Training Official Essendon Preseason Thread

[jdstorm]

Essendon beating up on a bad VFL side is such a waste of time.

 

[ant555]

HALF TIME
57 - 3

70 - 9 3/4 time.
The experience and running power of the grey side is too much for the young blokes and VFL guys on the red side isn’t it

 

[ant555]

Essendon beating up on a bad VFL side is such a waste of time.

Not really. This is the first match sim where they have loaded one side as much as today.
Having the experienced side stick to the plan and not play Hollywood football is just as important as having two even sides smashing each other week in and week out.
Despite the scoring the red side have given them a good contest in the midfield.
It is also important to have the young players playing on the established guys for development.
Hard slog match sim every week is not ideal.
The last one I watched two weeks ago with more even squads was a close contest with the grey side only winning by 4 goals.
You need to know the context of what they are doing before making statements.

 

[Blind Turn]

Not really. This is the first match sim where they have loaded one side as much as today.
Having the experienced side stick to the plan and not play Hollywood football is just as important as having two even sides smashing each other week in and week out.
Despite the scoring the red side have given them a good contest in the midfield.
It is also important to have the young players playing on the established guys for development.
Hard slog match sim every week is not ideal.
The last one I watched two weeks ago with more even squads was a close contest with the grey side only winning by 4 goals.
You need to know the context of what they are doing before making statements.

Thanks for insights Ant.

Apparently someone has a knee iced up according to Blitz. Any idea who it is?

 

[ant555]

Thanks for insights Ant.

Apparently someone has a knee iced up according to Blitz. Any idea who it is?

This no it is Nygen. Doesn’t look serious. He just took the ice off and had no limp. Maybe precautionary.

 

[ant555]

They have done a bit of a swap with the sides. Contest is even now with the reds in front.

 

[Old Campaigner]

You need to know the context of what they are doing before making statements.

This should be on a pop up before anyone posts lol

 

[ant555]

Will do a bit of a pre season form guide later.

Today was 4 x 15 minute quarters with the Grey side being the strongest and winning easily.

Then they ran 4 x 10 minutes with more even lineups and the reds won by 6 points.

 

[boncer34]

Essendon beating up on a bad VFL side is such a waste of time.

Nah mate. There's only so many training drills you can do, at some point you have to let them play as a group to build cohesion. Doing it against weak opposition isn't ideal of course, but how else do you do it in early February?

 

[TheFrenchCut]

Here's a few observations:

• Reid looked great, owned the back 50 with McKay and Ridley not playing. Plenty of class and used the ball well when rebounding
• Bryan and Draper both managed to have a presence when forward, which even though their opposition wasn't strong, is nice to see. Hoping for a breakout year for Bryan if he can be more aggressive
• Shiel made good decisions, used the ball well, and looks comfortable at halfback. Have said elsewhere i'm still not sold on the idea yet, the pressure in h&a matches will be telling. But provided he's still fit, he's earnt the spot to start the year
• For those who need to know, Menzie was playing with the red team
• SEH did a few things here and there but probably need to see more. Looks like he's battling Roberts for a spot imo

 

[boncer34]

Here's a few observations:

• Reid looked great, owned the back 50 with McKay and Ridley not playing. Plenty of class and used the ball well when rebounding
• Bryan and Draper both managed to have a presence when forward, which even though their opposition wasn't strong, is nice to see. Hoping for a breakout year for Bryan if he can be more aggressive
• Shiel made good decisions, used the ball well, and looks comfortable at halfback. Have said elsewhere i'm still not sold on the idea yet, the pressure in h&a matches will be telling. But provided he's still fit, he's earnt the spot to start the year
• For those who need to know, Menzie was playing with the red team
• SEH did a few things here and there but probably need to see more. Looks like he's battling Roberts for a spot imo

How'd Prior look?

 

[TheFrenchCut]

How'd Prior look?

Didn't notice him much sorry.

 

[andleanback]

Not really. This is the first match sim where they have loaded one side as much as today.
Having the experienced side stick to the plan and not play Hollywood football is just as important as having two even sides smashing each other week in and week out.
Despite the scoring the red side have given them a good contest in the midfield.
It is also important to have the young players playing on the established guys for development.
Hard slog match sim every week is not ideal.
The last one I watched two weeks ago with more even squads was a close contest with the grey side only winning by 4 goals.
You need to know the context of what they are doing before making statements.

Yep at some point you want all your main guys playing on the same side, to de the cohesion going and get everyone in sync. You can still learn to play the right way and stick to the structure even if you’re beating up a lesser side.

 

[jdstorm]

Nah mate. There's only so many training drills you can do, at some point you have to let them play as a group to build cohesion. Doing it against weak opposition isn't ideal of course, but how else do you do it in early February?

I think the building cohesion argument is crap

Guys get injured, some are even injured now. Even Fully healthy it becomes an arguement against dropping established players when they are out of form.

Goes all out the window when McKay Ridley, Durham, Parish return.

