Training 2021 Preseason Training

[I Remember Bluey]

fitness and reconditioning staff will have their hands full

EFA

 

[Milanista28]

Nackers from BB

The conditions were even windier than normal with a very cold wind, not a pleasant day to be watching but at least it didn’t rain.


The session went for about 2 1/2 hours and again was a very solid session. It alternated between drills and match sim, with a number of 200 metre runs in between with very little breaks.


Just to add to @Killer_Mike’s player list, Ridley didn’t train again, just working out on the bike on the sidelines. Shiel split his time between modified and match simulation, and showed his normal pace and acceleration as well as a couple of beautiful passes in the windy conditions.
Zerk was on and off and didn’t complete a lot of the session.
Misiti and Alex Hird and trained with Moore mostly on the bike on the sidelines.
McBride was there for the first time but did very little group work, mostly one on one with a trainer.
Dylan Clarke

37

Dylan Clarke

Age

25

Ht

187cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

14.9

4star

K

6.1

2star

HB

8.8

5star

M

1.9

2star

T

6.3

5star

CL

2.3

4star

No current season stats available

D

16.0

4star

K

6.8

3star

HB

9.2

5star

M

2.2

3star

T

6.6

5star

CL

3.4

5star

was missing again.


As was previously said Draper was clearly the best player in the match sim, taking several strong marks against, Phillips, Wright, Bryan and Francis. He was just about the only one that could regularly judge the flight of the ball, but also looked good when the ball hit the ground and was quite clean.


Stewart was again playing back, regularly up against Hurley who was playing forward. Hooker was again used back. I thought Stewart was very impressive. He often backed himself to attack the ball and was very strong in the contest. He also looked more composed than when playing forward.


Hurley did OK as well often finding the ball after long leads to the flanks.


Francis seems to be getting his mojo back again. He is at his best when he is in an attacking mind frame and that seemed more evident today. At one point he was tackled by Hurley when contesting a ground ball, shrugged Hurley off with a shake of the hips and took off through a gap between a few defenders before dilivering a perfect pass. It’s the sort of thing that can make him look very special.


I really like the look of Jones, he moves very well, is nearly always clean and has good disposal. Bryan though is still a long way off. If he was forced to play this year because of injury to Draper and Phillips I think he would really struggle, more likely we would try Wright there (he despite a deceptive photo from last weeks training is almost exactly the same size as Draper).


I agree on the assesment of Cahill, he has had an excellent pre season and is a real competitor. Even in one on one training drills he hates to lose a contest. The main thing I’ve noticed is how clean he has been in contested situations which is imperative for a small forward, you have to make the most of any chances. Hopefully he can maintain that in higher pressure situations.


Gleeson was involved in a series of one on one drills with most of the taller keys position players, and with the added height and size we have brought to the side he was really struggling. Although he did OK as alink up players in the match sim I think he’ll find it difficult to get a spot in the best side.


As mentioned earlier Hind is looking very good off half back, I think he’s almost a lock for round 1.


And lastly a little more on Langford in homage to @Killer_Mike. There was a drill where players were given the ball then immediately tackled by a player who they had to try and shake off or evade. In this drill Langford was tackled very solidly by Tippa who as we all know is one of the best tacklers in the club, but he managed to shake him off and get clear which I have very rarely seen. And I have to agree, if his training form and confidence can be transferred to games I think he will be in the discussion for our best player. If can can continue to stand up in tackles while looking for the best option, with his combination of size, marking and disposal skills he could make a big impresson on the competiton.

 

[Darealrath]

Not going to get my hopes up too much re Langford. He's a good player who has shown he can look great when the intensity/pace isn't 100%, like in match sims and late in quarters/matches.

 

[Old Campaigner]

Jesus, going by that we’ve developed at least half a dozen all Australian players

 

[ghostdog]

Sounds like the plan to exit from defence is to go down the boundary with Draper as the main link-up option, and failing that, to move the ball back to the open side of the ground and run and carry through Hind and whichever mid/s has/have rolled back to half-back.

 

[fairbump_playon]

Sounds like the plan to exit from defence is to go down the boundary with Draper as the main link-up option, and failing that, to move the ball back to the open side of the ground and run and carry through Hind and whichever mid/s has/have rolled back to half-back.

Or to be harassed into kicking a floating 40m hack into the middle of the ground.

 

[owen87]

Sounds like the plan to exit from defence is to go down the boundary with Draper as the main link-up option, and failing that, to move the ball back to the open side of the ground and run and carry through Hind and whichever mid/s has/have rolled back to half-back.

