East meets West day

[GVGjr]

Got this from the club.

It's only about a 5 to 7 minute drive from my place so I'm looking forward to it.

I bet there will be a story in the Sunday paper.


Saturday, 19th January
Wesley College: High St Road, Glen Waverley

8.30am – 12noon

Bulldogs fans will have the chance to meet their favourite player and watch the full playing group train at the annual East Meets West Family Day on Saturday.

The team will train from 9am to 10am before signing autographs and meeting fans. Senior coach Rodney Eade will introduce the new draftees and recent recruits to the club and talk about the upcoming season.

Activities on the day will include a breakfast BBQ and children’s activities.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: East meets West day

I'll be there

[The Underdog]

Re: East meets West day

I'm planning on going. Looking forward to seeing some of the boys train.
Don't get to Footscray too often, so it's good that they do something like this.

Eastside reprazent

[GVGjr]

Re: East meets West day

Just home from the East meets West day. There was light rain for a fair part of the day but I still enjoyed catching up with alwaysadog, Doggy Doo and Cath from the Bulldogs Taskforce and even a couple of potential new members to WOOF. Doggydoo was given the Scott Clayton recruiting task.

Fairly subdued day otherwise though, crowd was down (poorly advertised) and the session was short and sharp.

Great chance to get up close to the players though.

Eade introduce all the new players to the team minus Scott Welsh who is attending a wedding in SA. Eade was in fine form adding some funny snippets of info about all the new boys. Sam Reid appears to be in the Eade dog house because of something he did or didn't do at training but the great thing with Eade is, prove him wrong on the training track and all is forgiven.
Mulligan and Shaw are impressive lads with good personalities. Boumann is a character, Ward a nice lad and Wood, White and O'Keefe quiet types. Grant wrecked a thumb skateboarding but is close to resuming training.
Eade made mention that Tim Callan likes strutting around with his top off so perhaps he is a likely Robbins replacement around the place.
Eade also assured the supporters that we are a top 8 side while he expects the media to list us as a bottom 4 side.

Everitt confirmed that he is either 193 or 194cm and doesn't think he will grow much further. Higgins had his knee heavily strapped but looked sharp in the drills.
The rehab group consisted of Cross, Tiller, Wood, Eagleton and Hill.
A number of players didn't train today including Hahn, Gia, Skipper, Williams, Lynch, Lake and Minson and I also haven't seen Gavin Hughes at all.
alwaysadog was very impressed with Stack. He's added a bit of size and muscle to his frame.

[LostDoggy]

Re: East meets West day

Whilst the numbers were down and weather turned at the end of the training session, it was good to have the chance to 'size-up' the players.

A few observations:
- obvious increase in height with the influx of young talls (with broad shoulders)
- new mid fielders & flankers on average seem to be taller, possibly 6ft 2's
- 2nd & 3rd year players looked much bigger (muscle/weight) than the drafted players
- young Sam Ried has a very defined build for his age (according to 3 female experts)
- Griffen, Morris, Stack, 'Itsy Bitsy' (Everitt), Harbrow, Cross, Boyd, & O'Shea are all bigger.
- O'Shea in particular, looked much broader, stronger, & possibly a little taller. Also moved well and 'ranked' very highly in the 'eye candy' category (by the 3 females).
Would liked to have got my hands on the girl's full scorecard.

As for the basic training, generally, all the players moved well. Too busy trying to identify the new players.

Thought:
- Hudson moved well for his size
- Street seemed a 'little' more flexible in his movements (able to bend and gather the ball - not as stiff as we are used to)
- Griffen: great to see him moving freely - trained well.
Didn't notice any other standouts, but again trying to identify players was my focus.

[BulldogBelle]

Re: East meets West day

Thanks for the reports GVG and Doggy Doo - interesting reading.

[The Bulldogs Bite]

Re: East meets West day

Sounds like young Mulligan is impressing, he's been mentioned on most posters reports. It'll be interesting to see how he actually handles playing the game as obviously, training is completely different. What's his skills like and general ball work/handling? It'd be a big bonus if he could develop into a player.

Nice to hear O'Shea has been given a few raps, too.

[The Underdog]

Re: East meets West day

Went along with the family. Had to be somewhere else by 11, so only watched the training portion and left before the intro of players etc.
GVG has covered the details but a few observations from my end.

Mostly a light session. a few higher intensity drills towards the end which showed us a bit more of the players skill and movement wise.

