I appreciate that TCT readers are looking to share their opinions on the media stories about Dylan Brown. There were plenty of thoughts added in the replies to yesterday’s training reports.
Can I ask that any further opinions on that topic are left to our news podcast. We will be discussing what’s happening in depth when we record on Thursday night, so please save your opinions till then.
Now to Thursday’s training session.
Residents across Sydney would be well aware of Wednesday night’s spectacular storms. The wet track at Kellyville had no chance of drying out with showers falling throughout the morning.
As for what transpired, in what was a quality session, I thought that Mitch Moses and Jack Williams absolutely owned the scrimmages. To be fair, the handling of the squad as a whole was really impressive, given the conditions.
It all kicked off with players working at different stations. Near where I was standing, the forwards were building their capacity to build acceleration and power into their contact via pulling weights.
Forwards at work
Passing skills were next on the agenda, and the pace of the execution was increased via introducing a competitive element.
In a series of races over 50 metres, two teams had to pass the ball from centre field to the wing, (one passing left to right, the other right to left) with the first winger across the try winning the race for their team. Players enjoy getting wins over team mates!
More skills stations followed. Closest to my vantage point, Nathan Brown was leading a drill of left side and right side shifts with a focus on the timing of the support lines.
With Nathan Brown
The remainder of the session was filled by number of different scrimmages. This is the best part of the post Christmas preseason.
It kicked off with rapid fire, two hand grab footy. He pace was incredibly fast, and there were some positional switches that had me questioning what I thought I knew.
Those changes were only for that scrimmage and normal programming resumed soon after.
The next scrimmage appeared to have a defence focus, with the scenario simulating a line break, and the goal being a successful chase back and set of six defence.
Full field opposed was next up, and I noted the following:
* A left side spread put Will Penisini into space, with his kick ahead chased by Moses who grounded the ball with a spectacular (and brave in the conditions) dive close to the dead ball line.
* A tackle busting run by Jack Williams next to the ruck
* Josh Addo-Carr chasing after a Moses kick and tackling Joash Papalii in the corner
* Jack Williams again busting the line around half way, before offloading superbly to Moses who chip kicked over Papalii’s head. Moses was winning the race to ground the ball but one of the Cup players dived just in front of him to bat the ball dead.
Scrimmage time
Relentless red zone attack and defence followed, with the Cup team asked to defend first. In this drill, every play is a free shot at attack without consequence. If the defending team forces an error or comes up with the ball, the attacking team still retains possession. It provides opportunity to practise different attacking shapes whilst testing the defence on every play.
The NRL were on fire with my pick for the highlights being:
* Try to Iongi in a left side play involving precision passing and pace
* Will Penisini and Kelma Tuilagi continuing their strong form with each scoring a try
* Near faultless defence from the NRL, including great scramble by the Foxx to prevent what looked like a certain try
* A terrific trap and scrap from Isaiah Iongi when he blocked a kick with his foot then won a foot race to claim the big rebound.
* Will Penisini demonstrating great anticipation then pace to chase back a kick behind the line.
More action
Friday now beckons.
I reckon it will be a testing session.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Great report, the trainings really seem to be picking up and that gets me keen for footy.
Not sure if you’ve answered this, but with Fox out first two weeks, who is getting reps along with Sean for that wing spot to open the season?
Also it seems like Gideon is getting a lot of reps at left edge, is he getting more than Guymer or would you say they’re split evenly?
Gray, I actually dedicated a post to my thoughts on the wing. As for who it looks like, most of the options are coming to the end of rehab and just about to resume full training. Bailey filled in for a very short time last week, and Samrani ran there. But it’s still mostly been the Foxx running there (his “wrong side”) so I assume it’s a case of looking at players as they become fit for play.
Interesting to hear Samrani getting a go on the wing, thought he’d be more of a second rower/centre but good to hear. His family are builders and I did a job for them last year. Really good people and hope he does well
He’s a unit and trains well
Three words got me excited in this report “near faultless defence” we know this side can attack but this needs to be the real focus if defence improves so will position on the ladder
They looked really good in that regard, and of course the test is against other NRL teams. But when the opponent gets free shot after free shot, it’s a good sign.
