Off-season training

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Danog said:
I was only there from 1:30 til 3:10, but they were warming up when I got there and still going when I left. Players I didn't see were Deledio, MacDonald and Turner.

Rehab group was split into pairs: Cotchin and Batchelor, Riewoldt and Mcguane, Morris and Griffiths, and Browne and a Richmond staff member. They were just doing a lot of fast handball drills side by side, where you moved to the back of the group if you messed up. Cotchin and Batchelor were by far the best at this.
Astbury and Moore seemed to be seperate from both the rehab and main group.

The main group started out with kick to kick, increasing distance every couple of minutes. Rance has definitely improved his kicking, and he's very hard on himself whenever he messes up.
Connors, on the other hand, is a complete dud. I don't want to see him play any games this year if this training session is any indictation of his effort and skill. He's lazy, slow, takes ages to wind up a kick, and shanks it 50% of the time. He still has no right foot.
Arnot's kicking was ok, but I noticed that his kicking action looks weird. It looks like he's overthinking things. It seems mechanical, rather than smooth.
Grimes' kicking was shocking from kickouts, but was fine otherwise.
Edwards had 1 or 2 shanks but his evasiveness and handballing was top notch again.
Maric's kicking is better than Graham's, but it's still nothing to write home about.
White's kicking is still very poor. There was the slightest of breezes today, so there's no wind excuse this time.

There was a drill where there were a lot of players in a relatively small area, and players needed to hit up a target with a fast, low, bullet pass without it being intercepted. Grigg was fairly good here, with Connors and White being poor. 1 of Edwards' shanks was here, and it was very bad. Overshot the target by about 10 metres.

Then there was a drill with 3 main groups spread around the whole oval. It was focussed on linkup and leading. Skills were generally alright here, with Conca a big standout. He never misses a target, and his 1 handed running pickups are becoming a favourite of mine. A good amount of talking in this drill, too, which was good.

Then the squad was split into 2 groups. One focussed on midfield stoppages, and the other focussed on forward 50 pressure. Midfield tackling pressure was good here. Ellis loves to smother, as I saw from the forward 50 drills. Vickery was very good in contested situations.

There was then a full-field simulation, where the ball was not allowed to hit the ground or it was a turnover. There wasn't enough talking in this drill for my liking. A couple of players got run down with complete silence from their team-mates. The odd part of this drill was that there was always 1 player wearing a blue singlet on the field. That player seemed to always be on the attacking side, regardless of who had the ball. These 2 players were Dea and O'Hanlon, I think. Both did well. O'Hanlon's linkup is good. Derickx kicked 5 goals in 10 minutes, I believe.

That's about the time I left. I may have missed things, so others can fill in if they also attended. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
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Just to edit a few things for you.

- Deledio was in the main group the entire session, he was wearing a white cap.
- Browne paired with Astbury for most of the recovery session, then near the end, walked a few laps of the oval with Moore. They seemed to be in deep conversation.
- Connors should not step foot on Punt Rd Oval after that atrocious performance. Conca's kicking was pretty crappy in the spot-up drill in the confined area.
- Newman trained with the midfielders again.
- Also, the guy in the blue singlet, Dea and Helbig, was on both teams, I don't know why?
- Derickx was extremely inconsistent, in one of the drills he just kept dropping marks, in the match simulation, he was a behemoth. It is impossible to fault Derickx's kicking, like I said in a previous post, he is undoubtedly the best kick on our team.

I'll do a full write up soon, tennis is very exciting so I won't do it yet.
 
I was at training today also. Deledio was there today, just wearing a hat so he was hard to spot.

Agree with what Danog above had to say above. It's a real bloody shame Matty White can't finish his hard work with good disposal. He does so many things so well and he must be loved around the club. When they did the brutal running session at the end, they split into the 3 groups which I assume to be: Elite, Midrange and Rookies/Ruckmen. Helbig was running with the Elite group obviously to show him what it takes because he isn't yet an elite runner. He really started to struggle and was falling behind the rest of the boys. White was constantly looking and yelling back to Helbig encouraging him and helping him through. Things like that aren't seen by most and this is why these guys get more chances to keep themselves on a list longer than some. Ditto Jackson. You cannot underestimate how this helps blokes around them. They may not be play in our next flag but they'll be part of it in their own way.

