Training Preseason Training Thread - 2024/25

[Keys]

And that’s me done for preseason

Probably the best conditioning I’ve seen the squad in since I’ve been attending training.

There’s a bit to look forward to this season albeit we’ll lose more than we win and there’ll be the occasional shellacking when things come completely unstuck

Stay positive, take the good with the bad as the players learn the new game plan and Mini identifies what he has to work with. Some will thrive, others will fall away but one thing I’m sure of is that the effort and desire to compete and improve will be there

Onwards and upwards, enjoy the season

 

[RookiePick]

These are AssaultBikes

AKA Satan's Unicycle.

Horrid things.

 

[ROYAL EAGLE]

Training was enjoyable today
Livingston was really good for b side maybe the indigenous game has got him up and about
Hutchinson looks like we have a true inside mid he really looks AFL quality
Clay Hall was really good Baker as well
Tommy Cole was disappointing
Sandy Brock has won that role over Van Es, Brock is levels better, Van Es movement is not good enough
I guess he needs more time to recover from his leg ankle injuries
Duggan got injured hope he is okay
I think a wafl boy broke his leg
Ryan look so much better and more confident in his body
Hunt still has his great pace
Noah long was out there which is good to see

 

[Coasters7]

Tom Gross steal of the draft. Still a bit small but reminds me a lot of Clayton Oliver (hopefully in play style alone). Always on the move, able to find and create his own space and looks very clean on both sides.

An underrated trait in modern footy is the ability to switch handballing hands rapidly as not many seem to be able to do it consistently and he’s got it, as well as being tidy enough on his left foot as well.

 

[RanaNaved]

Tom Gross steal of the draft. Still a bit small but reminds me a lot of Clayton Oliver (hopefully in play style alone). Always on the move, able to find and create his own space and looks very clean on both sides.

An underrated trait in modern footy is the ability to switch handballing hands rapidly as not many seem to be able to do it consistently and he’s got it, as well as being tidy enough on his left foot as well.

Were you there?

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

Some scattered observations to complement what other have offered so far. Pretty much just incoherent play-by-play with the off bit of assessment and probably a few misidentified WAFL boffins. I did try to take some footage, but got asked to stop by Brennan pretty hastily so I won't post it.



Coen with a good five minutes kicking 1.1 and taking a good grab.
Dewar and Long/Hunt the first choice wingers.
Allen put back late in the first.
Great intercept by Jobe over Flynn, gold's forward line very much undersized with mostly WAFL players against Gov, H, Jobe.
Maric with a great passage of play going exactly what they'd been training earlier, hitting up a pass mid-field and going by to get the handball receive, two lovely kicks in there.
Killer banana goal from someone in traffic, thought it was Brockman at first but maybe Darby, I don't ****en know.
Mally with a really sharp crumb directly off hands and effortless quick snap from 30.
