Training 2017 Preseason Thread

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Dropped past the Tulla facility this morning to watch the training session in overcast conditions.
I'll try my best to summarize what i saw but I'm by no means an expert at this, so apologies in advance.
This was the first session i have seen this preseason and I'm please to report the caliber of skills was on a different planet compared to any of last season's sessions i watched. What a massive contrast....

First things first, none of the first year draftees took part in the session today, i assume their training loads are being modified to ease them into professional football. Other absentee's included BJ who hung around the assistant coaches and even took some of the drills. JD and TBC both did rehab work separate to the group and Zaka was no where to be seen. Parish, Francis, Raz and McKernan all finished about an hour earlier than everyone else and i saw Fanta with an icepack on his calf afterward despite training really strongly prior to that.

There was a massive focus on goal kicking throughout every single drill today. Each time a player finished off part of a drill or took a mark in a goal scoring position, his main purpose, regardless of what was happening around him, was to execute and finish the kick for goal using a game like routine. Clearly our goal kicking over the last 3 years (which statistically was one of the worst in the history of the VFL/AFL) is an area woosha and co have identified for improvement. This makes me pretty happy as i have become border line psychotic over the last few years when it comes to this.

Skill execution was the topic of the day and there was a great 'keepings off' drill where 8 players had to kick as many passes as possible to each other in 60 seconds while 6 players were trying to intercept. The best was 19 passes in the group closest to me which Skipworth was very impressed with.

During one of the breaks the midfield group quickly broke off into a small circle to complete a 'sheva' like handball keepings off drill where if you missed or had your handpass intercepted you went in the middle.
Watched Kyle Langford closely here and he took the absolute piss in this drill, with clean hands and even look away handballs.. Quality.

In another drill with the defensive group (6 v 6) the back-line was forced to deal with a long high kick into the 50 with the purpose of getting the ball under control as quickly as possible and using clean hands and good decision making to spread from the contest FAST. Hurley, Kelly and Gleeson all looked really strong in this drill, with a beefed up Marty taking a couple of great pack marks in from the side.

Finally, the forwards (Hooksy, Stewart, Laverde, Green and Tippa) did some Forward 'Craft' (Craft? I ******* hate that word) work in front of me to finish off. Where Harvs was pumping the ball in high to a 1 on 1 and the player who could mark it or take control of the pill won.
As expected Hooksy was best, but Laverde looked very good out marking Hooksy and Stewart several times..
Tippa was really poor when the ball was in the air, with Green outclassing him most times and this is probably the reason he is training forward atm as he could be a massive liability in defence.

Other things which caught the eye today:

Connor Mckenna cant speak English, but has sensational flat field kicking and has really put on size.
Jayden Laverde vocal, great leading patterns and field marking
Langford great skills! Clean hands, look away handballs and both feet kicking etc
Hep and Myers solid performers with strong leadership and encouragement
Stewart's presence and kicking for goal was encouraging and he wasn't afraid to let the forward group know about it lol..
Tippa marking struggled imo but has a great kick on both feet
Josh Green skills a little fumbly (to be expected he is behind all the others with training)
Colyer looks lighting and still has a great kick when running at high speed

That's all i can remember folks, if you have any questions let me know and i can try and answer.
Cheers
 
Last edited:

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Paul_Barnard said:
Dropped past the Tulla facility this morning to watch the training session in overcast conditions.
I'll try my best to summarize what i saw but I'm by no means an expert at this, so apologies in advance.
This was the first session i have seen this preseason and I'm please to report the caliber of skills was on a different planet compared to any last season's sessions i watched. What a massive contrast....

First things first, none of the first year draftees took part in the session today, i assume their training loads are being modified to ease them into professional football. Other absentee's included BJ who hung around the assistant coaches and even took some of the drills. JD and TBC both did rehab work separate to the group and Zaka was no where to be seen. Parish, Francis, Raz and McKernan all finished about an hour earlier than everyone else and i saw Fanta with an icepack on his calf afterward despite training really strongly prior to that.

