Training Preseason Training Thread - 2026

[Keys]

The below is the OG faux training report from nearly 9 years ago - often imitated but never surpassed

In the absence of Keys I went down for a trundle this morning to check them out on return. Just a few random notes I took down...

• A lot of running work again, clearly a focus even in the heat.
• Duggan looked on and was hitting targets left and right. Set for a huge 2017.
• Giles went up against Vardy in the ruck contests and I'd say that Giles has the inside running at the moment.
• Mitchell looked a class above the other midfielders bar Priddis. Just knew how to find the footy and wouldn't miss a target all session. Shuey was very quiet and seemed to be taking direction from Mitchell. Doesn't bode well for his captaincy credentials, maybe he doesn't want the gig?
• Won't say too much about it in case I was just reading too much into it, but Rioli looked as though he'd enjoyed the Christmas break a bit too much. A few of the coaches pulled him aside and they were having quite an animated conversation before Rioli was sent to do laps for the rest of the session. Good news for Le Cras, I suppose.
• Sheed kicked on his right foot for 80% of the session, I reckon. Nice to see players working on their non-preferred so readily.
• Petrie looked like he was doing a great job 'coaching' the younger forwards in between the drills. Darling in particular seemed to be following him around.
• Gee Venables has some skills. He mainly jogged laps before spending the last half hour or so on set shots - curled a few beauties from behind the boundary line at the end for a bit of fun. Hardly saw him miss a kick.
• What interested me the most was that McGovern split his time between the defenders and the forwards, could be seeing a swingman role in 2017. He was his usual dominant self down back in some match simulation drills before going head-to-head with Mackenzie in a forward role.
• Bayok is very fast - Cripps was in most of the drills with him and couldn't keep up.
• Nelson is pale as buggery and still doesn't really have the body shape you'd expect of an AFL player.
• There was a big bloke who pulled up next to me and I could have sworn it was Suma, but I'm sure I was wrong...
• Masto was the player picked to kick the goal at the end today and nailed it. Celebrations were huge.
• No sign of Cole, Parto or Hill. Couldn't tell you why.

Will upload pics later if I have time. Let me know if you have any questions!

You might wonder why I’ve put this up and stickied it

Because this is the standard all copies should be measured against and it’s a reminder of how high the bar was set

And to hopefully discourage sequels.

If you want to have a crack in my absence, go ahead but if it doesn’t equal the standard set (as judged by me), then expect

• A one week threadban for a first offence
• A two week threadban for a second offence
• A one year threadban for a third offence

Actual training reports, minus discussion, can become found here:

Training - Preseason Training Reports -2025/26

This thread has been setup for training reports only and won’t be open for replies Informative reports from the preseason thread will be copied into this thread so posters have access to the quality work from the likes of LittleFires without wading through pages of general posts

www.bigfooty.com

 

[ghostbat12]

And this was the last weekend of no footy. Only 12 days until the sim against freo. Thank **** for that, I'm so goddamn keen.

may not be that keen at 5min mark of first quarter. we have a long history of getting smashed in preseason games.

 

[Jeremy McLovin]

may not be that keen at 5min mark of first quarter. we have a long history of getting smashed in preseason games.

I've seen us lose all preseason games in a flag season and win them all in a spoon season. Results don't matter (yet), just keen to see some footy.

 

[RanaNaved]

I remember people freaking out after we got annihilated by Freo in a 2018 pre-season

 

[Keys]

In a change from normal transmission, not only did the club move open training to a Monday but they also pushed back the start time to 10.00 (which actually became 10.15 by the time the players emerged)

So the good news is I got to see a full session from start to finish for the first time this preseason. Unfortunately, rather than do their usual matchsim on a Monday they had a skills based/non-contact workout more in line with what they do on their Wednesday (open) session

Overall, the session ran for around 90 minutes. Drills focused on ball movement and skills - particularly disposal by foot and retaining possession. All running was incorporated in the drills and there was no extra sprints/laps as part of the session.

