Bigman’s Training Reports

Remove this Banner Ad

Drugs Are Bad Mackay? said:
Players are fringe players until they aren't

Coaches who can see something in a player and invest in it are absolutely gold.

There would not have been a single person who saw an elite CHB in Peter Caven. Except one

It completely underplays the art of coaching and selection to say Oh if he's good enough he'll get picked.

Often coaches will be splitting hairs with multiple players at selection. They have choices to make and wield a lot of power.
Click to expand...
Yep Robert Shaw was not liked, but was a good judge of a young footballer.
 
dogs105 said:
Yep Robert Shaw was not liked, but was a good judge of a young footballer.
Click to expand...
I have a video at home called The First Decade and has highlights off all our games and interviews with some players.

Tony McGuiness says this about Shaw

Tactically Robert was a very astute coach who had a lot off innovative ideas and if coaches had the amount of support they have nowadays (LINE COACHES) back then we may have seen a different result.
 
The best way to win a flag is to have high quality mids AND defenders. But, if you can't have both, it looks to be easier to jag a flag with elite defenders, not elite mids (just).

In 13 of the last 20 years, the premier has had both All Australian mid/s AND All Australian defender/s. In 4 of the remaining 7 games, the team had players who won AA selection within a year of that game:
  • In 2019 Richmond won a flag without an AA mid, then won it in 2020 without an AA defender. But clearly they had AA quality mids and defenders in both years.
  • In 2013 and 2014, the Hawks beat Fremantle and then Sydney with no AA defenders. But their backline contained Lake (Norm Smith 2013), Hodge (Norm Smith 2014), Birchall, Burgoyne and Gibson.
  • In 2005, Sydney beat West Coast with no AA mids. But Goodes did ok at football and Kirk was AA in 2004.

Leaving 3 premierships without AA level mids AND defenders
  • In 2012, Sydney beat Hawthorn with no AA defenders. Nick Smith became an AA defender in 2014, but yeah, that's a tenuous link.
  • In 2008, the Hawks beat Geelong with no AA mids. Sam Mitchell (2011, 2013, 2015) and Jordan Lewis (2014) would make AA in future seasons. But yeah, that's a tenuous link.
  • There was no GF in 2004. But if there was, Port won it with no AA mids. Shaun Burgoyne would be AA in 2006. Wakelin v Lynch was Norm Smith.
 

Log in to remove this ad.

The Pedlar thing could be as simple as a time on ground thing, either minimising or maximising it. It's also possible they think he's a player that's too reliant on how the team is going and want him to work on what he's doing when the team is down. Boiling it down to "he's in the B team so he isn't playing round 1" seems a bit hysterical.
 
dogs105 said:
Yep Robert Shaw was not liked, but was a good judge of a young footballer.
Click to expand...
He was but he played Caven up forward if that's what you're referring to

Plenty of his other investments paid off though
 
Drugs Are Bad Mackay? said:
He was but he played Caven up forward if that's what you're referring to

Plenty of his other investments paid off though
Click to expand...
I saw an interview once where he took credit for our premiership winning CHB
 
dogs105 said:
I saw an interview once where he took credit for our premiership winning CHB
Click to expand...
We may have thrown the magnets in one of our diabolical losses but the key game was v Hawthorn at Waverley in 1997

Blight put Caven on Nick Holland. At half time Holland had 10 marks and Caven said to Blight in the break that he was really struggling.

Well you better figure something out, because I'm not moving you

We won that game, Holland finished with 12 marks, and Caven stayed at CHB permanently
 
CromradeCromulent said:
The Pedlar thing could be as simple as a time on ground thing, either minimising or maximising it. It's also possible they think he's a player that's too reliant on how the team is going and want him to work on what he's doing when the team is down. Boiling it down to "he's in the B team so he isn't playing round 1" seems a bit hysterical.
Click to expand...

I certainly never said that. To be clear, I fully expect Pedlar to be playing in round 1. After all, more than half our squad plays AFL each week, even if every single player is available for selection.

However, it looks to me like right now, the club views him in that 18th - 22nd range when picking the team. Not one of the first-choice mids, not one of the first-choice forwards, but a good versatile option to fill out the final spots in the best 22.
 
cmndstab said:
I certainly never said that. To be clear, I fully expect Pedlar to be playing in round 1. After all, more than half our squad plays AFL each week, even if every single player is available for selection.

