Training Preseason Training Thread - 2026

[Keys]

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

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!

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

 

[PremiershipNo4]

Been trying to pick who this mountain of a kid is and it's AReid. Seriously big unit.

Hopefully can lead our ruck soon

 

[PremiershipNo4]

Him and duursma on the wings.

Those were exactly my thoughts leading into 2026.

 

[Chris_6678]

https://archive.md/YS6lq

Doctor flown in to get ontop of inuries early on.

 

[Astro7]

I agree with you, but he desperately needs support in the middle to be able to be the best he can be. Right now he's doing all the heavy lifting while every other bloke around him ball watches due to lack of skill.

If he's left to carry 5 other blokes again in 2026 I reckon he'll get fed up and leave.

For sure, but I really can't see that happening in '26. Just feel there will be a serious focus on the midfield. We've already targeted a few mids, before we add more from the draft. There's two or three new senior guys that might have his back. Won't factor in Yeo yet until season starts. Hope the ruck improves.

 

[THE A5]

I was gonna make a gee Venables joke but then realised he is the same age as waterman. Man I was so bullish of him, couple have been one of our better seniors

 

[jdisc]

Stocksy called Archer a beanpole one time and hes never forgotten it

 

[RanaNaved]

Wanking jokes aside, Hamish Davis has certainly been a stand-out in a couple of the drills so far. He could be the one for mine.

Speaking of wanking, give me some Shanahan material, I've got a free 30 mins rn

 

[Bender_]

Speaking of wanking, give me some Shanahan material, I've got a free 30 mins rn

Wasn't a great deal of stand-outs from the training - he was his usual reliable mark and kick and that's about it.

The 2 that grabbed my attention in the drills were Hamish Davis and Bo Allen. Both looked a step ahead of the rest of the boys, ready to take the players on and constantly moving and being creative when they could. Only knock on Bo is I still noticed some of his skills being sketchy, but he's a noticeably talented athlete; big, fast and powerful. Hopefully we can discover the ideal position for him and get the best out of him coz I feel like he's built for McQualter's gameplan.

Both Hall and JWilliams look leaner. Like I said before AReid looks huge. Not much else that I took from it but I'm not exactly the training report guru - that may come a little later.

 

[RanaNaved]

Wasn't a great deal of stand-outs from the training - he was his usual reliable mark and kick and that's about it.

The 2 that grabbed my attention in the drills were Hamish Davis and Bo Allen. Both looked a step ahead of the rest of the boys, ready to take the players on and constantly moving and being creative when they could. Only knock on Bo is I still noticed some of his skills being sketchy, but he's a noticeably talented athlete; big, fast and powerful. Hopefully we can discover the ideal position for him and get the best out of him coz I feel like he's built for McQualter's gameplan.

Both Hall and JWilliams look leaner. Like I said before AReid looks huge. Not much else that I took from it but I'm not exactly the training report guru - that may come a little later.

Good enough brb

 

[bzparkes]

Wasn't a great deal of stand-outs from the training - he was his usual reliable mark and kick and that's about it.

The 2 that grabbed my attention in the drills were Hamish Davis and Bo Allen. Both looked a step ahead of the rest of the boys, ready to take the players on and constantly moving and being creative when they could. Only knock on Bo is I still noticed some of his skills being sketchy, but he's a noticeably talented athlete; big, fast and powerful. Hopefully we can discover the ideal position for him and get the best out of him coz I feel like he's built for McQualter's gameplan.

Both Hall and JWilliams look leaner. Like I said before AReid looks huge. Not much else that I took from it but I'm not exactly the training report guru - that may come a little later.

Decent enough, in the absence of Keys

 

[Woobla Stainz]

https://archive.md/YS6lq

Doctor flown in to get ontop of inuries early on.

Really impressed the club has organised this, can't get much better! He's a world class physio that specialises in ACL, hip, groin and other LL injuries. Helped Yeo get over OP. He hosted a work shop for physios while over here at the Eagles HQ a few of my mates went, I was going to go too but the price was over $800.

 

[FatPizza]

Wasn't a great deal of stand-outs from the training - he was his usual reliable mark and kick and that's about it.

