News Today's training session

[Magpie Girl]

Thanks frizzle I need your help!!
I was dazzled by all the bare skin and muscle

Did u notice who was doing most of the kick ins from defence? With Heater gone, there's a lot of speculation who will take on that role. Cheers

From memory there were many rotating.
Keefe, Swan, Reid, Sinclair, to name a few
Didn't see Maxwell down that end

 

[magpiewarrior]

How good does that action shot of Jackson Ramsay, sprinting while turning, look?

 

[frizzle]

Thanks frizzle I need your help!!
I was dazzled by all the bare skin and muscle

From memory there were many rotating.
Keefe, Swan, Reid, Sinclair, to name a few
Didn't see Maxwell down that end

All those & Frosty as well. Maxwell was down there. Was wearing a cap today. Hard to pick him up until he runs.

 

[jonbe54]

How good does that action shot of Jackson Ramsay, sprinting while turning, look?

Yeah that action shot is reminiscent of the moves you see in American gridiron where the speedsters are all about evasive skills at speed.

 

[jonbe54]

All those & Frosty as well. Maxwell was down there. Was wearing a cap today. Hard to pick him up until he runs.

Poor maxy doesn't even have a pretty running action

Not as bad as Swanny though - if Swanny run though a sand trap and you got a black tracker to track him he would say "Five men walk here"

 

[TradeDraft]

Sorry, last bit

This photographer had an interesting story.
He explained how he was not there for the club but instead was commissioned to take photos of all the clubs whilst training for a new football website.
I asked if he barracked for the pies and he said, "no Carlton", but that his aunt and all his siblings did.
(he, poor man, had been the first born and his father insisted he follow the Blues)

Anyway he told me the story of his aunt. She had been the president of the ladies committee back in the 70's and had lots of players stay with her when they came to Melbourne (one being Phil Carman)
Everything in her house was black and white - furniture, floor, decorations etc and there were stuffed magpies everywhere.
She was married to Jim Evans, who was the head trainer at Richmond, and every time the 2 teams were due to meet, he would go into the spare room a week before the game, and stay there for a week after the game

She had collected every record and so much memorabilia, although he didn't know what had happened to it after she died.
She made the claim that she never saw the Pies lose a game - as she always left in the last few minutes!!!
Her name was Miriam Evans

Did the guy work for AFL Photo's?

 

[Magpie Girl]

Did the guy work for AFL Photo's?

no he was a freelance photographer Dave commissioned to do photos for a new site called 'Fans Unite'

His difficulty is that most clubs don't advertise when their training sessions will be, and many are also closed sessions

 

[TheFreshBanana]

no he was a freelance photographer Dave commissioned to do photos for a new site called 'Fans Unite'

His difficulty is that most clubs don't advertise when their training sessions will be, and many are also closed sessions

Collingwood don't do a bad job of this, and they've stepped it up this season with the front page including "Next training session" bit. Also has videos and news, front page pretty much displays all the important stuff, and very easy to read and dissect. Good work lukem

 

[Magpie Girl]

And who is Senor Chang TheFreshBanana?
You're keeping us on our toes trying to keep up with all your new looks

 

[TheFreshBanana]

And who is Senor Chang TheFreshBanana?
You're keeping us on our toes trying to keep up with all your new looks

 

[loki04]

How good does that action shot of Jackson Ramsay, sprinting while turning, look?

I reckon he might well be the surprise packet of 2014, may even be Heaters replacement.

 

[Hinequarters]

A word or two from Albert Parker on another site

WED

Quick, but not comprehensive, update from Olympic Park oval yesterday. When a session designated as not 'open' just means "we won't declare what time they come out".

