Training Pre season training

[Saint_Dos]

Was a good session from the boys this morning. Lots match sim than last week which was good to see.

On top of those on the injury list - Byrnes was inside riding the bike, Caminiti was with the rehab group, Boyd did drills with the no-contact hat then ran laps instead of match sim, Jones came out to warm up then headed inside, Carroll went inside mid-way through and appeared to be riding the bike with Byrnes. Barratt wasn't there.

- King and Owens were great again. Was particularly impressed by King below his knees. Moving with ease compared to last year. Owens strength really stood out, both in some marking contests and then again in the middle of the ground where Windy tried to tackle him and Windy just flew to the ground after a stiff arm from Owens. If both can stay fit the forward line will be significantly better this year.

- One of the best showings from Hastie I've seen. He spent time in both the A and B backlines and seemed to have an impact in both. He just takes it under his arm and goes which suits how we want to play. Som

- Nas and Sinclair are a lethal duo. Opposition teams won't stop both.

- Of the mids - Steele and Macrae were just as expected. Hugo played inside the entire time and was good. Expect him to be a starting mid at this rate. Windy started off with the ground group then was moved into the midfield in the 2nd half. Thought he was excellent in both positions. Boxhall needs some development time but finds it easily.

- Hall, like last week, came to life when the match sim started. Not as prolific throughout as some of the others already mentioned but had some stand out moments. Well on track for rd1.

- I'm concerned about the key back situation. Cordy got a bath from King. Arie still learning. Every other key back prospect missing. Wilkie going to earn his money this year. Webster appeared to be spending time on Sharman in the 2nd half so maybe prepping to play on some bigger types this year.

- Heath was the main ruck for the first half against Dodson then switch to the B side to play forward and Keeler taking over as the A ruck. There is just something about Keeler that says he is going to be a player. I dont know the position or how he fits in, but he just has it. He wasn't even particularly dominant but when he was involved, good things happened.

- Tobie got another lesson from Hill. Probably the player Ross gave the most direct feedback to as well. In the 4th quarter, he moved onto the far wing onto Wood (and away from Ross) and had a couple of good moments. He is going to be a player but more of a 2nd half of the year prospect than a rd1 one.

-Collard was having a bit of a dirty day as a small on the B side but was moved up to the wing in the 4th (onto Hill) and got involved. Did some nice things once we put him near the ball. Maybe something to look try at Sandy to help him get involved.


That covers most players. Let me know if there is anyone you want to know about that I've missed.

How did McLennan go? Who does he play on in match sim?

 

[Sully111]

Sign him

I'll chuck in a guitar

 

[The Jack]

Is NWM playing in the indigenous all star game?

 

[LuckyBounce!]

We extended Nasiah yet? That’s a really big worry until it happens!

 

[dudeintheswamp]

Sign him

I'll chuck in a guitar

If I take a moment to think what would be the guitar for Wang (which of course I just did ) somehow for me it has to be a strat. Smooth, balanced, a bit slinky...

 

[Imtellingya]

Henry looked like he was playing some match sim the other day. Unless there's a setback he should play round one

Henry was definitely limping in his running gait today.

 

[dudeintheswamp]

Thinking about it a little more, Nas is working angles and a different plane to the average cat. I can see something unique, dare I say boutique. Whatever it is it needs to be slinky! And smoooooth.

 

[Zzzed]

How did McLennan go? Who does he play on in match sim?

Good questions.

Has been touted by some on here as a potential Battle replacement and yet we never see his name mentioned in any of the match sim reports.
Not sure he is anything more than a fringe player as he looks like he lacks a yard of pace to me - but I would love him to prove me wrong and become a Sicily style interceptor.

On SM-X820 using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Forgot about Thilthorpe. Throw Caminiti on him for a quarter.

We're probably best to hedge our bets.
If we start with Caminiti in defense , have Cordy as a forward.
At least then we can swap them if it looks horrible.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Good questions.

Has been touted by some on here as a potential Battle replacement and yet we never see his name mentioned in any of the match sim reports.
Not sure he is anything more than a fringe player as he looks like he lacks a yard of pace to me - but I would love him to prove me wrong and become a Sicily style interceptor.

On SM-X820 using BigFooty.com mobile app

Battle is listed at 193cm these days i'm sure he used to be shorter. We always considered him a bit too short for the modern key defender role.
Now McLennan is 188, same height as Webster.

