Bigman’s Training Reports

[Kane McGoodwin]

So if it's not not starting with Dawson, Rankine and Soligo, who shoud it ?

Curtin, Peatling & Rachele for me.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

I disagree I believe the team of 23 should be set up 7-8-7-1
7 Forwards , 8 Mids including Ruck, 7 Defenders and 1 yet to be determined (Utility or extra Rucking capability)

Should be 7 forwards & 7 defenders, with 9 midfielders.

Ideally 1 forward covers the ruckman & 2 forwards also involved in rotations with the midfielders.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Ah Chee has spoken forward line in every interview. Currently our forward line based on last year and Ah Chee, assuming everyone is fit:

Tex Thilthorpe Rachelle
Ah Chee Fog Keays/ANB

Assumes Rankine is playing mid, rotating with Rachelle which would be a change for Rach.

That leaves Pedlar hoping for an injury. He needs to be able to play midfield, that starts with training with the mids, so far he isn’t.

For longer flights & crappy weather days, Tex should be managed & we go in smaller.

 

[WeeBlake]

So if it's not not starting with Dawson, Rankine and Soligo, who shoud it ?

Curtin, Soligo, Peatling
Dawson replaces Laird in backline
Rankine 50:50 mid/fwd

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

But we didn’t in the finals...so I'm not sure what else Nicks could have done other than trying Berry (didn’t work), Peatling, Laird and Taylor (the last 2 looked reasonable).

Didn't try Curtin like he had during the year.

Seemed obvious from my seats.

 

[Sizzlepack]

Yeah. I think he'll be a competitive midfielder. Even this year, he'll be good in there and he'll add something.

I don't think he's going to put the team on his back and drag us to a premiership though.

Our strategy seems to now be: More of Rankine and Rachele + Sog will be a bit older. Dawson is always a gun. More of Curtin in there. And... that's probably a strategy that will achieve some amount of improvement, so we have that at least.

But also it's not really that inspiring. I'm not seeing a significant, intentional change here. It's like the plan is to just "be better" somehow.

Dawson, Rankine, Curtin (if he develops to his potential as a midfielder), and Soligo/Peatling/Draper would rank as one of the better midfields in the game. The club is constrained in what it can do in the trade market; we don't have an embarrassment of father/son or academy riches; and nor did we have any players surplus to requirements who got us lots of picks. The club had a look at Petracca and seemed to decide he wasn't worth the quoted price. They tried for Sharp. Neither Oliver or Steele would have helped us. The talk is that there are at least two promising, non-club tied SA mids in this upcoming draft. I understand that, given how disappointing the end of the season was, there's a clamour to "do more" – and organic growth seems like an underwhelming response. But I think that we can a) feel reasonably confident that there is still meaningful improvement left in the list; and that b) there were extenuating factors which contributed to our poor finals performances.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Dawson, Rankine, Curtin (if he develops to his potential as a midfielder), and Soligo/Peatling/Draper would rank as one of the better midfields in the game. The club is constrained in what it can do in the trade market; we don't have an embarrassment of father/son or academy riches; and nor did we have any players surplus to requirements who got us lots of picks. The club had a look at Petracca and seemed to decide he wasn't worth the quoted price. They tried for Sharp. Neither Oliver or Steele would have helped us. The talk is that there are at least two promising, non-club tied SA mids in this upcoming draft. I understand that, given how disappointing the end of the season was, there's a clamour to "do more" – and organic growth seems like an underwhelming response. But I think that we can a) feel reasonably confident that there is still meaningful improvement left in the list; and that b) there were extenuating factors which contributed to our poor finals performances.

Our strength should be to run a deep midfield as we don’t currently have the A grade high end of some clubs, but we have plenty of players who we can run through the middle.

Unfortunately VB prefers to mainly use 4 set inside midfielders.

 

[ams4crows]

Hahaha I only know because Ludo first press conference they asked who he's rooming with.

 

[1970crow]

Why isn’t Pedlar being trained up with the mids? High draft pick drafted as a mid, brief spurts has shown good ability to win clearances and brake free, looks fit.

Our midfield is a weakness. What are we doing?

Our non-key forward depth list is either him or Taylor.

 

[1970crow]

I'm not convinced the club believes the midfield is a weakness

If Laird and Keays aren’t first choice, it’s pretty stacked.

