I headed down to Waverley this morning for the first session of 2015. It was a cool and sometimes sunny, sometimes overcast morning, so perfect conditions for footy.
It was a long session, I left after 2 hours and more than half the players were still going. I will give you my observations as best I can, in no particular order.
Ball up and throw in drills – this drill featured two teams and had Big Boy and Ceglar on opposite teams competing in either a ball up or throw in situation with about 8 other guys around them, the object being to get the clearance. Other guys in this group were Hill, Hartung, O’Rourke, Lewis, Woody, Kurt, Duryea, Frawley and I think Miles.
- Billy Hartung was a standout, getting clearances and breaking free from the pack over and over again. Billy was a standout in all drills, not just this one. He seems ready to tear the competition a new one.
- Woody was a tackling machine, at the bottom of every pack and at one stage wrapping up Frawley in a massive bear hug and driving him into the turf, getting massive praise from Cam Bruce. Can’t help but think of Brad Sewell with better skills.
- O’Rourke’s inside work was good, dishing the ball out of congestion to Hill who then ran free on numerous occasions. I like the look of him he seems to make quick decisions that are generally right.
- The big surprise for me was Kurt Heatherly. Kurt was going third man up and getting the ball into his teammates’ hands repeatedly then following up with aggressive tackling. He has a real angry streak and he looks much bigger across the chest and shoulders. On top of this his kicking has really improved. Short and long kicks are accurate and he has good hands. Maybe a game or two in 2015?
- Duryea’s clearance work was also impressive. Took me a while to figure out who it was as I wasn’t expecting to see him doing clearance work. Looks to have midfield potential.
- Rucks – Both Ceglar and McEvoy look very fit and were contesting well. I had to give the edge to Ceglar this morning as his taps were going to the right spots a bit more. Could he become our No. 1?
Running Drills – Repeated 200 meter sprints, couldn’t see all groups as they were spread out all over the oval. Bradley Hill beat his group every time, Shiels was a close second on all occasions. Hartung beat his group every time with Miller-Lewis finishing way behind all the others. I would suggest that Fitness will be a real focus for him.
Rookies – Hardisty is a really solid unit. He looks like he would be very hard to bring down. He has clean hands and a good flat and fast kick. Very clean picking the ball up off the ground while running full tilt.
Miller Lewis is very raw. As I said before needs to get fitter but he has some real x factor about him. Took an awesome mark on the run in front of goal from a long kick, he leaped way up in the air with arms fully extended and took it with ease, he also seems to be fairly quick but I reckon he will take some time to adjust to AFL level.
Langford Jnr didn’t look out of place in any of the drills and seems to have a lot of confidence. Very chirpy and talking constantly to the other guys.
Grimley looked awesome. During the match simulation he was grabbing contested marks and running guys down. With his size and pace he could be a great player, but he always looks good in January. If he can do this during a game, consistently, we have a player.
Other general observations:
Zac Webster was impressive during match play simulations. Good mark, good kick and quick.
Frawley is huge!!
Shem is huge and was participating in the main drills, so seems to be injury free.
Hill was super impressive. So ridiculously fast and just keeps going. Was watching him at one end and then did a double take when he popped up at the other extreme end of the ground about fifteen seconds later and still delivers a pin point kick.
Spang did lots of boxing as did Schoe, but both also participated in some drills.
Whitecross was in full training with the main group, no bandages – awesome to see.
Rioli looks to be fully fit and firing. Couldn’t be tackled. The only time he hit the ground was when he slipped over
Hartung was the standout overall. He was like Bradley Hill this time last year, you could just see that he was ready to explode.
This is all I have for now but will add anything else that I remember.
It was a long session, I left after 2 hours and more than half the players were still going. I will give you my observations as best I can, in no particular order.
Ball up and throw in drills – this drill featured two teams and had Big Boy and Ceglar on opposite teams competing in either a ball up or throw in situation with about 8 other guys around them, the object being to get the clearance. Other guys in this group were Hill, Hartung, O’Rourke, Lewis, Woody, Kurt, Duryea, Frawley and I think Miles.
- Billy Hartung was a standout, getting clearances and breaking free from the pack over and over again. Billy was a standout in all drills, not just this one. He seems ready to tear the competition a new one.
- Woody was a tackling machine, at the bottom of every pack and at one stage wrapping up Frawley in a massive bear hug and driving him into the turf, getting massive praise from Cam Bruce. Can’t help but think of Brad Sewell with better skills.
- O’Rourke’s inside work was good, dishing the ball out of congestion to Hill who then ran free on numerous occasions. I like the look of him he seems to make quick decisions that are generally right.
- The big surprise for me was Kurt Heatherly. Kurt was going third man up and getting the ball into his teammates’ hands repeatedly then following up with aggressive tackling. He has a real angry streak and he looks much bigger across the chest and shoulders. On top of this his kicking has really improved. Short and long kicks are accurate and he has good hands. Maybe a game or two in 2015?
- Duryea’s clearance work was also impressive. Took me a while to figure out who it was as I wasn’t expecting to see him doing clearance work. Looks to have midfield potential.
- Rucks – Both Ceglar and McEvoy look very fit and were contesting well. I had to give the edge to Ceglar this morning as his taps were going to the right spots a bit more. Could he become our No. 1?
Running Drills – Repeated 200 meter sprints, couldn’t see all groups as they were spread out all over the oval. Bradley Hill beat his group every time, Shiels was a close second on all occasions. Hartung beat his group every time with Miller-Lewis finishing way behind all the others. I would suggest that Fitness will be a real focus for him.
Rookies – Hardisty is a really solid unit. He looks like he would be very hard to bring down. He has clean hands and a good flat and fast kick. Very clean picking the ball up off the ground while running full tilt.
Miller Lewis is very raw. As I said before needs to get fitter but he has some real x factor about him. Took an awesome mark on the run in front of goal from a long kick, he leaped way up in the air with arms fully extended and took it with ease, he also seems to be fairly quick but I reckon he will take some time to adjust to AFL level.
Langford Jnr didn’t look out of place in any of the drills and seems to have a lot of confidence. Very chirpy and talking constantly to the other guys.
Grimley looked awesome. During the match simulation he was grabbing contested marks and running guys down. With his size and pace he could be a great player, but he always looks good in January. If he can do this during a game, consistently, we have a player.
Other general observations:
Zac Webster was impressive during match play simulations. Good mark, good kick and quick.
Frawley is huge!!
Shem is huge and was participating in the main drills, so seems to be injury free.
Hill was super impressive. So ridiculously fast and just keeps going. Was watching him at one end and then did a double take when he popped up at the other extreme end of the ground about fifteen seconds later and still delivers a pin point kick.
Spang did lots of boxing as did Schoe, but both also participated in some drills.
Whitecross was in full training with the main group, no bandages – awesome to see.
Rioli looks to be fully fit and firing. Couldn’t be tackled. The only time he hit the ground was when he slipped over
Hartung was the standout overall. He was like Bradley Hill this time last year, you could just see that he was ready to explode.
This is all I have for now but will add anything else that I remember.
