Bigman’s Training Reports

[craig crowing]

I get that and as I said its not you and there are some reasonable positions to take. but I had one response to my previous post that wrote him off as having no defense to his game and some potato North player had apparently the best game of his career. That was a blatant write off because said North player had played 70 more games, equaled or bettered his game output from that game multiple times throughout the season in losing sides. So said potato is not a potato. And to somehow expect a neglected 9 game player at the time to come in and be this difference maker on an experienced player while happily accepting Drapers incredibly shit output in every game he played plus Curtins shit that he dished up at the beginning of the year smacks of double standard and merely making shit up to suit a narrative.

Thats what is annoying.

For all we know, had Nicks pumped games into Edwards and Dowling this year we may actually have been better for it come the end of the year. Next year we may not even be talking about selling the farm for an x factor mid.

I think of the criticism of Dowling not by you but as q culture of the board is we want Draper in the side and a shiny new experienced X factor toy. Anything less is absolute failure and I think we look at kids like Dowling, Edwards and go they are trash as default without really even getting a good look at them.

I think Dowling has all the hallmarks of a future leader and 200 game player.

Well first of all inferring us posters on this site as passionate supporters think anybody is trash let alone a Crows player .
It was a very poor word choice.
However ii like you are mystified why taller big mids, are important to the modern game and we have two in Edwards and Dowling who have showed ability and have decent size have been given none or little opportunity.
Unfortunately we don't know what the coaches see from a greater scale than us or their line of thinking .
The only thing we do understand is Nicks is all about contest and players showing more of that are more inclined to be selected by him.
My experience re shiny new toy was a few years back went to Elizabeth oval to see a shiny new first rounder wearing no 25 who kicked a couple of goals, but went away excited by a chubby little player that also kicked a couple of goals with pure skills around the ball and goals .

 

[Fud#3]

I think of the criticism of Dowling not by you but as q culture of the board is we want Draper in the side and a shiny new experienced X factor toy. Anything less is absolute failure and I think we look at kids like Dowling, Edwards and go they are trash as default without really even getting a good look at them.

I think Dowling has all the hallmarks of a future leader and 200 game player.

Which position would you have played Dowling and Edwards in this year?

 

[hugecannon]

Which position would you have played Dowling and Edwards in this year?

Dowling - wing/HF. I think the recruitment of ANB is his biggest hurdle at the moment for Dowling as they’re competing for the same role IMO.

Edwards - wing/HB based on what role he was playing at SANFL level. I’d rather they played him far more in the middle at SANFL level as that’s where he was showing good signs in year one.

 

[Big Dub]

Which position would you have played Dowling and Edwards in this year?

Dowling was probably competing for a spot with Taylor. Very diffetent players, but I think both playing for the last mid/fwd spot. Both players bring something, so possibly could have been given equalish opportunities.

Edwards should have come in instead of Smith. Edwards unlikely to be quite as good as Smith initially, but could have overtaken him by end of year. Also might not have, but where it's close, I'd pick the kid. Understand why they didn't go in that direction, with the focus only on the week ahead.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Which position would you have played Dowling and Edwards in this year?

Murphy or Smith

 

[Fud#3]

Murphy or Smith

Small forward or sub / HB. He'd need to learn those positions in the SANFL then

 

[Fud#3]

Dowling - wing/HF. I think the recruitment of ANB is his biggest hurdle at the moment for Dowling as they’re competing for the same role IMO.

Edwards - wing/HB based on what role he was playing at SANFL level. I’d rather they played him far more in the middle at SANFL level as that’s where he was showing good signs in year one.

Wing - So ahead of Cumming or Curtin?
HF - Drop Keays or ANB?

If inside, he averaged 2.9 clearances in 2023, so if he was playing inside, that's not screaming "pick me" as an inside mid.

IMO, his weapon is endurance, so wing is his spot

 

[Fud#3]

Dowling was probably competing for a spot with Taylor. Very diffetent players, but I think both playing for the last mid/fwd spot. Both players bring something, so possibly could have been given equalish opportunities.

Edwards should have come in instead of Smith. Edwards unlikely to be quite as good as Smith initially, but could have overtaken him by end of year. Also might not have, but where it's close, I'd pick the kid. Understand why they didn't go in that direction, with the focus only on the week ahead.

If playing small fwd, Taylor was a much better option IMO and did well in the graveyard role.

