Training 2023 Preseason + training discussion

[The Round House Drunk]

Thanks to the training watchers for the amazing write ups. We have the best in the comp, bar none.

To those who have watched the match sims and intra-club scratchy, are there signs that we are moving away from a possession-based game plan to something more slick and direct? Do we still mostly follow the method of handballing away from stoppages, with controlled ball movement in transition?

Obviously it’s all intra club for now and it won’t be until the pre-season games against the SA teams that we’ll get a clearer picture.

I’m really hoping that we’ll evolve to a higher risk/reward style, in order to get our average scores up towards the premiership zone in Squiggle.

Desperate to see or hear about some signs!

 

[Purple Jesus]

Who was the player in grey that took a few bounces along the near wing and kicked a goal?.

That was the big standout to me as well. Smothered Sonny and took off with a few bounces and nailed the finish.

 

[Square Peg]

That was the big standout to me as well. Smothered Sonny and took off with a few bounces and nailed the finish.

The reports seem to indicate that was one of the Peel guys brought in to make up the numbers.

 

[Purple Suit]

That was the big standout to me as well. Smothered Sonny and took off with a few bounces and nailed the finish.

West Reports
“Best player at Freo Scratchy not even on their list”

“Nic Nat dominates bag at impressive scratchy”

 

[Taylor]

Ty Anderson

 

[Purple Jesus]

Ty Anderson

Sign him up.

 

[King Huskii]

West Reports
“Best player at Freo Scratchy not even on their list”

“Nic Nat dominates bag at impressive scratchy”

Nic Nat jokes aside

Jack Darling gets all the media attention from what might be a sprained ankle

Darcey does the same thing and nothing at all in the report. In honesty I'm concerned for Darcey and his durability with his knee looking not great plus his ankle looked bad as he walked into the club rooms after a shint on the chair with the medico

 

[ilikepotatoes]

Sign him up.

His skills are lacking from what I've seen of him.

 

[Purple Suit]

Nic Nat jokes aside

Jack Darling gets all the media attention from what might be a sprained ankle

Darcey does the same thing and nothing at all in the report. In honesty I'm concerned for Darcey and his durability with his knee looking not great plus his ankle looked bad as he walked into the club rooms after a shint on the chair with the medico

It’s hard to tell with Darcy. He gets filthy at any thing he cops. I remember a game when he was subbed out looking like he was done for an extended break if not season and he played the next week.

 

[King Huskii]

It’s hard to tell with Darcy. He gets filthy at any thing he cops. I remember a game when he was subbed out looking like he was done for an extended break if not season and he played the next week.

Absolutely true

But today he just looked laboured and then his ankle looked sore

 

[Flour bag punter]

Thanks to the training watchers for the amazing write ups. We have the best in the comp, bar none.

To those who have watched the match sims and intra-club scratchy, are there signs that we are moving away from a possession-based game plan to something more slick and direct? Do we still mostly follow the method of handballing away from stoppages, with controlled ball movement in transition?

Obviously it’s all intra club for now and it won’t be until the pre-season games against the SA teams that we’ll get a clearer picture.

I’m really hoping that we’ll evolve to a higher risk/reward style, in order to get our average scores up towards the premiership zone in Squiggle.

Desperate to see or hear about some signs!

One aspect I noticed yesterday was at stoppages the handballs between mids as they cleared congestion were very clean. There was plenty of movement (options) and no hand balling to a flat footed player. JOM is a very good mid who releases others.
The game was typically high possession, control the ball however with Swaggy and Jackson there were long outlet kicks to a contest.
The selection of our wing rotations will be critical to the ball movement forward. Both Henry and Johnson looked to move the ball quickly and take it centrally. I noticed Hughes was more careful and took time to find targets which allows defenders to set up.
Henry was the surprise packet of the day. He played the wing role well and was as good at tackling and extracting the ball as he was at holding his width and providing outlet options. JL would have been excited with his development in the role.

 

[Retzlaff]

Sounds like if we could somehow combine the Grey and Purple teams we'd have some sort of Frankenstein superteam

 

[Joao]

We actually make very few mistakes

Out of the entire 80 mins those highlights picked up a big percentage and the media team turned them into part of a highlights package

Yeah probably true although without watching the lot its hard to tell.

