Swans Intra-Club match Friday Feb 11

[giant]

I had a browse through my tweets and I linked number 29 to Jackson Potter although I have no recollection of it. Here are the Goalkickers from what I saw, I could have missed a couple.

....

On Rohan I would temper your expectations a little. He mostly played on Kane Murphy who competed well but is about 6 inches shorter. I thinkthere will be some short term pain as Gaz improves his defensive skills but there could be long term gain

Pffft. And there I was taking your tweets as gospel!

Fair point on Rohan but it wasn't his defensive skills that got me excited, more his enthusiasm and second & third efforts to get into a chain of passes. Clearly looked stuffed at times and his disposal suffered as a result but couldn't fault the guy's determination to make an impact.

[ugg]

Kane Murphy is David Murphy's son for those that don't know.

[Primmy]

Kane Murphy is David Murphy's son for those that don't know.

Well Shoot Me Dead!!!! The face. Now I AM all a flutter for the future.

[Big Al]

Jeffers beat me to it but here's my contribution to the photos for the day

Swans Intraclub Trial


Note the one where Real Commando is working Bradshaw hard in the Goal Square.

[Big Al]

How was it with so many RWO making up most of the crowd today that we didn't all meet up. I think we have some social phobics here. Well it was that or snobs!!!!

Got a feeling I stood next to you at one point (Do have an Iphone and were you looking at RWO at all? ) but I couldn't be sure. YuriH was there and I've met him sober so no dramas in the recognition stakes.

[ugg]

I met giant! That was the extent of it.

[ugg]

Jeffers beat me to it but here's my contribution to the photos for the day

Swans Intraclub Trial


Note the one where Real Commando is working Bradshaw hard in the Goal Square.

Your photos are very rich in colour! Rohan definitely stands out

[Big Al]

Your photos are very rich in colour! Rohan definitely stands out

lol ... He certainly does.

I love the Nikon Picture Controls. I'm a sucker for rich vivid colours.

[unconfuseme]

... couple of the top up corrections - Jackson Potter was #13 red, #29 was actually Daniel Spiteri (who played a dozen ressies games in '09) and red #3 was Blake Guthrie who tagged Bulldog for an hour.

Could not get over how "cut" ALL the listed players look, and agree, those doing laps were all simply cruising ... will be interesting to see the impact of a different type of preparation, but fair to say at this point, all good, and RC, you're the man!

[ugg]

I'll take your word for it unconfuseme, I don't know what Spiteri looks like without a helmet on.

[ugg]

Arrived at the ground a few minutes after the 9am start. There were 3 groups of players:
1 main group in the middle of the oval during various kicking and marking drills
1 side group doing handball and close-in drills. A sub-group of topups were doing similar drills but separate from the listed players
1 group running laps.

The went through their drills for about 40 minutes before the game began. The match itself was a bit weird, I think there were breaks in the middle of the 3 periods but I couldn't distinguish between those breaks and the end of the periods. Umpires Ray Chamberlain, Simon Meredith and new umpire #36 were umpiring. The assistant coaches Maxfield, Playfair and I think Blakey did the boundary throw ins. I don't think they were playing NAB Cup rules. Weatherwise, it was fairly hot but not as humid as last year and there was a cooling breeze blowing through in the second part of the game.

