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Training Preseason Training Thread - 2026

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Keys said:




Bit of vision in each tweet of Malakai being assisted from the ground by trainers

Can only hope it’s not anything serious
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Initially walked off with trainers and seemed to be walking ok, just a bit of a hobble, trainer's wandered away from him before they got to the tents and didn't look overly concerned.
Fingers 🤞
 
Astro7 said:
For sure, also the long greasy hair wouldn't help his acne condition, none of which has anything to do with his football skills of course. But he does seem to have lost his baby face, more matured, seasoned if you like. Looks like a prime mover now. With a couple of other big bodies in there to help (Yeo, Starch, Dev etc) feel like we're in for some exciting patches of footy ahead.
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I'm possibly in the minority, but what ever the hell his new "hair/haircut" is sucks. Looks like someone Willie would smoke pot with.

The long hair and headband was his whole marketing image. Kids would replicate it all over, just like Naitanui's dreadlocks he refused to cut and kept for his entire career.

Wouldn't be surprised if Harley's already regretting the idea and planning on going back to it tbh.



I'll have to wait for PatFooty's take though.
 
Dark Sharks said:
I'm possibly in the minority, but what ever the hell his new "hair/haircut" is sucks. Looks like someone Willie would smoke pot with.

The long hair and headband was his whole marketing image. Kids would replicate it all over, just like Naitanui's dreadlocks he refused to cut and kept for his entire career.

Wouldn't be surprised if Harley's already regretting the idea and planning on going back to it tbh.



I'll have to wait for PatFooty's take though.
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They just need to sell a blonde version of this, bud.

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Dark Sharks said:
I'm possibly in the minority, but what ever the hell his new "hair/haircut" is sucks. Looks like someone Willie would smoke pot with.

The long hair and headband was his whole marketing image. Kids would replicate it all over, just like Naitanui's dreadlocks he refused to cut and kept for his entire career.

Wouldn't be surprised if Harley's already regretting the idea and planning on going back to it tbh.



I'll have to wait for PatFooty's take though.
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Mate he’s gone from one generic style to another lol.
 

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Dark Sharks said:
I'm possibly in the minority, but what ever the hell his new "hair/haircut" is sucks. Looks like someone Willie would smoke pot with.

The long hair and headband was his whole marketing image. Kids would replicate it all over, just like Naitanui's dreadlocks he refused to cut and kept for his entire career.

Wouldn't be surprised if Harley's already regretting the idea and planning on going back to it tbh.



I'll have to wait for PatFooty's take though.
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It's a shame the govt ban on kids using social media doesn't extend to Bigfooty...
 
bzparkes said:
Literally half the Geelong team has the same old hairstyle.

I think it's good he's no longer styling himself off his childhood football heroes.
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Yeah was gonna say. Plus I instantly think of Jorts/over sized t shirt and birkenstocks when I see that cut
 
THE A5 said:
What he did well was that he went back and did the basics well. He totally put away his offensive game, didn’t go for intercept marks. Started gaining confidence and gradually started to go for them marks. It was actually great to watch cause he was so mature and disciplined.
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Eh no.

What happened was we started playing a Ginbey taller which impacted his offensive game (almost non-existent now) and Harry started taking oppo 3rd best forward.
 
TheBudgies said:
What is Jobe's ceiling next season? Play every game and 30 goals is a reasonable target right. Assuming be plays every game is 25 goals his floor? Ceiling 40? 45? 60?(haha)

We have opened up some targets with Oscar/Liam leaving.

I'm really struggling to decide because he could be amazing if we had more ball forward of centre. But if our mids stink we might be unable to give him enough supply.
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Ceiling would be somewhere around 40-45 similar to Amiss in his second year.

Caveat being we would need to be a pretty decent team to help get him to 40.

Realistically if he can get 30-35 it would be a good step forward.

Averaging a Goal per game would be a pass mark.
 

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I think the thing for Jobe is not to put a number on goals- I feel that in itself is not a reflection of a year.

I feel for him his focus should be on his work rate. Making sure he provides a contest as a bare minimum and working to involve himself on the game outside of marking situations and doing the work to provide a lead up option and making himself dangerous enough to draw defenders away. His marking and competitiveness is definitely a trait and I think if we have that a base set of instructions with that in mind the actual goals will follow.

Having said that- Keeping Waterman fit will play a big role in us being more threatening next year and give him better looks at goals anyway. But a positive season for him next year isn’t about a numbers output IMO. Maybe in year 3 and beyond.
 
kane249 said:
Getting Yeo back and Robertson in to help the inside mids will be a big help to that area. Won't be a silver bullet, but it's helping to close the huge gap we currently have.

Hopefully Champion and Tylah can help the forward line situation
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not sure if they'll be an immediate fix, later maybe...
 
