Training 2019/20 Preseason Training

[Dark Sharks]

Kinda funny looking back at the boards reaction to both the Ainsworth and Foley selections.

Pretty similar from memory. Subway Melt with extra cheese.

Make or break for Anus in 2020, hope Foley isn't in the same position in 12 months time.

 

[twotooto]

As fun as it is fat-shaming athletes (from one fatso to another), and as much as I'm glad to read he's not an option atm, I hope we haven't closed the door entirely on Pickett in the long-term.

If he can get himself fit and loving the game again over the next few months, he'd be a perfect midseason recruit. No cost + potential high-reward stuff.

Wouldn't completely rule him out but I don't thinks it's unreasonable to expect a guy who has been de-listed and then offered a potential life line at another club to front up to preseason in good shape at the very least.

To me the fact that he's shown up unfit and overweight shows that he's not that keen. Just wasting everyone's time, including his own and no doubt that's why he got the DCM pretty quickly.

 

[Keys]

View attachment 822803


First I've heard of Foley all year. I'd say whoever wrote this just pulled a random second name out of their arse

Foley is a fair way back. Been training as a defender so he’s behind the likes of Duggan, Nelson, Watson, Schofield, Rotham, Cole and Allen in the queue for the last couple of defensive spots

Article completely ignores Brander who’s a very good chance to earn a nomination this year if he can crack a home game or two

Williams and Exxon would also be ahead of Foley when it comes to the possibility of a debut

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Depends how much notice he was given. He’d reportedly given the game away midway through last year, it takes a while to burn off several months worth of pizzas and beer.

 

[WCErevival]

Kinda funny looking back at the boards reaction to both the Ainsworth and Foley selections.

Pretty similar from memory. Subway Melt with extra cheese.

Make or break for Anus in 2020, hope Foley isn't in the same position in 12 months time.

Foley is the new Main.

 

[EagleMutt]

Did we have an intraclub match today?

 

[WCErevival]

Foley is a fair way back. Been training as a defender so he’s behind the likes of Duggan, Nelson, Watson, Schofield, Rotham, Cole and Allen in the queue for the last couple of defensive spots

Article completely ignores Brander who’s a very good chance to earn a nomination this year if he can crack a home game or two

Williams and Exxon would also be ahead of Foley when it comes to the possibility of a debut

Brander was the one I thought of straight away. He would arguably be our best chance at a nomination.

 

[Capriati]

West Coast Eagles coach Adam Simpson’s must-read interview ahead of 2020 AFL season


Pre-season overall. How has it been?
Yeah pretty good. It has been different the last couple of years. The way it is trending pre-season starts in January where as it used to be Melbourne Cup weekend back when I was playing. We are edging towards coming back later as an industry which is good for everyone. It is a short amount of time but there are not a lot of disruptions in that time. We prepare our players to come back in January. Pre-Christmas is more about the individual now. All we look at is numbers on the track — availability, and some of the tweaks we need to make with our style of play. Getting the fundamentals right is equal with those other two.

So how do the numbers on the track stack up now?
We have got less on the list with Willie not being there it is down around 43 so there is not a lot of wriggle room but we think the quality is there. Getting 40 on the track is really difficult because in my time there have always been between five and eight players who are off the track for any reason. This pre-season hasn’t been any different but I feel like we are slightly in front with availability. There are no long term injuries. We are still working through the Daniel Venables situation and there is Willie Rioli but there aren’t long term injuries.

Jeremy McGovern will be touch and go for round one?
At the end of the season — it has always been a gruelling year and there are players who can get rest to try and get over niggles. You always prefer to not cut someone open. With Gov I am not sure if it was a new or old injury but the rest over the break didn’t help things. Early December we did the (Achilles) surgery, the same with Tom Barrass, and Gov is now racing the clock to come back for round one. To say he had a set back is an overstatement but the ramping up of his training loads has been a slow process. There was just a little period where we couldn’t increase his training load. It probably took an extra week. If he starts full training in the next week or two ... we are still 40 days from round one. He will be saying he is right.

You mentioned tweaks to the game plan. Does that happen every year?
It didn’t happen at the end of 2018. At the start of the season we had transitioned to the new stadium and that meant a new oval and new size so we had to do some things differently from Subiaco which is a unique-sized ground. Some changes coincided with personnel changes but a lot was about the change to the home ground. At the end of the year we thought we were one year into it and you don’t change every year. We felt we should be getting better with what we do with our style of play at the end of 2018. But in terms of more minor tweaks I reckon once every four or five weeks you will see something in the game you didn’t see previously and you make the choice — you either adapt or you stay true to your system and I would say that decision is made every six weeks. We didn’t change a lot last year. We had to adapt to the new rules. I think in round one we conceded four goals from centre bounce so we didn’t handle that rule well against Brisbane in Brisbane. The trends of the game and what the best teams are doing — that is always reflected on. That doesn’t mean you change but you have got to be up to date and potentially adapt.

You were seven goals to three up at quarter-time against Richmond in round 22 and lost by a goal. Have you reflected how different the season could have been if you won that game?
What I have learnt in recent times is that the margin for error is so small. In our premiership year we had a game we won after the siren when we hadn’t been in front the whole day. There were one or two other games where if we lost we don’t finish top two, you don’t finish top four and the ripple effect starts. You get what you deserve in the end and you have got to take your moments. That is what we have learned over the years. You get your list in a position to compete and then you take your opportunities. We played well for one quarter of that Richmond game. If you look at the stats they are not too kind. We held on and what we have built with our players is resilience. They know what to do. They think they can win from anywhere. That takes time to build. There have been several times over the past two years where I have thought geez I am not sure we are going to win this one and then the players have stepped up. That has held us in good stead. The moments that counted against us last year were the Hawthorn game, the Geelong semi with the Willie situation and the Richmond game. Those three moments add up. It is marginal. We are not suggesting we are better than anyone. When we get the right mix of talent and belief we are competitive but we have got to take opportunities.