Agree I'd have liked Edwards to come in ahead of Smith, but there were a few sub roles he would have had to play which fans wouldn't have liked.

 

[Mostyn]

Lets begin here: Try Phil Walsh. Though, in truth, he just put into words what every club does. "Next man up". The league tossed the idea of trying kids out on a whim in the same bin as the stay at home key forward, or the ruck who just provided ruck work as it professionalized.

Mind you, and this is a different conversation, the last 10 years have shown that us idiots rated Mackay waaaayyyyy to harsly as a footballer.



No, we just run a depth chart for each position which is rather rigid once we hit the start of the season. We know the year served model doesn't hold up, because we've seen when we've had a prospect we rate highly, we've typically given them a lot of rope under Nicks and co. Whether it's Curtin not getting dropped this year on the half forward flank before moving to wing, us being willing to have Worrell stuck in the 2s to fit in Max Michaelanny or even this year where we tried to make Draper as a sub work if we have a kid we like, we're pretty eager to get them involved (within reason).

You only have to go back a couple of years to see a 3rd year Schoenberg and a 2nd year Berry used as starting inside midfielders instead of whoever was the most experienced potential options at that point. Most of the "years served" nonsense is just paranoia (yes, Neil Craig is hiding in the nearby hedges controlling everything), and it comes from that most prospects are worse then the current veterans, nor is there any value in getting them AFL time.



Nope, Murphy was just the next man up in our small forward depth chart. The midfield stats meant nothing, as they haven't meant anything for anyone else. Lo and behold, he was delisted this year, to show just how much your career is screwed if you find yourself in the SANFL midfield slots.

Curtin form line had faded in the weeks prior to those finals. However, most of those selections were panic. We should have just committed to the five man midfield unit we ran all year and backed them to fix it. We didn't and we lost without giving a whelp. After all, the one of the player we trusted was Zac ****ing Taylor just to show how much our coaching group had lost the plot. Laird you can at least make the case it had some basis in reality, seeing this was a midfield group who needed a floor raiser and that is what Lairdy is. However, it was something that had to happen in round 15 instead of doubling down on Berry. If only we valued years served in our midfield selections, but c'est la vie.



That's how professional sports roll. The only thing that matters at the selection level is winning the next game. The future is what list management is for.

No matter what situation a club finds themselves in.



We follow how the league develops kids who can't impact on the inside day 1. Noting that playing a rookie in an inside midfield role early in an AFL career is purely for short term pay-off.

The timing is the most important part, not that we split AFL/SANFL time. Those three cases in Soligo/Berry/Schoenberg we had graduated them to an AFL role within their first year. We've seen something similar with Curtin, though a bit slower and most likely due to a poorly timed injury allowing Keane/Worrell to become one of the best intercept pairings in the league. Draper will probably also follow this path and have a position locked up in the early parts of 2026, seeing we really didn't have a plan once the sub idea failed and that his back didn't need the management we were worried about.

Effectively it goes back to what I said about the midfield role being a dead zone. If you are rated as a genuine option for inside mid, you are quickly graduated through the SANFL and you are locked in somewhere at AFL level in your second year. If you're not, you're pushed elsewhere to see if you can win a spot in time, and if you are a prospect used as a midfielder, you're not seen as an option (and are likely a delisting candidate).

Kind of, I am not sure how we see Zac Taylor. We definitely don't think he's an A-grade midfielder in the short term, but the fact he was our panic answer does raise an eyebrow (as much as I want our coaching group cruficied for that decision in particular). I'd be very surprised if we saw Dowling or Pedlar as a midfield option, and Edwards probably not in the short term with 4+ years being too hard to predict.




We ran a 5 man unit last year, and we don't have the high-end talent to justify a change down to a four man unit. Working around that, my expectation is the main three slots are Dawson/Soligo/Curtin with Peatling/Rankine as the roationals. I don't see us giving Rachele any considerable midfield minutes seeing there is no point with Rankine being used. I also don't see Draper being used as an inside midfielder this campaign, outside of the occasional cameo/emergency CBA where we've ****ed up our rotations. The only real question is the Curtin slot, though I expect he'll win one of the main roles by the end of preseason.

