dea to take that third tall.

Going by the JLT series, I think our defence looked best against GC with the Hurley/Hartley/Brown combo, although admittedly they didn’t have much opposition to worry about with Lynch not playing.

Either way, I’m really intrigued to see the makeup of our back six and how they go up against against one of the strongest forward lines in the comp.

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