Conners kicking annoys the hell out of me because he simply seems more interested in looking flashy than hitting a target. The best way to look good in my opinion is to be good. That being said, foot skills overall didn't impress me that much with lots of blokes having to stop and prop to wait for a pass which during competitive work made it far too easy for defenders to murder the ball. One thing that I wasn't comfortable with, was that some drills seem to encourage players to kick to stationary targets. I'm not all over modern tactics. Is this a way to beat zone defences?? Either way, we didn't hit near enough targets.

A few other things.....

Really impressed by Rance. He will improve again this season. Mark my words. He was the loudest bloke out there and was directing traffic during competitive work. Even pulled the backline boys together at the end of a drill to talk them through it. The next backline general.

Whoever wants Derickx to double up as a backman will be sorely disappointed. He looked great as a forward and if he stays fit will be a real chance for round 1 in my opinion. He looks a natural forward.

It seems Newman is also spending a fair bit of time training with the midfielders so you can only assume he'll spend more time their this year as well as Deledio which is a good thing for me. For years I've wanted to see more of him hitting blokes lace out inside the F50 rather than on the wing somewhere. With Morris, Ellis and Houli, this may now be possible.

Not sure if Vickery is fully fit or just hasn't developed a tank yet but in the running at the end, he got smashed and was miles behind the others in his group (rookies/ruckman) The only others I could recognise in that group for certain was big Ivan who lead the pack. I think young Elton was in that group but stand to be corrected. If it was, he kept up for most of the running but fell away at the end. Post was in the Midrange running group and led the group for most of the way. Dea was in this group and finished miles behind. Post looks super fit and runs well for a big guy. I really hope he comes on this year.

Not enjoying seeing little of Cotchin I must say. Ran a few laps but not much else from what I could see. Wish I could tell people more about the rookies but still haven't managed to match names and faces just yet. One recruit who is hard to miss is big Ivan Maric. It's been rumoured that Billy Ray Cyrus has contacted the club recently asking for his 1990's hairstyle back. I hope it gets resolved peacefully.
 
Danog said:
I was only there from 1:30 til 3:10, but they were warming up when I got there and still going when I left. ..Connors, on the other hand, is a complete dud. I don't want to see him play any games this year if this training session is any indictation of his effort and skill. He's lazy, slow, takes ages to wind up a kick, and shanks it 50% of the time. He still has no right foot...White's kicking is still very poor. There was the slightest of breezes today, so there's no wind excuse this time..There was then a full-field simulation, where the ball was not allowed to hit the ground or it was a turnover. There wasn't enough talking in this drill for my liking. A couple of players got run down with complete silence from their team-mates. .. I may have missed things, so others can fill in if they also attended. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
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Thanks for telling it like it is Danog - appreciate the no BS.

I can't help thinking of some young player that would have given his left gonad to play for the tigers...yet here we have a jerk like Connors piss-farting around at Punt Rd - surprised that he is still there regardless of his 'so called talents'...whatever these are!

Can anyone remind me what his talents are and when he last exhibited these?
 
johnno77 said:
I was at training today also. Deledio was there today, just wearing a hat so he was hard to spot.

Agree with what Danog above had to say above. It's a real bloody shame Matty White can't finish his hard work with good disposal. He does so many things so well and he must be loved around the club. When they did the brutal running session at the end, they split into the 3 groups which I assume to be: Elite, Midrange and Rookies/Ruckmen. Helbig was running with the Elite group obviously to show him what it takes because he isn't yet an elite runner. He really started to struggle and was falling behind the rest of the boys. White was constantly looking and yelling back to Helbig encouraging him and helping him through. Things like that aren't seen by most and this is why these guys get more chances to keep themselves on a list longer than some. Ditto Jackson. You cannot underestimate how this helps blokes around them. They may not be play in our next flag but they'll be part of it in their own way.