Everyone (myself included) has had the idea at some point to expand the midfield rotations and try to get 6-7 main midfielders. Any time you see a team drift into this territory, you are quick to see them course correct to a 4-5 man unit. It doesn't work, and it doesn't work because it goes against one of the most fundamental tenants of football. To win football games, you need your best players occupying the positions they do the most damage for as long as possible. Adding 6+ midfield units is not an innovative tactic, it's completely nonviable. In a way, I think versatility needs to be treated as a necessary evil, instead of a good thing. You want your inside midfielder to play other positions because should they get replaced in the depth chart, you're not sitting there with a guy you've invested 120 games in playing SANFL kind of deal.

This is a great post, and the kind of well explained opinion piece that we rarely see on BigFooty.

I don't agree with everything, but some of your points that swim against traditional fan thinking seem really well argued.

 

[Mutineer]

Wing - So ahead of Cumming or Curtin?
HF - Drop Keays or ANB?

If inside, he averaged 2.9 clearances in 2023, so if he was playing inside, that's not screaming "pick me" as an inside mid.

IMO, his weapon is endurance, so wing is his spot

Well in all honesty Cumming was easily the most disappointing player of 2025 given the coin he's on and his input, not sure I'd be bring him into the discussion. In fact he did not go over one career season high stat on any front missing most by a fair margin

 

[Trigger13]

Dowling is not AFL standard (If that standard is measured against the top teams). He wouldn’t come close to getting a game at Brissy, Geelong, Hawks etc.

Absolutely zero elite traits. Hell, even Jones has a higher ceiling. Depth player at best.

 

[WetCrow1991]

If playing small fwd, Taylor was a much better option IMO and did well in the graveyard role.

Yeah Zac really lit it up with his 4 goals for the season. Couldn't possibly consider looking at other options.

 

[WetCrow1991]

Dowling was probably competing for a spot with Taylor. Very diffetent players, but I think both playing for the last mid/fwd spot. Both players bring something, so possibly could have been given equalish opportunities.

Edwards should have come in instead of Smith. Edwards unlikely to be quite as good as Smith initially, but could have overtaken him by end of year. Also might not have, but where it's close, I'd pick the kid. Understand why they didn't go in that direction, with the focus only on the week ahead.

Yeah it was an understandably dumb decision by the club to put games into a bloke that wasn't going to be around after the season. Smith's season was overrated too.

 

[Fud#3]

Well in all honesty Cumming was easily the most disappointing player of 2025 given the coin he's on and his input, not sure I'd be bring him into the discussion. In fact he did not go over one career season high stat on any front missing most by a fair margin

Yet I still think he was a better option than Dowling on the wing. Just my opinion, but we all have these right

 

[LoBu]

Yeah it was an understandably dumb decision by the club to put games into a bloke that wasn't going to be around after the season. Smith's season was overrated too.

History showed us that putting Smith in over Edwards did not give us the experience lift we needed to get us across the lines in any of the finals we played - something most on here already knew.

 

[DJ75]

History showed us that putting Smith in over Edwards did not give us the experience lift we needed to get us across the lines in any of the finals we played - something most on here already knew.

And the club should have known from experience as well.

Truth is that we seem to always fall for the 'should pick the experienced guy in finals as a reward for their career'. In 2017 we did it with Otten and it cost us.
Unfortunately I can see us doing the exacts same thing comes finals in 2026 with Tex. Even if we have been playing better without him in the lead up, if he says he is fit, we will absolutely pick him. We aren't ruthless when it comes to that stuff.

 

[bigman]

And so the first week of pre-season comes to an end.

Nearly everyone showed up in some form or fashion today, bar a select few - Ah Chee, ANB and Rankine. Cumming made his first appearance for the year, while Sid finally showed his face - although he only watched from the sidelines alongside Ludowyke.

The rehab group was much the same as previous. Fog, Max and Strachan did a chunk of running and were joined by Marsh who was again held off from main training. Hinge and Keays were managed at times while Soligo finished up before the late session running. Rachele and Tex did their running work separately rather than with the main group, but otherwise trained fully. Foot, McGuane and Cotton were once again held off from the running portion. I’m surprised Foot didn’t have to do the running given his age and experience.

Curtin trained without knee strapping unlike Wednesday. I wonder if the new fitness bloke is trying to ween him off the bandage? It’s a curious case nonetheless. Jones and Pedlar both wore some slight knee strapping but neither seemed hindered in any way.

