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Training Preseason Training Thread - 2026

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The below is the OG faux training report from nearly 9 years ago - often imitated but never surpassed

Carbine Chaos said:
In the absence of Keys I went down for a trundle this morning to check them out on return. Just a few random notes I took down...

  • A lot of running work again, clearly a focus even in the heat.
  • Duggan looked on and was hitting targets left and right. Set for a huge 2017.
  • Giles went up against Vardy in the ruck contests and I'd say that Giles has the inside running at the moment.
  • Mitchell looked a class above the other midfielders bar Priddis. Just knew how to find the footy and wouldn't miss a target all session. Shuey was very quiet and seemed to be taking direction from Mitchell. Doesn't bode well for his captaincy credentials, maybe he doesn't want the gig?
  • Won't say too much about it in case I was just reading too much into it, but Rioli looked as though he'd enjoyed the Christmas break a bit too much. A few of the coaches pulled him aside and they were having quite an animated conversation before Rioli was sent to do laps for the rest of the session. Good news for Le Cras, I suppose.
  • Sheed kicked on his right foot for 80% of the session, I reckon. Nice to see players working on their non-preferred so readily.
  • Petrie looked like he was doing a great job 'coaching' the younger forwards in between the drills. Darling in particular seemed to be following him around.
  • Gee Venables has some skills. He mainly jogged laps before spending the last half hour or so on set shots - curled a few beauties from behind the boundary line at the end for a bit of fun. Hardly saw him miss a kick.
  • What interested me the most was that McGovern split his time between the defenders and the forwards, could be seeing a swingman role in 2017. He was his usual dominant self down back in some match simulation drills before going head-to-head with Mackenzie in a forward role.
  • Bayok is very fast - Cripps was in most of the drills with him and couldn't keep up.
  • Nelson is pale as buggery and still doesn't really have the body shape you'd expect of an AFL player.
  • There was a big bloke who pulled up next to me and I could have sworn it was Suma, but I'm sure I was wrong...
  • Masto was the player picked to kick the goal at the end today and nailed it. Celebrations were huge.
  • No sign of Cole, Parto or Hill. Couldn't tell you why.

Will upload pics later if I have time. Let me know if you have any questions!
Click to expand...

You might wonder why I’ve put this up and stickied it

Because this is the standard all copies should be measured against and it’s a reminder of how high the bar was set

And to hopefully discourage sequels.

If you want to have a crack in my absence, go ahead but if it doesn’t equal the standard set (as judged by me), then expect

• A one week threadban for a first offence
• A two week threadban for a second offence
• A one year threadban for a third offence

Actual training reports, minus discussion, can become found here:

Training - Preseason Training Reports -2025/26

This thread has been setup for training reports only and won’t be open for replies Informative reports from the preseason thread will be copied into this thread so posters have access to the quality work from the likes of LittleFires without wading through pages of general posts
www.bigfooty.com www.bigfooty.com
 
Last edited:
Cornelius Roy said:
I have some reservations over whether Clay Hall can be a long termer as we add more talent to our list.

However, he went away in his first offseason and clearly worked hard to put on the strength needed to play inside midfield. In his second offseason it seems he’s gone away and worked hard on his running, I’m not sure if he makes it but I’m absolutely pulling for him to do so, fantastic to have players apply themselves wanting to lock down afl spots. Been an absence of that desire for too long, well done young man.
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Stoked that you’re pulling for him.
 

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Goroyals22 said:
No way..Harley’s safe as houses… he has to get past Duggan ,Kelly Bailey cymbals Williams and Cole first.

Nothing like bit of fishing to get the usual suspects on the hook though
Click to expand...


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Great to see the 1st-4th year boys back in action today with a solid 2-hour hitout to kick things off. They trained on Oval 1, as Oval 2 is closed until November 17 for renovations (according to a sign I saw). This meant I had to watch the entire session through a fence, but I still managed to see most of it.

The players came out around 9:15, starting off with a warm up followed by the annual MAS (Maximal Aerobic Speed) running test for the younger cohort. Over the next hour after this the players split into varying groups and went through different drills practising skills (kicking and handballing) and ball movement, both in space and in congested situations.

There was one ball movement drill where they had to practice attacking off a turnover from a long-down-the line-kick and moving the ball into the forward line as quickly as possible. To finish the session they split up into rough line groups and worked on craft more specific to their positions (rucks practising tap work, mids/smalls practising ground balls, etc.), before heading inside around 11:15.

