Training Summer Footy Fix - 2022 training watch

[Dewnior]

A friend of mine who went said Lewis has clearly gone to another level. Would you agree? Very exciting if he can come of age this year. But think I remember you/someone saying he had no-one of note playing on him.


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He had Hartigan on him in the first half and kicked 4 I think

 

[Guardian Hawk]

Preseason is such a funny time isn't it? We all get (probably over) excited about our young prospects and the improvement of players. We all make commentary on who has bulked up or slimmed down, with interpretation of both to mean they are set 'for their best year ever'. We like to compare young players to established stars, dreaming of the possibilities.

and yet, in many ways, pre-season is like "dancing with your sister" in that one player dominating means another Hawthorn listed player is the one being dominated. Every goal kicked by one is a goal kicked on another, etc.

A summary of the feelings being evoked for me by the pre-season reports so far:

The comeback - Gunston and Sicily are fit and demonstrating they are capable of everything they were before. We know what they offer and that this is elite. It's great to be welcoming them back.

The excitement - We need emergence amongst our young midfield. It sounds like Newcombe, Ward and McDonald are all performing well and showing signs of matching it with the known quantities (Titch, O'Meara, Shiels, etc.). Will we see a (or multiple) midfield 'break outs' to support Worpel and co? Lewis and Moore are also generating excitement up forward. Can they both take the next step? with Lewis (as a key forward) being of particular importance.

The question mark - Quite a few really. Who gets picked in defence? Where do the quality players not picked in defence line up? Who gets the 2nd ruck spot? Will one of Kozi, Jeka or Callow stamp their mark on the preseason to partner Lewis?

The worry - The injuries to CJ and Day for me. CJ had a huge preseason last year and started the season with a bang. His injury seems to have lasted a very long time and I think we should expect a slow start to the season from him. Day too has been injured for a long time and seems to miss more than he plays - he is a special talent so I hope his body can withstand the rigours of AFL.

Overall, their is an air of intrigue and excitement. New coach, promising draftees, new game plan and younger players appearing to be more prominent than in previous years. Will this translate to the intensity and pressure of real match conditions? Can't wait to find out....

 

[Argy]

As someone said already, it's like dancing with your sister at the moment. Hopefully our expectations don't get crunched after the first couple of practice games against other teams.

 

[Easy Slips Catch]

It wasn't The Dooch or De Witt. He was a rangy mid-sized defender. Heaps of aggro.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

I just thought of another little incident that happened yesterday that made me chuckle.

Last week I mentioned that Sicily and Denver forgot about the ball and just tackled each other to the ground.
This week Newcombe hunted Jaeger on their way to a loose ball and as soon as Jaeger picked it up Newcombe nailed him, and rolled him over as he took him to the ground.
Jaeger didn’t like this so they had a little bit of a scrap on the deck for a couple of seconds which made a bunch of other players come in and start pushing and shoving each other. It was good to see a bit of feeling, with the real stuff not far off. It was a good reminder that these guys are all fighting for a spot.

For anyone who is even mildly concerned that there’s friction, it cleared pretty quickly and Jaeger then gave Newcombe his hand and helped him get up… and then the mids started jostling and pushing each other once more.

 

[GinniAndTonic]

Jai could be a Smokey for the rising star!

 

[bEnJi]

It still blows me away what an under hyped / under appreciated story young Newcombe is.
To turn up for a Box Hill training session, to make immediate and overwhelming impact, to be called - famously for mine - Box Hills toughest player as an 18-19 year old after maybe half a dozen runs, while in front of his teammates, by Mitch in a coaching session.....and the moment was never too much for him.
Put on to our list and then later getting a run with the first team and laying 14 tackles in his first game.
He looks like a modern day Barney to me, with all the same belief and instinct to simply go and take what he wants.
And now in his first proper preseason to stand tall amongst really talented and eager teammates, many honed by game and fortune and desire to further their own possibilities, and Newk finds his way to impose himself.
Absolute freakin storybook.

Are you calling Newcombe a 7 game, 2nd year player a modern day Leigh Matthews?

Some of these comments are so laughable. Same goes for the hype about Nash in here.

Played 2 half reasonable games proceeded by 20+ games where he was as useless as you can be on a AFL field.



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[Guardian Hawk]

As someone said already, it's like dancing with your sister at the moment. Hopefully our expectations don't get crunched after the first couple of practice games against other teams.

