The heat was on at Kellyville on Friday morning ladies and gentlemen, and that’s not a reference to the uncomfortable weather conditions.
As we march towards, well, March, we knew that the sessions were only going to ramp up. And the Eels coaching staff closed off the week with an ultra-demanding couple of hours on the field..
It all seemed easy enough to begin with. Warm ups and stretches, followed by a bit of four vs two grid games. I’m not sure what scores were kept, but when the red takes on the blue in these drills, there’s undoubtedly bragging points to be won.
Theoretically, the team with four should win the contest. But that’s not always the case. The grid is tight and sometimes a couple of hard working defenders can shut down the attack. The result – let’s call it friendly competition within the group – a bit of banter and laughter to go with a drill that has the players reacting to what’s in front of them, in both attack and defence.
But I reckon the smiles were soon replaced by determined grimaces over the next 40 minutes or so as the squad alternated between two fields.
Born to run?
Field one was sets of runs, with a bit of hill work thrown in for some “fortunate” individuals. Field two was games of pole footy (it’s probably known by different names). This two-handed touch footy game requires any defender making the tag to exit the field around the nearest sideline pole before re-entering the game.
It seemed like they were alternating every five minutes, with little respite. And if the established players looked around during their work, it would have been impossible for them not to feel the enthusiasm and challenge of the new faces.
As the clock ticked around to the hour mark, the players donned footy jerseys for some serious 13 on 13 under the control on NRL referees. It was Parra Blue jerseys taking on the Parra White alternate strip.
To be honest, I could think of nothing worse than to throw on a jersey in the warm conditions, but that’s just part and parcel of a preseason.
Once again the talent was split between the two teams, resulting in a tight contest.
And the players ripped in from the kick off.
Blue vs White
An early try to the White team on the left, was soon followed up with a second on the right by Blake Ferguson. The big winger had a couple of defenders to beat when fed the ball close to the line, but a right foot step and charge got the job done.
At this stage, the ascendancy was with the whites. The forwards were laying a great platform and Jake Arthur was his usual composed self, directing the play with confidence.
But it wasn’t long before Mitch Moses made a statement of his own.
Capitalising on some enterprising play around the ruck, and a couple of quick play the balls, Moses used his pace off the mark to explode into open pastures. Gearing down, then accelerating again as he took on Gutho, it seemed like the try was a certainty.
Then Michael Oldfield appeared from the clouds, cutting down the Blue half only ten metres out from the line and just to the right of the posts.
Speed has its advantages – but, composure has its rewards.
Moses played the ball and the quick shift was now on to left, eventually finding Oregon Kaufusi who plunged over next to the posts.
This four pointer would conclude the scoring for the day – not that the players let up testing each other.
The final whistle came far too soon for this training observer. The contest in the middle of the park had been quite aggressive, with the likes of RCG, Hollis, Papali’i, Kaufusi and Junior ripping in – and the defence limited the opportunities for each team.
And just like every session that impresses – the on-field talk was very good.
I reckon the blokes earned a long weekend after this hit out. And nobody wants to be running around in the heat that’s heading our way.
What will next week have in store? You know where you can read about it….
Eels forever!
Sixties
Thanks mate. Been going threw withdrawals waiting for your report this week.
Always enjoyable and exciting.
Cheers mate. Been busy with a few things on this week. Bit of weekend content now coming.
The blue and white jerseys they put on – were they the new home/alternate for this year?
Yes. I believe so.
Cool! Hopefully they’ll be able to release them for sale soon.
👍 👍 👍
Thanks Sixties. Just going through the squad, there’ll definitely be more competition for bench positions compared to 2020, definitely up for grabs. My bench going off last year’s performances would be
Lussick
Hipgrave
Papalili
Nikure
with Khafusi Stone & Cartwright really pushing for places.
Also, are there any close ups of the new jerseys? cheers
Mikey, I reckon that Cartwright will be pushing strongly for a spot.
Sorry about no close ups. I am grabbing a few quick pics on my iPhone during the session but there’s obvious limitations with that.
Early days , but who would see as a smokey that could push for first grade selection?
