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

 

[Farmer Lister]

Nice one mate, really appreciate that. The more training reports/points of view the better far as I'm concerned.

Davis is looking like an absolute bargain for what was it, a pick in the 50s? Kid seems seriously driven to succeed.

TMac too, almost seems a shame that he was discovered so late but I'm thankful we're the ones to reap the benefit of his talents for the next several years.

Thanks man. Davis was pick 65 so an absolute bargain!

McCarthy coming into the side with no AFL preseason and instantly becoming one of our best players was a gift from the heavens. Our midfield could surprise a few next year

 

[FatPizza]

Did anyone manage to catch today's session?

 

[squashface]

Got bored of working so I thought I’d pop down to Lathlain, and boy was I impressed.

Harley caught my eye again today. He covered the ground effortlessly and pushed forward to slot a couple of goals during the match sim blocks. He even pulled in a ridiculous one-handed contested grab at one point, easily one of the highlights.

Tom McCarthy was fascinating to watch in congestion. The way he continually slipped into space in traffic was unreal. He was lively all session and looks like he could genuinely add something different to our midfield mix this year.

Schoenberg launched an absolute beauty, a running goal from beyond 50. I’m really liking what I’m seeing from him so far.

WD had a great moment where he read the ruck tap perfectly in the centre, burst into space, and delivered a lovely hit-up kick to Waterman on the lead.

Speaking of Waterman, he was involved throughout the session and looks back to full flight after that little hamstring scare a couple of weeks ago. He even had a bit of a tussle with Harry Edwards after a marking contest, nothing nasty, just good competitive intensity.

Johnston nailed a slick goal, roving the pack at the top of the square and finishing with a clean dribbler. He just keeps impressing me this preseason.

Davis spent time on the wing and earned a few shout-outs from Kyal Horsley for his running patterns. He also kicked a goal after reading an inside-50 turnover perfectly and finishing the chance.

Some ranga trained fully, and I noticed a few nice touches from him during the ball-movement drills. Looks like he’ll be a handy addition to our WAFL side.

Good to see Malakai has avoided ACL.

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

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.

 

[EagleMan87]

Got bored of working so I thought I’d pop down to Lathlain

 

[quackish]

Did anyone manage to catch today's session?

Better yet, has anyone figured out who the new redhead is? I’m stumped

 

[RustyShacklefordFalcon]

Got bored of working so I thought I’d pop down to Lathlain, and boy was I impressed.

Popped down? If you ain't trundlin', I ain't readin'.

 

[DorothyG]

Can any who goes down to training on the regular, and has done so years past, comment on if they notice a difference in, say intensity or purpose, to this year compared to others?

 

[swingdog]

Got bored of working so I thought I’d pop down to Lathlain, and boy was I impressed.

Harley caught my eye again today. He covered the ground effortlessly and pushed forward to slot a couple of goals during the match sim blocks. He even pulled in a ridiculous one-handed contested grab at one point, easily one of the highlights.

Tom McCarthy was fascinating to watch in congestion. The way he continually slipped into space in traffic was unreal. He was lively all session and looks like he could genuinely add something different to our midfield mix this year.

Schoenberg launched an absolute beauty, a running goal from beyond 50. I’m really liking what I’m seeing from him so far.

WD had a great moment where he read the ruck tap perfectly in the centre, burst into space, and delivered a lovely hit-up kick to Waterman on the lead.

Speaking of Waterman, he was involved throughout the session and looks back to full flight after that little hamstring scare a couple of weeks ago. He even had a bit of a tussle with Harry Edwards after a marking contest, nothing nasty, just good competitive intensity.

Johnston nailed a slick goal, roving the pack at the top of the square and finishing with a clean dribbler. He just keeps impressing me this preseason.

Davis spent time on the wing and earned a few shout-outs from Kyal Horsley for his running patterns. He also kicked a goal after reading an inside-50 turnover perfectly and finishing the chance.

Some ranga trained fully, and I noticed a few nice touches from him during the ball-movement drills. Looks like he’ll be a handy addition to our WAFL side.