Conners kicking annoys the hell out of me because he simply seems more interested in looking flashy than hitting a target. The best way to look good in my opinion is to be good. That being said, foot skills overall didn't impress me that much with lots of blokes having to stop and prop to wait for a pass which during competitive work made it far too easy for defenders to murder the ball. One thing that I wasn't comfortable with, was that some drills seem to encourage players to kick to stationary targets. I'm not all over modern tactics. Is this a way to beat zone defences?? Either way, we didn't hit near enough targets.

A few other things.....

Really impressed by Rance. He will improve again this season. Mark my words. He was the loudest bloke out there and was directing traffic during competitive work. Even pulled the backline boys together at the end of a drill to talk them through it. The next backline general.

Whoever wants Derickx to double up as a backman will be sorely disappointed. He looked great as a forward and if he stays fit will be a real chance for round 1 in my opinion. He looks a natural forward.

It seems Newman is also spending a fair bit of time training with the midfielders so you can only assume he'll spend more time their this year as well as Deledio which is a good thing for me. For years I've wanted to see more of him hitting blokes lace out inside the F50 rather than on the wing somewhere. With Morris, Ellis and Houli, this may now be possible.

Not sure if Vickery is fully fit or just hasn't developed a tank yet but in the running at the end, he got smashed and was miles behind the others in his group (rookies/ruckman) The only others I could recognise in that group for certain was big Ivan who lead the pack. I think young Elton was in that group but stand to be corrected. If it was, he kept up for most of the running but fell away at the end. Post was in the Midrange running group and led the group for most of the way. Dea was in this group and finished miles behind. Post looks super fit and runs well for a big guy. I really hope he comes on this year.

Not enjoying seeing little of Cotchin I must say. Ran a few laps but not much else from what I could see. Wish I could tell people more about the rookies but still haven't managed to match names and faces just yet. One recruit who is hard to miss is big Ivan Maric. It's been rumoured that Billy Ray Cyrus has contacted the club recently asking for his 1990's hairstyle back. I hope it gets resolved peacefully.
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He is who stood out for me to. Really showed his leadership today, ran well, got loads of marks off opposition kicks or confidently killed the ball. Grimesy was also very vocal during the session, leading his group or defenders.
 
johnno77 said:
He really started to struggle and was falling behind the rest of the boys. White was constantly looking and yelling back to Helbig encouraging him and helping him through.
Click to expand...

Its this kind of stuff that tells me this club is going places :thumbsu:

Seems as though our defence will be fairly inexperienced with the likes of Rance, Grimes, Post, Batchelor, Ellis, Houli and Morris down there.
 
Another great write up, thanks Johnno77. I liked Grimes from the first day I heard him speak. Get another couple of seasons and he(Grimes) & Rance will be a great combination along with Batch,Houli and lets hope a few of the others step up too. In general there is alot of potential on the list, lets hope it realised.
 
I have a few observations to add from the session.

-Derickx's kicking for goal is very very good
-Ivan Maric is not an elite kick, but I'd say he's above average for a ruckman. His field kicking in the drills and kick to kick was spot on and looked very natural. He was constantly involved in the full ground stuff, looks the goods.
-Sheds's disposal was deplorable. Sadly it was not just in the match simulation stuff, but also basic passing under no pressure. His pace, agility and contested ball work all stands out, but I really struggle to have him cemented in the 22 when he misses so many targets.
-Everything you've heard about Arnot's size is true, he is absolutely massive.
-Matt Dea is dang slow.
-Griffiths was in the rehab group, which is really disappointing. I don't know why, but as far as I know he's new there. Looks huge as well though.
-Jake King gives constant encouragement and instruction.
-I don't know about any of these personal attacks on Connors, but he did look pretty poor. Has trimmed down quite a bit though.
-Matt White and Grigg got plenty of it in the match sim drills, probably the most prominent that I noticed along with big Ivan. Grigg trained really well I thought, looked lively.
-Brad Helbig impressed, really puts his body on the line and is good overhead.
-O'Hanlon is a mile off physically, but definitely looks the goods. Is silky and appears to take the right option.