The 2 that grabbed my attention in the drills were Hamish Davis and Bo Allen. Both looked a step ahead of the rest of the boys, ready to take the players on and constantly moving and being creative when they could. Only knock on Bo is I still noticed some of his skills being sketchy, but he's a noticeably talented athlete; big, fast and powerful. Hopefully we can discover the ideal position for him and get the best out of him coz I feel like he's built for McQualter's gameplan.

Both Hall and JWilliams look leaner. Like I said before AReid looks huge. Not much else that I took from it but I'm not exactly the training report guru - that may come a little later.

If they're prepping Archer to be a full time ruck that's one of the things I'm genuinely excited about for next season.

 

[LittleFires]

As expected, the Wednesday open training session was a lighter one, lasting about 90 minutes with a few dozen fans coming to watch. There was a slightly smaller cohort of players this morning but still a decent turnout and numbers in the drills.

The players were warming up when I arrived at 9:10 and shortly after got into some kicking drills. They spent the next 45 minutes in various groups doing different drills - some focusing on kicking, others on groundballs, and some on positioning in marking contests. There were also a couple of drills which focused on handballing in congested situations, where players had to try move the ball forward as quickly as possible by hand.

I didn't quite catch the end of the session as I was having a kick with Bender_'s young fella, but the players finished with some run throughs of the centre square and kicking before heading inside around 10:45.

Details on who did/didn't train:

• There were 11 listed players I didn't see at any point - Baker, Yeo, Kelly, Owies, Graham, Flynn, Cole, Bailey Williams, Edwards, Starcevich and Young
• Recent WAFL signing Ash Johnson was out there, as was Archie Watt, who I didn't recognise on Monday but Elite Pete pointed out might be him, and the players were calling him Archie today. So a total of 29 players on track today.
• Brockman made his first appearance of the preseason, though I only spotted him about an hour into the session so I'm not sure whether he started late or I just didn't see him.
• Ditto for Cripps - only saw him right at the end of the session but didn't see him do much/any training
• Duggan came out after the players had warmed up and didn't do much all day, spending a bit of time on the exercise bike and playing an easy role in a couple of the kicking drills
• Harley Reid, Barnett and Dewar spent much of the session on the exercise bike and SkiErg machines on the far side the oval. They came out on a couple of occasions - Dewar and Reid joined in twice with the handballing drills while Barnett still had his left leg brace on and did a bit of tap work with a trainer. Overall though clearly a light session for these three
• Gross once again did a power of work away from the main group, running laps at solid pace for about an hour before finishing with some agility work. Seems pretty clear they're trying to build his tank up.
• Waterman, Hough and Ginbey completed the whole session after being managed slightly on Monday.
• According to Keys Don Pyke mentioned on SEN this morning that he saw Yeo training by himself before the main session, which would explain why I didn't see him today. Also good to remember that he isn't technically required back yet so it's good to see he's leaving no stone unturned to try get his body right.

Again a pretty light session so not heaps to take away from today, but I was standing in a better spot today so I got a closer look at things. Some notes:

• Concur with Bender_ that Archer Reid appears to have bulked up. Has clearly added some size and is a pretty big unit up close. Seems like we might be training him up to play in the ruck.
• Also agree that Jack Williams is looking lean. Moved well in one of the agility drills they were doing.
• Brock also looks to have spent some time in the gym over summer, looking quite solid
• "Leadership consultant" Harry Taylor had a coaches top on and was taking the players through some positioning work in aerial contests near us. Could hear him really emphasising the importance of footwork to the players
• Tried to catch the gist of what Mini was saying to the group in the huddles but they were unfortunately too far away to hear.

 

[txbyhull]

As expected, the Wednesday open training session was a lighter one, lasting about 90 minutes with a few dozen fans coming to watch. There was a slightly smaller cohort of players this morning but still a decent turnout and numbers in the drills.

The players were warming up when I arrived at 9:10 and shortly after got into some kicking drills. They spent the next 45 minutes in various groups doing different drills - some focusing on kicking, others on groundballs, and some on positioning in marking contests. There were also a couple of drills which focused on handballing in congested situations, where players had to try move the ball forward as quickly as possible by hand.