It's tricky because even practice games need to be taken with a grain of salt. Some teams take them very experimentally, some heavily feature youth whilst others go the full dress rehearsal. Typically, the intensity is down and established, senior players don't go quite as hard.

We are fortunate in that we are playing mostly other sides who are rebuilding or with a point to prove which I think assists in seeing intensity closer to the real thing. I have a feeling we will be very competitive in these games. It's whether it translates to the real season for the duration that remains the question mark.

 

[grumbleguts]

Are you calling Newcombe a 7 game, 2nd year player a modern day Leigh Matthews?

Some of these comments are so laughable. Same goes for the hype about Nash in here.

Played 2 half reasonable games proceeded by 20+ games where he was as useless as you can be on a AFL field.



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O God! Another one.

 

[BIGHAWK23]

Are you calling Newcombe a 7 game, 2nd year player a modern day Leigh Matthews?

Some of these comments are so laughable. Same goes for the hype about Nash in here.

Played 2 half reasonable games proceeded by 20+ games where he was as useless as you can be on a AFL field.



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Life must suck as a pessimist

Lighten up

 

[kirbatron]

I watched the clubs highlights from yesterdays intraclub. Was pleasantly surprised/a little shocked by the speed of Newcombe - his first few steps are genuinely quick. We now have a genuine midfield bull who is already one of the best tacklers in the league, can play forward, can kick 50+ metres and is an absolute animal in contested situations. Jai seems to be the re-incarnation of Max Rooke, and hopefully a more improved version, even looks like him

where are these highlights NG?

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Are you calling Newcombe a 7 game, 2nd year player a modern day Leigh Matthews?

Some of these comments are so laughable. Same goes for the hype about Nash in here.

Played 2 half reasonable games proceeded by 20+ games where he was as useless as you can be on a AFL field.



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Firstly, it’s preceded not proceeded. Secondly, shut the **** up.

 

[Pinoy Hawk]

where are these highlights NG?

Nuke looks good in here from the 0:57 timeline.

 

[Tassie Cryptik]

Are you calling Newcombe a 7 game, 2nd year player a modern day Leigh Matthews?

Some of these comments are so laughable. Same goes for the hype about Nash in here.

Played 2 half reasonable games proceeded by 20+ games where he was as useless as you can be on a AFL field.



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Matthews and even Tuck , had to start somewhere. They didn't just turn up 300,or 400, gamers.
Newcombe and Nash may become Gods amongst men, only time will tell.

 

[Guardian Hawk]

OK, so I didn't call myself Guardian Hawk for nothing - I know I am prone to being ultra defensive about Hawthorn players and being able to write narratives about how underappreciated certain Hawthorn players can be.

But I don' think we need to attack less optimistic posters when they express their opinions. This can be a very optimistic place at times and some balance can have value when added to the discussion. Not everyone will turn out a superstar cos of some nice moves at training. I think The 4 Pillars is a great example of someone who writes training reports, points out many positives but also highlights players weaknesses, areas of concern and players who may not make it.

Benji's example above is not necessarily what I'm referring to as it was somewhat condescending but in general I think we can welcome more pessimistic views as well - especially if they are things like "Newcombe and Matthews are not really comparable" or "Nash has only played 2 ok games so the jury is still out" which to me are both pretty fair opinions.

Apologies for a potentially unpopular opinion.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

OK, so I didn't call myself Guardian Hawk for nothing - I know I am prone to being ultra defensive about Hawthorn players and being able to write narratives about how underappreciated certain Hawthorn players can be.

But I don' think we need to attack less optimistic posters when they express their opinions. This can be a very optimistic place at times and some balance can have value when added to the discussion. Not everyone will turn out a superstar cos of some nice moves at training. I think The 4 Pillars is a great example of someone who writes training reports, points out many positives but also highlights players weaknesses, areas of concern and players who may not make it.

Benji's example above is not necessarily what I'm referring to as it was somewhat condescending but in general I think we can welcome more pessimistic views as well - especially if they are things like "Newcombe and Matthews are not really comparable" or "Nash has only played 2 ok games so the jury is still out" which to me are both pretty fair opinions.

Apologies for a potentially unpopular opinion.

You’re right - people can be reasonably cautious. You’re also right that Benji wasn’t a good example of that - someone who logs on rarely who makes a special effort to log on just to shit on someone’s excitement about one of younger players has every right to be called out for their shit input.

 

[threesixpio]

I thought that but I’m really hoping we see more of midfield Chad in 2022.

