Training 2026 Training Reports

[dominguez]

Who days Mason come in for though? We already have one of the tallest forward lines in the competition with Amiss, Treacy and Voss. That leaves you with only 3 mediums/smalls at the drop of the ball from a centre bounce entry. With Jackson rotating through the forwardline, we potentially get even taller.

No teams are playing that tall in the forward line in the comp for the obvious reasons I specified (check out every other forward line in the AFL - it's one of the reasons the Pie's were happy to let Mason go) Surely you are not advocating for Cox on top of Amiss, Treacy and Voss up forward? In terms of role balance, it makes zero sense, and is practically begging to be exploited.

You need to back your midfield players to get better at using the ball, or change your midfield balance to get the right guys kicking it into the forwardline. Trying to excuse poor disposal with a team overly reliant on talls flies in the face of modern football, and leaves you with a swiss cheese forward line defence.

Cox plays round one if Darcy isn't ready. Around 50% game time, mostly in the ruck.

Surely if Darcy is fit Cox plays for Peel.

 

[dominguez]

Has anyone ever questioned as to whether training at Cockburn, in constant wind makes our team struggle with kicking? It would affect the way they drop the ball all week. It would knock their confidence, never seeing the ball flying as intended. Its a real issue. Get us back to Freo Oval asap pls.

What makes Cockburn more windy than Freo?

We usually train in the morning so it's long before the sea breeze has come in.

 

[Count Moriarty]

Disposal efficiency of inside mids has always generally been less than that of outside players and especially that of defenders. Pressure being the major factor.
Gerard Neesham pointed out in an interview about thirty years ago that the shape of the ground is a big factor in efficiency coming out of the back half.

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Tough crowd re Caleb...

Less than 24 hours ago I saw someone post that a long-time Sydney Swans' recruiter said his biggest regret was not taking Caleb Serong

3

Caleb Serong

Age

25

Ht

180cm

Wt

87kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

13.0

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

6.0

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.6

5star

CL

2.6

4star

D

13.0

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

6.0

3star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.6

4star

CL

2.6

4star

D

13.0

4star

K

7.0

3star

HB

6.0

4star

M

1.8

2star

T

3.6

5star

CL

2.6

5star

.

In his defence, I wanted Dylan Stephens

15

Dylan Stephens

Age

25

Ht

184cm

Wt

80kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.7

4star

CL

0.0

1star

D

10.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.3

2star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.7

3star

CL

0.0

1star

D

10.3

3star

K

7.0

3star

HB

3.3

3star

M

3.0

3star

T

1.7

4star

CL

0.0

1star

too...

 

[dexter_]

Tough crowd re Caleb...

Less than 24 hours ago I saw someone post that a long-time Sydney Swans' recruiter said his biggest regret was not taking Caleb Serong.

In his defence, I wanted Dylan Stephens too...

do you have a link to that?

 

[Piggy Smalls]

do you have a link to that?

I honestly can't even remember which forum I saw it on

 

[largebus]

Everytime we play the Swans their board is just sooking non-stop about how he grew up a Swans fan and how they should trade Warner for him

 

[Piggy Smalls]

Everytime we play the Swans their board is just sooking non-stop about how he grew up a Swans fan and how they should trade Warner for him

Richmond board will be doing the same about Murphy Reid for the next 10 years

 

[David Bubb]

A watch for round 1

 

[ilikepotatoes]

A watch for round 1

Hmmmm Bailey Smith out with a calf injury a few days before a game.....

 

[Taylor]

Taj Hotton injured again too, even though Faull was the one taken before Reid, Hotton was the risky pick prior. Unlucky.

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Hmmmm Bailey Smith out with a calf injury a few days before a game.....

Calf injury the new "hamstring awareness - 6 weeks" you reckon?

 

[largebus]

Surely the Tigers need a medical dept clean out by now. Soft tissue city

 

[Snuffaluphagus]

Surely the Tigers need a medical dept clean out by now. Soft tissue city

Hotton is sadly currently a good example of why taking anyone who has suffered a significant injury before being drafted carries extra risk. Not sure its Tigs medical staff problem this one.

