Bigman’s Training Reports

[UcantCme]

If Pedlar has a flaw as a mid, his accumulation is lower than ideal. (young, still learning etc...)
Why not play him against two of the best accumulators in Crouch and Laird? Fighting against those guys for each possession makes excellent preseason sense IMO. He is after all, going to replace them soon enough.

Pedlar hasn’t spent enough time in the midfield to make this assessment, his current accumulation is based on playing 90% as a HHF

I would also argue that when he has gone into the midfield it’s been purely for the centre square contest, and his effectiveness in the centre square has been very good




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[Betts are off]

Hey Bigman.

Based on all you've seen this offseason if you had to rank the following fringe players for round 1 probability. How would you rank them.

Nank, Cook, Berry, Murphy, Parnell, Sholl, Hamill, Gollant, McHenry.

 

[Trigger13]

Hey Bigman.

Based on all you've seen this offseason if you had to rank the following fringe players for round 1 probability. How would you rank them.

Nank, Cook, Berry, Murphy, Parnell, Sholl, Hamill, Gollant, McHenry.

I’m going to have a stab, based on Bigman’s reports (I’d you don’t mind)…

Berry, Nank, Murphy, Sholl, McHenry, Hamill, Cook, Parnell, Gollant.

 

[Tex Danger]

I’m going to have a stab, based on Bigman’s reports (I’d you don’t mind)…

Berry, Nank, Murphy, Sholl, McHenry, Hamill, Cook, Parnell, Gollant.

My guess

Murphy, Nank, Sholl, Berry, McHenry, Hamill, Cook, Gollant, Parnell

 

[Betts are off]

I’m going to have a stab, based on Bigman’s reports (I’d you don’t mind)…

Berry, Nank, Murphy, Sholl, McHenry, Hamill, Cook, Parnell, Gollant.

My guess

Murphy, Nank, Sholl, Berry, McHenry, Hamill, Cook, Gollant, Parnell

Interesting that Gollant is so far back in many's pecking order (I had him last from that list as well). You would think with McAdam out of the team he had a clear path to the best 22 as the X factor medium forward / marking option.

But I'm not all that sure what role he fits in our front 6 this year. I wouldn't even call him the X Factor player now we have Rankine, Rachele and Pedlar running through there as well.

 

[Slippery Pete]

But if you are just looking at elite players, maximising elite midfielders at the expense of elite defenders doesn't win you a flag.

 

[Jeffcrowe]

My guess

Murphy, Nank, Sholl, Berry, McHenry, Hamill, Cook, Gollant, Parnell

Murphy far and away leads that list for round 1 probability given where he was rated last year in B and F by coaches and it’s not even close to the next guy who is likely Nank

 

[Jarman3]

Interesting that Gollant is so far back in many's pecking order (I had him last from that list as well). You would think with McAdam out of the team he had a clear path to the best 22 as the X factor medium forward / marking option.

But I'm not all that sure what role he fits in our front 6 this year. I wouldn't even call him the X Factor player now we have Rankine, Rachele and Pedlar running through there as well.

I think the issue is still one of opportunity for Gollant. I don't think he fits into McAdam's spot, he's more likely to get a gig if Tex or Fog are unavailable / dropped, which means he's not best 22. I suppose if the coaches decide we don't have a like for like replacement for McAdam and rejig the forward line around being taller then Gollant could slot into a new role there rather than McAdam's role. But I feel we'd be more likely to keep Tex/Fog/Thilthorpe as the talls and put a smaller player in McAdam's spot rather than revert to the 4 talls approach of 2017.

Weirdly, the club website lists Gollant as a key forward but the bio on the same page actually says he's a "lightly built outside midfielder" Lachlan Gollant | AFL.

 

[CromradeCromulent]

I think the issue is still one of opportunity for Gollant. I don't think he fits into McAdam's spot, he's more likely to get a gig if Tex or Fog are unavailable / dropped, which means he's not best 22. I suppose if the coaches decide we don't have a like for like replacement for McAdam and rejig the forward line around being taller then Gollant could slot into a new role there rather than McAdam's role. But I feel we'd be more likely to keep Tex/Fog/Thilthorpe as the talls and put a smaller player in McAdam's spot rather than revert to the 4 talls approach of 2017.