Good to see Malakai has avoided ACL.

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

 

[AndysAngels]

Hi all

Looks like a few of us got down to training this morning. Seemed to be a good one to get down to as there was a lot of competitive work undertaken.

I'll try not to repeat two much from the other guys that have tagged along. General observations:

• Hard to keep the lid on Harley. As mentioned, he kicked the first two goals of the match sim, and had a third shot a bit later which fell short. He has combined high impact with high production; was everywhere. Looking explosive, covering the ground better than I've seen him in the past. At one point, Graham nailed him HTB and I heard 'get the ****ing handball out there'. Not sure if it was someone telling Harley off, or if he was berating himself. Either way, this team is starting to become 'his'.
• If Harley was BOG for the training session, it was a tie between Waterman and McCarthy for second. Waterman is such a natural footballer; again and again, he found himself in the right space at the right time. I got caught ball-watching a few times, only for the kick i50 to go to a wide-open Jake, who had shaken his defender. Clearly an experienced campaigner.
• McCarthy easily looks the second best kick in the team. Smooth mover, great sidestep, takes the game on. Is everything we've been lacking since before the MSD last year.
• To say that Lindsay is the best kick in the squad isn't an indictment on the rest of the squad, but rather a credit to him. Gorgeous technique; don't think I saw him miss a target all day. Also sent Dewar to the shadow realm with a sidestep at one point. Likes taking the game on. Was in the 'blue' team in every bit of play I saw; would not surprise me at all to see him line up round 1. Was the most impressive of the draftees for me.
• Willem takes the ball at its highest point; between his leap, timing and his long arms, he will be very difficult to compete with in the air. However, he is all arms and legs and will definitely take time to build up his frame. Has a bont-esque hunched running style, with low, punchy kicks.
• CDT reminds me a bit of Buddy in the sense that you see them from a distance, and they move like flankers. Then you see him closer, and realise how big he actually is. Still raw though; would be surprised if he starts round 1. Did not ruck at all.
• As others have mentioned, I wouldn't be surprised if Davis is the fringe player who locks down a role this year. Likely on the wing. Consistently pretty good.
• Long crumbed a nice goal on his left foot which had everyone pumped. Also seemed to be in the 'blue' team for every drill. Was pretty good, but not awesome.
• Archer at one point spoiled a mark, landed on his feet, and stuck the tackle on the player who grabbed the ground ball. Another very good mover for his height. Looking big. BUT he certainly didn't dominate Flynn in the ruck, and I'd expect Flynn to still lead our ruck division in 2026.
• Hewett is low production, but clean and explosive when he does get it.
• Agree that Watt did not look out of place at all. Had some very nice plays.
• As noted above, the players sprint back for the drinks break. Ginbey runs back like he's competing against prime Usain. Goes 100%, 100% of the time. If I'm thinking of speed * weight, I'd suggest he's the player in the competition I'd least like to be tackled by.
• Starcevich is as good a specimen as I can recall to have worn an eagles jersey.
• Not sure if mentioned above, but Bo is wearing a wristguard/arm brace.
• At one point, Mini (I think) called for a 30 sec break. Players stood around hands on head, and he said 'you should be talking about the game, not just resting'

From what i could see, 'blue team' lineups in the 18v18 match sim were:
B: Edwards, Young, Ginbey, Starc, Lindsay, Grego
C: Flynn, Harley, Hewett, Hammer, McCarthy, Rodriguez (pretty sure this was the starting lineup, with Davis on one wing, and Rodriguez spending a lot of time on the other)
F: Waterman, Jobe, Cripps, Long, Archer, ??? maybe Duursma (but rotated into the middle)

Teams get chopped and changed as they go, and I think they have reversible jerseys that they flip inside out, so it's hard to keep track. But the above at the least all spent time in blue.

It wasn't a super duper sharp session, but it was good to see so many numbers on the track, and kind of feels like we're finally on an upwards trajectory.

 

[Joffaboy]

Hope you don’t mind me interrupting and not sure if this is the right thread to ask this.