 

[Superkoops]

His skills are lacking from what I've seen of him.

Ty Anderson is an excitement machine. Super fast. Problem is when he goes to kick the ball it appears as though his brain is travelling at hyper speed. He often muffs kicks or sprints himself into good space with the secondary component of looking upfield to see players leading not part of the initial equation.

He is quite a good defender and will regularly intercept, smother or cause tackling turnover. That piece of play incl. the beautiful finish and you could hear comments of “gee nice kick” or something to that effect and there was a little bit of element of surprise in those comments.

He is fun to watch when playing for Peel.

 

[Superkoops]

One aspect I noticed yesterday was at stoppages the handballs between mids as they cleared congestion were very clean. There was plenty of movement (options) and no hand balling to a flat footed player. JOM is a very good mid who releases others.
The game was typically high possession, control the ball however with Swaggy and Jackson there were long outlet kicks to a contest.
The selection of our wing rotations will be critical to the ball movement forward. Both Henry and Johnson looked to move the ball quickly and take it centrally. I noticed Hughes was more careful and took time to find targets which allows defenders to set up.
Henry was the surprise packet of the day. He played the wing role well and was as good at tackling and extracting the ball as he was at holding his width and providing outlet options. JL would have been excited with his development in the role.

Good connection i definitely noticed. Players in good position to receive handball when under pressure. Also many times players played on or wheeled around and put the ball out in front of a leading half forward or forward. I think those regular match sims are having a positive effect.

 

[The Round House Drunk]

One aspect I noticed yesterday was at stoppages the handballs between mids as they cleared congestion were very clean. There was plenty of movement (options) and no hand balling to a flat footed player. JOM is a very good mid who releases others.
The game was typically high possession, control the ball however with Swaggy and Jackson there were long outlet kicks to a contest.
The selection of our wing rotations will be critical to the ball movement forward. Both Henry and Johnson looked to move the ball quickly and take it centrally. I noticed Hughes was more careful and took time to find targets which allows defenders to set up.
Henry was the surprise packet of the day. He played the wing role well and was as good at tackling and extracting the ball as he was at holding his width and providing outlet options. JL would have been excited with his development in the role.

Thanks!

Last season we seemed to quite rigidly follow the same method. I’m sure everyone remembers that game against Collingwood in the wet where we kept trying the handball chains v Collingwood playing for territory.

Fingers crossed we add another string to the bow for more in-game flexibility.

 

[Diverbelow]

Ty Anderson is an excitement machine. Super fast. Problem is when he goes to kick the ball it appears as though his brain is travelling at hyper speed. He often muffs kicks or sprints himself into good space with the secondary component of looking upfield to see players leading not part of the initial equation.

He is quite a good defender and will regularly intercept, smother or cause tackling turnover. That piece of play incl. the beautiful finish and you could hear comments of “gee nice kick” or something to that effect and there was a little bit of element of surprise in those comments.

He is fun to watch when playing for Peel.

Can he play wing?. I have only seen him a few times on TV. A racehorse.

 

[Ge3ks]

Henry was the surprise packet of the day. He played the wing role well and was as good at tackling and extracting the ball as he was at holding his width and providing outlet options. JL would have been excited with his development in the role.

He looks physically strong. A lot more solid than the last time I saw him. Must have doubled his weetbix count.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Right-o, got down to the ARC around 9:30

Absentees: Cox, NOD, Colyer, Wagner, Benning, Emmet, Stubbs (I really did try to pick him out, but I couldn’t spot him). Did see Cox emerge from the gym around 3Q time to have a chat with some onlookers.



Teams:

Purple:
Backs: Draper, Pearce, Young, Walker, Worner, Wilson
Mids: Darcy, Brayshaw, Hughes, Aish, Brodier, Conrad Williams, Reidy (rotating forward)
Forwards: Walters, Keuk, Amiss, Switta, Knobel, Corbett, Banners



Grey
Backs: Clark, Davies, Ryan, Hamling, Chapman
Mids: Jackson, Henry, JOM, Johnson, Erasmus, Serong
Forwards:: Fyfe, Tabs, Treacy, Sturt, Freddy, Schultz, Serong Jr

+ A few peel thunder thunder players. No coaching staff this time. I personally didn’t notice any NGA players.

