Bigman’s Training Reports

[Golumless]

Is it ??

Id say "thank ****" we're using him in the midfield during training.

That is what you'd say If Edwards was already in the 1s (i.e. Curtin), seeing it's a natural progession of someones career. 2s is a different story and screams we have no idea where he makes it as a best 22 player, and we likely doubt if he's even good enough to be a starter anywhere in our lineup.

The place you develop midfielders is on the flanks of your 1st team, not SANFL. Especially as we do not care about SANFL performance when it comes to selection.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

Well interesting that Laird won it in 2021 and 2022 and last three has gone 2nd, 6th and this year 8th. Will be out of the top 10 in 2026 I feel.

Healthier for our side if Laird isn't relied upon to be in our top 10.

Need the like of Curtin, Thilthorpe, Worrell, Fogarty & Rachele to become top 10 regulars.

 

[1970crow]

And let's say you're a young forward who, through a few injuries or suspensions, finally gets a shot in the A team. You get a week or two to stake your claim. But that now involves trying to figure out how to lead and find space alongside 2 or 3 forwards that you never play alongside, and how to lead and present to a bunch of midfielders you never play with.

And we wonder why some of our guys like Curtin looked like a fish out of water in their first few weeks.

Sure, but how good did the A team forwards look beating up on the B team defenders playing ahead of the A team midfield? It was glorious

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

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.

Sounds like a natural winger to me.

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

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.

Maybe back-to-back Brisbane values good decision making over gaining field position.

 

[Golumless]

Maybe back-to-back Brisbane values good decision making over gaining field position.

Lets not ignore the fact those two are interlinked. To value good decision making is to value gaining field position.

 

[Gtowncrow]

imagine how good west coast will be this year then. They’ve been getting premium development for 3 years now, presumably they’re near flag favourites.

Regularly getting destroyed does precisely zero for development.

Failures in sport and life can lead to two alternative outcomes.
Surrender and capitulation
...or growth via determination.

Both are determined by the individual entity. A player, a club, a country? Doesn't matter what level you scope failure to be, it's the usually the very bedrock of growth.

Our youngster's in the B team see the required level. It's up to them.

 

[Betts are off]

Kind of feel like Oscar Ryan is at risk of missing his window if he doesn't start flashing soon.

Really didn't do a lot of note last season, and this year he's again not a frequent mention in the Bigman Files.

Throwing Cook behind the ball (and him seemingly taking to it) makes me a bit worried about the Oscar Ryan development. Particularly with Edwards and Nank starting the preseason in good shape.

 

[baldandbroke]

Failures in sport and life can lead to two alternative outcomes.
Surrender and capitulation
...or growth via determination.

Both are determined by the individual entity. A player, a club, a country? Doesn't matter what level you scope failure to be, it's the usually the very bedrock of growth.

Our youngster's in the B team see the required level. It's up to them.

... but they will never take, OUR FREEDOM!

 

[Pugsley]

I’m still convinced Nicks wanted top spot to guarantee his own contract extension. He didn’t consider that we would choke at the end so he played players into the ground (see tge West Coast and Kangaroos where we struggled to win).

You upset the apricot slice brigade by stating facts.

 

[Pugsley]

... but they will never take, OUR FREEDOM!

 

[kirky]

You upset the apricot slice brigade by stating facts.

I’m not sure its a fact but it certainly is my theory.

Nicks is certainly arrogant enough to think that way.

 

[Gtowncrow]

... but they will never take, OUR FREEDOM!

Thanks William W.

 

[bigman]

Bit of an uneventful session so I’ll keep it a bit shorter today.

First off, good numbers again with everyone showing up except Mark Keane.

Draper stepped up his running a bit, doing longer and faster run throughs alongside McGuane. He looked to be moving pretty well though I will note that he felt the right side of his groin quite a bit during the breaks.

Unfortunately it seems like Ryan may have hurt himself, as he left the track early and had a bit of a limp going. Hard to diagnose what it was, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t see him train again until after the Christmas break.

I also noticed late in the session Berry talked to a trainer and gestured towards his knee. Didn’t seem overly concerned but he did head in early.

Max did some of the initial skills work before doing a power of running by himself. No strapping today. Must be close to full training, surely.

Ludowyke was held out of the match sim but otherwise did a large chunk of the session and moved quite well. Foot skills were sharp. Also put a great chase on Bell in one drill, which is a feature of his game.

