Training today was at Gosch's Paddock from about 3pm to 4.40pm. Everyone was present except Simmo of course.
Pattison is another tall who has joined the rehab group
. I don't know what's wrong but he was doing laps with Schulz and Kingsley and as well as kick to kick with Sarge so I'm hoping it's not too bad whatever it is. JON and Petersen didn't do any running at all. Just reflex drills on the spot with a trainer. Hyde, Cogs and Collins did the first few drills then disappeared to the old Melbourne Storm training oval next door with a trainer for some running footpasses while the scratch match was on. Only Cogs returned for the final drill.
The main squad after warming up got into the drills. For the first drill the boys lined up in a row split into blacks and whites across the HF line facing the goal. Then groups of 5 with 2 wearing singlets would handball their way towards a assistant coach then on the way back the 3 guernsey players would have to run and handball their way back while the 2 singletted players dried to stopped them. David King kept emphasizing throughout the drill the need to keep the intensity and pace up. The blacks were closest to me so I kept an eye mostly on them. Lids, Meyer, White and McGuane were the most impressive in their decision making and execution. Overall pretty well done.
Next up was a kicking undr pressure drill. The blacks and whites were split up again and each group broke in to four smaller groups occupying the corners of small square (about 20x20m) with two players in the middle. The players in the middle had to put pressure on and tackle the kicker who could foot pass to any other corner. Each time a player made an error he would swap with the guy in the middle who put him under pressure. Poor Jake King was stuck in the middle for ages and was buggered by the time he finally got out. Wayne Johnson walked over to him and said "It's sh*t in there isn't it" lol. Most impressive were Riewoldt both with passing for a biggish guy and his effort in the middle which included a full on smother and Meyer of course with his silky skills. Polak and Gas who aren't known for their foot skills both didn't end up in the middle. I hope Plough uses that drill again as it's good to watch.
The third drill was just a straightforward mark and foot pass one over 40m between lines of two groups. Cleanly done.
Next up was a two 15min quarter scratch match. Cogs, Hyde and Collins as mentioned above left to go over to the oval next door with one of the trainers.
Scores:Whites 1.1 6.3
Blacks 3.3 3.3
Whites:
Goals: Richo 3, Jacko, Foley, Tuck
Bhds: Krak, Browny, rushed.
Blacks:
Goals: McGuane 2, Howat
Bhds: Riewoldt, McGuane, Meyer
Matchs-ups:Black B: Polak Gas/Polak Raines
White F: Tuck Richo Pettifer/Browny
Black HB: Newman Gas Polak King
White HF: Pettifer Razor Jackson Krakouer
Black mid: Paddy Howat Lids Polo Cass White
White mid: Sugar Foley Tuck Tivs Tambo Sugar/Connors/Tambo
There were heaps of rotations while Cass and King changed sides at half-time.
Black HF: Hartigan Riewoldt Meyer
White HB: Moore Hughes Connors/Clingan
Black F: McGuane
White B: Thursty
Black Foll: Graham/Polak
White Foll: Knobel/Razor
It was game of two halves (or quarters to be precise). The Blacks were dominant in the first quarter through midfield efforts of Howat (had the ball on a string), White, Lids and with Joel sweeping up across half-back and Riewoldt and McGuane presenting well up forward. A few positional changes at the break saw a complete turnaround in the game. Petts moved behind the ball collecting most of his possies behind centre. Browny played further up the ground and kicked backside. Seriously he must have had the ball 10 times in the space of 10 minutes. Richo worked his butt off running everywhere. Waited and waited to lead to the HFF then got the pass. After dishing off with a sidewats kick to Browny he then sprinted to the opposite FP and took mark. To Polak's credit he kept up with the big fella. Sugar and Foley started to get a bit of it in the middle. Knobel got a lovely forward tap to Krak (who also moved into the centre) at the centrebounce who hit Browny on chest IIRC. Another who I'm pleased with is Moore. He's had a pretty good preseason so far in defensive roles on our midsized forwards.
Overall a fairly Richmond standard. The very good mixed in with a few turnovers which Plough would discuss with the offending player. The intensity was good for January.
After the scratch match. Newy, Thursty and the young draftees headed off. The remaining squad worked on rebounding from the defence to the forwards in a game scenario of guernseys vs red singlets. The midfield group was split into two and alternated.
Midfield group #1: Lids, Krak, Foley, Tambo, Tuck, Meyer, Howat, Graham and Tivs.
Midfield group #2: Sugar, Razor, Gas, Joel, Cogs, Polo, White, Jacko, Hughes and McGuane.
Forward group: Petts v Cass, Richo v Polak, Browny v Moore, Hartigan v King,
Harts spent most of the session in game based play up forward either in a pocket or a flank.
The first two "attacks" didn't get past the HB line
. Petts nailed Gas in tackle who was left isolated and the second one was a knocked down handpass. The standard was pretty average to begin with with passes to the leading forward landing a metre in front of them but it improved markedly as it was repeated. By the end the execution was pretty good. Still Richo is the big man to go to. Browny and Petts the smalls.
And that was it with only some goalkicking practice to finish off as they warmed down.
I'll post the photos I have later tonight.
