Training Training Thread 2023

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Billy Not Really said:
These 'Probables' vs. 'Possibles' match sims where its basically our best against our fringe players have shown that our best is good but our worst is really bad.

You want those figures to be closer, or a more competitive contest. But it's clear that there are a few boys who don't have what it takes to be elite, or need to step their game up (looking at you Stephenson & Bonar).
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The possibles won when I went a couple of weeks ago.
 

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giantroo said:
Write up via Glynn Lavender

Track Watch 8/2/23
Match Sim 2x 30 min Quarters
Lots of players swapping sides so tricky to call which was considered the strongest team.
Notable absence: Charlie Comben nowhere to be seen.

Notable performances:
The Bull, for the second practice match in a row, was on fire and scoring almost at will. He also had a couple of short bursts in the middle.

Add to the Bull, Paul Curtis was again looking very sharp with a couple of goals, some good tackles and lots of pressure.

Stevo made the most of at least 3 half opportunities and scored excellent goals. He also let tackles be broken too easily, didn't pressure chase. In other words he played his normal game. I think we need to accept him as the player he is and keep him in the forward line to take those 2-3 half chances a game even if he gives us nothing more in the game. If he can kick 2-3 goals a game regularly (50 goals for the year the aim) then we have the player we wanted when we got him from the Pies.

Goater flashing down the wing and goaling from outside 50 was a highlight, he then moved into the forward line for a short period.

Greenwood was very good in the. middle, just tenacious and doing anything to get the ball moving forward and many second and third efforts. I think we will see a different Greenwood this season and he will become a fan favourite.
He also rested in the goal square for a while and scored two goals in the first period. One from a pressure tackle holding the ball and the other a free to him.

Having seen Jy, Cunners and Greenwood all spending time resting forward I think we will see a lot more of that this year.

In the absence of Comben Larkey had to front up more often and try and pack mark which was rarely successful whereas with Comben in the team last game he was by far the better pack option. Larkey led well and took some good marks and goaled from a tight angle. When both are fit I can see Clarko using their two different strengths to great advantage giving the mids coming through the option to pass to a leading Larkey or hit a pack with Comben. As mentioned Curtis and Zurhaar were all around the packs and providing great options.

Sheezel again seemed to struggle to get into the game in the forward area but, like last game, stared getting into the game with some possessions coming off half back.

Clarko is addressing the over use of handball that has been a constant issue for us the last few years with both coaches and players really emphasising the quick handball or two and kick approach and anytime the handballs went beyond two or three the players certainly knew about it.

As per last practice match the coaches set up a 'come from behind' scenario to really work on fast run and ball movement to try and close out a win.

After the match sim the boys split up into 3 packs (Wing, Wing F50) and practiced the ball coming in long and knocked down from the pack and then the linking run to kick to the next group. Each group rotated position after completion of each set of kick in/run.

That's about it for me.
Enjoy your day.
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He’s a GUN this fella.

You, Glynn and Ricky should team up. It’d be the greatest product of all time.
 

Jack Ziebell confirms return to North Melbourne backline as star suffers injury scare​

A versatile Roo will change position for a third straight year, while a star midfielder suffered an injury scare on the track.

Ed Bourke
February 8, 2023 - 2:26PM

Former skipper Jack Ziebell has revealed North Melbourne will swing some major positional changes in 2023, while his successor Jy Simpkin limped from the field during an intraclub match.

The new Kangaroos co-captain came off the ground clutching his hamstring just before halftime during Wednesday’s match simulation and did not return to the game.

Ziebell said he did not think the incident was any cause for concern as players approached the end of an intense fortnight of training at Arden Street.

“I had a bit of a chat to Jy at halftime, and he said he was a little tight in his hammy, so I said, ‘Mate, just don’t bother risking that’,” Ziebell said.

“It’s actually been a really big block for us the last two weeks, so I think today was the last really big main session we’ve got, so there was just a no-risk policy with a few of the boys. I think a few of the boys might not have finished the full session.”

