Training Preseason Training Thread - 2026

[Keys]

The below is the OG faux training report from nearly 9 years ago - often imitated but never surpassed

In the absence of Keys I went down for a trundle this morning to check them out on return. Just a few random notes I took down...

• A lot of running work again, clearly a focus even in the heat.
• Duggan looked on and was hitting targets left and right. Set for a huge 2017.
• Giles went up against Vardy in the ruck contests and I'd say that Giles has the inside running at the moment.
• Mitchell looked a class above the other midfielders bar Priddis. Just knew how to find the footy and wouldn't miss a target all session. Shuey was very quiet and seemed to be taking direction from Mitchell. Doesn't bode well for his captaincy credentials, maybe he doesn't want the gig?
• Won't say too much about it in case I was just reading too much into it, but Rioli looked as though he'd enjoyed the Christmas break a bit too much. A few of the coaches pulled him aside and they were having quite an animated conversation before Rioli was sent to do laps for the rest of the session. Good news for Le Cras, I suppose.
• Sheed kicked on his right foot for 80% of the session, I reckon. Nice to see players working on their non-preferred so readily.
• Petrie looked like he was doing a great job 'coaching' the younger forwards in between the drills. Darling in particular seemed to be following him around.
• Gee Venables has some skills. He mainly jogged laps before spending the last half hour or so on set shots - curled a few beauties from behind the boundary line at the end for a bit of fun. Hardly saw him miss a kick.
• What interested me the most was that McGovern split his time between the defenders and the forwards, could be seeing a swingman role in 2017. He was his usual dominant self down back in some match simulation drills before going head-to-head with Mackenzie in a forward role.
• Bayok is very fast - Cripps was in most of the drills with him and couldn't keep up.
• Nelson is pale as buggery and still doesn't really have the body shape you'd expect of an AFL player.
• There was a big bloke who pulled up next to me and I could have sworn it was Suma, but I'm sure I was wrong...
• Masto was the player picked to kick the goal at the end today and nailed it. Celebrations were huge.
• No sign of Cole, Parto or Hill. Couldn't tell you why.

Will upload pics later if I have time. Let me know if you have any questions!

You might wonder why I’ve put this up and stickied it

Because this is the standard all copies should be measured against and it’s a reminder of how high the bar was set

And to hopefully discourage sequels.

If you want to have a crack in my absence, go ahead but if it doesn’t equal the standard set (as judged by me), then expect

• A one week threadban for a first offence
• A two week threadban for a second offence
• A one year threadban for a third offence

Actual training reports, minus discussion, can become found here:

Training - Preseason Training Reports -2025/26

This thread has been setup for training reports only and won’t be open for replies Informative reports from the preseason thread will be copied into this thread so posters have access to the quality work from the likes of LittleFires without wading through pages of general posts

www.bigfooty.com

 

[Bender_]

Can’t wait for him to have a good year so we can start getting people whinging we’ll lose him through homesickness or whatever the **** else is next.

He once sat on a bus next to a bloke from Tassie, basically inevitable he'll be playing for the Tigers in 2028.

 

[Yeahnahmate]

He once sat on a bus next to a bloke from Tassie, basically inevitable he'll be playing for the Tigers in 2028.

Nup, that’s it for me I’ve had enough. First we aren’t even a team, then Travis Gaspar gets picked for the big dance when he barely knew how to foxtrot, then we let Sharp AND Banners Jnr slip to other clubs and now this? FFS so disappointed in this once great club

 

[ziad]

You guys do remember Elliot Yeo spent the early part of his career on the half back flank for the Lions and Eagles before eventually transferring to inside mid?

He's had 1 year in the system and spent most of it injured, go dry your sheets and wait a bit longer before writing him off.

yes but he could play

 

[Mr Q]

.... and had a microsoft for Allan, ....

Should be right in his Windows then...

 

[kane249]

yes but he could play

So you are writing Bo Allan off after 1 year?

Hope you aren't as premature with your partner

 

[RanaNaved]

yes but he could play

Only one of them was a WA captain and All Australian junior

 

[LittleFires]

Biggest session of the preseason so far this morning, with training lasting over 2 and a half hours in a match sim-heavy session. There were quite a few players on modified programs today, though encouragingly most of them took part in the match sim work at some point.