To me it’s very much the practice winning meme come to life as a monkeys paw.

How do you do it better.?

Focus on systemic/role consistency rather than a haves and have nots chemistry experiment.

Generally A forwards vs A Backs with a balanced midfield setup.

can also just find matchups you like where you want to see a young player up against a vet ie Kako vs McGrath or Sheil.

Sprinkle those through two evenly balanced sides

 

[Milanista28]

Reckon our players love these sessions where they play on best case scenario, Shiel running off half back slotting goals without a worry defensively.

I think I'm in my old man yelling at cloud era lmao.

 

[boncer34]

I think the building cohesion argument is crap

Ok.

 

[Mercurial89]

I think the building cohesion argument is crap

I think it's a perfectly legitimate when viewed through the prism of what the goals are for the session.

Not every session has been this weighted, so it's obviously with a specific purpose in mind.

Now I'm less keen on a loaded side running through a non competitive side as a rule, I don't think it would work on some of the other things we have issues with as a side.
But those things are probably worked on in other sessions.

I don't think we are a good club so I do tend to lean more on whatever we are doing is probably wrong in the first instance. But when you have a few people here outlining pretty fair reasons for the session I think it's pretty fair to not smash the club on this one.

 

[Happyskeret]

The cohesion shouldn’t matter for the guys in the regular lineup but it would be good for the likes of say Kako, Reid, Hayes and Bryan for example. Helps them understand from a communication point of view especially if they are looking to feature in the main lineup. Imo it will help them take the next step opposed to them being spread out in two mish mashed teams.

 

[DERO]

My boy Kako already looks like a nugget

Ready to play.

 

[ant555]

I think the building cohesion argument is crap

Guys get injured, some are even injured now. Even Fully healthy it becomes an arguement against dropping established players when they are out of form.

Goes all out the window when McKay Ridley, Durham, Parish return.

To me it’s very much the practice winning meme come to life as a monkeys paw.

How do you do it better.?

Focus on systemic/role consistency rather than a haves and have nots chemistry experiment.

Generally A forwards vs A Backs with a balanced midfield setup.

can also just find matchups you like where you want to see a young player up against a vet ie Kako vs McGrath or Sheil.

Sprinkle those through two evenly balanced sides

They did. They played another 4 x 10 minutes with more even sides and the red team won by a goal. Two weeks ago the sides where a lot more even and the grey side only won by 4 goals. It is not like they are playing one sided match sim every week.
The first 4 quarters where dominated by the grey side through pressure and hard running causing turnover. It was not simply playing flashy footy because they where too good.
You are making statements without even knowing what is going on and based on half of 1 match sim they did this week.
The midfields where even today. They pretty much always are.

 

[ant555]

Today was a little different to previous weeks. Only ran a few full of ground drills before match sim. They ran a loaded grey side first up with a couple of changes at half time and at 3/4 time. Grey side dominated but the reds did fight back a bit in the last quarter when the sides equaled a bit. The grey side dominated on the back of good pressure and two way running.
The first 4 quarters where 4x15 minutes.
Then they evened the sides out a bit and ran a 4 x 10 minute game which the red side won by a goal.
Any comments about the value of the early game are rubbish as it is not what they have done every week and it was only for 3 quarters of the 8 played this week. It is good experience for the young blokes to see how the mental mistakes can be seriously punished.

Anyway the pre season has been decent. There have been days where the skills have been a bit scrappy at times and then others where they have been sharp and crisp. The focus has been work rate and ground set up as well as fast ball movement as much as possible. Not going to go over the top and this everything looks like we will be good. It has been a methodical program where they are looking to work on the spots that let us down last year.

Players.

McGrath - has had a strong pre season. Looks in good form. Providing good run from the back half in all the match sim I have seen.

Draper - seems that a full pre season is agreeing with him. Looks lean and fit. Has been playing forward /ruck over both sides. Has taken a few good grabs forward and kicked multiple goals every week. They have done some serious work on his ball drop as far as set shots go. Looks better although he will still have his moments.

Parish - been a slow build up but he looks ready to go. Plenty of miles in his legs just no contact stuff yet.

Langford - has had a bit of a steady type pre season. Doing his thing but nothing flashy.

Tsatas - has clearly gone to a new level body wise. Is bigger in the shoulders and chest and he can hold his own in the one on one with the likes of Setterfield at center bounce. Not as prolific this week but still good. He has genuine footy smarts.

Caldwell - played his first match sim today. Got though a half and then he did some serious running on the other oval.

Merrett - he dominated today playing mainly high forward and roaming all over the ground. Had a couple of center bounces. Work rate was exceptional both ways and he also did a bit of stoppage blocking for his team mates.

Hobbs - was really good today. Hard in close and found a bit of space as well. He was equally as good an any midfielder out there today.