I didn't quite catch the end of the session as I was having a kick with Bender_'s young fella, but the players finished with some run throughs of the centre square and kicking before heading inside around 10:45.

Details on who did/didn't train:

• There were 11 listed players I didn't see at any point - Baker, Yeo, Kelly, Owies, Graham, Flynn, Cole, Bailey Williams, Edwards, Starcevich and Young
• Recent WAFL signing Ash Johnson was out there, as was Archie Watt, who I didn't recognise on Monday but Elite Pete pointed out might be him, and the players were calling him Archie today. So a total of 29 players on track today.
• Brockman made his first appearance of the preseason, though I only spotted him about an hour into the session so I'm not sure whether he started late or I just didn't see him.
• Ditto for Cripps - only saw him right at the end of the session but didn't see him do much/any training
• Duggan came out after the players had warmed up and didn't do much all day, spending a bit of time on the exercise bike and playing an easy role in a couple of the kicking drills
• Harley Reid, Barnett and Dewar spent much of the session on the exercise bike and SkiErg machines on the far side the oval. They came out on a couple of occasions - Dewar and Reid joined in twice with the handballing drills while Barnett still had his left leg brace on and did a bit of tap work with a trainer. Overall though clearly a light session for these three
• Gross once again did a power of work away from the main group, running laps at solid pace for about an hour before finishing with some agility work. Seems pretty clear they're trying to build his tank up.
• Waterman, Hough and Ginbey completed the whole session after being managed slightly on Monday.
• According to Keys Don Pyke mentioned on SEN this morning that he saw Yeo training by himself before the main session, which would explain why I didn't see him today. Also good to remember that he isn't technically required back yet so it's good to see he's leaving no stone unturned to try get his body right.

Again a pretty light session so not heaps to take away from today, but I was standing in a better spot today so I got a closer look at things. Some notes:

• Concur with Bender_ that Archer Reid appears to have bulked up. Has clearly added some size and is a pretty big unit up close. Seems like we might be training him up to play in the ruck.
• Also agree that Jack Williams is looking lean. Moved well in one of the agility drills they were doing.
• Brock also looks to have spent some time in the gym over summer, looking quite solid
• "Leadership consultant" Harry Taylor had a coaches top on and was taking the players through some positioning work in aerial contests near us. Could hear him really emphasising the importance of footwork to the players
• Tried to catch the gist of what Mini was saying to the group in the huddles but they were unfortunately too far away to hear.

You're getting a lot of love at the moment from the Eagles discord, who are second-handedly receiving these. Love your work as per usual mate.

 

[txbyhull]

Grossy gonna be running until February but if it means we get more TOG from him then happy days. Archer definitely in the plans to supercede Baz I think.

 

[NeedForTheReids]

As expected, the Wednesday open training session was a lighter one, lasting about 90 minutes with a few dozen fans coming to watch. There was a slightly smaller cohort of players this morning but still a decent turnout and numbers in the drills.

The players were warming up when I arrived at 9:10 and shortly after got into some kicking drills. They spent the next 45 minutes in various groups doing different drills - some focusing on kicking, others on groundballs, and some on positioning in marking contests. There were also a couple of drills which focused on handballing in congested situations, where players had to try move the ball forward as quickly as possible by hand.

I didn't quite catch the end of the session as I was having a kick with Bender_'s young fella, but the players finished with some run throughs of the centre square and kicking before heading inside around 10:45.

Details on who did/didn't train:

• There were 11 listed players I didn't see at any point - Baker, Yeo, Kelly, Owies, Graham, Flynn, Cole, Bailey Williams, Edwards, Starcevich and Young
• Recent WAFL signing Ash Johnson was out there, as was Archie Watt, who I didn't recognise on Monday but Elite Pete pointed out might be him, and the players were calling him Archie today. So a total of 29 players on track today.
• Brockman made his first appearance of the preseason, though I only spotted him about an hour into the session so I'm not sure whether he started late or I just didn't see him.
• Ditto for Cripps - only saw him right at the end of the session but didn't see him do much/any training
• Duggan came out after the players had warmed up and didn't do much all day, spending a bit of time on the exercise bike and playing an easy role in a couple of the kicking drills
• Harley Reid, Barnett and Dewar spent much of the session on the exercise bike and SkiErg machines on the far side the oval. They came out on a couple of occasions - Dewar and Reid joined in twice with the handballing drills while Barnett still had his left leg brace on and did a bit of tap work with a trainer. Overall though clearly a light session for these three
• Gross once again did a power of work away from the main group, running laps at solid pace for about an hour before finishing with some agility work. Seems pretty clear they're trying to build his tank up.
• Waterman, Hough and Ginbey completed the whole session after being managed slightly on Monday.
• According to Keys Don Pyke mentioned on SEN this morning that he saw Yeo training by himself before the main session, which would explain why I didn't see him today. Also good to remember that he isn't technically required back yet so it's good to see he's leaving no stone unturned to try get his body right.

Again a pretty light session so not heaps to take away from today, but I was standing in a better spot today so I got a closer look at things. Some notes:

• Concur with Bender_ that Archer Reid appears to have bulked up. Has clearly added some size and is a pretty big unit up close. Seems like we might be training him up to play in the ruck.
• Also agree that Jack Williams is looking lean. Moved well in one of the agility drills they were doing.
• Brock also looks to have spent some time in the gym over summer, looking quite solid
• "Leadership consultant" Harry Taylor had a coaches top on and was taking the players through some positioning work in aerial contests near us. Could hear him really emphasising the importance of footwork to the players
• Tried to catch the gist of what Mini was saying to the group in the huddles but they were unfortunately too far away to hear.

Grossy news is music to my ears. Keep running my boy

And LittleFires keep posting my man

 

[bzparkes]

Grossy gonna be running until February but if it means we get more TOG from him then happy days. Archer definitely in the plans to supercede Baz I think.

Reckon adding CDT will be the catalyst for that.

 

[Keys]

Nothing really to add to what’s already been posted, especially since I only arrived about halfway through the session. Identifying individual players was also a bit of an issue particularly those on the opposite side of the ground

My general observation was that looking across the group they look in good shape. Nobody is particularly jacked per se, but to a man they appear lean and toned

As LittleFires mentioned, Brock was one who looks to have added some mass to the point I had trouble recognising him. Champion also looked a bit bigger through the shoulders

Newton has clearly spent the entire offseason down the beach - ridiculously tanned

 

[txbyhull]

Nothing really to add to what’s already been posted, especially since I only arrived about halfway through the session. Identifying individual players was also a bit of an issue particularly those on the opposite side of the ground

My general observation was that looking across the group they look in good shape. Nobody is particularly jacked per se, but to a man they appear lean and toned

As LittleFires mentioned, Brock was one who looks to have added some mass to the point I had trouble recognising him. Champion also looked a bit bigger through the shoulders

Newton has clearly spent the entire offseason down the beach - ridiculously tanned

if i lived in south australia I'd probably want to go to a decent beach too

 

[DorothyG]

Thanks LittleFires Bender_ I've heard enough. Booking flights to melb for September

 

[Byron_Clanger]

https://archive.md/6K6hR

“It’s something that will clear up; it’s just something that he’s managing. I don’t know the exact detail of it, he just gets some tightness between where the Achilles and the calf are,” Eagles chief executive Don Pyke said on SEN on Wednesday morning.

Tightness between the calf and WHERE

 

[RustyShacklefordFalcon]

Bit f*cken warm down at Lathlain.

Bazzo cutting an imposing figure.

Would love to see a good season from Bazzo. Would be huge for the rebuild if he makes the grade

 

[RustyShacklefordFalcon]

https://archive.md/6K6hR

Tightness between the calf and WHERE

Tightness between the calf and ARSE AREA

 

[KERRPOW]

https://archive.md/6K6hR

Tightness between the calf and WHERE

 

[jdisc]

https://archive.md/YS6lq

Doctor flown in to get ontop of inuries early on.

this article is genuinely absurd, it pivots to Harley so quickly for no reason whatsoever

that organisation is so obsessed with him