Weirdly, the club website lists Gollant as a key forward but the bio on the same page actually says he's a "lightly built outside midfielder" Lachlan Gollant | AFL.

Burgess would probably get a game ahead of Gollant as a key forward.

 

[Danger in Texas]

Murphy far and away leads that list for round 1 probability given where he was rated last year in B and F by coaches and it’s not even close to the next guy who is likely Nank

Yeah Murphy is a lock

I think Nank plays R1 too based on what I'm reading, think we recognise that he's the type of skilled, evasive player that would thrive with greater opportunity and freedom

 

[Danger in Texas]

Burgess would probably get a game ahead of Gollant as a key forward.

Tend to agree, especially if we're well in the finals race. Has enough athleticism to fit next to two of our main three KPFs

 

[bigman]

Last session before the community camp + internal (sadly the bigman won’t be making the trip).

Good to see soligo out there running for the first time since the ankle injury. Didn’t look sore which was pleasing, although he never really extended himself beyond doing laps and run-throughs with sloane, who was also back running for the first time, and welsh. Gut feel is he could be ok for the west coast game but definitely nothing sooner.

A couple more positives was the return of fog and gollant to the main group and both doing all the training. Murray also continues to ramp things up with some more lateral movement, the man is just a relentless trainer so it’s not surprising to see his recovery going so well.

Milera and butts both appear to be close to rejoining the main group, particularly junior. I reckon he may feature in the port game albeit on limited minutes. Butts touch and go. Harry seems to be progressing nicely as well, still a bit stiff with his running but he’s doing a lot more now than he was pre xmas.

There were a couple of concerns to come out of today. One was berry, who looked great in match sim but must have left the track early as he did not feature in the centre bounce work afterwards (keays took his spot instead) and I couldn’t see him anywhere else. Hopefully nothing happened as he has been training really well, my concern is he put on the afterburners a lot today and may have overextended himself? Only guessing but I guess we will see in Friday if anything occurred.

The other was curtin and ryan both not doing the match sim and leaving the track early. Ryan I’m not worried about as he was walking laps beforehand and looked fine, very likely just a case of management, but I thought curtin looked a bit sore heading up the race. May have just been a bit stiff having cooled down but thought it was worth mentioning. Interesting however that both were held out of the match sim yet edwards did everything.

The session kicked off with the mids and defenders/forwards splitting off into two groups, with the mids practicing boundary throw ins. Interesting to note that pedlar was in the midfield group (and had a good impact including a crunching tackle on crouch). Edwards swapped on and off a wing with dowling while ryan also played on a wing.

The squad then divided into blue and yellow teams, then further broke off into four smaller groups. They played what was essentially two ‘mini’ match sims on opposing sides of the ground at the same time, meaning they had to move the ball using only one wing.

After some time this was then expanded into a full ground match sim between blue and yellow, although the starting point of the ball varied between stoppages, loose balls and intercepts in defence.

Not sure how much to take out of the lineups but they were as follows:

Blue - Jones, Crouch, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Dawson, Walker, Hamill, Rankine, McHenry, Nankervis, Laird, Fogarty, Himmelberg, Gallagher, Parnell, Sholl, O’Brien, Madgen

Yellow - Keays, Berry, Murphy, Pedlar, Edwards, Cook, Michalanney, Taylor, Hinge, Burgess, Worrell, Dowling, Smith, Borlase, Bond, Gollant, Strachan, Keane

As you can see the teams were a bit all over the place although the midfield was definitely in favour of the blue side. There was only one centre bounce however and it was rob/dawson/laird/crouch vs strachan/berry/taylor/bond. Fwiw, berry won the clearance.