Details on who did/didn’t train:
  • Of the 38 players we currently have on our list, 30 of them were out on track today, broken up as follows:
    • Of the 20 1st-4th year players on the list, 19 of them were on track, with only Tylar Young not sighted (it's possible I may have mistaken Young for Bazzo/Brock as I've never seen him up close, but for now I'll say I didn't spot him)
    • Of the 18 5th+ year players, 11 of them were out there, with Baker, Brockman, Kelly, Graham, Flynn, Cole and Starcevich the players I didn't see
  • Dewar did the least of the players present, limited to a spectating role. Didn't see any visible signs of injury
  • Barnett and Yeo probably did the next-least. Barnett was sporting a brace on his left leg and Yeo is obviously coming back from his ankle issues. Both completed run throughs and kicking work away from the main group, moving fairly well but finishing up around an hour early.
  • I only spotted Duggan around 30 minutes into the session, and he was also limited to run throughs and kicking for the rest of it, though he got to quite high speed in a couple of them.
  • Ginbey, Hough, Owies and Cripps were in and out of the main group's drills, and occasionally split off to do some running, agility work and kicking in their own separate group. Ginbey did not participate in the MAS test but otherwise looked good, Hough had strapping on his right shoulder. Owies and Cripps looked and moved fine.
  • Waterman and Edwards warmed up separately but completed most of the session. Waterman had his right shoulder strapped but I saw him testing it out with Edwards in the warmup and he looked fairly comfortable.
  • Gross and Johnston completed the MAS test but did some work away from the main group afterwards. Gross in particular was put through a lot of running before moving onto some agility stuff and kicking to finish, while Johnston did more of the main session but occasionally joined Gross for some running or separate drills
  • Harley pulled up sore during the MAS test but completed the rest of the session thereafter and looked unimpaired.
  • There was one player out there who I could not recognise. He completed the MAS running test so I assume he's quite young, but he was relatively short (~175-180cm) and had short ginger hair - so it wasn't Tylar Young. I really couldn't pick who it was

I attempted to document who finished in what order for the MAS test, which was quite difficult but here's a very rough estimate anyway:
  • Harley was definitely the first to finish. I didn't actually see him finish up so I'm not sure if it was an abrupt cramp-type situation, but I didn't really notice him labouring at any stage before.
  • Champion was next to finish, followed by Gross
  • Brock, Bazzo, Shanahan were the next group
  • Followed by Johnston, McCarthy, Hewett, Grego and Allan
  • Long, Jack Williams, Newton and Maric were among the higher finishers
  • Hall and Davis battled it out for a while before Hall dropped off, leaving Davis as the winner

Like I said I didn't have the best view of the track but I did note some other things:
  • Gross looks like he's spent a lot of time in the gym, looks quite nuggety now. Endurance probably not his strong point but of all players I think he clocked the most kms today, so he appears to be working on it.
  • Visually Harley definitely looks in better condition than last year
  • Nic Nat was out there in a coaching top and took the rucks through some tap work at the end. I thought it was reported that he wasn't going to take up the vacant ruck coaching spot but this seems to contradict that.
  • When they split into rough line groups, Archer Reid trained in the ruck alongside Bailey Williams and Barnett (light duties), guided by Nic Nat
  • Edwards and Bailey Williams were the last to leave the track, finishing up after the others had left with some laps of the oval
  • One of the trainers/coaches must have had their birthday today as they had to do the spin around 10 times and kick the goal thing. They got it on the third try
  • It took me a long time to spot Harvey Johnston, who looks a lot different after coming back with a buzz cut
 
LittleFires said:
Great to see the 1st-4th year boys back in action today with a solid 2-hour hitout to kick things off. They trained on Oval 1, as Oval 2 is closed until November 17 for renovations (according to a sign I saw). This meant I had to watch the entire session through a fence, but I still managed to see most of it.

The players came out around 9:15, starting off with a warm up followed by the annual MAS (Maximal Aerobic Speed) running test for the younger cohort. Over the next hour after this the players split into varying groups and went through different drills practising skills (kicking and handballing) and ball movement, both in space and in congested situations.

There was one ball movement drill where they had to practice attacking off a turnover from a long-down-the line-kick and moving the ball into the forward line as quickly as possible. To finish the session they split up into rough line groups and worked on craft more specific to their positions (rucks practising tap work, mids/smalls practising ground balls, etc.), before heading inside around 11:15.