Jack Graham hits up his namesake and former number-sake JWill who finishes nicely into the breeze.
Van Es a good smother on Loch after a dynamic gather and movement, but Hall too nimble for Brennan and he goals.
Gross mops up down back and burns off Ryan.
Ryan Crips later combine on the wing and the latter finds Oscar who puts it through from out wide. Coast to coast play.
Blue 44 Gold 41.
Hutch great work on the flank and finds JWill with a killer pass, gets plaudits from teammates.
Davis with a good run to receive outside and puts it inside 50, nice positioning and bodywork from Coen, borderling push on Harry who is filthy buy paid the grab and goals from 15 out. Been decent.
Someone gets Duggo uncomfortably in a strong spoil / secondary contest. He's down for 10 seconds before a trainer comes out and he leaves the ground. Not sure where the knock was, but he was a little upset at first.
Coast to coast and Longy marks and goals.
Half time - Bue 56 Gold 47.
Lining up in the middle after half time: Coen Gross Hall Sparks // Flynn Hewett Hutch Graham. Hutch with the clearance but read by Hough who marks.
Arch with a fantastic drop punt set shot goal from a fair angle.
Ryan beautiful angled kick to Oscar for an easy goal (almost missed).
Dewar pressure Ruben who kciks it on the full. Kick goes in to KWill who marks and goals for Blue.
Sandy been quite good today.
Cole and Crippa going hard at each other off the ball, plenty of aggressive bumping on the fat side.
#72 (Denholm??) goes down with a back after aerial contest with Brennan (tunneling - 2 weeks). Couldn't tell if it was from a knee of awkward landing, I believe the latter as it looked to flex unnaturally but don't listen to me. He's still down and play has been shifted to the other side, but a whole flank is pretty much off limits for the time being.
Nice if dangerous kick from Grego under pressure to split three oppos.
On the club side of the ground two players are being hammered on assault bikes, I guess Reid and Bazzo but hard to see. Trainer really drilling them doesn't look fun.
72 still down, stretcher is out and training stopped for 5. Pretty worrying for the fellow I hope he is okay.
Resumes, Sparks catches Graham thb. Then Hammer finds Gross at hff but doesn't lead to much forward and is defused.
Baker has been really clean to collect down back many times today, a known strength. Like to handball at askew angles, elbows up to get past defenders, something we team was training many weeks back. Didn't come off truly on a couple of occasions though.
Gross strong breaks a tackle at 50, gives it to Davis who finds a forward I can't see, maybe Petch, who misses.
The rebound gets turned over and finds Hammer who marks I think, and gets a 50. Shot at goal from long range is good, he's having a nice quarter.
Touched behind, Maric goes long and right big pack roved by Ginbey and they get a mark and look for goals. Didn't see who. Bit of a scrap between two or three going on as 3QT is called.
Blue 70 Gold 67.
I need to piss Keys where are the dunnies?
11:50 now so think they're mostly calling it.
Group of about 25 doing repeat 3/4 ground runs. Ruben and Hunt up front, then Van Es, then a gap to Flynn and Duggo. Pretty informal at-your-own-pace kind of thing, some not going too hard.

