I made my way down to training today, for a short and sweet little session. There's not a lot to report (it only went for 50 minutes or so) but I'll see what I can do.
Firstly, a lot of players weren't there. The squad of 29 was mostly there, barring Griffin and Tippett who are apparently already up in Alice Springs on promotional duties. Thompson was also out there but only did running and light work. Other than them, there was Dangerfield, Craig, (Luke) Thompson and Riley doing light work as well.
The most interesting part of today's session was some tactical work during kick-ins, which were taken by Vince and Goodwin. They worked on several tactics, such as the huddle, and also did some drills where they were trying to break through a zone. They had much more success with the huddle than when they were scattered and trying to get around a zone. Cook and Davis were two regular avenues out of defence, though Cook sometimes looked a bit tentative once he had the ball.
When we trying to break the zone, Walker was on the defensive team and laid himself a nice, crunching tackle, which elicited strong praise from Craigy who yelled out "Nice one Taylor, that's much better Taylor Walker!"
It was only a short session so I didn't get much of a chance to watch too many players closely, but I tried to pay close attention to McKernan and Henderson. McKernan had a bit of an indifferent training session, with a couple of wayward kicks during some drills, and a spilled mark at one stage. He seems like a bit of a hot and cold player, so hopefully he can get himself fired up tomorrow night. Henderson on the other hand continued his typically impressive training form with some nice work in the later drills, but didn't get involved much in the kick-in drills as he was a bit further down the ground.
The session seemed to end after only a few drills, but a number of players stuck around to practice their kicking for goal. From recollection, there was Walker, Sellar, Edwards, McKernan, Johncock, Sloane, Cook, Gunston, and of course the usual boundary-line trio of Petrenko, Jacky and Armstrong. I love standing near Armstrong
He would get the ball and say something like "This one is going in, I can feel it, THIS IS THE MONEY BALL!!" and then of course the ball wouldn't go in (there was a stiff breeze across the goals from that face) and he'd grunt in disappointment. He did finally manage to slot one and then go for a little victory run alongside the ten or so supporters still out there watching 
At one point when all three had failed to slot a goal for several minutes, Johncock came over and slotted a goal from the exact same spot with his first kick, grinned back at them and left the ground.
Pleasing the see Gunston was the last to leave the oval today. He was working hard on his kicking for goal and to be honest, his kicking looked pretty good. Actually, I thought he was pretty good overall today. He's still a slight as can be but he's got some real pace and did a couple of nice things, including a little scoop off the ground when the ball had been spilled during a kick-in drill. Looks like he's setting himself for a good match tomorrow night.
That's all - not the most exciting session, but enough to whet my appetite for hunching next to me tinny little radio tomorrow evening
Firstly, a lot of players weren't there. The squad of 29 was mostly there, barring Griffin and Tippett who are apparently already up in Alice Springs on promotional duties. Thompson was also out there but only did running and light work. Other than them, there was Dangerfield, Craig, (Luke) Thompson and Riley doing light work as well.
The most interesting part of today's session was some tactical work during kick-ins, which were taken by Vince and Goodwin. They worked on several tactics, such as the huddle, and also did some drills where they were trying to break through a zone. They had much more success with the huddle than when they were scattered and trying to get around a zone. Cook and Davis were two regular avenues out of defence, though Cook sometimes looked a bit tentative once he had the ball.
When we trying to break the zone, Walker was on the defensive team and laid himself a nice, crunching tackle, which elicited strong praise from Craigy who yelled out "Nice one Taylor, that's much better Taylor Walker!"
It was only a short session so I didn't get much of a chance to watch too many players closely, but I tried to pay close attention to McKernan and Henderson. McKernan had a bit of an indifferent training session, with a couple of wayward kicks during some drills, and a spilled mark at one stage. He seems like a bit of a hot and cold player, so hopefully he can get himself fired up tomorrow night. Henderson on the other hand continued his typically impressive training form with some nice work in the later drills, but didn't get involved much in the kick-in drills as he was a bit further down the ground.
The session seemed to end after only a few drills, but a number of players stuck around to practice their kicking for goal. From recollection, there was Walker, Sellar, Edwards, McKernan, Johncock, Sloane, Cook, Gunston, and of course the usual boundary-line trio of Petrenko, Jacky and Armstrong. I love standing near Armstrong
He would get the ball and say something like "This one is going in, I can feel it, THIS IS THE MONEY BALL!!" and then of course the ball wouldn't go in (there was a stiff breeze across the goals from that face) and he'd grunt in disappointment. He did finally manage to slot one and then go for a little victory run alongside the ten or so supporters still out there watching At one point when all three had failed to slot a goal for several minutes, Johncock came over and slotted a goal from the exact same spot with his first kick, grinned back at them and left the ground.Pleasing the see Gunston was the last to leave the oval today. He was working hard on his kicking for goal and to be honest, his kicking looked pretty good. Actually, I thought he was pretty good overall today. He's still a slight as can be but he's got some real pace and did a couple of nice things, including a little scoop off the ground when the ball had been spilled during a kick-in drill. Looks like he's setting himself for a good match tomorrow night.
That's all - not the most exciting session, but enough to whet my appetite for hunching next to me tinny little radio tomorrow evening
)
