Training 2026 Pre Season & Training Reports

[Themanbun]

Interesting stuff, thanks.

I haven't played footy since high school so I really have no idea what a good offseason fitness program for a young AFL player would look like. But all this talk about our post-offseason preparedness does make me kinda curious. Particularly around how you structure recovery days while also building power AND endurance AND speed.

Typically at a really basic level:

• sprint twice per week, either pure acceleration focus or one day acceleration one day max velocity, including technique drills and overcoming isometrics. Agility work can fall in as well depending on athlete.

• jump (lots of varieties) and plyos 2-3 per week, often directly after sprint or before gym sessions

• gym 3 times per week: one or two strength sessions and one or two power sessions, depending on the athletes profile. Full body workouts, compound lifts, either make a big day of it after sprint sessions or give them their own standalone day depending on athlete and coach. Once you do enough of these you don't really get that sore from them. Add some isometric work as well.

• tempo run or easy run 1-2 times per week.

A program I was privy to recently

Monday: sprints, plyos, gym (power), big day
Tuesday: rest and mobility
Wednesday: gym (strength)
Thursday: sprints and plyos
Friday: rest
Saturday: gym (strength but lower volume) easy run and mobility work
Sunday: rest and mobility

 

[Its a Process]

Who are we most aggrieved with and who are we are happy with from a conditioning point of view?

Appears we are happy with - Harry, JK, River, Whitlock, Colby? George?

Who has come back in poor shape from the photos yesterday? Zane looks like he hasn't added much bulk but hasn't he been on a running program?

 

[Chadwiko]

Who are we most aggrieved with and who are we are happy with from a conditioning point of view?

Appears we are happy with - Harry, JK, River, Whitlock, Colby? George?

Who has come back in poor shape from the photos yesterday? Zane looks like he hasn't added much bulk but hasn't he been on a running program?

Parker, Wardlaw, Pink, Trembath, and Goad all look in top nick, too.

Looking forward to seeing more from those guys who are yet to really get a good run at it; Brayden George, Josh Goater, etc.

 

[Chadwiko]

Oh also credit where it's due because he's been a whipping boy in this regard; Logue looks pretty fit too.

 

[shintemaster]

I was going to start a new thread but this is probably just a good a place as any. I'm interested to hear from who you all are most interested to see hit the track this off season. For me the big ones (no pun intended even though there is a bit of a tall theme, probably because that's where we have some bigger unknowns):

Cooper Trembath - Had essentially a dream start to his career. The big question now is how does he go once there is a fit Larkey back in the team? Does his form in pre season demand a game round 1 or will he slip back slightly. Will they go with him anyway to try to back in what was a very promising start. Very interesting player for us.

Taylor Goad - A little overlap with Cooper for mine as far as competing for a spot. He's starting to look like a real potential weapon although still showed rawness this year in the VFL. With apparent changes to the interchange bench though there might be much more of an opportunity to see him play hybrid games at AFL level sooner or later. Impacting at the odd centre bounce and able to potentially rotate through the forward line for experience and to mix things up.

Dawson - Is this the off season where he starts to demand games. We really would be wanting him to break out over this year. The goal is probably to have him as a "fixture" in the best team by end of year and at a minimum I reckon we would want 10-12+ games out of him if healthy to start seeing what the blocks look like with him.

Duursma - A lot, maybe enough, has been said about him over the last couple of years and particularly into the trade period. We need to see something serious from him. Would very much like to see him have an off season that demands a spot and provides a real hybrid forward / mid role that changes our dynamic.

Logue - Mountains have been written, much of hit harsh, much of it fair. He needs to come out like a training animal this off season. If we hit February and he is "training the house down" we will go into round 1 feeling a lot more comfortable as a team.

Goater - See above (minus the harsh words). A fit and flying Goat before the season starts changes our options massively. Has the build and tools to be backline, wing, midfield. A real wildcard... body depending.

George - In a similar position to Goater, albeit with even less shown form. Can he present as a player that can play 18+ games this year (at any level of the sport). That would be a great result for him and us.

Archer - Similar again to above. Looks to have the ability to build his body pretty "easily". It's crunch time though, we need to see a player that can physically play out a season at AFL level.

Whitlock - I'm keen to see him and personally think he will make big strides again with a frame that looks to be putting on size pretty well and clearly a brain for footy. Still has time either way, this year is not make or break by any means but I suspect he is a player that will continue to press the selection committee to play him sooner than they have planned on paper. Strikes me that with so many unknowns around Logue, Corr and the mostly makeshift backline of the last couple of years he could hit his straps this offseason and hold his place on talent.

Of the smaller guys / mids I think we mostly have the tools there already, the big change will be seeing whether we can get better performance out of the group to go with the expected continuing improvement of our clear assets in LDU, Sheezel, McKercher, Wardlaw & FOS. This off season and into the start of the season the big challenge is for this group and support players to finally become much, much more than the sum of their parts. That's on them and the coaching team as a whole to finally have that quantum leap.

