Training Saints preseason 2026

[Dard Ball Get]

Yup, big saintmike65 talked me in to going again tomorrow.
Missus has given the all clear ( think she is glad to see the back of me).
Will give a comprehensive of whatever yacht rock playlist this incredibly disappointing generation is force feeding us, oh and some stuff about footy as well.

Why do you need permission?

 

[dudeintheswamp]

“Why would they?”: Cornes urges Saints against King's early return

“You just see some silly things written in pre-season, and that's one of them.”

www.sen.com.au

 

[Joffaboy]

Why do you need permission?

Because it is a partnership forged over 35 years.
Dont they teach you that on your 4chan incel channel? Thought your Andrew Tate Onlyfans would have schooled you on loving co existence with your equal partner.

 

[Remboy]

Why do you need permission?

Something to do with Joffa mentioning something about lady humps when he got home I think.

 

[SaintWrld]

Ranking them imo in terms of potential
1. Naz
2. Pou
3. Tauru
4. Dodson
5. Wilson
6. Boxman
7. Owens
8. Windy
9. Garcia
10. Trav
11. Cananiti

Not including Lance, keels,

I genuinely think the top 5 could be top 20 AFL guys.

You seriously wouldn’t have Keeler in our top 11 most naturally talented players under 23?

 

[SG34]

Mitch Owens has almost become a bit of a forgotten man in our young brigade.

I reckon he’s played the hardest possible position and performed admirably. He has played as a 1st or 2nd forward but well undersized. More pressing, he was forced to do so in a team who had the greatest weakness of being outmarked in the air. We were one of the worst teams in the league at intercept defender marks against. So Owens constantly scragged against 2 defenders and more often than not he made a contest.

With more tall timber, be it King or a resting ruck, he will get far more looks one on one. He is incredible in a contest and the defenders are forced to hold and scrag. My prediction is that he will win a significant amount of free kicks in front of goal this year for holding, as it’s the only way defenders can try to compete in the contest.

If he can tidy his set shot goal kicking, especially the kicks straight in front 30m out, he will have a big year I think.

Don’t you think Mitchito could be a defender?

That strength.

Pretty bad set shot for goal, but great reader of the play.

He isn’t Josh Battle in the running department but I think he might go toward making up for Battle’s loss. And we don’t on Wilkie so much.

JSos and Howard are injury prone.
Caminiti is still a wild colt (who became a seasoned one) and it is dicey

Our defense is still weak.

Tauru completely unknown if he can perform consistently and play percentages
Trav was underwhelming and too much was expected last year.

I think we are still lost in our dreams (as we should be in January) but a player like Owens adds strength and class down there.

 

[Joffaboy]

Don’t you think Mitchito could be a defender?

That strength.

Pretty bad set shot for goal, but great reader of the play.

He isn’t Josh Battle in the running department but I think he might go toward making up for Battle’s loss. And we don’t on Wilkie so much.

JSos and Howard are injury prone.
Caminiti is still a wild colt (who became a seasoned one) and it is dicey

Our defense is still weak.

Tauru completely unknown if he can perform consistently and play percentages
Trav was underwhelming and too much was expected last year.

I think we are still lost in our dreams (as we should be in January) but a player like Owens adds strength and class down there.

lol Owens is not a defender, cool story though

 

[Windtagger]

Don’t you think Mitchito could be a defender?

That strength.

Pretty bad set shot for goal, but great reader of the play.

He isn’t Josh Battle in the running department but I think he might go toward making up for Battle’s loss. And we don’t on Wilkie so much.

JSos and Howard are injury prone.
Caminiti is still a wild colt (who became a seasoned one) and it is dicey

Our defense is still weak.

Tauru completely unknown if he can perform consistently and play percentages
Trav was underwhelming and too much was expected last year.

I think we are still lost in our dreams (as we should be in January) but a player like Owens adds strength and class down there.

No. His strength isn’t marking it’s contest.

 

[Mstr Strokesman]

Ranking them imo in terms of potential
1. Naz
2. Pou
3. Tauru
4. Dodson
5. Wilson
6. Boxman
7. Owens
8. Windy
9. Garcia
10. Trav
11. Cananiti

Not including Lance, keels,

I genuinely think the top 5 could be top 20 AFL guys.

