Hopeman is more accurate. I don't think he's actively trying to hype anybody up. He's just inadvertently making people hope.That’s. Hope-man!!l
The alternative is what, always shrivelled?
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Bigman’s Training Reports
- Thread starter bigman
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Drugs Are Bad Mackay?
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- May 24, 2006
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That's exactly what it means sadly
Doubling down on the game style that made us the least efficient team at moving the ball from D50 to F50 in the latter part of the season
But, we're well set up to defend copious amounts of opposition forward entries
Preseason focus seems to be
1) Retaining possession
2) Not turning the ball over in vulnerable areas
Did someone say snail-paced switches chipping across the oval, interspersed with the odd bomb up the wing?
Helter skelter football suits us better imho. Take them on. Risk, biscuits etc
Training 12/12/2025
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She was hot! Got up to about 35 degrees.
Sid was back today. Kinda. He did about 15-20 minutes of light jogging back and forth, although there were some rather large breaks in between. Safe to say they’re not exactly pushing him hard, which suggests to me he won’t return to main training until at least late Jan-February, and I think that’s being optimistic. He has kept himself in good condition though.
Thilthorpe thankfully trained, meaning whatever he suffered on Wednesday can’t have been too bad. He does still have knee strapping and was held off from having to do the running section.
McGuane has progressed to some light running which was good to see. Max did some of the early skills work before doing a bunch of running - I noticed he trained with knee strapping.
In fact a few of our lads have knee strapping - Max, Filthy, Pedlar and Nick Murray. Peatling still has shoulder strapping and wore a non-contact hat, as did Worrell although I’m not sure what his issue is.
Good to see Ludowyke step up his workload. I reckon he did about 60 per cent of the session which is definitely his most yet. He was held off from the match sim and running, although he did a bunch of laps by himself. I’m guessing when the players return next year he will be fully recovered (or very close to).
The first main drill was one I’ve seen before - three teams, with one on the sidelines waiting to rotate in. The coach will kick a ball towards a team’s half-back line, and from there they look to move the ball quickly to score, while the other side tries to defend. Any score results in the third team rotating in and becoming the defending team. This went on for about 15 minutes and is pretty intense stuff - players have to be really switched on as there’s a very tight turnaround.
The three teams then rotated between three concurrent drills:
1. Short spot kicking, before ground ball and tackling work.
2. Players move the ball from deep defence while their opponents attempt to cover exits.
3. Players lead to a designated kicker off half back - essentially they are decoys, as this would create space behind them for an isolated one on one between two big guys. Those who made leads would quickly turn around and sprint to the contest for a front and centre.
We then got about 15 minutes of match sim. Teams were:
Blue
FB: Laird Keane Worrell
HB: Milera Murray Hinge
_C: Ah Chee Dawson Cumming
HF: ANB Walker Rankine
FF: Keays Thilthorpe Fogarty
_R: O’Brien Soligo Curtin
IN: Rachele Cook Marsh
White
FB: Bond Butts Bell
HB: Nankervis Borlase Sholl
_C: Jones Berry Dowling
HF: Taylor Murray Drury
FF: Pedlar Maley Welsh
_R: McAndrew Peatling Foot
IN: Edwards Ryan Cotton
For the Blue team it was singles to Fog, Neal-Bullen, Rachele and Cumming, while Cotton and Welsh kicked a snag each for the Whites.
Interestingly this time around, after a goal the ball would always restart with a boundary throw-in on the wing. This is the first stoppage work we’ve seen in a match sim so far this summer. To the eye it seemed like McAndrew had the upper edge over ROB.
Finally we had a bunch of running, which I’m sure the players loved given the temperature was mid 30s at this point. Some were spared the pain - Thilthorpe, Marsh, Fogarty, Cotton, Bell and the rehab lads.
After the running, some of the boys (Rash, Cook, Marsh, Cotton, Taylor and Drury) did a ‘king of the ring’ style drill where two compete for high balls - the winner stays in and only rotates out if they are beaten. Rachele was the standout of this drill - his ability to get that initial push off his opponent was a real weapon. Cook was also surprisingly good (albeit some of the lads he was up against are a bit vertically challenged). He lasted around 10 rounds or so - by the end he was too buggered to give a yelp. Doesn’t help that the players had to lie on the deck and quickly push themselves up before each contest.
Dawson, Soligo, Curtin and Peatling did a bunch of stoppage work with ROB, McAndrew and Maley. Big Finbarr has a solid leap on him.
