Training Report 11/1/12

[TradeDraft]

From Nicks:

Conditions: Blustery wind with showers and hail.

ABSENT: Cloke/Dale Thomas/Ben Reid/Tarrant/Blair/Krakouer

Rehab: Wellingham and Josh Thomas walked laps and did sprints for an hour, then left the track.

Happy New Year to all Nicksters.

The session was sharp today and there are five drills that The Lad will be reporting on.

Drill Number One:
There were five groups of 8 players each spread around Gosch’s Paddock. The players worked very hard spearing passes over 25-30 metres and then worked hard to get to the fall of the ball. A difficult task when the ball was kicked so flat.

Standouts: Yagmoor/Fasolo/Didak/Marty Clarke

Drill Number Two:
Three groups of eight apiece lined up at ‘High’ half-forward at the Richmond end of Gosch’s Paddock. A group of eight in the Richmond goalsquare led out to players from the final group of eight who were coming off ‘high’ half-back at the CityLink end of the ground. As the leading players marked the ball, they fed it off to players from the ‘high’ half-forward group who drilled the goals.

Standouts: Johnno/Fasolo/Gault/Pendlebury

Drill Number Three: Match simulation.
Players were paired off around the ground but the ball always began from a stoppage which was either a boundary throw-in or a ball up involving Witts and Jolly. Harvey coached the ‘White’ team and Eade coached the ‘Blue’ team. Buckley was involved heavily in the correct placement of players (offensively and defensively) at stoppages.

Fasolo did terrific work at the stoppages and was sublime in his delivery to his leading forwards.

Match-ups of interest:
Yagmoor vs Stubbs: Two young guns. Yagmoor’s skills are sublime, but Stubbs has come back with a renewed attitude and relished the contested ball situation.
Young vs Sidey: Sidey is a premiership star, but Young made him work hard for every possession and worked off him a fair bit too. The Lad thinks Young is being groomed for tagging or on-ball role in 2012.
Ball vs Pendles: One for the purists. Like going down to the local art gallery and finding Salvador Dali and Renoir at work. Do not disturb, simply enjoy the sublime artistry of the masters.
Didak vs Goldy or Simon Buckley: Dids earnt every kick and a fit Goldsack certainly put him under the pump. Buckley solid as well.
Beams vs Swan: Beams impressed but Swanny still produced Houdini like extrications from tight spots.
Wood(forward) vs Keefe (backman): The conditions did not suit either man, but Keefe was very good at ground level.
Witts vs Jolly: Obi-wan and Annakin Skywalker. The Chosen One (Witts) was very impressive against The Human Premiership Medallion (Jolly). At one stage, Witts (210 cms and 108 kgs) slipped in the contest allowing Jolly to palm the ball down the throat of a lurking Didak; Witts had the presence of mind to get to his feet and apply a crushing tackle bring Dids to the ground. The power and size of the man makes The Lad think that one day we will speak to our grandchildren of ‘Witts-Mitts’.

McCaffer vs Maxy or H: McCaffer continued to work hard but was beaten in the air by Maxy and H had a little too much pace for him. Importantly, he looks to be in great physical shape and ran and kicked without apparent discomfort.

Drill Number Four: ‘Half’ Circle work.
The players were split into six groups, three groups down one side of the ground, three groups down the other. The ball was moved from one end of the ground to the other, at speed. Players had to run from contest to contest- bloody hard to do!

Standouts:
The more it rained, the better Maxwell and Marty Clarke played. Didak handled the ball as if it were dry and kicked and ran very well.
Toovey vs Elliott: Elliot conceded a fair bit of height and strength to Tooves but kept presenting and played well.
Young vs Pendlebury: More ‘homework’ for Young who was not disgraced by the champ. Young seems super-fit in 2012 and could become a regular.
Seedsman vs Ugle: Both worked hard with Ugle constantly presenting (a la Medders). Interestingly, Seedsman was given 100% responsibility of kick-ins and achieved 100% clearance strike rate.

Neil Craig, former Adelaide coach was an interested observer of this drill.

Drill Number Five: three different activities…

Group 1:
Skinny Lappin took a group of 14 down to the goalsquare and there was a hardball-handball game where players had to win possession then feed off to a teammate. Didak/Fasolo and The Caff were great at this. Shae Mac/Gault and Paine were the only three big players involved, but they were certainly not disgraced!.

Group 2:
Rocca took another group down to the CityLink end and sent spearing passes in the direction of leading players who were under the pump every step of the way. Johnno helped with the passes.
The improvement in Keefe’s marking under pressure was most evident. For a smaller type player, Elliott has a very strong pair of hands and is not easily buffeted off the mark.