12 Banfield.
Up close he is huge for an 18 year old

 

[stavro#4]

You'll enjoy it..Friday is a big session with full on match sim

No kids tomorrow. So I can get down. Can't wait.

9:45ish?

 

[Mstr Strokesman]

Anyone there yesterday thoughts on Fincher and BanfBeast?

Banfield is a beast of an 18 year old.Was right in front of me yesterday and looked 6 foot 3 ,Not knowing exactly but looked bigger than Silvagni
Fincher is a clever player,both sides ,finds space in traffic really well.
Thought he may be a candidate for back pocket but skills say he will play mid one day .

 

[SG34]

lol Owens is not a defender, cool story though

according to my sources, he did play defence as a junior and forward. A complete utility

 

[SG34]

No. His strength isn’t marking it’s contest.

Well, good leap, can mess up others in a pack, and he can take a grab anyway

 

[stavro#4]

according to my sources, he did play defence as a junior and forward. A complete utility

I think you need to not be a liability kicking the footy in the back half. Owens is a liability in an area you need precision

 

[gringo2011]

No one can argue that we aren’t significantly better on every line in terms of personnel.

I think by the end of 2026 we will be a formidable outfit.

But, I’m just not confident we come out of the gates as an unstoppable force.

I think the quick transition game plan will be hit and miss early on under proper match pressure, mainly because so many of our team will be new, or in a new role.

Don’t get me wrong, I still think we can win. I just feel like it will look and feel like hard work for a lengthy stint early on.

Regardless though, it will be a fun year to watch all our boys in both the AFL and the ressies.

I think we look like 2024 Sydney. If we can get Max King back firing he would make us a step above that. Sydney lost Gulden, Heeney and Warner and fell away. We have Sincs, Nas and Wilkie as our gun three then a very even spread of good and developing talent. Keeping our best available and development and progression will make or break our season.

Max Hall is probably going to elevate to that level too. If we can get TDK playing as the best ruck in the league we will go along way towards being a very strong outfit. Espeicllay if Macrae can stand up or Garcia elevates.

 

[saintmike65]

No kids tomorrow. So I can get down. Can't wait.

9:45ish?

Correct...get there a bit earlier if you can to get a park

 

[gringo2011]

Lions thrive off the pressure and intensity of finals and its no surprise given their experience. Took them 5 finals series to make their first GF with this team and 6 finals series to win one and now they're on for the 3-peat

I hope we get to the point where we don't have to be perfect in the H&A series to succeed in finals. IMO that gives us the foundation for sustained success - as long as we make the top 4 or even the 8 (10) we are genuinely as good a chance as anyone to win the flag

Just hoping we win a final this year and maybe make a prelim in 2027. It will be tough to maintain the momentum with so many b23 players OOC at end of 2027 but I have huge faith in our kids to step up. Get them some experience in those high intensity finals and they'll understand what it takes

In terms of personnel, I think our list is in really good shape but we do need a couple of guys who we can trust will step up in big moments in September. Nas is all we have atm but imagine seeing Pou putting us ahead in a prelim with a 55m roost or Wilson burning off a stoppage and kicking truly or Viking doing a Leo Barry. Or maybe even a big pack mark from Max. Lots to get excited about but hopefully we can get something tangible this year

Max Hall is the one. The guy is built to be the next Barry Breen.... but he'd put it through for a goal. Step around a bloke closing in on the 50 meter line, little legs pumping away and roost it through goal post high without looking like missing.

 

[SaintsSeptember]

Wasn’t a recently UK Christmas number one a “we built this city on sausage rolls” rip off?

That was totally ripped off from " Long way to the Shop if you wanna sausage roll ".

 

[gringo2011]

Opening Round vs Pies - tickets are now available.




I think with Dogs - they realised that for all the pressure, Saints don’t have the hurt factor.

Saints win the ball in case of an error. Big whoopty do! Nobody could kick a goal.

So, now they just ignore and go for the flashy flat track bully route. Obviously, that doesn’t work with the better teams.

The trick is about the hurt factor. Ryan will help and so will TDK. Big question will be on the forward line.