After the warm up, which involved sprint work, there was a ‘gauntlet’ drill which started with a loose ball at half back and focussed on moving the ball up the wing quickly with fast hands and speed, with opposition players trying to put on frontal pressure and cut them off.

The squad then split up into three different drills which they would rotate through. One was all about ground ball and quick hands in traffic whilst being tackled. Another was inside 50 entries from the corridor kicking to a solitary lead, while the other group was at half back and had one designated kicker (Tex, Dawson) choosing between multiple leading options on the wing.

The final main drill involved three teams with two active at a time, and similar to Wednesday would only allow ball movement via the wings. Each time there was a score, the ball would then have to move via the opposite wing. With one team rotating in and out, plus the attacking side becoming the defenders and vice versa, it was quite the complicated drill and really emphasised maintaining concentration - it also looked pretty buggering!

Finally the lads finished up with a bit more running than they had done the previous two sessions. The group would stride from one end of the ground to the other at about 80%, before jogging back and doing it all over again about 7-8 times. Usual suspects Dowling and Curtin were often leading the pack but the surprises near the front were Pedlar, Butts and, believe it or not, Welsh. Pleasingly no one was really languishing at the back - Laird was one of the slower runners but to be fair he’s not even required to be training yet and was likely just pacing himself.

Probably no absolute standout today though I was once again impressed by Cook’s intensity out there, he’s really involving himself and training with vigour which he needs to in a contract year. Seems to be in a good space. Pedlar was the other one - he was a ball of energy today, ran to the right spots and used it really well, often hitting targets on his right boot.

Other player notes:

6. Curtin - late in the session the lads broke into different groups to work on specific skills. Dan worked with the two rucks on reading their taps at stoppage and taking the ball at speed. A good little sign for his midfield chances.

11. Edwards - they did the same kicking test as Wednesday with the hoops, and in today’s group it was Edwards who performed best hitting 5 of the 6 stationary targets. Got a bunch of congrats from the boys. Is moving really well with his sleeker physique and used his speed a bit more. Worth noting in the final drill he appeared to be playing across half back, though I’m not sure how locked-in positions are yet.

20. Hinge - did almost all the session and looks really fit. A few times he was able to shrug tackles with a swivel of the hips and his general movement and speed was sharp. Big year for him after falling away last season.

22. Ryan - early days still but just want to see a bit more razzle dazzle from him, he’s playing a bit within himself and not showing quite the same flair as he did in year one. Not training poorly, just a bit pedestrian.

27. Nankervis - good again today. Took a serious contested mark on the far wing and his kicking has generally been rock solid. We need to find a way to get him in the team, he has too many AFL qualities.

31. Dowling - mentioned it in a previous report but there’s no doubt he has bulked up a fair bit from last year where I thought he was just too skinny. Still not a beast by any measure but he’s obviously put in the work and hopefully it helps his contested game which has been a weakness.

32. Fogarty - still in the rehab group and a little bit chunky particularly through the legs, but it is impressive seeing his work rate out there. He led the running even with Max being there and covers the ground better than he probably should.

33. Cotton - bit quieter today but just does some things that make you take notice. One instance was a reflex intercept where he jumped and stuck an arm out to intercept a handball, very clearly a basketball trait. Got lots of love for it. Also a very nice mark at full stretch.

36. Maley - did surprisingly well in the kicking test (3 out of 6 - Curtin only got 1 for comparison!) but you can see the cogs turning in his head when he gets it. Just not a natural footballer.

38. Sholl - about as muscly as I’ve seen him which isn’t saying much, but he does look in great condition and trained well. It’s easy to forget that he was really quite good in 2024 and I think that pre season knee injury really affected him last year.

40. McGuane - likes to put a nice little flourish on his kick and is a neat player, but gee he looks small out there even compared to short blokes like Rachele. Seems a good trainer and no-fuss player but I’m not seeing anything to really excite me yet.

41. Butts - the Adonis! Even his running is the best I’ve seen from him. Still an awkward kick of course but he’s going to give Murray serious competition this year.

42. McAndrew - surprisingly good skills for a bloke his size and pretty mobile too. If he can take advantage of his height in marking contests he could be an asset with the new rules as he jumps better than ROB, not that that’s a huge achievement.

47. Foot - still hard to judge as he struggled to get involved today. Looks the part with his speed, size and general movement, but his kicking action isn’t fluent at all. He seems to pause just before kicking and it’s an odd ball drop. I’ll wait a bit longer to make a call but I’m not enamoured with either of the train ons, for different reasons.

