Warm with the sun, bit of a breeze. Nice to meet you @karmabomber
Most of today was full ground drills. Stoppage on the wing, ground defence, switching the play, that sort of thing. Also a drill with most of the group in a small-ish rectangle, and the teams had to get the ball through. Hep was giving good advice, and did a little bit of skills, with not much movement
Rehab group was Redman, Hooker, McNiece. Hooker told me he was nearing the end of rehab.
So, the drills. McGrath again excelled. Jok got a bit of the ball and used it quite well (sometimes). The one who really caught my eye was Begley. He played in the full ground drills, as did Joe. Begley is looking in really, really good nick, and is obviously keen to impress (he nearly ran down Saad). As for Joe, I saw him in drills, but didn’t see him touch the footy. During the rectangle exercise, he and Begley went down the other end to practice goal kicking. They seemed to kick them pretty straight.
Joe still progressing well, but still seems a way off being match fit.
I thought the players looked sharper in their skills today, but still room for improvement, especially kicking into the forward 50. Effort and intensity was high. Hard to tell how good the defensive structures are until you see them against an opposition.
I concur with others and would love your job also.
Very excited to hear about Begley.
He hails from around Bayswater / Ferntreeguly area & I have met his family. Lovely folk. He played football with my nephew.
By all accounts he is possessed like a demon to win and is a footballing addict in similar mode to Dusty & to lesser extend Higgins.
Many people rate him lightly. However I firmly believe he will become elite.
He has murder in his eyes when he plays for the Bombers. A player with great skills, determination and a work ethic with a footballers body that will take him to the top. My thinking is that he will become one of our best within three years, just needs more game time.
I do too. The benefit in Begley’s knee recovery (though I don’t wish injuries on anyone) is that he’s been able to focus soleley on rehab, and in that, has got himself really fit.
His foot skills are excellent, and is probably something our senior team is lacking a little of. It’ll be interesting to see what role he plays going forward. I’d say half-forward, with a bit of midfield.
I think he’s contracted until the end of next year (not that it means much these days). At least we’re starting to develop some depth, and our dispensable players might have a bit of currency.
The two things that i really wanna hear is improved ball movement into attack and that we’ve implemented a zone defensive structure between the arcs like coll, wc, rich, hawks use. Until i see or hear word that these are obviously being practiced i’ll be skeptical about how far we will go, despite the abundance of talent on our list.
Thanks for the report Matt. Any sign of McKenna? He’s probably the one I’m most unsure of as he’s done very little work this pre season even when he’s been there