The main thing I took out of the session was the way our deliberate recruitment of elite ball users has completely changed the make up of our side. I don't know why we didn't think of it 20 years ago. If you look at a players like Connors, White, Jackson, even Foley; acceptable kicks but not outstanding. In the past these players would have been right up there or about average at our club, compared to the standard we had around. They weren't the best but they weren't the worst either. Now in the last few years we've bought in the likes of Ellis, Conca, Batchelor, Houli, Griffiths, Astbury, Vickery, Helbig, who are all in the upper echelon, these mediocre guys are down the bottom and it stands out. Hopefully it encourages them to up their game. Otherwise, they're out.
 

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Took the kids along for a look myself.

Shit they train at high intensity for a long time. They prob started about 1.20 and I left at about 3.50 and most of them were still out there doing time trials.

Better them than me:D

Connors - I have been a defender all his career, but the other posters are right - he was horrible. He wasn't stuffing around though - he is trying really hard and just looks head F%$@#d

Ellis - very exciting, I think he will make a Deledio/Cotchin type first year impact. Could be a real steal.

Rance - Very impressive and a real talker/leader out on the ground

Lids - always looks a cut above at training and did yesterday too

Edwards - His work around the ground in the simulation exercises was great but kicking is still a let down

Tommy D - Wow, in the match simulation stuff he was BOG. Easily outmarked both Rance and Grimes at different times. His set shot kicking is superb.

Newmo - As has been mentioned trained in the mids group with Lids - about friggen time. My brother played all his junior footy (u9's to Stingrays) with Newmo and he was a ball gathering machine. He should be given the chance at this level.

Cotch - in the rehab group but not concerning, think he joins the main group next week. He is a star, 40 metre handballs with both hands without Bach having to move.

Jack - also in rehab group for last time, but he looked good. Surely he has ADD, he is off his head !! Very much the life and soul of the club from what I saw.

Arnott - massive, seems to be really working on a new kicking technique which doesn't look natural to him. But very hard on himself and eager to improve. Did lack awareness a couple of times in the match simulation.

Thats all I can think of, if you want to know about anyone else let me know.
 
Just wondering if its worth cutting Connors a little slack at the moment. As has been mentioned prior to the Arizona trip he had some personal issues which saw him miss the trip. Maybe those issues are still weighing on his mind which is having an impact on his ability to perform at his best. I don't know about others but I know myself when I have had some recent issues it has really impacted on my ability to perform at my job, so I don't see why footballers would be any different.
 
RT73 said:
Just wondering if its worth cutting Connors a little slack at the moment. As has been mentioned prior to the Arizona trip he had some personal issues which saw him miss the trip. Maybe those issues are still weighing on his mind which is having an impact on his ability to perform at his best. I don't know about others but I know myself when I have had some recent issues it has really impacted on my ability to perform at my job, so I don't see why footballers would be any different.
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Good call RT, as I said he wasn't stuffing around or anything, he was shattered with his kicking yesterday. He does look as lean and fit as I have ever seen him.
 
I don't understand why people were calling Dea slow. He makes ground pretty quickly. His fitness is questionable, but the amount of running that they do, he'll come on. It's easier to get a base fitness level than learning natural football traits, which Dea possesses. I did notice one thing, which really stood out and really impressed me. Whenever the coaches called the players in, or it was drinks break, he always sprinted back. He constantly asked the coaches for advice and always was encouraging players.

In my opinion, Dea is a taller and bulkier version of Newman, on and off field.

Also, on a lighter note, when the players ran over to the drinks table, Dimma screamed at them "Get a bump."
As instructed the players rammed into each other, some just stood in their place and just bumped the players who ran past, noticeably Edwards and Post. Anyways, as Rance ran through, he yelled, "Everybody run! Big Biscuit is coming!"
I don't think Arnot was very impressed. :D
 
Matt Dea has had stress fractures in the feet and shins both of the last two seasons, Very limited running background. He has speed. He does appear to lack some running endurance but hasn't been able to work on it in his previous pre-seasons/seasons.
 
theflea said:
id be interested in comparing the intensity of training to other clubs. anyone know?
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I'm heading down the highway to check out the reigning premiers training tomorrow morning with a cat supporting mate of mine so will give you my version of a comparison. We are catching the train and taking an esky with us so my viewpoint could be a bit skewed by the end of it but I'll do my best. Boom!
 

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