Training Report: Monday Jan 19

[Neil Appleby]

Cool & Cloudy at first, then sunny 18.

As it was the first day of the Australian Open, there were more onlookers than usual. About 30 spectators in all, most of whom were teenage boys who later left to go to the tennis. There were about 12 dedicated Collingwood fans.

*If you�re going to Friday�s Open Training, park in Yarra Park, which will be open for the tennis, or take public transport. We arrived at about 8:30 and parked beside the Yarra BBQ area. We still had to walk a kilometre though. The �grey ghosts� were already patrolling at 8:30!

The caf� was doing a brisk trade and the waitress told me that when the new social club is opened, the caf� will transfer over there and will have a chef on duty to do brekkies again. Can�t wait.

Before Training:
Jono Marsh did a session with a physio inside the Westpac Centre. Emphasis was on his left leg. One drill had him kneeling on his left leg as he lifted a dumbbell with his left arm. He then joined the team on the field.

Not Training:
Darcy Moore

Modified Training:
Ben Reid, Jesse White, Levi Greenwood, Alan Toovey, Brayden Maynard, Brenden Abbott, Brent Macaffer, Clinton Young, Marley Williams, Jono Marsh and Tony Armstrong did laps of the arena and various drills.

Player Watch: Ben Reid
Ben did a warm up inside the Westpac Centre; a programme devised by Dr. M�ller-Wohlfahrt. He said his training was now modified with specific timed running work, before �more exercises inside,� the Westpac Centre. Ben ran laps, did 100 & 50 metre sprints at half pace and did a little kick to kick with Brayden Maynard.

Player Watch: Tim Broomhead, Travis Cloke & Dane Swan
Nice to see all three do the preliminary work with the main group, which consisted of stretches, slow running, 50 metre sprints, knee bends, handballing and more sprints. Once the running was over and the main group prepared for ball work, these three peeled off to do modified work. Cloke looks very good. He�s training with pleasing intensity.

Player Watch: Matthew Sharenberg
Really impressed in this lad�s progress since Christmas. He did all the running work and then stayed on to do a significant amount of the kicking/field drills. I�d forgotten what a smooth mover this boy is and his kicking this morning was elite. I mentioned it on Friday, but it�s worth repeating, he is further advanced than Macaffer who did no running again today. Caff walked laps with Clinton Young who also did no running.

Drills: As drills begin, the players on modified programmes peel off and consult with trainers before beginning running work.
1. Players in 4 groups in each group it�s White V Black. Stoppage drill with ball rolled along ground players tussle for ball, handball to teammate and then kick to group downfield. Broomhead notable in this drill for his accurate kicking.
2. Now players vary the drill by using a field size rectangle. 4 groups running and field-kicking. Sharenberg took part in this drill and impressed with his kicking.
3. Buckley talks with Broomhead before he takes off to talk to a trainer. Swan now leaves this group and trains alone.
4. Nathan Brown works with trainer doing sharp change in direction running work.
5. Four players come down to the Olympic Boulevard end: Sharenberg, Pendlebury, Witts and Langdon. They do kick to kick. Sharenberg does not hesitate when the ball hits the turf. He�s very impressive.
6. Main group in twos, on knees doing a wrestling drill. Obviously Sharenberg, pendles and Co. won�t join in this body and body stuff.
7. Main group now breaks up into groups around ground doing handball drills. Close in, heavy traffic ball skills. Coaches count 1,2,3,4 etc and on each call, players must handball to a teammate.
8. Stoppage drill is next. The match-ups are more practice-match-like. Witts V Grundy, Gault V Brown, Pendles V Crisp, DeGoey V Goodyear, Elliott V Kennedy, Thomas V Fasolo, Manteit v Cox! Frost V Keeffe, Blair V Ramsay, Oxley V Goldy, Varcoe V Manteit. Freeman V Sidey. Ball goes end to end before being called back to Bucks on the flank who begins the drill again. Gault is full-forward v Brown. This drill is the closest I�ve seen this pre-season to an actual match-like drill.
9. Now Bucks calls the players into the centre. He consults with the white board. Aha! Match prac coming up.
Yep, players are now doing a full match practice in Black V White teams.

Yarra End: Keeffe plays full-forward V Frost
Karnezis (forward) V Langdon
Seedsman plays back V DeGoey
Goodyear plays back as does Sinclair

At the Tennis Centre End � Gault V Brown
Fasolo (forward) V Manteit
Goldy(forward) V Oxley
Elliott V Sinclair

Centre match ups: Kennedy V Sidey, Thomas V Freeman, Varcoe V Crisp, Blair V Pendles

-Now Cox finds himself at full forward V Nathan Brown.
-Josh Thomas plays well in this drill. Does the 1% like smothering well.
-Short break finds Witts talking to his fellow centre players and ditto Grundy. Grundy has Freeman, Fasolo, Crisp. Witts has Varcoe, Pendles & Kennedy.
-Now Goldy has Manteit as his opponent whilst Gault has Oxley.
-Oxley�s kicking out of defence is impressive
-Kennedy shoots for goal and sprays it. Lucky to make a behind

Not many kick-ins as such, but at one point Frost was about the bring the ball in from a behind, but Langdon came in and took it. This happened twice.

This was the first time all pre-season that we have seen players in practice-match type training. I didn�t pick up all of the match ups, but got most of them. Tarkyn Lockyer was a stand out as a spare in defence today. His kicking was terrific! Tarks played for the White Team.

Final wrap:
Seedsman continues to impress with his run and carry
Freeman likewise gets plenty of the ball and is very direct.
DeGoey has time and space and never rushes. Takes the extra second before delivering. This poise close-in reminds me of Pendles.
Speaking of DeGoey, he wasn�t so noticeable today and left the ground quite late with a trainer in toe.
Mason Cox had many opponents and played in various positions, most notably forward. Took a few marks overhead and looked comfortable. When he reaches for the ball he takes it at about 3 metres - nobody can get near it!

That�s it folks��won�t be there for the rest of the week so I�m hoping CitySlick, Dave or Warburton Lad can keep an eye on the match practice sessions and keep us up to date with the trial match ups.

Pics and Vids now added:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98725876@N02/

[Lazza]

[Neil Appleby]

[jackcass]

Thanks NA, be nice to have the time to get to a training session or 2.

[watt price tully]

Thank you Mr Appleby. Enjoyable & informative reading once again.

How did Varcoe fare & how did young Crisp look (if he was there)?

Many thanks

[Pies2016]

Love your work, Neil. Enjoyed the detail on sharenbergs progress. Cant help but think this kid will be a good 'un.

[woods_the_best]

Brilliant report Neil. Thanks for your efforts and time

[Magpiebill]

A great informative report Neil Appleby. Thanks. I am just relieved we didn't have to shoot anyone who did a serious injury.

[BHPIE]

Onya neil

[Dave The Man]

Thanks Again.

You are getting me super excited about De Goey

[DERKADERRR]

Thanks Neil,
I'm thinking of going down to training tomorrow morning and I'll try and do a write up afterwards, have you got any tips for me?

Also do you use a voice recorder to take notes or do you write it all down?

[Member 7167]

Thanks Neil. Much appreciated.

[Neil Appleby]

[Dave The Man]

[magpieazza]

Thanx Mate great work