Training Training thread - news and live reports

[SMaturin]

Cunners now playing for whites

 

[blackshadow]

Fantastic to see maj back. Based on what I'm seeing he's playing R1.

 

[Pykie]

Xerri with a monster clunk.

Channeling Mckernan....

 

[SMaturin]

Yep, Maj back to intercepting best by the looks.

Garner is an animal. His disposal has been off, but he hunted the ball after kicking into the man on the mark and won back possession.

 

[Pykie]

Fantastic to see maj back. Based on what I'm seeing he's playing R1.

This is prime 2018 Maj.

I.e our best defender.

Brown is by no means playing badly...

 

[SMaturin]

Boner thumps the footy.

 

[SMaturin]

Higgo looks real good.

Somehow I tend to forget about him, but he is flying.

 

[Pykie]

Boner thumps the footy.

Absolutely raking kick of the footy...

 

[SMaturin]

Xerri will make it I think.

Has the requisite campaigner.

 

[blackshadow]

Boner thumps the footy.

Absolutely raking kick of the footy...

He's got some sort of boot on him!

 

[SMaturin]

Saw Zurhaar at a drinks break but haven’t noticed him during play.

 

[blackshadow]

Saw Zurhaar at a drinks break but haven’t noticed him during play.

Has been v quiet

 

[Heaps of fun]

Yep, Maj back to intercepting best by the looks.

Garner is an animal. His disposal has been off, but he hunted the ball after kicking into the man on the mark and won back possession.

Never really had great disposal.

 

[Clarke is King]

Saw Zurhaar at a drinks break but haven’t noticed him during play.

Who's looking like taking the small/medium forward spots?

 

[blackshadow]

Who's looking like taking the small/medium forward spots?

Mahoney has shown a bit.

I reckon CZ is safe as houses though, I doubt he's the type who shines in any practice match.

 

[Clarke is King]

Mahoney has shown a bit.

I reckon CZ is safe as houses though, I doubt he's the type who shines in any practice match.

Thanks. What about half back/small backs? Ahern pushing for a spot? Jmac still likely to play ones?

 

[blackshadow]

Thanks. What about half back/small backs? Ahern pushing for a spot? Jmac still likely to play ones?

Unsure.

Whites were certainly looking to get the ball in Ahern's hands, make of that what you will.

 

[gokangas]

Scores? Are we winning?

 

[The Warlord]

Never really had great disposal.

How has this myth come about? He's got great disposal, especially around the forward line. The only reason it can look crap is when he tries to bite off too much or is coming back from injury.

I'd rate him in the top 3 I'd want passing inside 50 or setting up from a mark inside 50.

 

[GarnerSmash]

I was there for about a quarter and a half and was most impressed with Bailey Scott and Charlie Comben for the young guys, and Jedly Anderson, Cunners, Higgo and Goldy from the senior crew.

Not much from the half forwards as it seemed to be a bit of a ghost town for them out there today.

Feel sorry for JMac. Jasp is clearly Scampers fave now, so Jamie looks a little lost down there, unsure if he is allowed to direct anymore.

No Taz, Ziebell, LDU, Polec, Dumont.

 

[The Warlord]

The most impressive thing I saw in the half I watched was Comben beat Luke McDonald one on one on the ground in a contest.

The ball came in high and was spoiled, went to ground. Comben followed up from the marking contest and contested the ground ball with Luke, won it and fired out a handball.

It was VERY impressive stuff.

 

[Dan]

I didn't go

 

[MagicDaw]

Watched the second half. Very impressed with Maj marking. Disposal a little wayward.
Also noticed Bonar's raking boot, but needs to use it a bit better imo.
Couple of guys without numbers I didn't recognize.
Crocker (think it was him) very hard at it.
Higgins all class
Cunners does what he does best.
Low scoring game
8.8 to 3.3 for the blue team
Few siren issues
Couple of stands as mentioned above would be nice

 

[Pykie]

Ok



I watched 90% of the match.



Some key take ways:



The blue side was probably more or less what we will see in the pre-season games, with probably Bonar, Hosie, Hall, Williams, Majak, Garner added into it.



I think the forward line is probably an indication of Shaw’s preference at the moment:



Brown, Larkey, Thomas, Zurhaar, Mahony



Probably telling that Garner, Bonar, Hosie swapped to the blue team in the last. They are definitely in plans.



The white team was heavily outnumbered, especially through the midfield. Ball was 90% in the blue teams half for half of the game. The whites fought back though.



Majak was the clear best on the ground for the whites imo. Brown had a mountain of supply, probably kicked 3 goals, 1 was a joe the goose in the 1st qtr, the other a bullet kick that the no defender could do anything about. The last Brown caught Majak under the ball and got behind in. In between those, Majak took around 8-9 intercept marks, about 4 or 5 of those contested, and probably spoiled 15-20 forward thrusts that most footballers physically wouldn’t have been capable of. This was a 2018 Majak performance. Was blowing hard at the end and I definitely think he wont to be 100% match hardened by round 1, however he’s the CLEAR no.2 defender imo. Close to BOG for both sides imo with the whites losing by about 6 goals, was a fair effort. Brown was having an “on” day as well.

