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

 

[MeltMan]

Hear it every time you listen to the bald ginger do a footy podcast. The one that has stopped podcasts for a bit because of life getting on the way.
No not HoneyBadger35 the other one.

 

[Proeagle]

There are posts upon posts of playing players out of position, particulalrly our SSP players, but sure lets play him as pressure forward rather then a midfielder and then complain at the coaches for not playing him in position when/if he gets his opportunity.

Lets hope we dont treat Murdoch like we treated West. He looks like a similar player to me. And I was one that thought we didnt do right by West. Showed some good signs in the 'Priddus' role but we played him too often at HF and dropped him when he didnt dominate in his wrong position.

 

[squashface]

Lets hope we dont treat Murdoch like we treated West. He looks like a similar player to me. And I was one that thought we didnt do right by West. Showed some good signs in the 'Priddus' role but we played him too often at HF and dropped him when he didnt dominate in his wrong position.

You have to be very very very good to make it as a midget inside mid at AFL level. West was a solid player but was never going to be a full time inside mid in the AFL like he was in the WAFL.

 

[Seadog]

Lets hope we dont treat Murdoch like we treated West. He looks like a similar player to me. And I was one that thought we didnt do right by West. Showed some good signs in the 'Priddus' role but we played him too often at HF and dropped him when he didnt dominate in his wrong position.

He won 3 Simpson medals playing as a hf with brief stints in the middle. I expect that's where the club sees him playing as well.

 

[TwoStriders]

He won 3 Simpson medals playing as a hf with brief stints in the middle. I expect that's where the club sees him playing as well.

Agreed.

Considering our lack of forward pressure, the fact Milan is replacing Noah Long, his reported sub-175cm height, the fact we already recruited Dev/Macrae/Schoenberg, etc...

Feels like Milan was brought in to be a pressure forward first and an on-ball mid second. And his relentless tackling is his main selling point.

 

[juice568]

Lets hope we dont treat Murdoch like we treated West. He looks like a similar player to me. And I was one that thought we didnt do right by West. Showed some good signs in the 'Priddus' role but we played him too often at HF and dropped him when he didnt dominate in his wrong position.

Connor west, greg clark and milan murdoch are wafl players. Do you expect them to compete with daicos bont or rowell. Do we move harley or mccarthy to the hff to make murdoch happy. At best murdoch is a role player away from the midfield. He is probably only here to strenghten the wafl team anyway.

 

[FKASC]

Murdock to play the Owies role

 

[jdisc]

Connor west, greg clark and milan murdoch are wafl players. Do you expect them to compete with daicos bont or rowell. Do we move harley or mccarthy to the hff to make murdoch happy. At best murdoch is a role player away from the midfield.

McCarthy? the VFL player?

 

[juice568]

McCarthy? the VFL player?

Mccarthy is an anomaly who had the athletism at afl level.

 

[Elite Pete]

In the west article last night he said he lined up against McCarthy and Harley when they did the 18vs 18 match sim.

 

[Yeahnahmate]

Connor west, greg clark and milan murdoch are wafl players. Do you expect them to compete with daicos bont or rowell. Do we move harley or mccarthy to the hff to make murdoch happy. At best murdoch is a role player away from the midfield. He is probably only here to strenghten the wafl team anyway.

Mccarthy is an anomaly who had the athletism at afl level.

Ever heard of Matt Priddis? He was a WAFL player and not extremely athletic. I think you’ll find he was quite the handy pickup.

 

[Goroyals22]

Ever heard of Matt Priddis? He was a WAFL player and not extremely athletic. I think you’ll find he was quite the handy pickup.

Mark Hutchings also came out of the wafl

 

[Astro7]

Basements aren't really much of a thing in Australia? What's the Aussie equivalent, a caravan out the back?

The Gimp room...?

Anyway, whatever you think about our newly acquired matured Milano, what we now have is a whole lot of options, flexibility and rotational capabilities within the player list.
That magnet board could be as chaotic as the manic movements of the mercurial Milan himself.

 

[Yeahnahmate]

Mark Hutchings also came out of the wafl

Yep , another anomaly juice568

 

[Cuzz09]

If he brings tackline pressure he's already ahead of a bunch of guys

 

[makaveli01]

Ever heard of Matt Priddis? He was a WAFL player and not extremely athletic. I think you’ll find he was quite the handy pickup.

Priddis was limited physically, which ultimately led to his early retirement. He hurt our midfield mix by not being able to play any other position. Im not sure if he would be as successful in todays game

 

[Cuzz09]

Just saw Ginbey first year came in and was a tackling machine. 16 in 1 game

obviously his tackle numbers have dropped since moving back and having more stopping roles

Here's hoping Murdoch or someone can reach those numbers

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Hear it every time you listen to the bald ginger do a footy podcast. The one that has stopped podcasts for a bit because of life getting on the way.
No not HoneyBadger35 the other one.

I draw the line at bald thanks pal.

 

[THE A5]

Mark Hutchings also came out of the wafl

Tbf clarke could have been a hitching level role player if he was used properly.

 

[THE A5]

Yep , another anomaly juice568

Nic martin and lawson humpries wafl players too.
Tim kelly another

 

[Proeagle]

Just saw Ginbey first year came in and was a tackling machine. 16 in 1 game

obviously his tackle numbers have dropped since moving back and having more stopping roles

Here's hoping Murdoch or someone can reach those numbers

Apparently hes not the next Bont or Daicos, so a waste of list space.

 

[Cuzz09]

Tbf clarke could have been a hitching level role player if he was used properly.

Simmo had guys all over the place in wrong possies. He lost the plot after about 2021

 

[Cuzz09]

Apparently hes not the next Bont or Daicos, so a waste of list space.

who Ginbey?

 

[Proeagle]

who Ginbey?

Murdoch, although many also said that Ginbey was useless when he got tackled a couple of times in the middle.

 

[eaglespremiers]

ilija Grgic... theres a name I haven't heard in a while

Takes you back to AFL 99 days.