Training Preseason 2024

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Training notes

Notable absentees: Fyfe

Walking casual laps: Sturt and JOM. Sturt with a small dressing over his left knee from his clean out last week.

Away from the main group: Freddy did some runs and then headed to the gym. Cox did a heap of running. Difficult to see from the far side but it looked like this included Murphy too. Odin Jones was by himself with the trainers but later joined in match sim at the end.

Darcy, Walker, Emmett warmed up with the main group and then peeled away for the more intense main drills. Walker and Darcy look very close to rejoining main training. Both moving well imagine we will see them much more involved after the Christmas break.

A lot of players came in and out of the drills and performed laps or various exercises with trainers. Including Chapman, Johnno, Wagner, Amiss, Stanley, Switta and later Brayshaw. Not sure if this is a new thing for load management and or more tailored programs.

I find it hard to comment too much on drills as it’s not always clear as a spectator what the aim of the exercise is. Also, it’s difficult to focus on everything given they are split into groups and there’s footballs flying everywhere.

My main takeaways from the drills are:
  • Pearce looks markedly more mobile. Doesn’t look like his ankle is going to break every time he takes a kick like stages last year. Didn’t realise the captaincy had been announced while I was watching but if he completes a solid pre season in this shape I think we will see more of 2022 Moose.
  • Young is a midfielder and a damn good one. Trained exclusively in the middle.
  • Aish training with the backs, looks like he’s unlikely to be in the wing mix.
  • Sharp is a gazelle
  • It’ll be a sad day when Sonny retires. Our most vocal trainer and goes full tilt at every drill. Serong a close second. Will captain this club.
  • Tabs appears to be in good shape. I don’t have him in our best 22 but a fit Taberner does wonders for our depth and puts pressure on JJJ to perform.
  • Said this last season but Josh Draper won the genetic lottery. If that translates on field we’ve landed a gem.
  • Likewise, Williams in full training unlike last year. He’s so slight. Good skills, evasive and clever. His frame is the main thing that will hold this kid back.
  • He was in and out of drills but I’m very bullish on Stanley being a good contributor. A real late bloomer, already has a pretty impressive physique and has that explosiveness that sets him apart.
  • Spotted the train ons; Voss for sure and who I believe were Beattie and SVR. None of them really stood out to me. But I may just not have been watching too hard.
  • Delean seems like a character. The sort of extrovert personality that this group may have missed last year with guys like Logue and Acres departing.
  • Simpson reminds me of a prestia/Shiel type.
  • Knobel is bloody tall. Still needs to fill out a lot, I was impressed by some of skills today. Seems like the perfect kid to have developing behind Darcy and Jackson.
  • Johnson must be close to 195cm. Standing next to Amiss there was really no difference in size.
Drills went for about 90 mins or so. Started with some good intensity and the group was really vocal. This did taper off a fair bit.

At about 11am those who stuck around were treated to 2x 15 mins of match sim. The skills are rusty but there was some nice plays and some early insight into positional calls.

Thoughts on match sim
  • Sharp was very involved. Looked like our best winger out there. Also playing wing were NOD, Williams and at one point Chappy (don’t rule that experiment out I suppose)
  • Serong looks set to continue his form in 2024.
  • Young always stands out to me. Was kicking off both feet and his skills are a level above. Played mid.
  • Aish played down back and was handy down there. Perfect bench player can play almost anywhere on field.
  • Amiss took a great contested mark and unselfishly sent backwards, but more central to Serong. Serong nailed the kick but I want to see Amiss take those kicks. Minor gripe.
  • Walters also a highlight in the drills. Sublime kicking and reading of play. I wish we had another 15 years of Sonny. Today highlighted that he’s our most important player that we’ve yet to succession plan for.

Will attempt to pop down mon/weds and put some ramblings on here.
 
Last edited:
Not really a pre-season training post but sorta related. Everything being written here about Sharp is extremely (maybe over the top?) promising. Which means we have 2 possibilities.
1) He is a "training the house" type guy who can't produce on the field, or
2) Gold Coast seriously stuffed it up by not playing him.
I really hope it's the second but does anyone have any info on what the hell is the truth?
 
