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

 

[Rowan18]

Do you get an actual trophy for that? Or is it just like... vibes?

EDIT: TIL it's actually a real thing

Club awarded McClelland Trophy

Steve Harriss accepts the McClelland Trophy after Fremantle finished minor premiers

www.fremantlefc.com.au

That's the one! What an ugly trophy, still had the original afl logo as well.

 

[Rowan18]

Of course two way elite mids are #1. And if we have another top 4 pick would probably still want to take a mid. But that specific Woosha school isn't the game anymore IMO.

If we had a pick in the teens and there was the right player would still love us to prioritise a goalkicking crumber. And if he's ready see if Champion can be that this year while we're still developing anyway. You say they're cherry on top players but I really can't think of a flag winning side since 2010 that didn't have one (or several like I wouldn't say Rioli/Ryan were AA level but combined + an excellent forwardline around them they provided that). Maybe Bulldogs? But I actually think they underperformed with how stacked their midfield was.

All the dynasty sides since 2010 have had all three major avenues to goal - goalkicking mids, goalkicking tall forwards and genuine goalkicking small forwards. Hawthorn, Richmond, Geelong (could make a case for Brisbane not having the KPFs but they've added Oscar). Makes them have a method to tick scores over even when teams get on top of them in one area (all of those sides were so annoying in that you could be playing way better than them and the scores would still be level) - and puts consistent pressure across the ground beyond what purely defensive front half players can provide alone.

Then the single premiership sides have had two of those goalkicking options (us with small/tall forwards, Melbourne with small forwards + mids, Dogs with a million mids + tall forwards, Collingwood with mids + small forwards).

And sides who've just not made the cut have had 1-1.5 of those (Adelaide with tall forwards but the smaller goal threat aspect handled by Rankine wherever he was, GWS with an inconsistent mix).

Still value elite mids more than specialist small forwards, absolutely, but think small forwards who can kick goals are more than a cherry on top. We're looking ok in that Harley/Duursma/Hewett/Warner* can all kick goals and our talls look good - but I'd still want us to invest in the third avenue and allow for one line to have a bad finals game/make us harder to stop. Know this isn't what you were saying specifically but I'd hate if we were ok just having 'pressure' smalls in the front half and didn't uncover/develop/draft a genuine goalscorer, however that may come.

Yeah, I get you. I'd love a perfectly balanced team too and hopefully our smalls develop and we get it. For now I'm OK with them rotating goal scoring mids to HFF so hopefully we can at least put more pressure on and stop the easy HB exits.

 

[lmach]

Draft is almost over. Phil said if Shueygod has not used all of his selections by end of draft we should all FREAK OUT

I’ve held my tongue. Draft almost over EVERYONE needs to freak out. Shueygod is not picking time for everyone to accept this and move on.

Time for the league to talk to essedon board and richmond board and put out feelers. Then tell Shueygod he will not be with us on the clock. This league needs to stop tap dancing around.

Under NO Circumstancs, Shueygod should be allowed to stay on the clock enabling him to walz into Round 1 without making all his selections.

The campaign to auto pick Shueygod starts now. The fantasy trades should start now. Sorry but draft is almost over and he remains on the clock. I will campaign for his auto pick.

This whole lets wait it out and twiddle our thumbs while Shueygod leads us on is insulting

 

[Dark Sharks]

Blamires signed by Norf

Ha ha what a spud club, he'll probably win their B&F


*Cries in McCarthy

 

[dinnaz]

Whilst neither of them made it at AFL, so acknowledged , I was pissed at Simpson because he played them in positions in the AFL that they didn’t play in the WAFL.

Clark was an inside coal face extractor ( Simpson played him as an outside runner on the wing ) , West played a similar role but ( Simpson played him as a half forward flanker ).

Both these decisions by Simpson were head scratchers for me.

The knock on Clark was he lacked pace and that West had poor footskills.

So for some reason Simpson played them in positions that exposed their weakness and didn’t take advantage of their strengths.

I recall watching a set where Simpson had Gaff in the centre square contest and Clark on the wing and thinking WTF.

Gaff didn’t have the strength to hustle on the inside but could run all day and was a proven winner on the wing.
Clarke lacked pace but was a brut at the coal face.
Hello …… what’s going on here.

Not saying that either Ckark or West would have made it had they been coached better, but they may well have played with more productivity, at the next level than they did, had they been played in the right positions.

Sames, but also Clark ****ed his shoulder shortly before being drafted & I believe he was unable to play pure inside because of this. Much like J Berry at Brisbane.