To be fair it was a warm day with the temperature hovering around 35 for the duration and the drills did require a significant amount of running

What was most pleasing was the numbers on the track with over 40 players doing most or all the session

• Absent - Rodriguez, Brockman and Barnett. No idea why the latter two were missing
• Hutchinson walked laps only for about 30-45 minutes
• Rehab - Hough and Bailey Williams spent today on Jamieson Oval working on their respective injuries. Hough looked to be moving well enough and showed no reason to question the original 3-4 week timeline to recover. Williams, however, is showing little sign of progression in his battle to overcome his groin issue - he’s doing some running but it’s neither at high pace or for extended periods
• Sam Allen did the first half hour or so of the session before moving to the outer oval to do specific rehab work on his knee. Finished off by walking/jogging some laps as he builds his fitness base. He’s running very well and looked impressive the way he moved during the drills he participated in
• Hewett lasted a bit longer with the main group- about an hour, before also moving to Jamieson’s to do a few run throughs at just above half pace. Didn’t look to be hindered in any way
• Yeo (I think) left the track about the same time as Hewett but went into the sheds rather than do any other work. He did look to move more freely than I’ve noticed in the past and he’s lost none of his penetration with his kicking off both feet. Cautiously encouraged by what he showed today
• Everybody else trained fully including Starcevich, Baker and Cole
• Waterman almost held onto a huge pack mark - one of the camera operators said he got it on tape so hopefully that sees the light of day
• Reid continues to stay involved in plays as an important link in ball movement chains
• Bo Allan had a really good session - running hard and getting himself in good positions. Used the ball well to cap off his god work
• Gross found the ball plenty in the drills as well
• Daisy Pearce was a notable observer spending much of the session out on the ground watching and talking with McQualter on occasion
• Chad Morrison

Chad Morrison

Age

47

Ht

184cm

Wt

83kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

17.0

4star

K

10.9

4star

HB

6.1

4star

M

4.1

4star

T

1.2

3star

No current season stats available

D

7.0

2star

K

5.2

2star

HB

1.8

2star

M

2.2

3star

T

1.0

3star

was working with a couple of the AFLW players on the outside oval for a bit - Cleaver was one of them I think but not sure who the other player was
• Marco Bello was working with Allan and Davis at the end refining their short (30m) passes on the run

Solid session overall albeit not a lot of real note to take away from it other than the overall numbers who participated

 

[txbyhull]

• Bo Allan had a really good session - running hard and getting himself in good positions. Used the ball well to cap off his god work

Hefty extracurricular but good on you Bo

 

[Avalor]

Cripps looks like he's coming off a 3 day bender

He always looks like that though! It's his trademark.

 

[Astro7]

• Bo Allan had a really good session - running hard and getting himself in good positions. Used the ball well to cap off his god work

There you have it - Bo to be the GOAT!

 

[Byron_Clanger]

https://archive.md/qb3JQ

Starcevich fit and showing no signs of knee problems and Hewett moving freely

 

[quackish]

Starc is bloody rock hard. Excited to see him out there this year

 

[THE A5]

Starc is bloody rock hard. Excited to see him out there this year

You bout to summon Byron now

 

[WCEswift]

In a change from normal transmission, not only did the club move open training to a Monday but they also pushed back the start time to 10.00 (which actually became 10.15 by the time the players emerged)

So the good news is I got to see a full session from start to finish for the first time this preseason. Unfortunately, rather than do their usual matchsim on a Monday they had a skills based/non-contact workout more in line with what they do on their Wednesday (open) session

Overall, the session ran for around 90 minutes. Drills focused on ball movement and skills - particularly disposal by foot and retaining possession. All running was incorporated in the drills and there was no extra sprints/laps as part of the session.

