freo84
Norm Smith Medallist
That was exquisite!Training Notes
Sorry for the long post but I'm on a very boring training Zoom hookup and this is better.
So....I MADE IT. I was there and the players were too and we were both there at the same time and everything! Also, it was Hot.
Finally (as far as preamble goes) I had too many people ring me during the watching so apologies to the Huski King for not seeking you and your boy out, people are idiots when you give them phones and no one thinks for themselves any more at work so I was dealing with them too often.
Anyway...training was fun to watch. They started in groups of 9 doing the close confines handball drill where decision making, close checking and getting out of tight spots is the go. Off to the side was Chappy working with the S&C gurus and doing modified program work for the day. Bailey came in and out of the drills and also did time with those guys and Chappy.
The African bloke queried in the photo the other day was there again and I did NOT place him at all. I ended up working it tout though. He is definitely not Seb, Walker or Draper. Turns out it is Freddy with a brand new do. He had a good day.
They did match sims of about 15min periods or so interspersed with more drill work. I saw 3 of them before leaving and I’ll get to the sims later on. The drill work was interesting in one of the breaks. Rather than the close confines drill they were split in to 4 units. 2 teams worked against each other on balls coming in deep to the square and then from the drop either scoring or moving the ball out, depending on who won the spilled contest. The other 2 worked against each other moving the ball from the wing in to the forward 50. The units were regularly mixed up in terms of personnel.
The constant in these drills was that Fyfe was deep forward in his work, Tabs deep forward in the other. Hamling deep defensively and Moose as well in the other mob. Mids were rotated around in terms of matchups but Serong, Brodie, Brayshaw, Ras and Johnno were always in there.
Wings in these drills and also match sims were Liam, Noddy, Colyer, Aish and a young kid they called Ando who looks about 15 but held his own. He made a couple of terrible entries forward but also had a beauty to Fyfe at the top of the square. I didn't see Williams in the sims but he was active in the drills and was so good with delivery by foot. Very small dude at the moment though. Encouraging in his delivery and decisions.
Kuek is pretty handy in close. He’s a bit easy to tackle at the moment but he’ll get harder for others to cling on too in tackles soon. He’s got good hands low and makes pretty good decisions in tight. Clark is so good at getting out in to space and almost as good at getting hold of the pill and finding the best option.
No JOM out there at all that I saw. Same goes for Wagner and Reidy. Interestingly I believe Tom Emmett WAS out there despite the news he had an injury. If not him we have another guy training with us who is similar in looks and position and is called Tommy.
Amiss trained but didn’t play in the sims. I thought he did initially but it turned out to be Serong Jnr. Amiss was active, tidy and effective in the drills and was in good spirits. His field kicking is great. As we play him more and he develops we’ll be able to use him high and benefit from his smarts and skills moving the ball forward. As his tank develops he may even be able to do the odd Nick Riewoldt move of being used on the way out of D50 and then kicked too on the way in to F50 with some elite gut running. He’s got much better skills by foot than NR so it’s possible if he develops the tank.
Points of Interest
Fyfe also deep forward in the sims as well as the drills. Was looked for a bit too often in the early going and better options were burned when people went to him. Treacy in particular more than twice but also Sturt and Emmett copped it too when in better spots.
This may only be news to me but Johnno is a BIG unit now. He’s bigger than Ras already and that wasn’t the case at draft time I didn’t think. MJ has put on bulk for sure and certain since the draft (as you’d expect) but he’s done it quicker than I thought. He’s got an AFL ready rig right now. Again, I may have mis-identified him but in the early going he was on team black and in orange boots so KH or other watchers may be able to correct me if I’m wrong . He’s also grown out his hair since I last saw him so I was sure it was Ras when I first got there until they called him Johnno. This kid is a beast already. He was good in close, handled the physical gear well and was busy around the joint. Had a couple of poorly directed kicks and was one of the guys who burnt the forwards by taking a poorer option going forward but man he is impressive. UPDATE – it was Johnno confirmed in the Tweets posted by Matto. What a steal that kid looks right now.
