Bigman’s Training Reports

[Floating Doughnut]

Round 1 - I would love to see Soligo, Peatling, Rankine at the first bounce. Dawson starts on the wing and goes straight into the centre once the ball is bounced. Rankine pushes forward.

I absolutely love the idea of either Rankine / Rachele at every single Centre bounce. Get creative with whether they push forward or stay in the middle for a stint. Would give the opposition coaches another thing to worry about.

Don’t mind that at all.
Plenty of options for us this year, we have been so predictable and one paced .

 

[1970crow]

Apologies for the delay, had some business to attend to this afternoon.

Slightly lighter session down at Richmond Oval today after Monday’s sweat fest. Noticed a bloke was walking around with a pretty expensive looking camera and shadowed by a guy with a boom mic, not sure if they were club staff or an extraneous group. They got real close to the coaches when they were instructing the players. These weren’t the club social media guys either.

Pretty decent numbers again today although Nankervis was absent for the second session in a row while Taylor was also nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately Tex was back on the sidelines today doing solely running work. Seemed in good spirits but I suspect it’s probably that back issue flaring up again - if he doesn’t train on Friday then it’s obviously more than just management.

On the plus side Worrell made his return while Crouch trained fully after suffering bad cramp on Monday. Mcandrew also returned to do most of the session.

No major new injuries that I could see either. Berry copped the back of a boot to the face during match sim, and earlier on he left Peatling a bit worse for wear in a tackle. Both seemed fine. Draper copped a hit in the cherries from Peatling in a wrestling drill which downed him for a few moments but he recovered quickly.

Burgo was also back today after a couple weeks off. I was being more facetious than anything about him leaving, but it was a bit of strange timing for the head fitness bloke to be absent, though he obviously would have had his reasons. Good thing is currently our squad numbers are much better than December. Let’s hope our luck remains.

Part of the session was three seperate drills running concurrently around the ground, with teams rotating after about 15 minutes each. They were:

- one drill focussing on quickly identifying and hitting up short targets along the wing. There would be three smaller teams within this drill, with two passing to eachother while the other defended. Whenever the ball was moved to the other end successfully or a turnover occurred, the defending team would change.

- one drill focussing on moving the ball with speed from either stoppage or an intercept about 80m from goals, with forwards leaving space behind them for one to pelt towards goal and receive the ball over the top.

- one rugby-style drill in tight where players try to drive the legs and break tackles to get to the other side. Curtin was great at this (you may have seen the instagram vid). Ryan laid some serious tackles too.

Mcandrew, Draper and Welsh sat out one of the rotations but returned to do the rest of training.

The players then broke into their respective lines - Draper was matched up against Rankine in stoppage work which was fun to see - before the lads competed in about 20 minutes of ‘match sim.’ Worth noting there were no centre bounces or umpires again. Teams were as follows:

Blue - Keays, Crouch, Curtin, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Murray, Dawson, Soligo, Michalanney, Rankine, Worrell, Peatling, Neal-Bullen, Laird, Milera, Fogarty, Smith, Sholl, O’Brien, Cumming, Keane

White - Jones, Berry, Murphy, Edwards, Cook, Welsh, Hinge, Burgess, Ryan, Schoenberg, Dowling, Draper, Borlase, Gallagher, Drury, T. Murray, Bond, Butts

Pedlar may have been in the white team but I didn’t spot him out there even though he was wearing a fluro hat.

There were stoppage set ups but no ruck contests, instead the ball was once again kicked in random directions by the coach. Rankine, Soligo, Peatling and Crouch were the most regular midfielders for the blue side - Draper, Berry and Schoenberg for the whites (Murphy replaced Berry at stoppages after he copped the boot to the face). Dawson played a mix of half forward and midfield. Curtin started as a deep forward but later on, after a quick spell on the bench, joined the mids for the last five minutes.

The lads then did about 10 or so minutes of wrestling work, which involved pinning your opponent to the ground before sprinting for 20 metres and doing it all over again. Looked pretty knackering. Rachele against Rankine was a good watch - the latter was surprisingly aggressive!