DeanS said:
Not really a pre-season training post but sorta related. Everything being written here about Sharp is extremely (maybe over the top?) promising. Which means we have 2 possibilities.
1) He is a "training the house" type guy who can't produce on the field, or
2) Gold Coast seriously stuffed it up by not playing him.
I really hope it's the second but does anyone have any info on what the hell is the truth?
Click to expand...

He impressed me today. Unfortunately, we won’t know the truth until the season is underway.

I was optimistic on what I saw from
Henry last year and Sharp stood out to me more today than Liam. Make of that what you will.
 

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Covers the ground very well. Fast. Gets into good positions, keeps our width and demands to be used in transition and from stoppage.

Has a long penetrating kick. The only thing I saw that I could criticise was he had a few blind bombs long into the 50; slightly acres lite.

Also seems to have gelled with the group very well in a matter of weeks.
 
democritus said:
Trainings notes

Notable absentees: Fyfe

Walking casual laps: Sturt and JOM. Sturt with a small dressing over his left knee from his clean out last week.

Away from the main group: Freddy did some runs and then headed to the gym. Cox did a heap of running. Difficult to see from the far side but it looked like this included Murphy too. Odin Jones was by himself with the trainers but later joined in match sim at the end.

Darcy, Walker, Emmett warmed up with the main group and then peeled away for the more intense main drills. Walker and Darcy look very close to rejoining main training. Both moving well imagine we will see them much more involved after the Christmas break.

A lot of players came in and out of the drills and performed laps or various exercises with trainers. Including Chapman, Johnno, Wagner, Amiss, Stanley, Switta and later Brayshaw. Not sure if this is a new thing for load management and or more tailored programs.

I find it hard to comment too much on drills as it’s not always clear as a spectator what the aim of the exercise is. Also, it’s difficult to focus on everything given they are split into groups and there’s footballs flying everywhere.

My main takeaways from the drills are:
  • Pearce looks markedly more mobile. Doesn’t look like his ankle is going to break every time he takes a kick like stages last year. Didn’t realise the captaincy had been announced while I was watching but if he completes a solid pre season in this shape I think we will see more of 2022 Moose.
  • Young is a midfielder and a damn good one. Trained exclusively in the middle.
  • Aish training with the backs, looks like he’s unlikely to be in the wing mix.
  • Sharp is a gazelle
  • It’ll be a sad day when Sonny retires. Our most vocal trainer and goes full tilt at every drill. Serong a close second. Will captain this club.
  • Tabs appears to be in good shape. I don’t have him in our best 22 but a fit Taberner does wonders for our depth and puts pressure on JJJ to perform.
  • Said this last season but Josh Draper won the generic lottery. If that translates on field we’ve landed a gem.
  • Likewise, Williams in full training unlike last year. He’s so slight. Good skills, evasive and clever. His frame is the main thing that will hold this kid back.
  • He was in and out of drills but I’m very bullish on Stanley being a good contributor. A real late bloomer, already has a pretty impressive physique and has that explosiveness that sets him apart.
  • Spotted the train ons; Voss for sure and who I believe were Beattie and SVR. None of them really stood out to me. But I may just not have been watching too hard.
  • Delean seems like a character. The sort of extrovert personality that this group may have missed last year with guys like Logue and Acres departing.
  • Simpson reminds me of a prestia/Shiel type.
  • Knobel is bloody tall. Still needs to fill out a lot, I was impressed by some of skills today. Seems like the perfect kid to have developing behind Darcy and Jackson.
  • Johnson must be close to 195cm. Standing next to Amiss there was really no difference in size.
Drills went for about 90 mins or so. Started with some good intensity and the group was really vocal. This did taper off a fair bit.

At about 11am those who stuck around were treated to 2x 15 mins of match sim. The skills are rusty but there was some nice plays and some early insight into positional calls.