 

[JackOutback]

Doesn’t sound good for that player.

Darby McCarthy mentioned a couple of times in Splinters’ updates, haven’t seen any of the others mentioned.

You can say it... thank god it wasn't one of the main list players.

 

[Chris_6678]

I am glad Hutchinson is showing something as a mid and it wasnt just a one off in that Geelong game last year.

 

[DrTomSwift]

I'd love to hear more about Brockman from the people who attended if possible. I feel like he's been underrated after an interrupted 2024 but when he played WAFL he was a class above

 

[Bender_]

Some scattered observations to complement what other have offered so far. Pretty much just incoherent play-by-play with the off bit of assessment and probably a few misidentified WAFL boffins. I did try to take some footage, but got asked to stop by Brennan pretty hastily so I won't post it.



Coen with a good five minutes kicking 1.1 and taking a good grab.
Dewar and Long/Hunt the first choice wingers.
Allen put back late in the first.
Great intercept by Jobe over Flynn, gold's forward line very much undersized with mostly WAFL players against Gov, H, Jobe.
Maric with a great passage of play going exactly what they'd been training earlier, hitting up a pass mid-field and going by to get the handball receive, two lovely kicks in there.
Killer banana goal from someone in traffic, thought it was Brockman at first but maybe Darby, I don't ****en know.
Mally with a really sharp crumb directly off hands and effortless quick snap from 30.
Jack Graham hits up his namesake and former number-sake JWill who finishes nicely into the breeze.
Van Es a good smother on Loch after a dynamic gather and movement, but Hall too nimble for Brennan and he goals.
Gross mops up down back and burns off Ryan.
Ryan Crips later combine on the wing and the latter finds Oscar who puts it through from out wide. Coast to coast play.
Blue 44 Gold 41.
Hutch great work on the flank and finds JWill with a killer pass, gets plaudits from teammates.
Davis with a good run to receive outside and puts it inside 50, nice positioning and bodywork from Coen, borderling push on Harry who is filthy buy paid the grab and goals from 15 out. Been decent.
Someone gets Duggo uncomfortably in a strong spoil / secondary contest. He's down for 10 seconds before a trainer comes out and he leaves the ground. Not sure where the knock was, but he was a little upset at first.
Coast to coast and Longy marks and goals.
Half time - Bue 56 Gold 47.
Lining up in the middle after half time: Coen Gross Hall Sparks // Flynn Hewett Hutch Graham. Hutch with the clearance but read by Hough who marks.
Arch with a fantastic drop punt set shot goal from a fair angle.
Ryan beautiful angled kick to Oscar for an easy goal (almost missed).
Dewar pressure Ruben who kciks it on the full. Kick goes in to KWill who marks and goals for Blue.
Sandy been quite good today.
Cole and Crippa going hard at each other off the ball, plenty of aggressive bumping on the fat side.
#72 (Denholm??) goes down with a back after aerial contest with Brennan (tunneling - 2 weeks). Couldn't tell if it was from a knee of awkward landing, I believe the latter as it looked to flex unnaturally but don't listen to me. He's still down and play has been shifted to the other side, but a whole flank is pretty much off limits for the time being.
Nice if dangerous kick from Grego under pressure to split three oppos.
On the club side of the ground two players are being hammered on assault bikes, I guess Reid and Bazzo but hard to see. Trainer really drilling them doesn't look fun.
72 still down, stretcher is out and training stopped for 5. Pretty worrying for the fellow I hope he is okay.
Resumes, Sparks catches Graham thb. Then Hammer finds Gross at hff but doesn't lead to much forward and is defused.
Baker has been really clean to collect down back many times today, a known strength. Like to handball at askew angles, elbows up to get past defenders, something we team was training many weeks back. Didn't come off truly on a couple of occasions though.
Gross strong breaks a tackle at 50, gives it to Davis who finds a forward I can't see, maybe Petch, who misses.
The rebound gets turned over and finds Hammer who marks I think, and gets a 50. Shot at goal from long range is good, he's having a nice quarter.
Touched behind, Maric goes long and right big pack roved by Ginbey and they get a mark and look for goals. Didn't see who. Bit of a scrap between two or three going on as 3QT is called.
Blue 70 Gold 67.
I need to piss Keys where are the dunnies?
11:50 now so think they're mostly calling it.
Group of about 25 doing repeat 3/4 ground runs. Ruben and Hunt up front, then Van Es, then a gap to Flynn and Duggo. Pretty informal at-your-own-pace kind of thing, some not going too hard.

My main takeaway from this is you got bullied by Jacob Brennan.

Great read.

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

My main takeaway from this is you got bullied by Jacob Brennan.

Great read.

The real reason that footage will never see the light of day.

 

[DanWCE]

The real reason that footage will never see the light of day.

Please just clip up the part where you got chatted

 

[WCE777]

Some scattered observations to complement what other have offered so far. Pretty much just incoherent play-by-play with the off bit of assessment and probably a few misidentified WAFL boffins. I did try to take some footage, but got asked to stop by Brennan pretty hastily so I won't post it.



