Lance Franklin brilliant in first competitive hitout in Sydney’s intra-club game
February 12, 2016 8:53pm
NEIL CORDYHerald Sun

HE’S back.
Lance Franklin completed the first step in his return to football with a solid hitout in Sydney’s first intra-club practice match of the season.

The superstar hasn’t played since Round 23 last year after dramatically pulling out of the finals to deal with mental health issues.

Franklin lined up at centre half forward on Aliir Aliir but roamed far and wide across Henson Park in Marrickville, even going in for occasional centre bounce.

He had no trouble finding the football, showed plenty of fitness and looked full of running as he worked up the ground, regularly helping out in defence.

There were flashes of brilliance peppered throughout his display — a first quarter dash off half-back finished off by a raking pass to Sam Reid was followed by a signature mark and goal on the run from 40m.
In the second quarter Franklin spent most of his time up the ground as he continued to pick up touches.

His every move was cheered by the crowd of more than 1000. The inner-west venue even had a touch of grand final atmosphere with A380s regularly doing fly overs.

There was a scare for fans early in the third quarter when their $10 million man collided heavily in a marking contest with Kurt Tippett.


To their relief, and coach John Longmire’s, they both walked away unscathed.

Franklin continued to show his defensive capabilities with a brilliant smother on Aliir which should have resulted in a goal to Isaac Heeney but his shot went wide.

Luke Parker was another who looked good in his first game after a spell on the sidelines, dominating the midfield and going forward to kick two goals.

Parker broke his leg in the Round 20 match against Collingwood.

Of the recruits, Callum Sinclair was the pick of the big men sharing the ruck duties with Tippett and working well around the ground and Michael Talia was solid in defence.

With the Swans’ first NAB Challenge match on Saturday against Port Adelaide at Blacktown the line-up is likely to include only Dan Hannebery from those that didn’t play at Marrickville.

Hannebery missed the match as he attended a funeral in Melbourne.

Fremantle Dockers midfielder Lachie Neale cleared of serious knee damage following intraclub injury scare
February 13, 2016 2:10pm
JORDAN McARDLEPerthNow
MIDFIELDER Lachie Neale has been cleared of serious knee damage after sending a scare through the Fremantle Dockers’ camp on Friday.
Neale, 22, had to be carried from the field after a clash of knees during a 90-minute match simulation at a warm and blustery Fremantle Oval.

It didn’t look good initially as the 70-gamer clutched his left knee.

But Dockers assistant coach Mark Stone was adamant Neale’s injury was nothing too serious post-training, with scans confirming the positive news later on.

“It was just a bit of a knee-on-knee collision, but he’s fine,” Stone told Fremantle’s website.

“There were a couple collisions, but none were reckless in intent, so it’s good for the boys to experience that.”

Brownlow medallist Nat Fyfe was in solid touch, racking up the possessions through the middle before showcasing his “natural abilities” up forward with two majors.

Fyfe looked untroubled by his back and leg injuries of the past 12 months heading into Freo’s NAB Challenge opener against Richmond in Mandurah on Friday, breaking tackles and taking some nice overhead grabs.

“Nathan is very strong overhead and has natural abilities as a forward,” Stone said.

“He played forward as a young kid, he likes it down there as a spell from the midfield.

“He provides us with another marking dimension.”

Small forwards Michael Walters and Hayden Ballantyne spent some time in the middle and certainly weren’t out of place.
Stone believes increased midfield time would their game.

“It helps them,” Stone said.

“It gives them the freedom to run around and get involved the in the game.”

Second-year midfielder Lachie Weller and Connor Blakely also impressed, winning plenty of the ball around the ground.

Weller, who declared he wanted to be a Docker for life this week, looks set for a big 2016 after playing just three senior games last year.

The 19-year-old praised new development coach Anthony Rock’s influence during the pre-season in helping refine his game.

Richmond’s young players show their stripes in fiery hitout
February 12, 2016 7:20pm
JON RALPHHerald Sun

DAMIEN Hardwick called Richmond’s intra-club match at Punt Rd a rousing success, but only after a pair of scuffles, a head knock to Dustin Martin and an upset victory by the kids.

The Tigers plan to take a young side to Mandurah to tackle Fremantle on Friday and the inexperienced side in black took it up to their more experienced opponents on Friday.

The intense competition resulted in two scuffles.

First, Liam McBean and Anthony Miles went at each other in the centre square before Jack Riewoldt ragdolled onballer Kamdyn McIntosh, repeatedly shaking his jumper.

The black team, which included Miles, Ben Lennon, Nick Vlastuin and Ben Griffiths, held on to win by three goals as the Tigers escaped any injuries.
Hardwick told his players they got what they needed from the exercise and the bright display of Jacob Townsend was sure to have thrilled him.