Thoughts on match sim
  • Sharp was very involved. Looked like our best winger out there. Also playing wing were NOD, Williams and at one point Chappy (don’t rule that experiment out I suppose)
  • Serong looks set to continue his form in 2024.
  • Young always stands out to me. Was kicking off both feet and his skills are a level above. Played mid.
  • Aish played down back and was handy down there. Perfect bench player can play almost anywhere on field.
  • Amiss took a great contested mark and unselfishly sent backwards, but more central to Serong. Serong nailed the kick but I want to see Amiss take those kicks. Minor gripe.
  • Walters also a highlight in the drills. Sublime kicking and reading of play. I wish we had another 15 years of Sonny. Today highlighted that he’s our most important player that we’ve yet to succession plan for.

Will attempt to pop down mon/weds and put some ramblings on here.
Click to expand...
This is sweet stuff!
 
democritus said:
Trainings notes

Notable absentees: Fyfe

Walking casual laps: Sturt and JOM. Sturt with a small dressing over his left knee from his clean out last week.

Away from the main group: Freddy did some runs and then headed to the gym. Cox did a heap of running. Difficult to see from the far side but it looked like this included Murphy too. Odin Jones was by himself with the trainers but later joined in match sim at the end.

Darcy, Walker, Emmett warmed up with the main group and then peeled away for the more intense main drills. Walker and Darcy look very close to rejoining main training. Both moving well imagine we will see them much more involved after the Christmas break.

A lot of players came in and out of the drills and performed laps or various exercises with trainers. Including Chapman, Johnno, Wagner, Amiss, Stanley, Switta and later Brayshaw. Not sure if this is a new thing for load management and or more tailored programs.

I find it hard to comment too much on drills as it’s not always clear as a spectator what the aim of the exercise is. Also, it’s difficult to focus on everything given they are split into groups and there’s footballs flying everywhere.

My main takeaways from the drills are:
  • Pearce looks markedly more mobile. Doesn’t look like his ankle is going to break every time he takes a kick like stages last year. Didn’t realise the captaincy had been announced while I was watching but if he completes a solid pre season in this shape I think we will see more of 2022 Moose.
  • Young is a midfielder and a damn good one. Trained exclusively in the middle.
  • Aish training with the backs, looks like he’s unlikely to be in the wing mix.
  • Sharp is a gazelle
  • It’ll be a sad day when Sonny retires. Our most vocal trainer and goes full tilt at every drill. Serong a close second. Will captain this club.
  • Tabs appears to be in good shape. I don’t have him in our best 22 but a fit Taberner does wonders for our depth and puts pressure on JJJ to perform.
  • Said this last season but Josh Draper won the generic lottery. If that translates on field we’ve landed a gem.
  • Likewise, Williams in full training unlike last year. He’s so slight. Good skills, evasive and clever. His frame is the main thing that will hold this kid back.
  • He was in and out of drills but I’m very bullish on Stanley being a good contributor. A real late bloomer, already has a pretty impressive physique and has that explosiveness that sets him apart.
  • Spotted the train ons; Voss for sure and who I believe were Beattie and SVR. None of them really stood out to me. But I may just not have been watching too hard.
  • Delean seems like a character. The sort of extrovert personality that this group may have missed last year with guys like Logue and Acres departing.
  • Simpson reminds me of a prestia/Shiel type.
  • Knobel is bloody tall. Still needs to fill out a lot, I was impressed by some of skills today. Seems like the perfect kid to have developing behind Darcy and Jackson.
  • Johnson must be close to 195cm. Standing next to Amiss there was really no difference in size.
Drills went for about 90 mins or so. Started with some good intensity and the group was really vocal. This did taper off a fair bit.

At about 11am those who stuck around were treated to 2x 15 mins of match sim. The skills are rusty but there was some nice plays and some early insight into positional calls.

Thoughts on match sim
  • Sharp was very involved. Looked like our best winger out there. Also playing wing were NOD, Williams and at one point Chappy (don’t rule that experiment out I suppose)
  • Serong looks set to continue his form in 2024.
  • Young always stands out to me. Was kicking off both feet and his skills are a level above. Played mid.
  • Aish played down back and was handy down there. Perfect bench player can play almost anywhere on field.
  • Amiss took a great contested mark and unselfishly sent backwards, but more central to Serong. Serong nailed the kick but I want to see Amiss take those kicks. Minor gripe.
  • Walters also a highlight in the drills. Sublime kicking and reading of play. I wish we had another 15 years of Sonny. Today highlighted that he’s our most important player that we’ve yet to succession plan for.