The group came out just after 9am and warmed up in their line groups. The next half hour consisted of some skill drills, including a flow drill involving kicking on the run and some practising handballing in congestion. Just before 10am the focus shifted to match sim, starting with 9v9 work and eventually moving onto full 18v18 match sim, with two umpires also brought in to help.

They practised various scenarios, such as moving the ball out of the backline (and the other team defending that ball movement), rebounding off a turnover in the back 50, throw ins, and centre bounces ball ups (yuck). The 10-minute periods were broken up by other ball movement drills and set shots, which they got plenty of practise in today.

The match sim work wrapped up just after 11 and the players then split into two groups, one of which involved the players throwing medicine balls, running after them and then throwing them again, and the other involving players practising various skills - ground balls, marking, kicking, etc - while being held back with a resistance band. Both groups eventually moved onto run throughs along the outer boundary.

Most players went inside after this, but a group of about 10 stayed out getting some extra skill work in, before finally wrapping up at 11:45.

Details on who did/didn't train:

• Tylah Williams was the only listed player I didn't see today
• Watt trained but was away from the main group for the whole session
• Gross, Bailey Williams and Hutchinson did little to no on ground training. They started with some work on the grandstand stairs and came out later to do about 30 minutes on the exercise bikes. They did a bit of stationary skill work at the end but clearly all three are on an off-legs program at the moment.
• Baker trained away from the main group, doing run throughs at medium pace and some light skill work with the rehab group, finishing up after about an hour. I overheard him telling one of the players that he's picked up a little hamstring niggle. Not ideal but clearly on the minor side given he was in full training earlier this week and is already running again
• Barnett and Allen did a similar load to Baker, spending about an hour doing medium-pace run throughs and skill work off to the side. Barnett also progressed to doing a bit of light agility running involving change-of-direction and finished with some tap work with Nic Nat.
• A group of 5 young players - Allan, Hewett, Champion, Dewar (wore a yellow cap to indicate non-contact) and Newton - were on a modified program today after missing training on Wednesday. They spent the first hour of the session walk/jogging laps, doing light run throughs and skill work, but eventually joined in for the match sim where they moved well. Suggests to me this is more load management than anything sinister
• Owies spent the whole session away from the main group running along the boundary and doing light skill work with the rehab group.
• Ginbey, Young (wore a yellow cap during match sim) and Waterman warmed up with the main group before splitting off for some run throughs, where Ginbey and Young got to sprinting pace and Waterman to about 75% pace. However they joined in soon after that and participated in some, but not all of the match sim work. Ginbey finished with some laps and time on the exercise bike, with all three heading inside around 11:15
• Duggan and Cripps did most of the session but sat out some of the match sim before heading inside around 11:15
• Harley Reid and the draftees (minus Allen and Tylah Williams) also did most of the session but occasionally skipped some drills, instead doing light skill work together. The draftees went inside around 11:15 but Harley stayed a little later, finishing with some solo run throughs along the 50 metre arc
• Jack Williams, Hough, Grego and Brock participated fully in the drills and match sim but went inside about half an hour early

A few other notes I took down:

• Archer Reid played some ruck time during match sim and towards the end of the session was taken through some ruck work, positioning and body work by Nic Nat along with Flynn.
• Young produced a nice play during match sim where he kicked from full-back to a player at half back, ran past for the handball receive and hit up another player up the ground with a nice kick on the run. Has good skills as a key back
• Kelly was busy during the match sim and used the ball well
• Harley continues to impress early on, looks strong and fit and his kicking is just so powerful. Has the ability to kick those low, fast and accurate darts to other players which he did a couple times during match sim.
• Duff-Tytler again showed his remarkably good skills for a player of his height with a couple of nice kicks on the run in match sim
• Marco Bello (forwards coach) was very vocal to the forwards during a drill where they practised defending the ground to lock the opposition inside their back 50.
• I'm liking Harvey Johnston's work early on. Has consistently been one of the last players to leave the track in recent sessions and today was no different - was among a group including McCarthy, Macrae, Schoenberg, Long, Davis, Maric, Cole and Edwards who did about 10 minutes of extra skill work after the main group had gone inside
• One of our AFLW players (I believe it was Beth Schilling) was out there before the players had come out, doing a running session with a trainer
• Shanahan has definitely added some size over the off-season and looks pretty imposing out there

 

[Yeahnahmate]

Only one of them was a WA captain and All Australian junior

Yeo immediately down the pecking order from Bo & Fred haha

 

[Eaglemaniac]

Thanks for the comprehensive reports guys.