There was a massive focus on goal kicking throughout every single drill today. Each time a player finished off part of a drill or took a mark in a goal scoring position, his main purpose, regardless of what was happening around him, was to execute and finish the kick for goal using a game like routine. Clearly our goal kicking over the last 3 years (which statistically was one of the worst in the history of the VFL/AFL) is an area woosha and co have identified for improvement. This makes me pretty happy as i have become border line psychotic over the last few years when it comes to this.

Skill execution was the topic of the day and there was a great 'keepings off' drill where 8 players had to kick as many passes as possible to each other in 60 seconds while 6 players were trying to intercept. The best was 19 passes in the group closest to me which Skipworth was very impressed with.

During one of the breaks the midfield group quickly broke off into a small circle to complete a 'sheva' like handball keepings off drill where if you missed or had your handpass intercepted you went in the middle.
Watched Kyle Langford closely here and he took the absolute piss in this drill, with clean hands and even look away handballs.. Quality.

In another drill with the defensive group (6 v 6) the back-line was forced to deal with a long high kick into the 50 with the purpose of getting the ball under control as quickly as possible and using clean hands and good decision making to spread from the contest FAST. Hurley, Kelly and Gleeson all looked really strong in this drill, with a beefed up Marty taking a couple of great pack marks in from the side.

Finally, the forwards (Hooksy, Stewart, Laverde, Green and Tippa) did some Forward 'Craft' (Craft? I ******* hate that work) work in front of me to finish off. Where Harvs was pumping the ball in high to a 1 on 1 and the player who could mark it or take control of the pill won.
As expected Hooksy was best, but Laverde looked very good out marking Hooksy and Stewart several times..
Tippa was really poor when the ball was in the air, with Green outclassing him most times and this is probably the reason he is training forward atm as he could be a massive liability in defence.

Other things which caught the eye today:

Connor Mckenna cant speak English, but has sensational flat field kicking and has really put on size.
Jayden Laverde vocal, great leading patterns and field marking
Langford great skills! Clean hands, look away handballs and both feet kicking etc
Hep and Myers solid performers with strong leadership and encouragement
Stewart's presence and kicking for goal was encouraging and he wasn't afraid to let the forward group know about it lol..
Tippa marking struggled imo but has a great kick on both feet
Josh Green skills a little fumbly (to be expected he is behind all the others with training)
Colyer looks lighting and still has a great kick when running at high speed

That's all i can remember folks, if you have any questions let me know and i can try and answer.
Cheers
Click to expand...

Thanks, great report PB.
I certainly find it hard to remember all the bits and pieces I see at training when I get home to write it up, so I appreciate you noticing and remembering so much.
I'd be interested to know how some of the 2nd yr crop are going. Redman, Morgan and Eades, for example. Did you notice much of them today? How did Francis train (prior to the early finish)?
 
60sbomber said:
Thanks, great report PB.
I certainly find it hard to remember all the bits and pieces I see at training when I get home to write it up, so I appreciate you noticing and remembering so much.
I'd be interested to know how some of the 2nd yr crop are going. Redman, Morgan and Eades, for example. Did you notice much of them today? How did Francis train (prior to the early finish)?
Click to expand...

I really didn't notice Redman, Morgan or Eades during the skill drills and as i said the second year guys left the field earlier than everyone else so apologies but hard to provide any info.
Francis was in the same boat, i tried to pay close attention on him but unfortunately he was always an the other side of the ground to me..
He does look much more athletic this year and his leap is very noticeable. Other than that i cant really provide anything else.
 
Paul_Barnard said:
Watched Kyle Langford closely here and he took the absolute piss in this drill, with clean hands and even look away handballs.. Quality.
Click to expand...

200.gif
 
Paul_Barnard said:
Dropped past the Tulla facility this morning to watch the training session in overcast conditions.
I'll try my best to summarize what i saw but I'm by no means an expert at this, so apologies in advance.
This was the first session i have seen this preseason and I'm please to report the caliber of skills was on a different planet compared to any last season's sessions i watched. What a massive contrast....

First things first, none of the first year draftees took part in the session today, i assume their training loads are being modified to ease them into professional football. Other absentee's included BJ who hung around the assistant coaches and even took some of the drills. JD and TBC both did rehab work separate to the group and Zaka was no where to be seen. Parish, Francis, Raz and McKernan all finished about an hour earlier than everyone else and i saw Fanta with an icepack on his calf afterward despite training really strongly prior to that.

