2019 Training Reports

[theGav56]

Sandi can’t get out on the track. Besides wandering out today for a brief spell, I haven’t seen him for a couple of weeks.

Darcy is fit and ready to go. Freo talk of rebuilding, so let it start to happen. Not taking anything away for what he’s accomplished, but Freo are running their drills around Darcy as their no1 and who knows when Sandi will be back.

In the other group they have Jones/Meek combining. You’ve got Lobb up at CHF that can rotate and Darcy looks more damaging when he goes up front that Sandi. He’s versatile.

Personally I think he should get a round 1 start.

How do you rate the chemistry between Darcy and the midfield group? He seems pretty smart in his tap work.

 

[armpit]

Kersten tripped over and left the track in the hands of the trainers. Looked bad

I'm not that concerned about this even though I haven't watched training.

 

[rgauci]

I'm not that concerned about this even though I haven't watched training.

Why? He was looking a pretty capable 3rd / 4th tall in the back line. Pretty confident one on one when not matched on a player bigger than him. Good pace and a huge kick. Could play the Hurn role quite effectively I’d imagine.

 

[armpit]

My take on training this morning.
1/ Nice to see SHill doing some light run throughs.
2/ Nats elbow looks fine, done at least one gridiron type pass without any issues.
3/ The two indigenous lads were pretty smooth, bit to like there.
4/ Tom is taller than I thought.
5/ That Hogan v Pearce was a highlight.
6/ Dixon has toned up nicely. He’ll go ok.
7/ So good to see the 29 on someone’s back again. He looks a good size Valente.
8/ Couple of nice goals by Ed whilst running away from the goals.
9/ Probably all the dribble kicks I saw rolled through for goals.

Now this is a great report, although I prefer bullets. Non emotional, non judgemental, not overally subjective. A statement of facts and then move onto the discussion.

Well done 147.

 

[armpit]

Why? He was looking a pretty capable 3rd / 4th tall in the back line. Pretty confident one on one when not matched on a player bigger than him. Good pace and a huge kick. Could play the Hurn role quite effectively I’d imagine.

Seeing as you asked. It was because he couldn't play in the forward line. I haven't seen him play defence so. Even in the backline he'd have been lucky to get a game I'd have thought. We're full up in the forward and the backline. Cross him off that's all. Hopefully he'll recover and play his way into the team.

It'll be great having someone of the quality of blackley fit to play when it comes to it. It'll be great watching him playing his way into the team.

That's why. That's why we put this team together. To cover this stuff happening.

 

[armpit]

Drool...

He's making hogan look like a lesser man. He might learn a thing or two off Pearce.

It was good to see pretty much the whole squad on the park today with the obvious exception of Blakely.
The rehab/modified training group consisted of Sandi who did some running drills before heading inside, Bennell, SHill (running now), Ballaz, Dixon and Valente.

Fyfe has got rid of the sleeve/bandage thing that he was wearing and did the whole training session without any apparent discomfort.
Hamling peeled off from the main group after a while and ran laps and Walters went inside early.

I had a good look at Giro today, this guy has obviously done some serious work over the summer, as we all know he did a pb in winning the time trials but he is also notably thicker through the hips and thighs, his quads are huge for a guy his size. He doesn't do much wrong at training and I really hope he gets an opportunity this year. The only question mark I have is just where he fits in? In the full ground sims he matched up on Langdon on a wing so I guess that's an indicator.

North is another who looks stronger through the core and may get his chance while Blakely is out.

At one stage they broke up into their groups, there were two midfield groups doing centre square clearance drills. In what I assume was the A team were Darcy, Fyfe, Mundy, Brayshaw, Conca, Cerra and interestingly Collyer.

Hogan did the full program up until the full ground sims when he came off and went inside.
Sturt and Carter also peeled off before full sims to run laps as did the two NGA kids.

That's a pretty good midfield with some missing. No Hills for a start. This is great having so many to vie for a position. It's been a wait.

 

[armpit]

Personally I think he should get a round 1 start.

It will be interesting to see. Some were saying awhile back from training that sands was looking better than ever.
In fact almost the whole team will be. be good times in here when the R 1 is announced. To see how close most peoples teams were.

 

[armpit]

He's making hogan look like a lesser man. He might learn a thing or two off Pearce.

That's a pretty good midfield with some missing. No Hills for a start. This is great having so many to vie for a position. It's been a wait.

