Training Training updates 2026.

[Peters_Nuts]

Nice.

Reminds me of another, more famous, airborne handball.

 

[Daicos Torpedo]

Biggest difference is that Shaw follows the path almost all the good players do of playing early and often while HDM is not.

There were criticisms of Shaw early but he was playing seniors. He arrived at Collingwood as 17 yo and debuted as a young 18yo playing 5 games at the end of 1978 including 2 finals. 15 games the next year and 18 in his 3rd season including the Grand Final. He turned 20 late in July that year. (HDM was 20 in Sept 25 for comparison, his 2nd season)

Basically at the age HDM is now Shawry had played 38 senior games including 6 finals and a GF. He would go onto play 20+ plus games a year for the next 6 seasons.

Shaw may have struggled a little with senior footy early but he was a senior player early and played little 2nds footy after his 1st season. HDM is a mile off that.

I wish HDM well.
But please.
Tony Shaw was a duel Copeland medal winner (his 2nd in the 1990 team), club/premiership captain, and games record holder (313... until that young upstart Pendles came along).
Stop already!
Edited. GC. This isn't a dig at you. I realised that I replied to the wrong person...

 

[Scodog10]

Neds biggest issue is his disposal efficiency ..he needs to be working on this more than anything else

I’d be surprised if it’s a focus area. Feeding the ball to the likes of Naicos, Jaicos, Steele and Crisp seems his go and the work to take a poor kick to an average kick at the top level is monumental.

His biggest issue to work through IMV is taking his ball winning game from average to above average whilst sticking to structure. For a guy to be first choice midfield and averaging 3.5 clearances and 8 contested possessions isn’t cutting it against the likes of Newcombe, Neale, Danger, Serong, Rowell etc. if he’s not a first choice mid what is he?

Adding an aerial presence seems a cherry on top to me, but it’s a significantly greater need than improving his ball use.

 

[ANewDawn]

I was scathing of Allan's laconic attitude in in the opener against GWS last year - his chasing was appallingly and he lacked urgency. By mid year I thought he had turned the corner with some good games, but failed to hold his spot. I think his best is more than good enough, but consistency in effort and application is needed.

This reads like a school report on a kid where it seems it doesn't really believe what it's saying. Except it wouldn't be using the words 'failed' or 'appalling'. Not sure 'scathing' or even 'laconic' would pass muster either.

 

[WanderingDude]

This reads like a school report on a kid where it seems it doesn't really believe what it's saying. Except it wouldn't be using the words 'failed' or 'appalling'. Not sure 'scathing' or even 'laconic' would pass muster either.

“Last years game against GWS was a game of beauty and should be rewatched to build character.” Is that better? NoSpin expressed his thoughts, I thought very well. Allan was dropped multiple times last year. And won the clubs best young player.

 

[manicpie]

Biggest difference is that Shaw follows the path almost all the good players do of playing early and often while HDM is not.

There were criticisms of Shaw early but he was playing seniors. He arrived at Collingwood as 17 yo and debuted as a young 18yo playing 5 games at the end of 1978 including 2 finals. 15 games the next year and 18 in his 3rd season including the Grand Final. He turned 20 late in July that year. (HDM was 20 in Sept 25 for comparison, his 2nd season)

Basically at the age HDM is now Shawry had played 38 senior games including 6 finals and a GF. He would go onto play 20+ plus games a year for the next 6 seasons.

Shaw may have struggled a little with senior footy early but he was a senior player early and played little 2nds footy after his 1st season. HDM is a mile off that.

Completely different era's though doc. There's no way Tony would have played 200 games in today's footy. HDM would probably have been a gun back then. Harry's VFL form would have stood up back then. Ray was a much better player and he chose to leave to play VFA, just to put it into context. Neville was the most talented of all 3 but he was a loose cannon.

 

[NMBB]

........Edited. GC. This isn't a dig at you. I realised that I replied to the wrong person...

Now I get what happens here - it's all clear now

 

[The Phantom]

Biggest difference is that Shaw follows the path almost all the good players do of playing early and often while HDM is not.

There were criticisms of Shaw early but he was playing seniors. He arrived at Collingwood as 17 yo and debuted as a young 18yo playing 5 games at the end of 1978 including 2 finals. 15 games the next year and 18 in his 3rd season including the Grand Final. He turned 20 late in July that year. (HDM was 20 in Sept 25 for comparison, his 2nd season)

Basically at the age HDM is now Shawry had played 38 senior games including 6 finals and a GF. He would go onto play 20+ plus games a year for the next 6 seasons.

