Training 2026 Pre-Season Training - reports, pics etc

[SkyhorseTamer]

Skills work? Integrated into training drills? Who'd have thought it possible... Certainly not vossy in 2023 when he claimed clubs don't have time to dedicate to skills training...

Hopefully he's learnt some things and it's not too little too late

 

[DollarsandSense]

Skills work? Integrated into training drills? Who'd have thought it possible... Certainly not vossy in 2023 when he claimed clubs don't have time to dedicate to skills training...

Hopefully he's learnt some things and it's not too little too late

This is crazy. I was talking to Cam Bruce the other day and he said Lions dedicate nearly 14 hours a week to basic kick and handball skills.

 

[Blue By Blood]

I watched buckys video and thought it was appalling in the first half of the video … lack of care and lack of standards … going through the motions to warm up or whatever they were doing. The fact the coaches let them get away with it speaks volumes. On a day the club opens the session up to supporters as well.

Shows you were we are at as a club. The standard you walk past is the standard you set and it’s no wonder we miss targets in games when it’s not policed in basic ****ing training drills. Local level 2nd division rubbish those drills were. On the coaches that.

I tend to agree with you.
If a player misses an easy kick at training during a drill under little or minimal pressure then the nearest coach should blow the whistle and the player made to re-kick it not once but multiple times in a row with accuracy. I even had to do this back in my senior school footy days. Absolute basic stuff. You can't be missing regulation kicks because every time you allow that and don't call them out on it you let bad standards develop. At if you keep calling it out you get players naturally putting in more effort to improve or you get teammates spurring them on to be better.

I have the feeling we've allowed that for too long. Near enough is good enough kind of mentality and we need to shake that. We made a prelim a couple of years back- so what. That means nothing. Standards need to lift. And I seriously hope we are addressing that.

 

[found object]

Some absolutely huge unit wearing Motlop's number 3 but not really participating, not sure of his name. Was getting notes from an assistant during most of the drills.

I wondered who that was too? Did well on a couple of occasions

 

[gbatman]

The skills looked a bit of a miss early in that video but at this stage I am not taking too much into it.

Game style looks to have followed on from what we were trying to do at the very end of last year which is good. Play more direct, take more risks, run with the ball. Hopefully we get better at it this season.

If I could pick on one thing it was the movement from the forwards. Some of them are not naturally good targets or don't present well. I just felt they were late with their movements and that put the kicker under pressure/no where to go and that caused some skill errors or bombs to the top of the square. Our trigger movements from forward will need to improve and should once the full AFL side is in place.

 

[Tjblues]

Think we need to cool the pearl clutching reactions to a drill where the skills were poor.

As someone who was there:

Yes, the skills were largely pretty crap in that drill
Yes, I expected better than what I was seeing

BUT

The kick they were attempting was pretty tough/low percentage. In the pocket inside D50, being pressured to the boundary, have to kick 30ish m over Voss and in front of another coach.

In a game most players launch that kick as far as possible and hope for a stoppage.

As someone who plays local footy, the comment ls that local sides would not accept that standard are laughable. In wind like that local footy falls off a cliff.

Obviously it’s all just opinion (mine included), but we need to remember that we get a very small window into what goes on day to day at the club. I imagine the majority of us have no idea what training looks like for other clubs either.

These sessions are great for a glimpse, using them to make any grand proclamations around things being either fantastic or horrible is premature.

 

[Jimmae]

Some absolutely huge unit wearing Motlop's number 3 but not really participating, not sure of his name. Was getting notes from an assistant during most of the drills.

I wondered who that was too? Did well on a couple of occasions

As mentioned earlier, that would likely be Lewis Houndsome.

 

[teddy-hopkins]

Think we need to cool the pearl clutching reactions to a drill where the skills were poor.

As someone who was there:

Yes, the skills were largely pretty crap in that drill
Yes, I expected better than what I was seeing

BUT

The kick they were attempting was pretty tough/low percentage. In the pocket inside D50, being pressured to the boundary, have to kick 30ish m over Voss and in front of another coach.

In a game most players launch that kick as far as possible and hope for a stoppage.

As someone who plays local footy, the comment ls that local sides would not accept that standard are laughable. In wind like that local footy falls off a cliff.

