After a two week absence, I made my return to Saleyards this morning for the Eels field session. The synchronicity of the Eels losses with my absence made for a bit of banter, but I was particularly keen to see how the team would respond on the training paddock to these successive defeats.
No team can expect to go through a season undefeated or to maintain peak form on a weekly basis. However, the disappointment from the manner of the losses, and the resulting criticism, would no doubt have stung the players. Today, I was looking to see a focussed team returning to the basics in both attitude and execution. Here’s how it went down.
Session Structure
The field work was broken down into five sections:
* Warm up and ball skills
* Opposed work 1
* Parra and Wenty specific drills
* Opposed work 2
* Extras
For the purposes of today’s report, I’ll focus on the opposed work.
Opposed Work 1.
There was an obvious objective of working through the attacking sets. Via a range of re-starts (penalties, scrums, drop outs) the Eels worked through their attacking shapes and plays. It was already apparent that elements of the game plan were in action as the names of Raiders players were being mentioned.
To be brutally honest this was a scrappy affair. Far too much ball was dropped during what felt like an encore performance of Saturday night. It felt uncomfortable watching the errors mount, so when the whistle blew for BA’s words of wisdom, there was a sense of relief for this author.
As the squad split into their Wenty and Parra teams on different fields, both groups had the opportunity to run through their structures without opposition. It’s a fairly typical component of many sessions.
Both Tim and Brad would have again been disappointed with the early opposed work.
Opposed Work 2
Hallelujah! A transformation took place right before my eyes. In what was very much like match conditions (stronger contact and kicks for goal – even penalties) the team clicked into gear. The passing was crisp, the catches were taken and sets were completed. Sustained pressure led to tries and effective defence blunted Wenty’s attack.
However, the most impressive feature of this work was the talk. This aspect of their play was missing during the earlier game today. Yes, there had been some talk and the occasional calling of Canberra names, but it was not at the same level as I had witnessed at earlier sessions. It then raised the question as to whether it had been down during the losses.
If a return to the basics was obvious to fans, it’s little doubt that communication would be a driving force. From one side of the field to the other, the calls and reminders echoed around Saleyards. It was positive and coincidentally it appeared to inspire confidence in their execution. If, as I suspect, this talk been down during the two losses it must become part of the focus moving forward.
An artist’s impression of my face after the second opposed game.
Author’s Comment
It was not my intention to write a report about today. When the team is preparing for a match, I would never reveal likely tactics, potential team changes or targets in the opposition. Therefore, there are many sessions that are observed but not reported.
However, what transpired today necessitated some feedback for Eels fans. It would be easy to provide a vanilla comment that the team trained well and provide little basis for such an opinion. The reality of the team continuing to struggle early in the session but working their way into better execution was probably a better indicator of them finding an answer.
I’ll be looking for more of the same as the week continues.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Welcome back mate. I can understand your frustration re the earlier work because that is exactly how i felt last Saturday. Thanks for the report enjoyable as usual. I’m making my way to the capital for the game of course as a passenger thanks to some beautiful people so I hope the trip back home will be enjoyable.
It’s a fair hike Joe. Fingers crossed!
Welcome back to the city grind Sixties, from the coastal lay ins. It seems like they achieved a bit from today’s session. We hope they continue to ‘click go the shears from man to man’ so to speak, during the week and wkend. This road trip IMO is one of the toughest, but we have the,nearly in season and somewhat during the day….
If nothing else, some positivity seemed to return. Watched training again today (Wednesday) and the talk was really good – I just have the sense that the confidence was returning. Certainly the passes continued to stick today.
Thanks Sixties, whatalad! It never ceases to amaze me how fluently the brush strokes of your canvas capture the essence of the subject in portrait, and even in landscape!
Goodnight mate. I’m off to bed with more peace in my heart after a long day. Even if the “more” only pertains to my beloved Eels.
PS: I’d rather a win in the bleaches, than a loss in the court of nobility. I’m sure you know what I mean?
I think we’ll get into the battle much better this week Rowdy – just gotta add the completions.
One thing is certain and that is that you can’t always pick winners from the training paddock but you can pick losers. The second opposed session must have been heartening
Well said John. It was much better, and it continued today. You try to not read too much into training. I like watching the skills work and the attitudes more than anything. You can have a bad session and still play well, but after two losses, I wanted to see positivity at training.
So does that mean we will are likely to have another field session tomorrow before a “Rest” day Friday with just a light captains run?
Does the team travel to Canberra on the day of the match or the night before to get a good start in the morning already in Canberra?
I am curious as I don’t seem to recall too many happy finishes to an ACT road trip.
They had a rest Thursday. Caps run Friday and I think they travel down Friday night.
Thanks sixties and it’s great to hear that the boys are getting back to where they were for the first two rounds? Now, put that on the field boys! I won’t revisit what was an atrocious performance from our boys last game, but geez Louise that was frustrating to watch.
Go you Eels!
A win in Canberra is a big ask. I’m hopeful rather than confident, but the training this week was sharp.