Training Pre-Season 2026 chat

[Zouz Kitty]

Just telling you what I heard the cats coaching team say at the ground. (I tend to listen more to them than my bf family)

CHAWKS2 You are a tonic

 

[Footy Smarts]

Just telling you what I heard the cats coaching team say at the ground. (I tend to listen more to them than my bf family)

Any more thoughts you happened to overhear?

 

[The rabbi]

It looks like we may have been touched up a bit in the ruck.
53 to 18, if I have read this correctly.

 

[Max Caddy]

Good hitout all things considered.
Polkinghorne has some skills. Great to see

 

[Jhye Clark 13]

View attachment 2529776
ps He's a ruckman. ducks

He just isn't. I didn't even watch the game. I trust someone who knows a lot about it and it doesn't change my opinion.

 

[CHAWKS2]

I hope in the real stuff Worpel learns to get in the mode of "first option" releasing handballs to Holmes, Smith, Dempsey, Miers, Mannagh and Humphries. Players that either give you the burst away and big metres gained at pace, or polished delivery further afield.

Worst case scenario would be him hesitating and getting caught a lot before he can bring our weapons into play.

Yeah. So I am a bit torn. I genuinely believe he is addictive. He is somewhere between an Atkins and maybe clark or knevitt. Maybe being a bit harsh on Clark as he has 4 years to develop to Worps age.

The reason I compare to Mitch is he has a bit of a “slow brain” which is why he gets caught. Not as much as Mitch who doesn’t actually By the way get caught holding the ball like Worps but just can rarely seem to get a handball out. Gets lots of ball ups. Worps however is a bit more elusive with his feet but slow with his hands so gets holding the ball.

I am hoping it can be taught in our syst

 

[CHAWKS2]

Just to play devils advocate we rested both Sicily and Moore the entire 2nd half and rotated a few senior guys off for extended periods but yes you had a fair few more out than us. We took a while to get going which was drawing some criticism on our page after the 1st quarter but I thought both teams got a decent hit out in the heat. 1 thing is for sure we can't rely on Mraz at FB just yet if Barrass or Battle miss any games this year. Neale beat him easily I thought. Dempsey looked very good for you guys in the middle when he played there.

I agree that is is hard to really tell who was most impacted on the outs On paper the cats had 3 or more out of its best 23 on each line whereas hawks had 3 great backman out and 1 great forward. Or 2.

So on paper cats more impacted. However when you look at how cats scored today it was 10 goals from, our big forwards mostly marking. That would not have happened with your best defence.

For you guys (pretending I care for a minute!) your defence and forwards I think are elite and very good. I do think your midfield is bottom half to be honest. Of course Day makes a huge difference but yet to be proven he can last a season. I thought the guy you wanted to trade for merit showed a lot when he came on and I would stick with him. And I do like Ward. But if Newcombe falls back just a little I reckon it will hold the hawks back.

For us we probably have a similar profile but think maybe we have a little more depth in midfield. Maybe

 

[CHAWKS2]

K rock summary of the game

 

[CHAWKS2]

View attachment 2529751

Almost worked with me. And then I thought. Naahhh. Neale is obviously on track to be good! Goes without reply

 

[CHAWKS2]

That's all pretty fair although I really liked Clark's game too he seems to be heading in the right direction. I thought henry was lively but needs to convert better.

Clark has been very good apparantly in preseason. I think they are going to try on the wing

 

[TylerDurden]

I hope in the real stuff Worpel learns to get in the mode of "first option" releasing handballs to Holmes, Smith, Dempsey, Miers, Mannagh and Humphries. Players that either give you the burst away and big metres gained at pace, or polished delivery further afield.

Worst case scenario would be him hesitating and getting caught a lot before he can bring our weapons into play.

Happened a lot at Hawthorn.

 

[cats_09]

K rock summary of the game

Even without reading the article, I knew who he was going to be talking about

 

[Play it Sam]

A pre-season result will never mean anything, whether they are full squads or VFL units. Both sets supporters are just looking for some signs from kids, peripheral players or someone in a new role.