• Mark Seaby - I thought he had a great game. In the ruck contests, he broke even with Mike Pyke but it was in the other facets of his game that he shone. He competed well for the loose ball, even those at his feet and he was tight defensively. There was one passage of play in the forward pocket where Nathan Gordon tried to baulk him twice. Seaby didn't buy either attempt and made Gordon pay with a crunching tackle over the sideline. His long absence from the game and the emergency of Mumford and Pyke may have whetted his competitive appetite.
• Rhyce Shaw - It just didn't go right for Shaw for most of the game, I think he was playing as a tagger. He gave away a couple of silly free kicks through the middle and then jumped too early in a defensive marking contests letting his man Parker mark unopposed for the second goal of the game. He also gave Gary Rohan a superb death stare when the redhead missed a simple 20m kick to an unopposed Shaw in the back half
• Jarrad McVeigh - He dominated the midfield for the white team, ran hard as usual and used the ball very well. It looked like Brett Meredith was running with him for most of the first period (stanza/quarter whatever you want to call it) but it didn't affect McVeigh's output.
• Daniel Hannebery - Running laps, and was pushing his small group of Nick Smith and Max Otten (I think) very hard
• Ryan O'Keefe - Did a running drill with Sam Reid where they both sprinted about 20m and back and did some pushups at every rep.
• Craig Bolton - Running laps by himself, at a fair pace and looks in good nick
• Brett Meredith - Slightly disappointing given all the pre-season hype. I was expecting a lot more from him. It felt like he was chasing McVeigh's tail for most of the first part of the game and only when he switched over to the white team did he find more of the ball. However, he wasn't particularly effective with it.
• Trent Dennis-Lane - One of the things that I love about a TDL bag of goals is that you know they will all be unique and different. By my count he kicked 3 from a set shot, 2 from a tackle and crumb, 1 on the run and 1 from in close after quick hands. Besides his great conversion rate, the part of his game that impressed me the most was his defensive pressure. As mentioned above, he nailed his oppponent Nathan Gordon twice with a great tackle after a short sprint to close the distance between them.
• Nick Malceski - Had a fair bit of it early on but don't recall too much after the first break to be honest, good or bad.
• Daniel Currie - Crusher started at full forward for the whites, but couldn't gobble any marks coming his way. Switched to the red ruckman but found it tough against the bigger bodies of Pyke and Seaby who easily held Currie off with their strength. Well down the pecking order I'm afraid
• Jed Lamb - Did not recognise him at first because he was much taller and lankier than I expected. I just had a look at the site and he is listed as 181cm which really surprised me because my first guess was that he was Everitt who's listed as 193cm! He may have put on a few cms between the draft and today! I can see where the Steve Johnson comparisons come from - his first goal was a result of finding a little bit of space in tight traffic and snapping with his left. He moved really well too and could be useful as a lead up player
• Josh Kennedy - He was wearing number 18 and I immediately mistook him for Jesse White given how similar their physiques are now. He had a relatively quiet game in the middle, fed out handballs as usual but couldn't dominate his man Luke Parker who matched him physically
• Andrejs Everitt - I was very impressed with his warmup, he kicked well on both sides and moved freely too for a tall man. He carried this over into the match where he was initially on Lewis Johnston and probably just outpointed him in the few contests they had. He took some of the kick-ins which further illustrates what a good kick he is. He had one big kick on goal, it would have been a supergoal under NAB Cup rules, he hit it well but it just missed.
• Craig Bird - Looked good in the warm up too, a bit more slim than I can remember. Competed competently as an inside midfielder but faded as the game went on
• Kieren Jack - Running laps, topless. Apparently suffered a foot injury during training.
• Gary Rohan - They've earmarked him as a rebounding defender for the forseeable future and he played with a lot of confidence today, albeit against a top up (Kane Murphy). Displayed his blistering pace on a number of occassions with dashes up the field, but I also liked his reading of the play down back. I would have loved to see how he went on a more dangerous opponent like Dennis-Lane
• Tadhg Kennelly - WOW! The RealCommando has been to work on Tadhg, he is built like a tank now, and probably has the physical attributes to cut it as a key defender now. (although probably not the defensive skills). The big question now is whether this bulk will hamper his running out of the half back line.
• Jesse White - Running laps, topless
• Daniel Bradshaw - I think he was sighted with a footy in hand, but not running laps
• Sam Reid - Running laps with his shoulder strapped
• Ben McGlynn - Not his best game, had just one shot on goal thanks to a great Pyke tap but missed with his wrong foot.
• Byron Sumner - Appeared halfway through the warmup with a backpack and in training gear, but just stood in the shade with the WAGS and watched.
