Training Pre-season 2026

[Delediodamage]

Yeah, but that was towards the end of Richo's career, Balta is still only halfway (he is only 26). I just can't see the club moving Balta from the backline, we tried him up forward when the cupboard was bare, now its chock a block full there isn't a need to move him away from the backline where he has played his best footy.

Fair point regarding Balta being much younger than Richo. I guess my main point is, let’s fast track the kids where it makes sense.

Agree, Balta shouldn’t be going forward to take games from Faull, Armstrong, Fawcett and Simms with Lynch already there leading that line. I’m advocating for Balta to take 30% of ruck load and then playing forward for a spurt of just to enable those kids to rest when needed.

FWIW, I think you’re right and the club will play him back, but it’s not what I would do if Grey really is forcing his way in as a key defender

 

[The Vaucluse]

I can see Balta playing the Rance role (doesn’t have Rance’s ability, but Balta does have some elite traits), Miller playing the Astbury role, Grey slotting into Grimes position, Gibcus and Trainor becoming the next Broad/Vlaustin.

 

[captain cotch 9]

Is it a intra-club today?

 

[El Duderino]

pretty sure Balta led the league or close to it in intercept marks a couple of years ago

 

[captain cotch 9]

pretty sure Balta led the league or close to it in intercept marks a couple of years ago

Yep Balta is an AA level defender if he can get his head screwed on.

 

[tropicaltiger]

I can see Balta playing the Rance role (doesn’t have Rance’s ability, but Balta does have some elite traits), Miller playing the Astbury role, Grey slotting into Grimes position, Gibcus and Trainor becoming the next Broad/Vlaustin.

Rance, Grimes and Astbury could read each other like a book....Miller, Balta and Grey are all hulks but to me i put them in the "aint too smart but can lift heavy things" basket.

 

[Muddiemoose]

pretty sure Balta led the league or close to it in intercept marks a couple of years ago

Think it was when we still had Grimes, Broad and maybe even Tarrant doing the defensive grunt work and Vlasustin spent a large chunk of the season injured so Balta had that free wheeling role down back

 

[Michaels]

The backup ruck position is still a huge question for me.

Video below goes into who we have as options but I'm not closer to landing on a certain answer for this!

 

[poppa pump]

Pure toned muscle-what a specimen,shape Sam Lalors in

 

[tigs2010]

Handball and a hack kick got them excited
Fmd

View attachment 2510689

He kicked it end over end wtf? hahaha

 

[Woodstock]

Was just walking up Punt Rd and they’re having a scratch match, caught about 10 mins of it, blacks vs whites (whites had no numbers so made it harder to distinguish all players). Very windy conditions.

Noticeables - Gray was dominant although was throwing it straight on to his boot to clear the area. Sonsie, McAuliffe & Cumming had plenty of it. Hotton … well it’s just not fair, the world pauses when he has the ball.

Anyways, back to work now!

 

[Yze does it]

Kicked it like a 1970’s fullback

Dick Clay

Four time premiership player Dick Clay is an Immortal in Richmond's Hall of Fame.

www.richmondfc.com.au

 

[Drunken Wookie]

He kicked it end over end wtf? hahaha

to be fair the improvement is noticeable, last year tsalada wouldve fumbled it and sharp woudlve kicked him in the head

 

[Cherki]

A missed tackle, a 1.5 metre handball that almost missed the target and a torpedo dump kick pass that went 35 metres

 

[Dr Tigris]

Balta Miller as our main KDs, Banks and Brown playing those distributor roles, with Vlas and mint cans = the first choice defence - and damn good.

Then a huge log jam trying to get spots.

Injuries form and game plan mean others will play. But we have too many good to very good defenders in the squad right now. Which is fine. We'll adjust and grow together and get another top end defensive unit for our next tilt. Hopefully some of the younger guys start to force their way in and we end 2026 looking a million dollars down back. I'm more concerned about he forward line myself.

 

[The Vaucluse]

Spent 45 minutes writing up my notes and they just vanished which is very frustrating. Anyway, here’s my summary of this morning’s training session. I’m certain that I won’t be the only person writing a report because there were a few people watching the session.

