Bigman’s Training Reports

[Crow till I die]

Im genuinely so excited about the trajectory of Dan Curtin.

Having him and Dawson at their peaks for 4-5 years together to rotate through the midfield/fwd is like playing chess with 2 Queens on the board.

It should be the most problematic matchup for oppo coaches each and every week.

I think once Dan adjusts to being a centre square mid and he will, the points of difference are what make him so exciting. His ability to not just lay tackles but to shrug them will be huge (literally!!) for us in there. He has a fantastic kick on him so him getting the ball moving out the centre we are odds on to have it hit targets and he has a high footy IQ and great peripheral vision. Add to that when he was younger he played as a mid before his growth spurt, I wouldn't trade him for anyone.

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

Agree, and those two games are where we should've rotated the likes of Dawson, Soligo, Peatling, Walker, Murray out of the side to give them a spell leading into the finals.

Going by what we did, we prioritised finishing top over everything else, so lets hope that now we have ticked that box we focus on winning finals not just making them.

Wasn't it more about making sure to finish top 2 and getting that first final at home, and going for gold?

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

I think once Dan adjusts to being a centre square mid and he will, the points of difference are what make him so exciting. His ability to not just lay tackles but to shrug them will be huge (literally!!) for us in there. He has a fantastic kick on him so him getting the ball moving out the centre we are odds on to have it hit targets and he has a high footy IQ and great peripheral vision. Add to that when he was younger he played as a mid before his growth spurt, I wouldn't trade him for anyone.

Can he walk on water or will he go walkabout around Easter?

 

[1990crow]

I think once Dan adjusts to being a centre square mid and he will, the points of difference are what make him so exciting. His ability to not just lay tackles but to shrug them will be huge (literally!!) for us in there. He has a fantastic kick on him so him getting the ball moving out the centre we are odds on to have it hit targets and he has a high footy IQ and great peripheral vision. Add to that when he was younger he played as a mid before his growth spurt, I wouldn't trade him for anyone.

We just need others to go with him.
Rachele, Draper and Rankine should be the others.
Hopefully Soligo can put it together too.

 

[Crow till I die]

We just need others to go with him.
Rachele, Draper and Rankine should be the others.
Hopefully Soligo can put it together too.

YES to this. I am a big believer that we need out high draft picks in and around the ball (excluding Thilthorpe who needs to be virtually a full time forward so he does not get banged up rucking). Rankine was a pick 3. Rachele pick 6, Draper pick 4, Curtin pick 7. These are the guys you need in there doing high end stuff for us.

 

[Crow till I die]

Can he walk on water or will he go walkabout around Easter?

He walked on the water and swam on the land...Dan Curtin was way cool

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

I’ve seen worse.

Love your work though!

Ron Kneebone, Haydn Linke, D.Moss...bring back the BBD - the Big Ball Drop!

 

[Not Darryl Moss]

Draper is a persistent over trainer and fitness fanatic. It would not be a stretch to conclude that the dude over did it. I wouldnt be worried. They are likely managing him until after christmas so he can recover. Fitness isnt his problem nor will he lose anything. The problem with some players is they do too much and they require management.

As they say in the horse flics: Whoa, Boy...Easy up there!

 

[cleanhands]

Im genuinely so excited about the trajectory of Dan Curtin.

Having him and Dawson at their peaks for 4-5 years together to rotate through the midfield/fwd is like playing chess with 2 Queens on the board.

It should be the most problematic matchup for oppo coaches each and every week.

Please forward this to Nicks

 

[Syd Crow]

Ron Kneebone, Haydn Linke, D.Moss...bring back the BBD - the Big Ball Drop!

When I was a little kid I got Ron Kneebone's autograph and I remember he was very nice. It was after watching my first footy game at the bay. I can't remember who won but probably Glenelg, as I do recall we didn't win many games when I was growing up which made it difficult growing up in the Glenelg area.

 

[LoBu]

Im genuinely so excited about the trajectory of Dan Curtin.

Having him and Dawson at their peaks for 4-5 years together to rotate through the midfield/fwd is like playing chess with 2 Queens on the board.

It should be the most problematic matchup for oppo coaches each and every week.

Once our 194cm point guard Indy Cotton comes into the mix, with Rankine, Soli and Draper low to the ground we will always have a mix of tall and small rotations in the midfield.

 

[Scorpus]

Im genuinely so excited about the trajectory of Dan Curtin.

Having him and Dawson at their peaks for 4-5 years together to rotate through the midfield/fwd is like playing chess with 2 Queens on the board.