Peatling still has that shoulder strapping - I’m gonna guess an AC sprain - while Nick Murray and Pedlar both had quite a bit around their knees. They trained fine though Pedlar did seem a touch proppy early on.

Thilthorpe on the other hand has shedded his knee bandage and looked excellent out there today.

Interestingly during the warm up they did something I hadn’t seen before - each player would have to chase another of similar build, at full pelt, around a circle ‘duck duck goose’ style. Most players weren’t run down though I did see Curtin grab ROB in time. This drill also showed just how fast Butts is - you don’t really see it in-game but the lad can run.

Much of the session was based around three concurrent drills, with five teams rotating through. They were:
1. Kicking drill covering two-thirds of the ground, with teams trying to move the ball from one end to the other. Missed targets or dropped marks resulted in an automatic turnover. Play on was called quicker than usual.
2. Similar to the above, except across the ground and inside the other 50m arc. Focussed on handball and driving the legs, though kicking was allowed.
3. Light ground ball and contest work. Essentially a reprieve from the much more intense drills.

Then there was 15 minutes of match sim. I’m sure George would be pleased to hear that the ball always started with a boundary throw-in after each score. McAndrew definitely had the upper edge in the ruck early on, though O’Brien recovered pretty well in the last five minutes.

Teams were as such:

Blue
FB: Laird Butts Worrell
HB: Milera Murray Hinge
_C: Cumming Dawson Neal-Bullen
HF: Rachele Fogarty Keays
FF: Pedlar Thilthorpe Walker
_R: O’Brien Curtin Rankine
IN: Soligo Bond

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

Despite clearly having the lesser line-up, the White team grabbed the win kicking two goals to one. Admittedly they were kicking with a reasonable wind, but this definitely wasn’t the first time they’ve taken it up to the more experienced players this summer.

Marsh and McAndrew snagged goals for the whites, while Soligo scored the solitary major for the blue team.

I think what stood out to me was the pressure being applied and the defensive coverage in general. The white team were really good at not allowing easy exits out of defence and often found a way to disrupt their opponents.

The lads then did about 10 minutes of high-intensity running before breaking up into small groups to work on their craft. Cotton was held off from the running - to my eye he looked a bit fatigued today.

Some player thoughts:

3. Berry - won a couple nice clearances where he used his burst pace, but you can see the difference between his foot skills and a lot of the other lads we now have in the squad. Just lacks that bit of polish.

6. Curtin - got his hands dirty a couple times but got most of his footy finding space around the ground. He’s one that does have class and composure. Not shooting the lights out just yet but that’ll come, it’s hard to do a whole lot in 15 mins of match sim.

10. Pedlar - bit of an enigma this bloke. Will do something flashy like drilling a dart on his opposite foot, then two minutes later fluffs up the unfluffable. Just wish he was more consistent with his execution.

12. Dawson - working his way into things beautifully coming off that foot issue. Covering the ground well and his kicking continues to be pristine.

15. Cook - he’s definitely more visible this pre season. Admittedly he’s playing an easier role but he’s really getting involved and his ball use is a weapon out there.

19. Taylor - deadset saw this guy pull up sore from a shot at goal. He was fine afterwards but I swear his lower body is made from paper mache.

23. Rankine - he was the standout of match sim. Seemed to release the shackles a bit today and was just dynamic out there. Made a couple blues by foot but otherwise was very good.

36. Maley - peculiar body shape with thick legs and a short torso. Quite Grundy-like in that regard. But gee he’s hard to shift in the air, and his hands were again pretty safe today.

38. Sholl - his ability to cover the ground is pretty impressive, it’s not a surprise he got so much ball. To be honest he should be playing for a lesser side. He’s good enough. But we know his faults, which will make it hard for him to break back in. He can’t do a whole lot more than he’s doing right now, though.

39. Murray - sometimes does things that make you take notice. Like today, when he intercepted a loose ball in the corridor and put the jets on, speeding past several opponents. He has something, it’s just whether he has the polish and consistency to make it.

44. Cumming - better. Kicking was excellent and had a really brave moment where he went back with the flight and could’ve been poleaxed. Still think we’re not getting the most out of him with this wing role, but we’re struggling to fit Nank and others in at half back, let alone Cumming, so it’s a bit of a conundrum.

 

[Kane McGoodwin]

bigman - how is Edwards matching the A team midfield?

