Training 2024 training updates.

[watt price tully]

Jen has attended all training sessions (excluding today I presume), and is in a far better position than me to comment, but from where I sat, Beau McCreery was the tearaway of preseason training. This time last year he was still not cemented in the 22, at least not for me, heck a couple of posters, I wish I could recall who you are, suggested he was "soft". Twelve months on he is a premiership player who looks ready to progress to the next level. He displayed an intensity and ferocity this week that I loved. Sitting on the fence I could hear the crunch of his tackles. So Beau gets my 5 stars.
My partner in crime selected Ash Johnson. Ash worked hard and looks to be really invested. That's been my question on him. I hope for our sakes that he can go the next step.

Of the newbies, the coaches will name those that have an upside yet to be seen due to lack of opportunity, or perhaps through injury. Jack Bytel looks like a footballer; he is strong, has endurance, pretty good on both sides and has developed his pace - he led or was close to leading, all of the 50 metre sprints I watched. Does that make him one of our selections? It does to me - I penciled him in on Monday. As a quick, big-bodied inside mid, he could be the Tay Adams replacement

Of the others hoping for a pick-up, Campbell Hustwaite would have to be in with a chance. We already know his game, personality and peccadillos. It would look a bit odd to know him so well, invite him in, and then not pick him up wouldn't it? I can't see a spot for him though.

Eyre: I didn't see enough from him, except that he looked pretty mobile and took a few contested grabs. Do we need him? We picked up Billy last year and Billy is just as mobile and appears stronger and more aggressive. Eyre is probably stronger overhead.
Brynn Teakle: on paper he's a chance because of his versatility, but he didn't stand out to me. Mr Apples reckons he's in though.
Do we pick a possible McStay replacement?
Sam Sofrinidis: I can't comment on this bloke. He gets wraps from outsiders, but even with binoculars, I just didn't see him do anything. What did Jack Dyer say? "He seems to go where the ball 'aint'". Well that's my take on Sam. The talk though is strong.
Lachie Sullivan: 25 and not picked up by the Bulldogs. Not a great sign. On the positive side, he's a real leader and had a great season in the VFL. He's a big bodied mid and so I reckon it's him or Bytel. We only have Mitchell in that mould and if he goes down we would be in trouble now that Adams has gone.

I'm assuming we have 4 picks, but will keep one for midseason. We didn't get to see any real match play. It would have been great to be a spy at Wesley today as I reckon we would have tried out a few boys and a few game modifications. Why else would we go the secrecy route?

If I were to take a guess, it would be Bytel, Teakle/Eyre and Sofrinidis.

Training Report: Fri 15th Dec -Wesley College, G.W.

When I read this morning that training would be at Wesley Glen Wav, I put off mowing the lawn and instead walked the 5 mins from home to Wesley College. Got there just on 10:00am and proceedings were already well under way. I stayed until they finished up at about 11:10.
The playing area at the school is enormous. Two full size ovals with vast spaces between and around them -one big, open space. The surface looks like a bowling green.
In the time I was there, we were taking full advantage of the space, with the squad split up into small groups/teams and mainly practicing a variety of competitive drills. As they were so spread out, it was tricky to keep an eye on all groups at once.
As far as I could make out, Pendles and Billy were absent. Billy maybe still celebrating his 'Life Membership' from last night! Most other veterans were present -Sidey, Howe, Mitchell, Crispy.
I.Q. and Kreuger were doing continual 100m run-throughs on the side of the area for about 20mins. De Mattia and Jiath didn't take part in any of the competitive drills I saw -they were working on their kicking skills with a trainer down at the Syndal station end of the field. Both seem to have fluent kicking styles and can cover a reasonable distance. They were joined by I.Q. after he had finished his running. The youngsters then joined Nath Murphy and (I think) Ned Long in marking practice with the marking bag. Murph looked very comfortable and assured, timing each jump and grab perfectly. De M and Jiath demonstrated that they both have a good spring. De M more prepared to use his hands and grab the ball at it's highest point, Jiath often jumped high, but grabbed it on his chest. Ned Long looked a bit less co-ordinated, sometimes mis-timing his jump and taking it after he had returned to the ground.
For about 20 mins, I watched one group practicing centre clearance drills up at the High St Rd end. Two teams of 8. It seemed to contain most of our key on-ballers and our 4 main rucks. Cox and Cameron in black v Begg and Steene in white, one on ground at a time. As expected, Cox and Cameron both out-bodied Begg & Steene in the hit outs, giving advantage to the black on-ballers (De Goey, Finn Mc, Sidey, Crispy, Bytel). Begg did fight hard in 'Grundy-like' fashion and won some secondary clearances on his own. Fin Mc seemed busy for the black side and got a fair share of the ball. The other one that impressed was Bytel. He was quite vocal and often giving directions to his teammates where to stand as they were setting up plays. He won a number of clearances and showed sharp skills in possession chains. Whenever a side lost possession, they had to drop to the ground and do a number of push-ups. At one stage, Nick D was tackled, resulting in him kicking the ball out of bounds. His white team (with Josh D, Mitchell, Allan and Schultz) all hit the deck and started their penalty, with Jordy giving Nick D a good-hearted verbal spray.
There were other match simulation drills a bit further away from where I was standing. Mostly they were starting from the backline and moving the ball forward. Those that caught my eye included Eyre, who got to a number of contests down back and took a couple of good intercept marks. Reef Mc was leading well from deep forward and held a couple of marks. Bobby H took another speckie -similar to his Grand Final effort. Johnny F Noble was noticeable with his dash from defence. He was the only one I saw take a running bounce during the simulation. Ed Allan won a bit of the ball out on the wing. He's now almost as tall as Begg. If his play can match his physique, he'll be in for a great career.
As they kept swapping jumpers and numbers (from black to white and vice versa) and also shifting groups over the large playing space, it was hard to spot all the newbies. I didn't notice Hustwaite, Sullivan, Sofranidis or Teakle. Hopefully someone else who was there can fill in those blanks.
Jakob Ryan showed a bit of dash on occasions, but finished the session with an ice-pack on his knee. It didn't look too serious, as he was walking freely and looked to be in good spirits.