There were two rehab groups. One group was mainly doing running and consisted mostly of the players who were in rehab before Christmas, including Ralphsmith. The other group was made up of Smillie, Sims, Judson and Faull. This group started by doing basic ball work and then moved over to running. The only player who didn’t participate in any running was Faull. It was noticeable how Sims has got bigger across the shoulders and how tall Smillie is. Everybody appeared to be running freely.

The main group was broken into 4 clusters and rotated across 4 distinct activities that focused on either muscle activation, running technique and speed, simple ball skills or scrimmage work. One of the clusters were made up of solely first year players. It was noticeable how much energy Grlj has and what a physical specimen Cumming is. Cumming is really quick and had no problems beating Robert-Thompson in a one-on-one sprint.

The next activity involved uncontested movement of the footy up and down the oval by using quick and precise kicks that went between 30 and 40 meters. Players were constantly in motion as there were two footballs in operation. They executed this drill efficiently with the footy barely touching the ground or missing a target. This drill was followed by a tight game of keeping’s off by foot. The skill execution wasn’t of the same standard as the previous one with many targets missed and balls being turnover. The standouts for good skill execution were Lalor and Seth, both looked really confident and found time when others seemed to panic.

The highlight of the morning was a practice match that ran for 40 minutes and consisted of two quarters. The game was played at a high tempo with a number of players standing out.

Tom Brown - as we know he’s an elite user of the football by foot, had no trouble in driving the ball out of traffic with his kicking and played off the half back line.
Lalor - a physical beast, who exploded out of contests and kicked the footy to advantage. He moves the ball on so quickly and was clearly the most dominant midfielder and worked well with Cumming when they were both stationed in the middle. There was a centre square stoppage where he roved the ball from the ruck, ripped through two tackles and hit a nice short kick to a leading forward.
Ross - notably trimmed down, placed on a wing and was clean with his disposal. He did a precision stationary kick to Seth in the corridor that resulted in a goal
Seth/Mansell - dangerous in the forward 50, hit the scoreboard, both were good in the air and on the ground. Mansell took a lovely overhead mark when under pressure from Balta on the Punt Rd wing and was also ferocious at the contest. It’s quite clear that they are both hungry for success.
Alger - he is so composed and does magical things. He played on Trigger and beat him quite comfortably. There was an occasion when he seamlessly roved the ball from a marking contest on the MCG side of the ground and didn’t miss a step and then kicked the footy 50 meters in a breath. He also took a great lead and mark at full speed. There was an occasion where he beat a number of players, including Ryan, for a pack mark on the half forward line. Finally, he hit Armstrong up with a neat little pass when he was streaming forward from a turnover.
Cumming - his kicking was a little sloppy early, but improved greatly as the game progressed. He works hard at the bottom of the pack, has clean hands and good vision. There was a case where he was jammed in the forward pocket and released a 30 meter kick across goal to a free player in the opposite pocket. He also lifted his head when under pressure and hit Lefau with a neat kick that resulted in a shot on goal.
Grlj -played half back and matched up against MJR. Both had moments, but Grlj showed an ability to get off the chain, find space and from this he started a number of forward entries. I thought he released ball quicker and didn’t try to take so much ground by foot, as he was prior to Christmas.
Steely Green - I thought he put on a good show, what he did was positive and he looks every inch an AFL footballer.

 

[Karp3_dm]

Pure toned muscle-what a specimen,shape Sam Lalors inView attachment 2510882

Jury still out
Hasn’t shown anything yet
Groupie_

 

[Coach_Required]

bummers tearing it up

seen better kicks watching an under 7's auskick game.

Had Melbourne winning the spoon, i think i need to change it to Essendon, that whole play was putrid.

 

[Yze does it]

The backup ruck position is still a huge question for me.

Video below goes into who we have as options but I'm not closer to landing on a certain answer for this!

Fawcett being rucking more than Gray. KPF back up ruck.

Mind you Gray was a KPF when we drafted him.

 

[Lord of the Wings]

Spent 45 minutes writing up my notes and they just vanished which is very frustrating. Anyway, here’s my summary of this morning’s training session. I’m certain that I won’t be the only person writing a report because there were a few people watching the session.

