Training Report - 20th Jan '05

[Stiffy_18]

Great report MD. I reckon we're spoilt this year by the number and quality of the training reports.

Very true. We have had 4-5 reports this year alone. Keep up the good work guys

It must have something to do with the new approach to pre-season and the good reports our draftees are getting. I will try to make it to another traning session soon.

Good to hear that most of the players that didn't train on Tuesday were on the track today

 

[jo172]

Yeah thanks for this guys, it really helps all us lazy bastards in the Eastern suburbs who cant be stuffed to drive 20 mins each way for pre season training when there's wimpy, wimpy womens tennis on the telly, sorry i tend to ramble.

Good to hear about all training well and i'm looking forward to when the 30 minute drive turns into a 2 minute walk when we play at the parade.

 

[Stiffy_18]

And here is Matthew Robran's training report

McLeod sizzles during training
2:28:29 PM Thu 20 January, 2005
matthew robran
afc.com.au

Ten days after rolling his ankle, Andrew McLeod returned to full training, and all those watching would have been impressed with way in which he trained. McLeod showed no sign of discomfort as he was firstly put through a series of searching tackle bag drills before hitting joining his teammates for the full ground exercises.

After landing awkwardly from a marking contest during training on January 10th, McLeod was desperate to join his teammates earlier this week, so much so that he hit the track early on Tuesday to test his ankle with several sprints, some zigzag running and kicking drills. However the medical staff had the final say and thought an extra day or two would put any chance of re-injury beyond doubt.


McLeod, who is in the best physical shape of his career moved smoothly and on several occasions the gathered crowd were treated to some of that old magic as he took the ball off the packs at a blistering pace.

McLeod finished the session with some one-on-one competitive work against another who is on the return from injury, Luke Jericho.

The tough two-hour session once again had a real ‘style of play’ focus about it. Several of the full ground exercises had the players paying close attention to the movement into the forward line, with Ian Perrie, Scott Welsh and Fergus Watts providing strong leads.

One area that Neil Craig has paid extra attention to has been the forwards working together to provide ‘screens’ and blocks’ to free one another up. Many clubs now excel in this part of the game, and with the work that is being put in; it looks as though the boys will add this to their game this year.

No doubt the implementation of this tactic will please the forwards who might get the chance to kick some ‘cheap’ goals.

The session finished off with a 13 v 13 practice match. With the club’s first official trial taking place against North Adelaide and Norwood at Norwood Oval on February 11th and their opening Wizard Cup game against Port Adelaide on Sunday February 20th, the players didn’t hold back in their endeavour to find the footy or tackle a teammate, and of course impress the coach.

The coach was pleased with the spirit amongst the team and the determination shown by all players to adhere to the new tactics being implemented.

It may only be January, but you would swear that the home and away season was well and truly underway with the commitment of the team to their training.

 

[NikkiNoo]

And here is Matthew Robran's training report

It may only be January, but you would swear that the home and away season was well and truly underway with the commitment of the team to their training.

hmm They may be committed but from all reports here if it was during the season we would be pretty annoyed at the skill level! Nice ommision from Robran there

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Rhett Biglands and Scott Stevens continue to be conspicuous by their failure to impress. S Stevens will struggle to get a game, and Rhett continues to make a ********load of skill errors…I reckon the pressure of having a few good, real, young ruckmen around the club is starting to tell.

The Count continues to impress with his skills…….I’m telling ya…..don’t be surprised if he plays games this year….He reminds me a lot of Michael Aish when he moves.

Big improver for me was Watts from last time…took some strong marks and is a good mover.
Stand out trainer for me was Rock Hudson….he his very mobile and hardly made a skill error…..I reckon he is in for a huge year.

Anyway…..I was quite impressed with the session…skills and intensity are certainly up from last week.

Cheers.

Great report MadDog.

Sounds like Count is going to force Craig to play him pre-season & I reckon he may end up playing most of the year & do the #7 guernsey justice.

I'm sounding like a broken record, but Hudson > Biglands.

Excited that Watts has picked up. I would prefer to stick him in a forward pocket ahead of Biglands, S Stevens & Bock.