The match sim went for about 20 minutes and I would say it was relatively even. The blue team appeared to get more of the pill but also made a couple of costly errors that resulted in yellow goals. Overall the standard was pretty sharp with some lovely transition of the football.

Finally the boys split off again into their midfield and defenders/forwards groups. The mids practiced centre bounces rotating between three groups. They were:

Blue - rob/laird/crouch/rankine
Yellow - strachan/keays/pedlar/dowling/edwards
Red - thilthorpe/dawson/taylor/bond

Halfway through thilthorpe headed to the forwards group with gollant replacing him in the ruck.

Some player observations:

Jones - played on the wing against dowling and definitely had the better of him. Is such a lovely user of the ball and not afraid to use his left when necessary.

Berry - was one of the standouts in the match sim, particularly with his speed and willingness to break the lines. Hopefully there wasn’t an injury.

Thilthorpe - gee he’s a beast when he attacks the ball with confidence. Going to be a real handful for defenders if he gets his tail up this season as he’s just so tall and strong.

Pedlar - thought he trained with real zest and energy today, and seemed to relish being around the ball when given the opportunity. Good signs, hopefully can build on it on Friday.

Edwards - as I noted was the only of the draftees to do the entire session. Played on the wing, made a couple of blues but also had some nice moments and knows where to find space around the ground. Kicking was fine too, seems to have a more fluent action on the longer kicks. Not sure about the talk of him playing round one but he’s definitely looking more comfortable as the summer goes on.

Walker - super vocal today, even more so than usual. Constantly telling players where to position themselves as well as when to move the ball at speed or take the sting out of it. His voice and leadership out there can’t be underestimated.

Taylor - had one lovely burst out of stoppage on the wing where he left everyone in his wake, exciting stuff. Found a bit of it around the ground too which was good to see. I did however think his kicking was off today as several times he overcooked them

Worrell - loved his session today. Had a nice moment where he spun out of traffic and hit a lovely pass through the corridor. Also made some great intercepts as well as a late spoil that got cheers from the boys.

Nankervis - noticed in the forwards/defenders drill that he out marked both burgess and borlase who are big units. He looks really quite confident at the moment and if curtin is deemed not ready I think nank would slot in just fine (I would play him regardless)

Fogarty - good to see him return to the main group and I thought it was his best session in a while. Presented really well at the ball carrier and looked sharp.

Sholl - said it before but someone tell him that he’s better on his left. He angles the ball a bit more on his left side which helps it cuts through the air quicker, rather than the lofty passes he tends to do on his right.

Welsh - good to see him doing a lot of running on the sidelines and he kept up nicely with sloane and soligo. Also not sure if it’s the (questionable) peroxide hair and impressive tan but he definitely stands out. He’s a big unit too, not quite as thick as fog was at the same age but a bit more rangy. Wouldn’t surprise me if he has a pretty big wingspan.

Gollant - made the most of his first session back from injury, being one of the most prominent forwards on the ground. Kicked a couple goals during match sim and I was quite impressed with his work rate and intensity. Positive signs as he has been a bit underwhelming for much of the summer.

 

[crows dude]

I think the issue is still one of opportunity for Gollant. I don't think he fits into McAdam's spot, he's more likely to get a gig if Tex or Fog are unavailable / dropped, which means he's not best 22. I suppose if the coaches decide we don't have a like for like replacement for McAdam and rejig the forward line around being taller then Gollant could slot into a new role there rather than McAdam's role. But I feel we'd be more likely to keep Tex/Fog/Thilthorpe as the talls and put a smaller player in McAdam's spot rather than revert to the 4 talls approach of 2017.

Weirdly, the club website lists Gollant as a key forward but the bio on the same page actually says he's a "lightly built outside midfielder" Lachlan Gollant | AFL.

We recruited him as a tall mid knowing that he had a few years ahead of him to build up the strength needed. We then turned him into a forward.