Ziebell said he had “lost a few kilos” in the off-season and completed almost every pre-season session as he pushes towards a return to North’s back six in 2023.

“Every year is a challenge to try and reinvent yourself as a player – try and make yourself stay relevant and beat all the young guys out for a spot,” he said.

“We’ve had a few positional changes, getting some guys back like Ben Cunnington … Will Phillips in the midfield has had a full pre-season, he’s really fit.

“I started down back when (David Noble) was our coach back in 2021, played a little bit forward last year, and will play my role down back a bit more this year, which I’m looking forward to.”

Ziebell said the versatility of fellow defenders Aidan Corr, Ben McKay and new recruit Griffin Logue meant the quartet would all play on a mix of talls and smalls depending on the opposition.

“We’re pretty flexible down there, recruiting Griffin Logue is a big get for us from Freo, he’s a big bloke but he’s very versatile, very athletic … we’ll all probably play different roles, some rebounding, some intercepting,” he said.

A trimmed-down Cam Zurhaar was likely to spend more time in the Roos midfield under new coach Alastair Clarkson, Ziebell said.

“I think we might see that a little bit. Cam has had an outstanding pre-season, he’s starting to get a level of maturity in his game as well … his ability to bring his teammates into the game is something that’s really stood out to me this pre-season,” Ziebell said.

“I’m looking forward to him hopefully getting up the ground a little bit more and more involved in the game, but hopefully he can still have that impact around the goals as well.”
 
leighlee13 said:

Jack Ziebell confirms return to North Melbourne backline as star suffers injury scare​

A versatile Roo will change position for a third straight year, while a star midfielder suffered an injury scare on the track.

Ed Bourke
February 8, 2023 - 2:26PM

Former skipper Jack Ziebell has revealed North Melbourne will swing some major positional changes in 2023, while his successor Jy Simpkin limped from the field during an intraclub match.

The new Kangaroos co-captain came off the ground clutching his hamstring just before halftime during Wednesday’s match simulation and did not return to the game.

Ziebell said he did not think the incident was any cause for concern as players approached the end of an intense fortnight of training at Arden Street.

“I had a bit of a chat to Jy at halftime, and he said he was a little tight in his hammy, so I said, ‘Mate, just don’t bother risking that’,” Ziebell said.

“It’s actually been a really big block for us the last two weeks, so I think today was the last really big main session we’ve got, so there was just a no-risk policy with a few of the boys. I think a few of the boys might not have finished the full session.”

Ziebell said he had “lost a few kilos” in the off-season and completed almost every pre-season session as he pushes towards a return to North’s back six in 2023.

“Every year is a challenge to try and reinvent yourself as a player – try and make yourself stay relevant and beat all the young guys out for a spot,” he said.

“We’ve had a few positional changes, getting some guys back like Ben Cunnington … Will Phillips in the midfield has had a full pre-season, he’s really fit.

“I started down back when (David Noble) was our coach back in 2021, played a little bit forward last year, and will play my role down back a bit more this year, which I’m looking forward to.”

Ziebell said the versatility of fellow defenders Aidan Corr, Ben McKay and new recruit Griffin Logue meant the quartet would all play on a mix of talls and smalls depending on the opposition.

“We’re pretty flexible down there, recruiting Griffin Logue is a big get for us from Freo, he’s a big bloke but he’s very versatile, very athletic … we’ll all probably play different roles, some rebounding, some intercepting,” he said.

A trimmed-down Cam Zurhaar was likely to spend more time in the Roos midfield under new coach Alastair Clarkson, Ziebell said.

“I think we might see that a little bit. Cam has had an outstanding pre-season, he’s starting to get a level of maturity in his game as well … his ability to bring his teammates into the game is something that’s really stood out to me this pre-season,” Ziebell said.