Edit: One last one would be Urquhart. Personally I'm not convinced he's "ready" yet but would love to be surprised as IMO he is exactly the type we need to get into the middle to provide meat and potatoes physical support.

Finally, last but not least - Simpkin. Fascinated to see what the end of the year means for him and how he attacks the season and what that means for him and us.

 

[shintemaster]

Oh also credit where it's due because he's been a whipping boy in this regard; Logue looks pretty fit too.

Needs this. As do we. He is still easily the best natural spoiling big backman we have IMO - but he needs to get on his bike (metaphorically & figuratively), then get off and do some cardio, then swim home. Then do it again tomorrow. And again. And again.

 

[Themanbun]

I was going to start a new thread but this is probably just a good a place as any. I'm interested to hear from who you all are most interested to see hit the track this off season. For me the big ones (no pun intended even though there is a bit of a tall theme, probably because that's where we have some bigger unknowns):

Cooper Trembath - Had essentially a dream start to his career. The big question now is how does he go once there is a fit Larkey back in the team? Does his form in pre season demand a game round 1 or will he slip back slightly. Will they go with him anyway to try to back in what was a very promising start. Very interesting player for us.

Taylor Goad - A little overlap with Cooper for mine as far as competing for a spot. He's starting to look like a real potential weapon although still showed rawness this year in the VFL. With apparent changes to the interchange bench though there might be much more of an opportunity to see him play hybrid games at AFL level sooner or later. Impacting at the odd centre bounce and able to potentially rotate through the forward line for experience and to mix things up.

Dawson - Is this the off season where he starts to demand games. We really would be wanting him to break out over this year. The goal is probably to have him as a "fixture" in the best team by end of year and at a minimum I reckon we would want 10-12+ games out of him if healthy to start seeing what the blocks look like with him.

Duursma - A lot, maybe enough, has been said about him over the last couple of years and particularly into the trade period. We need to see something serious from him. Would very much like to see him have an off season that demands a spot and provides a real hybrid forward / mid role that changes our dynamic.

Logue - Mountains have been written, much of hit harsh, much of it fair. He needs to come out like a training animal this off season. If we hit February and he is "training the house down" we will go into round 1 feeling a lot more comfortable as a team.

Goater - See above (minus the harsh words). A fit and flying Goat before the season starts changes our options massively. Has the build and tools to be backline, wing, midfield. A real wildcard... body depending.

George - In a similar position to Goater, albeit with even less shown form. Can he present as a player that can play 18+ games this year (at any level of the sport). That would be a great result for him and us.

Archer - Similar again to above. Looks to have the ability to build his body pretty "easily". It's crunch time though, we need to see a player that can physically play out a season at AFL level.

Whitlock - I'm keen to see him and personally think he will make big strides again with a frame that looks to be putting on size pretty well and clearly a brain for footy. Still has time either way, this year is not make or break by any means but I suspect he is a player that will continue to press the selection committee to play him sooner than they have planned on paper. Strikes me that with so many unknowns around Logue, Corr and the mostly makeshift backline of the last couple of years he could hit his straps this offseason and hold his place on talent.

Of the smaller guys / mids I think we mostly have the tools there already, the big change will be seeing whether we can get better performance out of the group to go with the expected continuing improvement of our clear assets in LDU, Sheezel, Wardlaw & FOS. This off season and into the start of the season the big challenge is for this group and support players to finally become much, much more than the sum of their parts. That's on them and the coaching team as a whole to finally have that quantum leap.

Finally, last but not least - Simpkin. Fascinated to see what the end of the year means for him and how he attacks the season and what that means for him and us.

Trembath, Goater and George for all the reasons you describe

 

[DuckYeah]

Easy to forget that it was only JK's first preseason with us last year, and it was very interrupted. I'm not sure his ceiling is super high, but I do know that he'll almost certainly have a better 2026 on the back of a much better off-season.

Well according to Trembath, Banshy has come back in the best nick. His position will be red hot (not that I think it should be his position)

 

[Chadwiko]

If I was to pick my top 5 players I want to see have huge off/preseasons, it would be (in no particular order);

• Wardlaw - wasn't given consistently high TOG last year. Faded out of some games. We know the talent is there
• Curtis - coming off a breakout season. Can he back it up and take yet another step forward?
• Goater - this kid could be anything if he gets a good run at it
• FOS - a very solid rookie season, but I feel like he's only scratched the surface still. Hoping to see him really breakout in 2026
• Duursma - as shinte noted above, we don't need to keep repeating it. But he's very much in a make or break season.

 

[King Hansen]

He's had the best off season out of the whole squad.

You Gatt that right

 

[New_Roo]

View attachment 2474596

yep thats goad, just wasnt in that last lot of pics

 

[shintemaster]

Typically at a really basic level:

• sprint twice per week, either pure acceleration focus or one day acceleration one day max velocity, including technique drills and overcoming isometrics. Agility work can fall in as well depending on athlete.