 

[Jetwa5h]

Nankervis - noticed in the forwards/defenders drill that he out marked both burgess and borlase who are big units. He looks really quite confident at the moment and if curtin is deemed not ready I think nank would slot in just fine (I would play him regardless)

Been talk of Cook possible filling in MaCadam's role, with Rankine potentially spending more time upfield, anyone think Nank could slot in and work from forward up to say half back even as part of a rototation with Izak and Rachele

 

[Crowman32]

I was down there at training for about half an hour an I must admit I was surprised how vocal towards each other they were. Michaelany gave thilthorpe a massive spray in front of me saying you know the ball came of your f***king leg and our on the fall. Thilthorpe was arguing back saying it f***king didn't. It carried on a bit then settled down. Max wasn't hiding back.
I saw tex yelling out advice from one end down to the other but it was good constructive advice.
Berry and taylor looked quite impressive in the brief time I saw the match sim.
Murray looks in fantastic condition. He is one big unit.

 

[LoBu]

I was down there at training for about half an hour an I must admit I was surprised how vocal towards each other they were. Michaelany gave thilthorpe a massive spray in front of me saying you know the ball came of your f***king leg and our on the fall. Thilthorpe was arguing back saying it f***king didn't. It carried on a bit then settled down. Max wasn't hiding back.
I saw tex yelling out advice from one end down to the other but it was good constructive advice.
Berry and taylor looked quite impressive in the brief time I saw the match sim.
Murray looks in fantastic condition. He is one big unit.

Good to hear the defenders giving it to the forwards

 

[Jeffcrowe]

I was down there at training for about half an hour an I must admit I was surprised how vocal towards each other they were. Michaelany gave thilthorpe a massive spray in front of me saying you know the ball came of your f***king leg and our on the fall. Thilthorpe was arguing back saying it f***king didn't. It carried on a bit then settled down. Max wasn't hiding back.
I saw tex yelling out advice from one end down to the other but it was good constructive advice.
Berry and taylor looked quite impressive in the brief time I saw the match sim.
Murray looks in fantastic condition. He is one big unit.

Hopefully building a bit of midfield depth with Berry Taylor etc

Would love to see a Taylor debut this year and a return to peak Berry

 

[Betts are off]

Welsh - good to see him doing a lot of running on the sidelines and he kept up nicely with sloane and soligo. Also not sure if it’s the (questionable) peroxide hair and impressive tan but he definitely stands out. He’s a big unit too, not quite as thick as fog was at the same age but a bit more rangy. Wouldn’t surprise me if he has a pretty big wingspan.

I won't lie, I'd be disappointed if Welsh doesn't play at least his first 2 seasons with Peroxide blonde tips.

Apple....Tree!

 

[CrowinNT]

bigman
Honest thoughts on Mc Henry’s pre season please
Still regressing compared to others ?

 

[Sir Ronald Mac]

Berry is A grade material if it all comes together for him.
Very underrated, still young.

 

[Sir Ronald Mac]

bigman
Honest thoughts on Mc Henry’s pre season please
Still regressing compared to others ?

You Probably need a new avatar soon.

 

[George Kramer]

Berry is A grade material if it all comes together for him.
Very underrated, still young.

Nah

 

[Sir Ronald Mac]

Nah

Yaha

 

[StickerMan]

Berry is A grade material if it all comes together for him.
Very underrated, still young.

I hope so.

He was my pick for a breakout player last year.

Has all the tools but was a mystery how he went backwards last year.

Would be very handy if he took a leap this year, along with Rankine spending time in the mid, and Pedlar & Rachele drifting through, all of a sudden our midfield bats pretty deep with quality.

 

[LoBu]

I hope so.

He was my pick for a breakout player last year.

Has all the tools but was a mystery how he went backwards last year.

Would be very handy if he took a leap this year, along with Rankine spending time in the mid, and Pedlar & Rachele drifting through, all of a sudden our midfield bats pretty deep with quality.

Likely squeezed out by Sloane's return, but also according to Berry himself he got caught overthinking what he needed to do to improve.

He's a monster when on, let's hope his disposal can move to elite as well as prolific. More of a long term Laird replacement really though, or Crouch now he's back in. Not sure they can all play.