We need to play youngsters with a considerable upside ahead of those which just haven't come on as liked.

 

[Stiffy_18]

Did anyone catch Huddo's interview yesterday?????? He said he has never kicked the footy this much in hs whole life.

Also thinks that he finds this pre-season easier than last year which is not surprising considering how out of shape he was last year.

 

[tinman]

Thanks for the report. Much appreciated, these training reports give a great insight to those of us who can't be there.

While coaches always say that you play like you train, that isn't always the case. Some great players have been notoriously bad trainers, while for some it's the other way around.

It will be very interesting to see how the trials and Wizard Cup go just so we can see players in a game situation.

Pleased to hear about Watts. If he gets fit and performs he will get a chance, I don't think there is any doubt about that. Very disappointed with Krueger, he just can't take a trick. The trouble is he has been too injured to play footy at any level - and he isn't going to improve on the sidelines. Fingers crossed the club can get him right and we can finally see if he can play.

 

[Crow-mosone]

His kicking is pretty good too. Not overly quick but as you said pretty intelligent footballer.

which is what you want from a ruckman, he doesn't have to be quick he HAS to be clever.

witness Justin Madden.

 

[macca23]

Beggles was a pleasant surprise – did everything and looked very sharp.
Jericho did most of the drills and moved VERY well – he has certainly come on from a few weeks ago – has good skills and involved himself well.
Stand out trainer for me was Rock Hudson….he his very mobile and hardly made a skill error…..I reckon he is in for a huge year.

Anyway…..I was quite impressed with the session…skills and intensity are certainly up from last week.

Cheers.

Begley's no surprise to me, as I really rate him MD.

Delighted with Jericho's progress. He was playing a year or so ahead of his time last year, and IMO only lacks a really hard attack on the ball. Once he gets that part right, he could be a real player.

Hudson's a joint tip of mine for most improved this year, along with Reilley.

 

[CaptainDangerfield]

1. At Adelaide it was Ayres and John Reid. To get him to Port, Alan Stewart was very aggressive in selling him to Chocko. Thats what Brogan said in one of the radio interviews a month or so ago.

FFS Another great decision from Reid. How the hell has Reid kept his job, it's beyond believe. Also, why the hell would we have traded for Scott Stevens in the first place. It really worries me that the Crows see something in a player like Stevens that everyone else doesn't.

 

[Cap]

I have to agree about these reports - well done to all they are a great read - this being my first Preseason with Big Footy i feel i am really getting up to speed - Hopefully by next season I will be able to complete a full pre season with the likes of stiffy and WW etc !!

I was talking to a few guys from Westies in regards to Jericho and Rutten - which leads me to some questions

they both agreed that Jericho lacks a real toughness to the ball which hopefuly with time and confidence he will get( I always think back to when he destroy norwood single handed in the alst quater kicking 4-5 and setting up a couple others) - but is this possible to teach someone or is it something you either have or dont have ?

but my main concern is rutten - how is his agility going ? I have seen him at westies and at the crows and he really lacks the ability to turn around !! are they doing anything this year about these type of problems ?

 

[Stinger...]

ive never posted pics before so i hope these work apologies in advance if i completely stuff it up!

these are from a week ago...

Andrew McLeod

Scott Welsh

 

[Stinger...]

apologies for the size as well!

 

[Stinger...]

Ian Perrie...love the hair!

Matty Bode and Simon Goodwin

i actually enjoyed this drill that the boys were doing. the group was split in two, and then two seperate teams, and they had to hit targets! Some of the skills were woeful, and some of the boys took forever to kick the footy, but i enjoyed watching it!

 

[drakeyv2]

Thanks to Mad Dog, Stiffy, Waynes World and anyone else who has done training reports that I have not mentioned.

There is no doubt this is the worse time of the year for footy tragics. No games, no drafting, no delisting.

These training reports are the footy highlights of the the week.

Keep it up guys.

 

[captain ebert]

2. "2 on 2 in the fwd line" - not a lot of time was devoted to this one but basically there were 2 fwds with 2 defenders on them.....a 5th player would stand about 40 metres away and try and pin-point a pass to one of the leading forwards. The curve ball was that the "decoy" forward leader would try the classic block move on the "real" forward leader's man to create space for the leader.

yes as you mentioned, not the kind of tactic you would want to place too much emphasis on IMO.

