Popped down to a wet but warm Punt Rd Oval today. Jack and a few trainers had to pull the covers over the centre wicket when it started to bucket down lol. Training was meant to start at 11am but it didn't get away until around 11.30 and it lasted just over an hour. Not a long session with the intra-club match tomorrow arvo.
By the look of it virtually all the list was present. With a bigger list and so many new faces it's hard to keep track of them all. I didn't see Foley but he's having his op. In rehab were Jacko, McGuane, Roberts, Hicks and another I've missed I think (I'll have to check my photos).
Training began with some kick-to-kick in pairs and then a jog around the oval as a squad. They then split into their forward, midfield and backline groups. The forward group were near us at the Northern end goals so I paid attention mostly towards them. From the memory in the forward line group were Nahas, Jack, Morton, King, Hislop, Polo, Astbury, Nason, Taylor and Polak. They worked on leading up away from goal and marking then having to run back to where they came near goal to mark an incoming footy against a trainer with a bag. This was followed by kicking the ball to Tim Clarke 30m out of from goal who would hit the ball down to the ground and push with a bag the player who had to collect and then have a snap at the goals. We still have lots of work to do on the goal snaps
(there was nowhere safe to stand on the Northern bank with the balls flying everywhere and a 4WD parked nearby belonging to one of the construction workers nearly ended up with a dent in its roof lol. The midfield group seemed to be working on one-on-one stuff around contests but like I said I was paying more attention to the forward line.
Next up was the squad as a whole working on spreading from the midfield. A player would receive a long kick near the goal line and then chip it sideways to someone about 15-20m away who would then pass 30m to someone else leading towards the boundary in front of Tim Clarke standing on the mark for the kick back towards the centre. Obviously as part of the (re-)education we've stripped things back to the basics.
Next was technical drill to keep players on their toes literally. Everyone paired up and by the look of it with both players on their toes one had to copy the lateral movement of the other pairing and then grapple on Hardwick's call. Hardwick was emphasizing to keep on your toes and push off your toes into the grapple tackle on each other.
The squad then spread out along the outer wing for run and carrying in numbers with support and then kicking long to leads. Our footskills will still get us into trouble this year (although to be fair it was raining fairly heavily at this stage) but Martin's left foot kick on the run along the boundary over 10 heads to hit the man he intended got the thumbs up from the few supporters nearby.
They finished off with some goalkicking and stretching but heading down to the Southern end for a goalkicking group bonding exercise. The usual thing with the player in the middle with the squad either side of him and he has a shot.
I've got some photos so hopefully they turned out. I'll post them later on. Fire away with any questions
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