- No shows - Witts, Fasolo, Scharenberg
- (Very) Light duties on the sidelines - Cloke, Langdon, Marsh, Brown, Clarke, Karnezis
- Light duties - Toovey (did most drills and looked good but ran laps with Rambo too), Swan (run throughs only, no kicking etc)
- Most of the session - Sidebottom, Beams (Bali boys), Maxwell, 'Les' Seedsman
- Off early - White who appeared to suffer a minor leg injury sustained in a tackling drill.
- Most impressive on the track -

Harry (lead run throughs of a group of 10 who stayed out at end, vocal),

Freeman (reckon he is a good shot for early round action, quick, great build and skills were actually very good on the track at least. Spent a bit of time in a drill leading from the forward line which suggests he may spend some early time playing on a HFF)

Kennedy (bit of run, hit targets pretty well)

Broomhead (shows some pace, generally good skills although not quite as strong as sharp as Kennedy and Freeman with kicking, mainly coming out of defence. Had a bit of presence though)

Pendles (didn't appear to be working as hard as others but good options in close as they moved balls through traffic by hands)

Elliott (again pace a factor and cut a few balls off opposing teams in an end-to-end drill)

Keefe (skills both short and long kicking was accurate and composed)

Other observations
- clearly a bit of emphasis on moving ball through traffic in waves of support as well as transition drills from one end of the ground to another with opponents making life harder in both cases

- Group of 10 or so stayed out at the end for more running work (including Harry, Reid, Sinclair, Lynch, Armstrong, Yagmoor)

- Grundy stayed out for ruck work with Hudson and Rocca. Both contested work at ground level and ruck taps. Hudson only appeared at the end of training, so my suspicion is that he is very much an emergency ruck option this season with Grundy, then Witts as primary rucks in the seniors. Our most vulnerable area this season I believe

- Marsh's kicking is flawed. Only did small kick to kick but wobbles everywhere given a flawed ball drop

- Thomas appeared to be struggling a little for fitness

- Maxwell still has more presence as a leader on the track than I would say Pendles does

- Young generally looked pretty good. Pulled out some nice barrels in a quiet moment. Stuck a nice tackle on Jesse White who charged him in a drill. (Kennedy did likewise actually. Nice work on a big unit)

- Buckley pretty encouraging in his demeanour. Not a dominant presence though but clearly running the show

FRI

Hot day but a long session. Went from 9am to about 11.30am.

No shows - Ball (honeymoon?), Scharenberg, Goldsack (who did little on Wed too) otherwise all made an appearance

Virtually nil to pretty light duties - White (still sore in leg post Wed), Fasolo (plenty of laps, said he is tracking OK though), Karnezis (few run throughs, bit of kick to kick), Dwyer and Marley (laps together), Gault (few laps, gone by year end), Swan (minor ball work but mainly laps and run-throughs), Clarke (mainly laps), Cloke (not much today either), Seedsman (few run throughs but I am not sure he knows what the problem is at present from what he indicated), Witts out there early but then disappeared

Most of the session but still abridged - Maxwell ("I'm too old so they nurse me through these days", Toovey (Good to see him working on lateral movement, said he'll be back amongst the full group very soon. Seemed really encouraged by his progress)

Much more notable contribution than Wednesday's session - Hudson (take back what I said about his influence this year on field as support for Grundy?), Ramsay, Langdon, Marsh even Fasolo who covered some distance

Started session with 2 x groups running 4 x ~400 metres

Most elite runners appeared to be in the first group
Sidebottom, Harry, Clarke, maybe Yagmoor, Armstrong Pendles toward the front
Mooney and Sinclair at the rear a reasonable distance behind

Second group lead home by Keefe, then Broomhead who were a bit ahead of peers, then Thomas and Ramsay.
At the absolute rear was Grundy, who was 30 secs behind Hudson (who appears in better knick than early pre-season photos may have indicated), with Marsh and Langdon a gap ahead of them, Reid and Frost

Drills
- 3 onto 2 tight corridor movement by hands again
- End to end transition work a major emphasis again. Windy day but generally I thought the skills were pretty poor. Difficult at times with about 30 players in one-third of the ground though.
- Little bit of goal kicking
- some other stuff too but my son wanted to kick the footy so I was a bit distracted at times today. A great opportunity to score autographs for his No 36 jumper as we got almost all senior players (ex Steele and maybe one or two others) and the coach to sign it too