Of the new boys training Ward looked clean and classy and not afraid to use his opposite foot. O'Keefe moved well but is a typical left footer and you may not ever see him use his right. As GVG said Wood was in the rehab group. Boumann only seemed to get there as I was leaving.

Mulligan is a big kid and moves and uses pretty well. Be interesting to see him once he's in game situations at Werribee. "Handbrake" Henry White could almost be a jockey, skinny as a rake. Shaw is a bit shorter than Mulligan, didn't notice much else about him skillwise.

Otherwise, Hudson is huge across the chest and shoulders and moved impressively.
O'Shea moved and marked well, but has a bit of a hitch in his kicking action which makes it a bit ugly.
Street is still slow and will always be, but his skills seem to improve from year to year.

One great moment as they did goalkicking at the end was when Cal Ward was having a shot, Westy was commentating "Big Cal in his first game kicking for goal to win it" etc.
Ward then slotted it. Westy then had a shot and Ward turned to him and said "was that your last game Scooter (?)". Very funny

Will post more if I remember anything.

[The Coon Dog]

Re: East meets West day

Here are some pics.

[The Coon Dog]

Re: East meets West day

And some more.

[BulldogBelle]

Re: East meets West day

Otherwise, Hudson is huge across the chest and shoulders and moved impressively.

Thanks Underdog for your report -

I am really looking forward to watching Hudson play for us - imagine his first game for us playing his old side...he will be pumped!

One great moment as they did goalkicking at the end was when Cal Ward was having a shot, Westy was commentating "Big Cal in his first game kicking for goal to win it" etc.
Ward then slotted it. Westy then had a shot and Ward turned to him and said "was that your last game Scooter (?)". Very funny.

It's good they can have a bit of a banter amongst themselves - Cal seems like he is very confortable with his team mates.

[katemeehan]

Re: East meets West day

Very good day!
Not much of a crowd, but as said before, the advertisment was pretty low-key.
The players all looked great! Everyone was friendly and the only thing to ruin it was the rain, but it held off for a fair while.

[always right]

Re: East meets West day

Sounds like young Mulligan is impressing, he's been mentioned on most posters reports. It'll be interesting to see how he actually handles playing the game as obviously, training is completely different. What's his skills like and general ball work/handling? It'd be a big bonus if he could develop into a player.

Nice to hear O'Shea has been given a few raps, too.

Mulligan's skills seemed pretty reasonable but as you say, you won't really know until he gets into match practice. From limited observation though he gives me the impression that he will be very competitive when the ball is in the air and in situations where he can use his running and athletic ability. I get the feeling though that he may struggle a bit more when the ball is at his feet. Not that he isn't flexible, just the way he moves and carries himself.

Looks a very confident type which was supported by a comment from Eade during the introductions when he suggested that Mulligan doesn't mind talking himself up. I'm happy with that as long as he's also a hard worker.

What was really noticeable today was the number of taller players we have in our squad now. Obviously they will take some time to develop and some won't make the grade but it's the first time in a long time where a number of our young blokes have some height and frames to work with. Grant is a god height and obviously has some talent. Of the others, Boumann, O'Shea, Mulligan, Shaw all have impressive frames and even Cam Wight looks much stronger in the upper body.

Our young midfielders are all a good size also. Cooney looked considerably bigger and stronger as did Boyd, Stack and Ray. Ward will fill out nicely without too much effort and Sam Reid has shoulders and a shape that suggest he could play senior footy this year and end up being a powerful midfielder in years to come. And of course Higgins is a good size as well although I expected him to have filled out a bit more than he has so far.

Great time of year this...they all look good and we haven't lost a game.

[LostDoggy]

Re: East meets West day

And of course Higgins is a good size as well although I expected him to have filled out a bit more than he has so far.

Could to do with the fact he had an elbow op at the end of the 06' season and a shoulder reco at the end of last season? He wouldnt have been able to get in early like others because of these injuries.

[Dry Rot]

Re: East meets West day

One great moment as they did goalkicking at the end was when Cal Ward was having a shot, Westy was commentating "Big Cal in his first game kicking for goal to win it" etc.
Ward then slotted it. Westy then had a shot and Ward turned to him and said "was that your last game Scooter (?)". Very funny

Thanks Underdog.

From all reports Ward sounds very assured. The real deal.

If the selectors have balls and Willi is able to develop our young ones, I really hope that 2008 marks a season where players are purely selected on form.