Bigman’s Training Reports

[GI Joe]

I think if they go Cook as sub, it gives us a bit more flexibility.

 

[WeeBlake]

Like what?

I’m not a coach!

What I don’t want to see is exactly the same game plan but with two very different players sticky-taped in to the TT and Tex posns, and then it doesn’t work and Nicks complains about the big holes left by Tex and TT.

 

[Apsaalooke]

If Tex can't go I'd not be against a Mosquito fleet forward line against the Suns in Sweaty conditions.

If you can't go tall, go small - then it's their defence that has to adapt.
As long as the midfield then honours leading forwards or at least produces ground balls rather than lob it high to Murphy/no-one.

 

[WeeBlake]

If you can't go tall, go small - then it's their defence that has to adapt.
As long as the midfield then honours leading forwards or at least produces ground balls rather than lob it high to Murphy/no-one.

We have dangerous small forwards (Rankine, Rachele, Pedlar). We also have plenty of mids for the rotations (Dawson, Crouch, Laird, Berry, Soligo). I know we want more Rankine and Rachele and Pedlar in the middle but maybe in these circs it’s better to put our most dangerous remaining forwards in the forward line.

 

[Betts are off]

If you can't go tall, go small - then it's their defence that has to adapt.
As long as the midfield then honours leading forwards or at least produces ground balls rather than lob it high to Murphy/no-one.

Throw it open like a good old fashioned Pagens Paddock.

Let the Mozzie's buzz!

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Sprinklers were turned on early in the session to try and replicate Saturday’s conditions. Was interesting to see how they adjusted, early on there was a fair bit of fumbling and mis-kicks as you would expect. I thought they handled it pretty well overall, though I suspect Saturday night will be on another level.

Unfortunately tex left the track early after doing some run throughs and light skills on the sidelines. I thought he looked ok albeit a little stiff so it’ll be intriguing to see what comes of it. Both burgess and gollant featured in the A team during match sim so looks like they’re the fall back options. Was no real way to tell who is preferred over the two for the thilthorpe role, though I think we’re to assume that burgess is the front runner for his experience.

Didn’t appear to be any other major injuries or no-shows. Nank was wearing the orange fluro hat (the non contact one) so clearly still sore from the knock he copped in the trial game.

Interestingly rankine was wearing a yellow fluro hat (the less serious one) and only trained with the forwards. Also left the track a little early although appeared to be moving fine so not sure what the story is there.

Parnell appeared to hurt his finger early in the session but completed the rest without issue.

As for the match sim, which was roughly 20 minutes long, teams were as follows:

A - Jones, Keays, Berry, Crouch, Rachele, Pedlar, Dawson, Michalanney, Hinge, Burgess, Rankine, Worrell, Laird, Milera, Fogarty, Smith, Borlase, Sholl, Butts, O’Brien, Gollant

B - Murphy, Curtin, Sloane, Edwards, Soligo, Cook, Hamill, Taylor, Ryan, McHenry, Nankervis, Dowling, Himmelberg, Gallagher, Parnell, Toby Murray, Bond, Welsh, Strachan, Madgen, Keane

Mostly notably murphy, soligo and keane were in the B team. We would expect all three to play but with borlase and butts in the As I’m curious to see what that means for keane. Could be just a balance thing for training but worth noting anyway. In my view keane is clearly in our current best 22.

Even though the A team unsurprisingly played better I thought the B lads acquitted themselves well and if not for a few costly errors were right in the game. They were well beaten in the midfield but their run and creativity stood out particularly from the likes of curtin, hamill and ned. Wasn’t taking scores but I reckon they would’ve only gone down by a couple goals at most.

One thing I took from today was how good it is to see milera healthy and training fully. His class and composure out there really stands out and will be so important to us if he can stay fit. As much as the likes of smith, hinge and max are good rebounders none of them have junior’s poise.

Also thought pedlar was a stand out today with his movement and intensity. He’s a bit of an enigma - he’s got plenty of class but sometimes you wouldn’t know it given his propensity to make costly errors. Whether it’s fatigue or just a concentration thing it’s really the only major thing holding him back as he has so many weapons.

Anyway, with this being the last major training session before round one, I guess that means it’s unofficially the end of my preseason training reports. I’ll still attend some sessions throughout the year, particularly early on to get an idea of injuries, selection etc but for now the games will do the talking.

I just want to thank everyone for the kind words over the summer. It would appear a number of you really enjoyed my reports and I’m always happy to provide some insight particularly given news can be so scarce during the pre season. I don’t expect all of my observations to be validated this year but I do hope I have given you a picture of how the summer has been for the lads.