Will attempt to pop down mon/weds and put some ramblings on here.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this mate.
 
democritus said:
Trainings notes

Notable absentees: Fyfe

Walking casual laps: Sturt and JOM. Sturt with a small dressing over his left knee from his clean out last week.

Away from the main group: Freddy did some runs and then headed to the gym. Cox did a heap of running. Difficult to see from the far side but it looked like this included Murphy too. Odin Jones was by himself with the trainers but later joined in match sim at the end.

Darcy, Walker, Emmett warmed up with the main group and then peeled away for the more intense main drills. Walker and Darcy look very close to rejoining main training. Both moving well imagine we will see them much more involved after the Christmas break.

A lot of players came in and out of the drills and performed laps or various exercises with trainers. Including Chapman, Johnno, Wagner, Amiss, Stanley, Switta and later Brayshaw. Not sure if this is a new thing for load management and or more tailored programs.

I find it hard to comment too much on drills as it’s not always clear as a spectator what the aim of the exercise is. Also, it’s difficult to focus on everything given they are split into groups and there’s footballs flying everywhere.

My main takeaways from the drills are:
  • Pearce looks markedly more mobile. Doesn’t look like his ankle is going to break every time he takes a kick like stages last year. Didn’t realise the captaincy had been announced while I was watching but if he completes a solid pre season in this shape I think we will see more of 2022 Moose.
  • Young is a midfielder and a damn good one. Trained exclusively in the middle.
  • Aish training with the backs, looks like he’s unlikely to be in the wing mix.
  • Sharp is a gazelle
  • It’ll be a sad day when Sonny retires. Our most vocal trainer and goes full tilt at every drill. Serong a close second. Will captain this club.
  • Tabs appears to be in good shape. I don’t have him in our best 22 but a fit Taberner does wonders for our depth and puts pressure on JJJ to perform.
  • Said this last season but Josh Draper won the generic lottery. If that translates on field we’ve landed a gem.
  • Likewise, Williams in full training unlike last year. He’s so slight. Good skills, evasive and clever. His frame is the main thing that will hold this kid back.
  • He was in and out of drills but I’m very bullish on Stanley being a good contributor. A real late bloomer, already has a pretty impressive physique and has that explosiveness that sets him apart.
  • Spotted the train ons; Voss for sure and who I believe were Beattie and SVR. None of them really stood out to me. But I may just not have been watching too hard.
  • Delean seems like a character. The sort of extrovert personality that this group may have missed last year with guys like Logue and Acres departing.
  • Simpson reminds me of a prestia/Shiel type.
  • Knobel is bloody tall. Still needs to fill out a lot, I was impressed by some of skills today. Seems like the perfect kid to have developing behind Darcy and Jackson.
  • Johnson must be close to 195cm. Standing next to Amiss there was really no difference in size.
Drills went for about 90 mins or so. Started with some good intensity and the group was really vocal. This did taper off a fair bit.

At about 11am those who stuck around were treated to 2x 15 mins of match sim. The skills are rusty but there was some nice plays and some early insight into positional calls.

Thoughts on match sim
  • Sharp was very involved. Looked like our best winger out there. Also playing wing were NOD, Williams and at one point Chappy (don’t rule that experiment out I suppose)
  • Serong looks set to continue his form in 2024.
  • Young always stands out to me. Was kicking off both feet and his skills are a level above. Played mid.
  • Aish played down back and was handy down there. Perfect bench player can play almost anywhere on field.
  • Amiss took a great contested mark and unselfishly sent backwards, but more central to Serong. Serong nailed the kick but I want to see Amiss take those kicks. Minor gripe.
  • Walters also a highlight in the drills. Sublime kicking and reading of play. I wish we had another 15 years of Sonny. Today highlighted that he’s our most important player that we’ve yet to succession plan for.

Will attempt to pop down mon/weds and put some ramblings on here.
Click to expand...
Firstly, thanks for the fantastic write up.
Secondly, in the match sims, where was Stanley playing, wing, inside mid or HHF?
 

