Training Training Thread 2023

[King Corey]

reckon you guys have been a bit tough on Corr, I'm giving the entire squad minus one of course a fresh start.
We will see of course.

Agree he turned out a pretty handy player.

Add in our complete cluster of a midfield and the fact Ben McKay missed some weeks so we had 0 genuine KPDs and he was better than handy.

He's a typical professional defender, consciously does everything in the contest including positioning etc to advantage his team. He'll get beaten by bigger, stronger or quicker opponents but he won't get beaten from lack of attention or application.

 

[DesertRoo]

Goater wasn't great today apparently.

Think our back six rd 1 will be close to this


McDonald McKay Bonar
Perez Dawson ( yikes) Sheezel

Bench chances for Hall & Young.

Seems both Logue and Corr to miss through injury

Round 1 is going to be a fascinating match up,
Straight up Larkey and Chomp get McGovern and Barrass, those two have played a lot of football together, as bad as wce have been they’ve still got an awful lot of premiership players running around.

 

[Psicosis]

Sheezel to take TT's spot down back.

He's literally said pre draft they tried it at Sandy last year and he was shocking at it.

 

[zoomba23]

Round 1 is going to be a fascinating match up,
Straight up Larkey and Chomp get McGovern and Barrass, those two have played a lot of football together, as bad as wce have been they’ve still got an awful lot of premiership players running around.

McGovern is an overrated 1 on 1 defender anyway. I mean, what does it say about him that he played last year against us but they chose to put a WAFL ruckman on Larks instead. He's at his most effective when he can float into the contest and pick balls off without worrying about a man. Mind you, I spose Larkey's poor contested marking cancels that out. Clash of the titans that matchup will not be

 

[The acurate one]

He's literally said pre draft they tried it at Sandy last year and he was shocking at it.

Well the likes of Bonar, Perez, Young, Turner, Walker have all made a decent fist of not being much good at it either.
We will see, hey aways to go yet before rd 1.

 

[berniemccarthy]

I’d be surprised if Ziebell doesn’t start the year back from what we’ve seen so far.

Seems to be a bit of a revolving door back there at the moment. McDonald, McKay and Ziebell have been staples. The rest have rotated between teams.

Has your mate got any mail on Taylor, Hall and Powell?

Taylor looked very proppy just walking around.

 

[DesertRoo]

McGovern is an overrated 1 on 1 defender anyway. I mean, what does it say about him that he played last year against us but they chose to put a WAFL ruckman on Larks instead. He's at his most effective when he can float into the contest and pick balls off without worrying about a man. Mind you, I spose Larkey's poor contested marking cancels that out. Clash of the titans that matchup will not be

Accuse my ignorance, are you referring to the start of the season? where he was coming back from injury and they were playing a team where half a dozen were picked from the crowd?

 

[Psicosis]

Well the likes of Bonar, Perez, Young, Turner, Walker have all made a decent fist of not being much good at it either.
We will see, hey aways to go yet before rd 1.

Drafting a small forward with pick 3 and sending him to the backline ain't the wisest move IMHO

A wise man once said, oh well indeed

 

[Passmore]

Taylor looked very proppy just walking around.

I reckon it’s been 2 weeks minimum since I’ve seen him training with the squad.

 

[Passmore]

Drafting a small forward with pick 3 and sending him to the backline ain't the wisest move IMHO

A wise man once said, oh well indeed

 

[The acurate one]

I’d be surprised if Ziebell doesn’t start the year back from what we’ve seen so far.

Seems to be a bit of a revolving door back there at the moment. McDonald, McKay and Ziebell have been staples. The rest have rotated between teams.

Has your mate got any mail on Taylor, Hall and Powell?

oh yes JZ I did forget about him, add him in. Push one of Young or Perez off the bench.

Taylor- he's a fan and I'm not really lol. Reckons he's in the mix for a wing. we don't really chat about him.

Hall- is just Hall another I'm not really interested in, we all know his capabilities.

Powell- well now we do chat about him. I was so down on him after last season. But ol mate loves his attitude since al clarko has taken over and has him ahead of Phillips. He is going great guns apparently.

 

[shimaburnsgrieg]

Went down to Arden St today and was pleased to see a full match get underway at 9.30am.

Effectively 1sts v 2nds for the first half so the scoreboard was very lopsided - players were thrown around a bit in the second half. No shows were Hall, Powell, Curtis Taylor plus the usual customers in Tucker, Corr and Howe. Corr wasn't even doing the rehab running so that is quite concerning.

