2016 Pre-Season (All news, press conferences, training reports, Photos)

[Tairy Greene]

Those guernsey's are quite fetching for training ones. From the back, anyway.

 

[iBeng]

Those guernsey's are quite fetching for training ones. From the back, anyway.

Im told Im quite fetching from the back to...

 

[jackess]

Im told Im quite fetching from the back to...

Please keep our DMs private Beng

 

[WhiteLionFeva]

Clash Guernsey, he's here for ever. Pearce should invest in one

And a new barber.

 

[Tassie4ever]

Hard to get your bearings with so many new blokes. Most confusing.

Don't at all agree with any negativity re Red Rog. Still calling the shots down back- or woe betide.

Schache certainly very promising but let's not go overboard just yet.

Game played at maybe 3/4 pace so a bit hard to work out who had or hadn't picked up the full AFL mojo.

Archie gaining a bit more confidence. Mathieson I reckon will be a crowd favourite. Zorko, Rich, Hanley looked good.

Harwood didn't play but if he was any more cut he'd be dangerous. Ditto Beams snr- muscles on his muscles.

 

[Balony_pony16]

For what it is worth, just about all the rucking today was done by Martin, Smith and a top-up (Dennis, I think). I'm not sure Smith had a break. I was pleasantly surprised at the way he ran out the game although there are still too many times when he is just passive and allows the play to go on without him getting involved. Definitely wasn't disgraced in the ruck contests but Martin was obviously superior around the ground.

Leppa has said that martin will do about 90% of the rucking in 2016 with occasional chop out from tall backs & forwards

 

[Ceebee]

Hard to beat real talent, with all due respect to Jono and Close.

Like everyone else here I'm hoping that the hype proves to be accurate, Schache making the grade in his first year would massively help with our structure and really accelerate our improvement as a team.

Please injury/footy gods look after him for us please.

 

[POBT]

thanks POBT and L Dizz. great reports. bit of comment on our forward set up possibilities. josh walker recruited to play the main key role and take the opposition best key defender so will play round 1 if fit. can't see schache and freeman playing in the same side, similar style players, but by all reports schache looks the better footballer already, hopefully jono is just a late developer. if close is ready round 1 and has shown a bit of NAB form i would like to see him given a shot, and would love to see him use that elite endurance and run and present all day CHF style and also use that endurance to but more forward pressure on. then you have another if fit and ready option in josh green who must play given his form over the last few years.
so i would like to see- josh walker, josh schache and michael close as the 3 talls plus josh green small forward and then rotating through the other forward positions players like, allen christensen, lewy taylor, dayne zorko, tom bell. would also be good to see rocky resting forward more, he is very good 1 on 1 in similar size marking contests.

Both sides today often had a midfielder go forward for a rest. I suspect that will be an ongoing tactic.

To be honest, while I haven't seen Close play since his knee reco, I don't see any reason why we couldn't play all of Schache, Walker and Freeman. Schache is not a lazy footballer and does his bit when the ball hits the deck. Walker is a hard worker and, as I alluded above, Freeman laid a couple of really nice tackles to help stop the opposition rebounding.

I'm not sure what Close brings that the others don't offer. He is a hard worker but both Walker and Schache give that. He's not particularly agile so I don't think we'd lose anything with Freeman in that regard. It isn't the ideal structure IMO to have three really big guys playing forward but Close doesn't really provide a point of difference, I don't think.

I think the other point worth noting is that Close did his knee in April last year. If he were to play round 1 this year, he'd be ahead of the typical recovery time for an ACL. We also need to factor in that players often need another 12 months following an ACL to regain full confidence.

Unless he starts tearing it up at training, I'm putting a line through Close for senior selection, just for the moment.

 

[POBT]

Just to clarify, Harwood played the second half. Did some nice cleanup work when the ball hit the deck. Not sure I saw him kick the footy which is when his issues sometimes arise.

 

[chopperduck]

Im a big Close fan, but the timing of his injury alone should rule out any talk of him playing for the first maybe 6 weeks. Was about R4? He did his knee IIRC. He wont have his touch back, so i think he returns though the ressies. No reason that he cant get a game if he shows some form. His main pointof difference i think is his work rate, i think he is much more a CHF than an i50 forward. If you are playing 3 talls having a guy up around the wings is good to have. Close is also pretty physical, can do some good defensive work and lay some tackles.

Freeman has had his injury problems and Schache is first year, i wouldnt count on 22 games each from them anyway. Having all 4 fit and ready for selection at any one time will probably be minimal.

 

[Happy_Neale]

Great to hear Lester had a good day, still think he has lots to offer. Wins the ball inside and kicks goals too.

 

[Cockliff38]

From Mike Whiting's intra-match report...

Daniel Merrett was strong at full-back as he marked boom draftee Josh Schache, who still had his moments with two goals.

Interesting the vast perspectives. He also highlighted Zorko, Lester, Mathieson, Bastinac and Archie Smith as standouts.

 

[POBT]

Great to hear Lester had a good day, still think he has lots to offer. Wins the ball inside and kicks goals too.

I think the part that pleases me most was that he wasn't lumbering after the play like he can do. He seemed to be covering the ground fairly well which would be a massive improvement.

