Bigman’s Training Reports

[Samcro24]

I feel sick

It's coming

Of course it is.

He won the minor premiership!

Those last two games, just water near a bridge.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Of course it is.

He won the minor premiership!

Those last two games, just water near a bridge.

It’s assuming his supporters referring to we finished minor premier, all well and good if it was the EPL, just shows how shit our finals were that we finished 5th.

 

[1970crow]

Of course it is.

He won the minor premiership!

Those last two games, just water near a bridge.

And to win the minor premiership we had to grind away close wins against 2 league behemoths in the last 3 rounds. We truly put our September stake in the ground a few rounds out.

 

[WheresGroomgone]

Pretty solid sesh on Friday morning, clocking in at almost two hours long.

A couple of key names returned to the main group which was pleasing to see.
Both Rankine and Fog did the majority of drills and appeared to be moving freely, though they clearly held back from full intensity.

Just as pleasing was seeing Draper train for the first time, albeit in rehab. It was only some light jogging up and down the ground but he seemed in good spirits nonetheless, even high-fiving the other rehab guys when he first came out. His movement seemed ok, maybe a bit stiff. He’s certainly bulked up, though I swear his calves looked a bit strange, almost lumpy?

Ryan was once again in the rehab group. Not sure what the go is there. He did a bunch of running work alongside Ludowyke. Max came out later on in the session, similar to Wednesday. He was running at a very high intensity so not sure why he’s being held back from the main group.

The no-shows were Cumming once again as well as Toby Murray. McGuane came out for some handball work but is likely out of any real action until after Christmas.

Pedlar copped a knock from Edwards during the final drill and hobbled off the ground. To my eye it looked like a corky or knee knock, but it was enough for him to finish his day early. I also noticed Thilthorpe was wearing some strapping around his knee. Still moved well but I never like seeing knee strapping. Especially given his history.

The large amount of players training (over 40 when including the likes of Drury, Foot, Strachan and Bell) allows for multiple drills to be active at the same time, with groups rotating between three of them. All three drills would start off simple before expanding. They were:

1. Inside 50 kicking drill with mock defenders (basically cardboard cutouts) filling holes. Kicks originally started from just outside the arc, before moving back into the centre square.

2. Ground ball drill, which would later include tackling. This one had a very quick turnaround - as soon as the ball got to the end zone, a new ball would be chucked in.

3. 45 degree short kicks off half back, with more congestion being added later on. These needed to be pinpoint, but taking risks seemed to be encouraged.

The lads then moved into a full ground drill, essentially a form of match sim. There was a diamond formation of cones in the middle, can’t say I knew exactly why this was but I’m guessing it was to restrict use of the corridor? Regardless, there were once again teams listed. They were much the same as last session but here they are:

Blue

FB: Keane Hinge
HB: Milera Murray Nankervis
_C: Ah Chee Dawson Peatling
HF: Keays N-Bullen Rankine
FF: Thilthorpe Pedlar
_R: O’Brien Soligo Curtin
IN: Laird

White

FB: Butts Worrell
HB: Cook Borlase Bond
_C: Jones Rachele Sholl
HF: Taylor Maley Foot
FF: Drury Welsh
_R: McAndrew Edwards Dowling
IN: Berry

As you can see, not a whole lot of change from last time, though it was good that Nank retained his half back spot in the Blue team despite the inclusion of Laird.

Speaking of which, I thought Nankervis was probably the standout trainer today. Admittedly I’m a tad biased as I am a fan, but he just keeps getting involved and his ball use/decision making is so much better than we saw in the back half of last season. His confidence seems sky high at present.

The boys ended on some pretty gruelling running at high speeds over 200m about 10 or so times. Curtin, Filthy, Dowling and Bond were among the best runners which is no surprise. I did notice ANB labour a bit towards the end which is unusual for him, perhaps just an off day. Foot kept up well with the best runners for the majority of it, but struggled on the last couple. Which isn’t overly surprising given he’s been playing VFL footy for some time.