Feel free to ask questions.

 

[cleanhands]

And so the first week of pre-season comes to an end.

Nearly everyone showed up in some form or fashion today, bar a select few - Ah Chee, ANB and Rankine. Cumming made his first appearance for the year, while Sid finally showed his face - although he only watched from the sidelines alongside Ludowyke.

The rehab group was much the same as previous. Fog, Max and Strachan did a chunk of running and were joined by Marsh who was again held off from main training. Hinge and Keays were managed at times while Soligo finished up before the late session running. Rachele and Tex did their running work separately rather than with the main group, but otherwise trained fully. Foot, McGuane and Cotton were once again held off from the running portion. I’m surprised Foot didn’t have to do the running given his age and experience.

Curtin trained without knee strapping unlike Wednesday. I wonder if the new fitness bloke is trying to ween him off the bandage? It’s a curious case nonetheless. Jones and Pedlar both wore some slight knee strapping but neither seemed hindered in any way.

After the warm up, which involved sprint work, there was a ‘gauntlet’ drill which started with a loose ball at half back and focussed on moving the ball up the wing quickly with fast hands and speed, with opposition players trying to put on frontal pressure and cut them off.

The squad then split up into three different drills which they would rotate through. One was all about ground ball and quick hands in traffic whilst being tackled. Another was inside 50 entries from the corridor kicking to a solitary lead, while the other group was at half back and had one designated kicker (Tex, Dawson) choosing between multiple leading options on the wing.

The final main drill involved three teams with two active at a time, and similar to Wednesday would only allow ball movement via the wings. Each time there was a score, the ball would then have to move via the opposite wing. With one team rotating in and out, plus the attacking side becoming the defenders and vice versa, it was quite the complicated drill and really emphasised maintaining concentration - it also looked pretty buggering!

Finally the lads finished up with a bit more running than they had done the previous two sessions. The group would stride from one end of the ground to the other at about 80%, before jogging back and doing it all over again about 7-8 times. Usual suspects Dowling and Curtin were often leading the pack but the surprises near the front were Pedlar, Butts and, believe it or not, Welsh. Pleasingly no one was really languishing at the back - Laird was one of the slower runners but to be fair he’s not even required to be training yet and was likely just pacing himself.

Probably no absolute standout today though I was once again impressed by Cook’s intensity out there, he’s really involving himself and training with vigour which he needs to in a contract year. Seems to be in a good space. Pedlar was the other one - he was a ball of energy today, ran to the right spots and used it really well, often hitting targets on his right boot.

Other player notes:

6. Curtin - late in the session the lads broke into different groups to work on specific skills. Dan worked with the two rucks on reading their taps at stoppage and taking the ball at speed. A good little sign for his midfield chances.

11. Edwards - they did the same kicking test as Wednesday with the hoops, and in today’s group it was Edwards who performed best hitting 5 of the 6 stationary targets. Got a bunch of congrats from the boys. Is moving really well with his sleeker physique and used his speed a bit more. Worth noting in the final drill he appeared to be playing across half back, though I’m not sure how locked-in positions are yet.

20. Hinge - did almost all the session and looks really fit. A few times he was able to shrug tackles with a swivel of the hips and his general movement and speed was sharp. Big year for him after falling away last season.

22. Ryan - early days still but just want to see a bit more razzle dazzle from him, he’s playing a bit within himself and not showing quite the same flair as he did in year one. Not training poorly, just a bit pedestrian.

27. Nankervis - good again today. Took a serious contested mark on the far wing and his kicking has generally been rock solid. We need to find a way to get him in the team, he has too many AFL qualities.

31. Dowling - mentioned it in a previous report but there’s no doubt he has bulked up a fair bit from last year where I thought he was just too skinny. Still not a beast by any measure but he’s obviously put in the work and hopefully it helps his contested game which has been a weakness.

32. Fogarty - still in the rehab group and a little bit chunky particularly through the legs, but it is impressive seeing his work rate out there. He led the running even with Max being there and covers the ground better than he probably should.

33. Cotton - bit quieter today but just does some things that make you take notice. One instance was a reflex intercept where he jumped and stuck an arm out to intercept a handball, very clearly a basketball trait. Got lots of love for it. Also a very nice mark at full stretch.