Would like to see us fast track him next season, mainly off a wing.

 

[BRL121]

bigman - how is Edwards matching the A team midfield?

Would like to see us fast track him next season, mainly off a wing.

Bigman has downplayed Edwards this PS.

 

[Huntercrow]

Bit of an uneventful session so I’ll keep it a bit shorter today.

First off, good numbers again with everyone showing up except Mark Keane.

Draper stepped up his running a bit, doing longer and faster run throughs alongside McGuane. He looked to be moving pretty well though I will note that he felt the right side of his groin quite a bit during the breaks.

Unfortunately it seems like Ryan may have hurt himself, as he left the track early and had a bit of a limp going. Hard to diagnose what it was, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t see him train again until after the Christmas break.

I also noticed late in the session Berry talked to a trainer and gestured towards his knee. Didn’t seem overly concerned but he did head in early.

Max did some of the initial skills work before doing a power of running by himself. No strapping today. Must be close to full training, surely.

Ludowyke was held out of the match sim but otherwise did a large chunk of the session and moved quite well. Foot skills were sharp. Also put a great chase on Bell in one drill, which is a feature of his game.

Peatling still has that shoulder strapping - I’m gonna guess an AC sprain - while Nick Murray and Pedlar both had quite a bit around their knees. They trained fine though Pedlar did seem a touch proppy early on.

Thilthorpe on the other hand has shedded his knee bandage and looked excellent out there today.

Interestingly during the warm up they did something I hadn’t seen before - each player would have to chase another of similar build, at full pelt, around a circle ‘duck duck goose’ style. Most players weren’t run down though I did see Curtin grab ROB in time. This drill also showed just how fast Butts is - you don’t really see it in-game but the lad can run.

Much of the session was based around three concurrent drills, with five teams rotating through. They were:
1. Kicking drill covering two-thirds of the ground, with teams trying to move the ball from one end to the other. Missed targets or dropped marks resulted in an automatic turnover. Play on was called quicker than usual.
2. Similar to the above, except across the ground and inside the other 50m arc. Focussed on handball and driving the legs, though kicking was allowed.
3. Light ground ball and contest work. Essentially a reprieve from the much more intense drills.

Then there was 15 minutes of match sim. I’m sure George would be pleased to hear that the ball always started with a boundary throw-in after each score. McAndrew definitely had the upper edge in the ruck early on, though O’Brien recovered pretty well in the last five minutes.

Teams were as such:

Blue
FB: Laird Butts Worrell
HB: Milera Murray Hinge
_C: Cumming Dawson Neal-Bullen
HF: Rachele Fogarty Keays
FF: Pedlar Thilthorpe Walker
_R: O’Brien Curtin Rankine
IN: Soligo Bond

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

Despite clearly having the lesser line-up, the White team grabbed the win kicking two goals to one. Admittedly they were kicking with a reasonable wind, but this definitely wasn’t the first time they’ve taken it up to the more experienced players this summer.

Marsh and McAndrew snagged goals for the whites, while Soligo scored the solitary major for the blue team.

I think what stood out to me was the pressure being applied and the defensive coverage in general. The white team were really good at not allowing easy exits out of defence and often found a way to disrupt their opponents.

The lads then did about 10 minutes of high-intensity running before breaking up into small groups to work on their craft. Cotton was held off from the running - to my eye he looked a bit fatigued today.

Some player thoughts:

3. Berry - won a couple nice clearances where he used his burst pace, but you can see the difference between his foot skills and a lot of the other lads we now have in the squad. Just lacks that bit of polish.

6. Curtin - got his hands dirty a couple times but got most of his footy finding space around the ground. He’s one that does have class and composure. Not shooting the lights out just yet but that’ll come, it’s hard to do a whole lot in 15 mins of match sim.

10. Pedlar - bit of an enigma this bloke. Will do something flashy like drilling a dart on his opposite foot, then two minutes later fluffs up the unfluffable. Just wish he was more consistent with his execution.

12. Dawson - working his way into things beautifully coming off that foot issue. Covering the ground well and his kicking continues to be pristine.

15. Cook - he’s definitely more visible this pre season. Admittedly he’s playing an easier role but he’s really getting involved and his ball use is a weapon out there.

19. Taylor - deadset saw this guy pull up sore from a shot at goal. He was fine afterwards but I swear his lower body is made from paper mache.

