Training 2026 Pre Season & Training Reports

[king of the road]

Seems to happen every year with the step up in intensity.
And when he steps up - it’s intense.

 

[Ura]

Just a brief write up about the day for those hungry for it.. I know when I don’t go I’m always eager to hear.

Larkey- extremely dominant. Could have kicked 7 or 8 today easily. Some nice field kicking and marking around the field.

FOS- I can’t speak high enough of him. He looks stronger, his agility and kicking are extremely high level. Over head marking is there. He was absolutely the right call at pick 2.

Kerch- some poor disposals but overall extremely good. Breaks lines and cause oppo team alot of concern.

LDU, Powell and Sheez- all looked very good. Could write up about them individually but won’t write anything you don’t know. For me LDU probably the pick of the 3 today. Sheez had an ankle niggle around the half but played out game. Powell less at CBA a lot of HFF. Did look good.

Xerri will have a dominant year again. Looks prime. Goad does some nice things and is competing better for 4 qtr then last year. Still confident in him.
CCJ came on fresh for the second half and immediately impacted the game though. For those thinking he is a lame duck this year they will be disappointed to read about his preformance today. Beat Goad in the ruck. Worked Xerri hard, tackled well and marked around the ground.

Matlock- his best showing. Picks it up well below his knees. Kicked around 3 goals. Marking well. Looked good today for me.

Bull- played 2nd half in defence…. Didn’t look bad. Took some key marks. Not a pass yet but strange to see.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Whitlock has been solid , Missed a couple of contested grabs but has kicked a couple of goals . Has a high footy IQ .

Comben the standout for me

Whitlock’s goals last year were mostly due to pure smarts. Once he adds the size, then watch out.

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Just a brief write up about the day for those hungry for it.. I know when I don’t go I’m always eager to hear.

Larkey- extremely dominant. Could have kicked 7 or 8 today easily. Some nice field kicking and marking around the field.

FOS- I can’t speak high enough of him. He looks stronger, his agility and kicking are extremely high level. Over head marking is there. He was absolutely the right call at pick 2.

Kerch- some poor disposals but overall extremely good. Breaks lines and cause oppo team alot of concern.

LDU, Powell and Sheez- all looked very good. Could write up about them individually but won’t write anything you don’t know. For me LDU probably the pick of the 3 today. Sheez had an ankle niggle around the half but played out game. Powell less at CBA a lot of HFF. Did look good.

Xerri will have a dominant year again. Looks prime. Goad does some nice things and is competing better for 4 qtr then last year. Still confident in him.
CCJ came on fresh for the second half and immediately impacted the game though. For those thinking he is a lame duck this year they will be disappointed to read about his preformance today. Beat Goad in the ruck. Worked Xerri hard, tackled well and marked around the ground.

Matlock- his best showing. Picks it up well below his knees. Kicked around 3 goals. Marking well. Looked good today for me.

Bull- played 2nd half in defence…. Didn’t look bad. Took some key marks. Not a pass yet but strange to see.

Plenty of positives to take, particularly with the talls.

 

[Ura]

Other notables-

Goater played second half. Had a nice run through the middle. Looks like he is getting confidence back in his body.

Scott played well. Worked hard. Not sure he gets into AFL team but his effort is definitely there.

Coops worked very hard. Does look smooth with ball in hand. Not beaten badly from where I was sitting.

Bath has been solid and a good target.

Dawson still a concern for me. He isn’t near our starting backline this year for those putting him in there. Larkey torched early then Darling torched him late

 

[zoomba23]

Other notables-

Goater played second half. Had a nice run through the middle. Looks like he is getting confidence back in his body.

Scott played well. Worked hard. Not sure he gets into AFL team but his effort is definitely there.

Coops worked very hard. Does look smooth with ball in hand. Not beaten badly from where I was sitting.

Bath has been solid and a good target.

Dawson still a concern for me. He isn’t near our starting backline this year for those putting him in there. Larkey torched early then Darling torched him late

Please elaborate on Harvey working hard. Cos that'd be a gift from the gods. He could be a top three ball user at the club if he yanked his finger out

 

[Ura]

Please elaborate on Harvey working hard. Cos that'd be a gift from the gods. He could be a top three ball user at the club if he yanked his finger out

Just getting to the right positions. I don’t think I saw him beaten 1:1 and is an asset moving the ball. Falls into the holes and a couple of times spoiled well and was blowing hard ones to get there to do it.
Early in his backline role but he seems to be doing the work

 

[zoomba23]

Just getting to the right positions. I don’t think I saw him beaten 1:1 and is an asset moving the ball. Falls into the holes and a couple of times spoiled well and was blowing hard ones to get there to do it.
Early in his backline role but he seems to be doing the work

Very good to hear. Cheers

 

[marklovesbeer]

The midfield, which was competitive if not better than a lot of other midfields in 2025, is ready to hit elite status.

The problem continues to be the defensive system and ability to prevent transition and cause turnovers.

Let’s hope LitttleBigJohn has weaved his magic.

I have a feeling his recruitment will be one of the catalysts we look back on when we win our next flag.

 

[winalotroos]

He was running laps, in the last QTR so maybe just being careful.

 

[shintemaster]

He was running laps, in the last QTR so maybe just being careful.

Yeah, not at pace though. Hopefully just a bit of awareness and being safe. He’s very important if we want to properly compete.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

Any positives from the day just completely undone.

