Bigman’s Training Reports

[cleanhands]

soooo flag yeah?

Not last years finals white flag I hope

 

[spenze]

is Elijah Holland training with us?

Next week

 

[Daniel6]

Next week

Serious?

 

[1990crow]

Next week

C4 says he failed a skin fold at Carlton

 

[Scorpus]

C4 says he failed a skin fold at Carlton

Aren't those banned now?

 

[Daniel6]

Aren't those banned now?

Isn’t it just the reporting or publishing them?

Clubs can still get the information, just cannot tell anyone.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Aren't those banned now?

Shaming publicly is banned, including player weights.

 

[Daniel6]

Shaming publicly is banned, including player weights.

Best not to broadcast any North Melbourne games.

 

[Crow_68]

So if Curtin goes in the middle, who gets his wing? Ah Chee? Marsh? Dawson? Hinge? Sholl?

Left footer, Hinge or Dawson.

Never put a right sided player on the left wing and vice-versa.

 

[crowutopia]

Did you listen to that Hamish video I posted from immediately after that draft? Clearly Hamish saw both Curtin and Edwards as future "tall" midfield prospects. That's not even debatable.

I think it's time we see if Edwards has what it takes at AFL level

 

[cleanhands]

Left footer, Hinge or Dawson.

Never put a right sided player on the left wing and vice-versa.

Langdon from Melbourne doesn’t change throughout the game plays same side

 

[crowutopia]

I understand the premise of why turf is scarified but I think its highly unlikely they would have scarified to the boundary and beyond, there is an irrigation issue at play as well.

The licorice all sorts turf varieties throughout the surface, while more of an aesthetic thing, again, doesn't scream elite standards when compared to other facilities.

The whole place just appears to have been given up on which is understandable if we were moving into Thebarton shortly, but we're not, even when we do the proposed second ground will still be 5+ years away.

Not a poke at your comments but this brought back find memories, I did some work in Vanuatu just over a decade ago, helping set-up the AFL ready league over there and when we were training the new local's we had to be so careful of the crab holes in the turf , it was a literal minefield.. oh the memories

 

[crowutopia]

It’s going to be strange seeing a competent number 4 out there.

Draper gets Scott Thompsons old number. Let us hope for a good year from the kid.

Bond gets a proper number not in the 40s.

44 went alright

 

[crowutopia]

Great to be back. Not sure the boys were feeling the same by the end of the session though, she was hot!

This is probably my favourite session of the pre season as we get to see who has really put in the hard yards to get a step ahead of their teammates. No time trial today (that’ll likely be next week) but still plenty to take out of it.

Most of the squad was there aside from a few absences. Interestingly Dawson wasn’t there, while Draper apparently was but didn’t train outside at all. No Sholl, Neal-Bullen or Cumming. No Ah Chee either but he’s not allowed to be back training yet seeing as he played in the GF.

Thankfully not too many in the rehab group. Fog was in there and probably needs to fine down a touch over the next few weeks, doesn’t look in peak condition. Max and Hinge were also in rehab though Hinge looked basically ready to return to the main group. Max seems not too far off, did a mix of running and bike work along with Fog.

The biggest body change would probably go to Edwards. Last year he returned like a player who had eased off a bit, but this year he’s incredibly trim. I’d wager he’s dropped at least 3-4 kilos. Puts him in really good stead to impress the coaches.

As for the fittest, time trials are yet to come but clearly Rankine and Curtin are right up there. Rankine looks supremely fit and Curtin moved as good as I’ve seen - plus he trained without knee strapping for the first time. Both dominated the end of session running block, putting a sizeable gap on their teammates.

I was surprised just how quick and energetic the drills were. There wasn’t much easing in at all after the initial warm up, it was pretty gung ho actually. Skills were pretty sharp though the typical rust showed up from time to time, particularly late as the temperature reached 30 degrees and fatigue really set in.

Marsh and Cotton did a surprising amount of work for their first session, only being held out of the running part. It was certainly a lot more than Draper and Welsh did last year.

Ludowyke is still recovering from his PCL injury and was solely on the bike. Poor bloke was buggered by the end of it and looked to be chucking his breakfast up. The lads got around him as he was cycling which was good to see, Rachele even spraying water in his mouth and Tex having a chat which I’m sure is surreal for the kid.

Both Marsh and Cotton handled themselves well. Marsh is a great shape for a footballer and his kicking class already stands out. Loved seeing him put on a step to get out of trouble in defence during one of the drills.

Cotton was particularly impressive. Took a little bit of time to get into it but soon found his confidence and took a couple of lovely grabs at full stretch including an intercept mark on Laird. Ball drop is a touch loose but nothing worrying. Moves great for his height and although on the skinny side has the frame to put on size.

Maley is more solid than I thought, quite thick in the legs. Reasonable mover though a bit of a waddler. As expected, hands were good but kicking action leaves a lot to be desired. Had one awful grubber out of defence that led to an opposition goal.

Just to clarify, there were no set positions or groups of any kind. There were also no train on players though Drury was there and it would appear Strachan will play again this year as was training in the rehab group.

Aside from Rankine and Curtin, I thought Soligo was the other standout today. Looks noticeably trimmer than this time last year and clearly had his acceleration back.

Some player notes:

1. Jones - wish he played like he trained. Still looks a touch stocky to me but he trained great, can’t see how he gets into the team though unless we cop a bunch of injuries.

2. Keays - did most of the session, and as always was the last to head inside after doing a bunch of goal kicking practice. Has shaved the locks again.

