Training 2026 Pre-Season Training - reports, pics etc

[ETET]

Having players who can kick like Nick Daicos could help.

Yep I just thought I would watch Cody Walkers highlights the other night (I have not seen him play live) and his disposal by hand and foot is well how do we say it "not Daicos like."

He has other strengths I get it but it did stand out to me. And maybe comparing him to Nick is just a tad unfair, from me.

 

[marcmurphy3]

Yep I just thought I would watch Cody Walkers highlights the other night (I have not seen him play live) and his disposal by hand and foot is well how do we say it "not Daicos like."

He has other strengths I get it but it did stand out to me. And maybe comparing him to Nick is just a tad unfair.

I don't think Cody will ever be a great kick. It's just not going to be his strength. Just needs to get it to a point it's not a weakness. He is a penetrating kick though and has good goal sense.

Best case scenario he's probably more a Petracca type then a Daicos. More powerful then classy.

 

[swuzzlebubble]

Scratch match odds v evens.
Who wins?

Odds for mine - Cripps, George, Cez, Jagga, Weitering

 

[Blue and Silver]

Scratch match odds v evens.
Who wins?

Odds for mine - Cripps, George, Cez, Jagga, Weitering

Evens backline is pretty stacked. Haynes, Newman, Cowan, Hollands, Saad, Carroll, Florent

Odds have Weiters, McGovern, Billy, Dean, Boyd

 

[Blue and Silver]

So is there open training or not?

 

[Red Bull]

Having players who can kick like Nick Daicos could help.

 

[marcmurphy3]

According to Chloe on Blue Abroad:

• Ollie Hollands played wing during match sim. Lined up on Lucas Campo with Acres against Chesser on the other wing.
• Cowan and Elijah Hollands were standouts. Cowan for his build and ability to link up. Hollands for his kicking and movement through traffic.
• Florent, Walsh and Evans also got shoutouts in her top 5.
• Florent playing mainly back as per Ash Hansen. Ball use by foot good. Also, linking up well.

 

[Bamboo Harvester]

So is there open training or not?

Yeah, just got home from the training session.

 

[Aphrodite]

 

[Aphrodite]

More from Insta ...


across

 

[The Return of the Paf]

One more good pre season please.

Looks more a mid to me now. Reads ball so well at contest and is clean. Some moments in middle at VFL were elite. If he can keep building engine he is mid who can go forward more than a forward IMO

It would help out our structure a lot if that looked likely to happen, it would mean we'd be free to target a tall forward along with Walker.

 

[The Bighouse]

According to Chloe on Blue Abroad:

• Ollie Hollands played wing during match sim. Lined up on Lucas Campo with Acres against Chesser on the other wing.
• Cowan and Elijah Hollands were standouts. Cowan for his build and ability to link up. Hollands for his kicking and movement through traffic.
• Florent, Walsh and Evans also got shoutouts in her top 5.
• Florent playing mainly back as per Ash Hansen. Ball use by foot good. Also, linking up well.

Similar on HUN re: wings with AF back.
Pitto good
Cowan bulked up
WW lively up forward & EH put in a classy effort as a highlight.

Concerted effort on kicking skills.. drills targeted kicking accuracy across various distances along with exit & entries into respective 50m
Looking at a fwd50 ground ball get game an apparent all-in effort to hone in on that area of our game

 

[Bamboo Harvester]

According to Chloe on Blue Abroad:

• Ollie Hollands played wing during match sim. Lined up on Lucas Campo with Acres against Chesser on the other wing.
• Cowan and Elijah Hollands were standouts. Cowan for his build and ability to link up. Hollands for his kicking and movement through traffic.
• Florent, Walsh and Evans also got shoutouts in her top 5.
• Florent playing mainly back as per Ash Hansen. Ball use by foot good. Also, linking up well.

Agree with all of that.

The session went for about 2 and a half hours - fair bit of match sim and skills work, ie kicking drills. It's something which has been discussed on here a fair bit, but there was a definite focus on kicking.

It was kind of weird though not seeing Curnow or Silvagni or TDK out there, and a whole bunch of fresh faces. Overall, we do look fairly short even with Phillips, Riley and Paea out there from our VFL.