With more tall options that have good tanks available like Jones, the hope for me would be that these guys can push up to the wings and be a marking target coming out of defence.

Say you’ve got Stringer playing at FF with a Wright and Jones pairing around him, that gives the option for the latter two to push up the field and be marking targets with Stringer a very capable 1-on-1 player still up front.

 

[Godzke]

Stewart was again playing back, regularly up against Hurley who was playing forward.

 

[Schnitzengruben]

Only a month until our first pre-season game. That has come up very quick. Sounds like a lot of our blokes aren't full fitness yet.

 

[ghostdog]

With more tall options that have good tanks available like Jones, the hope for me would be that these guys can push up to the wings and be a marking target coming out of defence.

Say you’ve got Stringer playing at FF with a Wright and Jones pairing around him, that gives the option for the latter two to push up the field and be marking targets with Stringer a very capable 1-on-1 player still up front.

You’d hope so. Down the line to Draper would get very predictable very quickly. The reports I’ve read have only indicated Draper, that’s all.

 

[fairbump_playon]

Only a month until our first pre-season game. That has come up very quick. Sounds like a lot of our blokes aren't full fitness yet.

That’s a relief. It would be terrible to play inconsistent footy all year and not have any excuses.

 

[Milanista28]

Training report - Monday 18 January 2021

Players warming up now with umpires in attendance so there will probably be some sort of a scratch match. Heppell, Stringer, Guelfi, Shiel and Laverde all training with main group.

discourse.bomberblitz.com

Match sim today, a few snippets in this thread on BB, Jones kicked his 3rd inside first 5 minutes. Joe who?

 

[JT_the_Man]

Training report - Monday 18 January 2021

Players warming up now with umpires in attendance so there will probably be some sort of a scratch match. Heppell, Stringer, Guelfi, Shiel and Laverde all training with main group.

discourse.bomberblitz.com

Match sim today, a few snippets in this thread on BB, Jones kicked his 3rd inside first 5 minutes. Joe who?

Jones round 1 debut hype train is officially in motion.

 

[ghostdog]

Training report - Monday 18 January 2021

Players warming up now with umpires in attendance so there will probably be some sort of a scratch match. Heppell, Stringer, Guelfi, Shiel and Laverde all training with main group.

discourse.bomberblitz.com

Match sim today, a few snippets in this thread on BB, Jones kicked his 3rd inside first 5 minutes. Joe who?

Old Campaigner
Get excited, old man!

 

[84859300]

Training report - Monday 18 January 2021

Players warming up now with umpires in attendance so there will probably be some sort of a scratch match. Heppell, Stringer, Guelfi, Shiel and Laverde all training with main group.

discourse.bomberblitz.com

Match sim today, a few snippets in this thread on BB, Jones kicked his 3rd inside first 5 minutes. Joe who?

All of read in the papers, our own R1 teams etc. is how poor our backline is looking now that Hurls and Cale have aged, we've lost Saad.

In all the excitement, we're only playing against ourselves.

 

[owen87]

All of read in the papers, our own R1 teams etc. is how poor our backline is looking now that Hurls and Cale have aged, we've lost Saad.

In all the excitement, we're only playing against ourselves.

Hooker is a good 1-on-1 defender still, he would just struggle with the load of a full season. No reason to believe (if he's training back) that he isn't a good benchmark for forwards still as he's currently fit and fresh. Similar with Ambrose.

Overall our defence is probably worse on paper than last year personnel wise, but pending pressure being applied from the midfield, and how we structure up, we may not be significantly worse on-field.

Ridley & Francis are both very good by foot, so instead of relying on running it out of defence using Saad & McKenna, we may look to move it by foot. We also look like having a few more marking targets up the field so it may be a case of retaining possession better due to marking targets, meaning less opposition re-entries, and thus less pressure on our defence.

Saad is the major loss, as he was both a very good defensive player and one of our best metres-gained players coming back out, and there's no obvious replacement. Hind might find a home there, but it's unlikely he'll be able to do so to the standard Saad was playing at. McKenna didn't do much in 2020, but we saw in 2019 how beneficial it was having multiple players that could effectively bring the ball out of defence.

Sorry about going off on a tangent there...

 

[ghostdog]

Hooker is a good 1-on-1 defender still, he would just struggle with the load of a full season. No reason to believe (if he's training back) that he isn't a good benchmark for forwards still as he's currently fit and fresh. Similar with Ambrose.