3. Berry - looks super fit and noticeably tanned. Has his work cut out though after his finish to the year.

7. Thilthorpe - was great as you’d expect, not sure about the bucket hat though.

8. Rachele - looks in good nick though he did languish a little in the running. Trained with sunnies on which is questionable…

9. Murray - trained pretty well but is still pretty bulky, hopefully can get his speed and agility back this summer.

10. Pedlar - looks pretty trim and moved well, kicking was great. Curious to see his time trial.

15. Cook - definitely the best he’s looked physically though im not sure he will ever look ripped like some of his teammates.

17. Welsh - not rock hard fit but certainly an improvement. Kept up just fine in the running though there wasn’t a heap of it. Will be an interesting watch.

19. Taylor - didn’t see any noticeable change in physique but did fine in the running and thought he trained particularly well in the full ground drill where his class stood out.

21. Bond - just a much more assured player than his early days. Unsurprisingly is in great condition.

22. Ryan - pleasingly looks to have bulked up a bit more which should help break tackles and not lose possession which he is susceptible to doing at times.

27. Nankervis - still very light but think he just has that body shape which struggles to put on size.

31. Dowling - similar to Ryan looks to have added some much needed size, though he will never be a particularly big lad with those skinny shoulders.

41. Butts - bit of an Adonis these days! Seriously impressive build, looks real fit. Good sign.

42. McAndrew - for his height his foot skills and mobility are actually pretty good. Similar to Strachan though he appears to struggle putting on much size, though with the new rules it may not matter as much.

Early sessions are more about seeing who’s there, who’s not and which players look fit and primed. Overall I was pretty chuffed with that I saw today. It wasn’t the longest sesh (90 mins) but despite the heat I thought the energy was good and there wasn’t much lethargy at all.

My comments will get more detailed as I see more sessions and match sim starts, for now it’s mainly about what shape they’re in.

As always, feel free to ask any questions.

Thanks so much Bigman, I'm based overseas and your reports keep me in the loop.. Bravo

 

[Dirty Bird]

i hate players getting new numbers

Make your number great (like Rehn with 52)

Though - I was a hypocryte with that once - I did want M.Crouch to take Reilly's number 3.

 

[crowutopia]

You need combo's of first possession MID's and first receiving MID's .....Dawson is the latter, Rankine can play both roles

Big watch on Peatling, & Pedlar, who are 1st possession MID's .....Pedlar can't have a career sitting on a HFF

To my eyes Pedlar is going to have to make the decision to go hard for a midfield spot, all that said he's up against it big time and he might just need to hone his hff skills to be so damaging he can't be ignored. I see him a bit like Peter Vardy..

 

[1990crow]

To my eyes Pedlar is going to have to make the decision to go hard for a midfield spot, all that said he's up against it big time and he might just need to hone his hff skills to be so damaging he can't be ignored. I see him a bit like Peter Vardy..

Be a complete waste if Pedlar can't go on to have a decent career with us.

 

[crowutopia]

Be a complete waste if Pedlar can't go on to have a decent career with us.

Agreed, I am just not sure his body is up to it, geez I hope so

 

[mickfaxis]

is Elijah Holland training with us?

No he is not. And he won't.

 

[adelaidecrows]

Agreed, I am just not sure his body is up to it, geez I hope so

He is 100% in his last year unless he can prove he is up to standard. As of right now you can easily see him drift back in selection even when fit. I just dont think he ever does enough. Has a good game here and there but no break out game commanding selection.

 

[crows dude]

We’re not seriously keeping Strachan and playing him in our SANFL side. McAndrew needs to ruck a lot to keep his fitness up just in case ROB is injured or plays poorly for 3 months. Then there’s Toby Murray, Finnbar and Ludowyke as tall forwards/pinch rucks and Marsh and Welsh. Add Strachan and that’s 7 forwards already without a single small or mid rotating.

Hopefully he’s just training to keep his fitness up, vaguely recall he’s got a coaching gig of some sort with us.

Just a top up. Hopefully only plays when lots of injuries

 

[crows dude]

We can nab him in the MSD if we need a ruck. He’d be better prepared leading the ruck at another SANFL club than being 2nd ruck to McAndrew. How are are developing mids going to rest forward if we’ve got 7 actual forwards in the side.

Hes a top up. Good to have another ruck. Remember when we had to sought a ruck from Tasmania to help as we had no fit rucks for SANFL.

 

[baldandbroke]

Sid looks less of a kid already. Expecting big things in 2026 from him.

Curtin looks like we finally have that beast mid. Harley who?

We have a real core of talent and hardness in that middle age group. We have some generational talent at the top end too.

Can we get what we need to round out this group from Pedlar, Taylor, Berry, Cook, Edwards, Ryan, Dowling and Bond? Or do we hang onto the experience too long and miss a trick?

Cotton, Marsh, Ludowyke, Welsh … maybe there is a cameo in there? More likely they are the future, but why not?

Huge year for the club. Do we improve and embrace change - or do we think we are the bomb and just need a little tinker around the edges? I know what my pessimism infected Crows supporter brain is screaming!! BUT it’s preseason, I’m going to ignore that and look forward to Bigman’s reports and the 2026 season instead!

 

[Jetwa5h]

Thanks so much Bigman, I'm based overseas and your reports keep me in the loop.. Bravo

Same....Cairns for me so I do look forward to your reports

 

[FullyBigKPro]

Need Soligo and Berry to really go to whole new levels next year to help our midfield along with at least one of Edwards, Dowling or even Cook to 'make it'.

Promising to hear about Sid, lets play the long game with him though.

Very very promising to hear about Dan Curtin, his upside and potential is truly elite and could be anything, we all saw the signs in that 6 week patch this year.

Rankine screw that haters, this guys is our absolute most important elite player (just ahead of TT). Glad he has channelled his energy into training and getting fit.