Shiel - has been really good at half back. Plays it like he is playing midfield. He makes good decisions and his kicking has been 8/10. One thing that is noticable is playing behind the footy he has a lot less kicks where he is running flat out and sideways so there are a lot less of the rushed off balance floaters. He is not a great one on one defender but he does get his defensive positioning right most of the time. Will be interesting to see how it translates against opposition sides but it does look like he has the footy smarts to make it work. Kicked 2 goals off half back on the run from 40 out today.

Kako - did not dominate today but he still does some seriously good stuff and he is right on track for round 1.

Gresham - another who has been really good. Some deep forward, some high forward and some midfield. Work rate really good. Just has to tidy up a few scruffy kicks. Kicked a couple of goals today.

Setterfield - solid match sim so far on the red side. May not make the round 1 side but is not doing anything wrong and will be ready to go if others are not.

Cox - been running but that is it. Has had some concussion issues. Does not look in the frame for early games.

Ridley - had been solid until his hamstring issue last week. Was running today. Did some kicking and 30 odd minutes of various stretching. May miss the Dogs match sim but is still a decent chance for round 1 if today is any indication.

Laverde - in the mod group again today doing running drills.

Perkins - has not burnt the track up but has had his moments. Like Langford he has been working hard but unless you spend some time actually looking for him he can go unnoticed. Has had some midfield time. Looks super fit.

Goldstein - has been the third ruck so far. Doing okay but Draper and Bryan have had the 1 & 2 spots.

Hayes - seems to be going just as well. Played in the grey side today early and again late with a few quarters in the red side. Having a good pre season so far. great run down tackle on Gresham in the later game.

Gerreyn - you can see the ability just needs to miles in his legs. Is a big unit with good skills. Played in defence early in todays game for the reds. Struggled a bit with the Size of Draper and Bryan but he did have a few possessions. Went forward later on and took a couple of marks and kicked a goal.

Wright - he is fit and ready and did a lot of ruck work today for the red side but he is still very patchy with his marking forward. Takes a couple of good ones then drops 3 or 4. Also did a bit of defensive behind the footy stuff for a while today.

Roberts - flashes in and out but not dominating but when he gets involved things happen.

Durham - was in the rehab group today but did a lot of running. Nothing obvious injury wise.

Jones - back running laps and doing some short kicking.

Bryan - looks like it will be him and Draper. Doing well. Took a couple of marks forward today and kicked a goal.

Prior - seems to be fitting in well in the back half. Nice skills. Good defence.

Redman - like McGrath he has been doing well in the back half. Looks ready.

Duursma - been doing his thing on the wing. No issues here.

Menzie - not a lot of impact

Caddy - bit down early on but took a couple of good grabs later on and slotted a couple of goals.

Reid - been good. No issues so far.

McKay - has had a slow build up. Joined the full ground drills today. No match sim but they did push him hard for over an hour with repeat running drills and some one on one work with the coaches while match sim was on.

Davey - out with meniscus surgery.

Lual - has been playing wing and has improved. Has had some good battles with Roberts and has also played on Duursma. Still has some kicking issues to tidy up but he had a decent amount of the footy and was one of the red teams better players today. Has progressed.

Geulfi - did not see him today. Has had the calf issue.

Clarke - has impressed with his run and his skills . Looks a good mid to longer term prospect.

Martin - been midfield and wing mainly with some forward and a small run in the back half. Has not dominated like last pre season but his role now is more a shared effort between a few players so he chimes in and does his thing when the opportunity is there.

Unwin - kicking can be scruffy but he goes hard and does some good stuff around the footy.

Visentini - been a bit quiet playing mainly forward.

Johnson - not been doing any contact work but was in the full ground drills and also did some tackling work on the tackle bag.

El-Hawli - seems to be getting better in the recent weeks. Playing mainly wing for the red side. From has been on the rise .

Ngyuen - has been in the rehab group.

Day Wicks - have not seen any of him as he has not been training .

It is hard to get an exact line on everyone as it is impossible to watch 35 players in training jumpers with no numbers so you do miss a bit.

Have liked the intensity levels. It is like boot camp. All hustle no stuffing around. Short sharp breaks and the players are at a level where the coaches do not have to drive that side of it much

 

[Happyskeret]

The biggest intrigue to me is Unwin? I expect Clarke to be good in time but Unwn is a bit of a mystery to me.

 

[Beerfish]

Menzie - not a lot of impact

Can you put it down to anything?

 

[Beerfish]

Duursma - been doing his thing on the wing. No issues here.

If we can get a full season out of this guy things could get interesting

 

[Keystone agony]

ant555 archie roberts red or grey?

Thinking this is the side

Mcgrath - Mckay - Ridley (Roberts)
Redman - Reid - Shiel

Duursma - Parish - Martin
Bryan - Caldwell - Durham (Tsatas)

Zerrett - Caddy - Perkins
Gresham - Draper - Langford (Kako)

22nd: Hobbs vs SEH - Hobbs not a winger, so be interesting how they work it. Maybe either Tsatas or Roberts as the 3rd for small stints ie 25-30% game time in wing position