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

 

[FKASC]

Didn't Kysaiah just extend his contract?

Yeah but that doesnt really mean much these days

 

[Doashuey]

Didn't Kysaiah just extend his contract?

YEs, but contracts aren't worth that much in footy if a player wants to leave.
I would say every chance there was an unwritten proviso that Dees would draft his cousin to get his signature so they had to reach to ensure they got him. If you recall, all the chat was that he was gone and then suddenly he is signing a massively long contract the next day. Seemed something changed and it wouldn't surprise me if that was it- Dees didn't want to have their trade dictated to them but it was better than losing their star player so they folded.

 

[thebutterflyeffect]

It was a reach for Latrelle Pickett but they are hoping it now keeps his cousin Kysaiah at the club, I am betting.

Also noting that Kozzie was considered a bit of a reach when he was drafted.

 

[FKASC]

YEs, but contracts aren't worth that much in footy if a player wants to leave.
I would say every chance there was an unwritten proviso that Dees would draft his cousin to get his signature so they had to reach to ensure they got him. If you recall, all the chat was that he was gone and then suddenly he is signing a massively long contract the next day. Seemed something changed and it wouldn't surprise me if that was it- Dees didn't want to have their trade dictated to them but it was better than losing their star player so they folded.

I think it’s a bit of that, but also they probably think they can get a real gun player if he is properly mentored and led etc, which makes them best placed given Kossie is there. Other teams might have rated him higher if they were confident he would handle the discipline and professionalism required etc.

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

Didn't Kysaiah just extend his contract?

Sure, but the old outlook on contracts doesn't really apply any more.
You need to think more Latrelley.

 

[Elite Pete]

https://archive.md/2026.01.19-025106/https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/west-coast-star-liam-baker-racing-clock-to-be-fit-for-afl-origin-as-elliot-yeo-ramps-up-preparations-c-21352692

Not much to report.

Yeo did a little bit of match sim. Hit up Harley.

Baker running laps. Starcevich not there.

Newton still rotating with Harley.

 

[uncleoatmeal]

https://archive.md/2026.01.19-025106/https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/west-coast-star-liam-baker-racing-clock-to-be-fit-for-afl-origin-as-elliot-yeo-ramps-up-preparations-c-21352692

Not much to report.

Yeo did a little bit of match sim. Hit up Harley.

Baker running laps. Starcevich not there.

Newton still rotating with Harley.

Yeo did 5mins of match sim, how comforting

 

[quackish]

Better to be safe than sorry with Yeo. Would rather a slightly under done yeoy than no yeoy at all

 

[Byron_Clanger]

https://archive.md/2026.01.19-025106/https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/west-coast-star-liam-baker-racing-clock-to-be-fit-for-afl-origin-as-elliot-yeo-ramps-up-preparations-c-21352692

Not much to report.

Yeo did a little bit of match sim. Hit up Harley.

Baker running laps. Starcevich not there.

Newton still rotating with Harley.

Yeo displayed his trademark power and skill, hitting up Harley Reid at full forward with his first possession in the block of work.
He did about five minutes of work before being pulled from the ground as a precaution

There's precaution and there's overdoing it. How can the guy be in any possible shape to compete when they're having him do the less than the bare minimum? All of this because he had the misfortune of getting his legs tangled in a tackle OVER A YEAR AGO.

And hold Baker out of SOO ffs.

 

[FatPizza]

There's precaution and there's overdoing it. How can the guy be in any possible shape to compete when they're having him do the less than the bare minimum? All of this because he had the misfortune of getting his legs tangled in a tackle OVER A YEAR AGO.

And hold Baker out of SOO ffs.

There's still 2 months to go before the season starts. I'm sure they'll ramp it up. But after the bullshit from last year I'm happy they're being ultra-conservative.

And 100% agree with Baker.

 

[Yeahnahmate]

There's still 2 months to go before the season starts. I'm sure they'll ramp it up. But after the bullshit from last year I'm happy they're being ultra-conservative.

And 100% agree with Baker.

Sweet, maybe Yeoy will be ready for 11 mins of game time once the season starts. Reminds me of the late days of Naitanui when the club had to have ran out of all remaining cotton wool supplies

 

[Elite Pete]

Mids being the best players is always a good sign. When Gross playing for the ‘B’ team last year and it was reported he was BOG, should’ve been a warning sign for the year.