Finally, they then split back into their lines for the remainder of the session. The mids did handball and ground ball work while the forwards and defenders competed against eachother in a ‘king of the ring’ drill. This involved aerial contests where the winner (‘king’) would retain their spot until beaten, while the loser would rotate back to the end of the line. If the contest broke even, the king would still remain. Filthy and Fog were the standouts, both stayed king for about six or seven contests before fatigue got the better of them. There were actually two of these running at the same time, one for talls and the other for the smalls. Funnily, Rachele decided to compete with the talls instead.

Some player thoughts:

Curtin - definitely seems to be tracking towards playing forward with a sprinkling of midfield time. If Tex is fit, does he fit in or are we then too top heavy? He’s more mobile than your typical key forward. Will be an interesting dilemma. Positioned himself well in match sim, taking at least three marks inside forward 50. Round one looks likely at this stage. Also once again noticed how animated he was at training. Seems to have a really good bond with the group, lots of hugging and celebrations.

Rachele - his body work in marking contests has improved considerably. It’s not overly surprising as he has that dense body shape that is hard to move but he’s really taking advantage of it with some strong one-on-one marks.

Edwards - once again more involved across half back. They seem to like it in his hands as his kicks generally hit the target. I’d like to see him move it on a bit quicker after taking a mark l, he’s a bit stagnant at present. Rarely wastes it though. Definitely seen a bit of an uptick in his training form lately.

Soligo - looked much better today after appearing crook on Monday (perhaps Nank is sick and he got some of it? Or Soligo had it and passed it on to Nank? Just a thought, could be totally wrong). His stoppage work was excellent - clean and constructive.

Ryan - had a brilliant moment where he cut off a switch of play at half forward, burnt off his chaser with a bounce, then got the one-two with Edwards and dribbled the goal. Exciting stuff. Got a decent amount of ball too and used it pretty well. Also noticed he’s really filling out. Not the wiry shape any more - he’s becoming a pretty big lad.

Rankine - played mostly mid with some forward time. Had a special moment where he fumbled a ball on the boundary line, then instead of just letting it go out, he proceeded to tap it along the ground past the legs of Edwards and surged towards goal to hit up Rachele on a lead. He just has that magic.

Milera - had an exciting piece of play where he dodged the incoming tackler in the corridor before taking a bounce and putting the jets on. He fluffed the kick but it would have been a real confidence booster for him and his body, it was vintage Junior.

Smith - interesting that he was in the A team and not Hinge. Not sure I’d look into it too hard in terms of round one selection.

Draper - think we need to keep our expectations under check at present. He’s still definitely coming to grips with the stronger bodies in the midfield and finding it hard to break tackles. Physically he will definitely get there - he’s got excellent proportions in both the upper and lower body - but unless he quickly finds time and space he usually gets clamped at the moment. His tackling is already very good however and his work rate around the ground will ensure he still finds plenty of pill in the mean time.

Cumming - seems to be tracking towards playing majority wing with a bit of time across half back. He was great today. Typically composed and just silky out there, plays a bit in slow motion and doesn’t panic.

Any questions feel free to ask.

On Tex, when he has done drills or match sim, has he looked good? There was that article where he said he's pain free having discovered Pilates. I'm wondering whether this year's program could just have less drills and more jogging.

 

[1970crow]

Thanks as always but no need to apologise.

Smith over Hinge would break this board.

I just don’t get the lack of centre clearance work. Could it be this years coaching ****up?

Could be about improving spread after the stoppage. THere's more to being a stoppage mid than the clearance, you need to get on your bike and impact contests or be an option in general play.

 

[1970crow]

Strong side. Interesting that we're going more and more with Cumming on a wing as the preseason's gone on (wonder why this is the case), we seem to like Milera/Hinge/Laird/Nank as our HBF rotation

2 keys, Worrell, Laird, Hinge and Max are locked in. To get Milera in, there's no room for Cumming.

 

[George CantStandYa]

Could be about improving spread after the stoppage. Here's more to being a stoppage mid than the clearance, you need to get on your bike and impact contests or be an option in general play.

We’ve got a developing midfield, he can do both, practise stoppage, spread from stoppage, that’s what happens in a game

 

[1970crow]

We’ve got a developing midfield, he can do both, practise stoppage, spread from stoppage, that’s what happens in a game

There is still time, might just be a phase of the overall preseason. I wonder if they know that you don't need an actual ruck contest or even a ruckman to replicate the ground ball stoppage contest.

 

[Jarman3]

Apologies for the delay, had some business to attend to this afternoon.