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democritus said:
Training notes

Notable absentees: Fyfe

Walking casual laps: Sturt and JOM. Sturt with a small dressing over his left knee from his clean out last week.

Away from the main group: Freddy did some runs and then headed to the gym. Cox did a heap of running. Difficult to see from the far side but it looked like this included Murphy too. Odin Jones was by himself with the trainers but later joined in match sim at the end.

Darcy, Walker, Emmett warmed up with the main group and then peeled away for the more intense main drills. Walker and Darcy look very close to rejoining main training. Both moving well imagine we will see them much more involved after the Christmas break.

A lot of players came in and out of the drills and performed laps or various exercises with trainers. Including Chapman, Johnno, Wagner, Amiss, Stanley, Switta and later Brayshaw. Not sure if this is a new thing for load management and or more tailored programs.

I find it hard to comment too much on drills as it’s not always clear as a spectator what the aim of the exercise is. Also, it’s difficult to focus on everything given they are split into groups and there’s footballs flying everywhere.

My main takeaways from the drills are:
  • Pearce looks markedly more mobile. Doesn’t look like his ankle is going to break every time he takes a kick like stages last year. Didn’t realise the captaincy had been announced while I was watching but if he completes a solid pre season in this shape I think we will see more of 2022 Moose.
  • Young is a midfielder and a damn good one. Trained exclusively in the middle.
  • Aish training with the backs, looks like he’s unlikely to be in the wing mix.
  • Sharp is a gazelle
  • It’ll be a sad day when Sonny retires. Our most vocal trainer and goes full tilt at every drill. Serong a close second. Will captain this club.
  • Tabs appears to be in good shape. I don’t have him in our best 22 but a fit Taberner does wonders for our depth and puts pressure on JJJ to perform.
  • Said this last season but Josh Draper won the generic lottery. If that translates on field we’ve landed a gem.
  • Likewise, Williams in full training unlike last year. He’s so slight. Good skills, evasive and clever. His frame is the main thing that will hold this kid back.
  • He was in and out of drills but I’m very bullish on Stanley being a good contributor. A real late bloomer, already has a pretty impressive physique and has that explosiveness that sets him apart.
  • Spotted the train ons; Voss for sure and who I believe were Beattie and SVR. None of them really stood out to me. But I may just not have been watching too hard.
  • Delean seems like a character. The sort of extrovert personality that this group may have missed last year with guys like Logue and Acres departing.
  • Simpson reminds me of a prestia/Shiel type.
  • Knobel is bloody tall. Still needs to fill out a lot, I was impressed by some of skills today. Seems like the perfect kid to have developing behind Darcy and Jackson.
  • Johnson must be close to 195cm. Standing next to Amiss there was really no difference in size.
Drills went for about 90 mins or so. Started with some good intensity and the group was really vocal. This did taper off a fair bit.

At about 11am those who stuck around were treated to 2x 15 mins of match sim. The skills are rusty but there was some nice plays and some early insight into positional calls.

Thoughts on match sim
  • Sharp was very involved. Looked like our best winger out there. Also playing wing were NOD, Williams and at one point Chappy (don’t rule that experiment out I suppose)
  • Serong looks set to continue his form in 2024.
  • Young always stands out to me. Was kicking off both feet and his skills are a level above. Played mid.
  • Aish played down back and was handy down there. Perfect bench player can play almost anywhere on field.
  • Amiss took a great contested mark and unselfishly sent backwards, but more central to Serong. Serong nailed the kick but I want to see Amiss take those kicks. Minor gripe.
  • Walters also a highlight in the drills. Sublime kicking and reading of play. I wish we had another 15 years of Sonny. Today highlighted that he’s our most important player that we’ve yet to succession plan for.

Will attempt to pop down mon/weds and put some ramblings on here.
Click to expand...

Great post! A bit sad to hear that Josh Draper was a bit vanilla
 
democritus said:
Training notes

Notable absentees: Fyfe

Walking casual laps: Sturt and JOM. Sturt with a small dressing over his left knee from his clean out last week.