West looked a goer whenever he got a chance in the middle 100% but I got the feeling he wasn't adding enough over other players for the coaching staff.

Most supporters see obvious blues in how players are being used but there's usually reasoning behind it that we are not privy to. I think some days that coaches are trying to play 4D chess and end up missing the obvious.

 

[Elite Pete]

Going by that Hamish Davis presser and Woodcocks observation and questioning. Hewett might be playing majority half forward/wing

https://archive.md/g2Upi

 

[THE A5]

Not a fan of that at all.

 

[RustyShacklefordFalcon]

Draft is almost over. Phil said if Shueygod has not used all of his selections by end of draft we should all FREAK OUT

I’ve held my tongue. Draft almost over EVERYONE needs to freak out. Shueygod is not picking time for everyone to accept this and move on.

Time for the league to talk to essedon board and richmond board and put out feelers. Then tell Shueygod he will not be with us on the clock. This league needs to stop tap dancing around.

Under NO Circumstancs, Shueygod should be allowed to stay on the clock enabling him to walz into Round 1 without making all his selections.

The campaign to auto pick Shueygod starts now. The fantasy trades should start now. Sorry but draft is almost over and he remains on the clock. I will campaign for his auto pick.

This whole lets wait it out and twiddle our thumbs while Shueygod leads us on is insulting

This place was a lot more colourful when random260 was around. I wonder what he's doing now...

 

[Rowan18]

https://archive.md/g2Upi

Here is the version you can actually read

https://archive.md/g2Upi

 

[Wedgetailed Westerner]

They meant peace...




But how good to peas feel

Like cold applie pie

 

[Elite Pete]

Here is the version you can actually read

https://archive.md/g2Upi

?

 

[Elite Pete]

https://archive.md/kktmd

Not sounding the best on the injury front.

 

[Rowan18]

https://archive.md/kktmd

Not sounding the best on the injury front.

Do you have a subscription to the west? These are behind a pay wall. Below is a link that can be read by everyone.

Good news that Hough sounds fully recovered. Here's hoping Starc and Ginbey are fit for rnd 1

https://archive.md/kktmd

 

[ghostbat12]

We drafted badly and there is no scooting around that.
Our drafting and list management in the final stages of the Simpson/ O’Brien administration left a lot to be desired and in no small part contributed to the cluster f*** that we eventually found ourselves in.

Fortunately things on both fronts seems to have markedly improved as will our fortunes going forward.

A little unfair. They paved the way for Reid duursma and CDT to end up at west coast. Give credit where credit is due

 

[quackish]

Man I wish we’d had a top 3 pick in 2024 so we could’ve taken Jagga Smith. He looks elite

 

[RanaNaved]

Sounding pretty good on the injury front, only Gross, Brockman and Rodriguez seem a way off, and Long obviously.

We're going to get spanked regardless in round 1, so sounds like barring any more injuries, (which I've now guaranteed with my optimism) we should be pretty much full strength for North

 

[Elite Pete]

Do you have a subscription to the west? These are behind a pay wall. Below is a link that can be read by everyone.

Good news that Hough sounds fully recovered. Here's hoping Starc and Ginbey are fit for rnd 1

https://archive.md/kktmd

The links are in the posts?

 

[RanaNaved]

Man I wish we’d had a top 3 pick in 2024 so we could’ve taken Jagga Smith. He looks elite

We would've taken Draper or Langford by most reports

 

[WCEswift]

Not concerned about hewett yet, essentially last year was his first full season without foot issues, essentially a second year player

 

[twce13]

Not concerned about hewett yet, essentially last year was his first full season without foot issues, essentially a second year player

Yup. The silly thing is last year was a big positive for him and there are some implying it’s make or break. There were quarters last year where he was the best player on the field. Just need that consistency to lift.

 

[Boohemian]

Going by that Hamish Davis presser and Woodcocks observation and questioning. Hewett might be playing majority half forward/wing

Mini needs to WAKE UP

 

[kanekingswood]

Not one to usually moan about the clubs past choices, but Jagga has 37 and 1

 

[Boohemian]

Not one to usually moan about the clubs past choices, but Jagga has 37 and 1

"Comparison is the thief of joy."

 

[eaglevision]

Not one to usually moan about the clubs past choices, but Jagga has 37 and 1

Totally unforeseeable. Why keep a top 3 pick and use it to select a high possession clearance winning midfielder with outstanding footy IQ that probably had the best season of any player in his draft year?

 

[Proeagle]

Man I wish we’d had a top 3 pick in 2024 so we could’ve taken Jagga Smith. He looks elite

Yeah cause Baker has turned into such a dud.