Bigman’s Training Reports

[Pugsley]

Post went downhill after that opening.

I would be distracted

 

[Scorpus]

He turns 33 at the end of 2026. I wouldn't assume an extension, certainly not 2 years.

I highly doubt he goes from top 10 B&F in 2025 to not offered a contract at the end of 2026

Now I don't necessarily agree that his form his amazing, but the club thinks he is going just fine

 

[Gtowncrow]

Also apologises to those who I haven’t responded to, been a bit swamped lately with other things.

Hopefully my report answered some of those questions.

Please don’t stop asking either, I’ll try to answer them when I can.

Hey #bigman
I'm interested on your observations and opinions on some of our summer questions.
1. How is the 3 KPD shaping up? Is Butts a likely starter? Can you see any trend or clues at training?
2. Is Walker likely to be omitted from our starting forward set up. There's deep opportunities beyond Tex now and any more dynamic change seems the way forward now. It just feels the right time. I'm not sure the club or fans think this however.
3. You frequently mention some of the guys pushing to break into the team which is spot on reporting as we're all very interested in the future. But new guys in, means incumbent players need to be dropped. Any clues about who's looking on the outer and might miss out?
4. What does our ruck situation look like. Rule changes and a couple of viable alternatives to ROB make this a watch for mine. Your recent comments about Maley about having an aerial presence has me very interested as a CBA ruck. Your thoughts?
5. The last one is just speculation by me but if TT became our 1st ruck, he'd been odds on to win the Brownlow and be a MASSIVE upgrade in our ball movement problems. Between him, Curtin and the skipper, we would have several strong marking options in the guts. TT would still kick 40 goals resting forward so I'm watching for any hint he's going to be involved more than just a FF.

As I've said earlier, your summer insights are more PR worthy than anything the club provides. You might even be responsible for a higher BF involvement on our various Crows threads.
Top effort mate and keep up the outstanding work. Totally appreciated. Cheers

 

[maxlilly]

I'm no AFL coach, but do you think that might be because other coaches congestion the middle of the ground defensively because they know it's dangerous when they just let teams "attack down the middle of the ground and get it into their forward lines as fast as they can"?

When the opposition have a turnover, do you think the middle of the ground is always congested ?

Last year at the end of the season all we did was bomb it down the wings and it didn't work.

You aren't always going down the middle but we have guys like Curtin, Dawson, Cook and Nank that are tall players that we can use their marking advantage around that part of the ground to get the ball in faster to the forward line

 

[Gtowncrow]

Reckon we need flexibility on the bench, with the 23rd player at least being able to play in the midfield.

Reckon someone like Nankervis would be a good option... then having some of our midfielders capable of playing inside/outside & forward.

I can't argue with your rationale Kane. You're probably right but that hasn't stopped me thinking about it from using spot 23 as a strategic specialist player. CBA ruck? Tagger? Burst sprinter to break lines? Easy start for debutante players and youngsters?Reduced workload for older players struggling to run games out?

It will be interesting to see how clubs structure spot 23, particularly early in the year when no coach really knows the best way to use the flexibility.

 

[Gtowncrow]

Unfortunately for Nank I just can't see who the club would replace in our defense so that he can play half back

Hinge to a wing opens a spot.
Mitch actually isn't completely in the 23 this year yet IMO.

 

[arrowman]

I highly doubt he goes from top 10 B&F in 2025 to not offered a contract at the end of 2026

Now I don't necessarily agree that his form his amazing, but the club thinks he is going just fine

Yeah, if he doesn't fall off a cliff in 26 he'll get another year.

 

[cmndstab]

I can't argue with your rationale Kane. You're probably right but that hasn't stopped me thinking about it from using spot 23 as a strategic specialist player. CBA ruck? Tagger? Burst sprinter to break lines? Easy start for debutante players and youngsters?Reduced workload for older players struggling to run games out?

It will be interesting to see how clubs structure spot 23, particularly early in the year when no coach really knows the best way to use the flexibility.

The 23rd spot is functionally identical to the 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd spots. The bench has always been filled with the "next best" players spread across a variety of positions to enable flexibility, and I assume that will still be the case. Players who can play multiple roles will be valued.