Ras was about the place too. He had a couple of very nice moves forward and his kicking was a lot neater today than when last I saw him. He didn’t seem to get as much of it as Serong, Bray, Johnno and Brodie but he may well have if I missed some in close. He moved around the ground well, got to good spots and was tidy with the ball. Basically anything I thought of Johnno and Ras previous to today was reversed in what I saw today.
Liam and Noddy started on the wing on my side of the ground (opposite side to the ARC). The ball didn’t get out there much at all and I was readying myself for having to defend Liam for being quiet. During this period I watched him and Nod closely. They both moved up and down the ground at pace and in step with each other. Noddy covers the ground a little better but not by a lot – longer legs helps. I was very pleased to notice how engaged Liam was. He got burnt as an outlet option 3 times at my end (carpark) by Pearce, Cox and Young after making long or long-ish leads to give options and didn’t drop his head at all. Moose gave him some positive reinforcement for his leads each time, even when he himself chose another option. Twice Liam’s leads opened up some space which the guys with the ball used to go to another option. He also made ground fast and hard to spoil what was looking like an easy outlet from defence at the other end and made a contest of it. He was engaged and involved all day and ended up getting the ball quite a bit in the sim and the drills they did. I came away encouraged as I thought he bettered both Noddy and Aish across all the sims. He wasn't a star but he was effective I thought.
Sturt was unlucky today. He was active without the ball and when his mob had it, he made good spots up forward and had the ball go over his head 3 times to his defender. Would’ve been frustrating for sure. Corbett was just as active and dangerous but had better delivery. Sometimes in the same team, sometimes at the other end. Corbett was used better and was up higher being utilised coming out of D50. Solid performance from them both.
Freddy got 2 goals from making dangerous space and getting good delivery. One a kick from Sonny where I’d have preferred Walters to kick it himself but Sonny was generous and Freddy made it pay off.
Cox was wearing a glove which was strange but didn’t seem to be favouring anything as far as the hand goes. He is so casual as to be annoying (to me). He looks disinterested or “too cool for max effort” as an old coach of mine would say. I admit I hate it and it has cost us a goal or 2 in games already, thankfully not cost us a game though. I just hope it never does. Having said that he was, as usual, highly effective today and was very solid and made no basic or effort-based mistakes at all. Him and Pearce looked solid, as did Hamling.
Having said that about the defenders, Treacy looked so handy today too. He has a presence we lack and maybe have never had. He’s physical up front but he’s also a dangerous goal kicker. He’s aggressive and active and, for some reason, is so often over-looked. Amiss was out there today but wasn’t in everything and not in any of the sims but anyone who queries why Amiss is being looked over by some who want Treacy (Snuff) is not seeing what I saw at training today. I think we need both myself but I’ll post more on that in the relevant B22 thread.
Tabs was there but went at about 66% effort for most of the sims. Given his experience etc I’m not phased by that. He did some goal kicking during breaks and when not involved in the drills. Joining him for that was Sonny and Banfield. Sonny was a level ahead of the other 2 by some margin in the ones I saw.
Kuek got on the end of a nice passage of play and took a nice strong overhead grab at full stretch. His set shot that followed it was something only Darren Glass could match. Horrible execution. However, he was also active and without dominating was certainly making his presence felt. Moves so well and as he bulks he’ll have more and more of an impact.
There was a kid called Hewy out there too, he got exposed a bit. Once in the goal square where he took possession as a defender but was then set upon by Fyfe who before he knew it had ripped the ball away and snapped at goal (hit the post). Poor kid was given a real “welcome to the big league” moment.
Darcy and Jackson played against each other in most of the ruck stuff. Darcy had the better of the hitouts and they nullified each other around the ground. LJ was dangerous on the ground at a few stoppages and Darcy got himself a shot on goal which he also tanked but whilst both were effective, neither dominated which is what you’d expect I guess.
