Last week I informed readers that both Sean Russell and Luca Moretti set new PBs with their Broncos runs.

I’ve just learnt that I’ve done a disservice to Kelma Tuilagi who also set a new Broncos Run PB on his return to the training track.

There’s always a boost in energy in the squad from new and young players joining the preseason, but I reckon these PBs are sending a strong message about the attitude of the incumbent players.

During the first few weeks of the preseason I’d seen a number of them on the sideline during their holiday, watching the young blokes go through their paces. The PBs are another example of how hungry they are to succeed next season.

On another note, a reply to one of last week’s training posts included feedback from a reader regarding Madge Maguire’s attitude towards fitness. Madge reportedly told a corporate event audience that he doesn’t like to see the one player win fitness tasks, and that having different players win or excel is an example of a fit team.

I was keen to dig further into this opinion. Surely if fitness freaks Ryley Smith or Gutho win Broncos Runs it doesn’t mean that the rest of the team is unfit.

The Broncos run is a standardised fitness test over an expanded space/distance. In a test like that, it’s not unusual for ultra fit athletes for Ryley Smith or Clint Gutherson to dominate Gutho is now doing similar at the Dragons to what he did for many years at the Eels.

Luca receives the ball in a passing drill (Image Eels media)

Perhaps what Maguire was referring to are the other drills that the coaches and high performance staff use to build or measure the players capacity for types of repeated movement or movement in closer spaces. For example, quick up and back movements, lateral movement, and getting up off the ground and moving (eg Malcolms).

In such instances, the type of fitness required, or what can be achieved, can also vary with the player’s position and it’s best to measure and compare those in similar roles. An example of a forward who has very good fitness for repeated quick movements over shorter distances is Luca Moretti.

As fans we see that translate to his leg speed and explosive power in hit ups. In the backs, those that might excel with repeated quick movements could be Lorenzo Talataina or Joash Papalii.

A player with an  insane stamina who can work over more expansive areas and time is the aforementioned Ryley Smith. The Eels rake can be relied on in matches to compete as hard in the 80th minute as he  does in the opening exchanges. He’ll be cleaning up dropped passes or putting pressure on the kickers, no matter the minute of the game.

My thanks to the Eels coaching staff for some of what I can pass on about certain drills or goals of drills in these reports. Any time I’ve spoken to them about their preseason work, they’ve been more than happy to explain it. I don’t always include such information in my reports, for obvious reasons, but where I can, I will.

The coaches oversee an opposed drill

And so to Tuesday.

Once more it was challenging to keep track of every drill, with all of the coaches and staff involved in simultaneous drills over multiple fields.

The squad’s skills and options around the ruck continued to be developed, with an array of different shapes and lines being run. Given the youth and inexperience in the group, it’s impressive to see how quickly the players learn and execute.

One of the drills today looked familiar, as the forwards rolled quickly downfield through the middle. There was contact and take down to the ground, so there was a defence component, but to me it seemed like speed of the play was a focus.

Simultaneously, the outside backs honed their AFL style catching with Scott Wisemantel, whilst another group undertook conditioning runs.

Nathan Brown later led the ball players and edges through shapes on both the left side and right side.

The squad then split into two groups, on adjoining fields, with each group divided into attackers and defenders inside the red zone. It was obviously unstructured attack with a plethora of outrageous passes thrown.

There was no shortage of work done with ball in hand, with drills involving 3 on 2, 6 vs 3 or 9 vs 9. Some of it was one play touch footy, whilst the larger 9 on 9 drills had sets of plays with defenders hitting the ground.

I’ve previously mentioned the straight line conditioning having a greater presence at this stage, and the players to catch the eye for their efforts included Ryley, Araz, Sean, Luca and Tallyn.

Some of the running was competitive, in others the goal seemed to be maintaining a straight line.

Mo Alameddine (image Eels media)

At the conclusion of the session the squad ran through more expansive shapes in attack whilst also working on defence line movement and communication.

I noted Jordan Samrani positioned alongside Mo Alameddine during the drill and mentoring him between plays. After the session was over, the two of them continued to work on their centre/wing combination, particularly the positioning and movement in defence.

Outside of everything listed above, you can always assume that the coaches will run passing and defensive footwork drills.

Eels forever!

Sixties

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