Overall our defence is probably worse on paper than last year personnel wise, but pending pressure being applied from the midfield, and how we structure up, we may not be significantly worse on-field.

Ridley & Francis are both very good by foot, so instead of relying on running it out of defence using Saad & McKenna, we may look to move it by foot. We also look like having a few more marking targets up the field so it may be a case of retaining possession better due to marking targets, meaning less opposition re-entries, and thus less pressure on our defence.

Saad is the major loss, as he was both a very good defensive player and one of our best metres-gained players coming back out, and there's no obvious replacement. Hind might find a home there, but it's unlikely he'll be able to do so to the standard Saad was playing at. McKenna didn't do much in 2020, but we saw in 2019 how beneficial it was having multiple players that could effectively bring the ball out of defence.

Sorry about going off on a tangent there...

This is probably going to be an unpopular opinion, but here goes;

Draper, Heppell fit and Langford on a wing, plus talls roaming up the ground means we do look more likely to be able to take marks coming out of defence. Also, as you've pointed out, the arrival of Ridley and development of Francis means we've got some excellent distributors by foot which to some extent covers our loss of run and carry from half back. Hind looks like a good inclusion won't cover that loss.

It's troubling that we could get torn up the other way by the quicker sides. Snelling, McGrath, Walla and Smith aside, I don't see where the defensive pressure up the ground is coming from.

Indications are that Langford has gone up a notch and we have recruited Caldwell for an inside mid role. Many lamented Parish still not getting the midfield minutes he should be.

I would be inclined to rotate McGrath and Heppell through hb and give Parish more time on ball. McGrath and Hind goes some way towards giving us versatility and creativity out of defence in combo with excellent kicking of Ridley and Francis. When Heppell is up the ground or back he's a reliable set of dukes. When McGrath is up the ground he gives us excellent skills and pressure going both ways. When he's back he compliments the run of Hind in a similar way to the Saad/McKenna combo, so we can take better advantage of our forward tall options.

Parish with more time in the middle allows a player like Snelling, Laverde, Cahill, Johnson etc.

McGrath splitting his time between hb and mid seems wise to me.

 

[Milanista28]

Nackers...

Training today in cool and, believe it or not, windy conditions with a little bit of early dizzle.
The modified group on the bikes was Ridley, Perkins, Ambrose and Zerk with Redman also on the sidelines and a little more active.
No sign of Hurley, Cutler and Clarke. Mossie was also there on the sidelines, and from the look of him he may have to put in a bit of work in the coming months to get a contract extension.
Misiti was the only one of the JHA that trained. Moore was on the sidelines, Wanganeen was there again in his moonboot and Alex Hird could have been there but I didn’t notice him.
Just to confuse us everyone else joined in the initial warmup and various short drills on the second oval before a group of Zakka, Laverde, Heppell, Stringer, Eyre, Guelfi, Johnson and McBride did separate drills on the second oval. Stringer went inside after around 30 minutes but the others stayed out for an extended time of around 2 hours doing multiple drills at a reasonable pace. There doesn’t appear to be too many major concerns there amongst the group.
As a result of the number of players missing the match sim was again about a 3/4 ground affair officiated by two official umpires. Play would start with a lateral kick from half back with play continuing from there.
There tended to be a lot of short 15-20 passes both sideways and forwards looking for an opening, but very rarely backwards. Overall I think the standard of the skills is improving as they get more practice in, a lot more passes hit their target and there were fewer dropped marks and cleaner ball handling.
Cox was one of the big improvers in this regard, his kicking was much better, rarely missing a target, often with longer kicks. He was playing what looked like the role of wingman on the fat side of the ground. Later he was doing a clearance drill with the ruckman and other midfielders and he looked to be hanging away from the contest to be the outside receiver.
His marking was a bit of hit and miss, he dropped a couple I thought he should have taken but also took a couple of nice marks including a very good contested mark which he went on to convert with a nice kick from about 35 on an angle. One of the marks he did drop he then turned around and ran down Jones effecting his disposal which was good to see, I think Jones was a bit surprised how quickly he caught up.
I don’t know if he’ll be quite ready for round 1 but the wing would seem to be where he will start, with his burst of speed and stamina he surprisingly doesn’t look too big there, considering his height.
Jones started the game exceptionally well. He was matched up with Hooker and kicked 3 quick goals, the first from a handball receive from Wright followed by a left foot snap, the second from a strong contested mark and the third from a mark on the lead. He’s another one who is a beautiful kick for goal. He didn’t kick any more goals that I remember but was still busy providing leads and getting possessions up and down the ground.
Wright was matched up with Stewart and they had a pretty good contest. While he didn’t kick any goals himself in the match sim he did get a few possessions and provided a target. For a big man he is excellent on the ground, often getting the ball out to teammates if he didn’t mark.
After the match sim when the groups were split up into a midfield group and the another group of forwards and defenders they were practicing forward entries with a half ground and a very congested forward line. Wright was excellent, taking about 6 marks out on the lead. I had a bet with someone there today that he will kick over 20 goals this year, really it’s money for jam.
Gleeson was matched up against Reid (playing forward) and did quite well considering the mismatch in height, but Reid also did some nice things including a strong contested mark that he goaled from.
Misiti played today as a KPD and did OK without really standing out, although his kicking looks very assured.
Other than that it was a lot of the same faces that did well, Draper again (including some excellent work off the ground and roving packs when not in the contest), Caldwell, Langford, McGrath, Shiel and Francis. Tippa was also very good today, constantly getting involved and with his usual excellent disposal.
It will be good when some of the players in the modified group transition to the main group so that we can get a larger scale match sim, which hopefully will be in the next week or so.
I imagine the next session will be on Wednesday followed by Friday, I will try and get confirmation.

