Training 2026 Training Reports

[Halfbaked]

I’m gassed just reading about it. What do you think the objective of the last drill is? Just a fitness thing?

As to the object of the drlls I can only give an opinion, fitness definitely, but whole session had feel of toughen up.

 

[Tonga Bob]

 

[Sherriff Incorporated]

Keen to hear what training watchers make of Frederick's tank this pre season. Always thought he could be an answer to our wing dilemma but wonder if fitness is the issue?

Freddy would be second to Wagner in repeat running drills this preseason. In match sims Ive seen he is either playing as the half forward who roams the most or as a wingman after centre clearances as he constantly gets back to help defenders. It's legit hard to tell his role. He doesn't seem to line up as a wing much at centre throw ups but roams a ton in general play.

 

[Eski3]

Some POV vision of the match sims would be great

 

[Taylor]

Some POV vision of the match sims would be great

As long as the camera is on the umpire and not the players, that's a great idea.

 

[Eski3]

As long as the camera is on the umpire and not the players, that's a great idea.

Or even someone like Tendai Mzungu or whoever fills in

 

[Halfbaked]

Sorry about the quality.

 

[Taylor]

Or even someone like Tendai Mzungu or whoever fills in

I don't think there is a safe way to equip a camera (read: firm box) to a person who will expect contact to themselves, or deliver contact to another - whether intentionally or not. Even the umpire is a risk.

I'm not expecting a Schumacher style focused point injury where his helmet mounted camera effectively hole punched through to his skull, but we should expect someone to get cut up by it if there's contact.

Which I know is losertalk for wrapping everyone up in bubble wrap, but I don't think the AFLPA and by extension the AFL would allow it - and if our players did it without consulting those groups and someone had their chest embossed with a GoPro the club would be dragged over the broken glass like we were injecting them with unknown substances.

And that's all while this sport requires players to run backwards into guys launching with their knees up.

 

[pK75]

Clearly sticking tackles and breaking tackles has been highlighted as an area of concern, this bodes well for the future.

 

[Taylor]

Even drones above the field I think would need to be mounted on a cable so that in the unlikely event that the ball struck it, took it out of the air, that the blades still moving at a rate of knots doesn't relieve a player of part of themselves they'd rather keep.

 

[pK75]

Did you see Freddy Flintoff the other night on the telly as well, that 9 million pound pay out is a good reminder of why workplace safety is important.

 

[Mk LXIII]

Freddy would be second to Wagner in repeat running drills this preseason. In match sims Ive seen he is either playing as the half forward who roams the most or as a wingman after centre clearances as he constantly gets back to help defenders. It's legit hard to tell his role. He doesn't seem to line up as a wing much at centre throw ups but roams a ton in general play.

Freddy at his best, always found space. Hopefully he brings a more hardened approach to his one on ones, tackling (always seems to be reaching to tackle rather than clamping, if that makes sense, probably not, lol).

 

[Duz97]

I think adding Cox will work a treat on many levels. For all the same reasons we have essentially picked up a bunch of goal kicking rovers. The rule changes in the ruck, the bench and between the arcs.

Having Tracey, Voss, Amiss, Jackson, Darcy and Cox leading down thie boundary line along the wing is going to make it both hell for defenders as punching out of bounds isn’t an option as well as a gold mine for rovers who drift up out of their F50 (Reid and co)

I think these big guys are going to ask a lot of themselves if we are to win the big one, it’s a long season and the will need to be managed a little. A squad approach to the season with horses for courses is a good thing.

Furthermore if Darcy was ever going to for water ever reason ever be traded this would be the year to do it, so getting him playing a high standard while protecting his knee might require some management particularly. And no that’s not me saying we trade Darcy. I fit and firing Darcy is a required player in my books.

Loving seeing a connected playing group experiencing something a bit different, getting a whole of body conditioning workout without putting stress on joints has to be a good idea. Endurance is king over a long season.

Loving these reports, particularly where growth and development are highlighted,,, I love every single player who ever put in the purple and know some guys are meat and potato players and some are superstars. These guys will do their thing. It’s the upside I look for, where’s the improvement going to come, who has trajectory, who has topped out and in need of a positional change (think of every player who left freo to play another position and star). Where do we put O’driscol, BB and O’mera and who’s going to push them out of the team because that’s how we get that cup. We improve on what we have on the feild. Seeing them all work so hard at and away from the club speaks volumes. These guys bout to BOOM..

There’s my $5 worth, looooong time lurker over the years as I’d lost passwords and all that, but always followed along. First time poster so you boof heads behave yourselves.

I think the most under rated part of having cox now is that Treacy has been our bailout kick down the line most of last season. Having cox now means Treacy can play closer to goal more often. Could see a 60+ goal season from him

 

[Grandaddy Purple]

Freddy would be second to Wagner in repeat running drills this preseason. In match sims Ive seen he is either playing as the half forward who roams the most or as a wingman after centre clearances as he constantly gets back to help defenders. It's legit hard to tell his role. He doesn't seem to line up as a wing much at centre throw ups but roams a ton in general play.

Stats wise Freddy just needs to use that speed to lay a few more tackles, that comes with footy smarts. He rates as Average there and if he starts developing that hunters mentality he will shift his scoring metrics into the elite level.