• Lewis Johnston - In the same vein as Meredith, I was expecting big things today due to the pre-season hype. He was beaten by Everitt early on and was solid but didn't dominate when he was playing on Alex Johnson later on.
• Jude Bolton - Plugged away in the midfield again and was responsible for 2 goals. One was a quick one two handball with TDL and the other was a calm kick to find an unmarked Josh Kennedy in the forward 50
• Ted Richards - Started on Kruger and easily beat him. Then moved on to someone else who I can't remember. Nothing too memorable, he had the ball a few times and used it adequately
• Luke Parker - Big ticks on this kid, he has the physique to play in the midfield already and he demonstrated this by laying a great tackle on the massive Josh Kennedy and earning himself a HTB free kick. He showed smarts to stay down while his man Shaw flew in vain for the mark which allowed him to have a set shot and converted.
• Matt Spangher - Lap runner, but was vocal in his encouragement of the other players running laps
• Dylan McNeil - Showed he could cut it in the middle despite his small stature. Started the game like the proverbial house on fire, had a few telling clearances. Has had a fair chop of his curly hair so it took me a while to recognise him.
• Martin Mattner - Not sure where he was for the first part of the game, I only twigged that he was playing when he swapped with Gordon to mark TDL. Possibly due to the domination of the White team.
• Lewis Roberts-Thomson - Running laps, with a lot of hair under that visor.
• Lewis Jetta - No fancy colour boots today. He didn't have many chances to display his speed today. There was one passage of play down the Bus Stop wing where he tried to run past Jackson Potter but Potter laid a good tackle to force him over the sideline. Looks like the blindfolded goalkicking drill failed, he hit the post (almost at the top!) from a 30m set shot
• Jarred Moore - Noticed him more during the first half where he directed the forward line traffic for the white team with aplomb. Other than that, didn't trouble the scoreboard and probably didn't give the statisticians much work either.
• Alex Johnson - tough day for the young kid, he started on Goodes at CHB and immediately found himself trailing the Brownlow medallist on the lead. Later played on Johnston but wasn't involved in much of the play
• Campbell Heath - Amazing to see him walking about so soon after the surgery, he may have lost just a teensy wincy bit of his impressive muscle
• Chris McKaigue - Played with a lot more confidence than in the corresponding game 12 months ago. He spent most of the game deep, can't recall who his opponent was though. His kicking action still looks awkward, but is quite effective.
• Mike Pyke - Broke even with Seaby at the ballups/throw-ins but was inferior when it came to general play.
• Heath Grundy - They try to direct a lot of play through Grundy coming out of defence. He uses it well and is fit enough to run off his (usually) taller opponent so this isn't much of a surprise. Defensively didn't have much to do.
• Nick Smith - Did the warmups and so I expected him to play but ended up running laps with Hanners
• Shane Mumford - Huge man. Ran laps
• Paul Bevan - Hair looks lighter, might have gone a tad overboard with the peroxide. Not many memorable pieces of play although he did snap a goal for the white team
• Eugene Kruger - One impressive run down the wing with a not-as-impressive kick into the forward 50. Besides this, was quite anonymous playing as a key? forward.
• Max Otten - I think he was running laps, although at times I confused him and Haren
• Nathan Gordon - I'm not sure whose idea it was for Nipper to play down back, as in all the ressies games I've witnessed he has played as an inside midfielder, winger of half-forward. TDL has already embarassed a number of experienced AFL defenders so it was no surprise that Nipper found it tough today. Just took half a second too long on 2 plays and was nailed by TDL both times leading to a goal. Otherwise he actually used the ball well in the defensive half.
• Ben Haren - See Otten.

[Bas]

Got a feeling I stood next to you at one point (Do have an Iphone and were you looking at RWO at all? ) but I couldn't be sure. YuriH was there and I've met him sober so no dramas in the recognition stakes.

No. Wasn't me. I do have an IPhone though. I was with Primmy on the half way mark, near the guy doing all the stats on the edge of the field. We looked out for you but didn't see you. Though we didn't walk around the ground. It was too hot.

[liz]

[*] Daniel Hannebery - Running laps, and was pushing his small group of Nick Smith and Max Otten (I think) very hard[*] Max Otten - I think he was running laps, although at times I confused him and Haren[*] Ben Haren - See Otten.[/LIST]

It was Haren running with Hanners and Smith, and Max trailing behind the blond locks of LRT.

[ugg]

It was Haren running with Hanners and Smith, and Max trailing behind the blond locks of LRT.

Was Haren wearing Otten's number 44?

[ScottH]

Jeffers beat me to it but here's my contribution to the photos for the day

Swans Intraclub Trial


Note the one where Real Commando is working Bradshaw hard in the Goal Square.

WOW Great Work Al!!!
Looks like you've got a handle on that camera now.

You should give RC that pic so he can use it as a promo on his website!!!