Training 2026 Training Reports

[Catalpa]

I didn't get to watch this morning, but I'm 17 minutes in now. We're winning the territory game, but not the scoreboard. They've had some clean wins out of the centre, but aren't beating us in contested midfield clearances. Not as bad as I expected.

 

[Hazelsnuts]

If Walker is coming in - I would be get Worner to the wing…
He can run and run all day, is a big fella, can mark…
The only question is his ball use under present as a wing that would be status quo for our previous wingers…
I have been a critic but a wing spot may suit him, pace may be an issue ?

 

[DQ 4EVER]

Counting chickens in February?

Counting bon chickens, maybe

 

[stax on the mull]

"... and reign it in a bit'.

Not an actual quote though.

 

[Freo Big Fella]

I missed the first half, where by all reports we seemed to start a bit slower and rougher.

But with that proviso, I thought there were plenty of positives to take from that;

• The sky is absolutely the limit with Reid - comfortably our best ball user and almost all the best plays involved him in some way. Young not far behind, so managing things to get those two in the starting midfield set up as much as possible will be critical.
• The more we choose to honour the leads and other donkey work Amiss puts in, the better he looks.
• Early days, but I thought M.Cox was very impressive - reads the play and positions himself well, gives us those Sandi-type advantages in the contest too. Thought his field kicking was a highlight - a couple of those F50 entries to Treacy and Voss in the third were exceptional.
• Didn't see a huge amount of McVee, but felt like he and Clark were playing a lot higher than I might have expected.
• Walker (crossing everything I can) showed plenty of promising signs - in a perfect world he's starting ahead of Banfield.
• The ball movement out of D50 is obviously still a work in progress, but I thought Moose and B.Cox were both looking to more attacking options (forward, rather than lateral - althought that might just be a symptom of Ryan not being out there) and started a couple of promising chains.
• We moved it so quickly a couple of times that it looked like the forwards weren't 100pc set up, and one of Treacy, Voss or Amiss was caught 1 v 2-3-4. Know they're wedded to the talls deep/Bolton, Freddy, Switta high set-up, but I think we need a Bolton or Dudley deep to provide more effective crumbing.

And as loathe as I am to give any credit to the Budgies, they do have the makings of a solid group in 3-4 seasons time if they can keep these guys together. Duursma, CDT and Shanahan all with some pretty good moments.

 

[freo_leo29]

Ryan out there in the WAFL game

 

[freo_leo29]

Oh no, Banners couple weeks ago would've been in our best side but hurt his quad

 

[Kapow!!!]

JL on Reid after the game - “needs to swim between the flags a bit more, and do the basics, instead of the mercurial”. Ffs, I’ve been a big JL supporter, but this is just not the public messaging. Give him confidence to do his thing and be himself.

He was very complimentary about his ball use and other aspects of his game - but if he takes our boy and dulls his flair and exuberance, I’m done

...the f***?

 

[Superkoops]

Three forward synergy look better. Amiss has a more refined role by the looks

Yep create space for Amiss to lead into. The three forwards worked well.

 

[largebus]

Maybe that's JL's way of not letting everything get to his head, but without context i.e. seeing how he said it the optics aren't great

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Ryan out the best 23 is crazy

 

[Knees of Ben Allan]

Biggest positives:

• Murphy picking right up where he left off last year. No signs of second year blues.
• The form of the 3 KPF's. No sign of last year being a flash in the pan for Voss. Amiss back to leading at the foot and looking better than he did all last year. Treacy looking like Treacy.
• Some signs we've been working on that quick play on overlap handball finally.

Biggest negative:

- That woeful first qtr. We've just come off a final where we came out looking timid and scared and lost to a team we should have beaten who came out far more composed than us. So practising yet again giving the opposition a 4 goal head start is not what I wanted to see. His inability to get the team fired up to throw the first punch is easily JLo's biggest weakness imo.

It is well established that J-Lo is a renaissance man. If he is to hone his football strategy by cherry-picking from a diverse array of sources; be it the rear guard offensive in Alexander the Great’s Battle of the Granicus, the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defense in chess, heck, even borrowing from Moe Szyslak’s brand of the sweet science, who am I to question this?