Of interest was

. Logue started off like a house on fire (for 5 minutes) then straight off with that finger injury. However just that 5 mins showed us what he and BMac could be capable of in the defensive 50.
. Sleevo and Young started in the yellows (the VFL side) but had turns in the AFL side in the second half. Young did well - Sleevo did little and doesn't really look best 23 right now.
. The starting AFL midfield was 3 of Cunners, LDU, Greenwood and Phillips - Simpkin played mainly as a forward. Cunners got caught htb a few times but was good overall; LDU was running at half pace but easily the best player afield and Phillips was classy without racking up a major quantity of possessions. Greenwood was very good again today.
. On Sheezel - again did basically nothing in the forward 50 - looks lost in that area of the park. But in the second half had bursts in the middle and then off half back - looked much more comfortable/aware in these positions. His foot skills are un North like ie he is hitting targets 50 meters away with perfectly spinning drop punts. With his skill level he will be a weapon - the question is where.
. Wardlaw was in the rehab group for the warm up but I thought it was him (or someone who looked like him) getting good hard earned possessions in the middle for the yellow team (the club will hopefully confirm whether this was Wardlaw or someone from our VFL squad.)
. Chom - yes. Great pack marking and always a threat when the ball was near him - 2 of his big marks were against Dawson in the 2nd qtr. He got pissed off a few times when Eddie Mazda flew with him for the same ball. Played close to goal and was the legitimate FF - Larkey more of a pocket type role. The forward 4 of he, Larkey, PC and Bull will be more threatening this year. We still need to find that 5th and 6th forward - and it better not be Turner who played there today! - but it is looking better than it has for a few years now. If Simpkin does play more forward (as he did today) he would add an extra dimension as well up there.
. Ford could be the 6th forward but unlikely and he would have to play high half forward and not compete with Chom - Taylor in the same boat. Tucker can play there as well but would need to get some match practise pretty soon. Crafty and Spicer played a qtr each and did little - Lazzaro played mainly as a mid for the VFL but when switched to the AFL side and got 2 goals with smart small forward work. Cooper played mainly as a mid for the VFL.
. Rucks - CCJ played mainly as a forward in the VFL side - was ok without knocking the door down. Goldie played about half and was the normal Goldie. The main ruck contest was really Free (VFL) v Xerri (AFL) - Xerri won but Free was no mug and competed hard. If we go 2 rucks then it appears to be Xerri in front atm. Jacob Edwards did nothing as a forward today.
. Wings - Shiels and Bailey for the AFL side. Shiels was quite good - always picking the right option with his disposal. I suspect they will be the wingers round 1.
. Defensive players. Archer was fantastic in Q1 for the AFL side - in fact probably equal BOG with LDU. Didn't do much after that but wasn't beaten either. He certainly is in calculations for a Round 1 match with Corr and Logue in some doubt. He is not slow - I had thought he was - he reads the play well and we know what his aggression is like. LMac, Perez and Bonar also all ok - didn't notice Goater much at all today. Drury - some good things but a couple of errors as well. There are alot of options there for the small/mid sized defender given Hall didn't even play. JZ played the whole game in defence - 3-4 of his usual hack kicks forward but played ok against weaker opposition.
. Coaching. Clarko was hands off today - in the civvies watching from the back. Ratten, Lynch, Blakey, Patch the most visible.

All in all a good hit out and a few questions beginning to be answered.

Assuming Logue and Tucker are ok for Round 1 then it is probably looking like

B LMac BMac JZ
HB Hall Logue Goater
C Shiels Cunners B Scott
HF Simpkin Larkey Tucker
F Curtis Chom Bull
R Goldie LDU Phillips

Int Powell, Greenwood, Archer/Young, Sheezel, Xerri....

 

[Passmore]

oh yes JZ I did forget about him, add him in. Push one of Young or Perez off the bench.

Taylor- he's a fan and I'm not really lol. Reckons he's in the mix for a wing. we don't really chat about him.

Hall- is just Hall another I'm not really interested in, we all know his capabilities.

Powell- well now we do chat about him. I was so down on him after last season. But ol mate loves his attitude since al clarko has taken over and has him ahead of Phillips. He is going great guns apparently.

Injury wise?

 

[HELLSBELLS]

I heard Logue is only a dislocated Pinkie he will all good.

 

[The acurate one]

Drafting a small forward with pick 3 and sending him to the backline ain't the wisest move IMHO

A wise man once said, oh well indeed

hey don't disagree and just sayin it as I hear it. What is clear is we'd invested a lot in TT streaming out of the backline. Sounds like he was going to be a linchpin of sorts.

As the wise man once said,

" oh well indeed"

 

[The acurate one]

I heard Logue is only a dislocated Pinkie he will all good.

Hope you're right I heard a nasty fracture but that was before he was properly examined I assume.

 

[zoomba23]

Accuse my ignorance, are you referring to the start of the season? where he was coming back from injury and they were playing a team where half a dozen were picked from the crowd?

