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

 

[ghostbat12]

Grand Final BOG in 2023, Simpson medalist in 24 and 25, 3 x B&F at the Sharks.

It must be either medical or attitude, surely? Otherwise half the league should have jumped on this bloke by now?

No idea but it sounds a typical player that is usually good enough for wafl, but not good enough for afl. A in betweener.

Don’t know him but could be usual reasons, lacking athleticism/strength or kicking. He looks quiet small too. I don’t know but you have to have strength beyond just getting lots of ball at wafl level. Not a recruiter but how many midfielders are at 180cm. Not many.

 

[Happy Mastenator]

No idea but it sounds a typical player that is usually good enough for wafl, but not good enough for afl. A in betweener.

Don’t know him but could be usual reasons, lacking athleticism/strength or kicking. He looks quiet small too. I don’t know but you have to have strength beyond just getting lots of ball at wafl level. Not a recruiter but how many midfielders are at 180cm. Not many.

The 180cm isn't the problem as an inside mid. It's the listed 71kg, and the photo's where he looks skinny and wiry.

 

[twce13]

Some guys are destined to be list clogers at afl level if they make it onto a list. No disrespect or anything but I think this is what MM would become. I’d hate to be giving games to a low ceiling player over the youth .

 

[Forward Press]

History is littered with players that dominate at state league level and win Bests and Fairests and their equivalent of All-Australians and Brownlows etc only to be completely found out once on an AFL list.

For every Matt Priddis there's 10 Kane Mitchells.

 

[daddy_4_eyes]

Same boat tho. Played 1 good game over here vs WA and did sfa the rest of the time.

Literally the point I'm making.
Wally is dismissed but NHH is somehow the small forward saviour, despite both missing in a weak draft.

 

[kranky al]

I do love how there is a fifth plinth ready for the next one. Good mindset.

I believe freo have a nice empty cabinet gathering dust for a coupla decades now.

Gawd its good being up the successful end of Stirling highway.

 

[Keys]

I’m curious as to why we’ve continually overlooked Milan Murdock. I thought going into last year’s draft it was his best chance of being selected, especially with an extended rookie list, but he wasn’t taken again. There must be a reason we’ve continually overlook him when he fits what we need positional and age profile-wise.

Bill Monaghan (East Fremantle coach) was on Duffield’s show this morning to talk about Mitch Zadow who was signed by Port yesterday as a SSP

The discussion broadened to the draft and AFL recruitment, in particular on mature aged state league players which included Duffield asking him about Milan Murdoch. Monaghan, who acknowledged his bias, stated Murdoch would be better than 50% of players on AFL lists. Which when you consider the number of 18-20 year olds across the competition who are still developing he might not be that far off - not 50% but it’d be more over 25%

If we recruited Murdock, and we were very close to doing so last year, he’d be close to our best WAFL players. Whether he has the necessary attributes at 25 years of age to be effective at AFL level I don’t know having hardly ever seen him play

With our recruitment of Robertson, Schoenberg and Macrae, I’m not sure we need another 25 year old mid on our list but I’d love to see someone like him get a chance - players are too quickly put on the scrap heap which was also part of the discussion

 

[Jeremy McLovin]

I’m curious as to why we’ve continually overlooked Milan Murdock. I thought going into last year’s draft it was his best chance of being selected, especially with an extended rookie list, but he wasn’t taken again. There must be a reason we’ve continually overlook him when he fits what we need positional and age profile-wise.

Surely you're joking? We can't just draft him ourselves.

We have to wait for Geelong to draft him and then overpay in a trade despite him being out of contract.

 

[stallon]

I’m curious as to why we’ve continually overlooked Milan Murdock. I thought going into last year’s draft it was his best chance of being selected, especially with an extended rookie list, but he wasn’t taken again. There must be a reason we’ve continually overlook him when he fits what we need positional and age profile-wise.

Not anymore tbh

 

[RanaNaved]

Surely you're joking? We can't just draft him ourselves.

We have to wait for Geelong to draft him and then overpay in a trade despite him being out of contract.

Time to move on bud

 

[Mighty Eagles]

Not anymore tbh

Perhaps not at the moment, but we certainly could've done with him on our list in the past two years. Especially given we haven't drafted many gems on the rookie list in the past four years or so.

Also, between the experienced trio we recruited on our rookie list this year, I doubt all of them will continue beyond this season. So I don't think you could suggested we've nailed those choices, yet anyway.

 

[twce13]

Literally the point I'm making.
Wally is dismissed but NHH is somehow the small forward saviour, despite both missing in a weak draft.

