Training Training reports 2024

[giantroo]

Final update from Glynn

Final 2023 Training Session

After a series of running drills the boys played a match sim.

Players that caught the eye:
Lazarro - he was very very busy he has taken some big strides and to be honest he may have pushed ahead of Phillips and Powell.
Sheez and Wardlaw looked like they feel this is their team now and they are pushing hard.
McKercher - the kids follow up run is something to be seen. I can't remember the last time a North player was constantly sprinting to get ahead of the ball after handing it off. His disposals are generally very good with, I estimate, about an 80% efficiency and I think the 20% has a lot to do with getting used to the closing speed of AFL players and their ability to cut off angles and pressure the player. All stuff he will learn. His raking kick is a joy to watch.
Scott has continued where he left off last year and just moves so well and seems tireless.

Finnbar Maley lost his hair - I think we all know how that probably came about but jeez it makes him look a lot meaner

Curtis and Larkey were both very dangerous in the forward line bit of course that also exposes our biggest weakness, defence.

Goater, whilst defence may be an issue he looks to have taken some real strides and looks to have bulked up a bit and his kicking is a delight.

At half time, rather than rest, the coaches set in place a series of game play scenarios to test positioning and ball movement.

Speaking of game plan, the best way for those not there to get an idea of how the biys are moving the ball is to look at the GWS game. Fast ball movement where possible and lots of run is the name of the game.

After the third quarter they ran possibly the best drill I have seen them do. 3 groups of ten players ten on one wing, ten on the other and then the third ten would be the opposition for one of the groups of ten. The objective for the "blue" team was to transition the ball down the wing to goal. The "yellow" team had to try and get a turn over. The "pink" team waited on the other wing. If the Blue team transitioned the ball the yellow team had to run over to the other wing where the yellow team were already trying to transition the ball. If the yellow team succeeded in a turnover then the blue team had to run over to the pinks and try and effect a turnover and the loser of that round had to run back over and start against the other team. A bit tricky to explain but it meant there was a real consequence/punishment to turning over the ball and this can only stand us in good stead.

 

[giantroo]

 

[giantroo]

And Eddie's in a moon boot. Ankle injury.

 

[trooroo4life]

And Eddie's in a moon boot. Ankle injury.

View attachment 1875433

Both Bull and Ford done their ankles in the same spot on the ground about 5-6 minutes apart. Ford had the ball and took a few steps towards goal before just getting rid of it and dropping to the ground. Zurhaars looked like a roll in a marking contest.

 

[giantroo]

Headed down to training this morning. Shirt and shorts were an awful choice, very windy.

They started off with match sim, seemed to be about 10-15 minute quarters, wasn’t keeping track. Few players missing LDU didn’t play, but joined in with skills and running after. Seemed to be a good level of intensity. Xerri got a bake off Tom Lynch at one stage for sling tackling and dumping PC hard into the ground. Greenwood got a bake a few times from Clarko for his decision making, few expletives yelled across the ground. All in all it was ok, conditions weren’t great for a showcase on skills.

Some observations on individuals:

• Wardlaw: just an absolutely terrific footballer to watch. Was probably the standout for me today. His inside work was fantastic, plenty of fends and spins out of traffic. Looks great.
• Fisher: sprayed a few but was very vocal across half back getting everyone into position.
• Scott: likewise very, very vocal. Played defence all 4 quarters and looked very good rebounding from defence.
• Sheezel: rotated off half back into the middle repeatedly. To say he looks in great shape is an understatement. Has worked hard.
• Stephens: very impressive. Rotated through half back, wing and half forward. When he played on the wing he dropped back regularly as a loose behind the ball. Was clean in traffic and kicked it well.
• Goater: played back the entire sim. Few nice intercepts and used the ball pretty well imo. Clarko would call set plays at random times, everytime he called for a d50 set play it was Goats taking the kick.
• Phillips: very solid, probably up there with Wardlaw as the pick of the day.
• McKercher: first time watching in person, incredibly quick and a hard runner. Sprayed one kick a mile out of bounds but then from there on was super clean. Will be a weapon off half back, stocked up on a lot of one-twos and broke lines.
• Zurhaar hurt his ankle in the second, got strapped and came back on to start the 3rd.
• Ford, done an ankle or calf at the end of the second. Sat on the bench for rest of the day.

They then split them into 3 groups of 10 and divided the ground in half length ways (few boys that missed the sim joined in here LDU, Cooper, Free, CCJ etc). Two groups started and one had to transition and one had to get the turnover whoever lost had to sprint to the other half of the ground and get the turnover on the 3rd team and the loser just had to keep busting their arse across the ground repeatedly, impressive drill to watch. The players were absolutely cooked after this, especially the pink team who couldn’t get a turnover from about 6-7 run throughs at one stage.

