2026 Pre-Season Thread

[JasRulz63]

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On Kayo as well.

 

[p4p1]

Can't answer the surgery question and likely outsiders won't know unless he gets injured again and it's mentioned.

Bez did train with the main squad yesterday but not much contact in the whole session from everyone.
I should have mentioned Hippy was getting miles into his legs as you would expect.
But he did a few straight-line sprints and was very quick.

About 5 players at one stage did some sprints. Just random not sure if the players themselves just did it or the coaching staff gave them a direction. 50 meters center square

One was Darragh Joyce number 41.
He looks like he has trimmed down a bit.
He was very quick and the solo image below was after he finished the sprint

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Joyce's athleticism has always been a strong point so I am not surprised at that.

 

[Perrip]

This is good to see.
Showed some confidence
In the body.

Scored 2 goals today too

 

[NotQuiteJezza]

Which players do you trust to hit a leading forward on the chest. I can only think of 3. McCluggage, Kiddy and Jaspa. It’s such an important skill that gets lost to often.
Can you think of more?

 

[Grasshopper17]

This is good to see.
Showed some confidence
In the body.

And kicking on his left again

 

[briztoon]

Which players do you trust to hit a leading forward on the chest. I can only think of 3. McCluggage, Kiddy and Jaspa. It’s such an important skill that gets lost to often.
Can you think of more?

Neale, Zorko?

 

[KissKiss]

Which players do you trust to hit a leading forward on the chest. I can only think of 3. McCluggage, Kiddy and Jaspa. It’s such an important skill that gets lost to often.
Can you think of more?

Morris. Seems to have beautiful touch on his kicks.

 

[mpal6]

Can't answer the surgery question and likely outsiders won't know unless he gets injured again and it's mentioned.

Bez did train with the main squad yesterday but not much contact in the whole session from everyone.
I should have mentioned Hippy was getting miles into his legs as you would expect.
But he did a few straight-line sprints and was very quick.

About 5 players at one stage did some sprints. Just random not sure if the players themselves just did it or the coaching staff gave them a direction. 50 meters center square

One was Darragh Joyce number 41.
He looks like he has trimmed down a bit.
He was very quick and the solo image below was after he finished the sprint

View attachment 2527264

View attachment 2527261

I love the fact that we were able to retain Joyce as depth during this finals / premiership window. He has been our key position defense break the glass and we went there a few times in 2024 to keep ourselves afloat.

While I look forward to ZZ or Lloyd taking over that role, Joyce is the most experienced / mature depth in our list and it's quite underrated the list balance he provides for us.

 

[Dalions]

Morris. Seems to have beautiful touch on his kicks.

Charlie Cameron is also a very good field kick and into the 50.

 

[Section 5]

I love the fact that we were able to retain Joyce as depth during this finals / premiership window. He has been our key position defense break the glass and we went there a few times in 2024 to keep ourselves afloat.

While I look forward to ZZ or Lloyd taking over that role, Joyce is the most experienced / mature depth in our list and it's quite underrated the list balance he provides for us.

Joyce isn't getting any younger but still has quite a few ahead of him at the Lions.
Feels weird that McCluggage will move into the 28 years and older bracket on the 3rd of March, joining Berry

Below from footywire

 

[NotQuiteJezza]

Neale, Zorko?

I used to think this but last year they constantly missed leading targets. I’m more happy when Zorko just goes for goal. That’s when he shines.
Neale tends to either kick with too much loop or spray wide, which is weird considering his skill.

 

[NotQuiteJezza]

Morris. Seems to have beautiful touch on his kicks.

I agree with this but it’s mainly from within the 50 arc. I’m more talking from 70m to 80m.

 

[martinson]

I used to think this but last year they constantly missed leading targets. I’m more happy when Zorko just goes for goal. That’s when he shines.
Neale tends to either kick with too much loop or spray wide, which is weird considering his skill.

With Neale and Zorko particularly everyone remembers the ones they miss . Overall in terms of the competition as a whole they're both very good.

Zorks sometimes goes for some tough ones.

We don't really have anyone in there now where you think Oh no , not him when they get hold of it . One thing the coaches have done very well is bring everyone up to speed on their delivery , guys like Answerth and Gardiner have improved out of sight. Stracevich was a gun with his delivery and guys like Harris work within their limitations.