Bonar pretty much put the whites on his shoulders against a midfield of Cunnington, Higgins, Anderson, Simpkin, Scott, Goldstein. He’s an animal around the ball, he might not be Anderson style suicidal, but he throws his weight around like not many 3rd year players. He’s as powerful and athletically gifted a 20 year old as I’ve ever seen at the club. Cunners was doing as he pleased for most of the game, throwing don’t argues and pretty much being impossible to be tackled. He tried to smash through Bonar a few times and it was like hitting a Papuan freight train. I haven’t seen Cunners get buried face to face many times, but Bonar ran over him in one contest and buried him for holding the ball. Remember this kid is 20. His foot skills are borderline elite to boot, has a 60m penetrating boot and I’m yet to see him miss a target in about 6 hours of match sim so far. This is the bargain of the century at the moment…. He’s a lock in the pre-season games and he’s definitely in my 22 for Rnd 1 at the moment as a point of difference kryptonite to the Patrick Cripps and Nat Fyfes big mids of the competition. Would have had 20+ possessions quite easily a bucket load of tackles, clearances and 1%’s. Seemed to be running over the ground in a 100% center square role also.

Small forwards as a whole were fairly “meh”.

Mahony had a great 1st qtr, then a good patch of about 5 minutes in the 3rd but was shut out but Williams after he was moved onto him. Higgins gave him a spray in the last for not giving a handball. HE’s as crafty and damaging with the ball as we’ve got on the list by the looks when he has it. However, there was one play that illustrates what he’s going to have to overcome at the next level. Was one play on the far wing where the ball popped into space. He had a 2-3 meters on Marley with the ball about 30m in space, Marley overcame it and put on about 5-10m on Mahony by the time he scoped the ball up. He’s not that type, because if he had genuine speed we be talking about an absolutely elite young small forward. But it’s something other teams will try to expose on him in time once they are exposed to him.

Hosie – Got very little supply being on the whites. However this guy just lead, lead and kept leading all day. Got very little reward, but he was everywhere and wouldn’t of gone unnoticed. His GPS numbers would have been off the charts. As the “required effort” he certainly put in the most out there, you can see he’s burning for a spot. He’s definitely a small/medium forward. Was barking orders most of the day, I think he's going to be a genuinely good AFL player once he gets a chance, his work rate is just too good not be successful at the next level with more space and transition style footy.

Turner – One of his standard 8 possession type games with 1 or 2 moments of good defensive pressure. He’s going to feel the heat this year.

Zurhaar – Been pretty s**t this pre-season frankly. Looks like he’s waiting for the real stuff, but he’s barely had a sniff in the two games I watched him. Played on Wood today for most of it, Mason was much improved, however, I don’t think it was Mason’s positioning or blanketing that did it. I think he enjoys the space and pace of AFL games.

Thomas – Had a great 1st qtr, then was in and out of the game, had stints all over the ground. His typical self. He’s not a 20+ possession player though this year yet imo. I think he should be aiming for something like 15+ disposals and 25+ goals for the year.



Walker was my pick of the balance of defenders, he had a particularly good 2nd half. Was playing on Comben for most of the game, which isn’t as easy as it sounds. Still haven’t seen a whole heap of intercepting. But he’s a neat and tidy defender that doesn’t do a lot wrong. Durd’s just does himself no favours at times. Flat hand drops simple open intercept marks and just lacks urgency at times. I just don’t see it with him in half the games I watch him…

McKay looks a different player than this time last year, whilst I don’t think he’s the third defender, I think he’s probably ahead of Durdin. Certainly liked him out there today more under plenty of supply and a tough match with Larks.



I think out of the organic growth from last years rising star crew, Larkey will take the biggest leap. This guy is primed for a big 2020, has stacked on some size, knows he belongs… I’m predicting close to a top 10 B&F finish, I think we might see a bit of a drop off in Browns goals this year, as I think Larkey’s going to kick 40+ and suck a lot more supply. The guy genuinely never misses either. Took a shoulder to shoulder contested mark over Majak in the 1st qtr, which is no east feat…



Comben was good without being outstanding but certainly had some flashes. I don’t think I’ve seen many 18 year olds take as many contested marks as this kid. HE consistently averages 2-3 a game, which is elite. He beat Walker in the first 45 seconds of the game, marked over Pittard shoulder to shoulder and then hit up about 3-4 other marks through CHF. These were against senior defenders also, which he will have learnt a lot of. HE’s going to be a seriously, seriously good CHF type when he fills out into something resembling Brown or Larkey in body shape…



Hall had a good game without being outstanding. Along with Bonar was keeping them in it early, then sheer numbers overpowered him. His kicking was hit and miss, but when he’s up and flying in a game, he’s on the Cunnington/Higgins level, he just dominates for periods as we know.



Xerri – As stated throughout the posts was one of the more surprising performances of the day. Played 3trs against Goldstein and more than held his own. As mentioned a few pages back, has he grown? He looked huge out there, well over 200+ and as stated, has packed on a heap of muscle. Reminded me a bit of Brad Ottens out there. Rag dolled Goldy a few times and took 3-4 of the biggest contested marks of the day, with 3 of them being straight over the top of Goldy himself. Really impressive, going to be interesting to see how they balance Xerri/Campbell based on today’s performance. Will monster the VFL if today is an indication. I’d actually like to see him play 1 out in one of the pre-season games, as it’s a long season for Goldy. Xerri vs Preuss would be interesting.



Ahern was mentioned a few pages back. I think he’s well off the pace of best 22 at the moment. With Pittard and McDonald being well ahead of him by the looks. He was playing on TT in the first half and Tarryn certainly got a hold of him.



Can answer questions on other players.

 

[The Warlord]

. His foot skills are borderline elite to boot, has a 60m penetrating boot and I’m yet to see him miss a target in about 6 hours of match sim so far.

I saw him miss two in a quarter today. He's got a powerful boot sure, but at least one he bombed into the forward line over the leading targets head