Away from the main group: Freddy did some runs and then headed to the gym. Cox did a heap of running. Difficult to see from the far side but it looked like this included Murphy too. Odin Jones was by himself with the trainers but later joined in match sim at the end.

Darcy, Walker, Emmett warmed up with the main group and then peeled away for the more intense main drills. Walker and Darcy look very close to rejoining main training. Both moving well imagine we will see them much more involved after the Christmas break.

A lot of players came in and out of the drills and performed laps or various exercises with trainers. Including Chapman, Johnno, Wagner, Amiss, Stanley, Switta and later Brayshaw. Not sure if this is a new thing for load management and or more tailored programs.

I find it hard to comment too much on drills as it’s not always clear as a spectator what the aim of the exercise is. Also, it’s difficult to focus on everything given they are split into groups and there’s footballs flying everywhere.

My main takeaways from the drills are:
  • Pearce looks markedly more mobile. Doesn’t look like his ankle is going to break every time he takes a kick like stages last year. Didn’t realise the captaincy had been announced while I was watching but if he completes a solid pre season in this shape I think we will see more of 2022 Moose.
  • Young is a midfielder and a damn good one. Trained exclusively in the middle.
  • Aish training with the backs, looks like he’s unlikely to be in the wing mix.
  • Sharp is a gazelle
  • It’ll be a sad day when Sonny retires. Our most vocal trainer and goes full tilt at every drill. Serong a close second. Will captain this club.
  • Tabs appears to be in good shape. I don’t have him in our best 22 but a fit Taberner does wonders for our depth and puts pressure on JJJ to perform.
  • Said this last season but Josh Draper won the generic lottery. If that translates on field we’ve landed a gem.
  • Likewise, Williams in full training unlike last year. He’s so slight. Good skills, evasive and clever. His frame is the main thing that will hold this kid back.
  • He was in and out of drills but I’m very bullish on Stanley being a good contributor. A real late bloomer, already has a pretty impressive physique and has that explosiveness that sets him apart.
  • Spotted the train ons; Voss for sure and who I believe were Beattie and SVR. None of them really stood out to me. But I may just not have been watching too hard.
  • Delean seems like a character. The sort of extrovert personality that this group may have missed last year with guys like Logue and Acres departing.
  • Simpson reminds me of a prestia/Shiel type.
  • Knobel is bloody tall. Still needs to fill out a lot, I was impressed by some of skills today. Seems like the perfect kid to have developing behind Darcy and Jackson.
  • Johnson must be close to 195cm. Standing next to Amiss there was really no difference in size.
Drills went for about 90 mins or so. Started with some good intensity and the group was really vocal. This did taper off a fair bit.

At about 11am those who stuck around were treated to 2x 15 mins of match sim. The skills are rusty but there was some nice plays and some early insight into positional calls.

Thoughts on match sim
  • Sharp was very involved. Looked like our best winger out there. Also playing wing were NOD, Williams and at one point Chappy (don’t rule that experiment out I suppose)
  • Serong looks set to continue his form in 2024.
  • Young always stands out to me. Was kicking off both feet and his skills are a level above. Played mid.
  • Aish played down back and was handy down there. Perfect bench player can play almost anywhere on field.
  • Amiss took a great contested mark and unselfishly sent backwards, but more central to Serong. Serong nailed the kick but I want to see Amiss take those kicks. Minor gripe.
  • Walters also a highlight in the drills. Sublime kicking and reading of play. I wish we had another 15 years of Sonny. Today highlighted that he’s our most important player that we’ve yet to succession plan for.

Will attempt to pop down mon/weds and put some ramblings on here.
Click to expand...

‘so good to read this . Well done!!
 
pK75 said:
Firstly, thanks for the fantastic write up.
Secondly, in the match sims, where was Stanley playing, wing, inside mid or HHF?
Click to expand...
Stanley was one of the many hat wearers that are difficult to spot in main session drills as we have many players around his height and build. Today I noticed Stanley was mostly running laps and not participating in every drill. I'm confident thats not due to injury but rather simply load management as he's doing his first afl preseason.
 
purplerunsdeep2 said:
Our game plan needs wingers to play their role. Jeez I hope Sharp comes on

No surprises that he's settled in well with the group


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I agree about the importance of wingers in our game plan. I'm a fan of Brayshaw spending some game time on a wing for that very reason. Today Wagner spent time training with he mids and the defensive group. I think he could be developed into a very good wingman as he ha a great combination of speed and endurance with his running profile.
 
democritus said:
Training notes

Notable absentees: Fyfe

Walking casual laps: Sturt and JOM. Sturt with a small dressing over his left knee from his clean out last week.