Dark Sharks said:
I'm possibly in the minority, but what ever the hell his new "hair/haircut" is sucks. Looks like someone Willie would smoke pot with.

The long hair and headband was his whole marketing image. Kids would replicate it all over, just like Naitanui's dreadlocks he refused to cut and kept for his entire career.

Wouldn't be surprised if Harley's already regretting the idea and planning on going back to it tbh.



I'll have to wait for PatFooty's take though.
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Not big on the generic Geelong hairstyle/headband look. He's got curly locks whether short or long - buzz cut it baby!
 
Not a heap of note to take away from this morning's session, which lasted about 90 minutes and focused on skills and not much running. I spotted most of the players on our list at some point but a few were on managed programs today.

The players came out just after 9am and after a brief warm up, got into a full-group drill practising kicking on the run. They then split into four groups, each working on a different skill - one on set shots, one on (contested) marking, one on ground balls/handballing and one on kicking. After this they split into three groups, with all three doing a drill working on handballing in congestion, one of which only had light contact.

Over the next 45 minutes they repeated this rotation (split into 4 groups for different skills then into 3 groups for handballing) twice, going through various skills under the guidance of the assistant coaches. At 10:30 they split into many smaller groups to work on some more specific craft/skills (one of the groups was working on marking a high ball while on their knees, one was curling set shots from the boundary, etc.), and the players had all finished up by 10:45.

Details on who did/didn't train:
  • I didn't see Yeo, Hutchinson or Schoenberg today
  • Going to be honest, I completely missed Champion's injury and only learned about it when I got home and checked this thread. I saw him early on in the session so I ticked his name off, but then didn't notice that he'd 1. injured himself and 2. missed the second half of the session. Not sure how I missed that tbh, but I suppose these things happen when you're trying to keep an eye on about 10 things at once
  • Allen (knee) didn't do much today, limited to stationary kicking and handballing work and spectating during the session
  • Bailey Williams (groin) and Gross (quad) began the session with some stationary handballing before moving to the grandstand for a bit of stair work. After this Gross did a bit of kicking with Allen before heading inside just before 10, while Williams spent about 40 minutes on the exercise bike, finishing around 10:30
  • Brockman and Cole were on a managed program today, joining in for the non-contact handballing drills but spending time on the exercise bike when the group was split into 4 groups for the other skill work. Suspect this is load management more than anything
  • Baker (hamstring) trained away from the main group, spending about 40 minutes doing run throughs (some while being held back by a trainer with a resistance band) and spending the rest of the session helping out with the main group's drills
  • Barnett (knee) started the session with run throughs away from the main group but joined in with the main group for some bits and pieces - participated in one of the kicking drills and one of the non-contact handballing drills. Also completed some change-of-direction/agility work away from the main group, finishing up with some work on the grandstand stairs. Appears to be progressing well in his recovery
  • Robertson (shoulder) warmed up with the main group but spent the following hour doing run throughs and laps by himself. Finished up about 30 minutes early
  • Allan was sporting a cast on his left wrist and was in and out of the main session, joining for some of the lighter skill work and spending the rest of the time running laps or doing stop-start sprint/agility work with a trainer.
  • Owies split off at one stage to do some run throughs but did most of the main session, though he trained with the non-contact group for the handballing drills.
  • Duggan and Cripps were again managed through the session, starting with some time on the exercise bikes and spending the rest of the session participating in light drills or helping out with other drills.
  • Kelly was outside for the whole session, but whenever they split into 3 groups for the handballing drills he would spend that time on the exercise bike instead. As one of our veterans I suspect they're just managing his training loads
  • Young (shoulder) trained fully until around 10am, finishing with about half an hour on the exercise bike
  • The draftees (minus Allen) and Harley Reid trained fully until around 10:20, when they finished up early.
  • Waterman (hamstring) and Macrae stayed out until the end of the session but split off a couple of times to do a bit of contact work away from the main group. Otherwise trained fully
  • Jack Williams, Dewar and Ginbey trained fully today, though Dewar trained with the non-contact group for the handballing drills

Like I said, a light session so not much to take away from it. A few random notes:
  • Duff-Tytler was holding his own quite well against the talls in one of the marking drills and got some praise from one of the coaches - think it was Harry Taylor
  • In one of the handballing drills Starcevich was chatting to the players before it started - couldn't hear what he was saying but you can already see how valuable his leadership, professionalism and experience from Brisbane will be for our young group.
  • I spotted another of our AFLW players today later in the session - this time Loosh Painter, who was doing some run throughs with a trainer
 
Is Harry Taylor "officially" a coach? Or is he employed as something else, and he "volunteers" his coaching services?

Rapt to have him coaching the talls, was one of the very best KPPs in his time
 

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