Man it was good to get out to see a training session today after having become a recluse for the past few weeks. It was a short session today, only going for an hour, but it was worth it just to see the players in their proper guersneys 
The only players that didn't have the correct guernseys were Wright (I think it was Wright but I still don't really know up close what he looks like so it could have been Jaensch - they were calling him "Matty") in #7, Shaw in #15, Gunston in #22, Riley in #41, Talia in #42 and Craig in #44.
There were seven people in the injured group today - most notable was big Kurt Tippett. I've been a bit absent as of late so perhaps I missed it but I wasn't aware he was injured. He didn't have any strapping or anything on and didn't seem hampered, so perhaps they were just resting him? The other players in the group were Porplyzia, Martin, Bock, van Berlo, (Luke) Thompson and Donnelly. Is Donnelly still injured? I'm not even sure what his injury was any more. He is looking noticably bigger than he did a month ago though, good to see him putting on some muscle at last. Thompson and Martin were working the hardest, doing laps together for most of the session.
In the main training session, the players did a match-day type drill first, before separating into handball drills and goalkicking drills. It's hard to guage the player's performance from the handball drills, but in the match-day type drill the shining light for me was young Ricky Henderson, who I was disappointed to see didn't make the squad of 29. He was playing as a high forward flanker, roaming up to the wing as necessary, and looked big and solid. He was regularly involved in marking contests and generally looked like a livewire. Did some really nice things. Drummond's other main man in Will Young looked solid as a rock as well, had some beautiful moments in marking contests, spoiling the ball and running onto it to clear it from the area. Laid a beautiful tackle to turn the ball over in defence one time as well.
The other who looked great, who I usually don't even notice but did now that they're in their guernseys, was Bernie Vince. He looked so sharp today and I don't reckon I saw him miss a shot on goal. At one point when a session finished he banged a massive torp through post high from 55 out, it never looked like missing. Towards the end of the session him and Knights were working on kicking goals from the boundary line about 45m out, and Knights was complaining because Vince kept slotting them
Knights was like "I'll get one this time, on my right foot!" and then ran up, looked behind him to see that Vince wasn't watching, and kicked it on his left - and still missed Vince of course ran up and slotted the ball, after which Knights exclaimed "You are SO LUCKY!"
Someone commented on here a day or two ago that Burton looked huge, and they're right - I've never seen his shoulders and upper body looking so stacked. He was moving well and got involved a fair bit. McKernan is another that continues to look bigger every time I see him. What I was happiest to see with McKernan (other than Rory using the "Smack" nickname) was that he seems to really be a part of the group, regularly directing traffic and calling out. Considering he was such a shy kid when he came over it's great to see him a real part of it.
Danger looked pretty good today - his kicking was looking very nice, which is something I watch from him. Cook meanwhile slotted the ugliest goal since Nick Gill's against Essendon, a big floaty kick that changed directions about five times before sliding through
He and Petrenko seem to be good mates, they were working hard together throughout the session. There was a really good spirit throughout the whole group, everyone seemed really switched on and ready to go.
I love this time of year
Only one day to go!
Edit: One interesting drill was when Viney was working with Riley, Schmidt, Sloane and Gunston, trying to teach them how to use their body to hold the position in a marking contest. The drill was that two of them would line up (Riley on Gunston, or Schmidt on Sloane), and the one in front would have to spin around behind the other player, then use his body to bump and hold the other player out of position, and then take the mark. Riley took an absolute beauty where he held Gunston out of position, and then rose above Gunston's long arms to take the high mark. Sloane and Schmidt looked sharp too.
The only players that didn't have the correct guernseys were Wright (I think it was Wright but I still don't really know up close what he looks like so it could have been Jaensch - they were calling him "Matty") in #7, Shaw in #15, Gunston in #22, Riley in #41, Talia in #42 and Craig in #44.There were seven people in the injured group today - most notable was big Kurt Tippett. I've been a bit absent as of late so perhaps I missed it but I wasn't aware he was injured. He didn't have any strapping or anything on and didn't seem hampered, so perhaps they were just resting him? The other players in the group were Porplyzia, Martin, Bock, van Berlo, (Luke) Thompson and Donnelly. Is Donnelly still injured? I'm not even sure what his injury was any more. He is looking noticably bigger than he did a month ago though, good to see him putting on some muscle at last. Thompson and Martin were working the hardest, doing laps together for most of the session.
In the main training session, the players did a match-day type drill first, before separating into handball drills and goalkicking drills. It's hard to guage the player's performance from the handball drills, but in the match-day type drill the shining light for me was young Ricky Henderson, who I was disappointed to see didn't make the squad of 29. He was playing as a high forward flanker, roaming up to the wing as necessary, and looked big and solid. He was regularly involved in marking contests and generally looked like a livewire. Did some really nice things. Drummond's other main man in Will Young looked solid as a rock as well, had some beautiful moments in marking contests, spoiling the ball and running onto it to clear it from the area. Laid a beautiful tackle to turn the ball over in defence one time as well.
The other who looked great, who I usually don't even notice but did now that they're in their guernseys, was Bernie Vince. He looked so sharp today and I don't reckon I saw him miss a shot on goal. At one point when a session finished he banged a massive torp through post high from 55 out, it never looked like missing. Towards the end of the session him and Knights were working on kicking goals from the boundary line about 45m out, and Knights was complaining because Vince kept slotting them
Knights was like "I'll get one this time, on my right foot!" and then ran up, looked behind him to see that Vince wasn't watching, and kicked it on his left - and still missed Vince of course ran up and slotted the ball, after which Knights exclaimed "You are SO LUCKY!"Someone commented on here a day or two ago that Burton looked huge, and they're right - I've never seen his shoulders and upper body looking so stacked. He was moving well and got involved a fair bit. McKernan is another that continues to look bigger every time I see him. What I was happiest to see with McKernan (other than Rory using the "Smack" nickname
) was that he seems to really be a part of the group, regularly directing traffic and calling out. Considering he was such a shy kid when he came over it's great to see him a real part of it.Danger looked pretty good today - his kicking was looking very nice, which is something I watch from him. Cook meanwhile slotted the ugliest goal since Nick Gill's against Essendon, a big floaty kick that changed directions about five times before sliding through
He and Petrenko seem to be good mates, they were working hard together throughout the session. There was a really good spirit throughout the whole group, everyone seemed really switched on and ready to go.I love this time of year
Only one day to go! Edit: One interesting drill was when Viney was working with Riley, Schmidt, Sloane and Gunston, trying to teach them how to use their body to hold the position in a marking contest. The drill was that two of them would line up (Riley on Gunston, or Schmidt on Sloane), and the one in front would have to spin around behind the other player, then use his body to bump and hold the other player out of position, and then take the mark. Riley took an absolute beauty where he held Gunston out of position, and then rose above Gunston's long arms to take the high mark. Sloane and Schmidt looked sharp too.
