Training 2026 Pre Season & Training Reports

[muttley45]

Is there any chance the reported " poor skills " at training are a reflection of there being increased defensive pressure ?

 

[The Nostradamus]

Is there any chance the reported " poor skills " at training are a reflection of there being increased defensive pressure ?

yeah pressure was better and the drills were in compact sections as opposed to full ground

 

[The Nostradamus]

standouts in yesterdays session for mine were jy, parker, colby, sheez, duurs, larkey, fisher and darling

 

[KiwiRoo]

Which are, at night, remarkably impressive. Imo.

take your word for it Rickety.. only ever flown across the channel..and back in the old days you could drink your duty free on the plane..so travel recollections are very hazy for me in the 90's

 

[chickenonachain]

Is there any chance the reported " poor skills " at training are a reflection of there being increased defensive pressure ?

One thing I will say is that every drill yesterday went for a maximum of 5 minutes, now as an older observer I found that a bit strange, i would have thought drills would go for longer than that especially kicking drills.

 

[king of the road]

I was at training for a bit yesterday.

A funny interaction I overheard from the boundary was between Wardlaw and Stephen’s.

Wardlaw, Daniel, FOS & Stephen’s were kicking to each other in a big circle to warm down on the far wing from the club - kicking very well BTW.

A kick went to Dyl, almost going over his head that he had to stretch for it - and fumbled on the reach.

Wardlaw, all in good banter said, ‘There’s no one behind you!’ - ripping the piss, inferring he dropped it because of perceived pressure.

It was all taken in good spirit and they were having a laugh.

Particularly, when two kicks later, Georgie dropped one. Providing Dyl with the perfect opportunity to pull out - ‘don’t worry George, there’s no one behind you!’

 

[Chip Scab1]

AFL for Goad? This year?

Goodness is his actual name, I have no idea who this Goad fella is.

And these new rules should allow our Goodness to be super-dominant.

In the 2nd half of 2026, he'll hopefully be wtaf Goodness.

He could be a bit special.

 

[JZTIME!]

Goodness is his actual name, I have no idea who this Goad fella is.

And these new rules should allow our Goodness to be super-dominant.

In the 2nd half of 2026, he'll hopefully be wtaf Goodness.

He could be a bit special.

From the one session i watched he could physically play now. Built in the Luke Jackson mould. This increased size (put on quickly) means he gasses out quickly but what better than playing AFL to push your limits. I think we should use him early on off the bench.

 

[kanga kanga kanga]

standouts in yesterdays session for mine were jy, parker, colby, sheez, duurs, larkey, fisher and darling

Really? i thought fisher was crap.

but yeah agree on the rest and especially zane, was super clean before leaving the ground early.

 

[The Nostradamus]

Really? i thought fisher was crap.

but yeah agree on the rest and especially zane, was super clean before leaving the ground early.

looked slick in the drills i saw

 

[Jonnoo]

positive Duurs talk - good good, albeit it is Jan

 

[Rod Stroker]

standouts in yesterdays session for mine were jy, parker, colby, sheez, duurs, larkey, fisher and darling

some on here still don't think he's in our best 23

 

[JZTIME!]

some on here still don't think he's in our best 23

He must start until someone demands his spot. Larkey, Curtis, Zurharr, Trembath and Darling would be a nightmare for opposition defences. Someone has to end up with an inferior match up we can exploit close to goal. Under the roof that marking power could be an advantage.

 

[The Nostradamus]

He must start until someone demands his spot. Larkey, Curtis, Zurharr, Trembath and Darling would be a nightmare for opposition defences. Someone has to end up with an inferior match up we can exploit close to goal. Under the roof that marking power could be an advantage.

with duurs rotating off the bench - he could get off the chain and kick a few

 

[JZTIME!]

with duurs rotating off the bench - he could get off the chain and kick a few

Such great mobility between them all as well. Dursmaa has capability to play high as well. We should be able to exit D50 easier with so many options.

 

[the big lebowski]

He must start until someone demands his spot. Larkey, Curtis, Zurharr, Trembath and Darling would be a nightmare for opposition defences. Someone has to end up with an inferior match up we can exploit close to goal. Under the roof that marking power could be an advantage.

He’s best 23 but not ideal for team composition imo. If we play him early I’d imagine he’d spend more time rucking in order to look after X

 

[ansonholt]

Needs a better nickname..Dova is lame
may as well call him White Cliffs

View attachment 2516573

How about calling him Ben?

We haven't had a Ben at the club since that legend who wore #10.

 

[New_Roo]

Needs a better nickname..Dova is lame
may as well call him White Cliffs

View attachment 2516573

its Dov a ie as in hover not Dover... but then again kiwis have never been able to pronounce their vowels correctly!

 

[The Nostradamus]

anyone planning on going in to training tomorrow? surely its match sim session after none for a week and a half

hopefully the boys ldu, konstanty back from gastro

 

[Makeshift Park]

Larkey, Curtis, Zurharr, Trembath and Darling would be a nightmare for opposition defences.

If opposition defences fear forward lines that have glacial pace, lumbering agility, and bugger all groundball game, sure.

 

[The Nostradamus]

If opposition defences fear forward lines that have glacial pace, lumbering agility, and bugger all groundball game, sure.

dova and banch/konstanty will be around to provide that pressure

pc, bull and darling all provide good pressure also

 

[JZTIME!]

If opposition defences fear forward lines that have glacial pace, lumbering agility, and bugger all groundball game, sure.

Zurharr, Darling and Curtis are good at both. Someone gets the the 3rd and 4th tall/defender who will be outclassed in the air. Providing we move the ball the way we did the last couple of rounds.

 

[Makeshift Park]

dova and banch/konstanty will be around to provide that pressure

pc, bull and darling all provide good pressure also

My view is that while Larkey, Darling, Trembath and Zurhaar are all good forwards, our best performing forward line in 2026 isn't one that has all four in it at the same time.

 

[barnrokn]

He's carrying his left? His gait is a little skewiff.

 

[Makeshift Park]

Zurharr, Darling and Curtis are good at both. Someone gets the the 3rd and 4th tall/defender who will be outclassed in the air. Providing we move the ball the way we did the last couple of rounds.

Good forward lines trap the ball in their forward half. Ours did that inconsistently at best last year.

Two indicators of this are our tackles inside 50 stats and our forward-50 groundball gets stats. They’re not perfect, but they’re pretty solid proxies for how well we're preventing clean opposition rebound.

On that front, the picture for North is… telling.

Curtis led the entire competition for tackles inside 50 in 2025. He’s not part of this debate. He’d be picked in literally any AFL forward line.

After that, the drop-off is steep. Our next regular is Zurhaar, ranked at #48, and then there’s basically SFA until Konstanty down around #74.

For comparison, Geelong had four players inside the top 30.

The forward-50 groundball numbers tell a similar story. We’ve got Zurhaar at #16, Curtis at #18, then no other best-23 regulars until Larkey at #49... and that’s it for the top 100.

(Trembath pops up mid-table on both lists, but his sample size - three games - is too small.)

All of this is a long-winded way of saying: I think our forward personnel mix is part of the problem when it comes to how easily teams rebound against us.

I think sacrificing a tall so we can run multiple fast, defensively accountable smalls - players who harass opposition distributors and keep the ball alive - has to be a priority for 2026.