Training 2025 Pre-Season - Standards are currently being driven

[Themanbun]

Not saying Matt is bigger but let young guys grow so fast at that age you can definitely see changes in a month.

Very few drafted kids these days are proper gym newbies, most have some kind of resistance training under their belt so that kind of blunts the newbie gains effect.

Odds are that he's not bigger, he hasn't noticeably grown, and that this is just lighting or edema, if it's even noticeable at all. I can't say it is.

Give it a few years though and he'll fill out.

 

[DuckYeah]

I'm not talking about North. It's your general commentary on players from all clubs.
You're off them after they miss a couple of targets. Players aren't going to go at 90% efficiency. Most will have a couple of turnovers a game because there's too much pressure in the game.

Thats because they draft runners and not footy players

 

[marklovesbeer]

Drove down to Southport yesterday with my 11 year old. I've been to plenty of club training sessions at Arden St but the access and time given by the players yesterday was absolutely incredible.

Spoke with Paul Curtis for about 15 minutes from all things family to his football. He said the inclusion of Darling will be a great benefit to himself Lakrey Zuhaar ect. Told me Clarko gave them an absolute spray after west coast game last year. Also mentioned the leadership thats being brought in. said that they were all learning a lot from the players that had one flags and what it took to be in a successful team. Parker had also said that north train as hard as sydney. When i asked about what it is that weve been lacking he said it was stuff as simple as a missed tackle or a player being out of position. Said that Sheezel is an absolute freak. I asked what it was about him, mentioned hes not the quickest, fastest or strongest but it just knows where to be always

Watched a few of the boys having snap shots from the pocket with wind blowing across. Almost impossible to kick and watched colby dob 2 out of 5 on his right foot. Blokes a freak.

Griffen Logue seems to bring great energy and banter to the group.

Spoke with the warlord who shaved off the seedy mo. I asked him what he new about north hatred with essendon. Said that L Mac gave a speech in the rooms the first time he played them and reckons the hatred was real (he cant stand them now either haha)

I asked each player who to look out for next year, every single one of them mentioned Colby

From everyone I spoke to yesterday, there seems to have been a massive shift in the perception of where we are at. The confidence is there and the guys seem to really be enjoying themselves.

Thanks for this. Great little read.

 

[Rod Stroker]

View attachment 2188329

In the interview, I reckon Jy said "drive standards" 3 times. Makes you think, how poor were our standards before we brought in these recruits?

 

[DuckYeah]

In the interview, I reckon Jy said "drive standards" 3 times. Makes you think, how poor were our standards before we brought in these recruits?

He sounds different this pre season. Almost relieved

 

[Danni_Benson]

He sounds different this pre season. Almost relieved

Some decent support.

 

[SpiderBurton22]

There is a certain butcher that could do with a run in the vfl on a wing

Is it Tsatas?

 

[The Nostradamus]

Is it Tsatas?

the butcher rivals his kicking

 

[ferball]

We didn't need to move up that badly, we were taking Dawson anyway. If we couldn't do the trade without Fisher we would have likely missed Hardeman or Goad and taken Morris or Mitchell instead. Plus had another pick in the thirties to use or possibly trade for an F2.

So we really can't call it till we see how Goad and Hardeman turn out.

 

[shinboner magic]

the butcher rivals his kicking

One was pick 5 and the other pick 40 +

 

[Rod Stroker]

been crap weather here on GC today, high chance of showers/rain in the morning. hope it's not too bad

 

[Augustine]

I firmly believe that in a flag contenting team, LDU could win you a flag. He has capabilities to turn a quarter and a match in the heat of a final that few in the comp have. He’s an extraordinary talent.

I also firmly believe that LDU has been one of the main reasons we’ve been so shit the last five years. That shell shocked feeling where teams just run over us that we’ve grown so used to, I put a lot of the blame on LDU.

If we can get the right mix of players around the football, we can absorb his lack of defensive accountability. I don’t know if Dustin Martin bothered to lay a tackle from 2017 to the end of his career.