I will say, Drury is seriously fit. Despite being only SANFL listed, his running is right up there. And he doesn’t look out of place at all. I know he’s a bit limited given he’s not quick for his height, so he may be in that awkward spot between state and national league. But he can play and he’s training like he still really wants it.

Some players thoughts:

3. Berry - had a nice moment where he fended off three (!) opponents in quick succession before feeding a handball out. Wish he would ditch the bucket hat though, he and Peatling look identical at times out there.

6. Curtin - once again did work at the end of the session roving to the rucks, which im sure will please many.

11. Edwards - despite being listed in the midfield for the main drill, he got the majority of his ball distributing out of defence. His teammates definitely looked to give it to him as despite his unconventional ball drop, he’s a very accurate kick. Also has the ability to quickly adjust mid-kick to avoid being smothered or when he sees a teammate late.

17. Welsh - took a great mark at full strength on the wing and followed it up with a ripping pass to set up a goal. Having said that, he otherwise had a day to forget. Dropped or fumbled marks and his kicking was really off. Looked down on confidence early on and never really got it back.

20. Hinge - trained well. Looked strong and dynamic in the contest and you wouldn’t know he had spent a fair chunk of time in the rehab ground before today.

23. Rankine - visibly held himself back, likely to avoid reinjuring himself. But in the main drill he still couldn’t help himself for a moment, taking on multiple tacklers and bursting past them to hit a target inside 50.

31. Dowling - as I’ve said previously, he’s definitely the bulkiest I’ve seen him since he got to the club. He also joined Curtin to do stoppage work with the rucks. At one point in an earlier drill (the ground ball one) I saw him shrug or evade multiple tackles which hasn’t really been a thing for him previously.

33. Cotton - still has a lot of work to do with his ground ball and contest work, but his ability to intercept opposition handballs is pretty special. Also perfectly crumbed a ball off hands at full speed, so he has tricks.

47. Foot - finally saw more from him today. He’s quite exciting when he gets it - I don’t think he has express pace but he definitely has a burst and looks almost like a rugby player with ball in hand. He does seem quite frenetic though, certainly not a calm decision maker and I suspect he will be a bit error prone in games.

Bigman a heartfelt thankyou for these incredibly detailed observant reports they make the off season a little easier after our sad exit from season 2025 with some hope and some curtailed excitement.

Having said that I have a very serious question for you.

After watching the Hawks debacle overseas and having to do the long drive to Adelaide today from the EP I decided to pass time listening to Fenix, Macca and yourself provide a summary of the game on Crowcast. Which by the way I thought was great and I could hear the disappointment you all expressed.

Now to my inquiry - many years ago whilst in Adelaide for Christmas I ventured down to West Lakes to watch training with my youngest lad - and from memory you and I had acknowledged we would both be there after the training worked out we had seen each other. Your observations of the training were much better than mine as I was also entertaining my youngest lad.

After today’s listen of the podcast I would swear you’re about 30 years old or younger just going on your voice - now my youngest turns 17 this week so my question is at training 10-12 years ago were you 18 but dressed as an older bloke or are you Benjamin Button??

In all seriousness thanks to you guys for filling in a couple of hours today and an even bigger thanks for you ongoing excellent reports!

If I work out how to ring the podcast next year be ready!

 

[Samcro24]

It’s assuming his supporters referring to we finished minor premier, all well and good if it was the EPL, just shows how shit our finals were that we finished 5th.

5th is flattering
I’d have relegated us to 9th

 

[adelaidecrows]

5th is flattering
I’d have relegated us to 9th

the draw made us look better, finals exposed us.

 

[daniel_4tw]

the draw made us look better, finals exposed us.

You don’t go 18-5 due an easy draw.

2 of our losses really should have been wins (GC and Hawks away).

We failed in finals, big time, but the rewriting of history because the team ran out of steam is crazy.

It was a fantastic season and now the boys have proven they can take it to the best teams they can hopefully keep a bit in the tank and go a bit further next year.

I think our finals losses was on Nicks more than the players (and I’m a Nicks optimist). But some of those moves on game day was strange…

 

[adelaidecrows]

You don’t go 18-5 due an easy draw.