Sicily is 188, and a bit of a freak at that height.

From Footywire:
Heath 204cm 97kg
Dodson 203cm 96kg
King 202cm 100kg
Marshall 201cm 105kg.
Howard 199cm 94kg
Boyd 198cm 108kg.
Keeler 198cm 91kg
Caminiti 196cm 85kg
Cordy 195cm 92kg
Barrat 194cm 92kg
Schoenmaker 194cm 91kg
Tauru 193cm 94kg
Sharman 193cm 88kg
Macrae 192cm 89kg
Wood 192cm 86kg
Armstrong 191cm 89kg
Owens 191cm 91kg
Wilkie 191cm 88kg

 

[stfan]

I’m more concerned by the fact he’s apparently 2.54cm.

I'll translate for you....

is still a bit light but looks every inch to be a future ruck for us"

 

[Parkysp]

All evidence to date proves this is utterly false.

We've shaken every tree for nearly a decade (warchest and all) and the only thing that fell out was a broken hannebery.

Believing this is no different to believing in unicorns or selfless politicians.

This. We have to do this on our own drafting with the very odd exception that may request a trade that we will have to overpay for.

Players (and their managers ) would rather go to a big Melbourne club that is clearly at the end of their peak than us.

I'd love it to be different but free agency wasn't built for the likes of us.

I'll invest my hope in Hugo, Mitch, Windy etc types who you just know want to be with us and are willing themselves forward at every session to be in successful Saints teams.

 

[stfan]

What a joy to watch.

 

[CursingFijian]

He's a star already but the competition hasn't woken up to him yet. My Richmond mate watched him play and said he'll win a Brownlow when he gets 25 possessions a week. He already does. He was claiming him like he'd discover an unknown player. Says he's his favourite non Richmond player now.

He's already on the same average possessions as Bont and Daicos.

I love watching him, I expect he enthralls the same way Winmar did (I never got to watch Winmar play). Saints really need to hype his brand to compete with a Daicos type. It would be great if he just started kicking more goals himself!

 

[True Believer]

If I take a moment to think what would be the guitar for Wang (which of course I just did ) somehow for me it has to be a strat. Smooth, balanced, a bit slinky...

A Charvel super strat.....

 

[austinnn]

He'd bloody want to be. If he wasn't it would be saying more about King.

Exactly. Conversely I dont get that excited when I read that King wiped the floor with Cordy, with the greatest of respect. I need to see how he does against an A-grade tall key back, except we don't have any.

 

[Enclosed_Animal]

Exactly. Conversely I dont get that excited when I read that King wiped the floor with Cordy, with the greatest of respect. I need to see how he does against an A-grade tall key back, except we don't have any.

 

[MOLTEN GANGLANDS]

Nas is incredible, rkn we saw it from day 1, never looked anything but pure class and silk. He's my favourite player, followed by wilkie, but wilkie doesn't have the magic of Nas. Hopefully garcia and wilson (and pou, **** we got a few on the way up) will join them this year not asking too much

 

[SteeleSaints]

Exactly. Conversely I dont get that excited when I read that King wiped the floor with Cordy, with the greatest of respect. I need to see how he does against an A-grade tall key back, except we don't have any.

Agreed and until Max can put a solid full year of football together, he shouldn't be celebrated like he is some super star. He has the potential to be many things, but until he can do it consistently without breaking down in my view he is just a good player nothing more.

Having Cordy as our backup key defender on a 3 year contract has been farcical. The guy is only just an average VFL player, who is the worst runner at the club by a long way. Gallagher completely stitched us up on that deal, but even worse the club haven't made an effort to find a decent replacement until this year.

The club must have suspected Battle was a good chance to leave fairly early on in negotiations, yet left chasing a replacement in Brodie Kemp until the last minute. Now with the loss of Battle and Howard to injury they are going to start the season completely under prepared down back. Cordy is an absolute spud but because of a lack of experience they will almost be forced to play him. Shoenmaker is not ready defensively wise, Barrat is just a kid and its unfair to put that burden on someone so young & playing Caminiti at CHB was acceptable if he had the experience of Howard & Wilkie around him.

Recruiting has definitely improved at the club but this (key defender) disaster was staring them in the face and it should have been addressed well before the last draft period. The recent injuries have highlighted how paper thin our list is on experience and quality.