The Dogs play old-school fast ball movement footy that stuffs up sides that set up behind the ball. It's kryptonite to Ross Lyon coached sides.

TDK will make a big difference there. The Dogs win first use then blaze away and back their players to contest up the field. We are too busy trying to build defensive structures to move up and play one on one footy.

Obviously helps if you have a guy like Sam Darcy up ahead of you and Wilkie is the tallest player near him at the time because he's turned Hammer inside out.

 

[gringo2011]

Ranking them imo in terms of potential
1. Naz
2. Pou
3. Tauru
4. Dodson
5. Wilson
6. Boxman
7. Owens
8. Windy
9. Garcia
10. Trav
11. Cananiti

Not including Lance, keels,

I genuinely think the top 5 could be top 20 AFL guys.

Outside of Nas it's hard to rate them. Wilson and Garcia could both be superstars too. Probably have Darcy ahead of Tauru at the moment. Tauru looks exciting but he's still very unproven.

Max Hall is already probably A grade he's 23 but played one season of footy. Nas is still only a baby too. He hasn't started to hit his peak level yet.

Windy and Owens are both ready to step up to theirs now. Windhager was looking close by the end of last season. Owens freed up could be anything.

 

[Dard Ball Get]

Outside of Nas it's hard to rate them. Wilson and Garcia could both be superstars too. Probably have Darcy ahead of Tauru at the moment. Tauru looks exciting but he's still very unproven.

Max Hall is already probably A grade he's 23 but played one season of footy. Nas is still only a baby too. He hasn't started to hit his peak level yet.

Windy and Owens are both ready to step up to theirs now. Windhager was looking close by the end of last season. Owens freed up could be anything.

Owens will be a nightmare matchup when oppo have to contain King/Marshall/Keeler/Sharman/Pou/Tauru and the smalls at any one time

 

[akaifu]

Owens will be a nightmare matchup when oppo have to contain King/Marshall/Keeler/Sharman/Pou/Tauru and the smalls at any one time

Another beneficiary will be Higgins. Getting the smallest defender as opposed to the third tall will be huge. He'll kick less goals because he'll be targeted less but it'll be a massive upgrade on Butler/Collard/Wilson/Garcia from 2025 in that role

 

[gringo2011]

Mitch Owens has almost become a bit of a forgotten man in our young brigade.

I reckon he’s played the hardest possible position and performed admirably. He has played as a 1st or 2nd forward but well undersized. More pressing, he was forced to do so in a team who had the greatest weakness of being outmarked in the air. We were one of the worst teams in the league at intercept defender marks against. So Owens constantly scragged against 2 defenders and more often than not he made a contest.

With more tall timber, be it King or a resting ruck, he will get far more looks one on one. He is incredible in a contest and the defenders are forced to hold and scrag. My prediction is that he will win a significant amount of free kicks in front of goal this year for holding, as it’s the only way defenders can try to compete in the contest.

If he can tidy his set shot goal kicking, especially the kicks straight in front 30m out, he will have a big year I think.

Without King he had to become a structural piece where he's best suited to contested footy. Realistically we'd be better off freeing him and dropping Keeler or Dodson in front of goals if King is out.

He was rated the best contested player outside the midfield of any side by champion data a few years back. His combination of lead up forward and bullocking ground ball player makes him pretty unique.

 

[gringo2011]

And the 4 new senior players added have a lot of experience with new game plans.
I'm expecting they get up to speed on RTB game plan quickly.
If everyone is fit R1 we'll start start the year strong with fast transition.

TDK is going to be mostly used in the ruck. Other than knowing who to tap to it's not rocket surgery. JSOS is going to be smart enough to adapt fast, Ryan again he's going to be there to get around his man and shoot for goal. Doesn't need to adapt too much. Flanders is the one that is probably going to need time to adjust to a new system and possibly the one that will take a bit of time to develop a bit of mojo with other mids.

 

[Saintscomemarchingin]

Banfield much more impressive, Fincher, to.me, looks a bit small. Lets let him develop over the next couple of seasons.
Banfield is a beast and I can hardly believe he is a new draftee.

Fincher played 1 game for Sandy & was pretty much best afield.
Wouldn't be holding him back on physicality.