Yes. To be honest I don't think coming back from injury is a huge excuse. Larkey covers ground but he's not quick at all

 

[berniemccarthy]

Turner started there today but it was Sheezel in place of Simpkin

Patch was very involved with that group, coaching Comben on field, explaining where to run and when to fold back to give Larkey space etc. I think it can kick a lot of goals very quickly in games, but it'll probably need time to gel. Curtis & Zurhaar pushing up the ground and delivering with Turner/Sheez at the feet can and should be really effective. Worth noting Turner was really busy today and was hitting his targets well. A lot of praise from Patch

KT always makes himself an option. Takes the simplest outlet. Has put on size. Was fine today.

 

[Passmore]

hey don't disagree and just sayin it as I hear it. What is clear is we'd invested a lot in TT streaming out of the backline. Sounds like he was going to be a linchpin of sorts.

As the wise man once said,

" oh well indeed"

Flyin Flynn was doing a bit of streaming today. One door closes and all that…..

 

[Passmore]

Hope you're right I heard a nasty fracture but that was before he was properly examined I assume.

A teammate dislocated his pinky in juniors once. After some treatment from one of the dads, it was soon fractured.

 

[The Dingrel]

Have had to piss off

With the "vs VFL" and "pre season" caveats

Curtis could be a star. He doesn't look like outwardly the most spectacular player but you can see he has this immense footy brain. He makes good if not great decisions every time he has the football. He is strong in the air, and if he's going to get the fourth best defender he's going to murder them in the air and most probably on the deck. He kicked three goals and set up another two that I saw. Basically did whatever he wanted. Pulled up sore towards the end of the second quarter and was telling Patch he'd stretched his groin. If he stays healthy he will do so much damage

Comben might be the saviour. The trio with Larkey and Zurhaar needs a bit of work, and Patch was right into Chom about where he needed to be, when he needed to lead and when to stay back. I think he just sees football and wants to attack it no matter what. When the craft comes in he will be a really dangerous forward ... Having said all that, Jesus Christ. Should have had three in the first quarter (missed an easy one, dropped a chest mark coming back to goal), and then took two hangers in the second. He has incredible spring off the ground and the ball makes the most audible smack when it hits his hands. He's almost got the man's body now and he doesn't mind throwing it around. He's so hard on himself - anything done slightly wrong and he's head in hands, cursing himself etc. 30-40 goals this year is not out of the question IMO

Blue team dominated. As they should have. Xerri was pretty good in the middle against Free. LDU is often playing a different sport to everyone else. Jy worked up and back and looked generally impactful. Cunners resting forward was interesting, and he had a big say in the latter part of the first quarter. Turner was busy. Scott is an excellent wingman. Sheezel is Luke Breust crossed with Toby Greene with five years of development. Such quick hands and a lovely kick of the footy.

Logue disappeared into the rooms in the first. Didn't see him come back. Dawson did well filling in for him. Logue had a massive punch and then floating back took an intercept. Corr running laps cheered and screamed "that's why we got him". Then Logue just jogged off.

Tucker Howe and Wardlaw all did rehab. George looks like he hates it. Tuckers massive.

Mahony came on in this second half. Spicer was on in the second quarter. Both yellow. Spots at risk from Sheezel, Curtis and Shiels

Seems a massive focus on pushing our forwards up then attacking in transition, sprinting back. Goater, Perez all looking for long kicks to the corridor side of the wing if not the corridor itself. Then the next kick is either a hit up to Larkey/Zurhaar or a long kick to an isolated Larkey/Comben. Curtis & Zurhaar seem to push up to the flanks, leaving the big fellas to sort out leading lanes. Requires sacrifice and a willingness to run to support your teammates. Larkey is good at it. Chom not so much as yet

I think Sonja needs to compose a letter to the whore francis family demanding they return the stolen best first year player award to the club so that it can be duly presented to its rightful owner.

 

[The acurate one]

Injury wise?

oh yeah I don't know but I will enquire, I gather Taylor is injured and Hall.


Oh on Wardlaw - we're currently lengthening his hamstrings. I am sure he will be mighty fine and I think a 6ft 7 Wardlaw could be handy


It has been a great couple of days for us North folk.

I was at training and it was good to see Wardlaw relaxed and taking it all in

 

[Flawed Genius]

.
. Wardlaw was in the rehab group for the warm up but I thought it was him (or someone who looked like him) getting good hard earned possessions in the middle for the yellow team (the club will hopefully confirm whether this was Wardlaw or someone from our VFL squad.)
....

George went inside at about 1.5 quarters into the match sim and came out in runners. Said it was cold as **** and then went back inside. Must have been someone from the VFL running around

 

[The acurate one]

A teammate dislocated his pinky in juniors once. After some treatment from one of the dads, it was soon fractured.

Yeah thanks for reminding me about our old trainer in junior footy, he really liked working on us boys for an extended period.

Oh I was wise enough to say yeah I'm ok thanks.

 

[Reginald0]

I can’t really believe that anyone seeing Goater debut thinks he isn’t an absolute walk up start