Maxy and the Next Gen kid Edwards rucked a bit against each other too, mostly in the drills. Edwards was up to it and looks likely. Knobel was pretty good too, probably more project than possible player at this stage but he wasn’t bad at all.
Serong Jnr was making good leads and got burned twice too. He’s a good size and had to deal with Luke Ryan on him so no favours at all. Nothing about him stood out but he was making good leads and worked well without the ball. He and Sonny seem to have a good friendship.
Our other train-on chance in Stubbs is a solid unit. Big arse and legs but moves well. Got a bit of it in the sims and was pushing it inside 50 on a few occasions. He wasn’t stellar but he held his own. He’s a dead ringer for Jones from Port. If he makes the grade there’s a chance they’ll ply on each other and that’ll be a fun watch.
Surprisingly, as this is a preseason match, Banfield was poor. He had one shot on goal from a free after he dropped a mark and then fumbled the ball when picking it up and got tackled without it. He gave away a lazy free kick and watched guys run off him to dangerous spots multiple times. Pre-season is meant to be his go so this was a shock. The guy next to me counted 3 turnovers in 5mins from him but I can’t verify that.
Aish was quiet and got exposed a bit by Henry on a couple of forays forward. Nothing too worrying there and hopefully Liam does that to others in AFL games this year. Aush did kick a ripper of a set shot goal from outside 50. Class finish. Didn’t know he had that much leg.
Also quiet was Switta. He did get on the end of one passage of play and had a snap at goal (missed) but I also don’t think he was out there for the whole of training.
I’m not the biggest Schultz fan and actually see him as a likely out in terms of B22 if some guys come on like we hope. Having said that he has improved so much since he started. He was good at times today and started some good moves forward with good contested ball and clean and quick disposals.
Play of the day for me was from (I believe) Tom Emmett. He chased down a very open Ethan Hughes from the wing to the forward 50 and put a lot of pressure on Hughes at the end who then missed the kick at goal from about 35. He was absolutely busted up after this chase but presented for the kickout with a good lead that got ignored by Pearce who instead went ARC side. Their team kept possession and ended up switching the ball to Emmett’s side. He got involved in the play and then ended up being on the end of move inside F50 from Fyfey and kicked a goal. Top effort from him. He got a big wrap from those nearby for the chase but to see him get on the end of it up forward and convert after that long and effective chase was outstanding in my view. Very likely type is Tommy.
Fyfe started and played decent time deep forward but also came up high as well and was good in the clinches a couple of times. When up higher he was responsible for 2 shots on goal after moving it forward. Was good. I thought we went over board a bit when going forward in terms of going to him too much but he was good enough to make it work a lot of the time.
Brodie was ever present around the ball. Got caught couple of times but I liked that he was tring to get away from the contest with his legs. I hope he keeps trying and developing that. He was untidy kicking the ball forward a few times and has to improve there. He was good getting his hands on it and good getting rid of it by hand on many occasions today in the drills and the sims. He would be looing over his shoulder at Johnno and even Ras though. There’s not a huge gap there from what I saw today (small sample size alert!).
Finally from me is the note that Clark and Young took a lot of kickouts. Now Pearce did too (ewww) and Cox had a couple but Young in particular was so beautifully damaging with his. One in particular was stunning. He kicked it 50m just over the outstretched hand of a would-be spoiler and in to the waiting hands of his teammate. Priceless D50 outlet. It was then moved on quickly and his team we 80m from goal in no time. To the credit of our other guys, we held it up well from there but by Jeebus his left will be a weapon if they use it from the square regularly enough.
Clark’s were good too and he seemed to want to kick it in and then take off for the give back by hand. Our guys were well aware of, and ready for it but other teams may not be. It’ll be a good variation to use at times.
DRAGONS FFC 