Coen with a good five minutes kicking 1.1 and taking a good grab.
Dewar and Long/Hunt the first choice wingers.
Allen put back late in the first.
Great intercept by Jobe over Flynn, gold's forward line very much undersized with mostly WAFL players against Gov, H, Jobe.
Maric with a great passage of play going exactly what they'd been training earlier, hitting up a pass mid-field and going by to get the handball receive, two lovely kicks in there.
Killer banana goal from someone in traffic, thought it was Brockman at first but maybe Darby, I don't ****en know.
Mally with a really sharp crumb directly off hands and effortless quick snap from 30.
Jack Graham hits up his namesake and former number-sake JWill who finishes nicely into the breeze.
Van Es a good smother on Loch after a dynamic gather and movement, but Hall too nimble for Brennan and he goals.
Gross mops up down back and burns off Ryan.
Ryan Crips later combine on the wing and the latter finds Oscar who puts it through from out wide. Coast to coast play.
Blue 44 Gold 41.
Hutch great work on the flank and finds JWill with a killer pass, gets plaudits from teammates.
Davis with a good run to receive outside and puts it inside 50, nice positioning and bodywork from Coen, borderling push on Harry who is filthy buy paid the grab and goals from 15 out. Been decent.
Someone gets Duggo uncomfortably in a strong spoil / secondary contest. He's down for 10 seconds before a trainer comes out and he leaves the ground. Not sure where the knock was, but he was a little upset at first.
Coast to coast and Longy marks and goals.
Half time - Bue 56 Gold 47.
Lining up in the middle after half time: Coen Gross Hall Sparks // Flynn Hewett Hutch Graham. Hutch with the clearance but read by Hough who marks.
Arch with a fantastic drop punt set shot goal from a fair angle.
Ryan beautiful angled kick to Oscar for an easy goal (almost missed).
Dewar pressure Ruben who kciks it on the full. Kick goes in to KWill who marks and goals for Blue.
Sandy been quite good today.
Cole and Crippa going hard at each other off the ball, plenty of aggressive bumping on the fat side.
#72 (Denholm??) goes down with a back after aerial contest with Brennan (tunneling - 2 weeks). Couldn't tell if it was from a knee of awkward landing, I believe the latter as it looked to flex unnaturally but don't listen to me. He's still down and play has been shifted to the other side, but a whole flank is pretty much off limits for the time being.
Nice if dangerous kick from Grego under pressure to split three oppos.
On the club side of the ground two players are being hammered on assault bikes, I guess Reid and Bazzo but hard to see. Trainer really drilling them doesn't look fun.
72 still down, stretcher is out and training stopped for 5. Pretty worrying for the fellow I hope he is okay.
Resumes, Sparks catches Graham thb. Then Hammer finds Gross at hff but doesn't lead to much forward and is defused.
Baker has been really clean to collect down back many times today, a known strength. Like to handball at askew angles, elbows up to get past defenders, something we team was training many weeks back. Didn't come off truly on a couple of occasions though.
Gross strong breaks a tackle at 50, gives it to Davis who finds a forward I can't see, maybe Petch, who misses.
The rebound gets turned over and finds Hammer who marks I think, and gets a 50. Shot at goal from long range is good, he's having a nice quarter.
Touched behind, Maric goes long and right big pack roved by Ginbey and they get a mark and look for goals. Didn't see who. Bit of a scrap between two or three going on as 3QT is called.
Blue 70 Gold 67.
I need to piss Keys where are the dunnies?
11:50 now so think they're mostly calling it.
Group of about 25 doing repeat 3/4 ground runs. Ruben and Hunt up front, then Van Es, then a gap to Flynn and Duggo. Pretty informal at-your-own-pace kind of thing, some not going too hard.

Hammer? Davis?

 

[Gazeah78]

Big thanks to the watchers!

How did Hewett go? Sounds like he was very quiet?


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

https://archive.md/EIy80

“Next Generation Academy product Tyrell Dewar looks in the box seat to play on the opposite wing to Jayden Hunt after getting first crack at starting in the position on Friday.
Last year’s mid-season rookie draftee Jack Hutchinson was part of the rotation for the ‘best’ team, while Campbell Chesser is seemingly further back in the pecking order after an interrupted pre-season with injuries.
Dewar — who played seven games and kicked five goals last year mainly as a forward — had some good moments on the wing and has clearly increased his endurance after another pre-season.”

 

[bzparkes]

Looking at other clubs this preseason, I must say we are looking to be in far better shape than most.

Aside from Yeo's injury, we're in pretty good nick.

Would hate to be a Saints supporter right now(or ever...).

 

[Keys]

Did Gross back up his performance from the last intra?

Wasn’t quite as prominent but still had a good game

I'm halfway through building my life sized Tom Gross statue....should I continue?

Yes

Hope to see lots of this late in quarters and games. Kid sounds like he's got a pretty good tank and likes a bit of the footy. Could be a weapon when others are tiring.

Played really well in the final 20 minute period finding space. Natural wingman

Some scattered observations to complement what other have offered so far. Pretty much just incoherent play-by-play with the off bit of assessment and probably a few misidentified WAFL boffins. I did try to take some footage, but got asked to stop by Brennan pretty hastily so I won't post it.