Look at Giro 42 looking like Mundy in cruise mode.

 

[JammoMonty]

Based on?

Sandi can’t get out on the track. Besides wandering out today for a brief spell, I haven’t seen him for a couple of weeks. Darcy is fit and ready to go. Freo talk of rebuilding, so let it start to happen. Not taking anything away for what he’s accomplished, but Freo are running their drills around Darcy as their no1 and who knows when Sandi will be back. In the other group they have Jones/Meek. Personally I think he should get a round 1 start.

How do you rate the chemistry between Darcy and the midfield group? He seems pretty smart in his tap work.

Very good. They’re running equal amount of defenders to mids. Working very well together. Looking forward to round one that little bit more after today.

 

[dropbear101]

Fyfe without elbow thing is a relief.

 

[Mockcockpit]

Anyone else refreshed this thread 100x today?

At least that many, in January there's only Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Other days need not apply.

 

[arsesmart]

What do you mean Hogan argued with the trainers? Like they were pulling him out and he wanted to keep going?


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

Perhaps they surrounded him and draped him in his dressing gown/cloke and tried to lead him off the park a la James Brown.

 

[Dale147]

Big Darce was stuffing around a lot in the drills, but it was all fun and a good indication he was enjoying himself.

 

[ShredBot]

Anyone else refreshed this thread 100x today?

what do you mean today? Don't you mean every day?

 

[Taylor]

Kersten snapping his planta fascia will be a relief. I've never had this in that spot but Robert Harvey and I believe one of the Eagles' key forwards have both engineered their own tear to get away from the lingering soreness by jumping onto a phone book.

 

[Bigger]

Harvey jumped off the kitchen table.

 

[Bigger]

Plantar fasciitis sucks dead dog's balls. If I wasn't convinced every other thing would break in my dust-dry, old-bugger body, I'd jump off the kitchen table too.

 

[Simmofreo]

What do you mean Hogan argued with the trainers? Like they were pulling him out and he wanted to keep going?


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I was wondering this too. Whether that meant he was arguing that he wanted to keep training....or worse...dont tell me what to do, I'm jesse. If it's the latter I hope they slap that out of him

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[Simmofreo]

Plantar fasciitis sucks dead dog's balls. If I wasn't convinced every other thing would break in my dust-dry, old-bugger body, I'd jump off the kitchen table too.

Lobb, Walters, Tabs

Oh my oh my

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[Unique Name]

Didn't get time to write this up yesterday due to stupid work....

It was a beautiful day for football, perfect conditions. DIdn't get to watch super closely though as I had the kids in tow.

Sandi, S Hill, Bennell, Ballas, Valente and Dixon working off to the side when I arrived. Just doing run throughs nothing to hard. Dixon was being made to do quite a lot of directional changes at speed. None of them looked banged up and all seemed to be moving really well. Hamling did laps for the majority of the session after doing a few of the early drills.

SHilly didn't seem hindered while running but spent quite some time talking with the trainers while doing kicking motions.

Cerra had one of his shoulders strapped up which I hadn't seen so far this preseason. He didn't look hampered in any way and did the full session so nothing to worry about.

Would love to have some more info on how Walters is travelling. He's out there doing the drills and always the most vocal but I don't think he's 100% yet.

The energy of the whole squad seems really good. Lots of talking, callouts, etc. Everyone is looks in ripping nic. Sean Darcy's transformation over the past 2 years shows his level of application and determination, a credit to himself and it shows in how well he moves. So much more nimble now and you can see quite a difference in how high he can jump in the ruck from when he first arrived.

In fact all our KPPs are looking in great shape. Darcy, Lobb, Tabs, Hogan, Hamling, APearce, Logue, Cox. In particular Lobb's kicking impressed me today, some lovely spearing kicks, Tabs with some lovely groundwork (I'll talk about that in a minute). I haven't been to training for about a month so to see how far Hogan has come was a surprise. With still 8 weeks to go until round 1 and with what they are already letting him do I'd be fairly surprised now if he's not ready for Rnd 1. As said early in the thread he did all the drills bar the last of the sims. Moving well, kicking and marking, scrambling for loose balls (again more on this later).

Watched Banfield a fair bit to see where he's at. If he isn't playing for Freo he will be a shoe-in for the WAFL BnF Simpson medal. Absolute beastly size now, strong as an ox and certainly isn't afraid to use it even in the sims (I think it was Schultz who he gave a very solid bump). Was wearing a yellow bib in the bigger training sims though which seems to be mainly the 'possibles' group of players and not the likely B22 players. I'm sure match sims and JLT will be the main decider come Rnd 1.