First up this is not a gloat or rubbing anything in, I am a track watcher at the Saints preseason training sessions and write training reports mainly for our interstate and overseas supporters (and locals who can’t get to training).

I can’t help but wonder about Charlie Banfield, he is a great size, good solid upper body, runs well, is neat in the drills and looks a real footballer.

Now I know the WCE strategy was hoping he would get to the rookie draft. And I know he wasn’t going in probably the top 3 of your picks at least but would seem strange not to go with him at pick 39 although that was an NGA.

It was common knowledge on our board that our club was keen on him.

So without opening old wounds which is not my intention, Charlie must have specific weaknesses in his game and your people thought it was better to go with Sam Allen and Tylah Williams.

As I said he looks like a footballer, but we all know preseason is not match conditions.

Thanks in advance and good luck for the coming season. A strong WCE is vital to the national competition in my view.

 

[RustyShacklefordFalcon]

A strong WCE is vital to the national competition in my view.

I'll let someone else answer your question, but the above statement is useless. Everyone says that. You're supposed to come in peace

 

[flyinghi64]

Hope you don’t mind me interrupting and not sure if this is the right thread to ask this.

First up this is not a gloat or rubbing anything in, I am a track watcher at the Saints preseason training sessions and write training reports mainly for our interstate and overseas supporters (and locals who can’t get to training).

I can’t help but wonder about Charlie Banfield, he is a great size, good solid upper body, runs well, is neat in the drills and looks a real footballer.

Now I know the WCE strategy was hoping he would get to the rookie draft. And I know he wasn’t going in probably the top 3 of your picks at least but would seem strange not to go with him at pick 39 although that was an NGA.

It was common knowledge on our board that our club was keen on him.

So without opening old wounds which is not my intention, Charlie must have specific weaknesses in his game and your people thought it was better to go with Sam Allen and Tylah Williams.

As I said he looks like a footballer, but we all know preseason is not match conditions.

Thanks in advance and good luck for the coming season. A strong WCE is vital to the national competition in my view.

Personally with how it all panned out and the fact we only went in with the 5 picks tells me the club was very confident in him slipping to the Rookie draft.
The only other possibility is that they just picked who they presumed to be the best player available at their picks and felt who they did pick up were more valuable to the team.

What would have been interesting, and we will never know, though would have been if he did slip through to the Rookie draft would we have taken him or Fred??

Either way I am pretty sure a majority of Eagles supporters feel a little let down and saddened that one of our very few FS selections went to another team, a premiership one at that.

Best of luck to him though and I hope he still has a very good high standard career no matter where he plays his footy.

 

[Bender_]

I just woke up from a 3 month coma, at what pick did we draft Charlie Banfield? Can't wait to see him in the blue and canary yellow.

 

[RanaNaved]

Hope you don’t mind me interrupting and not sure if this is the right thread to ask this.

First up this is not a gloat or rubbing anything in, I am a track watcher at the Saints preseason training sessions and write training reports mainly for our interstate and overseas supporters (and locals who can’t get to training).

I can’t help but wonder about Charlie Banfield, he is a great size, good solid upper body, runs well, is neat in the drills and looks a real footballer.

Now I know the WCE strategy was hoping he would get to the rookie draft. And I know he wasn’t going in probably the top 3 of your picks at least but would seem strange not to go with him at pick 39 although that was an NGA.

It was common knowledge on our board that our club was keen on him.

So without opening old wounds which is not my intention, Charlie must have specific weaknesses in his game and your people thought it was better to go with Sam Allen and Tylah Williams.

As I said he looks like a footballer, but we all know preseason is not match conditions.

Thanks in advance and good luck for the coming season. A strong WCE is vital to the national competition in my view.

They didn't rate him that highly, I liked him and still do.

What you're seeing at training would've been exactly what the Eagles saw, as he has spent a hell of a lot of time at the club. He is always going to look good on the track because he's tall, muscular and fit. He lacks a bit of pace/agility and his skills under pressure can go to shit.

He's pretty vanilla, but I think he'll be a good/solid player with his professionalism and work ethic.