Great report Sixties. The countdown to trials must be on and intensity lifting.
29 days Pete
Sounds good!
That it is Pete
👍
“Josh Addo-Carr chasing after a Moses kick and tackling Joash Papalii in the corner”
I really enjoy reading this. One thing we’ve not been able to do for a few years due to lack of pace on the wing is employ early kicks to the corners. With Addo-Carr’s elite speed it means teams will have to be on the lookout for a 40/20 from Moses kicking towards Addo-Carr’s wing. Reminds me of when Hayne would boot the ball downfield for a flying Luke Burt. Would nearly always provide a positive result and pin teams down in their deep defensive area.
I must admit I was very happy to see it too Ham
Hey mate,
Great report. Have you got any updates on the COE ?
It’s looking nice in the background of your shots !
Progressing well Steve. The work is mostly internals now. Late March finish. I reckon it will be open to the public in early to mid May.
Thanks again for your thorough reports! Over all the years of training was our edge defence flaws exposed at training as they were in games? Has Ryles been working on addressing it?
Horo, the quality of the NSW Cup team in opposed sessions suffered after releasing Jake Arthur early to mid 23 and then with also having a shorter roster.
This would be the strongest that the Cup team has looked for some time, and at training today, I thought they defended really well (report incoming). So was it tested in past seasons? In retrospect maybe not enough.
As for Ryles, there’s usually 30-40 minutes spent on defensive technique and movement plus the focus on defensive systems in the scrimmages.
Great to see Moretti extend. Coached by an ex rep forward just might see this blokes potential realized. How do we see Matto’s most productive role in the team now ?
So just on thr injury front, I gather the Fox is in full training, Simmonson is on lighter duties and has had a run in scrimmages lately, Moses full training, Rich Penasini not sure, Dylan brown not sure ? Arthur miller?
Williams – is he mainly a middle, or does anyone see him as an edge forward ??
Sixties – you probably have enough data points now to determine if Ryles is doing a different pre-season. Specifically;
1. Is there a noticeable up weight on defence?
2. Is he doing drills around particular game scenarios that haven’t been covered before? E.g. line break + grab back + set if 6 in defence
3. Is he doing scrum plays or variations from kick returns (we were too predictable under BA). Maybe too early for this one.
Jimbo:
1. Yes, though I think BA did some of the defence work outside of the field sessions I saw
2. Yes and I described that chase back in this report
3 Too early
Penisini full, Brown full, Artie has been in scrimmages – I think he’s just concluding rehab but don’t hold me to that.
Williams appears to be middle.
Thx
Thx
Sixties, couple of simple questions.
Is Dunster running and keeping up with the quicker players
Who is playing dummy half in the scrimmages and is the run on role certainty to be Hands and is Josh Papalli doing any dummy half work……alternatively is he doing any wing work.
At this stage Dunster is running but not in a way that I can make comparisons. Also at this stage I’d tip Hands to be the dummy half in NRL, with Joash currently focussing on fullback.
At this stage I am getting the feeling that Russell and Samrani are shaping as the wingers, specifically if Joash is focusing on fullback, which Iongi would be a certainty for.
I am particularly focused on this structure more than the forwards as I see them as imperative in our opening game. The statement we can make in that game is paramount in setting our season. WE break the Storm tradition and tell everyone, they need to start worrying when the face Parra.
I am sure that Ryles is particularly focused for the myriad of reasons obvious to everyone. I am no Russell fan but I accept that his confidence may have been boosted by the PM’s game last year and through all reports he has been an improver. Samrani is a pluck on my part and I guess that position will probably be Bailey’s BUT I have this suspicion that Samrani may surprise a lot. Can you tell me how quickly he can react in defence and not like an edge forward turning.
Poppa, Samrani has not trained as a forward. I won’t go into too much detail, but I don’t think the option of him being a round one wing option is too wild.