As said earlier it was good watching the midfield drills. Fyfe, Mundy, Brayshaw, Cerra, Conca and Coyler seemed to be the main group. Alot of stopping and discussing/pointing in between drills. Looked slick but very little pressure from the token opposition.

The drills were all about ball movement. Full ground length from kick in to the opposite goal square. I get the drills are about practising quick ball movement but it really irritates me when I see Tabs/Hogan/Lobb purposely not marking the ball but tapping the ball to ground for the crumbers to gather. Then when the ball if finally kicked to the deepest forward the drill is reset with little thought about actually kicking the goal. A few times the forward would kick for goal but you could clearly see it wasn't the focus of the drill as everyone's attention would switch back to the kick-in.

The drill and ball movement actually looked bloody sharp and it was good to see Tabs doing some nice groundwork, Hogan really moving about and some quick 15 seconds end to end play. But to me greater importance should be on nailing the execution parts. Every chance a KPP gets to take a mark in a game like situation they should take it (Eagles showed how important aerial control is to footy). Every chance a forward gets to kick for goal it should be taken seriously, like the game is on the line. Not an after-thought.

Liam Henry is probably just taller than Mzungu, not an ounce of fat on him and look to be building up his body quite well for a 17yr old. Fast and good skills, will be watching with interest.

Other short notes.

Tucker looked good - sharp skills, fit and didn't look phased by his foot issue from last year.

North has definitely been working hard on his body. Looking quite a bit bigger than last year. Good speed and still has that lovely long left boot.

Luke Ryan probably the best kick in the team. At one part of the full length drill he ran with the ball a bit before delivering i50. Would love to see him adding some Wilson-like running to his game. Jet!

Duman with some lovely skills aswell. Would not be upset if he was B22 this year.

Fyfe will have the brownlow wrapped up by the bye. Beast!

Overall I saw what I have seen all summer. The team is clearly in high spirits and have bonded very well. They are looking in great shape (We're not sending lambs to the slaughter like last year). All our younger players have beefed up and are looking fit which should help us run out games and hold our skill levels up better under fatigue.

The team as a whole is looking sharper because we've clearly recruited/drafted with skills in mind. I can't help but feel positive after watching them. In my mind SHill and Hogan are looking good for Rnd1 barring any complications.

 

[Mockcockpit]

In case anyone was wondering how to write a training report........just look up. Great stuff from the UN!

 

[arsesmart]

Yep thanks for the great write up Unique. Even really enjoyed the delayed gratification aspect, a bit like a hidden track they used to put on CD's in the '90's which you only discover after having it for a while and it turns out to be one of the best tracks on the album.

As for the lackadaisical goal kicking, I wonder if some of that's to do with easing physical stressors on the legs etc, especially when the overriding focus is on the passage of play itself.

 

[Clems Knee]

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2019-01-31/freo-speedster-up-and-running

AFL.com’s preseason report.

 

[Hammersoup12]

Yep thanks for the great write up Unique. Even really enjoyed the delayed gratification aspect, a bit like a hidden track they used to put on CD's in the '90's which you only discover after having it for a while and it turns out to be one of the best tracks on the album.

Urge Overkill we’re the king of the hidden track.


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[FreoMonocle]

I get the drills are about practising quick ball movement but it really irritates me when I see Tabs/Hogan/Lobb purposely not marking the ball but tapping the ball to ground for the crumbers to gather. Then when the ball if finally kicked to the deepest forward the drill is reset with little thought about actually kicking the goal. A few times the forward would kick for goal but you could clearly see it wasn't the focus of the drill as everyone's attention would switch back to the kick-in.

Crumbing is a skill too, it needs to be practised.

The actual shot for goal is something that individual kickers need, but they have the capacity to do that by themselves. When you have 30 people around and it takes 20 seconds to line up and kick a goal, you've spent 10 minutes of everyone's time - and that doesn't count the fetching of the footy and everyone setting up again. That is something that the individual can do in tandem with 1 other in the goal square to fetch, it doesn't need everyone else.

Given that the TEAM training time is 3 short sessions a week on the field, they're just maximizing the use of time, I don't think that they intend Hogan to never mark, never kick goals and purely tap the ball down to crumbers.