Training 2015/16 preseason training (discussion)

[Kepfan]

How are they wasting their time?

Most training watches I've met work hours that allow them to attend training or are on holidays. Some of the older crew are retired but that's a pretty snide remark.

I'm thinking it was a joke taking into account the inverted commas and smiley faces.

 

[salim malik]

All watchers have their doubts on certain players . There was heated discussion yesterday on certain players. I can't see the point in putting the boot in on a player in a public forum when we have no knowledge of injuries or training loads. Isn't it preferable to report on who is going well. Why give ammo to the doom sayers and rumour mongers that are just waiting for info to troll .

 

[sherrif]

I see what esti means though.... For example in last pre-season, was there any evidence that Duffield and Muz would be struggling in 2015 or that that Sheridan could have had one of his best years, compared to someone like Crozier?

Or is it too hard to discover these things while watching drills and eating pastries? I suppose that's why clubs love pre-season matches....

In all seriousness if you read last years preseason reports they provided fantastic insight into how our season would transpire. Sheridan was mentioned by a number of posters as training the house down on a consistent basis,(while Crozier was not). Fyfe looking like he would take his game to another level was also mentioned. Duffield sufferered an injury in an early preseason game that greatly effected his form and fitness, while GU was never mentioned (from what I can remember) as dominating match sims. Sutcliffe was also mentioned as not being involved in the running pre Christmas which effected his fitness leading into the season.

My point is that if you analyse the training reports and look for who is not training, and who is not mentioned as playing well in match simulation play then you will get some sort of idea as to who is not building towards a good season. Likewise, if you look at who is consistently mentioned as standing out in training you will have an idea about who is tracking towards a good season. IMO the training reports here are truly outstandingly accurate.

BTW: The only exception I can remember to the points I have made above is Neale's 2015 season. He actually only started running after the Christmas break a year ago and struggled with the rinning load leading into the year. In my opinion his sheer will was the reason he had a terrific year.

I dont think there is a need to be more negative in the reports, but rather to point out things what it means that certain players are not training or struggling in skills activities.

BTW: The three standouts IMO so far this preseason are Neale, Mora and Griffin. You can test my theory on how those three go this year. Im going on a combination of what I have been told and seen for myself. I have only seen three sessions this preseason.

 

[jedi mind tricks]

scon was quoting what Clogged said last year.

Ha ha fair enough. I'll take that back and redirect that comment at clogged. Peace!!!

 

[jedi mind tricks]

I'm thinking it was a joke taking into account the inverted commas and smiley faces.

Yeah it was

 

[Crippa]

That's where the good training reporter is separated from the excellent training reporter. Looking for a suspect ball drop, a wider turning circle, a bit of hesitation going into a contest.

I agree. Based on that principle, I've compiled my very own ladder of training reporters, with the excellent at the top and the merely good at the bottom. PurpleReign was at the top owing owing to his previous observations of Hurley's suspect ball drop. Fell a fair way down the ladder though because he's now writing this:

Hurley has lost the deliberate drop action he used to have, looks quite natural with his kicking now.

 

[Ragtooth]

BTW: The three standouts IMO so far this preseason are Neale, Mora and Griffin. You can test my theory on how those three go this year. Im going on a combination of what I have been told and seen for myself. I have only seen three sessions this preseason.

Well said, thanks sherrif. Personally, I think Griffin was amazing towards the end of last year and I hope his form continues. Having Hale there will help a bit i think. I look forward to prooving you correct

 

[serial_thrilla]

Can't wait for Serial's training report

Would love to contribute, mate. But I live in rural WA.

 

[scon]

I live about 3 1/2 hrs from Perth and have a mate who has not missed a home game since we entered the comp.

Personally, I think Griffin was amazing towards the end of last year and I hope his form continues

Before Griff buckled his knee he was playing the best footy of any ruckman in the comp.He is capable of getting back there.Has a very professional attitude and determination to produce his very best.

 

[yakka man]

One thing I noticed from training yesterday was that Sutcliffe drilled a few left foot passes during drills. I really would like to see him delivering the ball inside 50 more often and I think that he is sometimes wasted in defense. Mora did look very good, even though his kicking can be all over the place. Nyhuis certainly did look like he belonged, he just cruised through training. Uebergang didn't look out of place either and his kicking was neat throughout the session. Tanner Smith has improved in a lot of areas - particularly his kicking - although, it will never be a strength of his. Ed Langdon seemed to be the last receiver in a lot of the stoppage drills. He, Weller and Blakely all look like they will be thereabouts this season.