Coen with a good five minutes kicking 1.1 and taking a good grab.
Dewar and Long/Hunt the first choice wingers.
Allen put back late in the first.
Great intercept by Jobe over Flynn, gold's forward line very much undersized with mostly WAFL players against Gov, H, Jobe.
Maric with a great passage of play going exactly what they'd been training earlier, hitting up a pass mid-field and going by to get the handball receive, two lovely kicks in there.
Killer banana goal from someone in traffic, thought it was Brockman at first but maybe Darby, I don't ****en know.
Mally with a really sharp crumb directly off hands and effortless quick snap from 30.
Jack Graham hits up his namesake and former number-sake JWill who finishes nicely into the breeze.
Van Es a good smother on Loch after a dynamic gather and movement, but Hall too nimble for Brennan and he goals.
Gross mops up down back and burns off Ryan.
Ryan Crips later combine on the wing and the latter finds Oscar who puts it through from out wide. Coast to coast play.
Blue 44 Gold 41.
Hutch great work on the flank and finds JWill with a killer pass, gets plaudits from teammates.
Davis with a good run to receive outside and puts it inside 50, nice positioning and bodywork from Coen, borderling push on Harry who is filthy buy paid the grab and goals from 15 out. Been decent.
Someone gets Duggo uncomfortably in a strong spoil / secondary contest. He's down for 10 seconds before a trainer comes out and he leaves the ground. Not sure where the knock was, but he was a little upset at first.
Coast to coast and Longy marks and goals.
Half time - Bue 56 Gold 47.
Lining up in the middle after half time: Coen Gross Hall Sparks // Flynn Hewett Hutch Graham. Hutch with the clearance but read by Hough who marks.
Arch with a fantastic drop punt set shot goal from a fair angle.
Ryan beautiful angled kick to Oscar for an easy goal (almost missed).
Dewar pressure Ruben who kciks it on the full. Kick goes in to KWill who marks and goals for Blue.
Sandy been quite good today.
Cole and Crippa going hard at each other off the ball, plenty of aggressive bumping on the fat side.
#72 (Denholm??) goes down with a back after aerial contest with Brennan (tunneling - 2 weeks). Couldn't tell if it was from a knee of awkward landing, I believe the latter as it looked to flex unnaturally but don't listen to me. He's still down and play has been shifted to the other side, but a whole flank is pretty much off limits for the time being.
Nice if dangerous kick from Grego under pressure to split three oppos.
On the club side of the ground two players are being hammered on assault bikes, I guess Reid and Bazzo but hard to see. Trainer really drilling them doesn't look fun.
72 still down, stretcher is out and training stopped for 5. Pretty worrying for the fellow I hope he is okay.
Resumes, Sparks catches Graham thb. Then Hammer finds Gross at hff but doesn't lead to much forward and is defused.
Baker has been really clean to collect down back many times today, a known strength. Like to handball at askew angles, elbows up to get past defenders, something we team was training many weeks back. Didn't come off truly on a couple of occasions though.
Gross strong breaks a tackle at 50, gives it to Davis who finds a forward I can't see, maybe Petch, who misses.
The rebound gets turned over and finds Hammer who marks I think, and gets a 50. Shot at goal from long range is good, he's having a nice quarter.
Touched behind, Maric goes long and right big pack roved by Ginbey and they get a mark and look for goals. Didn't see who. Bit of a scrap between two or three going on as 3QT is called.
Blue 70 Gold 67.
I need to piss Keys where are the dunnies?
11:50 now so think they're mostly calling it.
Group of about 25 doing repeat 3/4 ground runs. Ruben and Hunt up front, then Van Es, then a gap to Flynn and Duggo. Pretty informal at-your-own-pace kind of thing, some not going too hard.

Ah, that was you Brennan gave the above to. I was standing 10m to your right

There’s a public toilet next to the entrance gates on the eastern side that can be accessed from outside the ground

Hammer? Davis?

Yeah Davis is called Hammer by the players

 

[flyinghi64]

Some scattered observations to complement what other have offered so far. Pretty much just incoherent play-by-play with the off bit of assessment and probably a few misidentified WAFL boffins. I did try to take some footage, but got asked to stop by Brennan pretty hastily so I won't post it.