Once again thank you and let the games begin.

Bigman this has been your best pre season yet !

Thanks for everything you do and would love to hear more of your thoughts re the games when they start

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Could replace Thilthorpe and Tex with Burgess and Cook, go small, fast and creative up forward.

Play the grunt in the middle (Laird, Crouch, Berry) with a slippery ball and Rankine up forward slotting majors.

For example.

Couldn’t think of a scenario that suits Cook less than this one

Slippery contested style game against mature bodies and Hardwick inspired high pressure game style

 

[DJ75]

Sprinklers were turned on early in the session to try and replicate Saturday’s conditions. Was interesting to see how they adjusted, early on there was a fair bit of fumbling and mis-kicks as you would expect. I thought they handled it pretty well overall, though I suspect Saturday night will be on another level.

Unfortunately tex left the track early after doing some run throughs and light skills on the sidelines. I thought he looked ok albeit a little stiff so it’ll be intriguing to see what comes of it. Both burgess and gollant featured in the A team during match sim so looks like they’re the fall back options. Was no real way to tell who is preferred over the two for the thilthorpe role, though I think we’re to assume that burgess is the front runner for his experience.

Didn’t appear to be any other major injuries or no-shows. Nank was wearing the orange fluro hat (the non contact one) so clearly still sore from the knock he copped in the trial game.

Interestingly rankine was wearing a yellow fluro hat (the less serious one) and only trained with the forwards. Also left the track a little early although appeared to be moving fine so not sure what the story is there.

Parnell appeared to hurt his finger early in the session but completed the rest without issue.

As for the match sim, which was roughly 20 minutes long, teams were as follows:

A - Jones, Keays, Berry, Crouch, Rachele, Pedlar, Dawson, Michalanney, Hinge, Burgess, Rankine, Worrell, Laird, Milera, Fogarty, Smith, Borlase, Sholl, Butts, O’Brien, Gollant

B - Murphy, Curtin, Sloane, Edwards, Soligo, Cook, Hamill, Taylor, Ryan, McHenry, Nankervis, Dowling, Himmelberg, Gallagher, Parnell, Toby Murray, Bond, Welsh, Strachan, Madgen, Keane

Mostly notably murphy, soligo and keane were in the B team. We would expect all three to play but with borlase and butts in the As I’m curious to see what that means for keane. Could be just a balance thing for training but worth noting anyway. In my view keane is clearly in our current best 22.

Even though the A team unsurprisingly played better I thought the B lads acquitted themselves well and if not for a few costly errors were right in the game. They were well beaten in the midfield but their run and creativity stood out particularly from the likes of curtin, hamill and ned. Wasn’t taking scores but I reckon they would’ve only gone down by a couple goals at most.

One thing I took from today was how good it is to see milera healthy and training fully. His class and composure out there really stands out and will be so important to us if he can stay fit. As much as the likes of smith, hinge and max are good rebounders none of them have junior’s poise.

Also thought pedlar was a stand out today with his movement and intensity. He’s a bit of an enigma - he’s got plenty of class but sometimes you wouldn’t know it given his propensity to make costly errors. Whether it’s fatigue or just a concentration thing it’s really the only major thing holding him back as he has so many weapons.

Anyway, with this being the last major training session before round one, I guess that means it’s unofficially the end of my preseason training reports. I’ll still attend some sessions throughout the year, particularly early on to get an idea of injuries, selection etc but for now the games will do the talking.

I just want to thank everyone for the kind words over the summer. It would appear a number of you really enjoyed my reports and I’m always happy to provide some insight particularly given news can be so scarce during the pre season. I don’t expect all of my observations to be validated this year but I do hope I have given you a picture of how the summer has been for the lads.

Once again thank you and let the games begin.

Thank you for making the offseason bearable.
You are a legend.

 

[ftmch]

Couldn’t think of a scenario that suits Cook less than this one

Slippery contested style game against mature bodies and Hardwick inspired high pressure game style

At this point of his developement, if we're in a situation that we only play Cook in certain scenario's (ie not slippery or against soft opposition), then we may as well sever ties with him now.

 

[Mr MysteryGuest]

I’m not a coach!

What I don’t want to see is exactly the same game plan but with two very different players sticky-taped in to the TT and Tex posns, and then it doesn’t work and Nicks complains about the big holes left by Tex and TT.