23. Rankine - he was the standout of match sim. Seemed to release the shackles a bit today and was just dynamic out there. Made a couple blues by foot but otherwise was very good.

36. Maley - peculiar body shape with thick legs and a short torso. Quite Grundy-like in that regard. But gee he’s hard to shift in the air, and his hands were again pretty safe today.

38. Sholl - his ability to cover the ground is pretty impressive, it’s not a surprise he got so much ball. To be honest he should be playing for a lesser side. He’s good enough. But we know his faults, which will make it hard for him to break back in. He can’t do a whole lot more than he’s doing right now, though.

39. Murray - sometimes does things that make you take notice. Like today, when he intercepted a loose ball in the corridor and put the jets on, speeding past several opponents. He has something, it’s just whether he has the polish and consistency to make it.

44. Cumming - better. Kicking was excellent and had a really brave moment where he went back with the flight and could’ve been poleaxed. Still think we’re not getting the most out of him with this wing role, but we’re struggling to fit Nank and others in at half back, let alone Cumming, so it’s a bit of a conundrum.

Was Archee missing today? Not named in the sim.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Bit of an uneventful session so I’ll keep it a bit shorter today.

First off, good numbers again with everyone showing up except Mark Keane.

Draper stepped up his running a bit, doing longer and faster run throughs alongside McGuane. He looked to be moving pretty well though I will note that he felt the right side of his groin quite a bit during the breaks.

Unfortunately it seems like Ryan may have hurt himself, as he left the track early and had a bit of a limp going. Hard to diagnose what it was, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t see him train again until after the Christmas break.

I also noticed late in the session Berry talked to a trainer and gestured towards his knee. Didn’t seem overly concerned but he did head in early.

Max did some of the initial skills work before doing a power of running by himself. No strapping today. Must be close to full training, surely.

Ludowyke was held out of the match sim but otherwise did a large chunk of the session and moved quite well. Foot skills were sharp. Also put a great chase on Bell in one drill, which is a feature of his game.

Peatling still has that shoulder strapping - I’m gonna guess an AC sprain - while Nick Murray and Pedlar both had quite a bit around their knees. They trained fine though Pedlar did seem a touch proppy early on.

Thilthorpe on the other hand has shedded his knee bandage and looked excellent out there today.

Interestingly during the warm up they did something I hadn’t seen before - each player would have to chase another of similar build, at full pelt, around a circle ‘duck duck goose’ style. Most players weren’t run down though I did see Curtin grab ROB in time. This drill also showed just how fast Butts is - you don’t really see it in-game but the lad can run.

Much of the session was based around three concurrent drills, with five teams rotating through. They were:
1. Kicking drill covering two-thirds of the ground, with teams trying to move the ball from one end to the other. Missed targets or dropped marks resulted in an automatic turnover. Play on was called quicker than usual.
2. Similar to the above, except across the ground and inside the other 50m arc. Focussed on handball and driving the legs, though kicking was allowed.
3. Light ground ball and contest work. Essentially a reprieve from the much more intense drills.

Then there was 15 minutes of match sim. I’m sure George would be pleased to hear that the ball always started with a boundary throw-in after each score. McAndrew definitely had the upper edge in the ruck early on, though O’Brien recovered pretty well in the last five minutes.

Teams were as such:

Blue
FB: Laird Butts Worrell
HB: Milera Murray Hinge
_C: Cumming Dawson Neal-Bullen
HF: Rachele Fogarty Keays
FF: Pedlar Thilthorpe Walker
_R: O’Brien Curtin Rankine
IN: Soligo Bond

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

Despite clearly having the lesser line-up, the White team grabbed the win kicking two goals to one. Admittedly they were kicking with a reasonable wind, but this definitely wasn’t the first time they’ve taken it up to the more experienced players this summer.

Marsh and McAndrew snagged goals for the whites, while Soligo scored the solitary major for the blue team.

I think what stood out to me was the pressure being applied and the defensive coverage in general. The white team were really good at not allowing easy exits out of defence and often found a way to disrupt their opponents.

The lads then did about 10 minutes of high-intensity running before breaking up into small groups to work on their craft. Cotton was held off from the running - to my eye he looked a bit fatigued today.

Some player thoughts:

3. Berry - won a couple nice clearances where he used his burst pace, but you can see the difference between his foot skills and a lot of the other lads we now have in the squad. Just lacks that bit of polish.