Without settled and competent key defensive talls I can see opposition forward lines getting a hold of us and the club really struggling. If we are unlucky enough to lose Marshall for a considerable period we can nearly garuantee a bottom 4 finish in my view.

 

[akaifu]

Agreed and until Max can put a solid full year of football together, he shouldn't be celebrated like he is some super star. He has the potential to be many things, but until he can do it consistently without breaking down in my view he is just a good player nothing more.

Having Cordy as our backup key defender on a 3 year contract has been farcical. The guy is only just an average VFL player, who is the worst runner at the club by a long way. Gallagher completely stitched us up on that deal, but even worse the club haven't made an effort to find a decent replacement until this year.

The club must have suspected Battle was a good chance to leave fairly early on in negotiations, yet left chasing a replacement in Brodie Kemp until the last minute. Now with the loss of Battle and Howard to injury they are going to start the season completely under prepared down back. Cordy is an absolute spud but because of a lack of experience they will almost be forced to play him. Shoenmaker is not ready defensively wise, Barrat is just a kid and its unfair to put that burden on someone so young & playing Caminiti at CHB was acceptable if he had the experience of Howard & Wilkie around him.

Recruiting has definitely improved at the club but this (key defender) disaster was staring them in the face and it should have been addressed well before the last draft period. The recent injuries have highlighted how paper thin our list is on experience and quality.

Without settled and competent key defensive talls I can see opposition forward lines getting a hold of us and the club really struggling. If we are unlucky enough to lose Marshall for a considerable period we can nearly garuantee a bottom 4 finish in my view.

Max beating Cordy was an observation, not a "celebration" that requires you to get all philosophical about. We all know Max needs to prove himself against better defenders, but seeing him taking care of average ones is still worth noting since its another step in his recovery from injury and also because its pre-season and we all want something to get excited about

On Cordy, having him as a backup defender is not farcical. He is fine as backup. Yes, it'd be nice if we had found a genuine replacement for Battle, but that might've meant missing out on Alex Dodson due to list constraints. I bet you if we had left that Dodson list spot open, we would've seen someone like Tomlinson/Phillips training with us over pre-season. Instead, we have a genuine ruck prospect and the coaches are also backing in our youngsters to establish themselves. Is it not a good thing that we are going all-in on our rebuild and youth?

Look forward to watching Caminiti/Arie/Barrat/McLennan etc get their opportunities even if it does mean a bit more short term pain

 

[SteeleSaints]

Henry was definitely limping in his running gait today.

All the signs are there with Liam. He had a significant cartilage injury for which he had an arthroscope, had further issues which resulted in another scope. The recovery from those is usually about 6-8 weeks, well Liam has been battling to run consistently for months now and is still not right.

He tried participating in some match drills on Wednesday and is again today labouring on the knee. It's a classical bone on bone scenario...

Its bloody horrible, but there is a chance Henry's knee will be similiar to Hamill & Crouch. He might get going for a few games but if he has no cartilage left in that knee, his future may be very limited or even grim. I hope like hell that I'm wrong, but it's worrying.

 

[Sol Goodman]

All clubs monitor load, diet, recovery and sleep to assess the risk of injury and determine when load management is required. Unfortunately, this also requires the player to report any niggles/feelings of an abnormal nature. Often with stress related injuries there are issues prior to pain being present and when pain does present its sometimes too late.
In the instance of Pou it’s very possible he felt some discomfort, and associated it with his high load long before he reported it to the club

Good post. Most people don't see the lengths of performance management a club goes through in measuring and testing for strains and injuries in the high performance field.
Players are being pushed physically to extremes but that's just how training is done.
The staff monitor very closely but sometimes muscle just snaps when it's pushed to extremes.
People put a label on that like 'over training' because it seems to connect the dots, but it's just part of it, they're very careful in preparation.

 

[austinnn]

View attachment 2215730

Well yes, Wilkie is tall compared to me, but I'm the height of a small forward and sadly even scrawnier than Jack Lonie. I wouldn't say The Accountant is tall in AFL terms though.

 

[Armitage2Riewoldt]

Nas is the one. Protect at all costs.

If he backs himself in to kick goals like that more often then woweeeeeee.

 

[pebblesofsand]

A Charvel super strat.....

No I'd be thinking something more esoteric, something smooth as silk that operates on a different level to everything else.

Given he's in town at the moment - so perhaps like Dave Rawlins and his 1935 Epiphone Olympic