As promised I went to the training session today at Norwood. After ********loads of hassle with the traffic (Bloody cycling) I got there just before the session started.
Firstly, I was surprised by the number of "key" players on the sidelines
. Hart, McLeod, Stevens, Goodwin, Edwards, Thompson, Clarke, Perrie, Biglands as well as Massie, Doughty, Smith, Maric, Knights, Jericho, and Hentschel not training with the main group while Schuback, Torney and Krueger weren't even there.
The likes of Hentschel didn't do any work what so ever. Matthew Smith ran the laps and Stevo just kick the footy around as did Goodwin. Perrie, Clarke Biglands, Maric, Knights, Massie, Hart, McLeod, Thompson, and Jericho, did some handballing drills and some very light kicking. Jericho practiced his snap shots from deep inside the pocket and I must admit he surprised me. Kicked 9 out of 10. Of course there was no pressure what so ever.
Training session started at 3 and for the first 20 odd minutes we did some kicking practice in "criss-cross motion". To start off with the skills were shocking. Craigy stopped the session and got stuck into the blokes. "If you kick like that in a game I will chop your legs off" was one of the quotes.
Skills cleaned up a bit later on but still a LONG way to go. After that the players were split into 2 groups. One group went on to practice tackling while the other went to the other side practicing forward line enteries
Forward line enteries:
All 3 assistats were involved here with Craigy as the goal umpire. The drill consisted of 9 players on each side of which 5 were forwards/defenders and other 4 were midfielders.
The drill would start of with someone kicking off from CHB to the wing (edge of the center square). The play would then switch to the CHF/HFF area and then into the forward 50. There were red cornes indicating the hot spot where players had to kick to. If the player marked outside those cones, coaches would yell "Play on we don't want it in that area".
On the forward line set up, we started with 5 forwards. Welsh and Hudson started in the square with Burton, S. Stevens and Van Berlo huddled together at CHF. The match ups were Hudson/Bassett, Welsh/Rutten, Skipworth/Burton, Van Berlo/Johncock, Stevens/Bock.
Burton was swapping with Ladhams from HFF to the midfield. Hudson was most impressive in these drills. He was aggressive on the lead and marked the ball very well in contested situations. Kicked a few goals as well. Burton was also a strong focal point accross HF. Welshy also did OK.
They would go on for about 10 minutes and then the players would swap sides. Defenders become attacker and attackers become defenders except for Hudson who was always used from the goal square as a forward.
After a while these players went to practice tackling and the tackling group did the forward line entry drills. Some of the match ups were Hudson/Meesen, McGregor/Watts, Nye/Hinge, Andrews/Griffin, Gibson/Begley.
Hudson carried on with the good form (he didn't practice tackling today). Watts was super impressive in these drills. He marked exceptionally well and kicked a couple of goals. Needs to build upper body but he seems to have lost the puppy fat that he was carrying this time last year. Hinge is a very good overhead for his size, so is Nye.
Overall the enteries weren't particularly clean. Some would get executed well, other times it would get sloppy. From these drills most impressive were Watts, Hudson, Hinge and Burton. As far as those delivering the ball. Van Berlo and Reilly were standouts.
Tackling Sessions
Injured players were used to hold up the bags. In one of the drills the player would stand some 20 meters behind the bag. In front of the bag there would be a player 5 meters away and another 10 in the same line. The balls get placed on top of the bags. The 2 players in front of the bags would lay down on their back (with back turned to the tackling bags). Schwerdty would blow a whistle, the 2 players would get up. The one closer to the bag would make the tackle on the bag. The ball would spill and the other one would run onto it and as soon as he gets it either handball or kick to the player standing some 20 meteres behind the tackling bag.
Goal Kicking on the run
Had a group coming in from the boundary line on both sides, from the goal square and at CHF. They would work the ball out in a circular motion with the player from the goal square kicking to one of the flanks, a player marks and kicks in accross to the other flanks, a player gets the possesions and passes it off to a running player at CHF who goes on and has a shot at goal.
There were also some defenders there trying to make life difficult and there were other players that tried to sheppard and let the player with the ball have a free shot at goal.