Slightly lighter session down at Richmond Oval today after Monday’s sweat fest. Noticed a bloke was walking around with a pretty expensive looking camera and shadowed by a guy with a boom mic, not sure if they were club staff or an extraneous group. They got real close to the coaches when they were instructing the players. These weren’t the club social media guys either.

Pretty decent numbers again today although Nankervis was absent for the second session in a row while Taylor was also nowhere to be seen. Unfortunately Tex was back on the sidelines today doing solely running work. Seemed in good spirits but I suspect it’s probably that back issue flaring up again - if he doesn’t train on Friday then it’s obviously more than just management.

On the plus side Worrell made his return while Crouch trained fully after suffering bad cramp on Monday. Mcandrew also returned to do most of the session.

No major new injuries that I could see either. Berry copped the back of a boot to the face during match sim, and earlier on he left Peatling a bit worse for wear in a tackle. Both seemed fine. Draper copped a hit in the cherries from Peatling in a wrestling drill which downed him for a few moments but he recovered quickly.

Burgo was also back today after a couple weeks off. I was being more facetious than anything about him leaving, but it was a bit of strange timing for the head fitness bloke to be absent, though he obviously would have had his reasons. Good thing is currently our squad numbers are much better than December. Let’s hope our luck remains.

Part of the session was three seperate drills running concurrently around the ground, with teams rotating after about 15 minutes each. They were:

- one drill focussing on quickly identifying and hitting up short targets along the wing. There would be three smaller teams within this drill, with two passing to eachother while the other defended. Whenever the ball was moved to the other end successfully or a turnover occurred, the defending team would change.

- one drill focussing on moving the ball with speed from either stoppage or an intercept about 80m from goals, with forwards leaving space behind them for one to pelt towards goal and receive the ball over the top.

- one rugby-style drill in tight where players try to drive the legs and break tackles to get to the other side. Curtin was great at this (you may have seen the instagram vid). Ryan laid some serious tackles too.

Mcandrew, Draper and Welsh sat out one of the rotations but returned to do the rest of training.

The players then broke into their respective lines - Draper was matched up against Rankine in stoppage work which was fun to see - before the lads competed in about 20 minutes of ‘match sim.’ Worth noting there were no centre bounces or umpires again. Teams were as follows:

Blue - Keays, Crouch, Curtin, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Murray, Dawson, Soligo, Michalanney, Rankine, Worrell, Peatling, Neal-Bullen, Laird, Milera, Fogarty, Smith, Sholl, O’Brien, Cumming, Keane

White - Jones, Berry, Murphy, Edwards, Cook, Welsh, Hinge, Burgess, Ryan, Schoenberg, Dowling, Draper, Borlase, Gallagher, Drury, T. Murray, Bond, Butts

Pedlar may have been in the white team but I didn’t spot him out there even though he was wearing a fluro hat.

There were stoppage set ups but no ruck contests, instead the ball was once again kicked in random directions by the coach. Rankine, Soligo, Peatling and Crouch were the most regular midfielders for the blue side - Draper, Berry and Schoenberg for the whites (Murphy replaced Berry at stoppages after he copped the boot to the face). Dawson played a mix of half forward and midfield. Curtin started as a deep forward but later on, after a quick spell on the bench, joined the mids for the last five minutes.

The lads then did about 10 or so minutes of wrestling work, which involved pinning your opponent to the ground before sprinting for 20 metres and doing it all over again. Looked pretty knackering. Rachele against Rankine was a good watch - the latter was surprisingly aggressive!

Finally, they then split back into their lines for the remainder of the session. The mids did handball and ground ball work while the forwards and defenders competed against eachother in a ‘king of the ring’ drill. This involved aerial contests where the winner (‘king’) would retain their spot until beaten, while the loser would rotate back to the end of the line. If the contest broke even, the king would still remain. Filthy and Fog were the standouts, both stayed king for about six or seven contests before fatigue got the better of them. There were actually two of these running at the same time, one for talls and the other for the smalls. Funnily, Rachele decided to compete with the talls instead.

Some player thoughts:

Curtin - definitely seems to be tracking towards playing forward with a sprinkling of midfield time. If Tex is fit, does he fit in or are we then too top heavy? He’s more mobile than your typical key forward. Will be an interesting dilemma. Positioned himself well in match sim, taking at least three marks inside forward 50. Round one looks likely at this stage. Also once again noticed how animated he was at training. Seems to have a really good bond with the group, lots of hugging and celebrations.