Obviously it’s all just opinion (mine included), but we need to remember that we get a very small window into what goes on day to day at the club. I imagine the majority of us have no idea what training looks like for other clubs either.

These sessions are great for a glimpse, using them to make any grand proclamations around things being either fantastic or horrible is premature.

This is not isolated to this one drill or this one training session.

 

[Just Kreuzing]

This is not isolated to this one drill or this one training session.

Exactly, repeat offenders !!

 

[JJBagger]

This is not isolated to this one drill or this one training session.

In this case, it was

 

[marcmurphy3]

I'll wait to judge whether skills have improved or not until games start.

What I will say is for years we've made excuses for our skills being poor at training and it has largely translated to games.

On the flipside, having been to a few Lions sessions over the years, their skills at training are mostly very impressive.

You play how you train, particularly once you get sore and tired.

 

[Soapy V]

I'll wait to judge whether skills have improved or not until games start.

What I will say is for years we've made excuses for our skills being poor at training and it has largely translated to games.

On the flipside, having been to a few Lions sessions over the years, their skills at training are mostly very impressive.

You play how you train, particularly once you get sore and tired.

Issue for us is we haven't properly trained skills for years. Even if we start now it's going to take time

I saw more on skills than I have seen in a while but personally I would be doing more. Maybe they are?

What was noticable is players like Ison, Carroll, Charleson, Chesser, Byrne, Wilson, Ainsworth, Moir, Young, Evans using the ball very well by foot. At least now we are recruiting players that can kick the ball well

 

[Blue By Blood]

You play how you train, particularly once you get sore and tired.

This 1000%. When sore and fatigued you resort to habits (both good and bad) so it's important to form good ones.

Habits form from repetition. If bad kicks are allowed then that seeps in through the group. Enforce a high kicking standard (hopefully they are) and accept no less and you'd be surprised how quickly things can turn around. You then find players driving each other on to be better and calling players out when they don't reach that level. I remember hearing a former Blues premiership player talking about this and how at training and in games they trained hard and played hard because they didn't want to let their teammates down and knew if they did they would get a bake to lift and/or be dropped until they won back trust. It doesn't need to be outrageously authoritarian but it can still be coached strictly. This is where our leaders both playing and coaching need to drive this harder at training.

I don't think it's pearl clutching as another poster suggests to react to poor kicking (even if it was windy) as this is a pattern that's continually been witnessed at training on many occasions. Whether we have improved or not in that regard will be seen in games but it's not wrong wanting training standards to lift and better habits to form as this is what will drive us forward to success.

On a bit more of a positive note I'm pleased seeing Kemp back and moving well. Wilson and Carroll do excite too and hopefully they can provide us some run and foot skills off half back.

 

[Just Kreuzing]

Issue for us is we haven't properly trained skills for years. Even if we start now it's going to take time

I saw more on skills than I have seen in a while but personally I would be doing more. Maybe they are?

What was noticable is players like Ison, Carroll, Charleson, Chesser, Byrne, Wilson, Ainsworth, Moir using the ball very well by foot. At least now we are recruiting players that can kick the ball well

Recruiting players with poor foot skills has been our biggest issue for quite a while.

During Hawthorn’s golden era it was evident how much emphasis they placed on kicking skills and specific role players to compliment what they already had.

Hopefully we have turned the corner as an organisation in terms of being up to date with current trends or what skills today’s game requires balanced with a more realistic view of our list & wage profile.

 

[BlueLocke]

Jagga and Walsh rotating on ball and half forward with each other.

Ooh I like that.

 

[windows1]

I’ll provide a very brief review from what I saw. It was generally very underwhelming. I had a bad feeling about the year leaving the ground unfortunately. The loss of magic in the off season has left them looking meh to me. To be fair was amplified by McKay not being there which left only 3 (Walsh Weiters and Cripps) of the 6 I previously regarded as elite.

That said some positives:

• williams looked super fit (for him)
• Lij just HAS to be picked, kicking so badly needed
• Cody looks superb despite average kicking
• felt Wilson did actually look very good and he and Boyd provided real damage out of the backline

Just not excited in general. Really felt the loss of CC and TDK watching that. Just very little magic. Oh well.

