Training Preseason Training Thread - 2026

[Keys]

The below is the OG faux training report from nearly 9 years ago - often imitated but never surpassed

In the absence of Keys I went down for a trundle this morning to check them out on return. Just a few random notes I took down...

• A lot of running work again, clearly a focus even in the heat.
• Duggan looked on and was hitting targets left and right. Set for a huge 2017.
• Giles went up against Vardy in the ruck contests and I'd say that Giles has the inside running at the moment.
• Mitchell looked a class above the other midfielders bar Priddis. Just knew how to find the footy and wouldn't miss a target all session. Shuey was very quiet and seemed to be taking direction from Mitchell. Doesn't bode well for his captaincy credentials, maybe he doesn't want the gig?
• Won't say too much about it in case I was just reading too much into it, but Rioli looked as though he'd enjoyed the Christmas break a bit too much. A few of the coaches pulled him aside and they were having quite an animated conversation before Rioli was sent to do laps for the rest of the session. Good news for Le Cras, I suppose.
• Sheed kicked on his right foot for 80% of the session, I reckon. Nice to see players working on their non-preferred so readily.
• Petrie looked like he was doing a great job 'coaching' the younger forwards in between the drills. Darling in particular seemed to be following him around.
• Gee Venables has some skills. He mainly jogged laps before spending the last half hour or so on set shots - curled a few beauties from behind the boundary line at the end for a bit of fun. Hardly saw him miss a kick.
• What interested me the most was that McGovern split his time between the defenders and the forwards, could be seeing a swingman role in 2017. He was his usual dominant self down back in some match simulation drills before going head-to-head with Mackenzie in a forward role.
• Bayok is very fast - Cripps was in most of the drills with him and couldn't keep up.
• Nelson is pale as buggery and still doesn't really have the body shape you'd expect of an AFL player.
• There was a big bloke who pulled up next to me and I could have sworn it was Suma, but I'm sure I was wrong...
• Masto was the player picked to kick the goal at the end today and nailed it. Celebrations were huge.
• No sign of Cole, Parto or Hill. Couldn't tell you why.

Will upload pics later if I have time. Let me know if you have any questions!

You might wonder why I’ve put this up and stickied it

Because this is the standard all copies should be measured against and it’s a reminder of how high the bar was set

And to hopefully discourage sequels.

If you want to have a crack in my absence, go ahead but if it doesn’t equal the standard set (as judged by me), then expect

• A one week threadban for a first offence
• A two week threadban for a second offence
• A one year threadban for a third offence

Actual training reports, minus discussion, can become found here:

Training - Preseason Training Reports -2025/26

This thread has been setup for training reports only and won’t be open for replies Informative reports from the preseason thread will be copied into this thread so posters have access to the quality work from the likes of LittleFires without wading through pages of general posts

www.bigfooty.com

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

I just hope we dont make the mistake of turning him into a 120kg tall like we did with Nic Nat. The kid excels at ground level and his mobility. We ruined Nic's work around the ground by bulking him up too much, not to mention the extra stress on his knees.

Don’t think that was our choice.

He wasn’t huge in 2016 before he did his knee.

Here he is in the GWS game


Once he did his knee he seemed to lose the ability to put in the work off field to manage his weight.

I remember being shocked at how much bigger he looked in 2018, and then was again shocked when he came back in 2019.

I thought he’d use the off season to get back in better shape, but 2020 he looked the same and 2021-2022 his conditionally seemed to get worse.

I think it was the knees that made conditioning tough and led to his weight gain/lower fitness not the other way around.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

Don’t think that was our choice.

He wasn’t huge in 2016 before he did his knee.

Here he is in the GWS game

View attachment 2513536
Once he did his knee he seemed to lose the ability to put in the work off field to manage his weight.

I remember being shocked at how much bigger he looked in 2018, and then was again shocked when he came back in 2019.

I thought he’d use the off season to get back in better shape, but 2020 he looked the same and 2021-2022 his conditionally seemed to get worse.

I think it was the knees that made conditioning tough and led to his weight gain/lower fitness not the other way around.