 

[Harveysuth]

You wouldn’t run laps immediately after doing a hammy right?

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Just a brief write up about the day for those hungry for it.. I know when I don’t go I’m always eager to hear.

Larkey- extremely dominant. Could have kicked 7 or 8 today easily. Some nice field kicking and marking around the field.

FOS- I can’t speak high enough of him. He looks stronger, his agility and kicking are extremely high level. Over head marking is there. He was absolutely the right call at pick 2.

Kerch- some poor disposals but overall extremely good. Breaks lines and cause oppo team alot of concern.

LDU, Powell and Sheez- all looked very good. Could write up about them individually but won’t write anything you don’t know. For me LDU probably the pick of the 3 today. Sheez had an ankle niggle around the half but played out game. Powell less at CBA a lot of HFF. Did look good.

Xerri will have a dominant year again. Looks prime. Goad does some nice things and is competing better for 4 qtr then last year. Still confident in him.
CCJ came on fresh for the second half and immediately impacted the game though. For those thinking he is a lame duck this year they will be disappointed to read about his preformance today. Beat Goad in the ruck. Worked Xerri hard, tackled well and marked around the ground.

Matlock- his best showing. Picks it up well below his knees. Kicked around 3 goals. Marking well. Looked good today for me.

Bull- played 2nd half in defence…. Didn’t look bad. Took some key marks. Not a pass yet but strange to see.

Anything more on Trembath and Hards?

 

[Fish Sticks]

If anyone is wondering, senior team is orange.

Pretty even teams, if anything the blue team was stronger/more senior

 

[TennisPlayerAndy]

Any positives from the day just completely undone.

Four preseasons later and he’s still having ‘awareness’.

Concerns growing.

 

[marklovesbeer]

It's exciting imo. First time in a long long time that we have had some genuine competition for small forward spots. Each of them have their own positive attributes too.

Do I dare say …good recruiting the past 12 months to address the issue.

 

[shintemaster]

Anything more on Trembath and Hards?

Both had good moments. I thought Hardeman looked every bit a senior established player early, good attacking and clean.

 

[giantroo]

 

[giantroo]

 

[Loose_Cannon]

You wouldn’t run laps immediately after doing a hammy right?

Not immediately. Return to activity would be through light walking and that's usually not until at least 24-48 hours after receiving first treatment, which is to minimise edema and scar tissue.

 

[roos_fanatic08]

I like it.

https://sanfl.com.au/league/news/sanfl-top-10-in-2025-defenders/

5 - Zac Becker (Sturt)​

One of the biggest improvers in the Hostplus SANFL League, Sturt’s Zac Becker was a vital cog in his team’s premiership success.

Featuring in all 20 of the Double Blues’ outings this season, the 22-year-old was very highly-rated at Unley as he placed second in the P.T Morton Medal behind Magarey Medallist Tom Lewis.

Attracting the attention of AFL scouts, the athletic Becker – who earned the nickname Boom Boom for his massive kicks – averaged 16 disposals at 91 per cent efficiency whilst also hauling in seven marks per game.

 

[Passmore]

You wouldn’t run laps immediately after doing a hammy right?

He certainly didn't have the demeanour of a bloke that had done a hammy for the umpteenth time. And while he wasn't sprinting, he was running at a decent clip. Same as Fisher and Duursma who also finished up early.

Then again you wouldn't think a journo would run with the story unless there was something there..

 

[the big lebowski]

Anything more on Trembath and Hards?

Just home after dragging myself out of bed this morning after some encouragement from someone on Bigfooty

Hards was my player of the day. Maybe not as good as sheez or LDU but got heaps of it off half back, and used his long kicking just the way I want him to.

Trembath was a little underwhelming for what I was hoping for. Kicked 1 from a free kick against Dawson, flew hard for a couple of marks, did some nice knock ons competing hard at ground level, and looked capable in the ruck. Wasn’t bad, just not as good as his 3 games last year. Still probably played better than darling. Who was ok himself.

Other than that

Key defenders. Chom pink and Logue all looked good. There is zero doubt all 3 play round 1 imo.

Small forwards

Jk was easily the best. He worked really hard up the ground and actually got so much of the footy in the back half I thought he might have been playing there, but after checking he was definitely lining up forward. Kicked a nice goal on the run.

Dova was lively. Kicked 2 and was busy.

Banch ran back with the flight and copped a hit from Chom and came off second best.

FOS was extremely good. Played heaps in the middle. Seems like he might even start there round 1 if Wardlaw doesn’t play. Probably had 25-30 touches and kicked 1.2. His goal came from outmarking sheez deep.

Durs was in and out of the game. Started in the weaker forward line. But got going, then was switched to the good forward line and the ball barely went there. Then came off the ground to run laps.

Whitlock was promising. 3 goals. The first was a nice dribble goal after a handball receive. The second a contested pack mark in the goal square. The third a larkey out the back special where he was infringed due to positioning and a nice kick.

X was dominant as usual, kicked 2 and would have had 3 had not been for an ump advantage call.

Powell was very good.

Kerch was as very good. Watched his kicking closely and missed 2 targets but as better by foot than he’s been previously

 

[Ura]

Anything more on Trembath and Hards?

Trembath rucked abit and changed sides I think a couple of times. His very is excellent and competes well. He may have kicked a goal aswell. Looking good

Hards still having a very good offseason. Played his normal half back role. More stay at home though with Daniel running up the field and Kerch at CBAs