EAGLES, WEST TO PLAY IN DECEMBER

http://www.sanfl.com.au/news/sanfl_news/2723/

Woodville-West Torrens and West Adelaide are poised to take the unprecedented step of playing an SANFL trial game in December.

Eagles coach Michael Godden and Bloods mentor Mark Mickan, having formed a relationship while coaching together at Glenelg, are keen to experience match simulation before Christmas.

While the plan is currently in its infancy, the western rivals would play in two trials at City Mazda Stadium, one in December and one in early February.

The intention is to play four 25-minute quarters with accredited SANFL umpires, possibly under lights to avoid any searing heat during summer.

‘’We don’t see a lot of other clubs throughout the off-season,’’ Godden said.

‘’We’re going to have a lot of kids at this club trying to make their way in league footy this year so this is an opportunity to get some more games into them and have a good look at them in a game situation.’’

Godden, who follows the NFL in the US closely, said the idea stemmed from a similar scenario used by American Football clubs in the pre-season.

‘’You see a lot of those NFL clubs doing it,’’ Godden said, adding that AFL clubs Geelong and North Melbourne also trained together last pre-season.

‘’They go and spend a week with an opposition team and they train against them for the whole week before playing a trial game on the weekend.

‘’So it is about watching their pre-season as well and seeing if there are any benefits from that.

‘’It will just be a glorified, competitive training session which you are doing against people who don’t know what you are trying to achieve.’’

While Godden and Mickan won’t sit in the same coach’s box at Richmond, they will share information in the lead up to the trial games to ensure the match-ups will be beneficial.

‘’Certainly there would be some genuine discussion in the selection process,’’ Godden said.

‘’We would sit together (before the match) and make sure the match-ups are right and the quality of team is right. It will all be quite managed in that way.

‘’During the game, we would organise things between each other like whether we need to cut the game short – it is just like running a competitive training drill.’’

Good idea. ? why they don't play another game in Jan. Coaches are always teaching team structure and game plan and never know whether theyve succeeded till its April and too late. These early games allow time to reassess and go back to the drawing board.