That’s fine but there’s only a few ways to replace an injured, can’t expect Nicks to wave a magic wand

 

[bigman]

How far away do you think Curtin is from a senior debut based on his preseason? I would have loved him to have got a spot this week (I guess he could still?) just to spice things up and give the lad a real confidence boost to start his senior career off.

I think we just need to give him a bit of time to get his full confidence back in his knee as well as improve his defensive work.

I saw some good signs at training that he’s moving and feeling better. The key will be for him to get really involved and have a really prolific game at sanfl level first.

He’s a serious talent, there’s no rush. Although i must admit it’s disappointing to not have a new kid debut in round one.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

I think we just need to give him a bit of time to get his full confidence back in his knee as well as improve his defensive work.

I saw some good signs at training that he’s moving and feeling better. The key will be for him to get really involved and have a really prolific game at sanfl level first.

He’s a serious talent, there’s no rush. Although i must admit it’s disappointing to not have a new kid debut in round one.

I really feel if we can get in a reasonable position by mid year then we have some genuine upside in second half of year with Murray Thilthorpe Curtin Schoenberg and even Edwards and potentially Taylor all pushing for games

 

[ftmch]

I think we just need to give him a bit of time to get his full confidence back in his knee as well as improve his defensive work.

I saw some good signs at training that he’s moving and feeling better. The key will be for him to get really involved and have a really prolific game at sanfl level first.

He’s a serious talent, there’s no rush. Although i must admit it’s disappointing to not have a new kid debut in round one.

Reckon the whole McAsey experience has made them a little gun shy when it comes to key backs as well (not suggesting they are simiilar temperaments in any way, but might have tempered their approach with young key position players to some extent)

 

[cmndstab]

Anyway, with this being the last major training session before round one, I guess that means it’s unofficially the end of my preseason training reports. I’ll still attend some sessions throughout the year, particularly early on to get an idea of injuries, selection etc but for now the games will do the talking.

I just want to thank everyone for the kind words over the summer. It would appear a number of you really enjoyed my reports and I’m always happy to provide some insight particularly given news can be so scarce during the pre season. I don’t expect all of my observations to be validated this year but I do hope I have given you a picture of how the summer has been for the lads.

Once again thank you and let the games begin.

Superb effort as always, mate. Thanks again for making the long off-season a little more bearable!

 

[bigman]

Went to training today and the quality of what I saw was less impressive than what I witnessed during pre season. It was similar to our performance in games. Lots of targets missed and too much fumbling for an afl team

Curtin still appears to be favouring that knee. I hope we know what we are doing here

Borlase, Cook Pedlar Gollant in probables. Burgess Murphy berg butts Billy in possibles. Rory also there

Smith did not train

Unlikely that there will be any debuts based on what I saw, which is what I think we need to get some energy back in the team

Unlike pre season I didn’t find the vibe today energising. I gather this happens when you are not playing well

One thing that is obvious is the lack of quality marking targets we have in the team. Keane is probably our best contested mark.

I would not be putting my hard earned on our boys this week. Let’s hope training form is not carried onto the game on Saturday

 

[jackster83]

Went to training today and the quality of what I saw was less impressive than what I witnessed during pre season. It was similar to our performance in games. Lots of targets missed and too much fumbling for an afl team

Good to know we train the same way we play.

 

[Carn The Texan]

Went to training today and the quality of what I saw was less impressive than what I witnessed during pre season. It was similar to our performance in games. Lots of targets missed and too much fumbling for an afl team

Curtin still appears to be favouring that knee. I hope we know what we are doing here

Borlase, Cook Pedlar Gollant in probables. Burgess Murphy berg butts Billy in possibles. Rory also there

Smith did not train

Unlikely that there will be any debuts based on what I saw, which is what I think we need to get some energy back in the team

Unlike pre season I didn’t find the vibe today energising. I gather this happens when you are not playing well

One thing that is obvious is the lack of quality marking targets we have in the team. Keane is probably our best contested mark.

I would not be putting my hard earned on our boys this week. Let’s hope training form is not carried onto the game on Saturday

 

[bigman]

Forgot to mention that Berry did not train also

 

[George Kramer]

Went to training today and the quality of what I saw was less impressive than what I witnessed during pre season. It was similar to our performance in games. Lots of targets missed and too much fumbling for an afl team

Curtin still appears to be favouring that knee. I hope we know what we are doing here

Borlase, Cook Pedlar Gollant in probables. Burgess Murphy berg butts Billy in possibles. Rory also there

Smith did not train

Unlikely that there will be any debuts based on what I saw, which is what I think we need to get some energy back in the team

Unlike pre season I didn’t find the vibe today energising. I gather this happens when you are not playing well

One thing that is obvious is the lack of quality marking targets we have in the team. Keane is probably our best contested mark.

