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Buddy players first. Poults was, well, Poults. Nothing new or unusual to report there. Damon White looked really good. Was being used in most drills as part of a two pronged forward role with Tredders across half forward, while all four rucks played out of the goalsquare. Damon looked fit, strong and mobile strong overhead and quick hands to the runners. Had a really good duel with Toby in the competitive end to end training, Toby probably shaded him with good defensive work. But looks like Damon could become a key part of the forward set up this year. Chad didn’t do the game simulation, so he might be carrying a slight injury. Did most of the other training though.
The new guys … Chaplin was clearly the standout. When I first got to training I thought how fit and mobile Ackland was looking, then realised I was watching Chaplin (the no.30 threw me). He really looks the complete package, strong (especially through the hips and thighs) good hands, mobile, good give of the ball. Pretty impressive, could well play this year. None of the others really stood out. Peel was leaner than I expected, nice kick. Surjan was confident with his voice but didn’t see him get the ball a lot. Pettigrew did some good things, in the “game” played HBF on Patfull who also did a few good things. RFK looked strong, sure with hand and foot, but they mostly all do at training. Ellis showed a bit playing out of FF as did Hassan running on the ball. Didn’t really notice Symes, Mahoney or Grocke.
Up and comers … White obviously. Salopek in the “game” got to the drop of ball well and gave off nicely. Ebert didn’t “play”, shoulder is still strapped. But he did other training. Gilham showed a bit of dash. Hall ran laps. Cassisi came out late with a strapped knee, must’ve done something minor early in training. Ackland looked pretty solid and moved well (though not as well as when he was Chaplin). Champion did quite a bit training, but not the competitive game. Shoulder was still strapped.
The usual suspects … Matty was the standout, fit and strong, did a lot of ruckwork and charged around the ground in that ruck roving Matty style. Took a couple of nice grabs when “resting” up forward and kicked well. Tredders worked over Bish a bit, especially with his fave trick of running his opponent under the ball. Kane Cornes worked hard as always. Didn’t see a lot of Jnr Burgs, but he was working upfield more. Laid one good tackle on his brother, brought him to ground. Dew seemed to be working around the midfield more. Looked to be carrying a bit of condition, but it’s hard to tell with Dewy … the monster thighs can skew your perception. Carry looked really fit and worked hard. Wilson seemed to shift in and out of training. Did some of everything, but also did some run throughs along the boundary with Dimma. Cochrane showed a bit of dash off half back, seemed to be giving off quickly instead of running round and round. Ditto Kingsley (who does look fit).
Training went around 2 hours (I missed the first 30 mins). When I got there they were doing a drill that appeared to be encouraging strong run and quick movement off half back (I’m sure many will be very pleased to see that put into practice in a game). Even Kingsley and Cochrane seemed to be getting the idea. Then came the competitive “game”. After that some give and run, bit of end to end. The on balers went off to the middle and later around the goals practicing stop plays, but I guess I’m not a seasoned observer of the game, cos I couldn’t pick what was new. They seemed to have players working out wider of the packs than usual, that was about it. And Lade roved a hitout and kicked a goal. There was much amusement among the players, so I don’t think it was part of the new look stoppage set ups.
I’ll try and answer questions if there are any, but generally I haven’t mentioned players cos I didn’t see them do much. I didn’t see Francou at all out there.
The new guys … Chaplin was clearly the standout. When I first got to training I thought how fit and mobile Ackland was looking, then realised I was watching Chaplin (the no.30 threw me). He really looks the complete package, strong (especially through the hips and thighs) good hands, mobile, good give of the ball. Pretty impressive, could well play this year. None of the others really stood out. Peel was leaner than I expected, nice kick. Surjan was confident with his voice but didn’t see him get the ball a lot. Pettigrew did some good things, in the “game” played HBF on Patfull who also did a few good things. RFK looked strong, sure with hand and foot, but they mostly all do at training. Ellis showed a bit playing out of FF as did Hassan running on the ball. Didn’t really notice Symes, Mahoney or Grocke.
Up and comers … White obviously. Salopek in the “game” got to the drop of ball well and gave off nicely. Ebert didn’t “play”, shoulder is still strapped. But he did other training. Gilham showed a bit of dash. Hall ran laps. Cassisi came out late with a strapped knee, must’ve done something minor early in training. Ackland looked pretty solid and moved well (though not as well as when he was Chaplin). Champion did quite a bit training, but not the competitive game. Shoulder was still strapped.
The usual suspects … Matty was the standout, fit and strong, did a lot of ruckwork and charged around the ground in that ruck roving Matty style. Took a couple of nice grabs when “resting” up forward and kicked well. Tredders worked over Bish a bit, especially with his fave trick of running his opponent under the ball. Kane Cornes worked hard as always. Didn’t see a lot of Jnr Burgs, but he was working upfield more. Laid one good tackle on his brother, brought him to ground. Dew seemed to be working around the midfield more. Looked to be carrying a bit of condition, but it’s hard to tell with Dewy … the monster thighs can skew your perception. Carry looked really fit and worked hard. Wilson seemed to shift in and out of training. Did some of everything, but also did some run throughs along the boundary with Dimma. Cochrane showed a bit of dash off half back, seemed to be giving off quickly instead of running round and round. Ditto Kingsley (who does look fit).
Training went around 2 hours (I missed the first 30 mins). When I got there they were doing a drill that appeared to be encouraging strong run and quick movement off half back (I’m sure many will be very pleased to see that put into practice in a game). Even Kingsley and Cochrane seemed to be getting the idea. Then came the competitive “game”. After that some give and run, bit of end to end. The on balers went off to the middle and later around the goals practicing stop plays, but I guess I’m not a seasoned observer of the game, cos I couldn’t pick what was new. They seemed to have players working out wider of the packs than usual, that was about it. And Lade roved a hitout and kicked a goal. There was much amusement among the players, so I don’t think it was part of the new look stoppage set ups.
I’ll try and answer questions if there are any, but generally I haven’t mentioned players cos I didn’t see them do much. I didn’t see Francou at all out there.