Shaw may have struggled a little with senior footy early but he was a senior player early and played little 2nds footy after his 1st season. HDM is a mile off that.

That’s all true.
But it’s also 2026

Completely different era's though doc. There's no way Tony would have played 200 games in today's footy. HDM would probably have been a gun back then. Harry's VFL form would have stood up back then. Ray was a much better player and he chose to leave to play VFA, just to put it into context. Neville was the most talented of all 3 but he was a loose cannon.

was thinking similar things. Different attributes needed in 2026. Pace is one of them. Tony was what needed then. Harry is not what we need now.

 

[stormskye]

Completely different era's though doc. There's no way Tony would have played 200 games in today's footy. HDM would probably have been a gun back then. Harry's VFL form would have stood up back then. Ray was a much better player and he chose to leave to play VFA, just to put it into context. Neville was the most talented of all 3 but he was a loose cannon.

the way I look at it manic is I think IMO we can confidently say neither Allan or HDM will be A graders.The question remains whether they can become role players at afl lvl.

The issue for our list atm is we need A graders, in particular in the engine room to compete with the other top teams. We are far too reliant on daicos and an injury to him is basically any flag hopes taking a nose dive.

Degoey injury free for a couple more seasons will help but we need to find some A grade support. The other top teams midfields bat deep. We have a few that can rotate through but not of the quality realistically needed.

 

[LuckyLee]

Any training today?

 

[manicpie]

the way I look at it manic is I think IMO we can confidently say neither Allan or HDM will be A graders.The question remains whether they can become role players at afl lvl.

The issue for our list atm is we need A graders, in particular in the engine room to compete with the other top teams. We are far too reliant on daicos and an injury to him is basically any flag hopes taking a nose dive.

Degoey injury free for a couple more seasons will help but we need to find some A grade support. The other top teams midfields bat deep. We have a few that can rotate through but not of the quality realistically needed.

You're probably right about the 2 lads. I just like to make a couple of early predictions each year based on the quality we have available. I'm a bit more bullish on both but I've been wrong before. We definitely need more A grade midfield talent though

 

[Pragmatic Shill]

This reads like a school report on a kid where it seems it doesn't really believe what it's saying. Except it wouldn't be using the words 'failed' or 'appalling'. Not sure 'scathing' or even 'laconic' would pass muster either.

Maybe they prefer ketchup.

 

[stormskye]

You're probably right about the 2 lads. I just like to make a couple of early predictions each year based on the quality we have available. I'm a bit more bullish on both but I've been wrong before. We definitely need more A grade midfield talent though

Unfortunately I’ve moved onto the new batch, I just don’t think they are going to make it. I’m now looking forward to seeing how the new kids training reports transition to the real stuff

 

[Scodog10]

the way I look at it manic is I think IMO we can confidently say neither Allan or HDM will be A graders.The question remains whether they can become role players at afl lvl.

The issue for our list atm is we need A graders, in particular in the engine room to compete with the other top teams. We are far too reliant on daicos and an injury to him is basically any flag hopes taking a nose dive.

Degoey injury free for a couple more seasons will help but we need to find some A grade support. The other top teams midfields bat deep. We have a few that can rotate through but not of the quality realistically needed.

That’s the real hole on our list currently. Unless it’s one of Jaicos or McCreery going through the middle permanently with an AA squad level season I don’t see that next up A grade mid currently on the list. Ultimately we either need a down year to reset and find one through the draft or we go all in on the the Bailey/ Butters long shot…

 

[windchimes]

I’d be surprised if it’s a focus area. Feeding the ball to the likes of Naicos, Jaicos, Steele and Crisp seems his go and the work to take a poor kick to an average kick at the top level is monumental.

His biggest issue to work through IMV is taking his ball winning game from average to above average whilst sticking to structure. For a guy to be first choice midfield and averaging 3.5 clearances and 8 contested possessions isn’t cutting it against the likes of Newcombe, Neale, Danger, Serong, Rowell etc. if he’s not a first choice mid what is he?

Adding an aerial presence seems a cherry on top to me, but it’s a significantly greater need than improving his ball use.

I think where Long’s potential improvement comes from would be an improved tank.

He generally only would play around 70-75% game time last year which is quite low for a full time inside mid.

