Training 2026 Pre Season & Training Reports

[ferball]

Not often I have to look something up... but here we are. Thank you, you made my day!

My kids guinea pigs are crepusclar.

So are the things that eat them...

 

[ferball]

Jess Bula 185cm medium forward from the tassie devils. turns 18 in a couple weeks

jess Bula = The Vinaka.

 

[ferball]

nice

so could have 2 father son (mccartney and harris) and 2 tassie nga kids in this draft (devine and bula) in our final year of tassie nga access

i'm glad its working for us at this point but seriously...

How the **** is John Devine's grandkid in an NGA???

 

[Rod Stroker]

While the new NGA zones will see Tasmanian talent reassigned after 2026, North Melbourne still has access to the likes of Archie Devine, Tyane Thomas, and Jess Bula. Devine is considered the best of the lot, a smooth moving distributor off half-back who can play on any line.
Has played basketball. 400 gamer incoming

TT's brother. Interesting. Hope he works out better than his brother did. Probably the biggest waste of talent I've ever seen in the game.

 

[DuckYeah]

The players aren't allowed to have finals as a goal when there is 10 spots up for grabs?

Would we prefer them, when asked, to say
"just looking for some improvement. 6-7 wins should be alright." ???

GTFOH.

Are you familiar with the story “the boy who cried wolf”? Its the story of a young bored shepherd boy who would make false accusations of a wolf attacking his sheep? I find similarities in repeated “Oh we have turned a corner” “oh the boys are in good nick” “they’re one year older” “finals here we come” … i’ll believe it when I see it, STfU and get to work.

You know what will seperate us from the rest of the comp. Training twice a week.

With shot past game structures we starting from ground zero again. Have some reality. What are the expectations? Finals? Jesus christ

 

[speedy]

While the new NGA zones will see Tasmanian talent reassigned after 2026, North Melbourne still has access to the likes of Archie Devine, Tyane Thomas, and Jess Bula. Devine is considered the best of the lot, a smooth moving distributor off half-back who can play on any line.
Has played basketball. 400 gamer incoming

Now they turn up.

We are low on draft capital, the AFL has put the breaks on the nga charity bus and the potential of poaching by the tassie team looms large. Should we even go there?

 

[DuckYeah]

Now they turn up.

We are low on draft capital, the AFL has put the breaks on the nga charity bus and the potential of poaching by the tassie team looms large. Should we even go there?

How many NGA’s make it?

 

[Chip Scab1]

My kids guinea pigs are crepusclar.

So are the things that eat them...

I wagged science in year 9-10, Nandos or La Porchetta for lunch was more my go.

 

[tales129]

 

[JZTIME!]

Anyone poo pooing the finals talk - pull your head in.

Clarko’s just wait just wait just wait til they get to 50 games BS made me want to vomit.

The boys saying when we get success over the last 3-4 years with zero conviction and the tiniest piece of hope was almost just as sickly.

Contrast that with hearing now that numerous players, including Kerch, Comben, LDU, Curtis, Sheez, X say it and finally sound like they mean it.

Doesn’t mean it will happen but how refreshing is it that they at least believe finals are attainable and “improvement” is no longer the measure.

Regardless of our outcomes at least it feels like winning is a live option now.

We were 12 points a game from 11 wins last year. If we improve a similar amount (age/games profile points to it) this season, it’s conceivable that we make a decent run at it

 

[Psi-Roos]

Are you familiar with the story “the boy who cried wolf”? Its the story of a young bored shepherd boy who would make false accusations of a wolf attacking his sheep? I find similarities in repeated “Oh we have turned a corner” “oh the boys are in good nick” “they’re one year older” “finals here we come” … i’ll believe it when I see it, STfU and get to work.

You know what will seperate us from the rest of the comp. Training twice a week.

With shot past game structures we starting from ground zero again. Have some reality. What are the expectations? Finals? Jesus christ

So.... I repeat.

How are they meant to respond to the question "What are you aiming for this year this year?

"Improvement" "6-7Wins" "Lots of fun, heaps of fun"

No, they should always be aiming for finals.

Seriously

GTFOH, theres plenty of other garbage to be miserable about.

 

[King Corey]

We were 12 points a game from 11 wins last year. If we improve a similar amount (age/games profile points to it) this season, it’s conceivable that we make a decent run at it

No offence but that hypothetical 11 wins cuts both ways.

Carlton, Brisbane draw, WC, Richmond 1st time were all but a gasp from being losses.

That's not to dismiss the goal setting to reach finals but these 'Aunty had balls' scenarios aren't much chop imo.

 

[Passmore]

So.... I repeat.

How are they meant to respond to the question "What are you aiming for this year this year?

"Improvement" "6-7Wins" "Lots of fun, heaps of fun"

No, they should always be aiming for finals.

Seriously

GTFOH, theres plenty of other garbage to be miserable about.

The doomers, the perpetually angry, and the "poor me" brigade will be offended at the first hint of ambition or optimism.

 

[DuckYeah]

"What are you aiming for this year this year?

Its ****in simple. “Round 1 to start and give it a red hot crack. We have internal expectations, us leaders are setting a standard that will be above and beyond and we will come out breathing fire”.

Dont give me cheap words. Messages like that will resonate with the group and with supporters. Unrealistic expectations are no good. Take one week at a time, do not look at the FIXture and dont pencil in anything. Wins will be hard, every game will be hard.

 

[andana]

TT's brother. Interesting. Hope he works out better than his brother did. Probably the biggest waste of talent I've ever seen in the game.