There was a massive focus on goal kicking throughout every single drill today. Each time a player finished off part of a drill or took a mark in a goal scoring position, his main purpose, regardless of what was happening around him, was to execute and finish the kick for goal using a game like routine. Clearly our goal kicking over the last 3 years (which statistically was one of the worst in the history of the VFL/AFL) is an area woosha and co have identified for improvement. This makes me pretty happy as i have become border line psychotic over the last few years when it comes to this.

Skill execution was the topic of the day and there was a great 'keepings off' drill where 8 players had to kick as many passes as possible to each other in 60 seconds while 6 players were trying to intercept. The best was 19 passes in the group closest to me which Skipworth was very impressed with.

During one of the breaks the midfield group quickly broke off into a small circle to complete a 'sheva' like handball keepings off drill where if you missed or had your handpass intercepted you went in the middle.
Watched Kyle Langford closely here and he took the absolute piss in this drill, with clean hands and even look away handballs.. Quality.

In another drill with the defensive group (6 v 6) the back-line was forced to deal with a long high kick into the 50 with the purpose of getting the ball under control as quickly as possible and using clean hands and good decision making to spread from the contest FAST. Hurley, Kelly and Gleeson all looked really strong in this drill, with a beefed up Marty taking a couple of great pack marks in from the side.

Finally, the forwards (Hooksy, Stewart, Laverde, Green and Tippa) did some Forward 'Craft' (Craft? I ******* hate that work) work in front of me to finish off. Where Harvs was pumping the ball in high to a 1 on 1 and the player who could mark it or take control of the pill won.
As expected Hooksy was best, but Laverde looked very good out marking Hooksy and Stewart several times..
Tippa was really poor when the ball was in the air, with Green outclassing him most times and this is probably the reason he is training forward atm as he could be a massive liability in defence.

Other things which caught the eye today:

Connor Mckenna cant speak English, but has sensational flat field kicking and has really put on size.
Jayden Laverde vocal, great leading patterns and field marking
Langford great skills! Clean hands, look away handballs and both feet kicking etc
Hep and Myers solid performers with strong leadership and encouragement
Stewart's presence and kicking for goal was encouraging and he wasn't afraid to let the forward group know about it lol..
Tippa marking struggled imo but has a great kick on both feet
Josh Green skills a little fumbly (to be expected he is behind all the others with training)
Colyer looks lighting and still has a great kick when running at high speed

That's all i can remember folks, if you have any questions let me know and i can try and answer.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Best news you have provided
 
Paul_Barnard said:
First things first, none of the first year draftees took part in the session today
Click to expand...
They're all in Sydney at the AFL Inductee's Camp I think.
 
Paul_Barnard said:
There was a massive focus on goal kicking throughout every single drill today. Each time a player finished off part of a drill or took a mark in a goal scoring position, his main purpose, regardless of what was happening around him, was to execute and finish the kick for goal using a game like routine. Clearly our goal kicking over the last 3 years (which statistically was one of the worst in the history of the VFL/AFL) is an area woosha and co have identified for improvement. This makes me pretty happy as i have become border line psychotic over the last few years when it comes to this.
Click to expand...

Haha you and me both buddy.

Was bloody frustrating watching the boys win the ball back and getting no reward for effort on the scoreboard glad Woosha and co have identified this.
 
Good to hear the focus on skill level has stepped up.
As far as Walla goes he has never been strong over head. Has never been the type to take a lot of marks unless he can use his pace to intercept. Can spoil ok but not his strong point either. Lightning pace, side step,strong body, sensational skills, good reader of the game and close to elite at ground level have always been his stand out areas.
 

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pretty sure the video that links to was on afl.com.au last year some time
 
Mick McGuane who is a regular at pre-season training sessions made an interesting tweet just before XMAS - Stated that kicking is an issue - And it's skill based, rather than decision-making.
 
yaco55 said:
Mick McGuane who is a regular at pre-season training sessions made an interesting tweet just before XMAS - Stated that kicking is an issue - And it's skill based, rather than decision-making.
Click to expand...
Did he mean this is an issue at Essendon, or a general trend across the competition?
 