Away from the main group: Freddy did some runs and then headed to the gym. Cox did a heap of running. Difficult to see from the far side but it looked like this included Murphy too. Odin Jones was by himself with the trainers but later joined in match sim at the end.

Darcy, Walker, Emmett warmed up with the main group and then peeled away for the more intense main drills. Walker and Darcy look very close to rejoining main training. Both moving well imagine we will see them much more involved after the Christmas break.

A lot of players came in and out of the drills and performed laps or various exercises with trainers. Including Chapman, Johnno, Wagner, Amiss, Stanley, Switta and later Brayshaw. Not sure if this is a new thing for load management and or more tailored programs.

I find it hard to comment too much on drills as it’s not always clear as a spectator what the aim of the exercise is. Also, it’s difficult to focus on everything given they are split into groups and there’s footballs flying everywhere.

My main takeaways from the drills are:
  • Pearce looks markedly more mobile. Doesn’t look like his ankle is going to break every time he takes a kick like stages last year. Didn’t realise the captaincy had been announced while I was watching but if he completes a solid pre season in this shape I think we will see more of 2022 Moose.
  • Young is a midfielder and a damn good one. Trained exclusively in the middle.
  • Aish training with the backs, looks like he’s unlikely to be in the wing mix.
  • Sharp is a gazelle
  • It’ll be a sad day when Sonny retires. Our most vocal trainer and goes full tilt at every drill. Serong a close second. Will captain this club.
  • Tabs appears to be in good shape. I don’t have him in our best 22 but a fit Taberner does wonders for our depth and puts pressure on JJJ to perform.
  • Said this last season but Josh Draper won the generic lottery. If that translates on field we’ve landed a gem.
  • Likewise, Williams in full training unlike last year. He’s so slight. Good skills, evasive and clever. His frame is the main thing that will hold this kid back.
  • He was in and out of drills but I’m very bullish on Stanley being a good contributor. A real late bloomer, already has a pretty impressive physique and has that explosiveness that sets him apart.
  • Spotted the train ons; Voss for sure and who I believe were Beattie and SVR. None of them really stood out to me. But I may just not have been watching too hard.
  • Delean seems like a character. The sort of extrovert personality that this group may have missed last year with guys like Logue and Acres departing.
  • Simpson reminds me of a prestia/Shiel type.
  • Knobel is bloody tall. Still needs to fill out a lot, I was impressed by some of skills today. Seems like the perfect kid to have developing behind Darcy and Jackson.
  • Johnson must be close to 195cm. Standing next to Amiss there was really no difference in size.
Drills went for about 90 mins or so. Started with some good intensity and the group was really vocal. This did taper off a fair bit.

At about 11am those who stuck around were treated to 2x 15 mins of match sim. The skills are rusty but there was some nice plays and some early insight into positional calls.

Thoughts on match sim
  • Sharp was very involved. Looked like our best winger out there. Also playing wing were NOD, Williams and at one point Chappy (don’t rule that experiment out I suppose)
  • Serong looks set to continue his form in 2024.
  • Young always stands out to me. Was kicking off both feet and his skills are a level above. Played mid.
  • Aish played down back and was handy down there. Perfect bench player can play almost anywhere on field.
  • Amiss took a great contested mark and unselfishly sent backwards, but more central to Serong. Serong nailed the kick but I want to see Amiss take those kicks. Minor gripe.
  • Walters also a highlight in the drills. Sublime kicking and reading of play. I wish we had another 15 years of Sonny. Today highlighted that he’s our most important player that we’ve yet to succession plan for.

Will attempt to pop down mon/weds and put some ramblings on here.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the report democritus, very much looking forward to your next report after that fantastic effort.
 

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Training Preseason 2024

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