2019 Pre-season training reports and other observations

[K]

I wonder what this Beams "illness" was...

[RudeBoy]

Rapt to read that Darcy is dominating in defence and that 'Billy' Elliott is flying for and taking marks again.

Also, De Goey seems to be in good nick too. There's plenty of time for Beams, Crisp and Howe to get right in time for round one. It also sounds like we may have picked a beauty in Quaynor. It's only February, but so far so good.

[Albert Parker]

Friday 8 Feb

Feature : 4Q Full Match Sim

I arrived at 10am, having not intended to attend, but seizing an opportunity when it arose.
The boys were well on their way when I arrived accordingly.

Drill 1
Initially doing some keeping off work in the Group closest to me. Bit of forward pressure work
Had some scenario training behind it though. "Assume we're 2 points up and have 90sec to play"

Drill 2
With AFL umpire participation, play commenced with a kick out by either Moore or Maynard.
This was designed to test the new kick out rules, our transition out of defence and our forward pressure but was ran the full length of the ground.
Exercise was repeated between the black team vs white team, but Moore and Maynard swapped sides, in order to still be responsible for kicking out on all occasions.

4Q Match simulation
Black vs White team

Top of my head Blacks included - Lynch, Adams, Sier, Treloar, Thomas, Cox, Phillips, Murphy, Quaynor, Cal Brown, Mihocek
Whites - Roughead, Pendles, Sidebottom, Moore, Greenwood, Maynard, Langdon, De Goey, Tyler Brown, Josh Daicos, Reid

Non participants
Crisp, Kelly vigorous half laps together for the early part of training
Dunn took it pretty easy with half laps,
Schaz, Broomy little bit of running together
Grundy repeat half laps/laps. I'd think he's probably back into it next week
Wells - walking slow laps with Brent Macaffer
All of these players were largely done by the time match sim started except Grundy
Absent from the track - Howe (but in coaches box with knee bandage), WHE (did some early work before I got there I believe), Beams

Notable elements
De Goey played half the game and predominantly in the middle
Reid played half the game up forward. Hit the post twice in a row
Most other players played the full 4Q except Tohill, who came off in the 3rd with a bloodied nose (not from Keane either!)
Wills up forward. Did some nice things but kicking often lets him down
Lynch rucked all day. Roughead his main opponent but some time against Cox
Moore played up forward for a quarter, but 3Q's down back where he was dominant again
Sier spent a quarter up forward, rather than in the guts
I thought Tyler Brown did some nice work.
Elliott maybe played 3Q and looked good
Observers in different capacities - Hawks coaches Scott Burns, Sam Mitchell, Adem Yze (entire training), Brodie Holland, Mark Stephens, Mitch Cleary

Defenders
Quaynor does some nice things and also did kicking out for his team
Moore the most dominant defender, particularly in the air
Murphy showed real courage on a couple of occasions to make spoils
Aish and Greenwood showed some dash off HB
Langdon gave away a couple of free kicks for holding but was used quite a bit to move the ball around
Roughead is a useful spoiler, matched up against Cox for some time

Mids
Tay, Pendles, Treloar, Sidebottom, Phillips were all notable. Phillips definitely one of the consistently better trainers in match sim.
Tyler Brown did a couple of nice things - pick upon the run and moving through congestion

Forwards
Thought Elliott was the most dangerous looking forward today. I really think he should be in Rd 1
Thomas also did some nice things and got on the end of a couple of bits of play for goals
Wasn't great marking conditions today as the ball was a bit wet early on in the session. Not easy for bigger guys to clunk them. Cox emerged more as the ground dried out.

Lots of interest for Round 1 in terms of competition amongst
Smaller Forwards - Thomas, Varcoe, Stephenson, Elliott
Medium/smaller backs - Quaynor, Aish, Greenwood, Maynard, Murphy

I still think Crisp will be touch and go, Howe might not be fit again by then, despite his earlier optimism Dunn won't make it for Rd 1 I wouldn't expect but we have viable options for these players.

Some really capable players are going to be spending a fair bit of time in our VFL team this season

[PyreneesPie]

Many thanks Albert for for this comprehensive coverage of training.
The boys sure looked serious about it on the CFC website!!

Even though there's still some time to go before Round One and anything could happen, this sounds like a mouth-watering scenario:

[RudeBoy]

Thanks for the report Albert. Much appreciated mate.

[35forever]

Didn't they do Friday match-sim today? Did we have anyone there perchance?

[3rd degree]

thanks AP.

[PyreneesPie]

Just checked out the CFC video from Friday 15th Feb.
Looking absolutely physically magnificent are Tay, Jamie, Trav Varcoe
All the boys putting in huge serious effort,which is so gratifying to see. They are working hard!

[BazBoy]

Australia Swim Coach Laurie Lawrence

“When you fail to prepare
You are preparing to fail”

[Rd10.1998_11.1#36]

^The phrase predates Laurie’s utterance by at least 60 years

[BazBoy]

Whenever it was uttered it was nevertheless correct

[HAL]

Does that happen often?

[Rd10.1998_11.1#36]

[BazBoy]

No it’s a life lesson which is not past efforts win or lose

Entirely related to the current prep because it’s the only one we can control

[TaylorMade]