Paul_Barnard said:
Dropped past the Tulla facility this morning to watch the training session in overcast conditions.
I'll try my best to summarize what i saw but I'm by no means an expert at this, so apologies in advance.
This was the first session i have seen this preseason and I'm please to report the caliber of skills was on a different planet compared to any of last season's sessions i watched. What a massive contrast....

First things first, none of the first year draftees took part in the session today, i assume their training loads are being modified to ease them into professional football. Other absentee's included BJ who hung around the assistant coaches and even took some of the drills. JD and TBC both did rehab work separate to the group and Zaka was no where to be seen. Parish, Francis, Raz and McKernan all finished about an hour earlier than everyone else and i saw Fanta with an icepack on his calf afterward despite training really strongly prior to that.

There was a massive focus on goal kicking throughout every single drill today. Each time a player finished off part of a drill or took a mark in a goal scoring position, his main purpose, regardless of what was happening around him, was to execute and finish the kick for goal using a game like routine. Clearly our goal kicking over the last 3 years (which statistically was one of the worst in the history of the VFL/AFL) is an area woosha and co have identified for improvement. This makes me pretty happy as i have become border line psychotic over the last few years when it comes to this.

Skill execution was the topic of the day and there was a great 'keepings off' drill where 8 players had to kick as many passes as possible to each other in 60 seconds while 6 players were trying to intercept. The best was 19 passes in the group closest to me which Skipworth was very impressed with.

During one of the breaks the midfield group quickly broke off into a small circle to complete a 'sheva' like handball keepings off drill where if you missed or had your handpass intercepted you went in the middle.
Watched Kyle Langford closely here and he took the absolute piss in this drill, with clean hands and even look away handballs.. Quality.

In another drill with the defensive group (6 v 6) the back-line was forced to deal with a long high kick into the 50 with the purpose of getting the ball under control as quickly as possible and using clean hands and good decision making to spread from the contest FAST. Hurley, Kelly and Gleeson all looked really strong in this drill, with a beefed up Marty taking a couple of great pack marks in from the side.

Finally, the forwards (Hooksy, Stewart, Laverde, Green and Tippa) did some Forward 'Craft' (Craft? I ******* hate that word) work in front of me to finish off. Where Harvs was pumping the ball in high to a 1 on 1 and the player who could mark it or take control of the pill won.
As expected Hooksy was best, but Laverde looked very good out marking Hooksy and Stewart several times..
Tippa was really poor when the ball was in the air, with Green outclassing him most times and this is probably the reason he is training forward atm as he could be a massive liability in defence.

Other things which caught the eye today:

Connor Mckenna cant speak English, but has sensational flat field kicking and has really put on size.
Jayden Laverde vocal, great leading patterns and field marking
Langford great skills! Clean hands, look away handballs and both feet kicking etc
Hep and Myers solid performers with strong leadership and encouragement
Stewart's presence and kicking for goal was encouraging and he wasn't afraid to let the forward group know about it lol..
Tippa marking struggled imo but has a great kick on both feet
Josh Green skills a little fumbly (to be expected he is behind all the others with training)
Colyer looks lighting and still has a great kick when running at high speed

That's all i can remember folks, if you have any questions let me know and i can try and answer.
Cheers
Click to expand...

Thank you for the very insightful update Paul_Barnard. I'm stoked to hear about Laverde and Langford :)
 
yaco55 said:
Mick McGuane who is a regular at pre-season training sessions made an interesting tweet just before XMAS - Stated that kicking is an issue - And it's skill based, rather than decision-making.
Click to expand...


Of course it's skill based. If you're reliant on making the right decision to hit a target it's because you don't have the skill to hit the target under pressure.
 
Doss said:
Did he mean this is an issue at Essendon, or a general trend across the competition?
Click to expand...

Related to Essendon - McGuane's a good judge and calls it as he sees it -He's also good mates with Harvey, so has some access to the inner sanctum - Anyway clubs have turned around kicking deficiencies across a season.
 
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