There were two rehab groups. One group was mainly doing running and consisted mostly of the players who were in rehab before Christmas, including Ralphsmith. The other group was made up of Smillie, Sims, Judson and Faull. This group started by doing basic ball work and then moved over to running. The only player who didn’t participate in any running was Faull. It was noticeable how Sims has got bigger across the shoulders and how tall Smillie is. Everybody appeared to be running freely.

The main group was broken into 4 clusters and rotated across 4 distinct activities that focused on either muscle activation, running technique and speed, simple ball skills or scrimmage work. One of the clusters were made up of solely first year players. It was noticeable how much energy Grlj has and what a physical specimen Cumming is. Cumming is really quick and had no problems beating Robert-Thompson in a one-on-one sprint.

The next activity involved uncontested movement of the footy up and down the oval by using quick and precise kicks that went between 30 and 40 meters. Players were constantly in motion as there were two footballs in operation. They executed this drill efficiently with the footy barely touching the ground or missing a target. This drill was followed by a tight game of keeping’s off by foot. The skill execution wasn’t of the same standard as the previous one with many targets missed and balls being turnover. The standouts for good skill execution were Lalor and Seth, both looked really confident and found time when others seemed to panic.

The highlight of the morning was a practice match that ran for 40 minutes and consisted of two quarters. The game was played at a high tempo with a number of players standing out.

Tom Brown - as we know he’s an elite user of the football by foot, had no trouble in driving the ball out of traffic with his kicking and played off the half back line.
Lalor - a physical beast, who exploded out of contests and kicked the footy to advantage. He moves the ball on so quickly and was clearly the most dominant midfielder and worked well with Cumming when they were both stationed in the middle. There was a centre square stoppage where he roved the ball from the ruck, ripped through two tackles and hit a nice short kick to a leading forward.
Ross - notably trimmed down, placed on a wing and was clean with his disposal. He did a precision stationary kick to Seth in the corridor that resulted in a goal
Seth/Mansell - dangerous in the forward 50, hit the scoreboard, both were good in the air and on the ground. Mansell took a lovely overhead mark when under pressure from Balta on the Punt Rd wing and was also ferocious at the contest. It’s quite clear that they are both hungry for success.
Alger - he is so composed and does magical things. He played on Trigger and beat him quite comfortably. There was an occasion when he seamlessly roved the ball from a marking contest on the MCG side of the ground and didn’t miss a step and then kicked the footy 50 meters in a breath. He also took a great lead and mark at full speed. There was an occasion where he beat a number of players, including Ryan, for a pack mark on the half forward line. Finally, he hit Armstrong up with a neat little pace when he was streaming forward from a turnover.
Cumming - his kicking was a little sloppy early, but improved greatly as the game progressed. He works hard at the bottom of the pack, has clean hands and good vision. There was a case where he was jammed in the forward pocket and released a 30 meter kick across goal to a free player in the opposite pocket. He also lifted his head when under pressure and hit Lefau with a neat kick that resulted in a shot on goal.
Grlj -played half back and matched up against MJR. Both had moments, but Grlj showed an ability to get off the chain, find space and from this he started a number of forward entries. I thought he released ball quicker and didn’t try to take some much ground by foot, as he was prior to Christmas.
Steely Green - I thought he put on a good show, what he did was positive and he looks every inch an AFL footballer.

What’s wrong with Jonty? Is this a new injury

 

[THE_GUN]

What’s wrong with Jonty? Is this a new injury

Go ask him as he is having a coffee with Sonsie

 

[tiger_tough]

....so starting midfield at every stoppage was Lalor, Cumming & one of Hopper, Prestia or Tarranto.

Pre-Season Training - 2026

That’s what I thought. We had a bunch of very good defenders, you don’t need that niggling stuff when you players like that, You need a lockdown defender for a small forward. That was Grimes. We got lucky, having a tall who can do that role, having the speed n agility is rarer than rocking...

www.puntroadend.com

 

[Dr Tigris]

Sounds like Lalor is well above the level and might just not have 2nd year blues. images look amazing and training reports are off the charts.

Hopefully things are good this year, certainly sounds like a lot of guys have stepped up - MRJ, Sampson etc.

 

[smasha]

So good having Luke Bruest at the club mentoring the kids.

 

[Do the Dew]

A missed tackle, a 1.5 metre handball that almost missed the target and a torpedo dump kick pass that went 35 metres

When he kicks the ball it's ****ing sideways ahahahaha