I’m hoping we don’t need Chad as much in the midfield see Ward, MacDonald etc.

 

[Strapping Young Lad]

Just on Nash is I was reminded of this last night….

In his first 4 games as a center bounce mid, he averaged:
20.2 disposals, 4.5 clearances, 8.25 contested possessions, 4.75 tackles and ran at 77.5% disp efficiency, which is good going for a guy learning a completely new role.

 

[BIGHAWK23]

OK, so I didn't call myself Guardian Hawk for nothing - I know I am prone to being ultra defensive about Hawthorn players and being able to write narratives about how underappreciated certain Hawthorn players can be.

But I don' think we need to attack less optimistic posters when they express their opinions. This can be a very optimistic place at times and some balance can have value when added to the discussion. Not everyone will turn out a superstar cos of some nice moves at training. I think The 4 Pillars is a great example of someone who writes training reports, points out many positives but also highlights players weaknesses, areas of concern and players who may not make it.

Benji's example above is not necessarily what I'm referring to as it was somewhat condescending but in general I think we can welcome more pessimistic views as well - especially if they are things like "Newcombe and Matthews are not really comparable" or "Nash has only played 2 ok games so the jury is still out" which to me are both pretty fair opinions.

Apologies for a potentially unpopular opinion.

I think saying posters opinions is laughable isn't just pessimistic

Its just rude

People come here to here positive reports about our players, something we rarely get from mainstream media

 

[CHUBBSS]

OK, so I didn't call myself Guardian Hawk for nothing - I know I am prone to being ultra defensive about Hawthorn players and being able to write narratives about how underappreciated certain Hawthorn players can be.

But I don' think we need to attack less optimistic posters when they express their opinions. This can be a very optimistic place at times and some balance can have value when added to the discussion. Not everyone will turn out a superstar cos of some nice moves at training. I think The 4 Pillars is a great example of someone who writes training reports, points out many positives but also highlights players weaknesses, areas of concern and players who may not make it.

Benji's example above is not necessarily what I'm referring to as it was somewhat condescending but in general I think we can welcome more pessimistic views as well - especially if they are things like "Newcombe and Matthews are not really comparable" or "Nash has only played 2 ok games so the jury is still out" which to me are both pretty fair opinions.

Apologies for a potentially unpopular opinion.

You can agree with everything you said and still not blatantly wet blanket a kid who is having some new found success in a pre season - like that is literally the point of a pre season

 

[CHUBBSS]

Nuke looks good in here from the 0:57 timeline.

Ward to Duke - boy oh boy

 

[Bardo State]

Lewis playing with the confidence with Kosi and McEvoy up forward with him along with Gunston is incredibly exciting. Imagine Breust, Moore and Brockman taking advantage of defensive units that have to contend with multiple tall targets. If we can get the delivery right - this could be a lot of fun to watch.

Very exciting to remember that Lewis, Kosi, Moore, Wingard, Breust, Brockman was a completely new forward setup last year.

Reinforcing and learning over 2022 where each other likes to run and place the ball will hopefully create more instinctive flow of play up there.

 

[Brishawk]

Just on Nash is I was reminded of this last night….

In his first 4 games as a center bounce mid, he averaged:
20.2 disposals, 4.5 clearances, 8.25 contested possessions, 4.75 tackles and ran at 77.5% disp efficiency, which is good going for a guy learning a completely new role.

I’m not going to write him off…he might hurt me

 

[Ned Ryerson]

Just on Nash is I was reminded of this last night….

In his first 4 games as a center bounce mid, he averaged:
20.2 disposals, 4.5 clearances, 8.25 contested possessions, 4.75 tackles and ran at 77.5% disp efficiency, which is good going for a guy learning a completely new role.

And he was sounded out as a midfielder by a coach who as a midfielder won a VFL premiership, a JJ Liston trophy, AFL Rising Star, 5 PCMs, 3 x AA, 4 premierships (1 as captain) and a Brownlow medal. I mean we better let Sam know that bEnJi of Bigfooty fame knows more about Nash's potential as a midfielder otherwise his reputation could be at risk.

 

[hawkman]

Just on Nash is I was reminded of this last night….

In his first 4 games as a center bounce mid, he averaged:
20.2 disposals, 4.5 clearances, 8.25 contested possessions, 4.75 tackles and ran at 77.5% disp efficiency, which is good going for a guy learning a completely new role.

Just put both him and Newcombe in the centre bounce. The opposition will be frightened to win it