2 of our losses really should have been wins (GC and Hawks away).

We failed in finals, big time, but the rewriting of history because the team ran out of steam is crazy.

It was a fantastic season and now the boys have proven they can take it to the best teams they can hopefully keep a bit in the tank and go a bit further next year.

I think our finals losses was on Nicks more than the players (and I’m a Nicks optimist). But some of those moves on game day was strange…

yes you do

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

You don’t go 18-5 due an easy draw.

2 of our losses really should have been wins (GC and Hawks away).

We failed in finals, big time, but the rewriting of history because the team ran out of steam is crazy.

It was a fantastic season and now the boys have proven they can take it to the best teams they can hopefully keep a bit in the tank and go a bit further next year.

I think our finals losses was on Nicks more than the players (and I’m a Nicks optimist). But some of those moves on game day was strange…

Went both ways though as we were lucky to win the Lions game.

We deserved to finish the minor round top 4, but we were playing week to week, rather than having an eye on the end game by managing the playing group over the season.

 

[1970crow]

You don’t go 18-5 due an easy draw.

2 of our losses really should have been wins (GC and Hawks away).

We failed in finals, big time, but the rewriting of history because the team ran out of steam is crazy.

It was a fantastic season and now the boys have proven they can take it to the best teams they can hopefully keep a bit in the tank and go a bit further next year.

I think our finals losses was on Nicks more than the players (and I’m a Nicks optimist). But some of those moves on game day was strange…

Couple of problems with what you wrote. You can’t refer to the losses that should have been wins without the opposite. Port and Lions would have beaten us if not for blowing their chances in front of scoreboard whilst dominating us in the last quarter. And if our double ups weren’t Eagles and Roos, not sure there’s 2 other teams we’d have beaten away in those 2 late rounds.

Second, ‘running out of steam’ is a feature, not a flaw. We’ve had Burgess for numerous years, preparation is not a weakness. It’s not something that is on the table to address, continuity matters and has for a long while. We will manage our selectable group exactly the same next year.

 

[Big Dub]

Couple of problems with what you wrote. You can’t refer to the losses that should have been wins without the opposite. Port and Lions would have beaten us if not for blowing their chances in front of scoreboard whilst dominating us in the last quarter. And if our double ups weren’t Eagles and Roos, not sure there’s 2 other teams we’d have beaten away in those 2 late rounds.

Second, ‘running out of steam’ is a feature, not a flaw. We’ve had Burgess for numerous years, preparation is not a weakness. It’s not something that is on the table to address, continuity matters and has for a long while. We will manage our selectable group exactly the same next year.

Ever the optimist, I think we will change for next year.

The 2025 focus was on making finals and the mantra was to only focus on the week ahead. Ie pick the best side with no thought for the season ahead. We didn't rest players and we didn't blood kids as much (or as many) as we should.

This coming year needs to be about winning a final, so the mantra needs to change. We also don't have Smith, Murphy and Crouch to give games to.

Absolutely I could be wrong about this. But I'd rather be optimistic and happy now, and dissapointed if I'm wrong later, than pessimistic and unhappy already.

As a side note, if we had gone from 15th with 8 wins (and a draw) to 7/8th with 14 wins and knocked out in week 1 of finals, most would have been talking up our improvement. There is still a lot to do for us to contend, but 2025 is a pretty good platform to start from.

 

[1970crow]

Ever the optimist, I think we will change for next year.

The 2025 focus was on making finals and the mantra was to only focus on the week ahead. Ie pick the best side with no thought for the season ahead. We didn't rest players and we didn't blood kids as much (or as many) as we should.

This coming year needs to be about winning a final, so the mantra needs to change. We also don't have Smith, Murphy and Crouch to give games to.

Absolutely I could be wrong about this. But I'd rather be optimistic and happy now, and dissapointed if I'm wrong later, than pessimistic and unhappy already.

As a side note, if we had gone from 15th with 8 wins (and a draw) to 7/8th with 14 wins and knocked out in week 1 of finals, most would have been talking up our improvement. There is still a lot to do for us to contend, but 2025 is a pretty good platform to start from.