 

[Dtennent94]

Maybe with more players extending their careers these days, we are more likely to see impressive young players take longer to debut / consolidate a place in their team because the incumbents hang around longer?

 

[WanderingDude]

With the release of the VFL fixture the club has used HDM as the poster boy. Hmmmm. Not good for HDM. I would not like that association.

 

[Sea fog]

Any training today?

There must have been because Anabele has just posted this on fb so you can bet that Jen would also have been there and will have something for us.


Players were sighted again before the advertised starting time.

Conditions: a bright blue sky harboured some fleecy white cloud - the high relative humidity portended some showers, while there was a definite sting in the sun towards the end of the session

Who was missing? Hill, Swadling, and our two State of Origin representatives Nick and Cameron

What about rehab? Howes started practising his light skills with Moore and Buller but retreated back inside early, though came back out to pedal the stationary bike - Jack did quite a few run throughs, gradually increasing his speed and did some work with the rod above his shoulders. He went off early in a previous session but we haven’t been able to ascertain what his ailment is. Moore did his javelin like runs, lots of run throughs but in a sign of progression he joined a few drills before returning to running. Later in the session: Houston, Josh, Crisp and Sidey all ran together while some activities were taking place but later were immersed again in the main training fare. The latter is clearly some form of load management. Reef completed a large portion of the general activities but worked in rehab on elevating his levels of agility work and part of his rehabilitation was doing work with the aid of a medicine ball.

Points of interest? While the session was sharp, the absence of high powered running and a short matchplay segment was clearly linked to Friday’s session which should essentially be based around match practice to prepare us for the ensuing encounters in the lead-up to the season. Former player Peter Moore watched proceedings and shook hands and conversed with some of the players. This summer there have been quite a few parents monitoring training.


How did they warm up? Following sporadic kicking among mates, the whole cohort minus a few rehabbers moved to the outer side of the ground and completed partnered activities with the resistance tape, some hopping on alternate legs, with some short shuttle running in groups.

What did the array of general activities look like? There were a few drills in line groups with mids, defenders and forwards working together. For example McCarthy, West, McStay and and Membrey were engaged in marking practice while Pendles, Ando, Sidey, Allan, IQ, Crisp, Long, JDG, Roan Steele and Prindable were honing their stoppage skills. There were a number of handball and kicking drills with some players wearing orange vests and the others white or black tops. McStay indulged in some solo goalkicking practice. There were a few keepings off type segments and one indicated on the scoreboard as LDL Crispy which appeared to be governed by ball movement emanating from defence. Sometimes a handball chain would commence the possession chain, while at other times a player deliberately punched the ball clear so that those initiating movement had to retrieve the ball from the ground. There were some very crisp (pardon the pun) linking passages here where there was a definite preference for Taylor Swift movement. The emphasis based on instructions was FORWARD movement, the antithesis of the Buckley days of Mayne’s backwards handballs. There were a few spillages, and askew kicks but players seem to be adapting well to the urgency around moving the ball on quickly. One feature of this was that all the white attired players started on the pavilion side of the ground with the black clad on the opposite and half of each semi-circle wore orange vests. They then rotated so that it was a drill basically played in two halves. After a rehydration break there was the skinny match sim between two, not three teams, so it was a relatively short affair owing to a number of players not available to compete and in order to keep players fresher for Friday’s expected full match practice. For trackwatchers, today was an incognito challenge as the standard was set for changing numbers and in between donning different arrays of accoutrements complete with vests concealing numbers and the constant swapping between black and white tops.



Random observations of players:

Houston - despite still showcasing a bit of a limp when walking, he’s looking very good during drills and matchplay segments, moving perhaps more freely than last year and delivering the ball with his customary penetration and precision

IQ - likewise Quaynor has returned from rehab in great shape and without missing a beat. He looks dangerous when he moves with speed, power and evasion through traffic and when covering a lot of territory and he’s linking very well by hand.

Beau - he’s one making a lie of a catastrophic injury crisis as he was forecast to perhaps be missing in action as the season got under way but he appears to be well ahead of schedule if this was genuinely the case as he’s almost fully integrated into everything, only occasionally stepping away from a bit of match sim to undergo some more run throughs.

Cochran - while he’s looking composed and is a greater presence with the way he’s bulked up, one area he can work on is when the ball is below the knees.Admittedly it’s tougher when you’re tall but some vertically blessed types can also be nimble in this aspect when required


Harrison - looked good again in both the drills and the skinny match sims, running with speed and peppering the scoreboard. His evasive skills are handy.

