Training 11th Jan

[lunacy]

Im heading down this morning. Gee its gonna be a hot one. Just wanted to get in early in case someone was wanting to come but thought it started at 9.30am. The afc website says it starts at 7.30am.

 

[dplggr47]

saw James Craig and two other Crows (probably Jaensch and either Schmidt/Wright) at the airport this morning (heading towards the gates) at about 7:10am.

 

[oldcrowgirl]

There is an AFL Academy thingo on in Melbourne, which I think started yesterday. Would they be involved in that somehow?

 

[jenny61_99]

Im heading down this morning. Gee its gonna be a hot one. Just wanted to get in early in case someone was wanting to come but thought it started at 9.30am. The afc website says it starts at 7.30am.

(From CMNDSTAB) Training time tomorrow (monday) morning has changed to 7:30-10:00 instead of the usual 9:30 starting time, presumably due to the heat.

 

[Jars458]

I was there briefly on Sat morning at 7.30 but my 2 year old was less than excited by it and I headed home.

 

[cmndstab]

Kudos to anyone who got there at the early time

 

[XztatiK]

Why are flies on this Earth? What purpose do they serve? Is it just to piss us off? WTF God??? And did they have to be little kamikaze flies that stay on you even when you're moving and keep crashing into you every time you wack them away?! Shit!

Well, now that's out of the way let's talk about training:

The highlight of my session would have to be hearing Phil Davis' new nickname. Finally he has a decent one! Thanks to Tex Walker, Phil Davis is now... PHILTHY!!! Love it.

Trainer of the day, straight off the top has to go to D-Mack. I was literally in awe of some of his kicks today. We all know he's a great kick, but hitting about 10 50m spears to the chest of running teammates. God damn!

Runner up is Patty Dangerfield for some blistering runs through the centre and hardly missing a kick.

Good trainers:
Cook: Took some nice contested marks vs. Danger and used the ball well.

Stellar: Solid session all-around. Took some nice marks, played fwd and back.

Jacky: Looked really quick today. Beat some other smalls for speed regularly and laid some nice tackles.

Thommo: Nothing new here but a pretty good session for him. Kicking was on point.

NVB: Just did laps and handballing but he past me so many times without looking the slightest bit tired. He's a machine.

SMACK: Pretty good training. Disposal was better.

Sloane: Really looked fired up. Threw his body in at every oppurtunity and laid some tough tackles.


Average trainers:
Bock: Looked good in the early skills work but the fact that he couldn't keep up with a coach doing laps and at times looked like he was about to make Craigy look like Choco and pass out was worrying.

Griff: One drill he just needed to put some defensive pressure on the mark and chase the ball-carrier. Not quick enough and didn't appear to be putting in the effort.

Knighta: I'm not sure what he was doing TBH I wasn't watching him that closely but I did see him walking around the injured group and going back and forth to the van a lot. Hmm...

Doughty: Just had some poor kicks and was beaten in a few one-on-ones.


Absentees (95% sure on these):
Porplyzia
Goodwin
Craig
Talia
L.Thompson
Jaensch
Wright
Riley
Shaw
Gunston

Injured group:
Moran
Van Berlo
Bock at times
Donnelly
Martin came and went
Symes

Tactical stuff:
The one thing that stood out to me was a long umpired drill where big groups of players ran in waves down the entire field, handballing quickly to advantage and never holding the ball for longer than 2 seconds.
Am I supposed to say crap like that or is this why they close trainings. That bit's obviously not much of a secret though. Meh.

Some matchups from the small scratchy:
Smack(def) - Tippett(fwd)

Truck(def) - Stevens(fwd)

Sellar(def) - Davis(fwd)

Later Sellar and Davis switched. Sellar even played on Ben Hart at one stage. Petrenko was a small forward and Will Young was playing in defence on smaller opposition.

After the session, Smack spent close to 10mins talking to a coach. Here are the guys who stayed for goal-kicking in order from first-to-last to leave:

Cook
Henderson
Young
Sloane
Douglas
McLeod
Armstrong
Birdman
Maric


What's a training report without something funny from Tony Armstrong? Well during the traditional 'impossible shot competition' with McLeod (usually with Petrenko), he sang 'Uptown Girl' at the top of his voice, tackled McLeod to the ground when he wasn't expecting and, after finally nailing the shot, celebrated with a scarface-like machine gun at McLeod.

 

[WALL-e]

Thanks X

Tony Armstrong is fast becoming a favourite.