He won All-Australian in '20 and '21 by the way. Which boggles my mind even more cos to your point, he looked like a LOAD after the ACL's.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

When do players pix and profiles etc get added to the clubs site AFL team list?
Some are added, some not...

Whenever the club does their team photo day, I assume. If you follow them on social media there'll be a random day that the team posts a bts photo session dump, then it shouldn't be too long after that the players profiles will be updated.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

He won All-Australian in '20 and '21 by the way. Which boggles my mind even more cos to your point, he looked like a LOAD after the ACL's.

He was probably the player who benefited the most from shorter quarters and also the player who benefitted the most from 6-6-6.

Along with improvements to continue to develop his ruck craft he was at his most influential in 2020-2022 which is when he was in his worst shape.

Even in round four against Collingwood in 2022, he basically won us the game.

 

[Chris_6678]

Don’t think that was our choice.

He wasn’t huge in 2016 before he did his knee.

Here he is in the GWS game

View attachment 2513536
Once he did his knee he seemed to lose the ability to put in the work off field to manage his weight.

I remember being shocked at how much bigger he looked in 2018, and then was again shocked when he came back in 2019.

I thought he’d use the off season to get back in better shape, but 2020 he looked the same and 2021-2022 his conditionally seemed to get worse.

I think it was the knees that made conditioning tough and led to his weight gain/lower fitness not the other way around.

I always thought he was over training at one point in the leadup to the 2013 season which caused his OP and struggled to put in the extra work to get into full fitness incase it came back again.

 

[NYJetsfor2029]

https://archive.md/qOKB6

Harper Banfield’s skills get a mention and Baker sounds ok.

A little worrying about Starcevich…

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

I always thought he was over training at one point in the leadup to the 2013 season which caused his OP and struggled to put in the extra work to get into full fitness incase it came back again.

Maybe. I remember him being out for a long time. Can’t remember if he ended up having the surgery.

I still sometimes watch his highlights from 2015 and what you immediately notice is he is quite skinny.



The weight gain happens pretty quickly after his knees along with getting older.

 

[FKASC]

Tbh I feel like there is a higher chance of injury in the PS games against the mob down the road. It always feels like they’re keen to get in a low blow if and where they can in the PS games (ala Shep/Fyfe in 2021, Chesser in 2022 etc).

Yeah but that was payback for Naitanui DELIBERATELY KILLING Sandilands that time in a marking contest

 

[Keys]

Derbies, new venues and ‘scenario’ play as every AFL club’s match sim details revealed

Derbies, new venues and ‘scenario’ play as every AFL club’s match sim details revealed

www.foxsports.com.au

Date for our unofficial scratch match against Fremantle has been confirmed - Cockburn Oval on Saturday, Feb 21 at 12.00pm which seems a dangerous time slot in the middle of summer

Edit: Got sucked in by a Vic media article - the start time of 12.00pm is EDST so WA time is 9.00am which makes more sense

 

[Proeagle]

Maybe. I remember him being out for a long time. Can’t remember if he ended up having the surgery.

I still sometimes watch his highlights from 2015 and what you immediately notice is he is quite skinny.



The weight gain happens pretty quickly after his knees along with getting older.

Never been someone as good as him at ruck knocks to advantage. Was the goat. Someone might find stats disputing this but his taps to advantage were amazing.

 

[EagleEgo]

 

[Carbine Chaos]

Never been someone as good as him at ruck knocks to advantage. Was the goat. Someone might find stats disputing this but his taps to advantage were amazing.

I still reckon Naitanui-Shuey and Lade-Burgoyne are the two best ruck/mid pairings I've seen in terms of synchronicity.

 

[Proeagle]

I really worry for Hall. Just dont see a position for him barring several injuries. He's pretty good when he has the ball but just seems a bit slow for my liking.

 

[kempy]

Can anyone report what the guys do as training on the other 4 days that aren’t full sessions? Must be gym work? Extra runnng? Lectures? One on ones?