Details on who did/didn’t train:
  • Of the 38 players we currently have on our list, 30 of them were out on track today, broken up as follows:
    • Of the 20 1st-4th year players on the list, 19 of them were on track, with only Tylar Young not sighted (it's possible I may have mistaken Young for Bazzo/Brock as I've never seen him up close, but for now I'll say I didn't spot him)
    • Of the 18 5th+ year players, 11 of them were out there, with Baker, Brockman, Kelly, Graham, Flynn, Cole and Starcevich the players I didn't see
  • Dewar did the least of the players present, limited to a spectating role. Didn't see any visible signs of injury
  • Barnett and Yeo probably did the next-least. Barnett was sporting a brace on his left leg and Yeo is obviously coming back from his ankle issues. Both completed run throughs and kicking work away from the main group, moving fairly well but finishing up around an hour early.
  • I only spotted Duggan around 30 minutes into the session, and he was also limited to run throughs and kicking for the rest of it, though he got to quite high speed in a couple of them.
  • Ginbey, Hough, Owies and Cripps were in and out of the main group's drills, and occasionally split off to do some running, agility work and kicking in their own separate group. Ginbey did not participate in the MAS test but otherwise looked good, Hough had strapping on his right shoulder. Owies and Cripps looked and moved fine.
  • Waterman and Edwards warmed up separately but completed most of the session. Waterman had his right shoulder strapped but I saw him testing it out with Edwards in the warmup and he looked fairly comfortable.
  • Gross and Johnston completed the MAS test but did some work away from the main group afterwards. Gross in particular was put through a lot of running before moving onto some agility stuff and kicking to finish, while Johnston did more of the main session but occasionally joined Gross for some running or separate drills
  • Harley pulled up sore during the MAS test but completed the rest of the session thereafter and looked unimpaired.
  • There was one player out there who I could not recognise. He completed the MAS running test so I assume he's quite young, but he was relatively short (~175-180cm) and had short ginger hair - so it wasn't Tylar Young. I really couldn't pick who it was

I attempted to document who finished in what order for the MAS test, which was quite difficult but here's a very rough estimate anyway:
  • Harley was definitely the first to finish. I didn't actually see him finish up so I'm not sure if it was an abrupt cramp-type situation, but I didn't really notice him labouring at any stage before.
  • Champion was next to finish, followed by Gross
  • Brock, Bazzo, Shanahan were the next group
  • Followed by Johnston, McCarthy, Hewett, Grego and Allan
  • Long, Jack Williams, Newton and Maric were among the higher finishers
  • Hall and Davis battled it out for a while before Hall dropped off, leaving Davis as the winner

Like I said I didn't have the best view of the track but I did note some other things:
  • Gross looks like he's spent a lot of time in the gym, looks quite nuggety now. Endurance probably not his strong point but of all players I think he clocked the most kms today, so he appears to be working on it.
  • Visually Harley definitely looks in better condition than last year
  • Nic Nat was out there in a coaching top and took the rucks through some tap work at the end. I thought it was reported that he wasn't going to take up the vacant ruck coaching spot but this seems to contradict that.
  • When they split into rough line groups, Archer Reid trained in the ruck alongside Bailey Williams and Barnett (light duties), guided by Nic Nat
  • Edwards and Bailey Williams were the last to leave the track, finishing up after the others had left with some laps of the oval
  • One of the trainers/coaches must have had their birthday today as they had to do the spin around 10 times and kick the goal thing. They got it on the third try
  • It took me a long time to spot Harvey Johnston, who looks a lot different after coming back with a buzz cut
Click to expand...
Oh how I’ve missed this. First of many this pre season😍
 
Grego perhaps the smaller ginger?
LittleFires said:
Great to see the 1st-4th year boys back in action today with a solid 2-hour hitout to kick things off. They trained on Oval 1, as Oval 2 is closed until November 17 for renovations (according to a sign I saw). This meant I had to watch the entire session through a fence, but I still managed to see most of it.

The players came out around 9:15, starting off with a warm up followed by the annual MAS (Maximal Aerobic Speed) running test for the younger cohort. Over the next hour after this the players split into varying groups and went through different drills practising skills (kicking and handballing) and ball movement, both in space and in congested situations.