And then end to end run throughs, first years were pulled from doing this. Similar to a beep test but they got to stop for 5/10 seconds at each end. They started dropping off one by one from where I was watching Stevo was the first to throw in the towel, was trailing the early runs. The far side of the ground was left to Sheez, Shiels and Tucker being the only ones still going with Shiels end up being the last man standing. And the side closest to me Kal Dawson and 2 vfl boys were the last standing in the second group (Downie was one, unsure the other).

Finished off with some goal kicking, but the wind was a nightmare so not worth looking into tbh.

Ask away on individuals..

Edit: there was a young lad playing they were either calling him Lordy or Lloydy. Whoever it was had some really nice moments. Don’t know if he’s a vfl listed player or not.

Cooper Lord.

 

[Orange Peanut]

Cooper Lord.

Cooper Lord = The Good

 

[giantroo]

Both Bull and Ford done their ankles in the same spot on the ground about 5-6 minutes apart. Ford had the ball and took a few steps towards goal before just getting rid of it and dropping to the ground. Zurhaars looked like a roll in a marking contest.

Not looking good for Eddie. Syndesmosis.

 

[czero]

Not entirely accurate, specifically taking past seasons into account.

Hawthorn were the youngest list this year & had the second best DE across the competition, Fremantle the second youngest list with the best DE in the comp.

Also JZ had one of the best DE in the competition this year at 81.8%... was ranked 12th for most kicks across the entire competition this year and the third best by foot at 80.7%...

Perhaps the odd kick he bombed was significantly noticeable, but all in all, he was solid.

His positional change is what brought up his DE. When given time he has a great kick. However you look at anything he does in a rush and its generally not so favourable.

I didn't think this would be a controversial one honestly, we all watched him for his career.

 

[speedy]

Not looking good for Eddie. Syndesmosis.

****ing cursed, this club.

 

[Blue train 28]

Headed down to training this morning. Shirt and shorts were an awful choice, very windy.

They started off with match sim, seemed to be about 10-15 minute quarters, wasn’t keeping track. Few players missing LDU didn’t play, but joined in with skills and running after. Seemed to be a good level of intensity. Xerri got a bake off Tom Lynch at one stage for sling tackling and dumping PC hard into the ground. Greenwood got a bake a few times from Clarko for his decision making, few expletives yelled across the ground. All in all it was ok, conditions weren’t great for a showcase on skills.

Some observations on individuals:

• Wardlaw: just an absolutely terrific footballer to watch. Was probably the standout for me today. His inside work was fantastic, plenty of fends and spins out of traffic. Looks great.
• Fisher: sprayed a few but was very vocal across half back getting everyone into position.
• Scott: likewise very, very vocal. Played defence all 4 quarters and looked very good rebounding from defence.
• Sheezel: rotated off half back into the middle repeatedly. To say he looks in great shape is an understatement. Has worked hard.
• Stephens: very impressive. Rotated through half back, wing and half forward. When he played on the wing he dropped back regularly as a loose behind the ball. Was clean in traffic and kicked it well.
• Goater: played back the entire sim. Few nice intercepts and used the ball pretty well imo. Clarko would call set plays at random times, everytime he called for a d50 set play it was Goats taking the kick.
• Phillips: very solid, probably up there with Wardlaw as the pick of the day.
• McKercher: first time watching in person, incredibly quick and a hard runner. Sprayed one kick a mile out of bounds but then from there on was super clean. Will be a weapon off half back, stocked up on a lot of one-twos and broke lines.
• Zurhaar hurt his ankle in the second, got strapped and came back on to start the 3rd.
• Ford, done an ankle or calf at the end of the second. Sat on the bench for rest of the day.

They then split them into 3 groups of 10 and divided the ground in half length ways (few boys that missed the sim joined in here LDU, Cooper, Free, CCJ etc). Two groups started and one had to transition and one had to get the turnover whoever lost had to sprint to the other half of the ground and get the turnover on the 3rd team and the loser just had to keep busting their arse across the ground repeatedly, impressive drill to watch. The players were absolutely cooked after this, especially the pink team who couldn’t get a turnover from about 6-7 run throughs at one stage.

And then end to end run throughs, first years were pulled from doing this. Similar to a beep test but they got to stop for 5/10 seconds at each end. They started dropping off one by one from where I was watching Stevo was the first to throw in the towel, was trailing the early runs. The far side of the ground was left to Sheez, Shiels and Tucker being the only ones still going with Shiels end up being the last man standing. And the side closest to me Kal Dawson and 2 vfl boys were the last standing in the second group (Downie was one, unsure the other).

Finished off with some goal kicking, but the wind was a nightmare so not worth looking into tbh.

Ask away on individuals..

Edit: there was a young lad playing they were either calling him Lordy or Lloydy. Whoever it was had some really nice moments. Don’t know if he’s a vfl listed player or not.