And Eyre is the same age as Darcy was in 2017/2018


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Hi Jen, how has Oscar Steene been training?

 

[sr36]

And Eyre is the same age as Darcy was in 2017/2018


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And the same age as Tone Lockett when he was 20.

 

[live fast pieyoung]

He played VFL for us last season so the Bombers delisted him when he was 20 the same as long from Hawthorn, 2 yrs in the system for a tall is not very much time to develop IMV.

I saw Eyre a few times in the VFL and he looked okay but I think he is definitely ramping it up in this pre season,he looked good in those drills Jen has been showing.

what was the knock on Long at the hawks?
seems strange they cut him so quick

 

[live fast pieyoung]

And the same age as Tone Lockett when he was 20.

nah. Tony Lockett was 38 when when he was 20.

 

[Jen2310]

Hi Jen, how has Oscar Steene been training?

Pretty good. He's filled out in the upper shoulders a little bit. He's playing down forward with little bits in the ruck now Cox/DC are back.

 

[Hardas]

How's Charlie Dean going, track watchers?

 

[Harry O]

Lol, not surprising Charlie was mentioned as one of the best trainers by a student. He went to school at Wesley & coached their footy team.

Was school captain and captain of school cricket first eleven and football first 18. Probably plays golf off scratch too….

 

[ElliottsMaggies]

Was school captain and captain of school cricket first eleven and football first 18. Probably plays golf off scratch too….

He's very talented. Hopefully he's got that foot right now. He was the one I was most excited about us getting way back then... fingers crossed, 2024 is his year to show us his potential

 

[Mollythedolly]

If you understand the game and then you observe it consistently. It’s a fact

If you understand what a fact is, then it’s an opinion.

 

[sr36]

If you understand what a fact is, then it’s an opinion.

That's a fact!

 

[Hardas]

How's Charlie Dean going, track watchers?

Is there anybody out there, there, there, ther...

 

[neilk]

Was school captain and captain of school cricket first eleven and football first 18. Probably plays golf off scratch too….

Bastard!

 

[Jen2310]

How's Charlie Dean going, track watchers?

he's going well. Using him as a second tall, on the flank when playing in the same side as Eyre.

 

[Harry O]

Bastard!

That was just an assumption. He could be crap at golf. But he might be one of those annoying guys good at every sport , with a 99 Atar , etc etc

 

[lyfsux]

There have been plenty of absolutely awful premiership players who have been in the right place at the right time. Frampton being a premiership player really speaks little about his quality and more about our lack of options for the role that needed to be filled.

Jack Ginnivan to name another

 

[Apex36]

Jack Ginnivan to name another

The Ginnivan hate is getting pathetic. Kid had a down year, doesn’t mean he’s a bad player. He’ll do well at the Hawks.

 

[Jen2310]

The Ginnivan hate is getting pathetic. Kid had a down year, doesn’t mean he’s a bad player. He’ll do well at the Hawks.

He deserved that premiership after the role he played the last few years. Premierships are a combination of a journey not in one day.


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[Jen2310]

Boys are training at morwell east football club atm


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[Jen2310]

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[Jen2310]

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[ElliottsMaggies]

He deserved that premiership after the role he played the last few years. Premierships are a combination of a journey not in one day.


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Same as Frampton. The roles he played for us during the year when we had no rucks & in defence.. undoubtedly helped us win games.

 

[Jen2310]

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[Jen2310]

 

[Vinnie Vegas]

Boys are training at morwell east football club atm

That'll be nice for Tew, getting to train in his home town.

 

[Jen2310]

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