Training Report: Tuesday May 13 (pics added)

[Neil Appleby]

I'm sad to report that the Collingwood Breakfast has lost its sparkle. This morning our two brekkie orders arrived almost 15 minutes apart which is always cause for consternation and my scrambled eggs arrived as poached eggs. Still, the coffee remains very good.

Out of Olympic Park at 9:45 I thought I'd got the days messed up; no activity at all, but then the TV crews started arriving. Eddie McGuire Jnr checked out the reporters and camera crews as we waited for the players; it was a stunning morning to be in this part of Melbourne.

At 10am most of the players had arrived and we noticed a Dwyer moving very gingerly. The Channel 9 crew caused a buzz by announcing Pendles had left the field. He was back after a few minutes as good as gold.

I spent most of the time watching the injured players as they were put through their paces. Happy to report that we have almost a full list up and running. I think we can lock it in that Fasolo, Toovey, Young and Maxy will all be passed fit. Dwyer did everything asked of him and seems to have recovered fully. Tough call ahead for the selectors.

Long term injuries:
Ben Sinclair is over his injury and trained at full tilt.
Adam Oxley, Tim Broomhead and the new look Paul Seedsman likewise all trained strongly and joined all of the match drills.

Ben Reid ran laps, did sprints and goal kicking drills. I hope he's back soon because he was deadly with his goal kicking. Hardly missed a shot as he traversed the 50 metre arc.

Today marked Matty Scharnberg's first appearance at a training session I have attended. He ran slow laps, walked laps and did some field kicking with Ben Reid. He is a fair way off I'd say and looks pretty proppy still.

Freeman arrived quite late and jogged laps. I think we'll see him before Scharenberg as he was moving freely.

Travis Cloke sported a new hair cut that will have Justin Beiber fans interested....I think. It's kind of an emo-mohawk-bob. He couldn't keep his hands off his head. I tried to get close enough for a picture but wasn't very successful. I'll post my pics to Flikr with a link at the bottom of this page.

The Drills
The players started off as usual with some slow laps and a couple of centre run throughs. Then they went through slow calf stretching drill with sprints to finish.

Next the players were broken into 4 groups and the Pink v Black teams opposed each other at either ends of the ground. In the first drill the Pink teams were defenders whilst the Black teams attacked by running and handballing. Then they switched vests. There was no kicking in this drill.

Next the players were paired up about 40 metres apart and spent about ten minutes kicking to each other.

The next drill saw the players in groups of six around the ground kicking and hand-passing as they were harassed.

Mini match practice started up next with games at each end of the ground.
At the Olympic Boulevard end, Jon Marsh was opposed to Witts, Brown took Cloke and Langdon took on Jesse White. Again there was virtually no kicking and only swift movement through heavy traffic with lots of handball. When a team made it into their forward area they were able to kick for goal. Pendlebury earned the Macaffer tag, while Elliott was worn by Josh Thomas.

After a brief spell in the middle as Bucks spoke the the entire group, the players got ready for full match practice. Robert Harvey, Bucks and Scott Burns stood together watching. At one stage I heard Harvey bellow, "Don't wait, move it on, move it on....hand-ball, hand-ball, hand-ball." Again, the emphasis here was on running, hand-ball and tackling and little kicking until the ball was into the forward zone. This is the drill that resulted in a Collingwood goal vs Carlton last week; a series of hand-passes as Swanny and White swapped the ball and then delivered to Elliott who later goaled. It was also similar to the frenzied running and hand-balling that the Swans used to unsettle Hawthorn last week. Seems a few coaches reckon this Geelong-style game will be successful against the Hawks.

The session finished with a 20-25 minute session of goal kicking. At my end of the ground were Cloke, Witts, White, Blair, Young and Keeffe. Young was booting them through from every angle. From what I saw, Clokey had less than a 50% success rate. Hurry back Ben Reid!

Last off the track were Sidebottom and Frost who wanted to keep shooting for goal. It was a long session for Frost who just loves being out there; he was the first player on the track at 9:50.

All up a terrific session and for the first time in years almost a full list to choose from.

Sorry about the pic quality but the camera battery was flat so all I had was the iPhone. Tried to capture #clokesnewhaircut but not too successfully I'm afraid.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/98725876@N02/

[Damien]

Great report Neil. Cheers mate.

[3rd degree]

Great work thanks Neil , good to hear Freeman and Chop are getting out on the paddock. How did Jessie White go with his set shots?

[Lazza]

Brilliant report. You have no idea how especially us country fans appreciate such gems. Total thanks.

[Neil Appleby]

White was pretty good 3rd Degree, Actually, the accuracy was pretty good all round except for Clokey. Lots of emphasis today on running with slick handball, but also in kicking drills. Haven't seen them do much kick to kick in pairs before, but today they did quite a bit. Just as well as our kicking efficiency rate is ranked 18th.

[woftam]

Thanks for the report & the pics Neil. Very much appreciated.

[qldmagpie67]

Neil as usual a fantastic report thoroughly grateful for us interstate supporters who don't get the opportunity to see the boys train.

[Harrysz]

Thanks Neil.
Great stuff.

[Dave The Man]

Thanks for Photo and Report

[Collingwood Crackerjack]

Thanks for the report

[rand corp]

Thanks Neil, top work

[warburton lad]

Much appreciated Neil.

Love reading training reports from thoughtful supporters who have no agenda and call it as it is. Thank you so much.

[MagpieBat]

Great intel, Neil.

[Albert Parker]

From what I noted at training Sunday (refer earlier report) and what I have read

- Scharenberg was running OK though, at pace, and was out of breath. Non committal on a return date when I quickly asked him. Still a while off. Kicking a treat
- Seedsman was not training on Sunday so good to read he is back. Apparently only a 50/50 shot of returning this week though after a setback
- Cloke's set shot kicking was actually OK. So variable depending on the day as we know.

[Neil Appleby]

Scharenberg looked a bit dejected to me AP. I watched him through my binoculars as he stopped running at the river end. He seemed puffed and sore. He then walked a few laps, watching training. Later he kicked with Reid along the clubhouse wing. He then had some goal kicking practice near me.

You're correct Albert, the boy can kick mighty fine and that's why we need both him and Reid in the team. If we keep butchering the ball as we do presently, we'll lose games against the top 4 teams.

Another thing which I forgot to mention in the report was Goldsack's work rate. This guy doesn't know how to coast through training; he trains the way he plays. I just wish he could be cleaner with his hands. Every time I watch Goldy trying to be creative, as opposed to being a defensive, harassing force, he invariably fumbles. Yesterday there was a brilliant passage of play from a ball up on the HB flank. Witts to Pendles to Swan who took off bouncing, weaving and bounding through the centre. It was terrific. Then Swanny hand-balled to Goldy, who fumbled it only for the Pink team to rebound into an open forward line. I love Goldy, but that side of his game always worries me.