 

[PurpleReign]

I agree. Based on that principle, I've compiled my very own ladder of training reporters, with the excellent at the top and the merely good at the bottom. PurpleReign was at the top owing owing to his previous observations of Hurley's suspect ball drop. Fell a fair way down the ladder though because he's now writing this:

In my own defence, mine wasn't a training report it was just a public expression of joy at being able to attend my first training session for the summer. But for what it's worth I've never considered Hurley to have a "suspect" ball drop, just a "deliberate" ball drop. I lived in Ireland for some time many years ago and every time I took my footy to the park I soon attracted a handful of interested onlookers keen to join me for a kick. They always found it difficult to run in a straight line and to drop the ball perpendicular to the ground when kicking the ball. It just wasn't natural for them, a bit like brushing your teeth with your opposite hand. As a result their "drop" was a very deliberate action as a result of concentrating so hard on it.
Conversely I watched Bennell kicking the ball on Saturday and his ball drop is instinctive and effortless. In fact it almost didn't matter how he dropped it, he always struck it sweetly. Jim Stynes had a perfectly serviceable but deliberate ball drop. Yesterday Hurley did what Peter Matera always used to do, he held the ball horizontal to the ground at the beginning of his kick and moved it into the perpendicular position throughout the ball drop and he did it instinctively. I tried to master this action for many years as a youngster without success. Remember that Hurley was one of the premier players in Ireland when we first expressed an interest in him so he is not without a substantial amount of natural talent. I might also add that Youbi has a deliberate ball drop but it's not criticism, just observation. But anyway as I said I wasn't providing a training report per se it was just a couple of casual observations from an avid supporter of the club who was just happy to be sitting under the fig trees as JMT would say.

 

[salim malik]

In my own defence, mine wasn't a training report it was just a public expression of joy at being able to attend my first training session for the summer. But for what it's worth I've never considered Hurley to have a "suspect" ball drop, just a "deliberate" ball drop. I lived in Ireland for some time many years ago and every time I took my footy to the park I soon attracted a handful of interested onlookers keen to join me for a kick. They always found it difficult to run in a straight line and to drop the ball perpendicular to the ground when kicking the ball. It just wasn't natural for them, a bit like brushing your teeth with your opposite hand. As a result their "drop" was a very deliberate action as a result of concentrating so hard on it.
Conversely I watched Bennell kicking the ball on Saturday and his ball drop is instinctive and effortless. In fact it almost didn't matter how he dropped it, he always struck it sweetly. Jim Stynes had a perfectly serviceable but deliberate ball drop. Yesterday Hurley did what Peter Matera always used to do, he held the ball horizontal to the ground at the beginning of his kick and moved it into the perpendicular position throughout the ball drop and he did it instinctively. I tried to master this action for many years as a youngster without success. Remember that Hurley was one of the premier players in Ireland when we first expressed an interest in him so he is not without a substantial amount of natural talent. I might also add that Youbi has a deliberate ball drop but it's not criticism, just observation. But anyway as I said I wasn't providing a training report per se it was just a couple of casual observations from an avid supporter of the club who was just happy to be sitting under the fig trees as JMT would say.

I thought his ball drop was to considered and took to long to get to his boot. Lacking experience is probably the explanation. With experience and practise including one on one training with a trainer hopefully ,as Purple Reign states has fixed the problem. The consensus among the whole group there yesterday was of the opinion he is well on his way to an AFL career.

 

[scon]

Doesn't matter how you drop or bounce the round thing it's utterly predictable…our spudmuncher is adjusting galaxies…and doing it rapidly.

 

[Crippa]

Fascinating stuff as always from you PurpleReign. As I'm sure you realize, what I wrote was entirely tongue in cheek, prompted by serial_thrilla's call for more posts mentioning "suspect ball drops".

Yesterday Hurley did what Peter Matera always used to do, he held the ball horizontal to the ground at the beginning of his kick and moved it into the perpendicular position throughout the ball drop and he did it instinctively. I tried to master this action for many years as a youngster without success.

Insights like this are just priceless for fans like me. Makes me appreciate Hurley's brilliance and adaptability even more than I already did.