Coen with a good five minutes kicking 1.1 and taking a good grab.
Dewar and Long/Hunt the first choice wingers.
Allen put back late in the first.
Great intercept by Jobe over Flynn, gold's forward line very much undersized with mostly WAFL players against Gov, H, Jobe.
Maric with a great passage of play going exactly what they'd been training earlier, hitting up a pass mid-field and going by to get the handball receive, two lovely kicks in there.
Killer banana goal from someone in traffic, thought it was Brockman at first but maybe Darby, I don't ****en know.
Mally with a really sharp crumb directly off hands and effortless quick snap from 30.
Jack Graham hits up his namesake and former number-sake JWill who finishes nicely into the breeze.
Van Es a good smother on Loch after a dynamic gather and movement, but Hall too nimble for Brennan and he goals.
Gross mops up down back and burns off Ryan.
Ryan Crips later combine on the wing and the latter finds Oscar who puts it through from out wide. Coast to coast play.
Blue 44 Gold 41.
Hutch great work on the flank and finds JWill with a killer pass, gets plaudits from teammates.
Davis with a good run to receive outside and puts it inside 50, nice positioning and bodywork from Coen, borderling push on Harry who is filthy buy paid the grab and goals from 15 out. Been decent.
Someone gets Duggo uncomfortably in a strong spoil / secondary contest. He's down for 10 seconds before a trainer comes out and he leaves the ground. Not sure where the knock was, but he was a little upset at first.
Coast to coast and Longy marks and goals.
Half time - Bue 56 Gold 47.
Lining up in the middle after half time: Coen Gross Hall Sparks // Flynn Hewett Hutch Graham. Hutch with the clearance but read by Hough who marks.
Arch with a fantastic drop punt set shot goal from a fair angle.
Ryan beautiful angled kick to Oscar for an easy goal (almost missed).
Dewar pressure Ruben who kciks it on the full. Kick goes in to KWill who marks and goals for Blue.
Sandy been quite good today.
Cole and Crippa going hard at each other off the ball, plenty of aggressive bumping on the fat side.
#72 (Denholm??) goes down with a back after aerial contest with Brennan (tunneling - 2 weeks). Couldn't tell if it was from a knee of awkward landing, I believe the latter as it looked to flex unnaturally but don't listen to me. He's still down and play has been shifted to the other side, but a whole flank is pretty much off limits for the time being.
Nice if dangerous kick from Grego under pressure to split three oppos.
On the club side of the ground two players are being hammered on assault bikes, I guess Reid and Bazzo but hard to see. Trainer really drilling them doesn't look fun.
72 still down, stretcher is out and training stopped for 5. Pretty worrying for the fellow I hope he is okay.
Resumes, Sparks catches Graham thb. Then Hammer finds Gross at hff but doesn't lead to much forward and is defused.
Baker has been really clean to collect down back many times today, a known strength. Like to handball at askew angles, elbows up to get past defenders, something we team was training many weeks back. Didn't come off truly on a couple of occasions though.
Gross strong breaks a tackle at 50, gives it to Davis who finds a forward I can't see, maybe Petch, who misses.
The rebound gets turned over and finds Hammer who marks I think, and gets a 50. Shot at goal from long range is good, he's having a nice quarter.
Touched behind, Maric goes long and right big pack roved by Ginbey and they get a mark and look for goals. Didn't see who. Bit of a scrap between two or three going on as 3QT is called.
Blue 70 Gold 67.
I need to piss Keys where are the dunnies?
11:50 now so think they're mostly calling it.
Group of about 25 doing repeat 3/4 ground runs. Ruben and Hunt up front, then Van Es, then a gap to Flynn and Duggo. Pretty informal at-your-own-pace kind of thing, some not going too hard.

You may need one of these like Key's

 

[Coasters7]

Were you there?

Yeah dropped in for a bit. New gameplan is going to need plenty of time. A fair few blokes out there panicking trying to do the team thing and move the ball/get rid of the ball asap rather than having some composure and taking the best option. Could be some ugly games early on.

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

You may need one of these like Key's
View attachment 2220710

Huge empathy with Ginbey going on today.

 

[RanaNaved]

Yeah dropped in for a bit. New gameplan is going to need plenty of time. A fair few blokes out there panicking trying to do the team thing and move the ball/get rid of the ball asap rather than having some composure and taking the best option. Could be some ugly games early on.

Yep. Even prime Richmond seemed to have plenty of ugly games with a lot of mistakes, so I'm prepared for it

 

[Spoon_Man]

From Timberdong:

West Coast’s best 23 for round one is beginning to take shape after new coach Andrew McQualter gave hints to his preferred line-up in Friday’s match simulation session.