 

[SugarShane]

Our sub was almost always 'another of the same', as was most clubs. I'm not convinced the strategy for 23 will be any different to 22 and a sub.

Agreed. There's a lot of chat about how clubs will now play 2 rucks and whatnot. I don't see it happening tbh. A few clubs might experiment with it but after a couple months I'd be surprised if more than 1 or 2 teams are still using it like that. Reckon most clubs will just revert to it being the 23rd best player.

 

[SugarShane]

Love how in early December we’re already building continuity playing probables against not possibles.

Not being a smartarse as I genuinely don't know, but do other teams always run training as the A team vs the B team too?

I get wanting your A team to gel, but surely running even matched teams every now and then would be beneficial. Getting your A team on the same page is great, until you lose a few of them and all of a sudden the B team has to learn how to play alongside the A guys.

Plus it means your A team spends the whole summer playing against SANFL quality and looking like superstars. While your B team spends the whole summer playing against AFL quality who, when the season starts, they're not trusted to be selected and perform against.

 

[jimvic]

She was hot! Got up to about 35 degrees.

Sid was back today. Kinda. He did about 15-20 minutes of light jogging back and forth, although there were some rather large breaks in between. Safe to say they’re not exactly pushing him hard, which suggests to me he won’t return to main training until at least late Jan-February, and I think that’s being optimistic. He has kept himself in good condition though.

Thilthorpe thankfully trained, meaning whatever he suffered on Wednesday can’t have been too bad. He does still have knee strapping and was held off from having to do the running section.

McGuane has progressed to some light running which was good to see. Max did some of the early skills work before doing a bunch of running - I noticed he trained with knee strapping.

In fact a few of our lads have knee strapping - Max, Filthy, Pedlar and Nick Murray. Peatling still has shoulder strapping and wore a non-contact hat, as did Worrell although I’m not sure what his issue is.

Good to see Ludowyke step up his workload. I reckon he did about 60 per cent of the session which is definitely his most yet. He was held off from the match sim and running, although he did a bunch of laps by himself. I’m guessing when the players return next year he will be fully recovered (or very close to).

The first main drill was one I’ve seen before - three teams, with one on the sidelines waiting to rotate in. The coach will kick a ball towards a team’s half-back line, and from there they look to move the ball quickly to score, while the other side tries to defend. Any score results in the third team rotating in and becoming the defending team. This went on for about 15 minutes and is pretty intense stuff - players have to be really switched on as there’s a very tight turnaround.

The three teams then rotated between three concurrent drills:
1. Short spot kicking, before ground ball and tackling work.
2. Players move the ball from deep defence while their opponents attempt to cover exits.
3. Players lead to a designated kicker off half back - essentially they are decoys, as this would create space behind them for an isolated one on one between two big guys. Those who made leads would quickly turn around and sprint to the contest for a front and centre.

We then got about 15 minutes of match sim. Teams were:

Blue
FB: Laird Keane Worrell
HB: Milera Murray Hinge
_C: Ah Chee Dawson Cumming
HF: ANB Walker Rankine
FF: Keays Thilthorpe Fogarty
_R: O’Brien Soligo Curtin
IN: Rachele Cook Marsh

White
FB: Bond Butts Bell
HB: Nankervis Borlase Sholl
_C: Jones Berry Dowling
HF: Taylor Murray Drury
FF: Pedlar Maley Welsh
_R: McAndrew Peatling Foot
IN: Edwards Ryan Cotton

For the Blue team it was singles to Fog, Neal-Bullen, Rachele and Cumming, while Cotton and Welsh kicked a snag each for the Whites.

Interestingly this time around, after a goal the ball would always restart with a boundary throw-in on the wing. This is the first stoppage work we’ve seen in a match sim so far this summer. To the eye it seemed like McAndrew had the upper edge over ROB.

Finally we had a bunch of running, which I’m sure the players loved given the temperature was mid 30s at this point. Some were spared the pain - Thilthorpe, Marsh, Fogarty, Cotton, Bell and the rehab lads.

