Same ■■■■,diffrent year
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As some have mentioned already, 4x15min qtrs of match sim today with umpires.
I’ll provide a breakdown of what I saw from the players today below.
The black team started the game with what you would call the A team with a few senior players starting in the Red team like Parish to make it a little more even.
There was a lot of changing of teams through the game but the backline probably stayed the same (Rids, Zerk, Kelly, McGrath, Lav) Mass swapped between.
There were a few AFL media types watching including Cal, Jay Clark and Kingy. Ch 7 and 9 were also there. Had a good chat with Cal but he is still on leave so no real news to report.
We do however play Gold Coast up there in our first practice game and then we play the Saints at Moorabbin as our “official practice game” (don’t know dates and times)
1 McGrath – Very good at half back, looked dynamic.
2 Draper - won the ruck battle with Phillips, 2 or 3 good clucks around the ground. Just missed a set shot after a nice mark.
3 Parish – Not at his prolific best but got better as the game went on. Swapped teams at half time, building into the season.
4 Langford – wing and forward, play well without dominating. Such a weapon when he goes fwd.
5 Tsatas – Injured (knee)
6 Caldwell- Started in the Red team I think, did some nice things, including a dribble left foot goal from 20m out
7 Merrett – usual pre-season out put by Zac, some lovely kicks to teammates and a nice 50m goal on the run
8 Hobbs – Red team midfield, got some good clearances but didn’t rack them up.
9 Shiel – Black team, started on fire, looking great, inside 50 kicks still the major concern with him
10 Weideman – modified training, ran a lot of laps
11 Snelling – Red team, was a little quiet played half fwd.
12 Setterfield – Got a heap of it, great hands from inside to out. Looking really good
13 Cox – Didn’t train
14 Ridley – Black team defender, played well. Would like to see him take more intercept marks and get back to his best. Solid
15 Laverde – Dominated at FB once Wright left the field and we had no other recognised keys fwds playing
16 Perkins – Started in black and I think he went to red team, great burst out of stoppages and went forward and kicked a awesome right foot snap dribble goal
17 Stewart – Didn’t train (Foot)
18 Hayes – Impressive for his age and body weight, just knows how to play key back. Will be a player
19 Hind – Injured (quad) running laps
20 Wright – Involved in big marking collision, calf injury it seems
21 Heppell – Moved well, didn’t get a great deal of it. I’m in the border line 22 camp with him
22 Durham – Solid on the wing without staring like he did pre xmas
23 Jones – Only ran laps today, seems to be in between main training and then non contact training. Not far away
24 Bryan – I think he started the game but didn’t see him do much so I assume he went off early.
25 Stringer – looking good, did Stringer things, forward for 3 qtrs then swapped with Perkins and played mid in the last
26 Baldwin – Tough being FF in the red team today, took some nice outlet mark at half back. Did nothing really in the forward half.
27 Redman – Really solid without dominating.
28 Lord – Half back, some nice kicks but quiet overall
29 Kelly – Okay, but had one shocker when he went to switch kick and Menzie smothered and goaled as a result
30 Zerk-Thatcher – Competed well, next to Lav, no real key fwd to compete with.
31 Reid – injured (back)
33 Davey – moved well, good some footy at half fwd, kicked a nice goal from 30m out as a lose ball gather
34 Phillips – took some nice clunks around and ground and got involved in the play well
35 Guelfi – Solid with without staring at half fwd
36 Davey – Running laps
37 Martin – Dominated! the kid’s a star
38 Montgomerie – impressive at HB for the red team, took 3 or four nice marks
39 Voss – another who swapped teams to get some more opportunities, was good, especially on the lead. Had to play taller because of our lack of height today. Going well
40 Wanganeen – running laps
41 McBride – Played FB for the Red team, didn’t do a lot.
42 D’Ambrosio – bit of black team, bit of red team, some nice kicks but didn’t stand out
43 McDonald-Tipungwuti – quiet unfortunately, looked “off” was away on Monday, maybe just a flat week
45 – Munkara – modified training
47 Menzie – Super impressive, kicked 3 or 4, presented well at half forward, defensive pressure was great. Real smokey for Rd1 if Walla doesn’t get going
Lynch, Syba, O’Keefe, Phillips, Conforti and Cootie all played. Lynch got a bit of it at half back, Syba didn’t stand out, O’Keefe played tall back, that may be his go. Phillips got a bit of it on the wing. No real standouts for mine at this stage with 3 weeks to go before SSP cut off.