Just a few random observations for this time of year:

• Reidy is one massive unit. Our ruck is a different look without TDK there -we now have 3 bash and crash brothers with him, Pitto and HOK. No doubt the focus for them this year will be to provide the contest - whether in ruck or up forward.
• Saad and Florent looked good across half back in the match sim...and keep a lookout for Billy, reckon he's found another gear and now looks more comfortable at this level. Think he'll be the successor to Saad, fingers crossed. Special mention to Gov who was also playing back in defence.
• Elijah was the clear standout today - maybe partially because I was looking for him, but his kicking on either side is outstanding, and has uncanny spatial awareness. Stood out in the match sim, and dominated the repeat running drills.
• I agree with Chloe - Cow has got a bit of presence to him, could be the new tatts, but he's a bit of a beast.
• We have to re-sign Walsh as a priority. Good to see him in full pre-season training rather than running laps. Outstanding today in the match sim and looked to be moving freely.
• Campo boys looked much better in the kicking drills than this time last year. The 2 Irish boys do seem to struggle just a little though - still doesn't look natural for them with the oval ball. You feel it's make or break for them this year.
• Reckon Harry D's gonna be a beauty when he's fully matured - loved his aggression at the ball, and composed by foot. I also liked the look of Chesser on a wing - if he can stay fit, we may have got ourselves a bit of a bargain there.
• Jagga took part in most of the drills/match sim. He's still incredibly light, and noticed he got easily pushed away from the contest on a few occassions. I could see his role more as the first receiver than on the inside.
• George is gonna have another cracking season.

Like I said in an earlier post, it's hard to take it all in with separate groups simultaneously undertaking drills all over the ground - your eyes are darting in every direction like Marty Feldman trying to take everything in. Similarly in the match sim, you're trying to watch both sides at the same time - as opposed to when you're watch a proper H&A game, where you're concentrating on your own side and couldn't give a flying fornication about the other mob.

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

Agree with all of that.

The session went for about 2 and a half hours - fair bit of match sim and skills work, ie kicking drills. It's something which has been discussed on here a fair bit, but there was a definite focus on kicking.

It was kind of weird though not seeing Curnow or Silvagni or TDK out there, and a whole bunch of fresh faces. Overall, we do look fairly short even with Phillips, Riley and Paea out there from our VFL.

Just a few random observations for this time of year:

• Reidy is one massive unit. Our ruck is a different look without TDK there -we now have 3 bash and crash brothers with him, Pitto and HOK. No doubt the focus for them this year will be to provide the contest - whether in ruck or up forward.
• Saad and Florent looked good across half back in the match sim...and keep a lookout for Billy, reckon he's found another gear and now looks more comfortable at this level. Think he'll be the successor to Saad, fingers crossed. Special mention to Gov who was also playing back in defence.
• Elijah was the clear standout today - maybe partially because I was looking for him, but his kicking on either side is outstanding, and has uncanny spatial awareness. Stood out in the match sim, and dominated the repeat running drills.
• I agree with Chloe - Cow has got a bit of presence to him, could be the new tatts, but he's a bit of a beast.
• We have to re-sign Walsh as a priority. Good to see him in full pre-season training rather than running laps. Outstanding today in the match sim and looked to be moving freely.
• Campo boys looked much better in the kicking drills than this time last year. The 2 Irish boys do seem to struggle just a little though - still doesn't look natural for them with the oval ball. You feel it's make or break for them this year.
• Reckon Harry D's gonna be a beauty when he's fully matured - loved his aggression at the ball, and composed by foot. I also liked the look of Chesser on a wing - if he can stay fit, we may have got ourselves a bit of a bargain there.
• Jagga took part in most of the drills/match sim. He's still incredibly light, and noticed he got easily pushed away from the contest on a few occassions. I could see his role more as the first receiver than on the inside.
• George is gonna have another cracking season.

Like I said in an earlier post, it's hard to take it all in with separate groups simultaneously undertaking drills all over the ground - your eyes are darting in every direction like Marty Feldman trying to take everything in. Similarly in the match sim, you're trying to watch both sides at the same time - as opposed to when you're watch a proper H&A game, where you're concentrating on your own side and couldn't give a flying fornication about the other mob.

Fantastic report thanks!

 

[Bamboo Harvester]

Fantastic report thanks!

Cheers Walshy.

I noticed that Bucky was there today recording a fair bit of the session on his phone, so keep a lookout on his youtube channel for some footage.

 

[WalshistheGOAT]

Cheers Walshy.

I noticed that Bucky was there today recording a fair bit of the session on his phone, so keep a lookout on his youtube channel for some footage.

I'll be down next Friday to give an in depth report on what I see, work finished up today which is lovely!

 

[Red_man2008]

If Fraser can make the Pies forward set-up work, I’m sure he’ll have no issues turning our lot into something competitive.

Really excited for a Moir/Hayward/Kemp combination; all 3 are awkward matchups who can play tall, small and push up into the midfield/swap forward to exploit any mismatches.

Reckon Moir will benefit enormously from the experience and leadership Hayward brings.

Im truly excited and bullish about what Moir can do it 2026. He’s starting to put it together. Starting to believe he’s capable at the level. Once he gets the level of cockiness required he could be anything.