Townsend kicked two goals from stoppages and provided plenty of inside grunt.

Martin shrugged off his controversy-plagued summer with a typically polished display before a head clash with ruckman Ivan Soldo forced him off the ground — a precautionary measure according to the Tigers.

Brett Deledio missed the game as he managed his achilles injury, and Chris Yarran (calf), Todd Elton (ankle) and Shaun Hampson (ankle) looked on.

Lead-up forward Ben Lennon kicked a goal from a handful of shots after returning from glandular fever that at one stage seemed likely to sideline him for months.
Riewoldt, Trent Cotchin and Alex Rance gradually eased into the game but the youngsters all showed flashes of brilliance.

First-round pick Daniel Rioli’s fourth-quarter underlined his silky skills and ball sense while ruckman Mabior Chol’s early hanger was his best moment.

Oleg Markov, son of pole vault world champion Dmitri, started proceedings with a strong intercept mark and goal from a 50m penalty.

Ivan Maric’s cousin, Soldo, showed something in the ruck after stacking on bulk in his 18 months at the club.

Troy Chaplin played forward for the black team yesterday, with David Astbury and mature-aged recruit Nathan Broad both pushing for key defensive roles.

The Tigers will play Hawthorn (Beaconsfield) and Port Adelaide (Etihad Stadium) in the NAB Challenge as they prepare for their Round 1 clash with Carlton.

Next Monday’s meeting will be the first chance this year for the Richmond board to discuss Hardwick’s contract, which is certain to be extended.

Dylan Roberton suffers ankle injury in St Kilda’s intra-club game as young Saints shine
February 12, 2016 9:10pm
GLENN McFARLANEHerald Sun

ST KILDA is confident an ankle injury to defender Dylan Roberton won’t hinder his home-and-away preparations as some of the leaner, stronger Saints’ young guns turned in positive displays in Friday’s intra-club game.

Jack Billings made an impressive start, dominating the first half of the game at Trevor Barker Beach Oval, giving a hint of what Saints fans can expect to see on a much more regular basis this year.

Jack Newnes, Seb Ross and Blake Acres all performed well, with the latter spending more time in the midfield. And Saints fans were delighted to see 2014 No.1 draft pick Paddy McCartin show plenty of promise for the season ahead, combining well with Josh Bruce and kicking two goals.

Roberton, who battled ankle issues in 2014 before putting together a career-best season last year, rolled his ankle midway through the game and left the ground on crutches.

But Saints assistant coach Rohan Welsh said the club was confident it won’t cost the 24-year-old too much time on the sidelines.

“He just rolled it on someone’s foot, so it might only be a couple of weeks,” Welsh said.

Roberton’s injury, and some occasional wayward kicking, were the only negatives in a spirited showing before an enthusiastic crowd of the Saints’ faithful.

The Saints rested a number of their big names including captain Nick Riewoldt and leadership group members Jarryn Geary, David Armitage and Jack Steven, while Luke Dunstan, Nathan Freeman, Nathan Wright, Billy Longer and Tim Membrey also did not play.
Leigh Montagna was at his seamless best, while Eli Templeton won plenty of the ball early and made an impact.
Father-son Bailey Rice sat out the match as he works through glandular fever, but the club’s first selection in last year’s national draft, Jade Gresham, showed plenty of grunt and class.

Sam Gilbert did well, and could spend more time in the middle of the ground this season, while the club’s cult figure Jason Holmes brought the biggest cheer of the day when he marked and score a goal near the end.

Welsh said: “Defensively, I thought we were quite good, but we were let down a bit by our ball use.”

He was pleased with the performance of McCartin, who he said had worked exceptionally hard during his second AFL pre-season.

“A lot of our guys seem stronger and leaner,” he said. “It is one of those things and it is a progression.”

“(McCartin) is in his second year now and he is managing himself better. He is more professional in his approach. Being our first hit-out, the boys are a bit nervous and tense, but the positive signs (were) his positioning and he was getting to the ball, which is pretty much all we want at this time of the year.”

The ruck duel between Holmes and Tom Hickey was a hard fought one, with both players making an impression as Longer watched on from the sidelines.

Welsh said the most of the players who were missing were mainly due to management issues, but the bulk of them will be considered for the Saints’ NAB Challenge series, which starts against North Melbourne at Wangaratta on Saturday week.

Brisbane Lions have plenty of options in attack as tall forwards stand up in intra-club match
February 12, 2016 8:22pm
GREG DAVISThe Courier-Mail

BRISBANE showed there will be more to their attack than Josh Schache in 2016 after a host of maroon-grown tall forwards cashed–in at Friday’s intra-club match.