6. Curtin - got his hands dirty a couple times but got most of his footy finding space around the ground. He’s one that does have class and composure. Not shooting the lights out just yet but that’ll come, it’s hard to do a whole lot in 15 mins of match sim.

10. Pedlar - bit of an enigma this bloke. Will do something flashy like drilling a dart on his opposite foot, then two minutes later fluffs up the unfluffable. Just wish he was more consistent with his execution.

12. Dawson - working his way into things beautifully coming off that foot issue. Covering the ground well and his kicking continues to be pristine.

15. Cook - he’s definitely more visible this pre season. Admittedly he’s playing an easier role but he’s really getting involved and his ball use is a weapon out there.

19. Taylor - deadset saw this guy pull up sore from a shot at goal. He was fine afterwards but I swear his lower body is made from paper mache.

23. Rankine - he was the standout of match sim. Seemed to release the shackles a bit today and was just dynamic out there. Made a couple blues by foot but otherwise was very good.

36. Maley - peculiar body shape with thick legs and a short torso. Quite Grundy-like in that regard. But gee he’s hard to shift in the air, and his hands were again pretty safe today.

38. Sholl - his ability to cover the ground is pretty impressive, it’s not a surprise he got so much ball. To be honest he should be playing for a lesser side. He’s good enough. But we know his faults, which will make it hard for him to break back in. He can’t do a whole lot more than he’s doing right now, though.

39. Murray - sometimes does things that make you take notice. Like today, when he intercepted a loose ball in the corridor and put the jets on, speeding past several opponents. He has something, it’s just whether he has the polish and consistency to make it.

44. Cumming - better. Kicking was excellent and had a really brave moment where he went back with the flight and could’ve been poleaxed. Still think we’re not getting the most out of him with this wing role, but we’re struggling to fit Nank and others in at half back, let alone Cumming, so it’s a bit of a conundrum.

Yep I’m happy we are practising boundary line clearances with the last touch rule coming in

 

[1990crow]

Bit of an uneventful session so I’ll keep it a bit shorter today.

First off, good numbers again with everyone showing up except Mark Keane.

Draper stepped up his running a bit, doing longer and faster run throughs alongside McGuane. He looked to be moving pretty well though I will note that he felt the right side of his groin quite a bit during the breaks.

Unfortunately it seems like Ryan may have hurt himself, as he left the track early and had a bit of a limp going. Hard to diagnose what it was, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t see him train again until after the Christmas break.

I also noticed late in the session Berry talked to a trainer and gestured towards his knee. Didn’t seem overly concerned but he did head in early.

Max did some of the initial skills work before doing a power of running by himself. No strapping today. Must be close to full training, surely.

Ludowyke was held out of the match sim but otherwise did a large chunk of the session and moved quite well. Foot skills were sharp. Also put a great chase on Bell in one drill, which is a feature of his game.

Peatling still has that shoulder strapping - I’m gonna guess an AC sprain - while Nick Murray and Pedlar both had quite a bit around their knees. They trained fine though Pedlar did seem a touch proppy early on.

Thilthorpe on the other hand has shedded his knee bandage and looked excellent out there today.

Interestingly during the warm up they did something I hadn’t seen before - each player would have to chase another of similar build, at full pelt, around a circle ‘duck duck goose’ style. Most players weren’t run down though I did see Curtin grab ROB in time. This drill also showed just how fast Butts is - you don’t really see it in-game but the lad can run.

Much of the session was based around three concurrent drills, with five teams rotating through. They were:
1. Kicking drill covering two-thirds of the ground, with teams trying to move the ball from one end to the other. Missed targets or dropped marks resulted in an automatic turnover. Play on was called quicker than usual.
2. Similar to the above, except across the ground and inside the other 50m arc. Focussed on handball and driving the legs, though kicking was allowed.
3. Light ground ball and contest work. Essentially a reprieve from the much more intense drills.

Then there was 15 minutes of match sim. I’m sure George would be pleased to hear that the ball always started with a boundary throw-in after each score. McAndrew definitely had the upper edge in the ruck early on, though O’Brien recovered pretty well in the last five minutes.

