Training Saints preseason 2026

[phantom13]

Ruck rule is good for us.

Interesting to see how we manage the new stand rule as we have moved back off the mark.


And as for all this handiness talk. All you lefties are freaks.

I wonder if we do the opposite to coming off the mark which was to compress the space behind us.

So in this case we push up now that we have a much bigger side and are a threat aerially.

Which means taking away the chip kicks and the run to allow for 1 on 1s down the line?

Might be old school but i played in an era where you always gave away the boundary and covered the corridor when manning the mark and i think we more often than not were happy to give the 5m start to be able to cut inside run and carry (and frankly always should). This change to the rule worries the most of all the changes, its gonna get butchered alot early is my tip.

The last touch between the arcs rule seems mildly complex and subjective but i reckon it should sort itself out pretty quickly.

 

[True Believer]

Here's one for petty handedness issues.

Both my wife and I are left handed, however I am.only left handed for throwing/bowling, racquet sports and writing, everything else right handed/footed.
My wife is predominately left handed. Every time she uses the laptop in our back office,the mouse is moved off the mouse pad on the right hand side and is always left positioned on the left of the keyboard.
Biggest first world problem in history

Haha, my wife is right-handed but eats with the cutlery left handed, and sets the table that way for more formal occasions, and she swaps the knife and fork over when eating at a restaurant.

This throws right handers off when they sit down at our table, and I then sometimes get comments because I eat which ever way it is set. If the topic then arises over which way around people use their cutlery I then switch over and eat the opposite to whatever way around I started.....it makes no difference to me which way I use cutlery, or a mouse or whatever when it comes to simple motor skills. More complex skills like writing, playing guitar etc are the only things where I am one-sided, things with years of learning and practise a particular way....

 

[stavro#4]

Might be old school but i played in an era where you always gave away the boundary and covered the corridor when manning the mark and i think we more often than not were happy to give the 5m start to be able to cut inside run and carry (and frankly always should). This change to the rule worries the most of all the changes, its gonna get butchered alot early is my tip.

The last touch between the arcs rule seems mildly complex and subjective but i reckon it should sort itself out pretty quickly.

I keep thinking back to how we improve our defensive side of our game. The personnel helps but we were the 12th best side defensively this season and the worst side in the 8 was over 200 points better than us.

So it’s about all facets of our defensive game here. I’m thinking back to 09/10 even 2023 and I wonder if we try to take the space infront of us and zone a loose sweeper to create a + 1.

We could easily ruck Marshall in the forward third of the ground and sit TDK behind the ball.

So many options right now

 

[phantom13]

I keep thinking back to how we improve our defensive side of our game. The personnel helps but we were the 12th best side defensively this season and the worst side in the 8 was over 200 points better than us.

So it’s about all facets of our defensive game here. I’m thinking back to 09/10 even 2023 and I wonder if we try to take the space infront of us and zone a loose sweeper to create a + 1.

We could easily ruck Marshall in the forward third of the ground and sit TDK behind the ball.

So many options right now

You would have to think the active ruckman plays a kick back. I still think we need Camma/Dougal to play as a pure lockdown fullback, JSOS number 2 and Wilkie a floating third. Whoever plays the defensive wing role needs to work hard too. Mase when he was at his best was top shelf at that.

 

[saintbill]

A few of the boys smashing laps around Dendy Park again this morning. NAS, Owens and Hall all running together.

NAS and Hall keeping up with each. Mitch not far off the pace. Has to be bigger than 191cm IMO if NAS is 187cm. Looks significantly taller to the naked eye.

Not sure who the bloke out in front was. Couldn't recognise them, defintely wasn't Wilson. Not a small player. Whoever it was they were comfortably beating the rest of the pack. If I had to guess I reckon it was possibly Mason Wood

32

Mason Wood

Age

32

Ht

192cm

Wt

86kg

Pos.

M/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.2

3star

K

7.8

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

4.0

4star

T

2.2

4star

CL

0.3

2star

D

8.3

2star

K

2.7

1star

HB

5.7

3star

M

1.7

2star

T

1.3

2star

CL

0.0

1star

D

15.8

4star

K

8.6

4star

HB

7.2

5star

M

4.6

5star

T

2.6

4star

CL

0.6

3star

. If so, he looks very fit.

 

[akaifu]

A few of the boys smashing laps around Dendy Park again this morning. NAS, Owens and Hall all running together.

