Training Report: Tuesday 10th March

[Neil Appleby]

Weather: Cloudy. Mild.

Not training: All players trained today for the first time all pre season
Modified:
•Keeffe ran laps with heavily bandaged left thigh. Ran at about half pace. A few weeks away.
•Macaffer ran slow/moderate laps. Months away in my opinion.
•White did sprint work with trainer. Did agility running too. Minor injury I’d suggest. Won’t be out for long.
•Young arrived late and ran moderate pace laps. Is miles away from full fitness.

Player Watch: Darcy Moore
It was terrific to see Darcy Moore back on the track. He took part in full training. Foot skills were a delight. In some drills he played deep back. No hesitation in any of his attacks on the ball.

Player Watch: Matty Goodyear
We know this boy is a mover, but there were questions on his ball use. This skill seems to be improving. Used it well today. Although he looks very lightly framed, he is very powerful in the legs. Hard worker.

Player Watch: Taylor Adams
From the moment he arrived on the track he was into everything and everyone. Led the way in the early sprints. Joked about with Thomas & Kennedy and wrestled anybody who came near him. He's a real larrikin and likes the body on body stuff.

Player Watch: Levi Greenwood
Whilst Taylor Adams draws the eye, Greenwood blends into the background. There’s nothing that attracts the eye with this boy. He’s not a great mover and he’s not silky, but he burrows in, head down (sometimes too much of this) and wins the ball.

Player Watch: Scott Pendlebury
Pendles has kept a very low profile this pre season. At times I’ve had to check to see if he was actually there. Today was no exception. Quietly building back to peak fitness.

Player Watch: Jordan DeGoey
What a competitive beast this boy is. In every sprint he was at the front and watching everybody around him. Seems to test himself against selected teammates. Doesn’t like being beaten in anything it seems.

The drills:
Emphasis was on kicking skills and sprinting today.

•After the warm up stretches and the ‘mobility stretches’ (whatever they are) the players began a series of 100 metre sprints.
•Players now working in pairs for kicking drills. They begin 15 metres apart and on the whistle move further apart. They end up passing 40 metres.
•Players in two groups at opposite 50 metre arcs. Player 1 runs and delivers to Player 2 over 30-35 metres. Emphasis on speed and accuracy.
•Soccer games. Two groups play soccer. Supporter near me quipped that Marley Williams kicks way better when playing with the round ball!
•Circular ball work. Buckley stars by foot. Moore slick too.
• A ruck drill at the southern end. Gault, Witts, Grundy, Cox.
Ball-up scenario. Cox V Gault. Gault can’t get anywhere near the ball once Coxy takes front position. Cox to Oxley with Williams trying to block each time. Rocca, Burns and Rendell supervise this work. Some coaching panel!
•Players now in 4 teams; two black two pink. Pink team has the ball and are passing by foot trying to keep the ball away from Black team who try to intercept. On whistle, teams swap roles. This is passing accuracy on the run.
•One group instructed to run half a lap at sprint pace and it goes like this:
Cloke leads early but Armstrong takes over with Seedsman 2nd, then Cloke, Thomas, Adams, Toovey, Broomhead, Frost and Moore.
•Clearance drill involving all players. Ball begins down back and players bring ball forward to score goal. Emphasis here on quick accurate movement.
A few calls of play to give you some idea of what this looks like:
-Reid marks in back pocket. Kicks across goal to Thomas. Thomas kicks a mongrel 30m to Seedsman. Seeds gathers making it look good. Handpasses to Brown. Brown along wing finds Varcoe. Varcoe looks inboard to Blair. Blair to the running Langdon. Goal.
-Marsh marks at full back. Kicks wide to Ramsay. Kicks to Seedsman. Handball to Adams. Kicks to centre. Bounces in front of Cox. Cox makes it good to Goodyear. To Goldy who goals.
-Thomas along inner wing. Finds Elliott handball to Freeman. Freeman takes too long, is tackled as he kicks. Poor kick intercepted by Armstrong.
-Moore marks in square handpass to Manteit. Poor kick but gathered well by Pendles.
-Reid gathers, dodges a pack like quicksilver, across goal to Ramsay. To Kennedy on the wing. Long to Adams to Pendles to Seedsman who goals. That was beautiful work by Reid.
**This is quite an interesting kick-in drill; the ball is kicked from full back to a group of leading players who endeavour to win the ball and then take it back across goal by long kicking. Please make it work Bucks.

•Players now in two groups playing British Bulldog-style keepings off. Goal scored by handballing through net.

No match practice today.

One last drill worth commenting on. Sharenberg comes over to Social Club side. Two coaches supervising very specialised training. One coach with heavy padding invites Sharenberg to bump him heavily. Then Shaz turns and cannons into two cylindrical pads about 1.5 metres high, knocking them to the ground before turning back on the coach. Now Shaz invited to constantly batter the coach using hip and shoulder. He then turns and hops over small hurdles before doing it all again at full pace.

Summary:
The news today was:
-the very healthy state of the list with all players on the park
-Darcy Moore back to full training and not missing a beat.

[didick]

Exciting stuff. Lots of positives out of that report. Thanks, Neil.

[GoWoodsmen]

Hey Neil,
Thanks again, sounds like great news hearing so much of the list healthy and actually taking part in training.

You've obviously watched our pre-seasons more than most and yes I know "everyone is flying" at this time of year but what's your gut feel? Does the group seem tighter than previously or just the same? Does the skill level look improved or same same from 2014?

Just curious on more of a gut feel than anything else.

I thought we moved the ball better in the Hawks game, albeit only the first praccy match of the year. I don't know, don't want to be too optimistic because we're soooo young but at the same time it's hard not to be excited by the year ahead.

[Dave The Man]

Another Fantastic Report.

Hope Moore plays this weekend. I say it be in the VFL on Saturday.

Guess he is going to play FB?

[Dave The Man]

[Neil Appleby]

I could be wrong Dave, but the word after we drafted Goodyear was that he was a speedy mid who could find the ball, but that his kicking was not a strong point. Compared to Maynard and deGoey, that appears to be the case.

[simon tonna]

THANKS for the report Neil.
Q. does Ben Ken train with a mouth guard? i really
wish he did because one day i reckon the runners
might have to go look for that tongue of his.

[Neil Appleby]

[Neil Appleby]

[simon tonna]

[Dave The Man]

[Pies2016]

Much appreciated as always, Neil.
Perhaps i could get your thoughts on Maynards progress. I know he did a finger a while ago but i havent heard him mentioned by you recently.

[robevpau1]

Neil, was Jesse White training?

[4everpies]

[robevpau1]

Thank you! 4everpies

Didn't read it properly! "White did sprint work with trainer. Did agility running too. Minor injury I’d suggest. Won’t be out for long...."