Saxena - when he takes off he really accelerates and he can feed the leading player with precision while running quickly.

Allan - was prominent today and some of his strong tackles were notable, while he sharked the ball well during stoppage practice. Hoping he does get selected, builds his confidence which will then be reciprocated in him. Sometimes feel that he is one of those players on the end of unrequited love from coaches.

Steene - showed his prowess overhead and it was only the two rookie ruckmen plying their trade in the absence of Cameron - is quite mobile for a big man

Roan - keeps running strongly but his skills are polished and his neat package of footy tricks bodes well for him adding ballast to our midfield - he could be another of those we have acquired through the ‘back door’ which offsets some of our problematic drafting over the past decade. Had his hip massage during a rehydration break but got up and continued pushing hard in matchplay in his non fussy fashion.

Parker - love the way he seems willing to keep running and presenting himself for involvement in attacking moves - he effected a good interception at one point during the match sim to power his team forward.

Josh - positioning himself astutely around the ground and finishing off his work skilfully.

JDG - touch wood this ‘golden’ summer of his continues as he has barely put a foot wrong and some of his rustiness early in pre-season has disappeared to be replaced by a confident and imposing version of our potential matchwinner. Would think he pivots between midfield and forward positions.

Jamie - just keeps kicking goals literally and metaphorically - hit the scoreboard during the matchplay but navigates the drills with aplomb.

HDM - apart from any other shortcomings, he seems to get brushed aside too easily at times by his combatants.

 

[Daicosian silk]

I think where Long’s potential improvement comes from would be an improved tank.

He generally only would play around 70-75% game time last year which is quite low for a full time inside mid.

Hopefully he can increase his midfield minutes. He’s a natural endurance athlete who I think was either first or second in the 2km run in the pre-draft trials as an 18 year old so he should be able to get his midfield minutes up around the 80% plus range now that he’s completed a couple of preseasons and starting to enter his prime.

 

[Dtennent94]

Hopefully he can increase his midfield minutes. He’s a natural endurance athlete who I think was either first or second in the 2km run in the pre-draft trials as an 18 year old so he should be able to get his midfield minutes up around the 80% plus range now that he’s completed a couple of preseasons and starting to enter his prime.

Maybe he was already capable of 80%+ but they didn’t view him as one of our best players so preferred to spend the minutes on someone else? Not sure.

If it’s a fitness thing, then maybe this is where the focus on improving his marking is coming from? Might want to use him forward a little bit more to increase his minutes on field to give the team more flexibility?

 

[Sea fog]

Hopefully he can increase his midfield minutes. He’s a natural endurance athlete who I think was either first or second in the 2km run in the pre-draft trials as an 18 year old so he should be able to get his midfield minutes up around the 80% plus range now that he’s completed a couple of preseasons and starting to enter his prime.

Do you think this was only about his endurance or that Fly tended to go with the older core like Sidebottom, Pendlebury etc getting some extra time than Long because he trusts the tried and true? I havent read anything from training reports that says Long is struggling with endurance. Long played a very good final against the Crows so maybe the coach will trust him more now.

 

[Harry O]

I think where Long’s potential improvement comes from would be an improved tank.

He generally only would play around 70-75% game time last year which is quite low for a full time inside mid.

Is one of the best endurance runners on the list

 

[ANewDawn]

“Last years game against GWS was a game of beauty and should be rewatched to build character.” Is that better? NoSpin expressed his thoughts, I thought very well. Allan was dropped multiple times last year. And won the clubs best young player.

I was having a bit of fun rather than having a shot at No Spin. It just reminded me of school reports where you say the kids got talent but doesn't work harder enough to show the results of it, while at the same time you are wondering whether the ability to succeed is really there in the first place. Which is pretty much where we are at with Allen.

 

[windchimes]

Is one of the best endurance runners on the list

Having looked back at his time trials, it appears you are right, though that leaves open the question of why his minutes were so low.

I would think difficult for a player to leave a big impact in games on a consistent basis whilst only averaging around 70% game time.

I wonder if that will change this season.

 

[manicpie]

Having looked back at his time trials, it appears you are right, though that leaves open the question of why his minutes were so low.

I would think difficult for a player to leave a big impact in games on a consistent basis whilst only averaging around 70% game time.

I wonder if that will change this season.

It could be because he's limited to playing midfield. He needs to add some forward craft or something. His role would be very physically demanding