2026 Pre-Season Thread

[troppo]

Fagan's full interview with Fish has been released.

AFL.com.au: Your Coach

One of the gems from this interview was that while the Lions didn’t receive any compensation for the loss of Ah Chee, Adelaide had to up their offer to Cal to make sure he didn’t go anywhere else in the draft. I can live with that. Cal was the big winner. Good luck to him

 

[010203]

Time is running out for Charlie and Hugh to pick up some very, very slight but enough hamstring tightness for them to miss the State of Origin match next Saturday.

 

[Pride of lions]

One of the gems from this interview was that while the Lions didn’t receive any compensation for the loss of Ah Chee, Adelaide had to up their offer to Cal to make sure he didn’t go anywhere else in the draft. I can live with that. Cal was the big winner. Good luck to him

Interesting that Fages only got about half the time given to the other coaches. Very strange.

 

[Grasshopper17]

Something else I noticed at the intra club, and I don't know how much weight to put on it.

During half time the teams broke up in to their line groups, and Morris spent a good 5 minutes addressing the forwards, before any of the coaches had their say. Lots of hand gesturing that looked like he was showing positioning and where to lead or move. Then Oscar had a short say, then the line coach talked to the group.

Actually, on that train of thought, I saw Cam Bruce spend a fair bit of time one on one with Shadeau at I think 3 quarter time. I don't have any baseline to compare this to (ie whether the line coaches work regularly with players not from their group), but maybe we are looking to skill him up for a wing role?

 

[Grasshopper17]

Time is running out for Charlie and Hugh to pick up some very, very slight but enough hamstring tightness for them to miss the State of Origin match next Saturday.

Charlie was on limited minutes on Friday evening. They put the fork in him at half time

But he was pretty lively up to that point. Looked to be playing (very) high half forward - got a lot more of the ball outside 50 than in it, and a notable amount in the back half even.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Piccies up from last Monday and Wednesday. Hope to get 'round to the intraclub shots over the next day or two.

 

[Nunez]

Piccies up from last Monday and Wednesday. Hope to get 'round to the intraclub shots over the next day or two.

Love your work Rip

 

[SizeMatters]

Something else I noticed at the intra club, and I don't know how much weight to put on it.

During half time the teams broke up in to their line groups, and Morris spent a good 5 minutes addressing the forwards, before any of the coaches had their say. Lots of hand gesturing that looked like he was showing positioning and where to lead or move. Then Oscar had a short say, then the line coach talked to the group.

I made comment on the Sunshine Coast intraclub that Morris was quite vocal in the f50 even to the point he wasn’t afraid to tell OA off for I would assume were incorrect plays. It was kinda harsh!!

I think it’s good as long as it’s constructive. It would be weird being OA going from the big dog to now playing as a system.

 

[dlanod]

Interesting that Fages only got about half the time given to the other coaches. Very strange.

They probably would be giving the coaches all however long they want and edit it down a bit - Fages likely just decided he had better things to do after throwing his grenades at the Saints.

 

[Perrip]

Interesting that Fages only got about half the time given to the other coaches. Very strange.

They probably would be giving the coaches all however long they want and edit it down a bit - Fages likely just decided he had better things to do after throwing his grenades at the Saints.

Fish says at the start of the recording that he interviewed Fages as part of the wider Lions audio doco being released next month and then did the 'Your Coach' interview with Fages about 2026 preseason. Which would explain why his Your Coach interview is shorter than the other coaches

 

[knaf]

Actually, on that train of thought, I saw Cam Bruce spend a fair bit of time one on one with Shadeau at I think 3 quarter time. I don't have any baseline to compare this to (ie whether the line coaches work regularly with players not from their group), but maybe we are looking to skill him up for a wing role?

Interesting Shadeau has AFL level attributes, but hasn’t seemed to develop the defensive side of his game (imHo). maybe a run on the wing would allow him to find a position he could hold down in our senior side.

 

[mpal6]

Actually, on that train of thought, I saw Cam Bruce spend a fair bit of time one on one with Shadeau at I think 3 quarter time. I don't have any baseline to compare this to (ie whether the line coaches work regularly with players not from their group), but maybe we are looking to skill him up for a wing role?

It's good to see we're investing time on the lesser lights. When list balance out eventually, for every top pick who moves on - having a reliable depth to call upon would be pretty handy. This focus on Brain looks very similar to how we kept our faith in Answerth and Reville in the last few years. Hope it pays off.

EDIT: Henry Smith is in the same basket for me, poor bugger never seem to get a clean run at it.

 

[SonofSuperboot]

It's good to see we're investing time on the lesser lights. When list balance out eventually, for every top pick who moves on - having a reliable depth to call upon would be pretty handy. This focus on Brain looks very similar to how we kept our faith in Answerth and Reville in the last few years. Hope it pays off.

EDIT: Henry Smith is in the same basket for me, poor bugger never seem to get a clean run at it.