 

[1970crow]

This is true, but in the end we didnt end up with any of the others.

Im glad we had a go but if they go into the same personnel in the starting midfield next year, or R2 when Rankine returns, we know they havent learnt a thing

I don’t think our midfield is too bad when uninjured. Dawson, Rankine and Sog is a decent enough start. Add in Rachele, Peatling, Curtin and Draper and it’s not too bad. But then you think of the Suns and wonder how anyone is going to compete.

 

[Fud#3]

Didn't try Curtin like he had during the year.

Seemed obvious from my seats.

Agree he should have tried DC, he was the only one who didn't get a shot.

 

[Gtowncrow]

Ah Chee has spoken forward line in every interview. Currently our forward line based on last year and Ah Chee, assuming everyone is fit:

Tex Thilthorpe Rachelle
Ah Chee Fog Keays/ANB

Assumes Rankine is playing mid, rotating with Rachelle which would be a change for Rach.

That leaves Pedlar hoping for an injury. He needs to be able to play midfield, that starts with training with the mids, so far he isn’t.

Five on the bench should advantage Pedlar a great deal. Like all burst players, there's less need for everyone to possess elite gut running.

 

[BRL121]

Curtin, Soligo, Peatling
Dawson replaces Laird in backline
Rankine 50:50 mid/fwd

I don't think Dawson would be a good back pocket.

 

[Golumless]

Our strength should be to run a deep midfield as we don’t currently have the A grade high end of some clubs, but we have plenty of players who we can run through the middle.

Unfortunately VB prefers to mainly use 4 set inside midfielders.

Of course VB does, "deep" midfields are pure bullshit. 4 man units (and we ran a 5 man unit in 2025, not 4) are preferred because 4 man is the optimal number of inside midfielders.

 

[WetCrow1991]

Curtin, Soligo, Peatling
Dawson replaces Laird in backline
Rankine 50:50 mid/fwd

Laird in SANFL.

 

[WetCrow1991]

Five on the bench should advantage Pedlar a great deal. Like all burst players, there's less need for everyone to possess elite gut running.

I believe it is spelt bust.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Of course VB does, "deep" midfields are pure bullshit. 4 man units (and we ran a 5 man unit in 2025, not 4) are preferred because 4 man is the optimal number of inside midfielders.

Now that is pure bullshit Nathan!

The great premiership teams of the Cats & Hawks had desp midfield options, which both used to their advantage.

 

[Jcpdragonx]

Why isn’t Pedlar being trained up with the mids? High draft pick drafted as a mid, brief spurts has shown good ability to win clearances and brake free, looks fit.

Our midfield is a weakness. What are we doing?

Because he’s a half forward not midfielder. Juniors, midfielder. AFL not good enough.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Because he’s a half forward not midfielder. Juniors, midfielder. AFL not good enough.

Odd, considering the very limited times he’s played as a mid he’s done pretty well

 

[crows dude]

Mid Rotations
Dawson
Peatling
Rankine
Rachele
Soligo
Curtin
Draper
Berry
Pedlar
Rob

Thats 10 players to rotate through the centre, Forward and Wings plus Rob. Leaving us with 13

Forwards Only
Fogarty
Walker
THilthorpe
Neale-Bullen

Defenders
Michalanney
Murray
Laird
Milera
Worrell
Butts
Cumming
Keane
Bond

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

How are TT fingers looking? All the tape he had on by September was pretty concerning.

 

[crowutopia]

If we think he's a good kick, then nothing wrong with trying HB. Daicos, Sheezel, Coleman, Bowey, Salem, Rozee are all guys who were DKs and given the ball when they probably weren't in the right spots, but it builds confidence and then their own ball winning ability.

However, it might mean slower ball movement out of defence, so its it's a balancing act.

I'm seriously rooting for the kid, but he's drinking at the last chance saloon for sure

 

[crowutopia]

You either have the mindset for hunting the ball, or you don't. If you need to feel confident to do it at an acceptable level, you are always going to be a flaky footballer.

Well flakey seems to be the knock on him.. he's on his last chance so fingers crossed for the lad

 

[ET Sloane Home]

How are TT fingers looking? All the tape he had on by September was pretty concerning.

They put up photos of him yesterday. No finger tape in sight