 

[largebus]

Hotton is sadly currently a good example of why taking anyone who has suffered a significant injury before being drafted carries extra risk. Not sure its Tigs medical staff problem this one.

Apart from him Lalor, Smillie, Johnty Faull in their 2024 draft class all have/had major injuries. After a terrible 2024 for injuries as well.

 

[David Bubb]

Switta out this week with concussion (delayed symptoms from the intraclub in Bunbury)

 

[Lach72]

Hotton is sadly currently a good example of why taking anyone who has suffered a significant injury before being drafted carries extra risk. Not sure its Tigs medical staff problem this one.

Yes. Max King reinforcing that.

For every Joel Selwood there’s a heap that are in trouble from the start.

 

[anchor man]

You got the job Andy...
Make sure that lazy sod doesnt go all soft and complacent now hes signed for life.
For my part, I will keep a close eye on his skin folds.

You and me both. I might even get to join the non supporting supporters.Just for the hell of it.

 

[Superkoops]

What makes Cockburn more windy than Freo?

We usually train in the morning so it's long before the sea breeze has come in.

It’s long bow that one. I’ve played a few games at Fremantle oval and there is plenty of wind. In fact rather than being a cross breeze the gaol end has a strong breeze blowing right at you when kicking at goal.

 

[nurries]

Switta out this week with concussion (delayed symptoms from the intraclub in Bunbury)

Thats a few concussions for Switta. I can see why we pulled the trigger on Chris "Switta 2.0" Scerri

 

[Shoeless Joe]

Walker is a paradox for me.

The Good

He is our best lock down, small defender.
He is arguably our most dynamic rebounder (not as good but more dynamic than Clark I'd argue).

The Bad

He is our king of Cat 5 errors (sorry Bailey, I think he pips you)

The question is, how do we want to use him? Lockdown or freed up? Security or risk?

With a bit of help from his fellow defenders, maybe he can do both, I'm not sure.

This is where JL really need to earn his dough and get the most out of the raw talents of this bloke and allow him to play in a system than rewards his attacking style.

I was very surprised to hear JL in the interview after the WCE game,say that he loves to see Walker take the game on...I have always thought he could take the game on more..he has blistering speed off the mark

 

[Paracleet]

It’s long bow that one. I’ve played a few games at Fremantle oval and there is plenty of wind. In fact rather than being a cross breeze the gaol end has a strong breeze blowing right at you when kicking at goal.

It's not a long bow its flat out nonsense. Of course the coastal suburbs are windier than the middle inland suburbs that's just physics. Anyone can establish this on the BOM site (well, maybe the old one). The mean daily wind run for Jandakot is more than 15% less than Swanbourne for instance.

Of course they get strong katabatic winds in the foothills, but that's hardly at at a time of day when footy training is on.

 

[BettercallSaul]

Having played most of my footy in and around freo, and been to bulk Cockburn training, id say they are incomparable. Yes Freo is windy, particularly in the Arvo's but Cockburn blows hard, a lot!

I think the Bombers are in a similar situation at Tullamarine. Almost impossible to train some days.

At a function a few weeks ago, Garlick mentioned something along the lines of a “indoor kicking facility “ or something similar being considered. No idea if it will happen or actually help with kicking skills.

 

[FreoMonocle]

The trend has been to more athletic talls, there's just very few of them who want to stay in Australia when there's more money in basketball etc. If there were 100 more Luke Jacksons in the league, they'd all be playing and not all of them at the expense of another tall.

Not just athletic, taller too.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/la...n/news-story/98d822d4b087eb181fbd355e87ea3548






Taken from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-05/cody-and-sean-heights-across-the-history-of-the-afl/103668180

 

[FreoMonocle]

Also, that's the AFL/VFL - if you took the 2024 numbers and remove the VFL, it would skew upwards to taller players.