However, it looks to me like right now, the club views him in that 18th - 22nd range when picking the team. Not one of the first-choice mids, not one of the first-choice forwards, but a good versatile option to fill out the final spots in the best 22.
Click to expand...
In terms of squad development and list management if the club views Pedlar as a bench level player than we have problems.
 
Pretty low-key session today so safe to say today’s report won’t be quite as long as my last!

As has been typical of Mondays recently, the team was split into four groups around the ground each working on different facets of the game. The squad then merged into three groups in a ball movement drill starting in deep defence, with one rotating on or off each time there was a score or stoppage. Players who rotated onto the field had to be super switched on as it was their turn to defend the ground. Safe to say the boys were pretty knackered by the end of this drill, no doubt made worse by the heat.

Thankfully to my eye there were no injuries to come out of today. I did notice curtin leave a bit early alongside laird after chatting to the coaches. I also thought he looked a tad sore with that knee during the session but I wouldn’t worry too much, it’s possible he was still recovering a bit from Fridays hitout.

No sloane or soligo today, the latter of which would now have to be in doubt for the practice match against port as he hasn’t even started running laps yet. Hopefully he can get up for the west coast game but gee it’s a shame given how well he was travelling.

Fog was in the rehab group running laps with gollant, the latter looking pretty good actually given it was his first time out there since that injury a week or so ago. Butts, milera, harry and murray were also doing running, though muz got involved in some of the early skills work with the main group as well.

Junior looks pretty close to returning to me, he ran really strongly and looks fit. Good to see harry increase his speed and workload today as well. As mentioned before, laird was back and did almost all of the session.

Interestingly welsh trained with the group for about half the session before heading inside, which was by far the most training he’s done yet. He looked to be moving well enough if not perhaps a tad hesitant which is understandable. Not sure about the bleached hair though.

As for some individual thoughts:

Crouch - during the stoppage drills he sold a lovely dummy that left the defending sholl bewildered and on the deck. Got a great reaction from the group. Definitely high on confidence at the moment.

Rachele - hard not to be impressed by his willingness to use his speed and take players on. Still occasionally goes for difficult kicks that don’t always come off, but he’s a risk taker and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Edwards - did a beautiful fake in the stoppage work which caught my eye. Has quite a calm demeanour about him in traffic and looks really quite silky at times. Would like to see him up the intensity and aggression a touch but hopefully that will come.

Dawson - one of the best in the ball movement drill. His work rate really stands out as he constantly tries to make himself an option. Gearing up nicely for round one.

Walker - another who was excellent in the main drill. Kicking was typically sublime and even pushed up the ground as high as half back. Timing his run beautifully.

Michalanney - love his closing speed, intercept work and the dash he’s showing right now on the track. However, I would like to see him make sure he doesn’t let himself down by foot - I’ve noticed a few haphazard kicks lately which go to the opposition. Not a huge worry, just something I think he needs to tighten up a bit.

Ryan - kicks don’t always come off but has a really nice relaxed action. Also very good at delaying the handball to a runner until the right moment. Would love to see him take the game on a bit more and use his speed and creativity, again hopefully that will come as he feels more comfortable expressing himself out there.

Worrell - winded himself in a nasty collision going back with the flight. Thankfully was ok after dusting himself off, and not long after did a terrific lunging spoil on tex where he had to really put the afterburners on to get to him. Good stuff.

Dowling - would like to see us get the ball into his hands more in Friday’s internal. Just has really good vision and usually makes the right decision. Not the most explosive player but there’s some quality traits for sure, hopefully he’s not forced into no man’s land.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

Not
cmndstab said:
True, although to be fair, at the time it wasn't seen as some massive coup. He was seen as a speculative talent, not a likely first-round selection in his draft year.
Click to expand...
Not sure the locals saw it as anything less than the second coming.
 
CromradeCromulent said:
The Pedlar thing could be as simple as a time on ground thing, either minimising or maximising it. It's also possible they think he's a player that's too reliant on how the team is going and want him to work on what he's doing when the team is down. Boiling it down to "he's in the B team so he isn't playing round 1" seems a bit hysterical.
Click to expand...
If Pedlar has a flaw as a mid, his accumulation is lower than ideal. (young, still learning etc...)
Why not play him against two of the best accumulators in Crouch and Laird? Fighting against those guys for each possession makes excellent preseason sense IMO. He is after all, going to replace them soon enough.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Signed 2004 Crows Training Ball
Replies
2
Views
398
Carn The Texan
Carn The Texan
Stevolution
WANTED - Adelaide Crows Annual Reports 1999 & 2000
Replies
4
Views
388
Stevolution
Stevolution

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top