Thoughts on players who might make a difference this year relative to what we saw last year
- My man crush on Freeman continues (he will likely play round 1 I reckon in a forward role adding pressure with his pace and bulk. Gets a lot of the ball because of his pace and ability to get into space and does have good skills at training at least)
- Kennedy's engine may need some work but think Bali Belly may have hindered. Beams also said he was still a bit sore from BB and came off a little early accordingly
- Dasher Young looks good. Good skills and pace at one stage was noticeable as he transitioned out of defence and got the ball on the HFF and carried all the way to the goals. Hope his body holds together. He will be best 22 if he stays on the park I believe
- Expect Reid to mainly play forward. Keefe and Brown as key defence
- Still not sure about Armstrong. Skills good, seems to get a bit of the ball in drills from defence. Happy to take hits too. Looks good at training but can he convert to match day? Lovely, well spoken guy though. Loving his time at the Pies
- Taylor Adams and Adam Oxley are relatively unobtrusive at training I find.
- Witts was further up in the laps at the start than I expected he may have been. Well ahead of Hudson and Grundy (who looks the goods with his shirt off fitness wise but is slow as treacle. His natural aggression is evident at training though too. Likes to use his bulk). Witts only did early running though given shoulder surgery recovery
- Reckon Keefe could easily finish Top 10 in the Copeland this year. Fitness great, skills good, plenty of yap and encouragement and lots of upside still given he has played relatively little Aussie Rules in his life

Like the players, can't wait for the real stuff to start

 

[jmac70]

Perhaps it will be Keeffe taking a lot of the kick ins?

 

[loki04]

Perhaps it will be Keeffe taking a lot of the kick ins?

That or may even see Armstrong in the role.
Watching his highlights he seems to have a great kick on him and always to advantage of the player he kicks too.

 

[cleomenes]

Thanks to those who go along and have the generosity to let the rest of us know what they see. At this slow time, I really enjoy a bit of actual observation of the players.

 

[Jelly Bean]

Not liking the number of players who aren't in the full training group yet...

Blokes like Swan, Cloke, Seedsman, Fasolo, Toovey, Witts, Sinclair, Karnezis, etc all expected to play some senior football next year, with the first five of them all expected to play pretty important parts... Puts them behind the race for round 1, certainly.

 

[MyManLynch]

Not liking the number of players who aren't in the full training group yet...

Blokes like Swan, Cloke, Seedsman, Fasolo, Toovey, Witts, Sinclair, Karnezis, etc all expected to play some senior football next year, with the first five of them all expected to play pretty important parts... Puts them behind the race for round 1, certainly.

Yes we are 8-9 weeks away from season kick off, would like to see more core players into full training asap.
We have a hard opening, so must hit the ground running, otherwise we can be 2-3 games off the pace before we know it.

 

[Magpie Girl]

Not liking the number of players who aren't in the full training group yet...

Blokes like Swan, Cloke, Seedsman, Fasolo, Toovey, Witts, Sinclair, Karnezis, etc all expected to play some senior football next year, with the first five of them all expected to play pretty important parts... Puts them behind the race for round 1, certainly.

At least Swan was participating in some of the drills yesterday - kicking and more importantly marking.

A good sign that his wrist is improving.

 

[Jelly Bean]

At least Swan was participating in some of the drills yesterday - kicking and more importantly marking.

A good sign that his wrist is improving.

Yeah, that is true - and to be honest, Swanny is one that I am least worried about. He will still be doing alot of running work, and it is not like his skills are ever really top knotch.

 

[tazzawazza]

Really nice report MG. How are Reid and White doing?

 

[Mungo Mulligan Stew]

How good does that action shot of Jackson Ramsay, sprinting while turning, look?

Even more so considering he's doing it evading the tackling bad ass Frost.

 

[boxy99]

Perhaps it will be Keeffe taking a lot of the kick ins?

Wouldn't think he would we need our big guys as targets

 

[Jelly Bean]

It'll be Seedsman who takes our kick-outs.

 

[jmac70]

Apparently Carlton cancelled their open training session today. Unfortunately they forgot to tell the fans. Oopsy Daisy!

 

[TradeDraft]

Apparently Carlton cancelled their open training session today. Unfortunately they forgot to tell the fans. Oopsy Daisy!

They have to show off Daisy