Unlike the last scratchie I attended, there was no swapping at half time into a Best vs Rest. Grey ultimately took home the chocolates with the final score line 44-74 in their favour. Purple rallied late in the 3rd to get within a goal (44-53) but really fell away in the 4th.


Goal kickers: Even spread. Nobody really dominated which I’ve been hoping for.


Amiss x 2 (first lead up and conversion from 40 on a slight angle, second a crumb and snap around the body)

Sturt x 2 (First goal was great hit up from Schultz about 30m out and converted the set shot. Was really impressed by this as Sturt was involved in a switch at HB and really ran hard to present an option up forward. Second goal was a smart crumb off a pack and true snap)

Treacy: Free kick for a push in the contest, Tabs took a really good mark here in the same contest and had to cough it up to JT. Missed a few set shots from range later in the game.

Walters: Good snap in the goal square

Jackson: Great hit up from a centre clearance in the 1st

Taberner: Hit up from freddy and converted 10m out. Really should have had 2 in the 1st quarter, JT as mentioned given the free kick.

Schultz: Solid HTB in the mid point of the 2nd quarter. Looked proppy afterwards, managed to convert. Left the field after the goal and I didn’t sight him after this.

Hamling (50 against Amiss for tackling after the mark was paid to Hamling on the wing)

Freddy (intercept off a walker error when switching)

Darcy: Set shot in the 3rd

Corbett: Set shot in 3rd, is a really nice kick

Keuk: Freakish play in the 3rd. Leapt and tapped it himself, roved and snapped.

Peel player (cracking running goal in the 4th)

Serong: in transition, ran had to goal square and was rewarded on the end of a good passage of play

JOM? (snap out of a ball up, I believe it was him, but was hard to see exactly who kicked it), seems like going off the club report this may have been Freddy.




Player comments:

Instead of the good the bad and the ugly, I figured I might as well comment on each player seeing as readers seem keen to know how some of our less prominent players went.


1. Sturt: Had a much better game than the last sim I attended where he was virtually unsighted. Had two goals. Really does have great goal sense. Had a few moments where he didn’t go hard and his teammates let him know. It was a solid performance, without being spectacular. Is going to have to carry that form into a Peel to crack a game for me

2. JOM: Much like the last scratchy, just doesn’t do anything wrong. Involved in the majority of the CBA’s for the Grey team. Had some good moments with ground ball collects. Got caught HTB by Brayshaw in the 3rd; the only real blemish. He will be a very handy player for us.

3. Serong: Had it on a string all game. Rewarded with a goal on the back of a nice team play. Backing him for a big year.

4.Darcy: Had a nice goal, missed another set shot. Took some nice grabs, dropped another gimme mark in the forward 50 off some nice transition. Gave away a 50m penalty for umpire abuse in the 2nd quarter (BF will definitely censor what he said) Looked a bit below his best in the ruck. I missed whatever happened that lead him to head off the track, hopefully nothing too serious.

5. Schultz: Busy early. Left looking sore after converting a set shot from a HTB free. Didn’t return after he left the field.

6.Clark: Dynamite for the grey team in the 1st half. Dashing, daring and takes the game on. Had some brilliant spoils and defensive plays that earned him the praise of his team-mates. Looks set to build on what was a very impressive 2022.

7. Fyfe: Didn’t click for him today. Played deepest forward for the grey team for the majority of the game. Had a brief stint pushing into the middle during the 2nd quarter. Took a nice grab on the wing. Was mostly impressed by his leadership, was essentially a coach out there directing players around stoppages and in the forward line. When it does click he’s going to make a defender look very average; has the nous, the aerial ability and the skills when the ball hits the deck.

8.Brayshaw: Much like Serong, was racking up the touches at will. Signature chase down on JOM in the 3rd that won a heap of praise.

9. Jackson: Great in the 1st quarter. Took some nice grabs. Has a big leap and great when the ball hits the deck. Don’t think he will dominate games for us atm, but he will dominate for small stretches, which is sometimes all you need.

10. Sonny: A bit quiet today. Remains a vocal leader out there. Had a nice goal and set up a few set shots or dropped marks.