Overall it was a pretty impressive (and long - nearly two and a half hours) session, especially given the heat. Thankfully there were seemingly no injuries, although Milk did cop a hip knock from Dawson during the match sim and had to come from the field.
He returned, but gee he gets hurt a lot.
Player thoughts:
8. Rachele - I noticed he was the only one to lag behind the group a bit during the running. Suspect this is by instruction but difficult to know for sure. Trained well though.
14. Soligo - tracking really well for a good year. Will never be fast but he’s dynamic out there and strong through the core, even shrugging off Berry at one stage.
15. Cook - should be buoyed at getting some time in the ‘A’ team and I don’t think he wasted it. Looked really good coming out of defence and put on a really nice burst through the corridor which resulted in the Rachele goal. If it’s between him and Nank I’m still going Nank, but he’s doing a lot right.
17. Welsh - took some nice marks in the match sim and doesn’t lag at all in the running anymore, so credit to him. However, he just makes too many mistakes. His foot skills have been really erratic and he’s clumsy on the loose ball, often fumbling or running past it. He needs to sharpen up quite a bit.
23. Rankine - he’s a star but has clearly been instructed to hold back on going too hard and too fast, and it’s just so unnatural for him. He clearly wants to just play his way, but understandably the high performance guys want to save him for himself.
25. Peatling - had some nice moments where he used his pace out of congestion. But had an absolute howler coming out of defence that led to an ANB goal. Can’t be having those sort of kicks anymore, even at training.
26. Marsh - showed good composure in the early drills, but there was a moment in the match sim where he went to ground when he really needed to keep his feet. Also got shown up a bit in the ‘king of the ring’ marking contests. I’m not concerned at all - chalk it up to a combination of fatigue and lack of bulk. He’ll get there.
27. Nankervis - still killing it. His pace and agility (and confidence to use it) makes him dynamic and hard to curtail. He’s tough too - laid a ripping tackle on Rachele. Won’t lie though, I did wince a bit seeing him named in the B side. But I won’t look into it too much. Yet.
30. Milera - having a very solid summer. Gets given the ball a lot coming out of defence but for good reason, he’s one of the coolest heads out there. Last pre season I don’t think he deserved a round one gig but that’s not the case this time around.
32. Fogarty - good to see him back in pretty much full training after that surgery, but I want to see him lose a bit of size over the Christmas break. He’s just a touch bulky at present and it would do a lot for his ability to cover the ground.
33. Cotton - did a big spoil on Marsh in one of the earlier drills, in fact it was probably a bit too aggressive but it’s a good sign nonetheless. Kicked a nice long goal from 45m out in the match sim and although he’s only showing flashes, I think people will be pretty excited when they see him. He’s a cool, calm cat who times his aerial work really well.
37. Drury - I wonder if we are still considering him as a SSP option. He’s training his guts out there and not doing much wrong. I know he’s a bit limited but he can play and he’s only 21. Does he have the scope of others? Probably not. I guess it comes down to what they want out of that last spot on the list.
46. Bell - first time I’ve seen him really get involved and it was quite eye opening. He took a number of intercept marks which was promising (no Filthy or Fog though). Also showed that he’s not a liability on the deck with a couple hard ball gets and a lovely tackle on Chayce. The question mark will be his one on one defending, but I haven’t seen enough to judge that yet. He reminds me a bit of Keath in some ways - 197cm, lean left footer who is a neat kick. Not sure how quick he is but looks reasonably athletic. One to watch - similar to Drury, is he also being considered as a SSP selection? He’s doing all the work despite only being a SANFL-listed player. And he’s only 19.
48. Keane - did a big spoil on McAndrew that was over the top and a couple coaches (and Cumming) told him to chill out. Not sure he listened.
Sid was back today. Kinda. He did about 15-20 minutes of light jogging back and forth, although there were some rather large breaks in between. Safe to say they’re not exactly pushing him hard, which suggests to me he won’t return to main training until at least late Jan-February, and I think that’s being optimistic. He has kept himself in good condition though.
Thilthorpe thankfully trained, meaning whatever he suffered on Wednesday can’t have been too bad. He does still have knee strapping and was held off from having to do the running section.
McGuane has progressed to some light running which was good to see. Max did some of the early skills work before doing a bunch of running - I noticed he trained with knee strapping.
In fact a few of our lads have knee strapping - Max, Filthy, Pedlar and Nick Murray. Peatling still has shoulder strapping and wore a non-contact hat, as did Worrell although I’m not sure what his issue is.
