Thirteen became fourteen today when Joash Papali’i made his first appearance in Eels training gear at Kellyville.
And the Bulldogs recruit didn’t waste any time in becoming a voice in the group.
A number of games, or competitive elements, were added to this morning’s drills, and the competitive side of the players came to the fore as they celebrated points won, or being part of a victorious group.
So, as the celebrations or banter happened, there was no easing in to the group with Joash.
I won’t describe the intricacies of the drills, but I will say that the work was scaffolded so that one drill would build elements for the next before that competitive component was introduced.
There was an interesting blend of skills, reflexes, thinking and fun in the “volleyball game” early in the session. I was trying to work out the rules, which wasn’t easy given the action was fast and there were multiple footballs in play. If I was still involved in junior coaching I would definitely “borrow” this game.
Getting competitive
The passing and defence drills were different to the previous days, as the coaches utilised the time they have with the small group to get maximum return on instruction time.
Fundamentals are being explicitly coached, but in the modern game that means covering the technicalities of both regulation catch and passing in addition to improvised passing.
Regular readers of my preseason reports understand that I don’t dive into any specifics that might disclose potential “trade secrets”. That said, fans can see some of the work themselves by attending the open training session on November 30 Fairfield Showground event. You’ll also have the chance to meet and greet the squad and coaches.
Nathan Brown with Sam Moa
What I can share is that this early part of the preseason will ensure that the younger players are given every opportunity to succeed. Players not involved in the Pacific Championships are due to commence their preseason from next Wednesday.
After meeting and speaking with Jason Ryles at the conclusion of yesterday’s session, today finished with the opportunity to welcome attack coach Scott Wisemantel. I really appreciated the time he gave me in explaining the rationale behind some of work being done with the pathways players.
Some readers might remember our Parra Leagues podcast discussing the coaching appointments with John Muggleton.. Muggo was able to provide terrific insights about Scott as he had been Scott’s captain back in their Parra playing days, and then they both took a path into rugby union coaching.
If you haven’t previously caught that Muggo podcast, you can listen to it here.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Great post and thank you for the update Sixites. Former players and team mates rate Scott Wisemantel as being very valuable and knowledgeable. Most league fans who don’t watch any rugby don’t have much to reference, but the fundamental skill level and spreading the ball in attack sets in rugby Union is a very high level in the good teams. You can imagine our fundamentals & passing should sharpen with his assistance. The eels in my view are still an extremely dangerous NRL team. Our attack will become deadly next season especially with Lomax & co assisting brown & Moses. 💙💛
It will be interesting to watch this preseason unfold.
That stand looks so good in the background of that photo, better than some in the NRL. It’s interesting that there’s a lot of skill aspects in these early training sessions, I reckon our drop off can be somewhat attributed to our drop in completion sets from 2023 onwards. We were a big forward pack who thrived with the ball and struggled without it, we were great at holding the ball 20-22, once 2023 hit we changed our attack and that contributed to dropping the ball. This might be a way that the new coaching staff believe they can fix that?
I’m sure once the big boys come back there’ll be more focus on traditional fitness I.e broncos, malcoms etc
It will all kick into gear next week. This is a terrific learning opportunity for the pathways players.