11. Aish: Mr underrated. Did not play on the wing at all today, was essentially at every CBA for the purple team. He’s such a smart player; got a heap of the ball in tight. Just doesn’t burn the ball, makes the right decisions and is very accountable. Had him pencilled in for a wing spot; so not quite sure what this means for his game. Was honestly on par with JOM, Serong and Brayshaw in terms of his influence today.

12. Davies: No hat again. Played a solid game today didn’t have to match up on any KPF monsters. I didn’t see him make any mistakes and he positioned himself well. Has a tidy kick without trying to bite off too much. Doesn’t look over awed out there and is a good size. Makes the loss of Logue hurt a bit less.

13. Ryan: Honestly, I didn’t notice him too much. Didn’t make any mistakes. Conversion overall was good so wasn’t a heap of kick out duties.

14. Wilson: Had the no contact red hat on. Was impressive today with his dash and willingness to take on the game. I don’t currently have him in our best 22 but should we lose a rebounding defender during the season, Wilson is a very handy depth player.

15. Hughes: Played wing all day. Had a few fluffed kicks. Didn’t really stand out to me very much

17.Brodie: Didn’t play a bad game but impressed me the least out of our first choice midfield brigade. That said he does some of his best work in tight and sometimes its hard to appreciate from a distance.

19 Corbett: Lead well early, but was pretty rusty dropping a few marks and missing a few targets with his handballs. Showed his very tidy set shot routine in the 3rd quarter. Has missed a fair chunk of the pre-season so mostly just nice to see him back in full contact

20. Tabs: Should have had 2 early goals. Manned by Pearce most the game so had a hard time of it. Still think a fit and firing tabs can have a big role in our forward line.

21. Hamling: Matched up on Amiss all day and made his life pretty miserable. Does all the sneaky things as a veteran defender. Constantly pushing Amiss under the ball, scrapping off the contest. Evenly split the contest with Amiss kicking 2. Looks fit and ready to plug and play if required

22. Knobel: Still a beanpole. Good leap on him and didn’t get too embarrassed going up against Jackson in the middle. Will be a slow burn but shows that the scope is there

23. Henry: Absolutely loved Liam’s game today. Played winger all game. Held his width and positioning very well. Got on the end of a lot of ball and didn’t burn it. Swept back to help his defenders and as an outlet kick in transition. Stuck some good tackles and pushed into the contest when necessary. I didn’t have him in our best 22 but with NOD absent and Aish spending the game on the inside he really took the role and made it his own. Anyone knocking his game today needs to take their whipping boy glasses off.

24. Amiss: Split the contest evenly with Hamling. Had 2 goals. Was on the losing side which aside from the 3rd quarter struggled a bit with ball movement, so his service wasn’t exactly great. On the plus side playing against a very disciplined and accountable defence is going to do wonders for his development. I still prefer him over Treacy in our round 1 side.

25. Pearce: Played on tabs and held him pretty well. Didn’t take too many marks, mostly spoiled the ball, played within his limits. Occasionally a bit slow with his ball movement, occasionally decided to dash without really assessing his options. Not overly vocal on the field just gets the job done

26. Young: Was good, but by his standards I kinda expected more; which is probably unfair. Pulled off a few brilliant kicks, had a few uncharacteristic mistakes early. I was more impressed by Clark this scratchie if I’m honest. Still think that Young is set to become a perennial AA standard player though.

27. Chapman: Had a tidy game. No stand out moments, no real mistakes.

28. Erasmus: Played a mixture of inside and wing for the Grey team. It’s fairly apparent that his position is as an inside mid, his kicking and decision making just isn’t right for the wing. Had a few bad kicks today in time and space. Wasn’t over awed in the contest and tackled well and extracted the ball from the contest by hand very well. I think he starts at Peel with a directive to work on his kicking and decision making by foot. At this stage he just doesn’t have the versatility to work in any position other than as an inside mid and is behind 4 or 5 others for this spot

31. Walker: Had a bad game early, Got caught HTB and made a poor kick that lead to Freddy intercept and goal. What I liked is that he didn’t drop his head. Continued to take the game on with his dash and had some nice moments in the second half. Was matched up on Freddy; it’s like watching two thoroughbreds go at it.

