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Eels Preseason Training – December 13, 2021: New Subject Or New King?
sixtiesDecember 13, 2021 News,
NRL,
Opinion,
Training 9 Comments
It was a toss of a coin for the biggest news to emerge from Eels training today.
Was it the arrival of recent recruits or the potential dethroning of a reigning monarch?
Let’s begin with the first sighting of Bailey Simonsson and Ofahiki Ogden at the Kellyville training track. Both made an impression.
Oggy Mark 2 looks every bit of his 192cm, 106kg frame. To be honest, I reckon he has to come in above that listed weight. Standing amongst the Eels middle forwards, he looked to be one of the biggest.
Simonsson and Russell battle it out
Bailey Simonsson made an immediate statement from literally his first set of runs. The former Canberra winger has arrived in prime condition and his pace and stamina caught everyone’s attention.
The first half of the morning was conducted by Trent Elkin. Apart from a brief period of working through unopposed sets, there was no shortage of running.
Live GPS data provided immediate feedback for Elkin. It was also interesting to observe the big blokes like Dave Hollis, Makahesi Makatoa and Isaiah Papali’i check in with sports scientist Tahleya Eggers to get their performance results.
As mentioned earlier, Simonsson looked absolutely outstanding. He led home nearly every run, with his early acceleration getting him to the front of the pack.
The other back to shine was Sean Russell. The arrival of Simonsson challenges Russell’s claim to a wing spot, but the early indications are that the Eels junior won’t give up his opportunity without a fight.
Towards the end of the conditioning work we got a glimpse of who the fastest young Eel might be.
Sprinting over a distance which was close to 100 metres (maybe a bit longer), Matt Komolafe just beat home Sean Russell, with Will Penisini right on their heels. I’m not sure why these fellas decided to test each other out in that particular run, but it was a timely result considering the topic was raised last week.
Stoney edges ahead
Just as compelling was the contest between Maka and Stoney. In one of the runs, the two cleared away from the group with big Makahesi striding out to the lead. Check out the form of Makatoa at top pace in the adjoining photo.
But just like he has all of this preseason, Mr 3:16 dug deep and lifted over the final 20 metres to reel Maka in. It’s like Stone has wound back the clock to his junior days as a centre.
The most interesting aspect of the morning was that Gutho didn’t dominate. Although the King finished in the first half dozen in most runs, it’s likely that the shorter distances didn’t suit. Gutherson normally finds a way to shine even over shorter runs given that the repetition of the sets adds the fatigue factor which is the King’s bread and butter. All that aside, I have a suspicion that it will be business as usual for any M runs this week.
This morning concluded with the first serious opposed work of the preseason.
Yes, BA!
There were limitations. The collisions were only at about 50% of normal NRL contact, and it was totally contrived. By that I mean, the teams were given a one set scenario. Each team received a set of six to either attack the line, or defend it. The roles were then reversed.
The Blue team attack from a scrum
However, the repetition of these scenarios allow the team to build combinations in attack and defence, in addition to executing some of the basic structures that they’ve been drilling.
How did they look?
A few passes hit the deck but overall they were reasonably sharp.
My highlights included the very solid dummy half service from both Mitch Rein and Brendan Hands. Jayden Yates was doing a bit of rehab today and Reed Mahoney won’t do contact work till the new year.
Matt Komolafe produced a terrific ankles tackle on Samuel Loizou to prevent a try and he and Solomone Naiduki had good moments of applying defensive pressure out wide.
I also noted Bailey Simonsson step off the right foot to cut in-field when he looked pinned on the sideline. The pace at which it was executed badly wrong footed a couple of defenders.
Mitch Rein (image courtesy of Bocko – Eels media)
The session wound up with sets of up/downs (Malcolms) and both BA and Trent Elkin called for extra sets after a couple of individuals were nailed for not being sharp enough. High standards there.
Before finishing this report, I’d like to make a quick observation regarding Mitch Rein.
The veteran dummy half was officially welcomed to the club this past weekend, and I believe that he will be a very good acquisition.
Rein is one of the fittest in the group, and places himself near the leaders in conditioning runs. Make no mistake, his dummy half skills are what you’d expect from a player with his wealth of experience.
He looks like a total professional.
Eels forever!
Sixties
It was a toss of a coin for the biggest news to emerge from Eels training today. Was it the arrival of recent recruits or the potential dethroning of a reigning monarch? Let’s begin with the first sighting of Bailey Simonsson and Ofahiki Ogden at the Kellyville training track. Both made an impre
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