After the running, some of the boys (Rash, Cook, Marsh, Cotton, Taylor and Drury) did a ‘king of the ring’ style drill where two compete for high balls - the winner stays in and only rotates out if they are beaten. Rachele was the standout of this drill - his ability to get that initial push off his opponent was a real weapon. Cook was also surprisingly good (albeit some of the lads he was up against are a bit vertically challenged). He lasted around 10 rounds or so - by the end he was too buggered to give a yelp. Doesn’t help that the players had to lie on the deck and quickly push themselves up before each contest.

Dawson, Soligo, Curtin and Peatling did a bunch of stoppage work with ROB, McAndrew and Maley. Big Finbarr has a solid leap on him.

Overall it was a pretty impressive (and long - nearly two and a half hours) session, especially given the heat. Thankfully there were seemingly no injuries, although Milk did cop a hip knock from Dawson during the match sim and had to come from the field.
He returned, but gee he gets hurt a lot.

Player thoughts:

8. Rachele - I noticed he was the only one to lag behind the group a bit during the running. Suspect this is by instruction but difficult to know for sure. Trained well though.

14. Soligo - tracking really well for a good year. Will never be fast but he’s dynamic out there and strong through the core, even shrugging off Berry at one stage.

15. Cook - should be buoyed at getting some time in the ‘A’ team and I don’t think he wasted it. Looked really good coming out of defence and put on a really nice burst through the corridor which resulted in the Rachele goal. If it’s between him and Nank I’m still going Nank, but he’s doing a lot right.

17. Welsh - took some nice marks in the match sim and doesn’t lag at all in the running anymore, so credit to him. However, he just makes too many mistakes. His foot skills have been really erratic and he’s clumsy on the loose ball, often fumbling or running past it. He needs to sharpen up quite a bit.

23. Rankine - he’s a star but has clearly been instructed to hold back on going too hard and too fast, and it’s just so unnatural for him. He clearly wants to just play his way, but understandably the high performance guys want to save him for himself.

25. Peatling - had some nice moments where he used his pace out of congestion. But had an absolute howler coming out of defence that led to an ANB goal. Can’t be having those sort of kicks anymore, even at training.

26. Marsh - showed good composure in the early drills, but there was a moment in the match sim where he went to ground when he really needed to keep his feet. Also got shown up a bit in the ‘king of the ring’ marking contests. I’m not concerned at all - chalk it up to a combination of fatigue and lack of bulk. He’ll get there.

27. Nankervis - still killing it. His pace and agility (and confidence to use it) makes him dynamic and hard to curtail. He’s tough too - laid a ripping tackle on Rachele. Won’t lie though, I did wince a bit seeing him named in the B side. But I won’t look into it too much. Yet.

30. Milera - having a very solid summer. Gets given the ball a lot coming out of defence but for good reason, he’s one of the coolest heads out there. Last pre season I don’t think he deserved a round one gig but that’s not the case this time around.

32. Fogarty - good to see him back in pretty much full training after that surgery, but I want to see him lose a bit of size over the Christmas break. He’s just a touch bulky at present and it would do a lot for his ability to cover the ground.

33. Cotton - did a big spoil on Marsh in one of the earlier drills, in fact it was probably a bit too aggressive but it’s a good sign nonetheless. Kicked a nice long goal from 45m out in the match sim and although he’s only showing flashes, I think people will be pretty excited when they see him. He’s a cool, calm cat who times his aerial work really well.

37. Drury - I wonder if we are still considering him as a SSP option. He’s training his guts out there and not doing much wrong. I know he’s a bit limited but he can play and he’s only 21. Does he have the scope of others? Probably not. I guess it comes down to what they want out of that last spot on the list.

46. Bell - first time I’ve seen him really get involved and it was quite eye opening. He took a number of intercept marks which was promising (no Filthy or Fog though). Also showed that he’s not a liability on the deck with a couple hard ball gets and a lovely tackle on Chayce. The question mark will be his one on one defending, but I haven’t seen enough to judge that yet. He reminds me a bit of Keath in some ways - 197cm, lean left footer who is a neat kick. Not sure how quick he is but looks reasonably athletic. One to watch - similar to Drury, is he also being considered as a SSP selection? He’s doing all the work despite only being a SANFL-listed player. And he’s only 19.