I would not be putting my hard earned on our boys this week. Let’s hope training form is not carried onto the game on Saturday

No let’s hope it is carried into the game. It might rock the club into action.

A meaningless win against North will achieve nothing but a smug smile from Nicks

 

[jackster83]

No let’s hope it is carried into the game. It might rock the club into action.

A meaningless win against North will achieve nothing but a smug smile from Nicks

Like when Pyke was laughing at our flogging of the hapless Suns late in 2019.

 

[spenze]

No let’s hope it is carried into the game. It might rock the club into action.

A meaningless win against North will achieve nothing but a smug smile from Nicks

Might even get a

In the coach presser

 

[George Kramer]

Might even get a

In the coach presser

I’d say so, we got one of those after the Melbourne loss

 

[MsTopG]

Went to training today and the quality of what I saw was less impressive than what I witnessed during pre season. It was similar to our performance in games. Lots of targets missed and too much fumbling for an afl team

Curtin still appears to be favouring that knee. I hope we know what we are doing here

Borlase, Cook Pedlar Gollant in probables. Burgess Murphy berg butts Billy in possibles. Rory also there

Smith did not train

Unlikely that there will be any debuts based on what I saw, which is what I think we need to get some energy back in the team

Unlike pre season I didn’t find the vibe today energising. I gather this happens when you are not playing well

One thing that is obvious is the lack of quality marking targets we have in the team. Keane is probably our best contested mark.

I would not be putting my hard earned on our boys this week. Let’s hope training form is not carried onto the game on Saturday

We miss Murray and Thilthorpe and ROB can't take a mark to save himself. Fogarty needs to lift his game and start taking some marks. Gollant actually seems one that can take a mark or at least goes for them. We also miss someone like a mcadam who could take a mark up forward. Dawson is a good mark if utilised correctly.

 

[glengowan]

We miss Murray and Thilthorpe and ROB can't take a mark to save himself. Fogarty needs to lift his game and start taking some marks. Gollant actually seems one that can take a mark or at least goes for them. We also miss someone like a mcadam who could take a mark up forward. Dawson is a good mark if utilised correctly.

100%. I wonder if Murray comes back a forward? Do they pick up someone like a Lachie Hosie in the mid-season draft - who would be McAdam like, at least in the air.

A bit like tackling, marking is very much a mindset thing I reckon. We're not only not taking contested marks up forward, but are dropping marks all over the field, costing goals for ourselves and giving them to the opposition.

From bigman's report, it would seem our confidence is shot and our will to win isn't there.

As a club, we've gone two ways in the past. Blight and Sanderson moved on quite quickly when things weren't looking good. Craig and Pyke lingered long after the writing was on the wall. Nicks inherited a disaster, which wasn't necessary. Hearing Fagan say they were still in the midst of a 5-year plan in 2019...well, most looking from the outside knew that ended well before then.

I think Nicks knows what is required to fix the problem, but I'm not sure he's going to be capable of motivating the players to make it happen and with Tex and Sloane now topping up their super, besides Dawson, there is a huge hole in the leadership on field.

It is time to shuffle some cards earlier than some might have expected to refresh this list and bring in some new leadership on and off the field.

 

[kirky]

From bigman's report, it would seem our confidence is shot and our will to win isn't there.

As a club, we've gone two ways in the past. Blight and Sanderson moved on quite quickly when things weren't looking good. Craig and Pyke lingered long after the writing was on the wall. Nicks inherited a disaster, which wasn't necessary. Hearing Fagan say they were still in the midst of a 5-year plan in 2019...well, most looking from the outside knew that ended well before then.

I think Nicks knows what is required to fix the problem, but I'm not sure he's going to be capable of motivating the players to make it happen and with Tex and Sloane now topping up their super, besides Dawson, there is a huge hole in the leadership on field.

When you are 1-5, you know you aren’t making finals and yet you have got another 17 weeks to play it sort of becomes the stark reality. Those cold winter training sessions. Fantastic.

This is even more pronounced when you thought you would be challenging for a finals berth. The previous years (2021 - 2023) the players understood that were a team developing towards a goal. This was meant to be the first of hopefully many finals campaigns and it has literally turned to crap, that is what they know.

You honestly believe Nicks knows how to solve the problem? Well it starts with integrity at selection and I see no evidence of that at all.