Leading was good, and marked in front of him arms stretched. Nothing to complain about there. I read somewhere else that Derickx was supposedly dropping a fair few marks in the simple kicking drill, but I wasn't looking in his direction when that drill was happening. Oh well. If he's taking the difficult marks, then that's fine with me.
I was also in attendance. I saw the X-Man spill two absolute sitters in a row in the long 'leading and kicking' drill. Sharpened up after that and as you mention was prevalent in the later more competitive drills. Could well feature prominently this year.
Some other things i noticed:
- The session in general was very competitive and physical. Tackling hard and bumping each other between drills. There seems to be a tough edge to this summer.
- We have some real size about us now. Very few bean poles and midgets getting around. A far cry from the push-overs of yesteryear. Very pleasing.
- Arnott's footskills need work, but he is evidently very strong. Tried to take on Rance at one point and got buried.
- Lids is an absolute specimen right now. Shoulders and arms are something to behold. Didnt miss a beat and was vocal.
- Rance is clearly the general down back now. He is regularly marshaling and barking instructions. He appears to have the the respect of the group too. Trains hard and hates making mistakes.
- Connors looked tired and unfit. Gawnski after this year.
- Ellis didnt miss a target from what i saw. Has nice muscle definition and looks very fit already. Shoe in for round 1 and im looking forward to it.
- Edwards looked sharp and focused, apart from the one shank that i saw.
- Conca looked smooth and skilfull. big year coming up.
- Jack was lively and upbeat in the few drills that he participated in early. Had pretty decent muscle definition.
- Big Ivan trained well too. Looks like a competitive beast. Tremendous mullet.
- Didnt see much of his namesake apart from one beautiful incisive pass in one of the competitive 'game like' drills. Looks small, but appears to have good skills.
- At one point early on Dimma was unimpressed with the way one of the groups was performing a drill. Heard him say 'poohouse the lot of you'. Not sure if he was referring to their intensity or their lack of structure, but the intensity lifted after this.
- Our two new rookies Darrou and Wright are big burly bastards who move pretty well. Skills need some work though, which is not surprising i suppose. Still interesting prospects.
- Saw Robin put in a great third and fourth tackling effort in one of the competitive drills that won him the praise of his teamates.
sorry I couldnt give more info. I have the memory of an 80 year old.
In short, i am just itching for round one and i think we can give it a real shake this year. I've been very wrong before tho so who the eff knows.
Im off to Berlin for a few weeks next week, so enjoy the rest of your summer, folks.
eff Carlton and so on.
