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

 

[Cuzz09]

Ginbey,like Hough just seems perfectly suited to the backline

Probably can go in the guts for a chop out but seem to be lost a bit

 

[juice568]

Greg clarke, connor west and milan murdoch are wafl level players not they came from the wafl. These are guys that are on the list to help develop players in the wafl. They are not on the list to take afl midfield minutes from harley and hewett. Im glad anyone that thinks otherwise is nowhere near match committee

 

[Cuzz09]

Greg clarke, connor west and milan murdoch are wafl level players not they came from the wafl. These are guys that help that are on the list to help develop players in the wafl. They are not on the list to take afl midfield minutes from harley and hewett. Im glad anyone that thinks otherwise is nowhere near match committee

McCarthy was playing vfl this time last year.

Anyone can rise to the level if given a chance and take it

 

[Yeahnahmate]

Priddis was limited physically, which ultimately led to his early retirement. He hurt our midfield mix by not being able to play any other position. Im not sure if he would be as successful in todays game

Ah, tell me you missed peak Pridda without telling me you missed peak Pridda - bless

 

[Schtinker]

Anyone can rise to the level if given a chance and take it

Yeah-Nah

 

[Yeahnahmate]

Greg clarke, connor west and milan murdoch are wafl level players not they came from the wafl. These are guys that help that are on the list to help develop players in the wafl. They are not on the list to take afl midfield minutes from harley and hewett. Im glad anyone that thinks otherwise is nowhere near match committee

Barlow, Kelly, Pods, Pridda, Menegola all did far more than help develop others at state level. Barlow won a club BnF, Pods a flag, Pridda (3x club BnF and a Chas for those that only remember the later years), and the others 100+ game AFL players. It’s just rubbish you talk actually

 

[juice568]

McCarthy was playing vfl this time last year.

Anyone can rise to the level if given a chance and take it

Mccarthy is an anomaly with his athletism. He applied himself and shot up the ranks quickly. Milan murdoch has been playing good wafl for 3 years. Why has it taken so long for him to be drafted? He best shot at afl is hff/fp, he is not at the level to play afl midfield.

There is a reason greg clarke, connor west and zane trew are not on afl lists . They were simply not good enough, not because the coaching staff didnt give them midfield minutes

 

[Yeahnahmate]

Mccarthy is an anomaly with his athletism. He applied himself and shot up the ranks quickly. Milan murdoch has been playing good wafl for 3 years. Why has it taken so long for him to be drafted? He best shot at afl is hff/fp, he is not at the level to play afl midfield.

There is a reason greg clarke, connor west and zane trew are not on afl lists . They were simply not good enough, not because the coaching staff didnt give them midfield minutes

I’ll say it again - Barlow, Kelly, Pridda, Menegola. Mannagh came into a strong Cats side at 26 and just played in a GF - far more than brought in to strengthen the 2’s. You know if there is this many ‘anomalies’ your argument starts to look particularly flimsy

 

[juice568]

I’ll say it again - Barlow, Kelly, Pridda, Menegola. Mannagh came into a strong Cats side at 26 and just played in a GF - far more than brought in to strengthen the 2’s. You know if there is this many ‘anomalies’ your argument starts to look particularly flimsy

How many of these guys play in 2026 with the speed of the game increasing. In 2018 our midfield got better when priddis retired

 

[Cuzz09]

Who knows. Some guys just pay better in AFL.

Ashes Hansen was meh at WAFL but he was one of our most important players in the 06 flag season with an incredible W/L ratio at the time

 

[Azza21]

Does anyone know how our wafl boys went today?

 

[Yeahnahmate]

How many of these guys play in 2026 with the speed of the game increasing. In 2018 our midfield got better when priddis retired

It did but in his prime he’d play now. Was our best player for some years. None of Green, Serong, Cripps, Libba, Neale, Hewett rely particularly on speed

 

[WCEswift]

Anyone at the wafl praccy?

 

[Avalor]

Anyone at the wafl praccy?

Echo this!

 

[BeeTee]

Assume no stream of the wafl game ?

 

[THE A5]

I stopped by for a bit. Burgiel kicked 4

 

[boondy]

---

No one knows where it the wafl practice game is being played . I rang 6pr and they asked Paps and I was told it was on this morning at Cockburn , closed to the public . I said " you would think its at rushton ." but nah they reckon it isnt .Apparently on the same time McQualter was having an interview which I thought is strange . I guess he could watch and talk on phone same time .

 

[Goroyals22]

** pre season alert— Elani is gracing us with her umpiring prowess tomorrow **

 

[Kegs15]

The problem with the management of West and Clark (especially Clark IMO) was that we were absolutely crying out for genuine midfield role players at AFL level.

And we were crying out for someone to play permanently inside in the WAFL to give the team a foundation and take the pressure off our younger mids, especially since at the time they weren't a Reid pick - they needed development and confidence in the WAFL - Trew, Chesser, LEdwards, Hall etc.

Instead we had Clark playing on a wing at both grades for reasons I'll never really comprehend. Forget the square peg in a round hole argument, we had a bunch of square holes we needed filled and we still misused the square peg we did have!

This year we already had the three mature age midfielder rookies + Graham to fill in the above roles - likely in a 2-2 AFL-WAFL balance. So makes complete sense for the side to give Murdock time as a forward, especially since he seems more natural at that than Clark or West.

 

[Avalor]

** pre season alert— Elani is gracing us with her umpiring prowess tomorrow **

Oh, joyous days!

 

[kanekingswood]

Team for tomorrow against Port

 

[txbyhull]

Team for tomorrow against Port

interesting no Bo

 

[bzparkes]

Team for tomorrow against Port

Good to see Grego and Barnett getting a go. Must've gone ok in the WAFL game. No Hewett is a bit strange. Not even in the emergencies. Wonder if they're just resting him?

 

[kanekingswood]

Good to see Grego and Barnett getting a go. Must've gone ok in the WAFL game. No Hewett is a bit strange. Not even in the emergencies. Wonder if they're just resting him?

I’d imagine just resting Hewett, injury report mentioned he’s still recovering I believe

 

[bzparkes]

I’d imagine just resting Hewett, injury report mentioned he’s still recovering I believe

He played the 4th quarter last week but no info on the WAFL practice game straight after.

I suspect you're right. He's been mentioned in multiple bits of media throughout the week when talking about our future.