 

[Clems Knee]

In my own defence, mine wasn't a training report it was just a public expression of joy at being able to attend my first training session for the summer. But for what it's worth I've never considered Hurley to have a "suspect" ball drop, just a "deliberate" ball drop. I lived in Ireland for some time many years ago and every time I took my footy to the park I soon attracted a handful of interested onlookers keen to join me for a kick. They always found it difficult to run in a straight line and to drop the ball perpendicular to the ground when kicking the ball. It just wasn't natural for them, a bit like brushing your teeth with your opposite hand. As a result their "drop" was a very deliberate action as a result of concentrating so hard on it.
Conversely I watched Bennell kicking the ball on Saturday and his ball drop is instinctive and effortless. In fact it almost didn't matter how he dropped it, he always struck it sweetly. Jim Stynes had a perfectly serviceable but deliberate ball drop. Yesterday Hurley did what Peter Matera always used to do, he held the ball horizontal to the ground at the beginning of his kick and moved it into the perpendicular position throughout the ball drop and he did it instinctively. I tried to master this action for many years as a youngster without success. Remember that Hurley was one of the premier players in Ireland when we first expressed an interest in him so he is not without a substantial amount of natural talent. I might also add that Youbi has a deliberate ball drop but it's not criticism, just observation. But anyway as I said I wasn't providing a training report per se it was just a couple of casual observations from an avid supporter of the club who was just happy to be sitting under the fig trees as JMT would say.

Thanks for this. Excellent insight.
Just one question: who is Youbi?

 

[scon]

Youbi quiet.

 

[scon]

 

[PurpleReign]

Thanks for this. Excellent insight.
Just one question: who is Youbi?

I think that's what the guys were calling Uebergang.
Youbi was often called up to contest ruck drills with Griff which I thought was quite interesting and Ross called Tabs up out of FF to contest the ruck too at one stage. A constant push to promote flexibility in the group's skills.

 

[salim malik]

I think that's what the guys were calling Uebergang.
Youbi was often called up to contest ruck drills with Griff which I thought was quite interesting and Ross called Tabs up out of FF to contest the ruck too at one stage. A constant push to promote flexibility in the group's skills.

The only name for Ueber is Taxi.

 

[Dirty_banchez]

I am getting quite bullish over Weller. If he can hold his place in the team next year, then I think he is a good chance at winning the Rising Star award. Anybody share my sentiments?

 

[estibador]

I am getting quite bullish over Weller. If he can hold his place in the team next year, then I think he is a good chance at winning the Rising Star award. Anybody share my sentiments?

Unfortunately no.

Blakely has it in the bag already.

 

[scon]

Watched him yesterday and actually thought things like that; thought Blakely was also proper splendid impressive.
Blakely looked as though he'd improved his pace significantly.

 

[wayToGo_]

Unfortunately no.

Blakely has it in the bag already.

Let's hope so. I think the transition from Mundy to I assume Blakely is going to be an interesting one over the next couple of years. Massive shoes to fill but having Barlow to help ease the burden for a couple of years with our inside game when Mundy retires should help a bit. Maybe I'm imagining it but this is the first time I've felt our list has been designed to be competitive for the long haul and I think Blakely is a key piece of that intent.

 

[AAACockburn]

I like what I am hearing about Blakely.

Lets hope he can get a proper debut next year.

Not just a list filling role at the end of the season.

 

[Allikat]

I am getting quite bullish over Weller. If he can hold his place in the team next year, then I think he is a good chance at winning the Rising Star award. Anybody share my sentiments?

Yep I'm with you on that. He has so much flair when he plays, he stands out among the pack & just works all day.

A couple things that people haven't mentioned that I found interesting from yesterday's training:
More than once during the session Pav was playing defence on Tabs
We've got the better Weller, and the better Langdon
Mora is tthd. He's a super talent that I really hope we get to see more of
Bennell & Yarran are doing a fair bit of their training together. Towards the end of the session they were over the far side of the oval shooting at goal together 40-45 out & doing a beautiful job. On the way back to the clubrooms they both had a snap shot about 50 out from outside the boundary line & they both went through.

I know people want even training reports, including who's not doing well, but in all honestly, everyone's reports have been really accurate. Don't forget we had a fairly big clean out at the end of the year so all that bottom end talent is gone. And we have drafted pretty darn well over the past two years. Sure we could say that Ueber's & co's not best 22 yet - but no one expects him to be best 22 yet. Everyone's at least performing at the level they should be or higher.

There's a few major stand-outs in the group that seem to train a level higher, really really elite, but they're who you'd expect. The major stand out for me is Neale. Last year he was training well, but this year he just looks so natural & elite. Look out for a really special 2016 from him.

The only real negative for me is the size of our rehab group. There's quite a few more players in it than you'd want this time of year.
Fyfe is doing a lot of running - but little hard running. And they haven't let him kick much further than 30m so far - whether it be at goal or just a kick to kick.