Rachele - his body work in marking contests has improved considerably. It’s not overly surprising as he has that dense body shape that is hard to move but he’s really taking advantage of it with some strong one-on-one marks.

Edwards - once again more involved across half back. They seem to like it in his hands as his kicks generally hit the target. I’d like to see him move it on a bit quicker after taking a mark l, he’s a bit stagnant at present. Rarely wastes it though. Definitely seen a bit of an uptick in his training form lately.

Soligo - looked much better today after appearing crook on Monday (perhaps Nank is sick and he got some of it? Or Soligo had it and passed it on to Nank? Just a thought, could be totally wrong). His stoppage work was excellent - clean and constructive.

Ryan - had a brilliant moment where he cut off a switch of play at half forward, burnt off his chaser with a bounce, then got the one-two with Edwards and dribbled the goal. Exciting stuff. Got a decent amount of ball too and used it pretty well. Also noticed he’s really filling out. Not the wiry shape any more - he’s becoming a pretty big lad.

Rankine - played mostly mid with some forward time. Had a special moment where he fumbled a ball on the boundary line, then instead of just letting it go out, he proceeded to tap it along the ground past the legs of Edwards and surged towards goal to hit up Rachele on a lead. He just has that magic.

Milera - had an exciting piece of play where he dodged the incoming tackler in the corridor before taking a bounce and putting the jets on. He fluffed the kick but it would have been a real confidence booster for him and his body, it was vintage Junior.

Smith - interesting that he was in the A team and not Hinge. Not sure I’d look into it too hard in terms of round one selection.

Draper - think we need to keep our expectations under check at present. He’s still definitely coming to grips with the stronger bodies in the midfield and finding it hard to break tackles. Physically he will definitely get there - he’s got excellent proportions in both the upper and lower body - but unless he quickly finds time and space he usually gets clamped at the moment. His tackling is already very good however and his work rate around the ground will ensure he still finds plenty of pill in the mean time.

Cumming - seems to be tracking towards playing majority wing with a bit of time across half back. He was great today. Typically composed and just silky out there, plays a bit in slow motion and doesn’t panic.

Any questions feel free to ask.

Has Draper been training primarily as a midfielder? Has he spent much / any time with the forwards or backs? I'm wondering if they might have him learn his craft at half back or half forward if he's not yet ready for midfield? Or just keep him playing midfield in the SANFL until he's ready to step up to it at AFL level?

 

[George CantStandYa]

There is still time, might just be a phase of the overall preseason. I wonder if they know that you don't need an actual ruck contest or even a ruckman to replicate the ground ball stoppage contest.

There really isn’t that much time, practise games start next month.

The idiotic part of it is is they all stand there like it’s a ball up, ruck included, then he boots its 40-50 metres where ever.

 

[Floating Doughnut]

There really isn’t that much time, practise games start next month.

The idiotic part of it is is they all stand there like it’s a ball up, ruck included, then he boots its 40-50 metres where ever.

I would actually pay money to see your reaction should your mate Nicks keep under wraps all pre season
his master plan to unleash the better Riley in the ruck.

 

[George CantStandYa]

I would actually pay money to see your reaction should your mate Nicks keep under wraps all pre season
his master plan to unleash the better Riley in the ruck.

I’d think he’s an idiot. No way am I playing Thilthorpe in ruck with his knee and I want him kicking goals.

Plus I don’t think he’s suited to the ruck anymore, his big strength in that regard was playing like a mid but he’s so big now he’s lost mobility.

 

[cleanhands]

There really isn’t that much time, practise games start next month.

The idiotic part of it is is they all stand there like it’s a ball up, ruck included, then he boots its 40-50 metres where ever.

 

[Floating Doughnut]

I’d think he’s an idiot. No way am I playing Thilthorpe in ruck with his knee and I want him kicking goals.

Plus I don’t think he’s suited to the ruck anymore, his big strength in that regard was playing like a mid but he’s so big now he’s lost mobility.

Joke George

 

[Betts are off]

It's just dawned on me that our team will very likely have 7 players that we've recruited in from other clubs the best 23 in round 1 (touch wood). Well 8 if you count Keane who was technically a Pie, even though we recruited him after he left them. That's over 1/3rd of the best 23.