There was one ball movement drill where they had to practice attacking off a turnover from a long-down-the line-kick and moving the ball into the forward line as quickly as possible. To finish the session they split up into rough line groups and worked on craft more specific to their positions (rucks practising tap work, mids/smalls practising ground balls, etc.), before heading inside around 11:15.

Details on who did/didn’t train:
  • Of the 38 players we currently have on our list, 30 of them were out on track today, broken up as follows:
    • Of the 20 1st-4th year players on the list, 19 of them were on track, with only Tylar Young not sighted (it's possible I may have mistaken Young for Bazzo/Brock as I've never seen him up close, but for now I'll say I didn't spot him)
    • Of the 18 5th+ year players, 11 of them were out there, with Baker, Brockman, Kelly, Graham, Flynn, Cole and Starcevich the players I didn't see
  • Dewar did the least of the players present, limited to a spectating role. Didn't see any visible signs of injury
  • Barnett and Yeo probably did the next-least. Barnett was sporting a brace on his left leg and Yeo is obviously coming back from his ankle issues. Both completed run throughs and kicking work away from the main group, moving fairly well but finishing up around an hour early.
  • I only spotted Duggan around 30 minutes into the session, and he was also limited to run throughs and kicking for the rest of it, though he got to quite high speed in a couple of them.
  • Ginbey, Hough, Owies and Cripps were in and out of the main group's drills, and occasionally split off to do some running, agility work and kicking in their own separate group. Ginbey did not participate in the MAS test but otherwise looked good, Hough had strapping on his right shoulder. Owies and Cripps looked and moved fine.
  • Waterman and Edwards warmed up separately but completed most of the session. Waterman had his right shoulder strapped but I saw him testing it out with Edwards in the warmup and he looked fairly comfortable.
  • Gross and Johnston completed the MAS test but did some work away from the main group afterwards. Gross in particular was put through a lot of running before moving onto some agility stuff and kicking to finish, while Johnston did more of the main session but occasionally joined Gross for some running or separate drills
  • Harley pulled up sore during the MAS test but completed the rest of the session thereafter and looked unimpaired.
  • There was one player out there who I could not recognise. He completed the MAS running test so I assume he's quite young, but he was relatively short (~175-180cm) and had short ginger hair - so it wasn't Tylar Young. I really couldn't pick who it was

I attempted to document who finished in what order for the MAS test, which was quite difficult but here's a very rough estimate anyway:
  • Harley was definitely the first to finish. I didn't actually see him finish up so I'm not sure if it was an abrupt cramp-type situation, but I didn't really notice him labouring at any stage before.
  • Champion was next to finish, followed by Gross
  • Brock, Bazzo, Shanahan were the next group
  • Followed by Johnston, McCarthy, Hewett, Grego and Allan
  • Long, Jack Williams, Newton and Maric were among the higher finishers
  • Hall and Davis battled it out for a while before Hall dropped off, leaving Davis as the winner

Like I said I didn't have the best view of the track but I did note some other things:
  • Gross looks like he's spent a lot of time in the gym, looks quite nuggety now. Endurance probably not his strong point but of all players I think he clocked the most kms today, so he appears to be working on it.
  • Visually Harley definitely looks in better condition than last year
  • Nic Nat was out there in a coaching top and took the rucks through some tap work at the end. I thought it was reported that he wasn't going to take up the vacant ruck coaching spot but this seems to contradict that.
  • When they split into rough line groups, Archer Reid trained in the ruck alongside Bailey Williams and Barnett (light duties), guided by Nic Nat
  • Edwards and Bailey Williams were the last to leave the track, finishing up after the others had left with some laps of the oval
  • One of the trainers/coaches must have had their birthday today as they had to do the spin around 10 times and kick the goal thing. They got it on the third try
  • It took me a long time to spot Harvey Johnston, who looks a lot different after coming back with a buzz cut
Click to expand...
 
LittleFires said:
Great to see the 1st-4th year boys back in action today with a solid 2-hour hitout to kick things off. They trained on Oval 1, as Oval 2 is closed until November 17 for renovations (according to a sign I saw). This meant I had to watch the entire session through a fence, but I still managed to see most of it.

The players came out around 9:15, starting off with a warm up followed by the annual MAS (Maximal Aerobic Speed) running test for the younger cohort. Over the next hour after this the players split into varying groups and went through different drills practising skills (kicking and handballing) and ball movement, both in space and in congested situations.