 

[Sharks On A Plane]

Nice to hear a positive comment about Boyd, there's still hope for him yet!

 

[Benaly28]

I’ll provide a very brief review from what I saw. It was generally very underwhelming. I had a bad feeling about the year leaving the ground unfortunately. The loss of magic in the off season has left them looking meh to me. To be fair was amplified by McKay not being there which left only 3 (Walsh Weiters and Cripps) of the 6 I previously regarded as elite.

That said some positives:

• williams looked super fit (for him)
• Lij just HAS to be picked, kicking so badly needed
• Cody looks superb despite average kicking
• felt Wilson did actually look very good and he and Boyd provided real damage out of the backline

Just not excited in general. Really felt the loss of CC and TDK watching that. Just very little magic. Oh well.

Hopefully we’ll build a team of very good footballers who’ll make you proud to be a supporter and maybe Jagga/Dean/Moir and co. might become the next wave of stars.

 

[teddy-hopkins]

I’ll provide a very brief review from what I saw. It was generally very underwhelming. I had a bad feeling about the year leaving the ground unfortunately. The loss of magic in the off season has left them looking meh to me. To be fair was amplified by McKay not being there which left only 3 (Walsh Weiters and Cripps) of the 6 I previously regarded as elite.

That said some positives:

• williams looked super fit (for him)
• Lij just HAS to be picked, kicking so badly needed
• Cody looks superb despite average kicking
• felt Wilson did actually look very good and he and Boyd provided real damage out of the backline

Just not excited in general. Really felt the loss of CC and TDK watching that. Just very little magic. Oh well.

Bit of a reality check watching that training session. The transition away from whatever Voss has been coaching to the skills based plan is going to take a bit of time. The immediate challenge will be cobbling together 23 players who can kick. It's going to mean our match committee have to completely change their thinking on certain players and I'm a bit sceptical on this.

The positives are definitely the list additions. Hayward, Ainsworth, Dean and these guys are excellent ball users and if these guys plus Elijah are delivering the ball it means we aren't as reliant on the star players.

We do need to hunt a tall forward - preferably King but maybe Walter - next offseason. Time for GW to earn his money.

 

[Garters]

Recruiting players with poor foot skills has been our biggest issue for quite a while.

During Hawthorn’s golden era it was evident how much emphasis they placed on kicking skills and specific role players to compliment what they already had.

Hopefully we have turned the corner as an organisation in terms of being up to date with current trends or what skills today’s game requires balanced with a more realistic view of our list & wage profile.

Wright was the architect of that hawthorn golden era list so hopefully he is taking the same approach with us. Gotta say movements this off season / draft, v impressive in building out that deep role player approach. Just hope Voss and co get it and coach / build out game plan to accomodate accordingly.

 

[ferrisb]

Thanks to everyone who goes to training and takes the time to report back to us all. It’s so, so appreciated!!!!

It's amazing that people go to training.

I can hardly be ****ed going to games these days...

 

[ferrisb]

The Lions dedicate nearly 14 hours a week to basic kick and handball skills.

So what? Carlton has basic kick and handball skills 168 hours a week!!!

 

[Jimmae]

Here's why they didn't want the match sim recorded:

 

[bluebaggerjuls]

Here's why they didn't want the match sim recorded:

id rather we get a video like the dees which was just 8 minutes of pure match sim highlights rather than a chopped up 5 minute video getting differnt angles close up rather than showing the actual football ability on display.


see below

 

[sweethoney]

I’ll provide a very brief review from what I saw. It was generally very underwhelming. I had a bad feeling about the year leaving the ground unfortunately. The loss of magic in the off season has left them looking meh to me. To be fair was amplified by McKay not being there which left only 3 (Walsh Weiters and Cripps) of the 6 I previously regarded as elite.

That said some positives:

• williams looked super fit (for him)
• Lij just HAS to be picked, kicking so badly needed
• Cody looks superb despite average kicking
• felt Wilson did actually look very good and he and Boyd provided real damage out of the backline

Just not excited in general. Really felt the loss of CC and TDK watching that. Just very little magic. Oh well.

Hopefully your wrong this year
I still remember your comments about the training post you put up last year saying you’ve never seen skills look so bad and we could be in for a long season