 

[DocT]

Counting chickens in February?

 

[mattis117]

Called it weeks ago that Ryan was on watch for not making B23. I am surprised it is Walker that displaces him though as I was picking it to be Draper.

Some of you love a whinge. What JL said about Reid is right in that keeping his decision making simple will actually help him. My criticism is that JL says things he shouldn't, not because they're wrong, but because external people will misunderstand the intent behind his words. JL is a little too flippant and should not say such things during a press conference.

Best news is the Cox injury scare sounds like a knock not a strain.

 

[gaskin]

The biggest concern for me was the amount of times we went deep inside 50 and there were 3-4 WC players against 1 of ours. Either the player kicking inside 50 is a moron or our keys are lazy. Judging by what I have seen year after year I would go with the first option.

 

[DocT]

I think JL was right. Tried to be too creative at times. Two moments come to mind. One early second where he was streaming towards 50 and then went right angles to the left where JOM and an eagles player were together. There was a marginal at best advantage for JOM. The ball went out of bounds.

Another in the fourth he had the ball in space deep in the left forward pocket instead of having a shot he kicked the ball to around 35 out and I’m not sure who he saw (might have been a miss kick) but seemed to be only an eagles player and they streamed forward off turnover.

No harm in providing constructive feedback. I’m sure Murphy himself would do things differently on those occasions and take on board the feedback. He is a second year player. Overall he played well and would have had a high number of score assists again.

Constructive feedback great. Publicly? And to a young player? A play maker whose flair and miracles the Vanilla Team desperately needs? I think JLo himself might wish that he'd expressed that differently - just like his 2025 pre-season 'Vanilla' comment.

 

[apuchar]

I was interested to see if anyone thought Walker’s game stood out, he really cleaned up at ground level and was quick to get us going towards our goals.

Everyone did. Including the coach.

 

[apuchar]

The biggest concern for me was the amount of times we went deep inside 50 and there were 3-4 WC players against 1 of ours. Either the player kicking inside 50 is a moron or our keys are lazy. Judging by what I have seen year after year I would go with the first option.

Would be curious to see where our small forwards were at the time.

 

[Carnthedockers]

Ryan out the best 23 is crazy

Crazy good. It sends a message. And as good as he is defensively he holds up our ball movement from the back half.

 

[mayne iac]

Harley Reid is going bald

 

[apuchar]

Maybe that's JL's way of not letting everything get to his head, but without context i.e. seeing how he said it the optics aren't great

He was very positive towards him but just said he needs to swim between the flags a bit more sometimes. I think everyone watching thought the same thing.

 

[chaosball32]

JL on Reid after the game - “needs to swim between the flags a bit more, and do the basics, instead of the mercurial”. Ffs, I’ve been a big JL supporter, but this is just not the public messaging. Give him confidence to do his thing and be himself.

He was very complimentary about his ball use and other aspects of his game - but if he takes our boy and dulls his flair and exuberance, I’m done

And people try to say that JL isn’t conservative lol. He’s the most unseasoned of chooks.

 

[chaosball32]

Didn’t catch the live stream, is it worth watching?

 

[Jezzitizle]

Called it weeks ago that Ryan was on watch for not making B23. I am surprised it is Walker that displaces him though as I was picking it to be Draper.

Some of you love a whinge. What JL said about Reid is right in that keeping his decision making simple will actually help him. My criticism is that JL says things he shouldn't, not because they're wrong, but because external people will misunderstand the intent behind his words. JL is a little too flippant and should not say such things during a press conference.

Best news is the Cox injury scare sounds like a knock not a strain.

Ryan hasn’t been squeezed out of the team, they are just being conservative with his body. He will quite rightly and deservedly be part of the best 23 this year.

 

[ilikepotatoes]

Crazy good. It sends a message. And as good as he is defensively he holds up our ball movement from the back half.

Hopefully leads to him improving his conditioning too.