There was one ball movement drill where they had to practice attacking off a turnover from a long-down-the line-kick and moving the ball into the forward line as quickly as possible. To finish the session they split up into rough line groups and worked on craft more specific to their positions (rucks practising tap work, mids/smalls practising ground balls, etc.), before heading inside around 11:15.

Details on who did/didn’t train:
  • Of the 38 players we currently have on our list, 30 of them were out on track today, broken up as follows:
    • Of the 20 1st-4th year players on the list, 19 of them were on track, with only Tylar Young not sighted (it's possible I may have mistaken Young for Bazzo/Brock as I've never seen him up close, but for now I'll say I didn't spot him)
    • Of the 18 5th+ year players, 11 of them were out there, with Baker, Brockman, Kelly, Graham, Flynn, Cole and Starcevich the players I didn't see
  • Dewar did the least of the players present, limited to a spectating role. Didn't see any visible signs of injury
  • Barnett and Yeo probably did the next-least. Barnett was sporting a brace on his left leg and Yeo is obviously coming back from his ankle issues. Both completed run throughs and kicking work away from the main group, moving fairly well but finishing up around an hour early.
  • I only spotted Duggan around 30 minutes into the session, and he was also limited to run throughs and kicking for the rest of it, though he got to quite high speed in a couple of them.
  • Ginbey, Hough, Owies and Cripps were in and out of the main group's drills, and occasionally split off to do some running, agility work and kicking in their own separate group. Ginbey did not participate in the MAS test but otherwise looked good, Hough had strapping on his right shoulder. Owies and Cripps looked and moved fine.
  • Waterman and Edwards warmed up separately but completed most of the session. Waterman had his right shoulder strapped but I saw him testing it out with Edwards in the warmup and he looked fairly comfortable.
  • Gross and Johnston completed the MAS test but did some work away from the main group afterwards. Gross in particular was put through a lot of running before moving onto some agility stuff and kicking to finish, while Johnston did more of the main session but occasionally joined Gross for some running or separate drills
  • Harley pulled up sore during the MAS test but completed the rest of the session thereafter and looked unimpaired.
  • There was one player out there who I could not recognise. He completed the MAS running test so I assume he's quite young, but he was relatively short (~175-180cm) and had short ginger hair - so it wasn't Tylar Young. I really couldn't pick who it was

I attempted to document who finished in what order for the MAS test, which was quite difficult but here's a very rough estimate anyway:
  • Harley was definitely the first to finish. I didn't actually see him finish up so I'm not sure if it was an abrupt cramp-type situation, but I didn't really notice him labouring at any stage before.
  • Champion was next to finish, followed by Gross
  • Brock, Bazzo, Shanahan were the next group
  • Followed by Johnston, McCarthy, Hewett, Grego and Allan
  • Long, Jack Williams, Newton and Maric were among the higher finishers
  • Hall and Davis battled it out for a while before Hall dropped off, leaving Davis as the winner

Like I said I didn't have the best view of the track but I did note some other things:
  • Gross looks like he's spent a lot of time in the gym, looks quite nuggety now. Endurance probably not his strong point but of all players I think he clocked the most kms today, so he appears to be working on it.
  • Visually Harley definitely looks in better condition than last year
  • Nic Nat was out there in a coaching top and took the rucks through some tap work at the end. I thought it was reported that he wasn't going to take up the vacant ruck coaching spot but this seems to contradict that.
  • When they split into rough line groups, Archer Reid trained in the ruck alongside Bailey Williams and Barnett (light duties), guided by Nic Nat
  • Edwards and Bailey Williams were the last to leave the track, finishing up after the others had left with some laps of the oval
  • One of the trainers/coaches must have had their birthday today as they had to do the spin around 10 times and kick the goal thing. They got it on the third try
  • It took me a long time to spot Harvey Johnston, who looks a lot different after coming back with a buzz cut
Click to expand...
You are a star, I always appreciate the reports!
 
Goroyals22 said:
Correct.
Shouldn’t you be out drinking a shandy today for Mad Monday now the afwl season is apparently over …
Click to expand...
I support the multiple teams that play for our club, yeah you bloody got me a beauty there mate.

By all means keep pissing your pants and revering Kane Cornes, but do keep the general dampness to a minimum mate, it’s November, nobody has the energy.
 

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LittleFires said:
  • When they split into rough line groups, Archer Reid trained in the ruck alongside Bailey Williams and Barnett (light duties), guided by Nic Nat
Click to expand...
You beauty.
 

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Training Preseason Training Thread - 2026

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