 

[Perrip]

 

[Elixuh]

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This is the first sign I’ve seen in a decade that this club is on the right path.

Shoutout to the #h#hatersur media team have posted a bunch of content the past few days.

 

[martinson]

I can't get up a locker let alone any talk.

But if it's those two maybe that's a blessing.

 

[ems_darling]

Yessss, and just the lads to host it. It's only been like four years of begging to bring it back let's go.

 

[Nunez]

This is the first sign I’ve seen in a decade that this club is on the right path.

Shoutout to the #h#hatersur media team have posted a bunch of content the past few days.

I can finally take down my signs of protest down from Lions Park

 

[Tom14]

With Kai and Morty hosting, I give locker talk about 6-8 weeks before the club pulls the plug.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

So knowing they are being computer monitored, they won’t risk going their full 15m they’re normally allowed and roughly judged on in our fast free-flowing sport

Good. Then they won't feel like they can break the rules with impunity because umpires don't call it properly.

 

[Saucery]

I know you blokes have been coming here for years, but I kind of joined big footy recently for this reason. I wanted to find out more about my mighty lions, and wasn't getting it from the media (who it seems to have taken two flags to get them to write a few stories on us), nor the lions pretty beige club site. And I haven't been disappointed. Really grateful for those posting the intraclub match reviews, training updates and stuff I just couldn't find anywhere else. It's great. Even most of the podcasters are only just coming out of hibernation this time of year.
I think the lions media dept are good at doing those little fun bits that help sell it as the friendly, family club that is kicking goals on the membership front, so on that metric they are do something right. But you hardly ever get anything from them that you couldn't get anywhere else, and there doesn't seem to be any additional content or insight as a member that you cant get as a guest. Just an app that's super confusing to book tickets with as a Vic member (and I'm good with IT, but it's just a mess, like they've done no user experience journeys in their design). I don't think logging into their website as a member makes any difference to the content. I checked just yesterday and many things like their injury list haven't been updated and it's now Feb 26. Did you know that Kiddy is out for the season? I think there are a number of improvements they could do for very little additional overhead or admin to make the experience better for supporters. Intraclub video would be fantastic, and I bet they're filming it already for analysis. It's not like it's closed secret training, any opposition could come and watch.

Mitchell “very surprised” at AI backlash as Cornes digs in

“I was very surprised at the reaction.”

www.sen.com.au

You know reading this article about the increasing use of AI in sports does make you wonder if there will be concerted efforts by clubs in the future to reduce the amount of training footage, injury rehabs/tests available.

AI needs data to crunch, I know there is loads of game footage around but if a club can use biometrics to advance their understanding of injuries, training loads, new tactics in their own playing group then they will obviously turn that on other club's teams.

AI may be able to detect subtle changes in players gaits, agility, techniques which could indicate hidden injuries etc. It's going to be an arms race where the less you show the less they know. Or perhaps they will allow their AI to scrub incriminating footage or even add in fake information to me misread by the other sides.

 

[Jivlain]

AI may be able to detect subtle changes in players gaits, agility, techniques which could indicate hidden injuries etc. It's going to be an arms race where the less you show the less they know. Or perhaps they will allow their AI to scrub incriminating footage or even add in fake information to me misread by the other sides.

That sort of thing is not within the remit of the overhyped LLMs though, and I'm dubious whether any AFL club feels strongly enough to spend what it would cost to develop and train a classifier or neural network. Something largely imported from soccer or American sports where there's serious money would be more plausible.

 

[Saucery]

That sort of thing is not within the remit of the overhyped LLMs though, and I'm dubious whether any AFL club feels strongly enough to spend what it would cost to develop and train a classifier or neural network. Something largely imported from soccer or American sports where there's serious money would be more plausible.

Of course, it will piggyback off of other sports, but biomechanics is the same no matter what the sport, it's simply the engineering and operation of a machine. The idea is that clubs won't need to do the heavy lifting, it's incredibly adaptable, self-learning technology. All it needs is the data. Just remember there is no soft cap on the IT crew!

 

[JB42]

Which players do you trust to hit a leading forward on the chest. I can only think of 3. McCluggage, Kiddy and Jaspa. It’s such an important skill that gets lost to often.
Can you think of more?

Logan Morris

 

[Perrip]

Clug & Charlie looked great tonight in Origin. Hopefully a preview of things to come this season from them