Group 3:
Robert Harvey worked with the existing and ‘wannabe’ midfield group. They worked on ball ups and throw-in set-ups and the matches included the following.
Witts vs Jolly They were at it all training (bar the last 10 minutes when Wood gave Witts a chop-out. At one stage, Jolly told Witts that he was going to throw his arm across Witts chest and that Witts had to work out how to combat this. Witts was persistent and eventually worked a way around the arm of the two-time premiership ruckman without conceding a free.
Goldy vs Pendles : Goldy worked on his defensive skills here- Pendles is sure hard to catch!
Goldy vs Sidey: Goldy was the hunted as Sidey worked on his defensive skills.
Ball vs Swan: Poetry in motion.
Stubbs vs Shaw: Shaw worked the new guy over but Stubbs won a fair bit of his own ball and won praise from Robert Harvey for doing so.
Beams vs Pendles: More tutoring for Beams who did rather well on Pendles in most contests
Beams vs Shaw: Two guys going hell-for leather- very impressed with Beams in this contest!

Overall Impressions of training from The Lad:

• Jolly has a crewcut that belongs to a U.S.Marine
• Nathan Brown completed all training effortlessly with no strapping on either knee or his shoulders. Looked great- certainly impressed Warburton Lass.
• Jackson Paine has good skills at ground level but needs to work on his field kicking.
• Gault looks great and has excellent foot skills for such a tall guy.
• Fasolo looks ready for a breakout year- confidence, skills and flair.
• When it began to rain, the Melbourne Football Club left the track and we began to train even harder. Hope it rains Queens Birthday!! Lol.
• Marty Clarke is a much-loved teammate who even indulged in a little kick boxing – Judo with Heater and Dids during a break in training!

Enjoy 2012, Nicksters. The Lad has climbed the mountain three times as coach and knows a battle-ready unit when he sees it.
He saw it today and it wasn’t Melbourne F.C.

Take care- enjoy the ride- The Lad

http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?p=1180222#1180222

 

[Ed D]

Great read, thanks for posting it here, Dave!

 

[TradeDraft]

Great read, thanks for posting it here, Dave!

My Pleasure

 

[blaze036]

Love it

 

[mattys123]

Thanks for posting these on here Dave, I don't visit Nicks much in the off season.

This part stood out;

At one stage, Witts (210 cms and 108 kgs) slipped in the contest allowing Jolly to palm the ball down the throat of a lurking Didak; Witts had the presence of mind to get to his feet and apply a crushing tackle bring Dids to the ground.

Any worries about his aggressiveness, or awareness seem to be shut down right there.

Maxy tweeted tonight that Josh Thomas is very close to resuming full training also, so hopefully his injury curse is over.

 

[PremierPie13]

Love it

agreed.

 

[Lockyer24]

I am a fan of The Lad

 

[TradeDraft]

Thanks for posting these on here Dave, I don't visit Nicks much in the off season..

My Pleasure Matty

Any worries about his aggressiveness, or awareness seem to be shut down right there.

I reckon his Awarness is Amazing and I see him Recover like that Before.

In VFL Games his 2nd and 3rd Efforts in the Forward Line were Amazing

Maxy tweeted tonight that Josh Thomas is very close to resuming full training also, so hopefully his injury curse is over

Me Too Would love him to get a Pre-Season end Actually start the Season on the Ground

 

[Ed D]

If that's true then JT's probably borderline to play in the NAB Cup now. I really hope he can have a solid build up to the start of the season and can show us what he's capable of.

 

[Copeland]

Thanks Dave. Looks like Witts has lost 5 kilos, more around Woods weight now, if that new weight is correct. Toned up or is someone looking at old records.

 

[terminators]

Cheers for the write ups mate.

Any idea what's wrong with Wellingham, looks like he was training the other day but not now?

 

[ipswichpies]

I am a fan of The Lad

I will agree with that mate,he writes very good training reports.

 

[Swooop]

Thanks TD for posting that...very insightful posting by The Lad, grats to him.

Fabulous to hear the rising stars showing such exciting development.

 

[Ed D]

Cheers for the write ups mate.

Any idea what's wrong with Wellingham, looks like he was training the other day but not now?

Not too sure. The club the other day said he's been training well, but then this report said he ran laps all session. Perhaps he strained something that doesn't allow him to do much else than run straight lines?

 

[rand corp]

Has had a lot of groin issues last two season and one must now wonder if the dreaded OP has reared its ugly head?

 

[JOELY]

anyone head down today?

 

[Old VFL AFL Game]

with a new coach this year will be very interesting to see how he goes with a new training run too