 

[passmark]

Agree with all of that.

The session went for about 2 and a half hours - fair bit of match sim and skills work, ie kicking drills. It's something which has been discussed on here a fair bit, but there was a definite focus on kicking.

It was kind of weird though not seeing Curnow or Silvagni or TDK out there, and a whole bunch of fresh faces. Overall, we do look fairly short even with Phillips, Riley and Paea out there from our VFL.

Just a few random observations for this time of year:

• Reidy is one massive unit. Our ruck is a different look without TDK there -we now have 3 bash and crash brothers with him, Pitto and HOK. No doubt the focus for them this year will be to provide the contest - whether in ruck or up forward.
• Saad and Florent looked good across half back in the match sim...and keep a lookout for Billy, reckon he's found another gear and now looks more comfortable at this level. Think he'll be the successor to Saad, fingers crossed. Special mention to Gov who was also playing back in defence.
• Elijah was the clear standout today - maybe partially because I was looking for him, but his kicking on either side is outstanding, and has uncanny spatial awareness. Stood out in the match sim, and dominated the repeat running drills.
• I agree with Chloe - Cow has got a bit of presence to him, could be the new tatts, but he's a bit of a beast.
• We have to re-sign Walsh as a priority. Good to see him in full pre-season training rather than running laps. Outstanding today in the match sim and looked to be moving freely.
• Campo boys looked much better in the kicking drills than this time last year. The 2 Irish boys do seem to struggle just a little though - still doesn't look natural for them with the oval ball. You feel it's make or break for them this year.
• Reckon Harry D's gonna be a beauty when he's fully matured - loved his aggression at the ball, and composed by foot. I also liked the look of Chesser on a wing - if he can stay fit, we may have got ourselves a bit of a bargain there.
• Jagga took part in most of the drills/match sim. He's still incredibly light, and noticed he got easily pushed away from the contest on a few occassions. I could see his role more as the first receiver than on the inside.
• George is gonna have another cracking season.

Like I said in an earlier post, it's hard to take it all in with separate groups simultaneously undertaking drills all over the ground - your eyes are darting in every direction like Marty Feldman trying to take everything in. Similarly in the match sim, you're trying to watch both sides at the same time - as opposed to when you're watch a proper H&A game, where you're concentrating on your own side and couldn't give a flying fornication about the other mob.

Thanks BH

 

[agro]

Thanks BHView attachment 2491527

 

[BlueTongue]

Yep I just thought I would watch Cody Walkers highlights the other night (I have not seen him play live) and his disposal by hand and foot is well how do we say it "not Daicos like."

He has other strengths I get it but it did stand out to me. And maybe comparing him to Nick is just a tad unfair, from me.

I haven't seen much of Cody's highlights, but what I have seen, he has a fair bit of x-factor about him.

That said, I am not sure how anyone, and I do mean anyone in modern day football, can be touted as a potential #1 pick without elite skills. Naicos is clearly #1 material.

Harley Reid is not really in the same conversation, but when you look at Reid's draft year, there's really no-one else ahead of him (maybe Nate Caddy/Wizard/Colby McKercher), so he is, and was, by default.

It makes those truly elite picks all the more valuable.

 

[agro]

I haven't seen much of Cody's highlights, but what I have seen, he has a fair bit of x-factor about him.

That said, I am not sure how anyone, and I do mean anyone in modern day football, can be touted as a potential #1 pick without elite skills. Naicos is clearly #1 material.

Harley Reid is not really in the same conversation, but when you look at Reid's draft year, there's really no-one else ahead of him (maybe Nate Caddy/Wizard/Colby McKercher), so he is, and was, by default.

It makes those truly elite picks all the more valuable.

I can see him sliding next year …. Sliding a long way

 

[teddy-hopkins]

View attachment 2491431

We now see where Acres has modeled his kicking from.

 

[GoBlues!]

Scratch match odds v evens.
Who wins?

Odds for mine - Cripps, George, Cez, Jagga, Weitering

Pffft… very thin defence, slow midfield and no one to kick goals. No match for the evens…

Cowan, Newman, Haynes, Walsh, Lord, Elijah, Williams, McKay, Ainsworth.

 

[Dramoth]

Agree. Feel must play the high half forward role in 26 and move from there. Just a pure cheetah when moving.

His hands are awesome when grabbing the ball. Just plucking it out of the air with minimal effort. And doing it on the run, flat out. He has all the silk of Yarran and SPS, and hopefully none of their injury issues.

 

[HBF]

I wish Campo taught his boys to kick like him . Its funny how one our best kicks this century and an AFL coach, ended up with 2 boys who struggle with kicking.

Especially Ben with that awkward kicking style.