 

[toddflanders]

The highlight of my session would have to be hearing Phil Davis' new nickname. Finally he has a decent one! Thanks to Tex Walker, Phil Davis is now... PHILTHY!!! Love it.

they used to cal darren pffierer, filthy pfief

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

they used to cal darren pffierer, filthy pfief

over the years I have known about half a dozen Phil's with the same nick name

c'mon boyz, something more original and creative please

 

[flackjack]

saw James Craig and two other Crows (probably Jaensch and either Schmidt/Wright) at the airport this morning (heading towards the gates) at about 7:10am.

I saw them there too....

 

[Riggy1]

Thanks X

Tony Armstrong is fast becoming a favourite.

I know
at least I started supporting him BEFORE he became popular

 

[KUNG FU]

Tactical stuff:
The one thing that stood out to me was a long umpired drill where big groups of players ran in waves down the entire field, handballing quickly to advantage and never holding the ball for longer than 2 seconds.
Am I supposed to say crap like that or is this why they close trainings. That bit's obviously not much of a secret though. Meh.

Some matchups from the small scratchy:
Smack(def) - Tippett(fwd)

That's a pretty standard game they've been doing for as long as NC has been at the club.

Also, very pleased to see Smack lining up in defence against Tippett. Perfect spot for him imo and best team mate to learn against.

 

[XztatiK]

That's a pretty standard game they've been doing for as long as NC has been at the club.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. It was fairly different to anything I've seen at previous trainings though. They were groups of like 8-10 and they stayed pretty tight.

 

[cmndstab]

What's a training report without something funny from Tony Armstrong? Well during the traditional 'impossible shot competition' with McLeod (usually with Petrenko), he sang 'Uptown Girl' at the top of his voice, tackled McLeod to the ground when he wasn't expecting and, after finally nailing the shot, celebrated with a scarface-like machine gun at McLeod.

Hahahaha, Armstrong rocks



Thanks for the report Tacky, kudos to you for getting down there Delighted to hear Danger was getting his kicks off, did he get caught much? That's the only thing that worries me about him, he has a habit of getting caught with the ball at training.

 

[Weekend of Bernie]

Hahahaha, Armstrong rocks



Thanks for the report Tacky, kudos to you for getting down there Delighted to hear Danger was getting his kicks off, did he get caught much? That's the only thing that worries me about him, he has a habit of getting caught with the ball at training.

Xtatically reported.
I left just as the scratchy game began (couldn't stand the heat any more). One thing of concern though was that Danger was tackled fairly heavily in a tackling/ handball/play-on drill just before the scratchy game and spent some time getting his left knee checked by the physio. Did he rejoin the training OK?
Ditto with VB - man is he a fit dude.
Bocky wasn't running with a coach, he was running with his fitness trainer, who can probably run as far and as fast as VB. Nevertheless he was struggling in comparison, but that is what the trainer is supposed to make him do.

 

[WALL-e]

I know
at least I started supporting him BEFORE he became popular

All drummers are awesome

 

[Weekend of Bernie]

I reckon my partner is a very astute observer. Went with her to training this am to have a last look for quite a while (back to work soon). She hadn't been to training since last year during mid season. Asked her what had she noticed.

Tex is much more vocal, has a real presence in the group, has muscled up and ain't afraid to use it, is chasing strongly and leading well.

Cook has improved markedly, much stronger over the ball and in contested ball situations. His kicking is usually very good now.

The golden oldies no longer stand out - in presence or voice. They are now just one of the group with a lot of other players taking leadership for standards in skills and teaching others.

Everyone is working really well together and individually. There are no slackers or unhappy players out there.

About this last point; do you remember when the squad went to the AIS to look at what an elite training regime really looks like? What individuals do to make themselves the best they can? Well, now, I think the AIS could come to the AFC and see what they should be doing. It really is a fantastic learning environment out there.

 

[lunacy]

Well I ventured down to training early this morning and then took part in the tour of the new facility. Because the players had just finished training we couldnt do the tour which allows you to see the players change rooms and gym etc. So it was more of a corporate tour but it was still good to see.

Training was a long 2.5 hour hot slog. Unfortunately they didnt do as much full ground mock game scenarios as I would've liked. Always great to watch. Particularly for the match ups. There were certainly game like drills such as the usual handball game and full ground ball movement drills. But they were the controlled semi competitive drills rather than an actual full ground competitive drill.

Knights didnt train as mentioned. He wasnt even a part of the restricted group doing the usual handball drills, he didnt even jump on an exercise bike or anything. He wasnt limping or anything so I suspect that he was just feeling crook on the day so sat this session out.