Bottom line is I don't think they rated him that highly, and we have a few player's who are of similar size/role/style and we have bugger all in the x-factor/speed/pressure small forward dept, hence Tylah Williams being a priority

 

[Joffaboy]

Thanks for the feedback, being groomed down the track as a wingman.
You are dead right re his work. Looks a footballer, but I'll hold judgement until I see him in the VFL.
Cheers.

 

[ep2018]

Thanks for the feedback, being groomed down the track as a wingman.
You are dead right re his work. Looks a footballer, but I'll hold judgement until I see him in the VFL.
Cheers.

There's another younger brother Harper Banfield coming through next year, he's looking good too, stay the hell away.

 

[Goroyals22]

They didn't rate him that highly, I liked him and still do.

What you're seeing at training would've been exactly what the Eagles saw, as he has spent a hell of a lot of time at the club. He is always going to look good on the track because he's tall, muscular and fit. He lacks a bit of pace/agility and his skills under pressure can go to shit.

He's pretty vanilla, but I think he'll be a good/solid player with his professionalism and work ethic.

Bottom line is I don't think they rated him that highly, and we have a few player's who are of similar size/role/style and we have bugger all in the x-factor/speed/pressure small forward dept, hence Tylah Williams being a priority

It maybe they saw how Hamish Davis has come back and thought he is the better option

 

[WCEswift]

Hope you don’t mind me interrupting and not sure if this is the right thread to ask this.

First up this is not a gloat or rubbing anything in, I am a track watcher at the Saints preseason training sessions and write training reports mainly for our interstate and overseas supporters (and locals who can’t get to training).

I can’t help but wonder about Charlie Banfield, he is a great size, good solid upper body, runs well, is neat in the drills and looks a real footballer.

Now I know the WCE strategy was hoping he would get to the rookie draft. And I know he wasn’t going in probably the top 3 of your picks at least but would seem strange not to go with him at pick 39 although that was an NGA.

It was common knowledge on our board that our club was keen on him.

So without opening old wounds which is not my intention, Charlie must have specific weaknesses in his game and your people thought it was better to go with Sam Allen and Tylah Williams.

As I said he looks like a footballer, but we all know preseason is not match conditions.

Thanks in advance and good luck for the coming season. A strong WCE is vital to the national competition in my view.

People had just moved on, i fear you have chosen death.

300 × 164

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

CDT reminds me a bit of Buddy in the sense that you see them from a distance

So true.

 

[FatPizza]

Thanks for the feedback, being groomed down the track as a wingman.
You are dead right re his work. Looks a footballer, but I'll hold judgement until I see him in the VFL.
Cheers.

I know you're a saints fan, but that's a hell of a combinations of words you've chosen for your username.

 

[Byron_Clanger]

TRAINING NOTES: Young Eagle makes surprise return

Young West Coast forward Malakai Champion looks to have dodged serious knee injury after making a surprise return to the field at Friday’s pre-season session at Mineral Resources Park.

thewest.com.au

https://archive.md/C4yz2#selection-1185.0-1185.109

From this article.

Bo Allan recovered from recent illness and take part in the main session, although he was sporting arm guard.

You just have to laugh, really..someone check his immune system!

 

[Joffaboy]

I know you're a saints fan, but that's a hell of a combinations of words you've chosen for your username.

Certain Victorians of my vintage with my first name were nicknamed Joffa. That Corfe nonce has spoiled it for the rest of us.

 

[Joffaboy]

There's another younger brother Harper Banfield coming through next year, he's looking good too, stay the hell away.

It actually shits me a bit, that the 14 non eastern northern clubs have to cannibalise each others NGA's and FS, while the likes of Brisbane and Fold Coast get carte blanche to pick up top 5 NGA's at will.
We lost McKenzie to Hawthorn, now taken Collard and Banfield off you guys.

 

[archiemoses]

Id rather have Freddie over Charlie so it worked out well for us.

 

[Boohemian]

How is Tylar Williams looking on the track? Slotting in well?