I went down to training today in another long skill based session that focussed again on transition of the football and kicking skills. In an effort to provide some balance to the training reports thread I made an effort to look out for players who have been barely mentioned this preseason. I focussed on watching three of the new players Ueber, Nyhuis and Collins for an extended period.
Collins looked terrific in match sim and kicking activities. He was matched up on both Pav and Tabs at times and marked really well. He kicked the football brilliantly (much better than advertised) in numerous kicking drills to. Collins also spent time playing as a forward. 'Super impressive' would be the words I would use to describe him.
Both Ueber and Nyhuis were not out for all of the session but participated in multiple kicking drill activities. Nyhuis was partnered with the key defenders in marking drills. Im sticking by my comment he will play on both talls and smalls when he plays for Peel this year. Nyhuis possesses an excellent kicking technique as well. Low and flat is the trejectory of most of his kicks. Ueber moves bloody well. He showed outstanding speed to take a mark from a floating Barlow kick. His kicking technique is solid for a player of key position height. Of the three Collins would obviously be the most likely to play this year.
For what it is worth both Mayne and Barlow look significantly more mobile than a year ago. Mayne was actually outstanding today and kicked more goals than any of the other forwards by a country mile. His speed was very apparent, as was his safe hands on the lead. Barlow also seemed to be linking up play bloody well. His kicking was also excellent.
A much improved performer today was Tabs from what I saw. Collins kept up with him bloody well, but when matched up on Silvagni he showed terrific marking skills. He was definitely more one touch which is pleasing to see. Hannath again took some excellent marks and is continuing to show improvement in his movement.
Other notables for me were:
Suban looking bloody good after only recently returning to the main group. He had a couple of nice side steps around players.
Mzungu is heavily involved in play, but still struggles kicking around corners.
Blakey's kicking in the sessions this year has not been great. He seems to kick over the heads of players too often.
Spurr's kicking was again terrible with his play in match simulation.
De Boer kicks well short, but still can't make the distance from fourty metres out.
Ballas touch looks massively improved.
D.Pearce and C.Pearce are kicking the footy really well over distance. Both look super fit. D>pearce still makes mistakes kicking short.
Tucker is an excellent kick as said by others.
Dawson is doing a ton of kicking. His long kicking is actually pretty good.
Sandy ran a ton of laps. He looks primed for a good year.
Pav's touch is outstanding.
Langdon is going on some fantastic zig zagging runs in training. He butchered the ball a bit more than normal today.
Crozier is kicking the ball brilliantly. He had some excellent kicks to leading forwards. He is noticeably vocal and involved in sessions.
Neale dominating clearances. Missed a few targets today by foot.
The reports are getting a bit repetitive but Hill and Walters continue to look awesome and Hurley, Mora and Hughes look massively improved. Smith continues to struggle.Sumich continues to look lazy coaching.
The injury report situation is interesting. The injured players now come out at the end of the session.
I was wrong about Alex Pearce when I said I thought he wasn't injured. He came out at the end of the session with a bandage on his shins and jogged slow 100's. His body language though was excellent.
Apeness on the other hand looked uninterested, unmotivated and simply looked like he could not be bothered. Saying his body language was bad is like saying America might be in trouble if Trump gets elected as president. A huge, gigantic, massive understatement.
Bennell was spotted running in the gym. He again came out for a bit of a walk and kick.
Yarran was apparently out at the start of the session. I didnt see him.
Clarke is running more and more. He has definitely added size across the shoulders, but still has a bandage on the knee.
De Luca came out and kicked the footy. He seems to have improved his technique.
Unfortunately Balic still has a bandage on his injured wrist.
Fyfe was doing a combination of extended running and then completing push-ups. He spent time with Webber completing an activity where he braced for Webber pushing him.
Anyway, I hope this helps. The sessions appear highly, highly organised and focussed. The assistant coaches are running sessions brilliantly IMO. Anthony Rock gives a ton of feedback to the midfield players.