“I’m looking forward to him hopefully getting up the ground a little bit more and more involved in the game, but hopefully he can still have that impact around the goals as well.”
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm rigid minded but not a lot of this sounds good to me. I hated having Ziebs down back and I don't see why that would change regardless of how good a preseason he's had. Unless a good preseason at the age of 31 makes you both faster and better in the air.

CZ in midfield is textbook Peter and Paul etc. etc. We only have two proven goal threats and he's one of them, plus we have a glut of decent onballers anyway

Jy limping off is neither here nor there. But hammies are troublesome.

Basically, Clarko better know what the **** he's doing, because this magnet shuffling feels a lot like Nobles, just with added communication skills
 
zoomba23 said:
Maybe I'm rigid minded but not a lot of this sounds good to me. I hated having Ziebs down back and I don't see why that would change regardless of how good a preseason he's had. Unless a good preseason at the age of 31 makes you both faster and better in the air.

CZ in midfield is textbook Peter and Paul etc. etc. We only have two proven goal threats and he's one of them, plus we have a glut of decent onballers anyway

Jy limping off is neither here nor there. But hammies are troublesome.

Basically, Clarko better know what the * he's doing, because this magnet shuffling feels a lot like Nobles, just with added communication skills
Click to expand...
I’m no fan of him playing defence on an opponent, best I could think is maybe a loose man in defence. I’d relax on CZ it sounded more like it was a impact blast in the middle. Hoping sheezel/comben/Curtis and even Stephenson provide forward spark for the short bursts CZ spends there.

Let’s not forget CZs starts in the last two seasons, it could be a good circuit breaker if things aren’t working out up fwd
 
FootySmartSimpson said:
If we are wanting to improve standards at the same time as win more games, then hard-working, diligent players who work hard on their deficiencies must be first picked.
Click to expand...
There’s that but the guy finished in the top 10 and outperformed many higher credentialed players. Actual performance counts
 
zoomba23 said:
Maybe I'm rigid minded but not a lot of this sounds good to me. I hated having Ziebs down back and I don't see why that would change regardless of how good a preseason he's had. Unless a good preseason at the age of 31 makes you both faster and better in the air.

CZ in midfield is textbook Peter and Paul etc. etc. We only have two proven goal threats and he's one of them, plus we have a glut of decent onballers anyway

Jy limping off is neither here nor there. But hammies are troublesome.

Basically, Clarko better know what the * he's doing, because this magnet shuffling feels a lot like Nobles, just with added communication skills
Click to expand...
Expect to see a lot of our midfielders resting forward this year; Cunners, LDU, Simpkin, Phillips, Greenwood etc. have all had stints forward during the match sims. Going off the match sim reports there have been multiple occasions of Curtis, in particular, and Zurhaar bursting out of the centre square and delivering into the Forward 50. Whether it's Phillips to Curtis or Curtis to Cunners I don't really care as long as it ends in a goal.

From memory Cunners kicked 3 goals in a match sim the other week, he's a genuine goal threat we just haven't seen it often enough because we've been so overly reliant on him being in the centre square. One of our main issues last season was our ability to convert stoppage dominance into scoreboard impact. We'll win, or breakeven, a lot of midfield battles this year and we'll kick a lot more goals too.
 
zoomba23 said:
Maybe I'm rigid minded but not a lot of this sounds good to me. I hated having Ziebs down back and I don't see why that would change regardless of how good a preseason he's had. Unless a good preseason at the age of 31 makes you both faster and better in the air.

CZ in midfield is textbook Peter and Paul etc. etc. We only have two proven goal threats and he's one of them, plus we have a glut of decent onballers anyway

Jy limping off is neither here nor there. But hammies are troublesome.

Basically, Clarko better know what the * he's doing, because this magnet shuffling feels a lot like Nobles, just with added communication skills
Click to expand...

I think you're reading too much into that, particularly CZ midfield.
 

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My Left Foote said:
Expect to see a lot of our midfielders resting forward this year; Cunners, LDU, Simpkin, Phillips, Greenwood etc. have all had stints forward during the match sims. Going off the match sim reports there have been multiple occasions of Curtis, in particular, and Zurhaar bursting out of the centre square and delivering into the Forward 50. Whether it's Phillips to Curtis or Curtis to Cunners I don't really care as long as it ends in a goal.

