ONTO the mids.
On the back of Jordan Russell's pre-season report card on the forwards last week (which you can read here), assistant coach Tim Clarke now looks at the midfield line with games fast approaching for the Blues.
Starting the pre-season report cards over the month of February, assistant coach Jordan Russell looks at how some of the Blues' forwards are fairing so far this summer.
It's time for some intel on the forwards: stay tuned for the other lines to come over the course of the month!
5. Adam Cerra
“He set himself up with what he did in the off-season. He came back and trained really strongly right from the start. He chased his inside game heavily in terms of his footwork and his ability to get out of contest - you’ve been able to see that in training.
“He’s led the way with his contest stuff. His primary role is as an inside midfielder, and that’s where we feel he’ll be spending the majority of his time in games. He’s also provided the run and the outnumber stuff which he provides naturally anyway: we’re really excited to see what ‘Cez’ is going to bring.”
9. Patrick Cripps
“’Crippa’ has had a strong pre-season. He’s had a fit midfield group to be able to train against and he has prepared himself as well as he always has. He always looks to become more powerful and more dominant around his contest game, and he’s come back in terrific shape.
“He’s working hard, he’s leading really well which is something he’s developed in the last couple of years. I’m really excited to see how he goes.”
13. Blake Acres
“He had a slower start because he had an operation at the end of the year. He’s an experienced campaigner so he knows what he needs to do with his body to get himself ready.
“Similar to last year, I’ve been really impressed with his leadership of the young wings. He’s got Jaxon Binns and Lucas Camporeale that he works closely with. He’s been terrific with the leadership and being able to educate them, now it’s at a stage where he’s fine-tuning his body to be ready for games.
“Even in training, Blake will end up on the line in offence and then you’ll turn your head and he’ll be back on the line on defence. A common term is ‘Sheriff does Sheriff things’: he keeps turning up.”
15. Sam Docherty
“He’s been another player that’s been able to do a large amount of pre-season. Coming back from his knee, he obviously fast-tracked it last year and got back to play games, so his program did back off a bit in the lead-up to Christmas. He hasn’t missed a beat since.
“He’s training well, he’s got a midfield role and he’s got a wing role which he plays both really well, we know he’s a versatile player and I’m looking forward to his leadership and what he’s going to bring this year.”
25. Jaxon Binns
“‘Binnsy’ got a taste of it last year off a terrific VFL season. He’s a guy that worked really hard on his game, had multiple conversations with myself and the other coaches.
“He’s gone away and worked on his game like he was asked to be able to be more consistent at AFL level, and he came back in terrific shape and been able to roll that out in training. He’s set himself up for a good opportunity to play consistent senior footy this year, it’s a credit to him.”
29. George Hewett
“George has missed a little bit of work in previous years, and he hasn’t been able to string weeks together in off-season and pre-season - this year has been different. He’s come back as the best version of George Hewett.
“He’s another player that has worked on his speed and ability to get out of contest, and he has set himself up for a really strong year.”
On big bodied mids competing in training:
“It’s terrific to have such big bodies to compete against each other. You’ve got Cripps there, you’ve got ‘Cez’ there, you’ve got George Hewett. The ability for these boys to compete against each other, it’s going to set them up for the players they’re going to play against.”
On the team’s three ruckman:
“They’ve been able to complete the whole pre-season against each other, and to have the three of them go at each other has been terrific. They’re very different rucks, so it allows them all to combat what a different ruck is going to be either at centre bounce or stoppage.
“Matty Kreuzer has done a power of work with them, he spends a lot of time with those boys on their craft and ability to navigate their patterns around the ground. It’s already made them better players, and I’m sure it’s going to make them a more potent midfield.”
On the midfield group’s focus:
“Speed and power, it’s a bit of a buzz word in the AFL. How it helps us is we’re a contest team, we like to play with power out of our contest, so to be quicker and more agile in that area is going to make us more dynamic. We’re still going to be a competitive team in the contest, we’re still going to defend hard, but if we can do it with more power, we’ll be able to counterattack a bit better.”
On the midfield make-up:
“Our midfield balance will depend a lot on the opposition and who’s available. Last year we had some injuries through our midfield, which meant some of our players missed games of footy and it meant there were opportunities for others to play a role.
“The benefit of this pre-season is we’ve had a lot of those midfielders be available and been able to train against each other, which means there’s competition for spots. They’ve made each other better, so I can see that competition providing a lot of intensity around our midfield area - I’m hoping they remain available so we can keep that competitiveness up.”