Sloppy skills and goal kicking by some players. Needs a fair bit of work
Kick in strategies
To finish off the session the boys practiced kick ins. Forwards would set up a zone and defenders have to get it out from FB to CHF. Johncock and Reilly were in charge of kicking in. Used a couple of set plays where they would either kick short to Ladhams who would then handball off to a running player usually begley, who clears it out to the wing.
Another set play was to kick it long to either a ruckman (Ben Hudson or Meesen) or a CHB (McGregor or Gibson)
Had to leave at 5:20 so they were still left behind practicing this.
Some observations.
Burton - Stood out for both his crap kicking and him presenting himself. I couldn't beleive my eyes when he actually delivered the ball ala Kane Johnson (flat and hard) to Huddo
Van Berlo - The kid is all class. Silky foot skills. Just about the best kick (along with Reilly) of the footy in today's session.
Andrews - Bulked up a bit but still a fair way to go. Crap kicking style as always. He generally hits targets when there is no pressure but as soon as there is some pressue the kicking action is all over the place.
Griffin - Built like a pencil but very smooth for a tall fella. Impressed with his ball handling and kicking was very smooth. I think WW must have been talking about him when he did his training report.
Hinge - Good pick up this lad. Strongly built, gook kick and a strong mark. Showed some promising signs both as a forward and defender in the drills.
Reilly - All class. Skills first class and his delivery to the forwards was sensational.
Bode - Bodster was everywhere today. Had a REALLY good session. Still the same kicking action but he only missed a target a couple of times today.
Roo - GREAT
Watts - Very impressive. Played from the goal square along with Huddo and gave Kenny a bath in the air. Very impressed with him today.
Ladhams - Did very well. Great foot skills.
Begley - trained well the entire session
Gibson - Raw but a BIG boy who loves to split packs
Bock - Trained the house down. Has bulked up. Used as a defender today and did very well
Meesen - Did some excellent things that got praised by Craigy. Needs to beef up but a likely type
Perrie - ******** me dead the bloke is HUGE. Hair is a SHOCKER. Looks like as if the goat p|ssed on it
The likes of Perrie, Welsh, Bock, Hentschel, Reilly and Johncock have all bulked up to some degree.
Maric looks like a bit of a character and well liked by the team mates.
Firstly, I was surprised by the number of "key" players on the sidelines
. Hart, McLeod, Stevens, Goodwin, Edwards, Thompson, Clarke, Perrie, Biglands as well as Massie, Doughty, Smith, Maric, Knights, Jericho, and Hentschel not training with the main group while Schuback, Torney and Krueger weren't even there.The likes of Hentschel didn't do any work what so ever. Matthew Smith ran the laps and Stevo just kick the footy around as did Goodwin. Perrie, Clarke Biglands, Maric, Knights, Massie, Hart, McLeod, Thompson, and Jericho, did some handballing drills and some very light kicking. Jericho practiced his snap shots from deep inside the pocket and I must admit he surprised me. Kicked 9 out of 10. Of course there was no pressure what so ever.
Training session started at 3 and for the first 20 odd minutes we did some kicking practice in "criss-cross motion". To start off with the skills were shocking. Craigy stopped the session and got stuck into the blokes. "If you kick like that in a game I will chop your legs off" was one of the quotes
.Skills cleaned up a bit later on but still a LONG way to go. After that the players were split into 2 groups. One group went on to practice tackling while the other went to the other side practicing forward line enteries
Forward line enteries:
All 3 assistats were involved here with Craigy as the goal umpire. The drill consisted of 9 players on each side of which 5 were forwards/defenders and other 4 were midfielders.
The drill would start of with someone kicking off from CHB to the wing (edge of the center square). The play would then switch to the CHF/HFF area and then into the forward 50. There were red cornes indicating the hot spot where players had to kick to. If the player marked outside those cones, coaches would yell "Play on we don't want it in that area".
On the forward line set up, we started with 5 forwards. Welsh and Hudson started in the square with Burton, S. Stevens and Van Berlo huddled together at CHF. The match ups were Hudson/Bassett, Welsh/Rutten, Skipworth/Burton, Van Berlo/Johncock, Stevens/Bock.
Burton was swapping with Ladhams from HFF to the midfield. Hudson was most impressive in these drills. He was aggressive on the lead and marked the ball very well in contested situations. Kicked a few goals as well. Burton was also a strong focal point accross HF. Welshy also did OK.