 

[Chris_6678]

Keys LittleFires Surely The West needs to pay you guys for these training write ups!

 

[Matera92]

Biggest session of the preseason so far this morning, with training lasting over 2 and a half hours in a match sim-heavy

• Shanahan has definitely added some size over the off-season and looks pretty imposing out there

 

[Eaglemaniac]

Keys LittleFires Surely The West needs to pay you guys for these training write ups!

Na, coz our guys write good reports, not sensationalist rubbish like the Worst Australian likes to publish.

 

[Keys]

Keys LittleFires Surely The West needs to pay you guys for these training write ups!

This is their effort for today

https://archive.is/jqVfI

What they’ve written on Harley is pretty accurate to be fair

I’ve also noted the way Reid is getting around the rest of the playing group and encouraging guys who have done something well etc. Seems more engaged/invested in what’s going on and starting to see some leadership traits emerge

 

[Bender_]

Apparently Archer Reid heard about the fun Cox and Kennedy had back in the day training with tennis balls and decided it'd be a right laff to throw a medicine ball at Shanahan. Luckily his throwing is as good as his set-shot kicking otherwise Jobe would be dead.

 

[PRANKSTER666]

• Marco Bello (forwards coach) was very vocal to the forwards during a drill where they practised defending the ground to lock the opposition inside their back 50.

Marco has quite a bit of experience at Adelaide and Hawthorn and know first hand he will hold them to a high standard.

 

[RanaNaved]

Apparently Archer Reid heard about the fun Cox and Kennedy had back in the day training with tennis balls and decided it'd be a right laff to throw a medicine ball at Shanahan. Luckily his throwing is as good as his set-shot kicking otherwise Jobe would be dead.

Shanahan probably would've caught it anyway

 

[KERRPOW]

I'm looking forward to Brian Taylor mistaking Dewar, Champion, Brockman and Williams for Liam Ryan.

looking forward to BT calling Liam Ryan 'Willie Rioli' next year and the media calling that out because you know he now plays for a minnow VFL team.

 

[HoneyBadger35]

Reuben Ginbey once again started in the main session but was moved out to do more running work, having clearly bulked up once again this pre-season

May god have mercy on us all.

 

[WestCoast17]

Is there any relation?

I think cousins maybe. Elijah is from Albany and Tylah is from Tambellup. They both played in the great southern before coming to Perth

 

[RanaNaved]

Biggest session of the preseason so far this morning, with training lasting over 2 and a half hours in a match sim-heavy session. There were quite a few players on modified programs today, though encouragingly most of them took part in the match sim work at some point.

The group came out just after 9am and warmed up in their line groups. The next half hour consisted of some skill drills, including a flow drill involving kicking on the run and some practising handballing in congestion. Just before 10am the focus shifted to match sim, starting with 9v9 work and eventually moving onto full 18v18 match sim, with two umpires also brought in to help.

They practised various scenarios, such as moving the ball out of the backline (and the other team defending that ball movement), rebounding off a turnover in the back 50, throw ins, and centre bounces ball ups (yuck). The 10-minute periods were broken up by other ball movement drills and set shots, which they got plenty of practise in today.

The match sim work wrapped up just after 11 and the players then split into two groups, one of which involved the players throwing medicine balls, running after them and then throwing them again, and the other involving players practising various skills - ground balls, marking, kicking, etc - while being held back with a resistance band. Both groups eventually moved onto run throughs along the outer boundary.

Most players went inside after this, but a group of about 10 stayed out getting some extra skill work in, before finally wrapping up at 11:45.