Imagine during the peak meat-grinder years of Cunnington, Swallow, Greenwood, Ziebell if we had an LDU in the mix.

We can’t be all sizzle and no sausage.

This is why George Wardlaw is the key to this rebuild, even more than the generational talent Sheezel

 

[zoomba23]

I firmly believe that in a flag contenting team, LDU could win you a flag. He has capabilities to turn a quarter and a match in the heat of a final that few in the comp have. He’s an extraordinary talent.

I also firmly believe that LDU has been one of the main reasons we’ve been so shit the last five years. That shell shocked feeling where teams just run over us that we’ve grown so used to, I put a lot of the blame on LDU.

If we can get the right mix of players around the football, we can absorb his lack of defensive accountability. I don’t know if Dustin Martin bothered to lay a tackle from 2017 to the end of his career.

Imagine during the peak meat-grinder years of Cunnington, Swallow, Greenwood, Ziebell if we had an LDU in the mix.

We can’t be all sizzle and no sausage.

This is why George Wardlaw is the key to this rebuild, even more than the generational talent Sheezel

Interesting take. I have a response to it which might be complete and utter bullshit, but luckily we all have the right to express our views on this site, no matter how unhinged or debunkable they may be.

I don't agree that he's a defensive witches' hat, but I do agree that he was (generally speaking, not always) subpar defensively before this year. And for the first few weeks this year. But then he picked his act up. You don't lead a team in pressure acts by accident.

I do agree that he's a sizeable contributor to our consistent ability to fade out and has a ton of mental fragility about him, probably induced by his time at the club, but that's more of a vibes-based feeling. When he lined up for his third goal against Richmond, I felt his anxiety from the second tier. I just had this visceral sense that he was doubting his ability to break new ground, having never kicked three before. None of the joy I felt at that goal revolved around the fact that it furthered the margin. It was all around LDU having (just) beaten whatever mental demons were there.

I also get that feeling from Jy. Funnily enough, I don't get it from Zurhaar or Larkey, the remainder of the traumatised core quartet. Maybe it's because the forward line doesn't have to shoulder the burden of having to try and turn the tide back in our favour when things are going south, and therefore don't have the same scarring from opposition onslaughts.

Another evidence-less feeling I have is that Urquhart is gonna end up as a cornerstone of the midfield, perhaps doing the Wardlaw role that you envision. I think Wardlaw might develop a taste for the footy over the defensive stuff. Not to the extent that the explosiveness is absent in his defensive acts, but I think he'll be a little more reserved than we saw in his debut year. Someone like Urquhart, a hard-nosed, defensive hunter without an ounce of silk in his body, could fill that role quite capably, ala Willem Drew at Poorta

 

[Ura]

The big theme this offseason is driving standards. It’s been a message repeatedly said by all who talk to the media.
Reality is last year there was no reason for us to improve. The start of the year shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone. We lost Cunnington, Ziebell, Goldy, McKay, Hall and Turner. We also had no Logue and the most patchwork key backs you will ever see. Our midfield which was our strength had most Center bounces attended by LDU 24, Powell 3rd year and George 2nd year. Also opened with Lazzaro in that mix. After mid year when we went complete rabble Jy and Shiel started to get mid time with Sheez.

This year we have improved across all lines. Darling improvement on Pink, Parker improvement on Shiel and Daniel improvement on Fisher. Kerch 2nd year, George third preseason. Curtis going into 4th season. Our improvement will always come from young guys taking bigger roles and having more preseasons than who we recruit. Thats part of the puzzle but not all.

 

[DuckYeah]

We lost Cunnington, Ziebell, Goldy, McKay, Hall and Turner.

Thomas..

 

[Ura]

Thomas..

Genuinely a huge loss for us at the time.

 

[berniemccarthy]

Genuinely a huge loss for us at the time.

Still is. Blokes like him are rare. His was a bitter pill.

 

[shintemaster]

Parker will definitely play which means a fan fav will be dropped. Question is who.