 

[Elite Pete]

Derbies, new venues and ‘scenario’ play as every AFL club’s match sim details revealed

Derbies, new venues and ‘scenario’ play as every AFL club’s match sim details revealed

www.foxsports.com.au

Date for our unofficial scratch match against Fremantle has been confirmed - Cockburn Oval on Saturday, Feb 21 at 12.00pm which seems a dangerous time slot in the middle of summer

vic biased with the time? Eastern time slot reported maybe.

Rhino hast it for 9am.

No fans would be a little weird considering these games are streamed on Kayo in the past

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

I still reckon Naitanui-Shuey and Lade-Burgoyne are the two best ruck/mid pairings I've seen in terms of synchronicity.

Used to really like the Jamar-Moloney pairing also, which was amusing cos.. Melbourne.

 

[Bender_]

Derbies, new venues and ‘scenario’ play as every AFL club’s match sim details revealed

Derbies, new venues and ‘scenario’ play as every AFL club’s match sim details revealed

www.foxsports.com.au

Date for our unofficial scratch match against Fremantle has been confirmed - Cockburn Oval on Saturday, Feb 21 at 12.00pm which seems a dangerous time slot in the middle of summer

"As it's during one of the hottest times of the year for Perth, we could do it at 9am, or even 4pm to try and avoid the heat and intense sun?"

The brains trust between the 2 clubs: "Let's start at midday."

 

[Chris_6678]

Can anyone report what the guys do as training on the other 4 days that aren’t full sessions? Must be gym work? Extra runnng? Lectures? One on ones?

All that plus recovery.

 

[kfad05]

I still reckon Naitanui-Shuey and Lade-Burgoyne are the two best ruck/mid pairings I've seen in terms of synchronicity.

Cousins and Gardiner in 2003 was exceptional. Gardy was a quality tap ruckman, his peak was just too short with his PCL and ankle injuries.

 

[Astro7]

A real chatterbox! Some great insights, good post!

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

vic biased with the time? Eastern time slot reported maybe.

Rhino hast it for 9am.

No fans would be a little weird considering these games are streamed on Kayo in the past

More to do with the heat and being scheduled for February in Perth.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

Can anyone report what the guys do as training on the other 4 days that aren’t full sessions? Must be gym work? Extra runnng? Lectures? One on ones?

Weights, swimming, lots of cardio on rowers/bikes and even more meetings (team meetings, line meetings, meeting with player development coaches etc).

Footy really isn’t a full time job. Ross Lyon talked about only having 15 hours contact time (in-season) with his players.

I’d take a guess that is on the lower side for most clubs, especially one with a lot of young players like ours.

I’d think of being a full-time footballer being more the equivalent of being a full-time university student we might have three days contact time and then also do additional work in your own time rather than a full time job per se.

 

[ziad]

Don’t think that was our choice.

He wasn’t huge in 2016 before he did his knee.

Here he is in the GWS game

View attachment 2513536
Once he did his knee he seemed to lose the ability to put in the work off field to manage his weight.

I remember being shocked at how much bigger he looked in 2018, and then was again shocked when he came back in 2019.

I thought he’d use the off season to get back in better shape, but 2020 he looked the same and 2021-2022 his conditionally seemed to get worse.

I think it was the knees that made conditioning tough and led to his weight gain/lower fitness not the other way around.

Fijian DNA. I met him prior to his first game and in his firest season after a game in S Turney. His elbow join was bigger than my knee (I am 90kg and 182sm for reference) - he was never ever going to be 'light'

 

[ziad]

Weights, swimming, lots of cardio on rowers/bikes and even more meetings (team meetings, line meetings, meeting with player development coaches etc).

Footy really isn’t a full time job. Ross Lyon talked about only having 15 hours contact time (in-season) with his players.

I’d take a guess that is on the lower side for most clubs, especially one with a lot of young players like ours.

I’d think of being a full-time footballer being more the equivalent of being a full-time university student we might have three days contact time and then also do additional work in your own time rather than a full time job per se.

Arts degree?
Cheap I know but what the hell

 

[Sausageman]

I still reckon Naitanui-Shuey and Lade-Burgoyne are the two best ruck/mid pairings I've seen in terms of synchronicity.

I thought Cox-Kerr was just as damaging as either of those!