Good to see Ludowyke step up his workload. I reckon he did about 60 per cent of the session which is definitely his most yet. He was held off from the match sim and running, although he did a bunch of laps by himself. I’m guessing when the players return next year he will be fully recovered (or very close to).
The first main drill was one I’ve seen before - three teams, with one on the sidelines waiting to rotate in. The coach will kick a ball towards a team’s half-back line, and from there they look to move the ball quickly to score, while the other side tries to defend. Any score results in the third team rotating in and becoming the defending team. This went on for about 15 minutes and is pretty intense stuff - players have to be really switched on as there’s a very tight turnaround.
The three teams then rotated between three concurrent drills:
1. Short spot kicking, before ground ball and tackling work.
2. Players move the ball from deep defence while their opponents attempt to cover exits.
3. Players lead to a designated kicker off half back - essentially they are decoys, as this would create space behind them for an isolated one on one between two big guys. Those who made leads would quickly turn around and sprint to the contest for a front and centre.
We then got about 15 minutes of match sim. Teams were:
Blue
FB: Laird Keane Worrell
HB: Milera Murray Hinge
_C: Ah Chee Dawson Cumming
HF: ANB Walker Rankine
FF: Keays Thilthorpe Fogarty
_R: O’Brien Soligo Curtin
IN: Rachele Cook Marsh
White
FB: Bond Butts Bell
HB: Nankervis Borlase Sholl
_C: Jones Berry Dowling
HF: Taylor Murray Drury
FF: Pedlar Maley Welsh
_R: McAndrew Peatling Foot
IN: Edwards Ryan Cotton
For the Blue team it was singles to Fog, Neal-Bullen, Rachele and Cumming, while Cotton and Welsh kicked a snag each for the Whites.
Interestingly this time around, after a goal the ball would always restart with a boundary throw-in on the wing. This is the first stoppage work we’ve seen in a match sim so far this summer. To the eye it seemed like McAndrew had the upper edge over ROB.
Finally we had a bunch of running, which I’m sure the players loved given the temperature was mid 30s at this point. Some were spared the pain - Thilthorpe, Marsh, Fogarty, Cotton, Bell and the rehab lads.
After the running, some of the boys (Rash, Cook, Marsh, Cotton, Taylor and Drury) did a ‘king of the ring’ style drill where two compete for high balls - the winner stays in and only rotates out if they are beaten. Rachele was the standout of this drill - his ability to get that initial push off his opponent was a real weapon. Cook was also surprisingly good (albeit some of the lads he was up against are a bit vertically challenged). He lasted around 10 rounds or so - by the end he was too buggered to give a yelp. Doesn’t help that the players had to lie on the deck and quickly push themselves up before each contest.
Dawson, Soligo, Curtin and Peatling did a bunch of stoppage work with ROB, McAndrew and Maley. Big Finbarr has a solid leap on him.
Overall it was a pretty impressive (and long - nearly two and a half hours) session, especially given the heat. Thankfully there were seemingly no injuries, although Milk did cop a hip knock from Dawson during the match sim and had to come from the field.
He returned, but gee he gets hurt a lot.
Player thoughts:
8. Rachele - I noticed he was the only one to lag behind the group a bit during the running. Suspect this is by instruction but difficult to know for sure. Trained well though.
14. Soligo - tracking really well for a good year. Will never be fast but he’s dynamic out there and strong through the core, even shrugging off Berry at one stage.
15. Cook - should be buoyed at getting some time in the ‘A’ team and I don’t think he wasted it. Looked really good coming out of defence and put on a really nice burst through the corridor which resulted in the Rachele goal. If it’s between him and Nank I’m still going Nank, but he’s doing a lot right.
17. Welsh - took some nice marks in the match sim and doesn’t lag at all in the running anymore, so credit to him. However, he just makes too many mistakes. His foot skills have been really erratic and he’s clumsy on the loose ball, often fumbling or running past it. He needs to sharpen up quite a bit.
23. Rankine - he’s a star but has clearly been instructed to hold back on going too hard and too fast, and it’s just so unnatural for him. He clearly wants to just play his way, but understandably the high performance guys want to save him for himself.
25. Peatling - had some nice moments where he used his pace out of congestion. But had an absolute howler coming out of defence that led to an ANB goal. Can’t be having those sort of kicks anymore, even at training.
26. Marsh - showed good composure in the early drills, but there was a moment in the match sim where he went to ground when he really needed to keep his feet. Also got shown up a bit in the ‘king of the ring’ marking contests. I’m not concerned at all - chalk it up to a combination of fatigue and lack of bulk. He’ll get there.