Without trawling through historical round 1 sides, I would assume that would have to be the highest ratio of players recruited in right.

Might be time I give some kudos to Reid and the recruiting team

 

[Eddie Murphy]

Thanks for the brilliant report as per usual bigman. How has Laird tracked this preseason? Form was waning back half of last year, so I’d hope he’s considerably turned his form around if we’ve seemingly ceased playing Cumming off half back.

 

[Mutineer]

Could be about improving spread after the stoppage. THere's more to being a stoppage mid than the clearance, you need to get on your bike and impact contests or be an option in general play.

Does that include uncontested possessions that a mid racks up?

 

[Danger in Texas]

2 keys, Worrell, Laird, Hinge and Max are locked in. To get Milera in, there's no room for Cumming.

I guess my question to bigman is whether he thinks Milera/Laird’s form has been good enough to push Cumming up the ground

 

[Trigger13]

Would be lovely to see Draper make an instant impact, but it seems he is gong to be eased into this season and we shouldn’t expect a helluva lot from him?

 

[Gtowncrow]

2 keys, Worrell, Laird, Hinge and Max are locked in. To get Milera in, there's no room for Cumming.

Against suitable oppo, do you thinks it's feasible to only have one KPD and use Worrell as the second?

 

[Floating Doughnut]

Against suitable oppo, do you thinks it's feasible to only have one KPD and use Worrell as the second?

Good call imo and will be used.

 

[Danger in Texas]

Against suitable oppo, do you thinks it's feasible to only have one KPD and use Worrell as the second?

I think in any case, you’d want to have three 193cm+ guys in defense. If Worrell went to CHB, you need to find a Worrell-type to replace him (which we don’t really have on our list, in a backup capacity)

 

[Jarman3]

2 keys, Worrell, Laird, Hinge and Max are locked in. To get Milera in, there's no room for Cumming.

I'm sure we'll be doing all we can to get Smith in there, too. Got to respect seniority.

 

[Gtowncrow]

Would be lovely to see Draper make an instant impact, but it seems he is gong to be eased into this season and we shouldn’t expect a helluva lot from him?

Even the great Naicos (best first year player I can ever remember) cut his teeth outside the midfield. Sheezel the same.

I'm happy for Sid to play to his current strengths by using his speed and run. Bigman says he can't easily break tackles just yet which is understandable. He's still a kid. Playing him outside for a couple of seasons is better than playing SANFL and flogging him in the Gym.

By opening up the possibility that as a mid, he's a year or two away, gives our team structure a fresh perspective. I don't know Sid's game well enough to accurately say where this alternative position might be, but I'm thinking on the wing. Sholl had a good year in 24, but I don't think he's locked that position down long term. If Soligo plays full time mid, there's a wing up for grabs.

Just musing through the preseason...

 

[bigman]

bigman does it seem like we'll go with Murray and Keane as our key defenders and Butts misses?

Seems to be tracking that way.

Worth noting though that Butts only returned to full training post
Christmas so hasn’t had a heap of time to stake his claim.

Can’t see all three plus worrell playing in the same side. He’s great depth though and is training well for a bloke who is coming back from a nasty foot injury.

 

[Cromulant]

I’d think he’s an idiot. No way am I playing Thilthorpe in ruck with his knee and I want him kicking goals.

Plus I don’t think he’s suited to the ruck anymore, his big strength in that regard was playing like a mid but he’s so big now he’s lost mobility.

I dont think hes lost mobility at all

 

[bigman]

bigman is Curtin showcasing ability to work up the ground, or is he more playing deep forward at present? I think if he's doing the former, the four-tall forward line could work

Bit of both, leaning more towards the high forward role but at times he’s been the one to stream back to the goal square in transition.

He’s got a great work rate already and is adept at finding space up the ground to lead into, which suits him at this stage as he’s still not a great contested mark (yet). He’s got massive hands so I think it’s just a matter of time till that area improves too.

The club may be looking at rotating four talls through the forward line/bench, plus Curtin will likely get a few CBAs. It would be unconventional though, and if it doesn’t work out early on itll be interesting to see what they do with him.

FWIW Kornes (foolishly) believes we can’t have Tex, Fog and Filthy in the same side so I can’t imagine his reaction if we chuck Curtin in there as well.