 

[JayJ20]

Decent option. There are a couple of highlight videos available.

 

[owen87]

Decent option. There are a couple of highlight videos available.

Interesting

The 18 state league bargains your club could steal at the 2019 AFL draft

The 18 mature-age bargain gems your club could steal at AFL draft

www.foxsports.com.au

Angus Baker (Canberra – NEAFL)

Age: 21

Position: General defender (191cm, 87kg)

2019 Champion Data scout profile: 30.6 disposals (elite), 17.9 uncontested possessions (elite), 7.2 marks (elite), 9.9 intercept possessions (elite), 5 score involvements (elite)

Those numbers for a halfback are sensational. The Giants were among several clubs keeping an eye on Baker mid-season – and that interest hasn’t dwindled as the year has progressed. A Sydney Swans academy product, Baker suffered a fractured ankle then an ACL, derailing his AFL dream. But over the past two seasons, Baker has developed into one of the NEAFL’s best players at Canberra. He won the league’s rising star award and the Demons’ best and fairest count, while he finished second in NEAFL MVP voting. An excellent interceptor and rebounder blessed with freakish consistency, Baker seems destined to get an AFL gig.

Angus Baker

afl.draftcentral.com.au

AFTER suffering an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury a couple of years back, Baker has put together a couple of years of good work to emerge as a genuine mature-age option in this year’s draft. Stationed at half-back for Canberra Demons, Baker was an intercept machine, averaging 7.2 marks and 30.6 disposals in the NEAFL. Had an eye-opening 37 disposals, 15 marks and 10 inside 50s against NT Thunder. A number of clubs are keen on the readymade player who could also be released as a tall midfielder if need be. At the State Draft Combine, Baker recorded a 3.04-second 20m sprint which is not too bad for his size, and while his other athletic traits were not overly impressive, he still has strong impact in the air and is hard to bring down in tackles. He has a high hurt factor and of the mature-agers eligible, Baker might be one of the most likely to land at an AFL home given the interest and ability to have an immediate impact.

STRENGTHS: Intercept marking, rebounding, accumulation, hurt factor
IMPROVEMENTS: Versatility, agility

 

[eth-dog]

We do need a half back with the loss of McQuillan. The lack of agility concerns me, that means you can't really play him on small forwards though.

 

[Milanista28]

Bring

 

[fairbump_playon]

All of read in the papers, our own R1 teams etc. is how poor our backline is looking now that Hurls and Cale have aged, we've lost Saad.

In all the excitement, we're only playing against ourselves.

Well you’re no fun! There should be a law against pointing this out until after preseason has ended.

 

[Bjchan13]

Interesting

The 18 state league bargains your club could steal at the 2019 AFL draft

The 18 mature-age bargain gems your club could steal at AFL draft

www.foxsports.com.au

Angus Baker

afl.draftcentral.com.au

Really liking the sound of this guy

 

[ghostdog]

Really liking the sound of this guy

That Hibberd guy sounds like a no-brainer as well. 24.3 disposals (above average), 12.4 contested possessions (elite), 10.1 groundball-gets (elite), 5.2 score involvements (elite), 6.9 tackles (elite) at VFL level.