48. Keane - did a big spoil on McAndrew that was over the top and a couple coaches (and Cumming) told him to chill out. Not sure he listened.

thanks BM - a weekend highlight!

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I'm no AFL coach, but do you think that might be because other coaches congestion the middle of the ground defensively because they know it's dangerous when they just let teams "attack down the middle of the ground and get it into their forward lines as fast as they can"?

There's a time to pull the trigger through the middle, and times not to

Comes down to the decision making and skill of the players

We've instead gone to a default down the line setting. Means that we can carry players with poor decision making and poor kicking skills.

It's a defence-first mindset. Attacking but always with defending the turnover at front of mind

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Not being a smartarse as I genuinely don't know, but do other teams always run training as the A team vs the B team too?

I get wanting your A team to gel, but surely running even matched teams every now and then would be beneficial. Getting your A team on the same page is great, until you lose a few of them and all of a sudden the B team has to learn how to play alongside the A guys.

Plus it means your A team spends the whole summer playing against SANFL quality and looking like superstars. While your B team spends the whole summer playing against AFL quality who, when the season starts, they're not trusted to be selected and perform against.

Absolutely
Next man up only works if the "next men" have had some meaningful prep.

A rigid 22 from November onwards means that we have to keep injured players on the park and even 1-2 injuries are enough to de-rail us

 

[cmndstab]

There's a time to pull the trigger through the middle, and times not to

Comes down to the decision making and skill of the players

We've instead gone to a default down the line setting. Means that we can carry players with poor decision making and poor kicking skills.

It's a defence-first mindset. Attacking but always with defending the turnover at front of mind

I am hoping (against hope) that they will separately train "now it's time to move down the corridor, let's do that". Have one method for when you have to go safe down the line, and another for when you want to attack/defend the guts, and then have a further discussion about deciding which "mode" to use at any given stage of a game.

But I doubt it.

 

[Carn The Texan]

As a huge Nank fan myself I love that bigman saves a little gee up for him in every report. He's just a smooth mover, I hope he can find more time on ground and more of the pill in 2026.

 

[32year crow]

As a huge Nank fan myself I love that bigman saves a little gee up for him in every report. He's just a smooth mover, I hope he can find more time on ground and more of the pill in 2026.

Yep I’m a fan. Good marking one on one, good vision, good execution of his kicks BUT he doesn’t drive with his legs out of the contest or immediately take the ball and sprint hard. It’s more ducking and weaving, shimmying, selling fakes etc. That was frustrating as he has the fitness and speed to create space with a quick burst rather than selling puppies. Just my thoughts.

 

[kirky]

Seems optimistic to me. I don't expect Laird to retire this year

Laird ain’t retiring whilst Nicks remains as coach.

Evidence - final against Hawthorn. Laird thrown back in the midfield after barely playing in the midfield all year.

 

[1970crow]

I would say that we should be spending roughly 50% of our training with A vs B teams, and 50% of the time with even teams. And the performance of fringe players in those even teams should have an impact on who is in the A team next time.

I’m not sure training form should have that great an impact. But it should certainly provide the coaches some confidence to make a the move if the best 22 player is performing to only an ok level.

 

[FullyBigKPro]

Nank or Cook for that last spot on the 5 man bench next year gives us a lot more flexibility and options IMO....

 

[Golumless]

I'm no AFL coach, but do you think that might be because other coaches congestion the middle of the ground defensively because they know it's dangerous when they just let teams "attack down the middle of the ground and get it into their forward lines as fast as they can"?

Could simply be it's just about forcing tougher situations for skill execution on the offensive team. After all, if you block off the corridor, it does make life a fair bit easier for the defending side (notwithstanding, this is a bloody good team at defending ball movement). The one part of the exercise that caught my eye was punishing if there was a turnover/hit the deck which would indicate bombing it to a wing is not the go-to play.