Craig, Talia, Gunston, Shaw, Jaensch, Wright, Thompson, Porps, Goodwin, Otten, and Riley were all missing for various reasons.

Whats wrong with Porps? He was missing last time a I went to training as well.

Dangerfield went down in a drill when he was tackled by Young? and was down for awhile in pain holding his knee. He slowly got to his feet and limped off with the assistance of the club physio. After receiving a lot of treatment from the Physio he got up and tried running on it. We asked one of the water boys (runner's ) if he was ok and he said 'He'll be right, nothing serious'. I had a scare thinking I was a curse, because the last time I was there Otten did his knee. All in all it seems there were no other new injuries from todays session.

Gees any chance of Donnelly actually training with the main group for once?

We certainly have an impressive group. Cook vs Dangerfield in a one on one marking drill was good to watch. It was a good old game of marks up between the two. When I saw the two of them lining up against each other I immediately thought Danger was gonna take the honours in the aerial battle. But Cook out marked Danger. Danger immediately slapped his hands together in disgust. This occurred right in front of Craigy who praised Cook saying 'fantastic great timing Cooky'. When they suited up for the 2nd contest I knew Dangerfield would be keen to make up for his previous contest. This time Danger decided to use a bit more body on body against Cook, but Cook held his ground, kept his eye on the ball and again outmarked Danger above his head. Unbelievable. Cooky definitely has something. Dangerfield won the 3rd aerial contest.

Philthy one of my favourites still looks too skinny for me. He is highly skilled, very creative, good attitude and game knowledge but I just worry about his competitive one on one ability to beat his opponent and his accountability.

Our young group of smalls are looking good and I wouldnt be surprised if they exceeded our expectations. Armstrong, Sloane, Cook, and Patrenko are looking good. Jacky is a bit more of an unknown because he trains well but we havent seen enough of him in actual games.

We are such a well drilled team. I was watching the forward line in a full ground drill focusing on ball movement. There was only 3 key forwards in the 50 at one time without any defenders. The 3 forwards all knew where to run and not run to create space for each other. As the ball carrier came towards them they were all constantly moving with one forward leading towards the ball carrier, one running back towards goals and the 3rd forward making another lead into space. The key was that everyone had a role to play even if they werent the player to finish with the ball. Knights while he didnt train today is exceptional at this. During games he'll often sprint up the ground knowing he probably wont end up with the ball but does the team thing creating space for his team mates knowing his opponent will follow him. Getting back to today, as the 3 players (forwards without opponents) made their leads etc if they happened to cross paths they'd even pretend to put a block on their teammate's opponent to help their teammate gain a metre or 2. It stood out as being so well drilled as they were making blocks on imaginery people as there werent any defenders. It just shows they are thinking about what they would be doing in a real scenario. Whoever ended up with the ball after a lead would then have a shot on goal. The player making the lead toward goals, would then stand the mark from a kick in (which didnt really occur because again there was no defender doing a kick in). But he had to work the mark with energy. Then sprint 15m to his left or right and stand another mark with energy simulating a short 15m kick from a kick in and stopping the player from playing on thus hemming them in on the boundary. Then he had to do it again sprint 15-20m and work another mark. Tippett was exceptional at this. And gee his goal kicking has improved. It wasnt the same 3 forwards every time they'd rotate and have a rest.

It certainly looks like we'll be aiming to play 3 tall forwards. I reckon Tippett and Walker are locked in for preseason/round 1 at this stage. Therefore Hentschel/Burton/McKernan/Stevens are all fighting for the 3rd spot.

I could go on and on even more but thats already a fair rant.

 

[Macjoe]

Thanks, guys. Your courage in taking on the heat, and the gems in your reports deserve far more than thanks. It is really appreciated.

 

[WALL-e]

Wow, wasn't expecting this many reports given the heat and time of training.

Great work all.

 

[amer]

You better believe Cooky has something lunacy! Hands down the most underrated player on our list, will be a ripper.

 

[relapse]

Im heading down this morning. Gee its gonna be a hot one. Just wanted to get in early in case someone was wanting to come but thought it started at 9.30am. The afc website says it starts at 7.30am.

Living up to your nickname I see.

 

[XztatiK]

All in all it seems there were no other new injuries from todays session.

Probaly not even worth mentioning but Stiffy hurt himself in a tackle and was hunched over on the ground for a while. Think he got back ok.

 

[Drummond]

Thanks everyone, gutsy effort, no way I'd be doing it.

Myke Cook, far out I love the guy. Will be a superstar!