To be fair it was a warm day with the temperature hovering around 35 for the duration and the drills did require a significant amount of running

What was most pleasing was the numbers on the track with over 40 players doing most or all the session

• Absent - Rodriguez, Brockman and Barnett. No idea why the latter two were missing
• Hutchinson walked laps only for about 30-45 minutes
• Rehab - Hough and Bailey Williams spent today on Jamieson Oval working on their respective injuries. Hough looked to be moving well enough and showed no reason to question the original 3-4 week timeline to recover. Williams, however, is showing little sign of progression in his battle to overcome his groin issue - he’s doing some running but it’s neither at high pace or for extended periods
• Sam Allen did the first half hour or so of the session before moving to the outer oval to do specific rehab work on his knee. Finished off by walking/jogging some laps as he builds his fitness base. He’s running very well and looked impressive the way he moved during the drills he participated in
• Hewett lasted a bit longer with the main group- about an hour, before also moving to Jamieson’s to do a few run throughs at just above half pace. Didn’t look to be hindered in any way
• Yeo (I think) left the track about the same time as Hewett but went into the sheds rather than do any other work. He did look to move more freely than I’ve noticed in the past and he’s lost none of his penetration with his kicking off both feet. Cautiously encouraged by what he showed today
• Everybody else trained fully including Starcevich, Baker and Cole
• Waterman almost held onto a huge pack mark - one of the camera operators said he got it on tape so hopefully that sees the light of day
• Reid continues to stay involved in plays as an important link in ball movement chains
• Bo Allan had a really good session - running hard and getting himself in good positions. Used the ball well to cap off his god work
• Gross found the ball plenty in the drills as well
• Daisy Pearce was a notable observer spending much of the session out on the ground watching and talking with McQualter on occasion
• Chad Morrison was working with a couple of the AFLW players on the outside oval for a bit - Cleaver was one of them I think but not sure who the other player was
• Marco Bello was working with Allan and Davis at the end refining their short (30m) passes on the run

Solid session overall albeit not a lot of real note to take away from it other than the overall numbers who participated

Id say swapped to in season prep sim for the SOO and the scrathie with freo

 

[Goroyals22]

He always looks like that though! It's his trademark.

Explains why he fumbles so often

 

[RanaNaved]

Starc is bloody rock hard. Excited to see him out there this year

He looks good, thick and rock hard

 

[squashface]

I’ve always said we need more rock hard and seasoned blokes in their mid to late 20s

 

[Keys]

Id say swapped to in season prep sim for the SOO and the scrathie with freo

Seems that way

Open training next week is Tuesday and this weekend is the final Saturday before they start preseason games against Freo then Port. A week off after Port then it’s R1

So maybe a full blown matchsim this weekend on either Friday or Saturday as they move to in season mode

 

[Shueygod]

Seems that way

Open training next week is Tuesday and this weekend is the final Saturday before they start preseason games against Freo then Port. A week off after Port then it’s R1

So maybe a full blown matchsim this weekend on either Friday or Saturday as they move to in season mode

Most clubs seem to be doing this, some even live-streaming it.

 

[boondy]

I remember people freaking out after we got annihilated by Freo in a 2018 pre-season

We didn't get annihilated . They just ran over the top of us . Freo weren't that great in 2017 so Walls made the famous spoon prediction
I remember the game well as my first time at joondalup .

 

[gravy_86]

https://archive.md/qb3JQ

Starcevich fit and showing no signs of knee problems and Hewett moving freely

The tone of this article is so odd, I think they sent the paper’s gossip columnist to training

 

[Elite Pete]

Most clubs seem to be doing this, some even live-streaming it.

I thought Saturday would’ve been the family day and full match sim streamed like we have the last couple of years. Doesn’t seem that way though.

They dont any mini ball vision getting out

 

[Sneh]

Don't you guyses mean thicc

 

[EaglesVille]

So Ginbeys headband has mystical powers

 

[ArdentEagle]

Big grinder??

 

[Goroyals22]

I’ve always said we need more rock hard and seasoned blokes in their mid to late 20s

 

[txbyhull]

Starcevich has great girth to him, think he’ll do a good hard job if he has to get in and under

 

[RanaNaved]

We didn't get annihilated . They just ran over the top of us . Freo weren't that great in 2017 so Walls made the famous spoon prediction
I remember the game well as my first time at joondalup .

Was over 10 goals though wasn't it?