36. Maley - did surprisingly well in the kicking test (3 out of 6 - Curtin only got 1 for comparison!) but you can see the cogs turning in his head when he gets it. Just not a natural footballer.

38. Sholl - about as muscly as I’ve seen him which isn’t saying much, but he does look in great condition and trained well. It’s easy to forget that he was really quite good in 2024 and I think that pre season knee injury really affected him last year.

40. McGuane - likes to put a nice little flourish on his kick and is a neat player, but gee he looks small out there even compared to short blokes like Rachele. Seems a good trainer and no-fuss player but I’m not seeing anything to really excite me yet.

41. Butts - the Adonis! Even his running is the best I’ve seen from him. Still an awkward kick of course but he’s going to give Murray serious competition this year.

42. McAndrew - surprisingly good skills for a bloke his size and pretty mobile too. If he can take advantage of his height in marking contests he could be an asset with the new rules as he jumps better than ROB, not that that’s a huge achievement.

47. Foot - still hard to judge as he struggled to get involved today. Looks the part with his speed, size and general movement, but his kicking action isn’t fluent at all. He seems to pause just before kicking and it’s an odd ball drop. I’ll wait a bit longer to make a call but I’m not enamoured with either of the train ons, for different reasons.

Feel free to ask questions.

Zac Taylor still holding up ok?

 

[dylan123]

Dowling is not AFL standard (If that standard is measured against the top teams). He wouldn’t come close to getting a game at Brissy, Geelong, Hawks etc.

Absolutely zero elite traits. Hell, even Jones has a higher ceiling. Depth player at best.

The only reason you suggest Jones has a higher ceiling is due to where he was picked in the draft. There's nothing he's shown at AFL level to suggest otherwise.

 

[jackster83]

That's good news re. Pedlar.

I did hear that the penny has finally dropped in regards to his off field professionalism over the last 12 months.

 

[Mostyn]

Murphy or Smith

Murphy only played five games across the entire year. I was surprised with one of those that he was preferred to Dowling, tbh.

Smith - I just think coaches want to win. Smith was going to deliver more in those games than Edwards. It will be different going forward.

 

[BRL121]

And so the first week of pre-season comes to an end.

Nearly everyone showed up in some form or fashion today, bar a select few - Ah Chee, ANB and Rankine. Cumming made his first appearance for the year, while Sid finally showed his face - although he only watched from the sidelines alongside Ludowyke.

The rehab group was much the same as previous. Fog, Max and Strachan did a chunk of running and were joined by Marsh who was again held off from main training. Hinge and Keays were managed at times while Soligo finished up before the late session running. Rachele and Tex did their running work separately rather than with the main group, but otherwise trained fully. Foot, McGuane and Cotton were once again held off from the running portion. I’m surprised Foot didn’t have to do the running given his age and experience.

Curtin trained without knee strapping unlike Wednesday. I wonder if the new fitness bloke is trying to ween him off the bandage? It’s a curious case nonetheless. Jones and Pedlar both wore some slight knee strapping but neither seemed hindered in any way.

After the warm up, which involved sprint work, there was a ‘gauntlet’ drill which started with a loose ball at half back and focussed on moving the ball up the wing quickly with fast hands and speed, with opposition players trying to put on frontal pressure and cut them off.

The squad then split up into three different drills which they would rotate through. One was all about ground ball and quick hands in traffic whilst being tackled. Another was inside 50 entries from the corridor kicking to a solitary lead, while the other group was at half back and had one designated kicker (Tex, Dawson) choosing between multiple leading options on the wing.

The final main drill involved three teams with two active at a time, and similar to Wednesday would only allow ball movement via the wings. Each time there was a score, the ball would then have to move via the opposite wing. With one team rotating in and out, plus the attacking side becoming the defenders and vice versa, it was quite the complicated drill and really emphasised maintaining concentration - it also looked pretty buggering!

Finally the lads finished up with a bit more running than they had done the previous two sessions. The group would stride from one end of the ground to the other at about 80%, before jogging back and doing it all over again about 7-8 times. Usual suspects Dowling and Curtin were often leading the pack but the surprises near the front were Pedlar, Butts and, believe it or not, Welsh. Pleasingly no one was really languishing at the back - Laird was one of the slower runners but to be fair he’s not even required to be training yet and was likely just pacing himself.