Or just gagging to watch anything that doesn't involve snow and the same interviews/ replays over and over.
My little positive was Polkinghorne as a break ice for Cameron and minor negative Bews.
Worpel good, needs to move it on a bit quicker, but that will come when he's not trying to impress.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Yeah. So I am a bit torn. I genuinely believe he is addictive. He is somewhere between an Atkins and maybe clark or knevitt. Maybe being a bit harsh on Clark as he has 4 years to develop to Worps age.

The reason I compare to Mitch is he has a bit of a “slow brain” which is why he gets caught. Not as much as Mitch who doesn’t actually By the way get caught holding the ball like Worps but just can rarely seem to get a handball out. Gets lots of ball ups. Worps however is a bit more elusive with his feet but slow with his hands so gets holding the ball.

I am hoping it can be taught in our syst

Worpel is a system player-he will look better when he has the runners coming off him that he can simply handball to rather than having to think too much and make the play (which isn't his go). He will look a lot better with our proper first team in place-a few times today he got the ball in good positions but didnt have the outriders to dish out to.

 

[Pure_Ownage]

Clark has been very good apparantly in preseason. I think they are going to try on the wing

It will be interesting. We are pretty flush for wing options so im not sure if thats how he fits. But I do think he fits in the side somewhere if he keeps improving-hes a smart footballer who makes good decisions if he can overcome his physical limitations.

 

[AlcoaCat]

Good hitout all things considered.
Polkinghorne has some skills. Great to see

Kingy will be happy. He's been on the Polk for a while. I noticed the young man has bandy legs and is big through the hips, which is usually a good sign.

 

[AlcoaCat]

Even without reading the article, I knew who he was going to be talking about

Yes, there's been a commotion in Kingy's underwear about the Polk for a few years now. He does look handy. Only 20, pretty developed for his age.

 

[OzeSparky]

How did George of the jungle go?

 

[The rabbi]

How did George of the jungle go?

Check out his stats

 

[BigCat1]

Lots of positive signs. Great to watch the kids. I thought it was a really good effort with who we had out.

Polkinghorn looks and moves a bit like a mini 3inch smaller version of Charlie Curnow

35

Charlie Curnow

Age

29

Ht

194cm

Wt

94kg

Pos.

Fwd

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.3

3star

K

9.7

4star

HB

3.6

3star

M

5.3

5star

T

2.2

4star

G

1.3

5star

No current season stats available

D

10.8

3star

K

6.4

3star

HB

4.4

4star

M

3.2

4star

T

1.6

4star

G

0.8

4star

. Driscoll looks like a neat little back pocket player. If Hoff is quick enough he is going to be a gem. Offensively hes got it sussed. Huge positive. J Clark looks better. As does O'Sullivan. Mullin looked better again. Kicking looked very natural.

Couple of negatives (keep your shirts on) Some of our young talls still look very lumbering and undersized in the ruck for modern footy. Hunter Holmes has a really nice frame and is such a smooth mover but his kicking would be considered poor at local level. He drops it both hands and they were spinning like ufos off the boot. He links up well but we would want his handball ratio to be real high. Lots to work with esp as you know physically he’ll end up like Max but he needs to spend all winter with whoever is teaching the Irish lads to kick.

 

[OzeSparky]

Check out his stats

View attachment 2529974

wow, stats look good. But game sense, speed Did he get showed up?

 

[Commando]

Worp looking like he's been on Danger's lean juice

That red Sherrin looks delicious enough to eat

The proper TW Sherrin panels too
No sponsorship mmmmm

 

[Pure_Ownage]

How did George of the jungle go?

His ball winning and ball use were really good. But he did struggle with the defensive running i can see why they worry about this with him on bigger grounds. Pity for him he wasn't drafted 10-15 years ago. I dont think he will make it but he will try his hardest.

 

[BuRgeRs82]

Not sure if this has already been discussed but from the match sim I noticed that Bowes only seemed to play 1 quarter? Noticed he had his left calf strapped afterwards.

Also, I think he'll be OK but SDK took a knock to the inside of his left knee late in the game. Doctors were doing some stress tests on it.

 

[Oisin_the_Goat]

Hopefully we see Hoffman, Edwards and Polkinghorn a bit this season