32. Freddy: Kicked a nice goal off the aforementioned intercept. Had a behind or two on top of that. Rotated onto the wing a bit. I liked that move, Freddy in space is a dangerous thing. An almost game

35. Treacy: Looked good early. Stole the set shot off tabs with free in the contest and converted well. Had some set shots from range early which pulled up short or were out on the full. Tackles hard and always presents a leading option.

37. Draper: Like Davies looked fine at the level. None of the mistakes by foot I saw last time. He’s an athlete and a really good size for an 18 year-old. Probably the most exciting player we drafted this year for me, has a potentially very high ceiling, but conversely has a pretty low floor if things don’t click.

39. Switta. Quiet in the first half, absolutely electric in the 3rd quarter. Moved on ball and just made things happen for the purple team. If we make a GF watch out for Switta in the premiership quarter, he’s just so dynamic and has those patches of brilliance.

40. Worner: Played off HB all game for the purple team. Was solid without being spectacular. Had 1 or 2 HTB decisions against him, but was otherwise tidy by foot. Interested to see how he goes for Peel. Not sure he cracks the first team at Freo, but potentially could at another team that doesn’t have the options (also all relatively young) at half back

41. Banfield: stints forward and on the wing. Honestly, I thought it was a meh game from him. Great bloke and clubman, shouldn’t be getting a game in the seniors unless there are serious injuries

42. Reidy: Was one of the players Fyfe was coaching a lot. Less impressed with him than I was last scratchy, didn’t notice the aggression quite as much. Good depth.

43. Kuek: Had some nice moments. About 0% body fat, but has put on some size, will never be a big hulking forward. Would like to see the club persevere with him for another year, just has that x-factor quality.

44. Johnson: Started the 1st quarter almost exclusively on the wing. Seems more naturally suited to that position than Erasmus. Had 2 poor kicks in the second quarter. Good hands in tight when he attended centre bounces. Had a nice passage in the 4th on the wing in space where he hit up tabs in transition, only for Tabs to miss the set shot. I have him ahead of Erasmus in terms of cracking the best 22 purely because he seems to be a bit more versatile. But that would be in the sub role and you can argue that developing at Peel might be more useful.

45. Williams: Was surprised to see him out there. He is very slight. Didn’t sight him too much, recall one fumble under pressure, wasn’t too overawed for a kid who looks to weigh about 60kg.

Serong Jr: Kicked a behind, didn’t really stand out. With a fairly unremarkable game from him, no Stubbs in sight and relatively healthy list, I suspect we may not sign any SSP players and hold our fire until the mid-season draft.



That’s all folks. Feel free to fire more questions at me.

Wow Thankyou that is a seriously thorough report!

 

[Purpletown]

What a pleasure to spend a leisurely Sunday morning reading all the fantastic reports and insights from our dedicated training watchers. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to keep us all up to speed with team and player developments.

 

[democritus]

Going off the club report it sounds like they’ll do another intraclub next week.

That’ll be four solid hit outs in a row, including the Adelaide and Port pre season matches. As fun as the intraclubs are, you can’t really lose. Really keen to see what the best 22 looks like and who’s really fighting for selection.

Hopefully it’s on Saturday and I can get along to it again. First pre season game is Friday 24th so they may play it on Friday.

 

[Stinky Lomax]

Sounds like Henry has had a pretty good preseason with being solid without spectacular in the match sims. Yesterday the ball finally found his side of the ground & he was able to impact more or he’s reading it better & getting into good positions.

Either way it’s a huge bonus for us if that continues.

 

[King Huskii]

Yeah probably true although without watching the lot its hard to tell.

Yep for sure

I just wanted to let you know that those highlights didn't show the whole story

Like I've previously mentioned our 1st half was sublime. Intensity plus skill execution was as good as I've seen since 2012 match sims.

I did notice one poor handball from Brodie to another mids feet and one turn over kick inside 50 from Young. Having said that both were terrific for the rest of the game. Our second half did drop in intensity.

The players decision making was top shelf and their fitness could improve a little with 5 weeks out.

 

[Ysaye]

Sorry if I missed it but why wasn't O'Driscoll playing?

 

[democritus]

Sorry if I missed it but why wasn't O'Driscoll playing?

Can’t remember where, maybe the West, but apparently is “sore”. Nothing specific, might just be a load management thing.