If NHH was cat b eligible he prob would have made it on a list to be fair. Wes walley didn’t get a spot from
Us despite having a free space on our cat b list. We literally decided to keep the space open for a year instead of taking him. We could have even delisted him next year if he don’t improve.

So yeah I don’t think eagles have any interest in WW whatsoever

 

[dinnaz]

I believe freo have a nice empty cabinet gathering dust for a coupla decades now.

Gawd its good being up the successful end of Stirling highway.

They have a 2015 McCelland Trophy don't they?

 

[Zim^zuM]

Sorry fellas been slack today

With pick 171 Shueygod took a punt on Will Day

 

[WCEswift]

Been thinking about our small forward issue, with the backline being our strongest pushing some fringeish players to the middle or out... now just hear me out. jobe and CDT or archer as the bigs, yeo and waterman are our mediums, our smalls could be newton, baker and shoenberg while harley and hewett roll through. now i know everyone is thinking theyre not fast but as a former coach the "pressure" you can build can be through being physical, annoying total shit campaigners. that is newton baker and shoenberg to a T

 

[WCErevival]

Is there any reason why no one talks about Champion or Williams? Surely we are ripe for one of our indigenous boys to step up into a FP or HF role. Even Dewar could potentially do it.

 

[Farmer Lister]

Is there any reason why no one talks about Champion or Williams? Surely we are ripe for one of our indigenous boys to step up into a FP or HF role. Even Dewar could potentially do it.

Champion was impressive in the intraclub. He has the ability to easily weave around players and can score a goal. Think he just needs some more time to get to peak fitness and strength. He's pretty small so he needs to be faster than his opponent.

Dewar was good too. Maybe a little inconsistent but he'd be good to trial in the forward line. He scored a few clutch goals last year including one from outside 50.

Williams is still a bit raw he needs some time to get thick solid, tight and strong through the ass

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

No idea but it sounds a typical player that is usually good enough for wafl, but not good enough for afl. A in betweener.

Don’t know him but could be usual reasons, lacking athleticism/strength or kicking. He looks quiet small too. I don’t know but you have to have strength beyond just getting lots of ball at wafl level. Not a recruiter but how many midfielders are at 180cm. Not many.

I don't watch WAFL. But our experiences with Scott West and Greg Clark illustrated for me the difference between being a gun player a WAFL level and being able to cut it at AFL level. Neither of those guys even came close and they were the best WAFL midfielders at the time of their drafting.

 

[Carbine Chaos]

I'd say Scott West

Scott West

Age

51

Ht

178cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

25.4

5star

K

12.7

5star

HB

12.6

5star

M

3.3

3star

T

2.6

4star

No current season stats available

D

12.0

3star

K

6.6

3star

HB

5.4

4star

M

1.4

2star

T

1.0

3star

made it as an AFL player.

 

[shooshka]

Been thinking about our small forward issue, with the backline being our strongest pushing some fringeish players to the middle or out... now just hear me out. jobe and CDT or archer as the bigs, yeo and waterman are our mediums, our smalls could be newton, baker and shoenberg while harley and hewett roll through. now i know everyone is thinking theyre not fast but as a former coach the "pressure" you can build can be through being physical, annoying total shit campaigners. that is newton baker and shoenberg to a T

Cripps will play all/most games assuming he is fit.

The challenge is more around the next generation of small forwards, as Cripps is probably in his final season - and Harley, Hewett, Schoenberg (and even Yeo to an extent) are more mid leaning utilities.

Newton is one, albeit without the runs on the board yet, but we really need to see glimpses (or a bit more) from 1-2 developing small forwards to continue to round out our list.

 

[PepperTom32]

I don't watch WAFL. But our experiences with Scott West and Greg Clark illustrated for me the difference between being a gun player a WAFL level and being able to cut it at AFL level. Neither of those guys even came close and they were the best WAFL midfielders at the time of their drafting.

Connor West*

 

[FKASC]

Connor West*

try and find the ability to nail down in your mind and then coherently communicate what it is you disagree with the other person about without spinning out into an incoherent rage

 

[kranky al]

They have a 2015 McCelland Trophy don't they?

How right you are.

Poor lonely thing.

 

[Seadog]

Champion was impressive in the intraclub. He has the ability to easily weave around players and can score a goal. Think he just needs some more time to get to peak fitness and strength. He's pretty small so he needs to be faster than his opponent.

Dewar was good too. Maybe a little inconsistent but he'd be good to trial in the forward line. He scored a few clutch goals last year including one from outside 50.

Williams is still a bit raw he needs some time to get thick solid, tight and strong through the ass

 

[Bender_]

So pissed we kept Bo Allan on the list and missed out on father/son selection Riley West.