The team, missing Anthony Rocca and Kevin Dyas who worked on core exercises in the gym, trained for over two hours learning and implementing new practice drills.
Former Magpie Toby Thoolen, Bryce Carrol (Western Jets) and Michael Gugliotta (Northern Territory) all received permission to train with the team for Wednesday's session.
The new drills were overseen by assistant coaches Paul Hudson and Mark Neeld and focused on short 15 metre passes, handballing under pressure and picking up the ball on the run.
The “gauntlet” comprised of an offensive team of three working the ball by hand through the defensive team. The drill was conducted over 25 metres working the ball down the line.
Dayne Beams looked very comfortable handling the ball through limited space to teammate Brad Dick.
The players then separated into four groups and worked on picking the ball up in a single clean motion.
Dale Thomas, Leon Davis and Alan Didak were standouts in this drill with a special mention to Steele Sidebottom who worked through the drill without an error.
The training session concluded with the team separating into various groups to work on specific drills.
Head coach Michael Malthouse worked with Ben Reid, Cameron Wood, Dale Thomas and Leigh Brown in perfecting the art of taking a ‘speccy’.
Malthouse then worked one-on-one with Harry O’Brien in the defensive 50. O’Brien was running towards the goals and marking with his back to the centre square. He would then run around the goal post and deliver a 50 meter pass to Malthouse to simulate kick-in situations.
Sidebottom worked with the ruck group (Reid, Wood, Josh Fraser and Chris Bryan) on stoppage play. Sidebottom excelled at gathering the ball from a tap out with a defender holding him.
The team will train next week before taking two weeks off for the Christmas holiday.
Martin Clarke, Shannon Cox and Michael Gugliotta (Northern Territory) worked through the 'gauntlet'.
John Anthony looks to bear down on Clarke in a stoppage drill.
Paul Medhurst trained freely and Martin Clarke worked on taking a mark with his back to the play.
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Steele Sidebottom works on his handball skills with Anthony Corrie and Toby Thoolen.
Leigh Brown takes a 'speccy' over Luke Vella (VFL conditioning coach).