I quite liked the look of Brain when he got a few senior runs. A bit up and down, but definitely not out of place. I think I liked that there was a hardness to him. Starce wasn't there to make friends, you want blokes in defence that take it to the forwards and make their life difficult. Hopefully the other parts of game will continue to develop. I had the opposite issue with Marshall last year. Really composed on the ball, but a little hesitant in the contest and laying tackles. He's still a boy, hopefully he'll toughen up with a few pre-seasons and gym work under his belt. He'll need to as with Annable coming on we'll have a healthy competition for places like his.
While I'm giving my 2 cents, one other area I think we could improve is our delivery into the 50. For a bloke like zorcs who can pick out a player in the corridor with opponents within metres of them, his delivery inside 50 leaves a lot to be desired, often not giving the forwards much advantage. Motty has improved , but still struggles to do long low kicks and does a lot of up-and-unders, and has relatively poor stats delivering inside 50. I'm not sure if all the blame lies with zorcs et al, it might be a coaching thing and knowing the forwards leading patterns and strengths. I know our forward line has seen lots of changes in past two seasons, but I do worry we might be a little siloed with the defence and forwards having their own groups and coaches. I hope they do more work on the connection. Lohman in my opinion makes a lot of really good leads, getting into good positions. He was ignored a lot when Joe was in the team, so I was hoping he would kick a bag last year with new look forward line, but as we know he had a terribly unlucky run with injuries each time he looked to be getting back. We were out our best when we were looking for different options going forward, making use of all our options. I hope we don't go back to bombing it up to contest just because we've got Allen, Morris and possibly Gallup up front. Anyway, I know we've got two flags, but every team can improve.

 

[BuntonRules]

Something else I noticed at the intra club, and I don't know how much weight to put on it.

During half time the teams broke up in to their line groups, and Morris spent a good 5 minutes addressing the forwards, before any of the coaches had their say. Lots of hand gesturing that looked like he was showing positioning and where to lead or move. Then Oscar had a short say, then the line coach talked to the group.

The senior man out there, of the talls.

 

[Tom14]

Swanny continues his DREADFUL start to his tenure. Introducing quick VAR or umpire assist for 15m kicks dear me.

 

[mpal6]

I quite liked the look of Brain when he got a few senior runs. A bit up and down, but definitely not out of place. I think I liked that there was a hardness to him. Starce wasn't there to make friends, you want blokes in defence that take it to the forwards and make their life difficult. Hopefully the other parts of game will continue to develop. I had the opposite issue with Marshall last year. Really composed on the ball, but a little hesitant in the contest and laying tackles. He's still a boy, hopefully he'll toughen up with a few pre-seasons and gym work under his belt. He'll need to as with Annable coming on we'll have a healthy competition for places like his.
While I'm giving my 2 cents, one other area I think we could improve is our delivery into the 50. For a bloke like zorcs who can pick out a player in the corridor with opponents within metres of them, his delivery inside 50 leaves a lot to be desired, often not giving the forwards much advantage. Motty has improved , but still struggles to do long low kicks and does a lot of up-and-unders, and has relatively poor stats delivering inside 50. I'm not sure if all the blame lies with zorcs et al, it might be a coaching thing and knowing the forwards leading patterns and strengths. I know our forward line has seen lots of changes in past two seasons, but I do worry we might be a little siloed with the defence and forwards having their own groups and coaches. I hope they do more work on the connection. Lohman in my opinion makes a lot of really good leads, getting into good positions. He was ignored a lot when Joe was in the team, so I was hoping he would kick a bag last year with new look forward line, but as we know he had a terribly unlucky run with injuries each time he looked to be getting back. We were out our best when we were looking for different options going forward, making use of all our options. I hope we don't go back to bombing it up to contest just because we've got Allen, Morris and possibly Gallup up front. Anyway, I know we've got two flags, but every team can improve.

Agree on Brain - hardness stood out for sure, along with closing speed. He put head over the ball in D50 congestion to create ball ups without giving away a free so looked like someone who knows his game and strengths. Sometimes pinned his ears back to go full attack while rebounding, still a bit green in terms finding that attack/defense balance. Hope it all comes together for him.

Same with Marshall too, there were many games you can see he had the wheels and close down speed to get to opposition ball carrier but he'll get there and run alongside him for some reason... as if he was a touch hesitant to lay the tackle and go down with the player. Looked like in two minds about whether to keep his feet so he can keep running towards next contest or rather than lay the tackle and hit the ground. He did get better in the last few weeks but that was a area to work on for sure.

 

[dlanod]

Swanny continues his DREADFUL start to his tenure. Introducing quick VAR or umpire assist for 15m kicks dear me.

Why make it quick? If the umpire doesn't get under the hood for every 12-17 metre kick we're missing a trick - think about all those advertising opportunities!

 

[Section 5]

Piccies up from last Monday and Wednesday. Hope to get 'round to the intraclub shots over the next day or two.