From memory Cunners kicked 3 goals in a match sim the other week, he's a genuine goal threat we just haven't seen it often enough because we've been so overly reliant on him being in the centre square. One of our main issues last season was our ability to convert stoppage dominance into scoreboard impact. We'll win, or breakeven, a lot of midfield battles this year and we'll kick a lot more goals too.
Click to expand...

There’s generally been 1 midfielder in the forward line. Cunners and Greenwood are deep when they’re in there, the others push up into the middle from a starting forward 50 position. Whichever of the midfielders are forward would determine what Bull or Curtis do.

It was interesting today that we had 🐐 forward late in the game.
 
Passmore said:
There’s generally been 1 midfielder in the forward line. Cunners and Greenwood are deep when they’re in there, the others push up into the middle from a starting forward 50 position. Whichever of the midfielders are forward would determine what Bull or Curtis do.

It was interesting today that we had 🐐 forward late in the game.
Click to expand...
It's going to take a strong person to shift Cunners or Greenwood if they're one out deep in the forward line, I suspect they'll both kick a few goals this year.

GOAT forward and Sheezel back have certainly been a couple of unexpected moves since the players have come back from the Christmas break, will be interesting to see how it plays out.
 
My Left Foote said:
Expect to see a lot of our midfielders resting forward this year; Cunners, LDU, Simpkin, Phillips, Greenwood etc. have all had stints forward during the match sims. Going off the match sim reports there have been multiple occasions of Curtis, in particular, and Zurhaar bursting out of the centre square and delivering into the Forward 50. Whether it's Phillips to Curtis or Curtis to Cunners I don't really care as long as it ends in a goal.

From memory Cunners kicked 3 goals in a match sim the other week, he's a genuine goal threat we just haven't seen it often enough because we've been so overly reliant on him being in the centre square. One of our main issues last season was our ability to convert stoppage dominance into scoreboard impact. We'll win, or breakeven, a lot of midfield battles this year and we'll kick a lot more goals too.
Click to expand...
Sounds like what we'll have is a ring-a-ring-a-rosie type mid/fwd rotation. Good in theory for the reason that opponents are going to be exposed to different weapons and strengths constantly, but I'm still not a big fan. Forward craft isn't something that you pick up just like that. I'd bet money that LDU, Phillips et. al are going to look lost in the forward 50 and that people on here will be demanding that someone go into the coach's box to check if Clarko is really Clarko.

The Pies, who appear to be the model for this sort of flexible positioning and I suspect the team that Clarko is basing this philosophy on, do not play their best onballers in Crisp and Adams up forward. Nor do they play De Goey in midfield without adequate firepower up forward. It just seems like the coaches are getting ahead of themselves here. Our list is barer than Collingwood's. There's an onfield level we need to reach before this stuff becomes feasible. To first reach that level, you play blokes in their strongest positions and show that your squad can kick a competitive score on a regular basis.

As the man says, oh well
 
justroyal said:
Did the possibles just have edwards and the recruit from WA as rucks? 🫤
Click to expand...
Tristan Xerri and Hamish Free went head to head in the ruck at the beginning of the contest with the former finishing with two goals and several strong grabs to his name. Todd Goldstein and Coleman-Jones squared off post-break after the former Tiger switched sides, like others throughout the session.
 
zoomba23 said:
Maybe I'm rigid minded but not a lot of this sounds good to me. I hated having Ziebs down back and I don't see why that would change regardless of how good a preseason he's had. Unless a good preseason at the age of 31 makes you both faster and better in the air.

CZ in midfield is textbook Peter and Paul etc. etc. We only have two proven goal threats and he's one of them, plus we have a glut of decent onballers anyway

Jy limping off is neither here nor there. But hammies are troublesome.