Probably no absolute standout today though I was once again impressed by Cook’s intensity out there, he’s really involving himself and training with vigour which he needs to in a contract year. Seems to be in a good space. Pedlar was the other one - he was a ball of energy today, ran to the right spots and used it really well, often hitting targets on his right boot.

Other player notes:

6. Curtin - late in the session the lads broke into different groups to work on specific skills. Dan worked with the two rucks on reading their taps at stoppage and taking the ball at speed. A good little sign for his midfield chances.

11. Edwards - they did the same kicking test as Wednesday with the hoops, and in today’s group it was Edwards who performed best hitting 5 of the 6 stationary targets. Got a bunch of congrats from the boys. Is moving really well with his sleeker physique and used his speed a bit more. Worth noting in the final drill he appeared to be playing across half back, though I’m not sure how locked-in positions are yet.

20. Hinge - did almost all the session and looks really fit. A few times he was able to shrug tackles with a swivel of the hips and his general movement and speed was sharp. Big year for him after falling away last season.

22. Ryan - early days still but just want to see a bit more razzle dazzle from him, he’s playing a bit within himself and not showing quite the same flair as he did in year one. Not training poorly, just a bit pedestrian.

27. Nankervis - good again today. Took a serious contested mark on the far wing and his kicking has generally been rock solid. We need to find a way to get him in the team, he has too many AFL qualities.

31. Dowling - mentioned it in a previous report but there’s no doubt he has bulked up a fair bit from last year where I thought he was just too skinny. Still not a beast by any measure but he’s obviously put in the work and hopefully it helps his contested game which has been a weakness.

32. Fogarty - still in the rehab group and a little bit chunky particularly through the legs, but it is impressive seeing his work rate out there. He led the running even with Max being there and covers the ground better than he probably should.

33. Cotton - bit quieter today but just does some things that make you take notice. One instance was a reflex intercept where he jumped and stuck an arm out to intercept a handball, very clearly a basketball trait. Got lots of love for it. Also a very nice mark at full stretch.

36. Maley - did surprisingly well in the kicking test (3 out of 6 - Curtin only got 1 for comparison!) but you can see the cogs turning in his head when he gets it. Just not a natural footballer.

38. Sholl - about as muscly as I’ve seen him which isn’t saying much, but he does look in great condition and trained well. It’s easy to forget that he was really quite good in 2024 and I think that pre season knee injury really affected him last year.

40. McGuane - likes to put a nice little flourish on his kick and is a neat player, but gee he looks small out there even compared to short blokes like Rachele. Seems a good trainer and no-fuss player but I’m not seeing anything to really excite me yet.

41. Butts - the Adonis! Even his running is the best I’ve seen from him. Still an awkward kick of course but he’s going to give Murray serious competition this year.

42. McAndrew - surprisingly good skills for a bloke his size and pretty mobile too. If he can take advantage of his height in marking contests he could be an asset with the new rules as he jumps better than ROB, not that that’s a huge achievement.

47. Foot - still hard to judge as he struggled to get involved today. Looks the part with his speed, size and general movement, but his kicking action isn’t fluent at all. He seems to pause just before kicking and it’s an odd ball drop. I’ll wait a bit longer to make a call but I’m not enamoured with either of the train ons, for different reasons.

Feel free to ask questions.

bigman Do you have any info on why Draper is still being held back? Is there still an ongoing problem with his back?
This is starting to get a little worrying.

His gym work has paid off: his head now looks way too small for his shoulders and arms. Surely, he should be out there running with the best of them?

 

[Mostyn]

Well in all honesty Cumming was easily the most disappointing player of 2025 given the coin he's on and his input, not sure I'd be bring him into the discussion. In fact he did not go over one career season high stat on any front missing most by a fair margin

Good to see we've decided who our new whipping boy is.

 

[Syd Crow]

Murphy only played five games across the entire year. I was surprised with one of those that he was preferred to Dowling, tbh.

Smith - I just think coaches want to win. Smith was going to deliver more in those games than Edwards. It will be different going forward.

Yup Smith (& Murphy) won't get any AFL games in 2026!

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Murphy only played five games across the entire year. I was surprised with one of those that he was preferred to Dowling, tbh.

Smith - I just think coaches want to win. Smith was going to deliver more in those games than Edwards. It will be different going forward.

That was 5 games wasted on Murphy, rather than getting games into a young talent who likely would have performed better.