I had thought with Daniels coming in Colby will move up, but can't see it happening if we need to drop two in the midfield.

Really looking forward to the R1 team announcement.

McKercher will do mid time, nothing surer. We didn't get Daniel to keep McKercher back all year.

Interesting take. I have a response to it which might be complete and utter bullshit, but luckily we all have the right to express our views on this site, no matter how unhinged or debunkable they may be.

I don't agree that he's a defensive witches' hat, but I do agree that he was (generally speaking, not always) subpar defensively before this year. And for the first few weeks this year. But then he picked his act up. You don't lead a team in pressure acts by accident.

I tend to agree, I'd probably say it turned a little earlier in 2023 where we started to see LDU doing more running for possession and actually picking up uncontested ball around the ground. I'm willing to mostly put it down to fitness and being gassed expected to win every hard ball and still be an elite defensive mid - which just doesn't seem realistic. Hopefully with a better balance in there he can just do what he has to when it is his turn without being expected to do everything in there.

 

[Augustine]

Interesting take. I have a response to it which might be complete and utter bullshit, but luckily we all have the right to express our views on this site, no matter how unhinged or debunkable they may be.

I don't agree that he's a defensive witches' hat, but I do agree that he was (generally speaking, not always) subpar defensively before this year. And for the first few weeks this year. But then he picked his act up. You don't lead a team in pressure acts by accident.

I do agree that he's a sizeable contributor to our consistent ability to fade out and has a ton of mental fragility about him, probably induced by his time at the club, but that's more of a vibes-based feeling. When he lined up for his third goal against Richmond, I felt his anxiety from the second tier. I just had this visceral sense that he was doubting his ability to break new ground, having never kicked three before. None of the joy I felt at that goal revolved around the fact that it furthered the margin. It was all around LDU having (just) beaten whatever mental demons were there.

I also get that feeling from Jy. Funnily enough, I don't get it from Zurhaar or Larkey, the remainder of the traumatised core quartet. Maybe it's because the forward line doesn't have to shoulder the burden of having to try and turn the tide back in our favour when things are going south, and therefore don't have the same scarring from opposition onslaughts.

Another evidence-less feeling I have is that Urquhart is gonna end up as a cornerstone of the midfield, perhaps doing the Wardlaw role that you envision. I think Wardlaw might develop a taste for the footy over the defensive stuff. Not to the extent that the explosiveness is absent in his defensive acts, but I think he'll be a little more reserved than we saw in his debut year. Someone like Urquhart, a hard-nosed, defensive hunter without an ounce of silk in his body, could fill that role quite capably, ala Willem Drew at Poorta

You’re being more reasonable than I am I think.

There’s so many players we have who I think could be really good in a good team and Zurhaar and Jy right up there. You just start asking yourself, if these guys are so good why have we been so bad?

You begin to question your footy watching abilities and the degree of bias you have for your players.

 

[DuckYeah]

Genuinely a huge loss for us at the time.

At the time? Arguably our best and most talented player. Still hurts

 

[Gasometer]

…well there’s driving standards of all sorts isn’t there?

 

[Masked Avenger]

The navel gazing over LDU is mind blowing.

We should be thankful we have a talent like him.

My take is that he's being blamed for the ineptness or deficiencies of others.

I wouldn't have a clue if he's defensively poor, but he's an offensive weapon. Not many like him going around.

The best midfields are units where different players compliment each other with their strengths and weaknesses.

Why you would want to turn him into something he's not and curtail his strengths makes no sense to me.

He won our B&F this year and was damn unlucky in 2023 - so he must be sticking close enough to the Coaches script.

It's about time others stood up tbh.

 

[Frank Thring]

…well there’s driving standards of all sorts isn’t there?

I could watch that all day. Just the look on the guy.

 

[Shermanator]

It's about time others stood up tbh.

Kerch and our Two Prince’s Harry & George will be vital to that.. and a bloke named Luke Parker should be handy..

 

[shinboner magic]

We get a side that player plays their roles and players like LDU can be offensive juggernauts