Teams were as such:

Blue
FB: Laird Butts Worrell
HB: Milera Murray Hinge
_C: Cumming Dawson Neal-Bullen
HF: Rachele Fogarty Keays
FF: Pedlar Thilthorpe Walker
_R: O’Brien Curtin Rankine
IN: Soligo Bond

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

Despite clearly having the lesser line-up, the White team grabbed the win kicking two goals to one. Admittedly they were kicking with a reasonable wind, but this definitely wasn’t the first time they’ve taken it up to the more experienced players this summer.

Marsh and McAndrew snagged goals for the whites, while Soligo scored the solitary major for the blue team.

I think what stood out to me was the pressure being applied and the defensive coverage in general. The white team were really good at not allowing easy exits out of defence and often found a way to disrupt their opponents.

The lads then did about 10 minutes of high-intensity running before breaking up into small groups to work on their craft. Cotton was held off from the running - to my eye he looked a bit fatigued today.

Some player thoughts:

3. Berry - won a couple nice clearances where he used his burst pace, but you can see the difference between his foot skills and a lot of the other lads we now have in the squad. Just lacks that bit of polish.

6. Curtin - got his hands dirty a couple times but got most of his footy finding space around the ground. He’s one that does have class and composure. Not shooting the lights out just yet but that’ll come, it’s hard to do a whole lot in 15 mins of match sim.

10. Pedlar - bit of an enigma this bloke. Will do something flashy like drilling a dart on his opposite foot, then two minutes later fluffs up the unfluffable. Just wish he was more consistent with his execution.

12. Dawson - working his way into things beautifully coming off that foot issue. Covering the ground well and his kicking continues to be pristine.

15. Cook - he’s definitely more visible this pre season. Admittedly he’s playing an easier role but he’s really getting involved and his ball use is a weapon out there.

19. Taylor - deadset saw this guy pull up sore from a shot at goal. He was fine afterwards but I swear his lower body is made from paper mache.

23. Rankine - he was the standout of match sim. Seemed to release the shackles a bit today and was just dynamic out there. Made a couple blues by foot but otherwise was very good.

36. Maley - peculiar body shape with thick legs and a short torso. Quite Grundy-like in that regard. But gee he’s hard to shift in the air, and his hands were again pretty safe today.

38. Sholl - his ability to cover the ground is pretty impressive, it’s not a surprise he got so much ball. To be honest he should be playing for a lesser side. He’s good enough. But we know his faults, which will make it hard for him to break back in. He can’t do a whole lot more than he’s doing right now, though.

39. Murray - sometimes does things that make you take notice. Like today, when he intercepted a loose ball in the corridor and put the jets on, speeding past several opponents. He has something, it’s just whether he has the polish and consistency to make it.

44. Cumming - better. Kicking was excellent and had a really brave moment where he went back with the flight and could’ve been poleaxed. Still think we’re not getting the most out of him with this wing role, but we’re struggling to fit Nank and others in at half back, let alone Cumming, so it’s a bit of a conundrum.

Rachele looking like midfield?

 

[glengowan]

Good to hear that snippet of Dawson. I was worried that issue was going to linger and effect 2026.

 

[conVINCEd]

I like that we’re playing Curtin and Edwards in the middle, and Cook off HB.

 

[Mr_Moogle]

"Going to be a short one"

Writes essay

 

[Betts are off]

Fascinated to see how the Keane-Butts-Murray battle for 2 KPD spots progresses in 2026.

Before last year started I didnt have had Butts in the mix for best 22. But its hard to deny how good we look with him in the side. Freed Keane and Worrell up to be so much more damaging.

From the Bigman files, hes probably performing the best of the 3 to date in preseason.

Feel like Murray is the player in danger right now.

 

[Thylacinus]

Is Keane's absence due to him being given an extended Christmas break to travel back to Ireland?

 

[Carn The Texan]

Fascinated to see how the Keane-Butts-Murray battle for 2 KPD spots progresses in 2026.

Before last year started I didnt have had Butts in the mix for best 22. But its hard to deny how good we look with him in the side. Freed Keane and Worrell up to be so much more damaging.

From the Bigman files, hes probably performing the best of the 3 to date in preseason.

Feel like Murray is the player in danger right now.

From memory our record with Butts in the side last year was pretty good too? He really stepped up - start of last year I had him sitting between Murray and Borlase as second option but he really upped his game and was unlucky to finish the year out of the side. Thought he was probably better than Murray tbh and looked both bigger and more mobile. I can see a situation where we need both in the side for some games where opposition sides are running with two massive forwards.