Whether contending or rebuilding, focussing on next week has remained the constant. Expecting that to continue isn’t being pessimistic, it’s being rational. If you believe it’s going to magically change in 2026, then that’s considerable optimism that is contradictory to years and years of practice.

And the only reason we were 15th last year is because Nicks stuffed up game style and blew our season. And then reverted back to it to conclude this season. We were an umpiring decision away from finals in 2024. So we’ve ascended 5 spots in 2 seasons, not that magical.

 

[Thylacinus]

Went both ways though as we were lucky to win the Lions game.

We deserved to finish the minor round top 4, but we were playing week to week, rather than having an eye on the end game by managing the playing group over the season.

Agree. We were also a bit lucky to win against Collingwood by 3 points on the 16th of August. Having said that, I do believe we were deserving minor premiers, but were exposed in the finals. We certainly missed Rankine and Rachele also. Hope we have learnt various valuable lessons.

 

[Betts are off]

TBH, even though Riley Thilthorpe kicked 60 and was an AA, I still feel like his next step could be a big one.

There were multiple stretches where he just didnt seem to get the targets he really should for such a dominant presence.

This year I hope we plan on finding way more ways to isolate him and get him a big bump in targets. There's just so few defenders who can match him in the air, body and ground

 

[1970crow]

Agree. We were also a bit lucky to win against Collingwood by 3 points on the 16th of August. Having said that, I do believe we were deserving minor premiers, but were exposed in the finals. We certainly missed Rankine and Rachele also. Hope we have learnt various valuable lessons.

No doubt we deserved the minor premiership. 2 unavailable is still pretty low, I don’t think that accounts for finals performance. Particularly when Rankine was there for both Eagles and Pies games, where our performance dropped significantly from prior weeks.

 

[1970crow]

TBH, even though Riley Thilthorpe kicked 60 and was an AA, I still feel like his next step could be a big one.

There were multiple stretches where he just didnt seem to get the targets he really should for such a dominant presence.

This year I hope we plan on finding way more ways to isolate him and get him a big bump in targets. There's just so few defenders who can match him in the air, body and ground

That’s not how our forward line operates.

 

[1990crow]

TBH, even though Riley Thilthorpe kicked 60 and was an AA, I still feel like his next step could be a big one.

There were multiple stretches where he just didnt seem to get the targets he really should for such a dominant presence.

This year I hope we plan on finding way more ways to isolate him and get him a big bump in targets. There's just so few defenders who can match him in the air, body and ground

Once he learns how to kick a bag he will be unstoppable

 

[Huntercrow]

If it wasn't for Bigman's reports, I wouldn't even bother with BF until the other side of Xmas.

There are far too many "Unhappy Clappers" that suck the joy out of supporting the club. Its like receiving Sox for Xmas.
Mind you, I don't necessarily disagree with their point of view, but it gets to the point where the constant negativity is exhausting and predictable.

So, Yay for Bigman! His contributions are balanced and very informative. His is the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[AFC979810]

You don’t go 18-5 due an easy draw.

2 of our losses really should have been wins (GC and Hawks away).

We failed in finals, big time, but the rewriting of history because the team ran out of steam is crazy.

It was a fantastic season and now the boys have proven they can take it to the best teams they can hopefully keep a bit in the tank and go a bit further next year.

I think our finals losses was on Nicks more than the players (and I’m a Nicks optimist). But some of those moves on game day was strange…

You absolutely can perform better due to an easy draw.

We were 5-5 against teams from the top 8 and 13-0 against teams from the 9th -18th.

It's not a knock on the Crows - 2025 was a great season. We had a dream run with injury, had a bunch of players get to AA level (Dawson, Worrell, Keane, TT, Rankine) and played some scintillating football.

The biggest challenge for 2026 is going from the hunter to the hunted. We will have a harder draw, have lost the best fitness guy in Australia and still have a coach that isnt good on gameday.

Also - our best is absolutely good enough against anyone. We were only genuinely outclassed in two games this year (Freo and the Hawks final).