Great stuff how did Zane D go?

 

[trooroo4life]

Cooper Lord.

Just seen a photo on google, was definitely him. The few times I noticed him, he done some nice things. Had the ball out on the wing and nailed a kick inside hitting someone on the chest at the top of the 50. Might be one to watch in the vfl this year.

Not looking good for Eddie. Syndesmosis.

Doesn’t surprise me. He was in a lot of discomfort. Could hear him swearing from where I was standing.

Great stuff how did Zane D go?

Quiet. Again, very windy so not a great day to mark a high ball or anything. I was impressed with his tackling, given he is lightly built he wasn’t pushed off easily or anything. Few times he did have the ball his disposal was ok. Paul Curtis was the pick of the smaller forwards.

 

[Reagan Smash]

 

[the big lebowski]

And Eddie's in a moon boot. Ankle injury.

View attachment 1875433

The fact that he’s walking around on it probably a good sign that it’s not at the Xerri or comben level of syndemosis which were breaks with 12 weeks off.

Hopefully he’s ready to go again by mid Feb.

 

[guapo]

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If those photos of Wardlaw, Kerch and WillPhil don’t get you pumped for what’s ahead, nothing will. George is set to rip the competition to shreds.

 

[zoomba23]

Not looking good for Eddie. Syndesmosis.

Fml

 

[Snowy off the Tram]

Completely disagree with this and you just have to look at how Aussies can go to the states and learn a completely new technique for punting. If you can't improve your kicking as you get older, why would you bother training?

Punting an American football is a completely new skill for an Australian to be learned - and a robotic one at that. Catch ball, draw back leg, roost pill, rinse, repeat. There is actually very little natural skill to it - it’s a rote-learned talent. My point is, the worst kicks in the league - the likes of Liam Jones, Jack Crisp, Luke McDonald, Dyson Heppell, even Dangerflog (and Matt Priddis, Clint Jones and Sam Gibson from the recent past) - they’ve arrived in the game with poor techniques and, despite hours of training, have never got better. So in answer to your last question: you’d train as a full-forward so you could improve your set shot routine (which, like the gridiron example, is possible) but under pressure, in heavy traffic, when a split-second decision is required to identify a teammate and deliver a perfectly weighted pass to him …. Well, sorry, no amount of training is going to produce that happy outcome. Just ask Luke.

 

[joegreen]

For those into biomechanics, power to weight ratios etc this photo of Wardlaw is next level. I'd love to see this in motion and get a real appreciation of what he was doing.

The only other athletes I generally see who are able to maintain their position and movement like this at speed, and not fall over are elite sprinters or more commonly NFL players. He is seriously an impressive athlete.

 

[chubbspeterson]

Is Logue on the long term injury list? Do we need that spot to add him back onto the main list?
If not, we could be leaving open a spot for the MSD so we don't have to scramble and take someone off the list perhaps.
I don't mind waiting and seeing who performs in the state leagues if nobody is screaming pick me now.

 

[justroyal]

For those into biomechanics, power to weight ratios etc this photo of Wardlaw is next level. I'd love to see this in motion and get a real appreciation of what he was doing.

The only other athletes I generally see who are able to maintain their position and movement like this at speed, and not fall over are elite sprinters or more commonly NFL players. He is seriously an impressive athlete.

Spot on. Which is why I’m worried about his potential risks of concussions.

 

[The Nostradamus]

Is Logue on the long term injury list? Do we need that spot to add him back onto the main list?
If not, we could be leaving open a spot for the MSD so we don't have to scramble and take someone off the list perhaps.
I don't mind waiting and seeing who performs in the state leagues if nobody is screaming pick me now.

Nope still on our main list atm

 

[The Y Factor]

To be fair, it was not in there a lot. Hard to tackle inside 50 when the balls not there

This is correct however…

The ball went in and out of our forward line fast than one would think is possible

 

[guapo]

Spot on. Which is why I’m worried about his potential risks of concussions.

I’m worried that you might drown in your half full glass.

Just appreciate that this bloke is an extraordinary specimen that could seriously shake sh*t up. He is insane

 

[ferball]

Not looking good for Eddie. Syndesmosis.

For ****s ****ing sake.

 

[justroyal]

I’m worried that you might drown in your half full glass.

Just appreciate that this bloke is an extraordinary specimen that could seriously shake sh*t up. He is insane

What? My point is he moves so quick it’s going to be hard for any opp player to even register how he ducks and weaves in and out of contested.
We even saw it a few times this season where George was too quick and he got hit high at no fault of his own.
I don’t want the same thing happening to George as it did to Adams and Jacob’s just because his tenacity is that good.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Not looking good for Eddie. Syndesmosis.

Bloody hell. That’s what we get for me talking him up in his thread