 

[jo172]

Jesus Christ any volunteers to man up on perrie? Maybe they can go to yatala and offer early release for any one willing to play a half with him because that hairdo and that body is the scariest thing i've seen coming from footy park since the upgrading of Mathew Smith.

P.S. Looking at Norm he looks a hell of a lot like he did in 2001, good signs

 

[conVINCEd]

'Props' to Mad Dog for the report and Stinger for the photos. Doesn't Macca look sen-bloody-sational.

Its awsome to hear that some of the guys are looking in great shape. I think this good be the Year of the Reilly.

Can't wait to see the boys in action - when is the first Wizard Cup game??

 

[WaynesWorld19]

they both agreed that Jericho lacks a real toughness to the ball which hopefuly with time and confidence he will get( I always think back to when he destroy norwood single handed in the alst quater kicking 4-5 and setting up a couple others) - but is this possible to teach someone or is it something you either have or dont have ?

but my main concern is rutten - how is his agility going ? I have seen him at westies and at the crows and he really lacks the ability to turn around !! are they doing anything this year about these type of problems ?

Definately, considering he came basically from reserves SANFL to AFL he has brought some sloppy habits with him. Habits that he can get away with in reserves like taking the ball one handed but is getting caught out at the higher level.

I'd be confident it can be ironed out.


Re Rutten still to be convinced he can compensate for the lack of agility, smart forwards will bring him up the ground and turn him around.
Guess TWT

 

[Bockchoy67]

Thanks for the report MD.

I managed to see the Crows train a few days ago at Max, and I was pretty impressed with their work ethic and decision making. However our skills were disappointing at stages, but they managed to rectify this.

I got a good look at Big John Meesen. Whiles he's very tall, he certainly needs to put on a fair bit of weight. His aggresiveness and marking was pretty good, but his kicking style was strange. He seemed to take one-too-many steps before kicking, but I'm sure he will fix this as he continues his training. The depth is his kicking however was very pleasing.

Reilly was fantastic. His skill level was as great as always, his leadership was very good and he seems to have picked up in the pace department. Van Berlo seems quite similar, albeit fitter and faster.

Mattner has certainly bulked up. He's no longer the tall skinny kid he used to be.

Huddo is in for a big year, especially if he gets the chances he deserves. He's much slimmer, fitter, stronger and faster than before, and his work ethic and mobility was very pleasing. He will give Biglands a run for his money.

Fergus looks better body-wise, but his strength is still a concern. His mobility has slightly improved and his hands are as good as always.

Gibson is big, very big. Perhaps a little too big. I'm a little concerned that his girth is too great at his age and may have a large effect on his mobility across the ground. Hopefully I'm wrong, because he is certainly very intimidating.

Burton is still super fit, and his ethic on the track was excellent. He seems to have extended his leadership capabilities, and from what I saw his skills were generally good. Of course, its different on match day.

Riccuito, Edwards, Stiffy and Goodwin were all in good shape and trained like they always do.

I'm a little concerned over Maric and Thompson, as they've yet to be involved in any main work.

Overall I was impressed and am looking forward to the trial matches in 20 days.

 

[macca23]

Reilly was fantastic. His skill level was as great as always, his leadership was very good and he seems to have picked up in the pace department. Van Berlo seems quite similar, albeit fitter and faster.


Huddo is in for a big year, especially if he gets the chances he deserves. He's much slimmer, fitter, stronger and faster than before, and his work ethic and mobility was very pleasing. He will give Biglands a run for his money.


I'm a little concerned over Maric and Thompson, as they've yet to be involved in any main work.

Thanks for the report Bockchoy - good work.

I'm glad you were impressed with my man Van Berlo - he's certainly given me a buzz so far.

Plus my two big improvers - Huddo and Reilly. Reilly looks all class and Huddo looks so much more an AFL footballer due to increased fitness.

Maric doesn't worry me - a known bit of tendonitis, and it'll be a couple of years before he plays AFL footy.

But what gives with Thompson?? Does anyone know??