NAS and Hall keeping up with each. Mitch not far off the pace. Has to be bigger than 191cm IMO if NAS is 187cm. Looks significantly taller to the naked eye.

Not sure who the bloke out in front was. Couldn't recognise them, defintely wasn't Wilson. Not a small player. Whoever it was they were comfortably beating the rest of the pack. If I had to guess I reckon it was possibly Mason Wood. If so, he looks very fit.

Windy normally trains with that crew so maybe him? Would make sense as the best runner too

 

[saintbill]

Windy normally trains with that crew so maybe him? Would make sense as the best runner too

Possibly actually. The other three ran right past me, but didnt get a great look at who was in front.

Hopefully not some random park goer because they were absolutely flying!

 

[stavro#4]

https://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/ed-sheeran-rumoured-to-play-prematch-show-before-afls-opening-round-clash/news-story/06e3ec3db2afa1c5ba61f43c911353d8

Only happens if the AFL opens its wallet. Fact Fev is talking about it can only be a positive.

 

[nikkig98]

Interesting that he said they performed the wrong surgery, and it wasn't another injury. He must have been so mad and frustrated.

Absolute pisstake, talk about medical malpractice. How tf do you perform the wrong surgery. They're lucky it isnt America otherwise they would have been sued into the ground for lost revenue

 

[nikkig98]

A few of the boys smashing laps around Dendy Park again this morning. NAS, Owens and Hall all running together.

NAS and Hall keeping up with each. Mitch not far off the pace. Has to be bigger than 191cm IMO if NAS is 187cm. Looks significantly taller to the naked eye.

Not sure who the bloke out in front was. Couldn't recognise them, defintely wasn't Wilson. Not a small player. Whoever it was they were comfortably beating the rest of the pack. If I had to guess I reckon it was possibly Mason Wood. If so, he looks very fit.

Could be Mason Wood tbh, he's pretty close with our youngsters seeing as he's let so many of them stay in his house. He's also taken out our time trial on multiple occasions.

 

[stavro#4]

Absolute pisstake, talk about medical malpractice. How tf do you perform the wrong surgery. They're lucky it isnt America otherwise they would have been sued into the ground for lost revenue

I think context is lost with this.

Yes they performed the wrong surgery. Because they misdiagnosed/identified the issue.

The main issue was identified under a training load and imaging.

So ultimately they corrected some minor issues to his knee - which wouldn’t be uncommon among players requiring a clean up at the end of the season.

The problem was that it took so long to be identified and the question should be: would we have been able to have max for the second half of the year if it was correct at the first time of asking?

 

[Mav3rick]

I'm not 100% that put the "lack of tank" criticism to bed but I do think CHF is where he would be most valuable to Saints. I find it interesting that supporters talk King at FF and Marshall at CHF. To me it would ideally be the other way around. Marshall is stronger and better at getting ball to ground and we have a fleet of smalls. Sharman and/or Owen are leading targets.

King has shown he is not great sitting under the ball one on one. He is also not great on a lead in congestion. But he can look dangerous a la Nick.R when he gets up the ground and uses his mobility. Saints have missed a KPF that is a transition target from HB to forward line. King seems to have more attributes to play that role than Marshall. If he has the tank.

Marshall will start forward but play all over the place I think, just wherever he can influence the most contests aerially.

Higgins and King look great when they get up the ground a bit and beat their opponents back to goal. So I imagine it will be Sharman deep a lot, as well as Ryan and Owens taking advantage of mismatches.

 

[stavro#4]

The value of having players involved in SOO and The Aboriginal All Stars.

Probably the player I’m most excited to watch in our colours. Unique to our entire list.

 

[Nutsngum]

Absolute pisstake, talk about medical malpractice. How tf do you perform the wrong surgery. They're lucky it isnt America otherwise they would have been sued into the ground for lost revenue

I think he had a couple of arthroscopes from what was reported which are generally very low on the invasive level and obviously didnt pick up on the deeper issue.

Its not like they removed the wrong kidney here, its just that the surgery wasnt sufficent to fix the issue. The problem is that the surgery he did end up needing was genuine season ending and kept him off legs for ages, so you cant just rush into that without doing the easier stuff first.

 

[akaifu]

The value of having players involved in SOO and The Aboriginal All Stars.