Excellent as always Mr Ripper
Is it just me or has Rayner got more arm tats than last season

I notice you have the same camera but a better lens (4.5-5.6 to my 5.6-8) i use for bird photography and Lions preseason (but not so far this year).
You are using Adobe Photoshop Elements where i am a cheapskate and use the free Canon Digital Photo Professional.
Like anything free it has its drawbacks.
Takes a while to process any adjustments and i only do a few, even though there are many options
I shoot in C Raw format, so the files are large but not as large as Raw.

So, i loved 2 of your bird shots. The bug in mouth and your young kookaburra shot below.

 

[Elixuh]

Swanny continues his DREADFUL start to his tenure. Introducing quick VAR or umpire assist for 15m kicks dear me.

Every day under this afl administration we move further away from god

 

[SonofSuperboot]

Swanny continues his DREADFUL start to his tenure. Introducing quick VAR or umpire assist for 15m kicks dear me.

Yep. It's the "myth of perfect umpiring". That with technology you could have perfect umpiring. But AFL isn't like tennis. It's always a judgment call whether there's an infringement or not. A defender and a forward jostling and grappling each other. Which one or both have stepped over the line? How heavy was that touch in the back? Players are allowed incidental contact in our game. You slow the game down with VAR, and all you're really doing is letting another person make a judgement call instead of the umpire, with a camera angle instead of ground level eyes. And the people who are complaining now will just complain about VAR when they bring it in. It happened in soccer.
I hate people talking about umpiring, some games that's all they do is bitch about decisions instead of talking about the game, and the same with the media in recent years. There's no crisis. Umpiring is pretty much the same as it's always been, apart from everyone having to adapt to constant rule changes, and umpiring is part of the game. /old man shakes fist at sky

 

[Maboo]

Excellent as always Mr Ripper
Is it just me or has Rayner got more arm tats than last season

I notice you have the same camera but a better lens (4.5-5.6 to my 5.6-8) i use for bird photography and Lions preseason (but not so far this year).
You are using Adobe Photoshop Elements where i am a cheapskate and use the free Canon Digital Photo Professional.
Like anything free it has its drawbacks.
Takes a while to process any adjustments and i only do a few, even though there are many options
I shoot in C Raw format, so the files are large but not as large as Raw.

So, i loved 2 of your bird shots. The bug in mouth and your young kookaburra shot below.

View attachment 2524356

Hey Section 5, what model Canon do you have? I use the 5D mk111 but I haven't picked it up for a while. I lost my passion after a few years working in real estate photography, what a drain on my patience that was. Anyway I need to get back on the horse and landscape, especially golden hour or twilight is my preference.

 

[Saucery]

Time is running out for Charlie and Hugh to pick up some very, very slight but enough hamstring tightness for them to miss the State of Origin match next Saturday.

Daicos first off the block (falling off it I mean).

Worrying Daicos sight ahead of Origin; cruel blows as star’s injury hell continues — AFL Latest

Worrying Daicos sight ahead of Origin; cruel blows as star’s injury hell continues — AFL Latest

www.foxsports.com.au

 

[SonofSuperboot]

"Daicos goes full Lindsey Vonn"

 

[mpal6]

Can we please get Fagan to comment on this too

The AFL's rich list: Top earners revealed, 58 players paid $1 million in 2025

The number of million-dollar AFL players doubled in 2025, with two players earning $1.6m-plus

www.afl.com.au

Of the 58 million-dollar players, the figures provided to clubs showed only one didn't play at all last season, a player in the $1.4-1.6 million pay bracket. That is expected to be St Kilda's spearhead Max King as he battled ongoing knee issues, and came after he signed a massive extension in 2024 which allowed the Saints to front-end his deal.

 

[Mr Ripper]

Excellent as always Mr Ripper
Is it just me or has Rayner got more arm tats than last season

Thanks, S5! Yeah, I think so. Going down the Joe path of quantity over quality. Neale and WAsh doing likewise. Doesn't do a thing for me but the kids of today seem to dig them.

I notice you have the same camera but a better lens (4.5-5.6 to my 5.6-8) i use for bird photography and Lions preseason (but not so far this year).

My 7D mk II died last year and I went mirrorless. Pros and cons. Still using my old lens with an adapter.

You are using Adobe Photoshop Elements where i am a cheapskate and use the free Canon Digital Photo Professional.
Like anything free it has its drawbacks.
Takes a while to process any adjustments and i only do a few, even though there are many options
I shoot in C Raw format, so the files are large but not as large as Raw.

Just upgraded to the latest version of PE. Unlike most adobe products, you can actually purchase this one outright (although the license lapses after three years). Does all I need it to.

So, i loved 2 of your bird shots. The bug in mouth and your young kookaburra shot below.

Cheers. The Kooka was actually shot with my 12 year old Panasonic point and shoot. Takes a great photo for what it is.