It should be the most problematic matchup for oppo coaches each and every week.

We need the Dan Curtin trajectory to eventuate because Dawson is 29 start of next year so doesn't have long left at his peak

 

[Big Dub]

Wasn't it more about making sure to finish top 2 and getting that first final at home, and going for gold?

I think the mantra was to only focus on the week ahead. This appeared to be driven by the notion that we "got ahead of ourselves" in 2024 and it potentially cost us a finals spot.

Which meant we didn't rest players or blood kids in 2026 unless that was the right call for that week in isolation.

I doubt that we thought that we would win 18 games, but the wheels had already started to fall off by the time we were safe as finalists. It was therefore tough to get much value for resting players or blooding kids, although we could have tried to at least do something.

Now that we have played finals, there should be no need for that mantra for 2026.

 

[ams4crows]

Whisper I heard is his groins are shredded, shouldn’t have finished the season last year.

As we know with BCrouch ready bad OP can stall careers

 

[Coopers]

Once our 194cm point guard Indy Cotton comes into the mix, with Rankine, Soli and Draper low to the ground we will always have a mix of tall and small rotations in the midfield.

Surely he needs a bit more like... actual football experience?

How ready to go can the guy be?

 

[Thylacinus]

Surely he needs a bit more like... actual football experience?

How ready to go can the guy be?

His dad, and in some ways one would assume his personal mentor, is a full time AFL coach, so pretty ready I would suggest, especially given he has already been with the club and done extra training by himself over the break, plus he grew up on AFL and has recently been in professional sporting environments!

 

[LoBu]

Surely he needs a bit more like... actual football experience?

How ready to go can the guy be?

Yeah, hopefully will be getting a game early next year. As with any recruit, we have a player with unlimited potential until we see their first game and get a sense. Right now, Indy is a super star basketballer with a footy background who has turned his back on College, who could have been a first round pick as a big bodied midfielder, and who has chosen Adelaide because he loves the club. He's basically Pendlebury 2.0 until we see him play

 

[Betts are off]

We need the Dan Curtin trajectory to eventuate because Dawson is 29 start of next year so doesn't have long left at his peak

Interesting point. I suppose the good news is hes only really spent 3 years in the midfield to date, but probably all the more important for us not to develop DC. To make sure we can prolong Dawson's peak for as long as possible.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

I’ve seen worse.

Love your work though!

Ironic that Dawson was the first person to get to him

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

I reckon this is somewhat misguided. Some of us pointed out halfway through this year that, although Rankine had been great to that point, playing mainly midfield, he was starting to look tired and battered. As might be expected, he is just not bodily capable of playing full-time midfield, and this was confirmed later in the year.

So, rather than desiring a new specialist small forward to allow Rankine to play more in the middle, which would be self-defeating, the realistic desire should be for another mid/small forward to swap with Rankine. I don't believe Rachele is that man.

So we should be looking for another Rankine type, with more than one string to the bow. Of course, we won't get another Rankine, but we need versatility not provided by a specialist small forward.

Zac Bailey

 

[Crow_Magnon]

I’ve seen worse.

Love your work though!

OK, Foot only plays when the wind doesn't blow. Indoors at Marvel or dead-still days only. Should be OK though, we've enlisted RoB to take him under his wing to smooth out the ball-drop / kicking action! At some point we'll try involving an actual football too.

 

[StonesThrow]

Brodie Smith

33

Brodie Smith

Age

33

Ht

194cm

Wt

88kg

Pos.

Def

Career

Season

Last 5

D

19.5

5star

K

12.3

5star

HB

7.2

4star

M

4.2

4star

T

2.1

4star

MG

500.1

5star

D

17.1

4star

K

12.6

5star

HB

4.5

3star

M

3.5

3star

T

2.3

3star

MG

438.9

5star

D

17.2

5star

K

10.8

4star

HB

6.4

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

3.6

5star

had a similar ball drop. Almost drops it with both hands. Not the end of the world if it works for him.

 

[LoBu]

OK, Foot only plays when the wind doesn't blow. Indoors at Marvel or dead-still days only. Should be OK though, we've enlisted RoB to take him under his wing to smooth out the ball-drop / kicking action! At some point we'll try involving an actual football too.

Nice that the one who gives him the high fives after his first goal is none other than our skipper.

 

[Redleg Crow]

Not liking the Sid no shows.

Liking the Curtin stand outs

 

[latinoheat]

Did I read somewhere that we had a 19yo WA player training with us? Someone apart from Foot and McGuanne? Did you mention this Mutineer ?