Probably the player I’m most excited to watch in our colours. Unique to our entire list.

Love the mention of Lance

Clearly already have a fair relationship off-field

I'll enjoy watching Ryan in our colours, but what he can extract out of Lance will be just as important for us going forward imo

 

[Joffaboy]

What do we think guys?
First glance they seem sensible.
Particularly like the shug is a potential HTB, would like to see how it works and if it stops ****ing for frees.

 

[Saints4ever]

What do we think guys?
First glance they seem sensible.
Particularly like the shug is a potential HTB, would like to see how it works and if it stops ****ing for frees.

Sensible changes.

I’m amazed to be honest.

 

[Nutsngum]

What do we think guys?
First glance they seem sensible.
Particularly like the shug is a potential HTB, would like to see how it works and if it stops ****ing for frees.

Its mostly fine except for the last touch and the stand rule.

People keep praising it in the SANFL but the "lasso/last touch" in the AFLW is absolute shit and punishes attacking play I feel. The issue is also that its still up to interpretation of the umpire when it doesnt count due to opposition interference etc.. Does that include two players wrestling at the drop of the ball that they misinterpreted? Does that include a short falling kick that bounced 90 degrees away from a player just in front of them?

Insufficent intent just needed to be clarified better and less open to interrpretation, not replaced with a blanket rule that is going to punish riskier play.


The stand rule is still just as shit house, this just means more 50s will be paid for players not impacting the play. **** off the stand rule full stop.

 

[Sully111]

What do we think guys?
First glance they seem sensible.
Particularly like the shug is a potential HTB, would like to see how it works and if it stops ****ing for frees.

I like the changes

 

[Joffaboy]

Its mostly fine except for the last touch and the stand rule.

People keep praising it in the SANFL but the "lasso/last touch" in the AFLW is absolute shit and punishes attacking play I feel. The issue is also that its still up to interpretation of the umpire when it doesnt count due to opposition interference etc.. Does that include two players wrestling at the drop of the ball that they misinterpreted? Does that include a short falling kick that bounced 90 degrees away from a player just in front of them?

Insufficent intent just needed to be clarified better and less open to interrpretation, not replaced with a blanket rule that is going to punish riskier play.


The stand rule is still just as shit house, this just means more 50s will be paid for players not impacting the play. **** off the stand rule full stop.

Only for kick or handball, so if its contested will be a throw in.

 

[Sully111]

I’ve had parents ask advice about if their left handed kids should learn guitar right handed. I always say no.

 

[Diehard Saint]

The value of having players involved in SOO and The Aboriginal All Stars.

Probably the player I’m most excited to watch in our colours. Unique to our entire list.

Really excited about this guy.
Winning is fun. Hopefully he has a lot of it.

Side note: Amazing how every player looks great in our strip.

 

[saintmike65]

I'm not 100% that put the "lack of tank" criticism to bed but I do think CHF is where he would be most valuable to Saints. I find it interesting that supporters talk King at FF and Marshall at CHF. To me it would ideally be the other way around. Marshall is stronger and better at getting ball to ground and we have a fleet of smalls. Sharman and/or Owen are leading targets.

King has shown he is not great sitting under the ball one on one. He is also not great on a lead in congestion. But he can look dangerous a la Nick.R when he gets up the ground and uses his mobility. Saints have missed a KPF that is a transition target from HB to forward line. King seems to have more attributes to play that role than Marshall. If he has the tank.

He'll enjoy having Nas, Hall and Flanders delivery

 

[saintmike65]

The value of having players involved in SOO and The Aboriginal All Stars.

Probably the player I’m most excited to watch in our colours. Unique to our entire list.

Spoke to Colin Young (Ryan's manager) today at RSEA...he's very bullish about Liam's season ahead.
Said he's super excited by his new career chapter

 

[SaintSteele9]

A few of the boys smashing laps around Dendy Park again this morning. NAS, Owens and Hall all running together.

NAS and Hall keeping up with each. Mitch not far off the pace. Has to be bigger than 191cm IMO if NAS is 187cm. Looks significantly taller to the naked eye.

Not sure who the bloke out in front was. Couldn't recognise them, defintely wasn't Wilson. Not a small player. Whoever it was they were comfortably beating the rest of the pack. If I had to guess I reckon it was possibly Mason Wood. If so, he looks very fit.

Nas also spotted in the gym at RSEA today