Ford Fairlane
28 Jun 2006, 19:07
Went down to watch training. Just a few impressions.
It was a long session, would've gone over an hour and a half.
Tredders did about the first half hour, including some competitive work then worked away from the main group doing 200m sprints along the boundary. Looks unlikely to play this weekend on that evidence. But he does look fit in general. He's still a big unit, but clear muscle definition around the shoulders and arms.
Pretty much everyone trained, including Bishop and Thurstans who did all the work. You can decide if that's a good or bad thing.
The training generally was match simulation with lots of end to end work. Take the ball from the full back line and work if with pace and long kicking to position through the midfield through to forward line. One version was interesting, where the ball carriers wore yellow, the big forward targets wore red (there were 5-6 in that group, Ryan Willits among them) and a smaller group of 'harassers' wore black. the objective was clearly to move the ball quickly and hit the big targets on the move thru the run of play.
There was lots of talk, encouragement, enthusiasm, again especially from the young players. Skills were good - accurate kicking to team mates, strong hands at the ball - and even some self imposed push ups and sit ups if mistakes were made.
The assistant coaches worked well with their groups. It was good to see for eg Tony McGuinness pull a player aside and explain what he wanted him to do, eg if on the lead and the play goes thru another channel, drop off that lead and work back to where the bal is going to go. Walsh was working the midfielders, lots of voice. Brenton Sanderson especially early was very vocal, giving instructions to players, including working on basics with the young guys who might get a bit over enthusiastic and fluff a disposal.
Just a few individual player observations ...
Motlop for all the flack he gets is ridiculously talented. It's something to watch him change pace, turn a player inside out, mark, kick superbly. He can do it all. And there wasn't much, if any showboating from him at this session. I don't think he wants to take a stretch overhead mark, but he can grab it overhead.
Looby launched a torp from the back pocket that almost hit the centre circle. Has a bit of pace too.
Minson has an amazing leap. At the very end the players were doing some individual work and Matty was working the rucks on the jumping bag. Minson was almost going over it and tapping well too.
According to Dewy (in Overdewww) Giles has put on 10kg since we recruited him. He's still a bit of a beanpole, but he does look bigger. As does Eckermann, although I was comparing him to Pearce and Ware.
Brett Ebert has amazing hands overhead. Had some spearing kicks launched at him and one grabbed everything.
There was also an interesting training drill near the end where the rucks would tap to a player in the centre who then had to break and pass to a player on the lead. The leading players lead in two pairs, one forward, one defender in each pair and the pass had to find the leading forward. Willits and Wakelin were a pair for example. Lower and Motlop, Carlile and White, etc. And they would mix up the pairings.
Pretty much it for now. If I think of more I'll add it in.
It was a long session, would've gone over an hour and a half.
Tredders did about the first half hour, including some competitive work then worked away from the main group doing 200m sprints along the boundary. Looks unlikely to play this weekend on that evidence. But he does look fit in general. He's still a big unit, but clear muscle definition around the shoulders and arms.
Pretty much everyone trained, including Bishop and Thurstans who did all the work. You can decide if that's a good or bad thing.
The training generally was match simulation with lots of end to end work. Take the ball from the full back line and work if with pace and long kicking to position through the midfield through to forward line. One version was interesting, where the ball carriers wore yellow, the big forward targets wore red (there were 5-6 in that group, Ryan Willits among them) and a smaller group of 'harassers' wore black. the objective was clearly to move the ball quickly and hit the big targets on the move thru the run of play.
There was lots of talk, encouragement, enthusiasm, again especially from the young players. Skills were good - accurate kicking to team mates, strong hands at the ball - and even some self imposed push ups and sit ups if mistakes were made.
The assistant coaches worked well with their groups. It was good to see for eg Tony McGuinness pull a player aside and explain what he wanted him to do, eg if on the lead and the play goes thru another channel, drop off that lead and work back to where the bal is going to go. Walsh was working the midfielders, lots of voice. Brenton Sanderson especially early was very vocal, giving instructions to players, including working on basics with the young guys who might get a bit over enthusiastic and fluff a disposal.
Just a few individual player observations ...
Motlop for all the flack he gets is ridiculously talented. It's something to watch him change pace, turn a player inside out, mark, kick superbly. He can do it all. And there wasn't much, if any showboating from him at this session. I don't think he wants to take a stretch overhead mark, but he can grab it overhead.
Looby launched a torp from the back pocket that almost hit the centre circle. Has a bit of pace too.
Minson has an amazing leap. At the very end the players were doing some individual work and Matty was working the rucks on the jumping bag. Minson was almost going over it and tapping well too.
According to Dewy (in Overdewww) Giles has put on 10kg since we recruited him. He's still a bit of a beanpole, but he does look bigger. As does Eckermann, although I was comparing him to Pearce and Ware.
Brett Ebert has amazing hands overhead. Had some spearing kicks launched at him and one grabbed everything.
There was also an interesting training drill near the end where the rucks would tap to a player in the centre who then had to break and pass to a player on the lead. The leading players lead in two pairs, one forward, one defender in each pair and the pass had to find the leading forward. Willits and Wakelin were a pair for example. Lower and Motlop, Carlile and White, etc. And they would mix up the pairings.
Pretty much it for now. If I think of more I'll add it in.