2021 pre-season training

[Blood Fever]

That is very disappointing and frankly not good enough.

Gee - better write them off for the year then.

[TheBloods]

Gee - better write them off for the year then.

Not writing them off, in fact I'm quite sure that they will both have good seasons. But I have witnessed enough preseasons in my life to know that lethargy in the first session after a break usually only means one thing .. not doing exactly what you're meant to be doing over the break. They would not be the first and they certainly won't be the last, but nevertheless it is disappointing to hear from two important players entering their third years now.

[Blood Fever]

Not writing them off, in fact I'm quite sure that they will both have good seasons. But I have witnessed enough preseasons in my life to know that lethargy in the first session after a break usually only means one thing .. not doing exactly what you're meant to be doing over the break. They would not be the first and they certainly won't be the last, but nevertheless it is disappointing to hear from two important players entering their third years now.

Ridiculous conclusion to reach on one tiny piece of second hand information.

[SeanM]

I don't think you can read too much into it. Some players will go out hard to prove something or run themselves to exhaustion and others will pace themselves or be told not to overexert. Players like Fox/Gulden went out hard early. Rampe, Malachy, Lloyd kept a solid pace but were exhausted at the end because they sprinted against each other at the end. In the midfielders group Florent, Warner, Rowbottom, Campbell and Blakey were running together in a bunch for most of it.

It was not a physically intense session overall, it was more about skills. Last preseason there were sessions where they do drills and then have to continually sprint somewhere. Or more intense contact drills.

[Mark26]

I don't think you can read too much into it. Some players will go out hard to prove something or run themselves to exhaustion and others will pace themselves or be told not to overexert. Players like Fox/Gulden went out hard early. Rampe, Malachy, Lloyd kept a solid pace but were exhausted at the end because they sprinted against each other at the end. In the midfielders group Florent, Warner, Rowbottom, Campbell and Blakey were running together in a bunch for most of it.

It was not a physically intense session overall, it was more about skills. Last preseason there were sessions where they do drills and then have to continually sprint somewhere. Or more intense contact drills.

I agree. We can only speculate about players' efforts. A good example of someone being held back at the moment is Heeney. Horse said as much in his latest comments released by the club. If we saw Heeney just jogging around during training, it's not because he doesn't want to go full tilt, he's been told to rein it in, so he's good for the whole season. The short end of it is, we just don't know.

[MightyBloods]

To my untrained eye it does look like Mills-the-Messiah is training with the mids. Could 2021 finally be the year?

Agree with Mills into the midfield. It's time. I'd like to see both Dawson and Campbell across half back. Quick rebound with their elite kicking would create.
Blakey and McInerney on the wings. Their pace and height would really stretch the opposition both ways.
When fit, Franklin in the gold square. the opposition would hate such a champion so close to goal and the smaller brigade (Heeney and Papley) would thrive with so much opposition attention to Buddy. I'd be inclined to play Reid back in the defensive half to add some height and to allow a more younger (other than Buddy).forward line to develop. Also would help free Rampe. Depending on his preseason maybe trialling McDonald in the pocket next to Buddy early in the season.

The real upside that I see is that we have so many kids that even with some making good strides this year that it will improve our performance significantly (Gould, Ling, Stephens, McInerney, McCartin, Florent, Hayward, Rowbottom, McDonald, Campbell, Gulden, McLean, Wicks, Warner). This with experienced players who missed large chunks of the 2020 season ( Franklin, Heeney, Hewitt, Rampe) gives me great hope for the future.

[Auntie.Gerald]

To my untrained eye it does look like Mills-the-Messiah is training with the mids. Could 2021 finally be the year?

yep..........nahhhh......never will the twain meet !!!

[The Runner]

Not writing them off, in fact I'm quite sure that they will both have good seasons. But I have witnessed enough preseasons in my life to know that lethargy in the first session after a break usually only means one thing .. not doing exactly what you're meant to be doing over the break. They would not be the first and they certainly won't be the last, but nevertheless it is disappointing to hear from two important players entering their third years now.

Hahaha. You've got no idea. Blakey had shoulder surgery in the off season. Rowbottom carried the midfield. Both are likely coming off a longer run up that others.
We have no idea what stage everyone is at.

[Blood Fever]

Hahaha. You've got no idea. Blakey had shoulder surgery in the off season. Rowbottom carried the midfield. Both are likely coming off a longer run up that others.
We have no idea what stage everyone is at.

Spot on. On Blakey, just wondering if he has put on any much needed weight?

[RogueSwan]

Agree with Mills into the midfield. It's time. I'd like to see both Dawson and Campbell across half back. Quick rebound with their elite kicking would create.
...

I'd rather see Dawson floating around the wings to half forward. I think we really need his quality kicking into the forward line, and he has the potential kick goals from outside 50 too.

[liz]

I'd rather see Dawson floating around the wings to half forward. I think we really need his quality kicking into the forward line, and he has the potential kick goals from outside 50 too.

Campbell, too, once he earns a spot in the side. The kick into the forward 50 is by far the most difficult and most important, so makes sense to have the absolute best kickers hanging around the wings and half-forward.

[The Runner]

Some updates from the Swans insta today:

- Rowbottom and Blakey appeared to be running well in a group that included Mills and Clarke
- Naismith participating in some lighter looking drills, but no knee protection. Not for what to read in to this, but can't help but feel positive about his progress looking at him
- Heeney running in the sprints. It was straight line, so not a full indication he's over his ankle injury, but again, an encouraging sign in his progress

[SeanM]

I stayed longer this time. There was a 5th group with Taylor, Brand, Naismith, Franklin, Mcinerney, Heeney and Papley. They did a lighter session mainly skills and straight line running.

[bloodspirit]

Thanks SeanM. Really appreciate the updates. Still the same 9.30ish start?

[SeanM]

Friday morning I got there around 8.45am. They had already started. They had two separate groups doing the same session.
Group 1 - Gulden, Ronke, Mclean, Mcdonald, Sheather, Wicks, Bell and Amartey.
Group 2 - Stephen, Clarke, Mills, Florent, Warner, Rowbottom, Campbell and Blakey. (Kennedy was with this group but don't think he did the running)

Running Drill
- It was like a shuttle run with about five cones set up. They sprint to the 1st cone and back. Then the 2nd cone and back etc. To make it more competitive they split the group in half to make it a race. One half does cone 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The other half does cone 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Then they did a sprint along the boundary between the 50m arc. Then they did shuttle run again. Then the sprint again and so on.

Skill Drills
- The usual skill drills that they do. Kicking the ball back and forth. Picking up ground balls and handballing it off. Kicking the ball in a triangle.

Handball Drill
- 4 attackers try to handpass their way past 3 defenders.

Kicking Drill
- A player running forward kicking to a player running towards him.

Running Drill
- Alternating between sprints along the boundary and straight line sprints across the oval.

Kicking Drill
- 6 players arranged in a circle with 1 player in the middle against 2 defenders. The attacking team moves the ball around and tries to kick it to the attacking player in the middle.

Drill to Move the ball upfield
- 5 attackers try to move the ball upfield against 2 defenders. There was a lot of focus on movement, players making leads into space and continuing to run forward to stay involved.

Kicking Drill
- Players arranged in a triangle in front of the goals. Ball gets kicked from the goal square to the back pocket, who centres the ball to a player having a running shot at goal. They then did it in reverse so the player having the shot is running in at a 45 degree angle.

A few players had set shots at goal, they did a cool down and the first two groups were finished by 10am.