I think it’s fair to call Dunster a smokey- outside of that, players would have to be upgraded to top 30 to be eligible.
ok
Great stuff Craig can’t wait for the season to start.Plenty of competition for spots only strengthens the squad.
i reckon a bit to unfold over the next few weeks – could be interesting
Geez I hope the boys kick off the season like last year. A tricky start to the season but, with some wins under the belt hopefully they can cement a top 8 spot and push top 4 again.
Thanks for all the reports. My New Years resolution of no social media makes this website all the more valuable
Cheers Benny. Top 4 must be the aim.
Awesome read again Sixties, love hearing the excitement and anticipation in ya voice. On a different note, how good was the chat between Andy Raymond and the crow
Andy Raymond is a champion – and the Crow. What a legend!
Funny everyone has totally different takes on the 14-17,which is awesome. We have good depth to cover injury but also ,I guess we need to get used to the fact that we have two players in Brown and Marata who unless they tone it down a notch,they will inevitably be rubbed out at times,however unfairly,by the judiciary .Most mention Cartright and Papalii as certainties in the 17 but Hipgrave will be pushing for a spot and regardless will be great cover for Brown when he is suspended, meaning that we don’t lose the aggressive in your face type forward that we need in the middle.How I wish we still had Mau out there with Brown.I love that BA identifies the need for the aggressive hard arse forward in the pack,it is always daunting having to line up against guys that you just know are going to hurt you if you don’t keep your eyes up.
Have a great weekend .
Just on Mau, any idea how he is going in the SL?
Maybe one of our keen SL followers can help there. With COVID restrictions impacting them, I sort of lost track of the comp there and didn’t keep an eye on it like I usually do.
Its a bit out of sight out of mind,
But I think there would be a lot of interest from nrl fans as to more consistent feedback on ex Nrl players now in the SL. In recent times I’ve noticed that the ones who come back to the nrl are often somewhat improved, Ben Murdock Masila will surprise a few when he plays for the warriors, at least the ones that didn’t get to see his demolition job on the kangaroos he did whilst turning out for tonga a year or two ago.
I wonder whether it’s a confidence that they gain playing there which generates that improvement.
Yes I do. I also think its a sign that the SL continues to close the intensity gap with the NRL.
I think the same phenomenon is at play with our coaches who do a stint over there and come back with greater knowledge. Madge, robbo, Holbrook brown, barrett and seibold improved with exposure to SL.
Matthew, the coaches in the ESL are often asked to taken on some management tasks as well as the coaching. I reckon that’s a big part of their learning too.
I was unaware of that Sixties. That would definitely be a help and may account for some of the superior communication skills blokes like Robbo exhibit when dealing with the media compared to Bellamy and his pretty pedestrian skills. Now I’m not knocking Bellamy he is after all the second best coach in the RL world , but I cringe everytime he says again, and again, lol.
Robbo has the ability to add a further contextual and more sophisticated layer over and above standard footy cliche and analogy. More a man for all seasons, as they say , perhaps even a rennaisaence man of sorts if you will.
Eggman, I reckon that BA will look to find a way to include Hipgrave in the team. He’s been a fan of his for a while and hasn’t recruited him to play reggies.
And I would add that hipgrave hasn’t gone there to play Reggie ever. He is quite a solid unit.
Intelligent bloke too.
And, apparently good at draughts and twister too. A real Friday night must invite over on the peninsula!
Precisely!
Same with Carty, these two and Papa-li’i were recruited to add another dimension to our rotation and to put pressure on the starting incumbents to lift their game or risk being on the bench themselves. Shaun Lane’s most recent interview has clearly confirmed that, if he was replaced in the starting 13 the bench middles now ensure our rep-best forwards maintain the high standards which got them identified as SOO calibre footy players.
Thanks Sixties and crew,
Ok it seems like things are hotting up on the field and also with the some of the warmer days occurring.
My questions are linked to our end to 2020.
Has our attack in particular the halves taken on more direction / management to get the team around the park and this relates to 5/6 tackle options?
Our defence was good last season, but have you seen a notable emphasis on our ruck defence (controlling again) and also the communication and work done by the outside backs / half and back-row in defence, as we seemed to have some deficiencies in this area. i.e. have our defence coaches / head coaches particularly been working in these areas of the game?
Milo, there are going to be specifics that I won’t answer other than saying yes. What they are doing and how they are going about it falls into the realms of what I won’t provide details about.