I am a believer that to win a flag and finals - everything needs to go right. I think that losing Rankine in the circumstances was an absolute massive blow to our entire squad and the main reason we were so flat entering the finals.

 

[cmndstab]

the draw made us look better, finals exposed us.

I disagree. I think that if the season was two months shorter, we would absolutely have been in the mix.

We clearly lost our way in the final month or two. Some of our younger players ran out of steam, the side as a whole lost momentum, and rather than addressing it our coaching staff just tried desperately to keep the train rolling.

I think we surprised ourselves at how well we were doing, and with the whole "we only think about next week" mentality, lost sight of the bigger picture.

 

[SugarShane]

Also - our best is absolutely good enough against anyone. We were only genuinely outclassed in two games this year (Freo and the Hawks final).

Not to be a stickler, but how did you see the Collingwood final? Despite the scoreline it was dead obvious to all and sundry from the opening bounce that we were never really in that.

 

[AFC979810]

I disagree. I think that if the season was two months shorter, we would absolutely have been in the mix.

We clearly lost our way in the final month or two. Some of our younger players ran out of steam, the side as a whole lost momentum, and rather than addressing it our coaching staff just tried desperately to keep the train rolling.

I think we surprised ourselves at how well we were doing, and with the whole "we only think about next week" mentality, lost sight of the bigger picture.

I just dont understand this 'running out of steam' narrative. We won our last 9 games. In the last month before finals we beat two of the preliminary finals teams. Now I know that we also barely beat two cellar dwellers, but it's the AFL. Look at Brisbane. In the 5 weeks prior to the finals they got thumped 66 points by the Suns, lost to the Swans and then lost their first final by 38 points.

We had 12 days between Rd 24 and our first final. Fitness was not an issue.

Which of our younger players ran out of steam? I thought Curtin was decent against Collingwood but didnt play well against the Hawks.

We gave Dawson reduced minutes leading into finals, same as TT. We rested Laird and Walker in the lead up.

We were over-awed. Most of our team had not played finals. The Rankine drama was also a massive factor.

 

[SugarShane]

Agree. We were also a bit lucky to win against Collingwood by 3 points on the 16th of August. Having said that, I do believe we were deserving minor premiers, but were exposed in the finals. We certainly missed Rankine and Rachele also. Hope we have learnt various valuable lessons.

You'd hope we learned some lessons, sorry, "took some learnings", from a management point of view.

All well and good to go 18-5 until you get to finals and your continuity team is toast, or until you lose one or two of your top 5 players and then have to pick from players that you refused to give game time to earlier.

Timing your run is important. I thought we beat Collingwood fair and square in August despite the BS over "missed" free kicks. But, in hindsight, we put everything we had in the tank into a meaningless win while they were just beginning to tune back up for September.

 

[AFC979810]

Not to be a stickler, but how did you see the Collingwood final? Despite the scoreline it was dead obvious to all and sundry from the opening bounce that we were never really in that.

I disagree. Thought the first half was an arm wrestle, but we were still in it.

The game was lost in the first 15 minutes of that 3rd quarter when Collingwood kicked 5 goals to 0. We still weren't dead when we kicked the last 3 goals of the 3/4 to get within 19 points.

Soligo's flying kick from 5 metres out goes through and its down to 13 points with all the momentum. Walker and Pedlar then kick 2 behinds and Collingwoods experience came out in full force.

We didnt have an X-factor in that game. Missing two of our best 4 players was the nail in the coffin. We were in it though.

 

[Billy Cart]

You don’t go 18-5 due an easy draw.

2 of our losses really should have been wins (GC and Hawks away).

We failed in finals, big time, but the rewriting of history because the team ran out of steam is crazy.

It was a fantastic season and now the boys have proven they can take it to the best teams they can hopefully keep a bit in the tank and go a bit further next year.

I think our finals losses was on Nicks more than the players (and I’m a Nicks optimist). But some of those moves on game day was strange…

Counter that to us should have lost to Collingwood, Brisbane and Hawthorne in the h&a games, cos they couldn't kick straight in the final quarter in all 3 games.