• jump (lots of varieties) and plyos 2-3 per week, often directly after sprint or before gym sessions

• gym 3 times per week: one or two strength sessions and one or two power sessions, depending on the athletes profile. Full body workouts, compound lifts, either make a big day of it after sprint sessions or give them their own standalone day depending on athlete and coach. Once you do enough of these you don't really get that sore from them. Add some isometric work as well.

• tempo run or easy run 1-2 times per week.

A program I was privy to recently

Monday: sprints, plyos, gym (power), big day
Tuesday: rest and mobility
Wednesday: gym (strength)
Thursday: sprints and plyos
Friday: rest
Saturday: gym (strength but lower volume) easy run and mobility work
Sunday: rest and mobility

Hey Themanbun how does the skill session load work in around this? Do you have any insight on the combination and timing - I mean I'm sore enough after a run I'd need a day to just recover nowadays, but I'm curious as to how they time and balance these sessions against skill / match practice loading.

If I was to pick my top 5 players I want to see have huge off/preseasons, it would be (in no particular order);

• Wardlaw - wasn't given consistently high TOG last year. Faded out of some games. We know the talent is there
• Curtis - coming off a breakout season. Can he back it up and take yet another step forward?
• Goater - this kid could be anything if he gets a good run at it
• FOS - a very solid rookie season, but I feel like he's only scratched the surface still. Hoping to see him really breakout in 2026
• Duursma - as shinte noted above, we don't need to keep repeating it. But he's very much in a make or break season.

I'm super keen to see all three bold this year, I just have them all fair and square in the known and improving quantity category. I expect them all to be better off a very good base (Wardlaw arguably has the most potential impact this year if his fitness has another category leap). Curtis is a gun. If he gets better he will be an ICBM. FOS, sky the limit and even if he never improved from today you'd bank him as a 200 gamer.

 

[Themanbun]

Hey Themanbun how does the skill session load work in around this? Do you have any insight on the combination and timing - I mean I'm sore enough after a run I'd need a day to just recover nowadays, but I'm curious as to how they time and balance these sessions against skill / match practice loading.

A lot of guys either do it after a lower volume sprint session or they add it in as recovery for basic skills and then use it to replace their tempo/easy run and just do their running with the ball.

You'd be surprised though how many VFL and AFL players barely touch a footy in their six weeks off which I think is a huge missed opportunity for most and is something a lot of S&C coaches I really respect try to preach.

 

[New_Roo]

What do you think of our S&C standards?

are any of us really close enough to be able to comment? Yes we can look at pics, but they wont tell the whole story of what they have or havent done over the post season, or more importantly we have no idea what they have been told to do and focus on

 

[gustev]

yep thats goad, just wasnt in that last lot of pics

That shot has convinced me Goad will end up as well built as Xerri. To go with his extra 7cm. Good stuff

 

[King Corey]

are any of us really close enough to be able to comment? Yes we can look at pics, but they wont tell the whole story of what they have or havent done over the post season, or more importantly we have no idea what they have been told to do and focus on

Probably not.

Thread locked.

 

[gustev]

lub- sorry just testing if thread actually locked

 

[gustev]

Can't wait to see Goad in 2028
Look at those quads

 

[Chadwiko]

Can't wait to see Goad in 2028
Look at those quads

Goad lives near me and I see him at my local shops pretty frequently.

Dude is a unit. He stands out so much in general public haha.

 

[shintemaster]

Can't wait to see Goad in 2028
Look at those quads

I think we underestimate how much of a slog it is for these bigger blokes at times. The young gun mids can be good enough and get games at 18 - some of these big blokes have to train and work for 5 + years before they see any significant reward in the 1's. It must take some serious mental strength.

 

[the big lebowski]

Can't wait to see Goad in 2028
Look at those quads

Remember he’s ridiculously quick

 

[roos_tt29]

Oh also credit where it's due because he's been a whipping boy in this regard; Logue looks pretty fit too.

Has always looked better with the longer locks too - correlated maybe?

 

[Chadwiko]

Has always looked better with the longer locks too - correlated maybe?

Here's hoping Kanga Lotto spares him.

(And spares everyone else because it sucks)

 

[Pres]

A program I was privy to recently

Monday: sprints, plyos, gym (power), big day
Tuesday: rest and mobility
Wednesday: gym (strength)
Thursday: sprints and plyos
Friday: rest
Saturday: gym (strength but lower volume) easy run and mobility work
Sunday: rest and mobility

Endurance running not a thing anymore?

Things obviously different nowadays but I still recall Shane Crawford winning a Brownlow off a summer of running 800m and 1500m shield events for Glenhuntly.

 

[Themanbun]

Endurance running not a thing anymore?

Things obviously different nowadays but I still recall Shane Crawford winning a Brownlow off a summer of running 800m and 1500m shield events for Glenhuntly.

The easy run is a longer one and gets subbed for a tempo if recovery is good, but I think the days of clocking up huge slow kilometres in the off season are over (for now). Burgess for example gets his blokes doing all of their endurance work with the ball.