Schache – the boom key forward taken at No.2 in last year’s draft - took several strong marks but went goalless in the blustery conditions at Burpengary.

He had one shot for goal smothered and went wide with his other shot and was relatively quiet compared to his previous intra-club efforts.

But Queenslanders Matt Hammelmann (three goals), Eric Hipwood (two goals) and Jono Freeman (two goals) hit the scoreboard while mature-age recruit Josh Walker chimed in for two majors in the scrappy contest.

Hipwood also hit the woodwork twice while Freeman missed a sitter in an eye-catching opening quarter when he was very strong in the air.
“All the key forwards were pretty good, it’s nice to have a few to pick from,’’ Lions coach Justin Leppitsch said.
“They gave a target and that’s important.’’

New recruits Tom Bell and Ryan Bastinac were ball magnets during Brisbane’s final intra-club hit-out while Dayne Zorko, Ryan Lester, Pearce Hanley and Stef Martin were also good.

Defender Harris Andrews copped a knock to the hip in the first half and sat out the second half. He had his hip iced after the game and Leppitsch said it was only a minor cork.

The teams for the first two quarters were virtually split into seniors against reserves and it was one-way traffic with the star-studded “maroon’’ team booting 12 goals to zero.

It was difficult to gauge who was truly flying given the gulf in class between the two teams.

With captain Tom Rockliff, Daniel Rich, Allen Christensen, Mitch Robinson, Hanley, Bell, Bastinac, Zorko, Martin and Lester on the one side, the ball was camped in one half of the field for most of the first and second quarters.

Walker and Hipwood battled manfully for the virtual reserves side and created contests from their limited opportunities.

Despite Leppitsch saying the intra-club matches had presented more questions than answers, the way the sides were split gave an indication of who is in favour ahead of the season-proper.

Tom Cutler and Ryan Harwood played well across half-back in the senior side while Rohan Bewick was on a wing for the star-studded team.

Lester’s appearance in the top side ahead of Jarrad Jansen was also telling.

Brisbane will take on Gold Coast in their first NAB Challenge clash at Burpengary on February 21 and the Lions are likely to rest a number of their more senior players.

ADELAIDE

Reports:

http://www.afc.com.au/news/2016-02-12/crows-complete-final-hitout

Blue
Jacobs
Sloane
Lyons
B Crouch
Menzel
Beech
Walker
Van Berlo
Lowden
Wigg
Dear
McGovern
Seedsman
Laird

White
Ramsey
Greenwood
Thompson
Grigg
Lynch
O'Brien
Douglas
M Crouch
Doedee
Smith
Gore
Hunter
Mackay
Milera
Talia
Shaw
Lever

Cliffs

Closed session
Mitch McGovern kicked 4

BRISBANE

Official reports:
http://www.lions.com.au/news/2016-02-12/match-report-intraclub
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/a...h/news-story/e8c1783e02556af82b67da2b0249a62e

@AFL_mikewhiting
No Beams, Green, Clarke, Gardiner or Sqizzy Taylor (wisdom teeth) playing today.

Split into Possibles v Probables

Schache in the probables, Matheson and Keays in the possibles.

Probables smashed it.

Half time ends, 13 goals to nothing

Teams switched at half time. Bell, Rich, Bastinac and Robinson moved to the White team.

Greg Davis ‏@GregDavis_cmail 2m2 minutes ago
It's all over at Burpengary. Team Maroon lots to Team White not as many. Bell, Bastinac, Zorko, Hipwood, Lester, Hammelmann amongst best

Mayes and Schache both seen iced up after the game. Mayes, Knee. Schache, ankle.
(cont)

BRISBANE

Cliffs
- Schache and Matheison look good for a round 1 outing
- Christensen moves higher on the watchlist.

Went to the Bulldogs family day today and saw the entire intra-club match.

Libba moved well, started off a wing a few times but mainly in the guts. Hopefully after another month of match simulation he is cherry ripe for R1.

T.Boyd and K.Collins didn't play due to minor soreness.

Redpath was the best forward out there, kicking 4 goals by half time but going off with a corked thigh in Q3. That was the only injury concern for the day.

None of the four guys who played in the ruck were particularly good (Minson / Roughead / Campbell / Goetz). Goetz kicked two goals though, which were both from 40+ m out after marking on the lead.

Caleb Daniel was best afield. Seriously wonder how all the other clubs passed him over during the draft.

Adams played in defence, marked strongly on intercept but kicked poorly and turned it over quite a bit. May not be a R1 starter, possibly needs to work on some areas of his game in the VFL for a bit.

Caleb is a Misfit favourite, hope he does well for both our sakes!
We are going to to Canberra next week for NAB1, should be a good gauge of where a few guys are at..

Other clubs just blazed away- needed to lower their eyes.