Basically, Clarko better know what the * he's doing, because this magnet shuffling feels a lot like Nobles, just with added communication skills
Click to expand...
Did you listen to the audio? For you to come to such a conclusion I can only assume you didn’t.

I did & really enjoyed it. Thought it was really positive.

Ziebell - whilst I wasn’t a huge fan of him in the backline, he said he’s lost a bunch of weight and this is the first full preseason he’s done.

Jy - he said he’s fine.

Bull - he said it’s only stints and he’s been excellent. Taken a big step in terms of his professionalism and bringing others into the game.

Clarko - wtaf goes through someone’s head to compare Clarkson to noble.

Might be more a reflection of your neg bias reading it to yourself. .
 
Last edited:
zoomba23 said:
Sounds like what we'll have is a ring-a-ring-a-rosie type mid/fwd rotation. Good in theory for the reason that opponents are going to be exposed to different weapons and strengths constantly, but I'm still not a big fan. Forward craft isn't something that you pick up just like that. I'd bet money that LDU, Phillips et. al are going to look lost in the forward 50 and that people on here will be demanding that someone go into the coach's box to check if Clarko is really Clarko.

The Pies, who appear to be the model for this sort of flexible positioning and I suspect the team that Clarko is basing this philosophy on, do not play their best onballers in Crisp and Adams up forward. Nor do they play De Goey in midfield without adequate firepower up forward. It just seems like the coaches are getting ahead of themselves here. Our list is barer than Collingwood's. There's an onfield level we need to reach before this stuff becomes feasible. To first reach that level, you play blokes in their strongest positions and show that your squad can kick a competitive score on a regular basis.

As the man says, oh well
Click to expand...

LDU is the one mid that doesn’t spend a lot of time, if any really, up forward. Phillips goes OK. He’s a good tackler and is a decent shot.

Unless, it’s Cunners or Greenwood, who are both quite effective up forward, the others tend to push up the ground as an extra midfielder.
 
My Left Foote said:
It's going to take a strong person to shift Cunners or Greenwood if they're one out deep in the forward line, I suspect they'll both kick a few goals this year.

GOAT forward and Sheezel back have certainly been a couple of unexpected moves since the players have come back from the Christmas break, will be interesting to see how it plays out.
Click to expand...

Sheezel looked good coming off HB. His ball use was impeccable as you’d expect. His positioning when the opposition had it is a work in progress.
 
Psicosis said:
Did you listen to the audio? For you to come to such a conclusion I can only assume you didn’t.

I did & really enjoyed it. Thought it was really positive.

Might be more a reflection of your neg bias, as that interview was excellent.
Click to expand...
Of course I didn't listen to it. You're assuming I inform myself sufficiently before spouting my poorly thought through opinions. I'm just going off the evidence of people's match sim observations.

I also don't doubt the positive atmosphere at the club, I've witnessed it myself. But a positive atmosphere during preseason is one small step. A positive atmosphere when you get smashed by 80 points in R2 is a bit harder to maintain. I'm just worried that Clarko isn't quite aware of how low a base he's starting on.

The last thing I want is reasonable expectations to be crushed as we realise that we've jumped ahead a little bit further than we should've. Maybe it's overly negative and overly cautious. I just see it rather than any flashy tactics/strategic moves as the most surefire way to dig ourselves out of this hole
 
Passmore said:
LDU is the one mid that doesn’t spend a lot of time, if any really, up forward. Phillips goes OK. He’s a good tackler and is a decent shot.

Unless, it’s Cunners or Greenwood, who are both quite effective up forward, the others tend to push up the ground as an extra midfielder.
Click to expand...
I don't mind Cunners up there, though he and his beautiful left fist still belong first and foremost in the centre square. Greenwood... eh. Good sometimes, useless other times. Phillips I feel like would need to be attached at the hip to Larkey or Comben to have much of an impact. Spose I just need to trust that there isn't an overbalance there. One would look at the club's operations and hope that we've made the right coaching moves to get that right
 

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Training Training Thread 2023

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