The one part I would be super curious in is how much running with the ball is there in this drill? It's not an area that I think we were particularly capable at last year, and notwithstanding, we were 17th for bounces (only beating Brisbane in this stat). Equally, you'd almost think it'd help with any ball retention exercise.

 

[1970crow]

Nank or Cook for that last spot on the 5 man bench next year gives us a lot more flexibility and options IMO....

Wasn't the selected sub designed to do the same in terms of flexibility though? So why would Nank or Cook leapfrog that player?

 

[StonesThrow]

Hopefully his brain fades in the past season are sorted.

He only had a brief stint if this in 2025. Usually pretty reliable

 

[Golumless]

She was hot! Got up to about 35 degrees.

Sid was back today. Kinda. He did about 15-20 minutes of light jogging back and forth, although there were some rather large breaks in between. Safe to say they’re not exactly pushing him hard, which suggests to me he won’t return to main training until at least late Jan-February, and I think that’s being optimistic. He has kept himself in good condition though.

Thilthorpe thankfully trained, meaning whatever he suffered on Wednesday can’t have been too bad. He does still have knee strapping and was held off from having to do the running section.

McGuane has progressed to some light running which was good to see. Max did some of the early skills work before doing a bunch of running - I noticed he trained with knee strapping.

In fact a few of our lads have knee strapping - Max, Filthy, Pedlar and Nick Murray. Peatling still has shoulder strapping and wore a non-contact hat, as did Worrell although I’m not sure what his issue is.

Good to see Ludowyke step up his workload. I reckon he did about 60 per cent of the session which is definitely his most yet. He was held off from the match sim and running, although he did a bunch of laps by himself. I’m guessing when the players return next year he will be fully recovered (or very close to).

The first main drill was one I’ve seen before - three teams, with one on the sidelines waiting to rotate in. The coach will kick a ball towards a team’s half-back line, and from there they look to move the ball quickly to score, while the other side tries to defend. Any score results in the third team rotating in and becoming the defending team. This went on for about 15 minutes and is pretty intense stuff - players have to be really switched on as there’s a very tight turnaround.

The three teams then rotated between three concurrent drills:
1. Short spot kicking, before ground ball and tackling work.
2. Players move the ball from deep defence while their opponents attempt to cover exits.
3. Players lead to a designated kicker off half back - essentially they are decoys, as this would create space behind them for an isolated one on one between two big guys. Those who made leads would quickly turn around and sprint to the contest for a front and centre.

We then got about 15 minutes of match sim. Teams were:

Blue
FB: Laird Keane Worrell
HB: Milera Murray Hinge
_C: Ah Chee Dawson Cumming
HF: ANB Walker Rankine
FF: Keays Thilthorpe Fogarty
_R: O’Brien Soligo Curtin
IN: Rachele Cook Marsh

Oooohhhh, now that potentially bodes well for both coming into 2026 if they're floating around the 1st team now. Especially Marsh considering he's only 4 weeks into a pro-career.

 

[Golumless]

It would be pretty disheartening for the fringe players, going to pre season and Nicks has already picked his side for the year in December.
Is it any wonder we struggle to develop players when we don't even have the confidence to give them a run in the A's in the pre season
It doesn't feel like a club, just looks like it's two teams all the time

If it's disheartening, you're in the wrong business. After all, it's the same situation as every club. They know the vast majority of their best 22 at all times, with potentially 1-3 spots up for grabs. They're all known quantities by this point, after all.

When you're not seen as a shit hot kid (and they tend to have careers handed to them on a silver platter, because clubs usually don't get these calls wrong), it's just about grinding until that opportunity comes and making sure to put up performances that changes views. Whether that opportunity comes via injury, a crisis due to a losing streak, or another of the fringe 22 members didn't perform well.

 

[Fud#3]

The one part I would be super curious in is how much running with the ball is there in this drill? It's not an area that I think we were particularly capable at last year, and notwithstanding, we were 17th for bounces (only beating Brisbane in this stat). Equally, you'd almost think it'd help with any ball retention exercise.

So the team who finished minor premiers and the actual premiers were 17th and 18th for bounces...maybe less is more