The opening portion of the Eagles’ training block appeared to have a ‘best against the rest’ look, while taking into account the absence of first-choice stars Elliot Yeo (ankle and knee), Jake Waterman (back stiffness), Harley Reid (ankle soreness) and Tim Kelly (personal).

Next Generation Academy product Tyrell Dewar looks in the box seat to play on the opposite wing to Jayden Hunt after getting first crack at starting in the position on Friday.

Last year’s mid-season rookie draftee Jack Hutchinson was part of the rotation for the ‘best’ team, while Campbell Chesser is seemingly further back in the pecking order after an interrupted pre-season with injuries.

Dewar — who played seven games and kicked five goals last year mainly as a forward — had some good moments on the wing and has clearly increased his endurance after another pre-season.

The Subiaco product’s pace and skill fits ideally with McQualter’s new helter-skelter game plan that is going to focus on quick, attacking ball movement.

Hutchinson kept Dewar and Hunt on their toes as he transitions from a high-flying forward to solid wingman, working hard to get back in defence.

One of the other positions of intrigue is across half-back, with Ryan Maric the centre of plenty of attention after switching ends.

Maric started down back for the ‘B’ side, with recruit Liam Baker and Reuben Ginbey preferred in the ‘best’ side early, while top draftee Bo Allan continues to firm for a round one debut after being part of the rotation.

Allan would also later have a stint in the midfield, but this was once the teams had been more evened out.

Co-captain Liam Duggan started in the middle alongside third-year midfielder Elijah Hewett and the impressive Jack Graham, who was aggressive and strong in the near three-hour session.

The absence of All-Australian forward Waterman gave second-year tall Archer Reid the chance to partner co-captain Oscar Allen in attack.

Reid and Jack Williams were the back-up for Bailey Williams, who seems to be ahead of former Giant Matt Flynn to lead the ruck early in the season.

Jack Williams was a force in attack, taking several strong contested marks and making the most of his opportunities to put him in the frame for a game early in the season.

The Eagles aren’t short of small forward firepower after adding Carlton goalsneak Matt Owies to their stocks that includes Liam Ryan, Tyler Brockman, Noah Long and veteran Jamie Cripps.

All of them played for the ‘best’ side, with Ryan a deep forward and the others pushing up hard to help out the midfield.

Ryan kicked a couple of goals and tried to take several big marks in another strong display as he looks to be nearly back to his best.

The teams were then evened out for the second 30-minute period, with the best defence up against the best forward line.

Vice-captain Jeremy McGovern started on Allen, while Ginbey also got a chance to play as a tall defender while Harry Edwards was the deepest backman.

Waterman made a brief appearance on the track after appearing to train indoors as he looks to return from back soreness.

Reid and defender Rhett Bazzo warmed up with the main group before doing a gruelling session of conditioning which included some tough work on the assault bikes and battle ropes as their teammates played.

Backman Callum Jamieson was also doing his own work as he comes back from multiple pre-season surgeries. Yeo and Dom Sheed were as expected not sighted as they recover from their respective surgeries.

The Eagles will take on Richmond in unofficial match simulation on February 17 before facing North Melbourne in Bunbury on March 1 ahead of March 16’s season opener at home against Gold Coast.

 

[RustyShacklefordFalcon]

Tom Gross steal of the draft. Still a bit small but reminds me a lot of Clayton Oliver (hopefully in play style alone). Always on the move, able to find and create his own space and looks very clean on both sides.

An underrated trait in modern footy is the ability to switch handballing hands rapidly as not many seem to be able to do it consistently and he’s got it, as well as being tidy enough on his left foot as well.

No no no mate, keep up. There's no such thing as a steal at pick #46

 

[Byron_Clanger]

From Timberdong:

Timberdong

 

[BEagle22]

How does everyone rekon Chesser is tracking? Haven't heard much about him so not sure if that's concerning or not?

Also cheers for all the training reports today, always much appreciated!

 

[FKASC]

Seems like position-wise McQualter is doing basically everything we have been asking for. Maric to be our backline distributor, Baker away from the forwardline/midfield, Dewar, Long and Hutch all up the ground.