Details on who did/didn't train:

• Tylah Williams was the only listed player I didn't see today
• Watt trained but was away from the main group for the whole session
• Gross, Bailey Williams and Hutchinson did little to no on ground training. They started with some work on the grandstand stairs and came out later to do about 30 minutes on the exercise bikes. They did a bit of stationary skill work at the end but clearly all three are on an off-legs program at the moment.
• Baker trained away from the main group, doing run throughs at medium pace and some light skill work with the rehab group, finishing up after about an hour. I overheard him telling one of the players that he's picked up a little hamstring niggle. Not ideal but clearly on the minor side given he was in full training earlier this week and is already running again
• Barnett and Allen did a similar load to Baker, spending about an hour doing medium-pace run throughs and skill work off to the side. Barnett also progressed to doing a bit of light agility running involving change-of-direction and finished with some tap work with Nic Nat.
• A group of 5 young players - Allan, Hewett, Champion, Dewar (wore a yellow cap to indicate non-contact) and Newton - were on a modified program today after missing training on Wednesday. They spent the first hour of the session walk/jogging laps, doing light run throughs and skill work, but eventually joined in for the match sim where they moved well. Suggests to me this is more load management than anything sinister
• Owies spent the whole session away from the main group running along the boundary and doing light skill work with the rehab group.
• Ginbey, Young (wore a yellow cap during match sim) and Waterman warmed up with the main group before splitting off for some run throughs, where Ginbey and Young got to sprinting pace and Waterman to about 75% pace. However they joined in soon after that and participated in some, but not all of the match sim work. Ginbey finished with some laps and time on the exercise bike, with all three heading inside around 11:15
• Duggan and Cripps did most of the session but sat out some of the match sim before heading inside around 11:15
• Harley Reid and the draftees (minus Allen and Tylah Williams) also did most of the session but occasionally skipped some drills, instead doing light skill work together. The draftees went inside around 11:15 but Harley stayed a little later, finishing with some solo run throughs along the 50 metre arc
• Jack Williams, Hough, Grego and Brock participated fully in the drills and match sim but went inside about half an hour early

A few other notes I took down:

• Archer Reid played some ruck time during match sim and towards the end of the session was taken through some ruck work, positioning and body work by Nic Nat along with Flynn.
• Young produced a nice play during match sim where he kicked from full-back to a player at half back, ran past for the handball receive and hit up another player up the ground with a nice kick on the run. Has good skills as a key back
• Kelly was busy during the match sim and used the ball well
• Harley continues to impress early on, looks strong and fit and his kicking is just so powerful. Has the ability to kick those low, fast and accurate darts to other players which he did a couple times during match sim.
• Duff-Tytler again showed his remarkably good skills for a player of his height with a couple of nice kicks on the run in match sim
• Marco Bello (forwards coach) was very vocal to the forwards during a drill where they practised defending the ground to lock the opposition inside their back 50.
• I'm liking Harvey Johnston's work early on. Has consistently been one of the last players to leave the track in recent sessions and today was no different - was among a group including McCarthy, Macrae, Schoenberg, Long, Davis, Maric, Cole and Edwards who did about 10 minutes of extra skill work after the main group had gone inside
• One of our AFLW players (I believe it was Beth Schilling) was out there before the players had come out, doing a running session with a trainer
• Shanahan has definitely added some size over the off-season and looks pretty imposing out there

Love your (and Keys') work.

Got a question,
what kind of role are they looking to have CDT play from your observations? Cheers

 

[Truckosaurus]

So you are writing Bo Allan off after 1 year?

Hope you aren't as premature with your partner

If your microstiff for a player lasts more than a year, consult your doctor

 

[EaglesVille]

Bello was very vocal on Wednesday at training
Right in front of me
When I walked around for a listen
Just in time to see Shanahan sell Cole some candy and slot a good goal on an angle

 

[LittleFires]

Love your (and Keys') work.

Got a question,
what kind of role are they looking to have CDT play from your observations? Cheers

Seems to be a forward/ruck role at this stage. When they split into three line groups he trains with the forwards, and during the match sim he's often played as a third tall type who roams up the ground. He also often spends some time with the rucks working on his ruck craft

 

[Elite Pete]

If Harley levels up maybe even a couple of levels. McCarthy fitness sounds like it’s top notch and what he showed in his small sample size as a mid last year. Yeo still on the park, even if it’s a long way until round 1. Nearly an ideal 3 type of players to have in the guts.

With back up of Kelly, who by all reports sounds like he is in great condition, Xfactor of Hewett and Duursma. Dev ready to crack in if needed.

With a very good backline (if Young is as good as Tigs fans say and HEdwards continues his form)

Key forwards that have shown plenty and if they can get a decent amount of inside 50s.

A lot of if buts and maybes but we could be so back………. I love pre-season reports, the most fun part of the Eagles year.

 

[Eastern Rangers]

May god have mercy on us all.

Still skipping leg day.