 

[Elite Pete]

https://archive.md/2026.01.19-042207/https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/west-coast-training-notes-cooper-duff-tytler-rucks-bo-allan-makes-surprise-positional-switch-c-21346571

Bo key back on Waterman, Jobe and Harley is maybe starting to get a little worrying. (Even if he did well)

 

[EagleMan87]

https://archive.md/2026.01.19-042207/https://thewest.com.au/sport/west-coast-eagles/west-coast-training-notes-cooper-duff-tytler-rucks-bo-allan-makes-surprise-positional-switch-c-21346571

Bo key back on Waterman, Jobe and Harley is maybe starting to get a little worrying. (Even if he did well)

Probably just testing if he can play the Ginbey role. And why not, this early in pre-season?

 

[Elite Pete]

Probably just testing if he can play the Ginbey role. And why not, this early in pre-season?

Yeah, would prefer to do that if he could find a position A first and this might be it but even more so after an interrupted first year.

 

[Chris_6678]

Good to see Gross is back and joining in for Match Sim.

 

[EagleMan87]

Probably just testing if he can play the Ginbey role. And why not, this early in pre-season?

Hopefully he gets a solid run at WAFL level in his preferred possie.

This is what got my attention though:

Exciting draftee Cooper Duff-Tytler has featured almost predominantly as a forward in his opening training sessions as an Eagle.
But the exciting teenager on Monday as he was thrust into the middle to battle a much bigger Matt Flynn in the ruck during the first period of match simulation.
And Duff-Tytler shone, displaying the incredible athleticism that has many excited about his future.
Duff-Tytler used his leap in the ruck contests to match it with Flynn, but it was his follow up work at ground level which stood out the most as he attacked the ball with ferocity and skill.

He was also not afraid to put his body on the line, hitting several packs as the key big man down the line for his teammates.
Duff-Tytler is likely to start his career as a forward who backs up in the ruck as he builds a physique to compete at the top level, but his talent is evident.

 

[unty11]

Duff-Tytler used his leap in the ruck contests to match it with Flynn

I was told CDT had no vertical leap?

 

[RanaNaved]

I was told CDT had no vertical leap?

Yeah me too

 

[jesterwester]

I dare say that it’s probably an indication that we are gearing him to be able to play as the defender that takes the resting mid or third tall with the intent to use him to run the other way. A fair bit of trust being placed on his shoulders I feel.

I do think he probably ends up like Shep in time- able to play small and tall. So exposure against a leading player and a power mid in this context is still very useful.

Even if he doesn’t end up as a midfielder - it’s still a needed role and it’s good I think we are looking at his long term development.

 

[Bender_]

And Bo takes the lead in the post-Christmas break delisting race for again not being played where someone thinks is his ideal position in a training drill.

 

[Dom sheed pocket]

He did, but still under our noses more than any other club with far more insight than any other club yet Geelong saw something that we couldn’t see.

I expect St Kilda to do the same from the last draft with Banfield. Evans will either be delisted in two years or be a very good player, I don’t think there’s any middle ground with him

Humphries himself has said he didn’t deserve to get drafted and wasn’t emotionally mature enough to be a professional athlete.

Every club passed on him in his draft year, and the year after.

I think this is more in the J McVee bucket of a recruiter finding a needle in a haystack. then the T Kelly “we had 4 years to draft him bucket”

 

[ziad]

And Bo takes the lead in the post-Christmas break delisting race for again not being played where someone thinks is his ideal position in a training drill.

Clearly not good enough for the midfield, early delist. Or, is he the next Yoe?

 

[Elite Pete]

And Bo takes the lead in the post-Christmas break delisting race for again not being played where someone thinks is his ideal position in a training drill.

Bit of mayo put on it and clearly not on the potential delist pile.

imo not ideal for a team with a lot of gaps to have him moved around a bit after what was a not ideal first year from injury/sickness and coach mismanagement. A long way to go to see where he fits for now an in the future.

 

[WCErevival]

Is it possible that Bo has grown since his draft year?

Also what is the current status of our KPD? We're they all out there today?