We’ve kinda asked Freddy early to play as a high leaping leading player (tall) and as a small roaming player. If he’s not presenting or part of the play he’s gotta police the back door like a Doberman.. if he nails an extra tackle a game across or within the Arc. He is 25, 100 games in and will learn a bunch being around all these high IQ players we have slotted in.

Yeah I gets excited in the pre season.

How’s Sturt going and can he add something?

 

[worsemim]

Stats wise Freddy just needs to use that speed to lay a few more tackles, that comes with footy smarts. He rates as Average there and if he starts developing that hunters mentality he will shift his scoring metrics into the elite level.

We’ve kinda asked Freddy early to play as a high leaping leading player (tall) and as a small roaming player. If he’s not presenting or part of the play he’s gotta police the back door like a Doberman.. if he nails an extra tackle a game across or within the Arc. He is 25, 100 games in and will learn a bunch being around all these high IQ players we have slotted in.

Yeah I gets excited in the pre season.

How’s Sturt going and can he add something?

Frederick is never gonna lay as many tackles as more contested half-forwards or pressure forwards—you can tell by Frederick's running patterns that he's told by the coaches to hold his width, run away from the play. You cannot readily tackle players you are holding your space from. This is the reason wingers get far fewer tackles than inside midfielders. The tackles Frederick does lay are very hard earned long chase downs.

We could radically overhaul his role within the team and he'd increase his tackle count but 1) I trust that the coaches think there's a greater value add from his current role, and 2) we would need to get the effort of repeat sprints from somewhere else in the team. If you want Frederick to stay closer to the play you can't play a contested winger like Johnno or Ras or JOM on the same side of the ground, you've got to play a running machine like Driz or Sharp. The kilometres covered + high speed sprints for our game plan have to come from somewhere.

 

[Jezzitizle]

Frederick is never gonna lay as many tackles as more contested half-forwards or pressure forwards—you can tell by Frederick's running patterns that he's told by the coaches to hold his width, run away from the play. You cannot readily tackle players you are holding your space from. This is the reason wingers get far fewer tackles than inside midfielders. The tackles Frederick does lay are very hard earned long chase downs.

We could radically overhaul his role within the team and he'd increase his tackle count but 1) I trust that the coaches think there's a greater value add from his current role, and 2) we would need to get the effort of repeat sprints from somewhere else in the team. If you want Frederick to stay closer to the play you can't play a contested winger like Johnno or Ras or JOM on the same side of the ground, you've got to play a running machine like Driz or Sharp. The kilometres covered + high speed sprints for our game plan have to come from somewhere.

Freddy gets plenty of opportunities to tackle, but he gets easily shrugged off.

 

[estibador]

As to the object of the drlls I can only give an opinion, fitness definitely, but whole session had feel of toughen up.

Yeah sounds like a real focus on getting tougher in the contest and training 'functional' core strength in the contest, for want of a better description.

Really interesting stuff, thanks mate.

 

[chaosball32]

He looks capable of a decent step up. Has put on significant muscle and seems to be tackling well. Playing exclusively half back so that will be his position you'd think. No chance of him returning to the forward line. He appears to be more involved in match sims than a year ago from what Ive seen. Id have him ahead off Walker and Worner for a small defender role at this point in time.

Can attest to this, when I went down Simpson was the one who caught my eye as having put on considerable size.

Hope to see him lasering it off half-back come round zip or whatever woke nonsense they call it these days.

 

[dockerfemme]

As to the object of the drlls I can only give an opinion, fitness definitely, but whole session had feel of toughen up.

Toughen up sounds a really good thing.

 

[Cappy71]

Have details of the match sim v Eagles been released yet?

 

[Jezzitizle]

Have details of the match sim v Eagles been released yet?

Yes, first one is April 19th at Optus.

 

[Sully90]

Freddy at his best, always found space. Hopefully he brings a more hardened approach to his one on ones, tackling (always seems to be reaching to tackle rather than clamping, if that makes sense, probably not, lol).

Makes perfect sense. I don't put this down to lack of toughness though. His timing is always off in everything he does. He's always reaching way too far for a loose ball or a tackle. Or else he's receiving a handball behind him because he's taken off too soon, or he's double grabbing a mark. I think it's just the way he's always giong to be.

 

[Grandaddy Purple]

Frederick is never gonna lay as many tackles as more contested half-forwards or pressure forwards—you can tell by Frederick's running patterns that he's told by the coaches to hold his width, run away from the play. You cannot readily tackle players you are holding your space from. This is the reason wingers get far fewer tackles than inside midfielders. The tackles Frederick does lay are very hard earned long chase downs.

We could radically overhaul his role within the team and he'd increase his tackle count but 1) I trust that the coaches think there's a greater value add from his current role, and 2) we would need to get the effort of repeat sprints from somewhere else in the team. If you want Frederick to stay closer to the play you can't play a contested winger like Johnno or Ras or JOM on the same side of the ground, you've got to play a running machine like Driz or Sharp. The kilometres covered + high speed sprints for our game plan have to come from somewhere.

Yeah I would agree, and did consider that. Stats alone never tell the full story. I do like it when he runs east west across the ground and drags players away. I just love his set shots from 50 and dream of all our forwards finding a bit extra. So alas I grasp at straws often.

 

[King Huskii]

I'll be watching training and doing up a full report tomorrow. I have my children plus one of my gym buddies and his children watching on too so I may miss the odd passage of play. I'll try my best

 

[mayne iac]

Get you gym buddy to look after all of the kids and you concentrate on the training.