Training Report - 15/3/10
By jackie mihocek
Training in fine conditions at Windy Hill.
A brief 45 minute session mainly run by the fitness staff.
Laycock looked longingly at the modified group and Neagle did some experimental hobbling after a knock to the leg in a soccer game but neither was allowed to join which just left the wrist injured Tyson Slattery and Jedda to do some desultory one handed work with each other in front of the soon to be doomed bowling club.
It was not a serious workout today – the players broke into some fairly disorganised soccer groups – a sport at which they displayed little skill but quite a bit of enjoyment. If someone gets hit on the groin with the ball players on both sides let out an almost choreographed groan in unison unlike the slightly hysterical laughter which greets a similar occurrence in cricket. Houli was my B.O.G. for the soccer.
Players spread into two lines or small groups for handballs and short kicking drills. As ANT555 pointed out the value of learning to kick the ball for 10 metres is not useful for match situations where 15 metres is the obvious useful minimum distance nor is it as good as players standing 5 metres apart to smarten up marking reflexes.
The session ended with every player trying to kick the ball into a wheely bin – David Myers being the only one to achieve the feat. His excitement showed that it was the highlight of his pre-season which has recently been marred by his hamstring injury.
As you can see it was a lighthearted training session – presumably a small reward for a pretty good pre-season where they managed to fit everyone in for two or three games and have had the best run with injuries for a decade.
If you have read this you will realise that this is a report about nothing happening but the mood amongst the players seems buoyant and in this case no news might very well be seen as good news. The bad news is that there is no good news but the good news is that there is no bad news.