Playing in Darwin. Can't run. Plays loose man in the square. No one bothers to pick him up. Gets the occasional joe the goose.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Hugh Byrne is a big lad.

 

[spicerFanClub]

Absolutely. I'd love to understand why the AFLPA have gone down that route. It's probably because that self serving w***er Dangerfield still has plenty of time up his sleeve to go fishing.....

It's wild that in this professional sporting era, that AFL athletes have to do their 'extra's' outside of the club and have to employ personal trainers and strength coaches due to training restrictions.

American sports would laugh at that arrangement.

It's almost definitely this. Who is most likely to be leaders in the ALFPA? Older players. Who benefits from more rest time? Older players. Who is able to self-manage their time and has plenty of experience to understand what's needed in the off-season? Older players. Younger players will just being going along for the ride, not having the confidence/experience to push back and probably thinking it'll benefit them when they're older.

The risks that younger players need to take in employing outsiders for their off-season training is absolutely absurd. Half the people they go to are unqualified mates trying to spin up a PT business. The clubs need to mandate that training can only be done by those on their staff, with medical checks in place.

Unions have their place, but the AFLPA is out of control with the power they have.

 

[JZTIME!]

No offence but that hypothetical 11 wins cuts both ways.

Carlton, Brisbane draw, WC, Richmond 1st time were all but a gasp from being losses.

That's not to dismiss the goal setting to reach finals but these 'Aunty had balls' scenarios aren't much chop imo.

Brisbane and WC we were all over at the end. Carlton we were 10 goals up. The age/games demographic points to us being able to do this more often for longer. Blind Freddy can see it. It was a big improvement from the year before. Similar improvement means we will be in front more often later in games. A small improvement would even see 8 wins

 

[Dinkers]

The doomers, the perpetually angry, and the "poor me" brigade will be offended at the first hint of ambition or optimism.

So as you've witnessed a bit of training this preseason and past years, what's your takeaway comparing the last few years. I am bullish about the year ahead & tbh this partly due to us having imo 10 winnable games.

 

[ferball]

We were 12 points a game from 11 wins last year. If we improve a similar amount (age/games profile points to it) this season, it’s conceivable that we make a decent run at it

Yeah I agree.

Don't want to hear about it tho.

 

[roos_tt29]

With all this talk about expectations and finals coming out I can't help but think of the ol' saying 'learn to walk before you can run'.

We haven't nailed the fundamentals yet, haven't fixed our defensive transition and defending said transitions when opposition put the clamps on us. So, this talk coming out feels great and all but we haven't (as yet) looked like a side capable of beating teams that aren't just cooked mentally or happen to be around the same ladder position as us. Based on that, we have a **** ton of work to do and this ain't gonna happen overnight.

Agree with all of that, but want to add something:
The way I'm seeing it this year - we finally have a draw for the first 5-6 rounds where we can legitimately get on a run and build confidence. If we can start the year 4-2 or 5-1, can you imagine the belief it will start to give the guys?

And longer term, we finally have one of the softer draws - the last few years our draw his been mid-table and tougher than some finals sides which is a bit of a joke (gotta love "equalisation" )

Could be the springboard we need to start to change the internal narrative and build confidence moving into the season. It's an important patch for us.

 

[ferball]

Agree with all of that, but want to add something:
The way I'm seeing it this year - we finally have a draw for the first 5-6 rounds where we can legitimately get on a run and build confidence. If we can start the year 4-2 or 5-1, can you imagine the belief it will start to give the guys?

And longer term, we finally have one of the softer draws - the last few years our draw his been mid-table and tougher than some finals sides which is a bit of a joke (gotta love "equalisation" )

Could be the springboard we need to start to change the internal narrative and build confidence moving into the season. It's an important patch for us.

Realistically if we start the year 3-3 it will be our best start since 2018 and 2016 since we've had a better one.
...
I just went and checked and since Brad Scotts started coaching us we've had six seasons where we've started 3-3 or better. Five of them by 2016!

 

[shinboner magic]

Brisbane and WC we were all over at the end. Carlton we were 10 goals up. The age/games demographic points to us being able to do this more often for longer. Blind Freddy can see it. It was a big improvement from the year before. Similar improvement means we will be in front more often later in games. A small improvement would even see 8 wins

This is what I like to see - some positivity.

 

[roos_tt29]

Realistically if we start the year 3-3 it will be our best start since 2018 and 2016 since we've had a better one.
...
I just went and checked and since Brad Scotts started coaching us we've had six seasons where we've started 3-3 or better. Five of them by 2016!

Even that would be great!

IMO - if we knock of Port in Round 1, we're in good shape to take the Eagles, Dons and Tiges. Blues (who knows, but VERY winnable) and Lions (likely a loss, but we did push them late last year so I would rather get them early )

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Agree with all of that, but want to add something:
The way I'm seeing it this year - we finally have a draw for the first 5-6 rounds where we can legitimately get on a run and build confidence. If we can start the year 4-2 or 5-1, can you imagine the belief it will start to give the guys?

And longer term, we finally have one of the softer draws - the last few years our draw his been mid-table and tougher than some finals sides which is a bit of a joke (gotta love "equalisation" )

Could be the springboard we need to start to change the internal narrative and build confidence moving into the season. It's an important patch for us.

We have about 10 what I would categorise as ‘very winnable’ games.

At least four of them are in the first six weeks. Port, Eagles, *, Richmond, Carlton and Brisbane is a ****ing incredibly soft start.

If we aren’t at least 4-2 after six games, then it’s time to shake hands with Clarkson and move on.