They would go on for about 10 minutes and then the players would swap sides. Defenders become attacker and attackers become defenders except for Hudson who was always used from the goal square as a forward.
After a while these players went to practice tackling and the tackling group did the forward line entry drills. Some of the match ups were Hudson/Meesen, McGregor/Watts, Nye/Hinge, Andrews/Griffin, Gibson/Begley.
Hudson carried on with the good form (he didn't practice tackling today). Watts was super impressive in these drills. He marked exceptionally well and kicked a couple of goals. Needs to build upper body but he seems to have lost the puppy fat that he was carrying this time last year. Hinge is a very good overhead for his size, so is Nye.
Overall the enteries weren't particularly clean. Some would get executed well, other times it would get sloppy. From these drills most impressive were Watts, Hudson, Hinge and Burton. As far as those delivering the ball. Van Berlo and Reilly were standouts.
Tackling Sessions
Injured players were used to hold up the bags. In one of the drills the player would stand some 20 meters behind the bag. In front of the bag there would be a player 5 meters away and another 10 in the same line. The balls get placed on top of the bags. The 2 players in front of the bags would lay down on their back (with back turned to the tackling bags). Schwerdty would blow a whistle, the 2 players would get up. The one closer to the bag would make the tackle on the bag. The ball would spill and the other one would run onto it and as soon as he gets it either handball or kick to the player standing some 20 meteres behind the tackling bag.
Goal Kicking on the run
Had a group coming in from the boundary line on both sides, from the goal square and at CHF. They would work the ball out in a circular motion with the player from the goal square kicking to one of the flanks, a player marks and kicks in accross to the other flanks, a player gets the possesions and passes it off to a running player at CHF who goes on and has a shot at goal.
There were also some defenders there trying to make life difficult and there were other players that tried to sheppard and let the player with the ball have a free shot at goal.
Sloppy skills and goal kicking by some players. Needs a fair bit of work
Kick in strategies
To finish off the session the boys practiced kick ins. Forwards would set up a zone and defenders have to get it out from FB to CHF. Johncock and Reilly were in charge of kicking in. Used a couple of set plays where they would either kick short to Ladhams who would then handball off to a running player usually begley, who clears it out to the wing.
Another set play was to kick it long to either a ruckman (Ben Hudson or Meesen) or a CHB (McGregor or Gibson)
Had to leave at 5:20 so they were still left behind practicing this.
Some observations.
Burton - Stood out for both his crap kicking and him presenting himself. I couldn't beleive my eyes when he actually delivered the ball ala Kane Johnson (flat and hard) to Huddo
Van Berlo - The kid is all class. Silky foot skills. Just about the best kick (along with Reilly) of the footy in today's session.
Andrews - Bulked up a bit but still a fair way to go. Crap kicking style as always. He generally hits targets when there is no pressure but as soon as there is some pressue the kicking action is all over the place.
Griffin - Built like a pencil but very smooth for a tall fella. Impressed with his ball handling and kicking was very smooth. I think WW must have been talking about him when he did his training report.
Hinge - Good pick up this lad. Strongly built, gook kick and a strong mark. Showed some promising signs both as a forward and defender in the drills.
Reilly - All class. Skills first class and his delivery to the forwards was sensational.
Bode - Bodster was everywhere today. Had a REALLY good session. Still the same kicking action but he only missed a target a couple of times today.
Roo - GREAT
Watts - Very impressive. Played from the goal square along with Huddo and gave Kenny a bath in the air. Very impressed with him today.
Ladhams - Did very well. Great foot skills.
Begley - trained well the entire session
Gibson - Raw but a BIG boy who loves to split packs
Bock - Trained the house down. Has bulked up. Used as a defender today and did very well
Meesen - Did some excellent things that got praised by Craigy. Needs to beef up but a likely type
Perrie - ******** me dead the bloke is HUGE. Hair is a SHOCKER. Looks like as if the goat p|ssed on it
The likes of Perrie, Welsh, Bock, Hentschel, Reilly and Johncock have all bulked up to some degree.
Maric looks like a bit of a character and well liked by the team mates.