27. Nankervis - still killing it. His pace and agility (and confidence to use it) makes him dynamic and hard to curtail. He’s tough too - laid a ripping tackle on Rachele. Won’t lie though, I did wince a bit seeing him named in the B side. But I won’t look into it too much. Yet.
30. Milera - having a very solid summer. Gets given the ball a lot coming out of defence but for good reason, he’s one of the coolest heads out there. Last pre season I don’t think he deserved a round one gig but that’s not the case this time around.
32. Fogarty - good to see him back in pretty much full training after that surgery, but I want to see him lose a bit of size over the Christmas break. He’s just a touch bulky at present and it would do a lot for his ability to cover the ground.
33. Cotton - did a big spoil on Marsh in one of the earlier drills, in fact it was probably a bit too aggressive but it’s a good sign nonetheless. Kicked a nice long goal from 45m out in the match sim and although he’s only showing flashes, I think people will be pretty excited when they see him. He’s a cool, calm cat who times his aerial work really well.
37. Drury - I wonder if we are still considering him as a SSP option. He’s training his guts out there and not doing much wrong. I know he’s a bit limited but he can play and he’s only 21. Does he have the scope of others? Probably not. I guess it comes down to what they want out of that last spot on the list.
46. Bell - first time I’ve seen him really get involved and it was quite eye opening. He took a number of intercept marks which was promising (no Filthy or Fog though). Also showed that he’s not a liability on the deck with a couple hard ball gets and a lovely tackle on Chayce. The question mark will be his one on one defending, but I haven’t seen enough to judge that yet. He reminds me a bit of Keath in some ways - 197cm, lean left footer who is a neat kick. Not sure how quick he is but looks reasonably athletic. One to watch - similar to Drury, is he also being considered as a SSP selection? He’s doing all the work despite only being a SANFL-listed player. And he’s only 19.
48. Keane - did a big spoil on McAndrew that was over the top and a couple coaches (and Cumming) told him to chill out. Not sure he listened.
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CrowinNT
Norm Smith Medallist
Keane : It is aggression of no limits but it is his style
Well he puts his head where you wouldn't put your boot so it's not much for him
Our sub was almost always 'another of the same', as was most clubs. I'm not convinced the strategy for 23 will be any different to 22 and a sub.
How's it good for the players? Dawson and Soligo limped into September and Curtin was clearly gassed. How was it good for them?
There’s 2 distinct components to his reports. The first is the factual stuff, who’s training fully, who’s running laps, who’s missing, who limped off early etc etc. Plus, how the teams are divided, who’s in what group etc etc, invaluable and not to be missed.
The second component is his personal assessment on the season ahead based upon what he’s seeing. This is his judgement, how people value that is up to them. But it’s impossible to knock the information he provides on who’s training fully and in what role etc etc.
Dour, defensive stoppage style wins finals. Just you wait, we’ll prove it in 2026.
Love how in early December we’re already building continuity playing probables against not possibles.
Kane McGoodwin
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There's been a few different changes, but take your point that we should be giving all fringe players a go at playing with the A side at some stage to see how they gel.
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I’m still convinced Nicks wanted top spot to guarantee his own contract extension. He didn’t consider that we would choke at the end so he played players into the ground (see tge West Coast and Kangaroos where we struggled to win).
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He's pretty balanced in his reports.
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Its mid December and I'm already slightly nervous for season 2026 going by Bigman's update..... 
It would be pretty disheartening for the fringe players, going to pre season and Nicks has already picked his side for the year in December.
Is it any wonder we struggle to develop players when we don't even have the confidence to give them a run in the A's in the pre season
It doesn't feel like a club, just looks like it's two teams all the time
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Just imagine having a game plan where you attack down the middle of the ground and get it into our forward line as fast as you can.
You would think that would be a winning move.
The 'around the boundary' game plan seems very risk adverse
It appears that we are always too afraid of a turnover
It’s just plain stupid, I hope that’s not what our intentions are
I'm also a huge fan of Nank. He's too talented not to be an afl regular. If I were a vic team I'd be going after him for cheap.
Cook is also one I'd like to see make it, but training with the defenders it's going to be hard for him to find his way in given how many half backs we have.
Cook is also one I'd like to see make it, but training with the defenders it's going to be hard for him to find his way in given how many half backs we have.
True, after being kicked in the nuts year after year since 1998 another kick makes very little difference.