 

[M Malice]

I think the part that pleases me most was that he wasn't lumbering after the play like he can do. He seemed to be covering the ground fairly well which would be a massive improvement.

lumbering, that is the exact word i use when describing lesters movement style, he just looks so slow, hopefully he has improved in that area as there are things to like in the rest of his game. can see him fighting out for a spot with jared jansen and nick robertson.
another player i have got a bit of time for if he plays at his best consistently is rohan bewick, can anybody see him getting a regular gig this year? i think certain players who have had a few years in the system will be at the top of list management discussion re end of season delistings IMO they would be, rohan bewick (26 years old), claye beams (24), ryan lester (23), trent west (29 needs an injury free season), jackson paine (22 ditto re injury). although still very young matt hammellman (20) and the 3 josh's mcginness, watts and clayton need to show some positive signs this season in the NEAFL as well i feel to guarantee retention. our new found abundance of talls in the last few drafts puts a lot of pressure on hammellman.

edit: 6 josh's on the list is that an AFL record josh count?

 

[a mayes ing]

lumbering, that is the exact word i use when describing lesters movement style, he just looks so slow, hopefully he has improved in that area as there are things to like in the rest of his game. can see him fighting out for a spot with jared jansen and nick robertson.
another player i have got a bit of time for if he plays at his best consistently is rohan bewick, can anybody see him getting a regular gig this year? i think certain players who have had a few years in the system will be at the top of list management discussion re end of season delistings IMO they would be, rohan bewick (26 years old), claye beams (24), ryan lester (23), trent west (29 needs an injury free season), jackson paine (22 ditto re injury). although still very young matt hammellman (20) and the 3 josh's mcginness, watts and clayton need to show some positive signs this season in the NEAFL as well i feel to guarantee retention. our new found abundance of talls in the last few drafts puts a lot of pressure on hammellman.

edit: 6 josh's on the list is that an AFL record josh count?

I don't think Hammers will make it, too many other highly rated talls in front of him and l rekon the 3 Josh's are in trouble as well. Haven't been sighted in the seniors and l don't think they stand out massively in the 2's either.

I would like to keep Bewick because if he can just bring it all together then he could be a pretty decent player 20+disp and 2 goals a game.

 

[M Malice]

I don't think Hammers will make it, too many other highly rated talls in front of him and l rekon the 3 Josh's are in trouble as well. Haven't been sighted in the seniors and l don't think they stand out massively in the 2's either.

I would like to keep Bewick because if he can just bring it all together then he could be a pretty decent player 20+disp and 2 goals a game.

great minds think alike

 

[mpal6]

Lester and Paine could be surprises this year. Paine might end up playing if Merrett or Clarke goes down. If he can reinvent himself as a defender his career could be salvaged. Merrett started as a forward but made a career of being a defender. Same as Leppa.

About bloody time we win that Karnezis trade.

 

[HowYouDoin]

Little worried about our ruck stocks. If martin goes down, then we're essentially ****ed.

 

[iBeng]

Little worried about our ruck stocks. If martin goes down, then we're essentially stuffed.

If he goes down, it'll be West, Archie and I wouldnt be surprised if we used Hammelman and even Hipwood as rucks if we got desperate.

 

[RUNVS]

Not asking for supercoach or anything like that but out of interest how is Schache going in your preseason? I knew the Swans were never going to get him but I looked at his highlights package and he almost looks like Travis Cloke with Tony Lockett's kicking.

 

[mpal6]

I don't think Hammers will make it, too many other highly rated talls in front of him and l rekon the 3 Josh's are in trouble as well. Haven't been sighted in the seniors and l don't think they stand out massively in the 2's either.

I would like to keep Bewick because if he can just bring it all together then he could be a pretty decent player 20+disp and 2 goals a game.

Hammelmann will be turning 20 this march, we need to keep him around and see if we could turn him into a defender. Our defensive tall stocks are pretty thin. Clarke, Andrews, Paine possibly and Hipwood is few years away similar to Hammers. Need to have them both around.

Extra rookie year could turn out to be good value, lets see.

 

[pulpdriver]

I think the part that pleases me most was that he wasn't lumbering after the play like he can do. He seemed to be covering the ground fairly well which would be a massive improvement.

Probably hard to gauge but would you think it was improved fitness or was he just reading the play better and moving the right spots?

 

[snooplions]

Not asking for supercoach or anything like that but out of interest how is Schache going in your preseason? I knew the Swans were never going to get him but I looked at his highlights package and he almost looks like Travis Cloke with Tony Lockett's kicking.

He is making it hard to keep a lid on our excitement. That's for sure. 6 goals total in 2 practise games now. What are the travis close similarities? I've heard it a few times but I just don't see them.

 

[pulpdriver]

He is making it hard to keep a lid on our excitement. That's for sure. 6 goals total in 2 practise games now. What are the travis close similarities? I've heard it a few times but I just don't see them.

Strong runner, good leading patterns, powerful contested mark (but he can kick straight at goal). If he has a season like Cloke in 2007 within his first 3 years, which for Cloke was way ahead of expected schedule, It will be enormously beneficial for our ability to compete for finals while our mids are in their prime.

 

[RUNVS]

He is making it hard to keep a lid on our excitement. That's for sure. 6 goals total in 2 practise games now. What are the travis close similarities? I've heard it a few times but I just don't see them.

Thanks. That is pretty impressive (depending on who was marking him in those intra club games).

In terms of Cloke I think it is because they seem to have similar body types, at least in terms of shape though Schache does seem to take more marks on the lead and slightly fewer in a one on one contest than Cloke does.

Will be very interesting to see if Schache and do a Hogan and be instantly very good or if he will do what most key forwards do and take 3 or 4 years to really show how good they are.