Quote Originally Posted by liz View Post
I wouldn't have Cunningham anywhere near Rohan. I think Cunningham has the tools to be a decent AFL player but he's stagnated a bit over the last couple of seasons. He has taken a few impressive grabs in his time but with nowhere like the frequency of Rohan - to be expected, given he's a fair bit shorter.

I think he's a good player to be in that 23rd-28th group on the list. You wouldn't particularly worry if he were in the team for a given game. But, unless something suddenly clicks with him, if he is in our best 22 this season, I don't think the team will have progressed as much as we hope it might. Marsh and Robinson are another couple in this category - competent and good depth but not able to really impose themselves on games, or even periods of games.

Okay, so I dropped by training this morning and had the great pleasure of watching a full-ground, more or less full contact game of 2 20 minute periods.

My key observation is that McVeigh is a walk-up start in the 22. He looked lively, sharp and fit. Controlled half-back, broke lines with slinky moves, including a nice two-bounce run down a wing (although he overcooked the kick at the end of it). Certain starter, and I'm sorry I even thought about omitting him, although now I don't know who to omit from my best 22. Mills was also playing across half-back.

Sinclair looked in good nick. He was rucking against Towers, who also looked good (Naismith was running laps with Lloyd). Perhaps this is a clue to team balance questions and the matter of how many ruckmen we'll play.

Foote was busy; Parker smooth and commanding. Reid also moved well.

The big surprise for me was McCartin, who looked really at home. Rampe was playing on him, but McCartin looked composed and confident, running to space and demanding the ball. May challenge for a spot. Stoddard looked like he was still finding his place, but was getting plenty of encouragement and was looking for opportunities to get involved.

Taking up some of the posts above, I noted that Cunningham was busy and very vocal off HB. Jack was playing all the way up the ground.

In game plan terms, I thought that they looked like they were looking for fast movement by hand and foot into the corridor: lots of 45 kicks in from the wings from defensive side of half way with runners streaming through for handballs from the receiver.

No noticeable absentees from the session, although several big names did not participate in the game (Hannebery, Jones, Rohan, Aliir, Franklin did not play). Heeney looked to be moving freely and everyone seemed in excellent spirits.

Oh and Joel Amarty is a big unit. Looking forward to seeing what he has got, especially after watching his ruck work on that highlights real.

A terrific way to spend a bit of time this morning (between dropping wife at work and getting my hair cut). Bring on the season.