Oh yeah Harley Reid played and looked great when he moved into the midfield after half time. Time to lock him up in the hanger Dodoro and don’t let him leave 
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Is there actually anything to be positive about regarding our preseason? Davey seems a tick… but, what else?
AFL 2023: Follow the latest injury news as season approaches
Best-and-fairest winner Peter Wright hobbled off the track in another injury setback for Essendon. Now the club has revealed how long he will be sidelined.
4 min read
January 25, 2023 - 1:09PM
News Corp Australia Sports Newsroom
AFL: Max Gawn has avoided a serious hamstring injury, but will remain on light duties.
Essendon says key forward Peter Wright could return to training as soon as next week after hurting his calf on Wednesday.
Wright came off the ground midway the Bombers’ match simulation session complaining of calf soreness to club medicos.
But an Essendon spokesman on Wednesday said the issue was only minor and may only sideline the 2022 best-and-fairest winner for a small number of training sessions.
It is hoped he could return next week after the Bombers return from a mandated five-day break this weekend, pending further assessment.
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Mind boggling that the injury management and fitness department wasnt part of the external review
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Shin splints??? Is there a shortage of watering at the Hangar footy ovals?
We are going to Joe Daniher him, arent we?
Perhaps you and Nino can get together and come up with what an optimistic pre-season should look like ?
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Good question.
The answer is Geelong.
Martin - been everyone’s standout player
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Wonder if Wright copped a bad corkie in the calf in that marking collision…and it’s not a tear.
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How’s our forwardline going?
Stewart injured
Jones returning
Wright now injured
Weideman injured
Stringer improving fitness
Tippa improving fitness
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That would be my guess. But it can turn into a strain if not treated properly and starts over doing it. A few weeks off hopfully is all that is required
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The main thing i want to know is have the boys be training hard and being physcial in match play/simualtions
Was at the Hanger today to observe training. Compared to Windy Hill the surface seems much firmer underfoot.
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Well with 2MP going down i feel like we are kind of like stkilda, just a bit worse.(if thats possible)
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I watched a bit of Geelong training this morning. They looked pretty sharp. Don’t fumble the ball and looked fit.
■■■■ them
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Lucky we dont play them again round 1.
Would be a bit embarrassing.
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Setterfield seems to have been going well, Menzie has stepped up a level by all reports, Hayes is getting good reviews, and Draper’s kicking seems to have improved.
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Found it hard to tell who all the players were today, so won’t comment on individuals much, but overall I thought we looked expectedly middle-of-the-road.
There were some nice bits of play where several players would exchange quick handballs and short passes through the corridor, but the team defence looked equally suspect in these moments for the opposing side. Tough to judge when the teams were often so lopsided in quality and experience.
There were also the usual fumbling and lack of clean hands we’re used to seeing, though it’s not exactly surprising this would occur in a match featuring so many fringe players and trialists.
Like last year, still a few too many “passing the buck” sideways chip passes across the defensive 50 for my liking. I understand spreading the play to create space, but these kicks were mostly not doing that and came across as lazy or an acceptance of lack of kicking ability on the player’s part. Having said that, there were plenty of well weighted and neat kicks from the usual suspects. I will note that Ridley was taking a lot more risk with his kicking than has been reported in precious sessions.
Hopefully 2MP, Weideman and Jones are all available for Round 1 because almost no one commanded the air in the forward line at either end.
It was nice to see the opportunist forwards make the best of the 50/50 situations with (from memory) Stringer, Menzie, Davey and Martin becoming dangerous once the ball hit the ground.
That’s all that came to mind as I’m typing.
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