You should feel that you are as good as anyone though shouldn’t you? Your list holds up against anyone’s?
Oh look the confidence is there in the playing group. We have been around the mark for a few years now. But it is taking the opportunities. Quite often you look at evidence versus belief. It is hard to have belief without any evidence.

What does Tim Kelly bring to the group do you think?
There are a couple of things. One is he strengthens our list. He complements our midfield. But he is a longer-term investment and I think people have missed that a little bit. He is 25 and we are hoping he is a seven-year investment. Right now, clearly we hope he is an A-grade midfielder who just keeps going the way he has been going. But secondly and just as important is the long-term prospects of our club and getting someone in like that is going to help us in the long term. That is the benefit we saw last year going into trade week.

We saw him get through to the age of 23 before he got picked up and Marlion Pickett got through to his late 20s. How do you reckon that happens?
Every club had the chance. It is hard to comment. I would love to be able to take credit for who we draft and then distance myself when we don’t draft well. There is always reasons I am sure. When someone pops up like this and surprises the competition it gives everyone hope. Sometimes it takes players longer to mature and that is off field as well as on field. It looks like Tim has dealt with a lot off-field. He got it together, got given an opportunity and has just grabbed it. That is a good story for everyone.

Do you use him in a similar way to how Geelong used him? He so often seemed to put himself in the right position to get the ball.
I hope I don’t coach him out of that. He has only been in the AFL for two years. We got him to the club, we will let him do his thing and play with the freedom he had at the Cats. He shouldn’t be carrying any more expectations than any of our other senior players the way I see it. I have already seen him connect with our other players in a positive manner. I am not expecting him to be our best player every week. We have plenty of senior midfielders who are good players. He will play a similar role to the one he did last year.

How much of it is him adapting to you and how much of it is you adapting to him?
That is a good question. We need to be careful about it. There are things we like to do that were different at Geelong so finding that balance will be important but I am leaning towards “just do what you did at the Cats mate and it will complement what we do”.
Given the Tim Kelly trade people will say you are all in for the flag. Do you view it that way?
As I said earlier there is now but there is also the long term. He is 25. If we picked up Sam Mitchell again I could see the reasoning for that but this guy has got seven years in him. He will complement us straight away but in three years’ time he will still be an important player and will still be at his peak

West Coast coach Adam Simpson’s must-read interview

Eagles coach Adam Simpson sits down with chief football writer Mark Duffield ahead of the start of the 2020 AFL season to talk Tim Kelly, Willie Rioli, the new game plan and being the flag favourites.

thewest.com.au

 

[FKASC]

 

[FKASC]

Kinda funny looking back at the boards reaction to both the Ainsworth and Foley selections.

Pretty similar from memory. Subway Melt with extra cheese.

Make or break for Anus in 2020, hope Foley isn't in the same position in 12 months time.

Both overagers from Subiaco too. It would be folly to think this is a coincidence.

 

[liam123]

Best thing I’ve heard this preseason:

“just do what you did at the Cats mate and it will complement what we do”.

 

[Rowan18]

Best thing I’ve heard this preseason:

“just do what you did at the Cats mate and it will complement what we do”.

Simmo has learnt his lesson from when they brought in Jetta and Redden and tried to change their games too much.

 

[Wedgetailed Westerner]

A taint is the area between your ball sack and your anus

I thought it was the Chad

 

[Double the Fist]

I thought it was the Chad

Chad? Can you explain pls.

Besides, its actually called the Barse (balls and arse)

 

[Cuzz09]

Will make us less predicable as lot of clubs put a lot of work into Nic nat to Shuey rucktaps

Forgotten what that looks like TBH

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Obeanie1]

Although I wouldn’t be upset with Gray if it ended up going that way, I like the fact we are keeping our options open.

Jones found himself behind some fairly decent names at the cats, it’s not necessarily surprising he found himself out the door.. Especially since the cats are very much in the now.

Judging by his VFL stats; 17 goals in 16 matches (with a high of 5), but averaging 5 tackles a game, so shows an aptitude to getting involved defensively. Given our want to find team players that would suggest he’s a good fit as a small forward.

Hope for him he has a good trial. Seems like he’s been through a fair bit just to get on an AFL list to begin with.

And during that time they brought Ablett back as a small forward.

Pretty hard to break into the Cats side as an 18 year old small. Would take time.

Happy to keep trialing players before buying.

 

[Obeanie1]

Kinda funny looking back at the boards reaction to both the Ainsworth and Foley selections.

Pretty similar from memory. Subway Melt with extra cheese.

Make or break for Anus in 2020, hope Foley isn't in the same position in 12 months time.

Yep. If these 18 yr olds cant break into the side straight away we should delist and look elsewhere.

Darn kids these days just dont put the work in!

 

[Eaglemaniac]

I'm reminded of the article either year or the year before which touted Fraser McInnes as being ready for a breakout season.

Well to be fair he did kind of break out - out of the playing list.

 

[FKASC]

Forgotten what that looks like TBH

On SM-G925I using BigFooty.com mobile app

The taint?

 

[Biggie]

Forgotten what that looks like TBH

The taint?

Never ever forget

 

[Keys]

Did we have an intraclub match today?

Intraclub was played last night (Friday) apparently. Here is the club’s in depth review :

Big men press selection case

A number of experienced and young Eagles staked their Marsh Community Series selection claims last night

www.westcoasteagles.com.au

Eastcoasteagle sounds like your boy MO’Niell gave a good account of himself

 

[Miguel Sanchez]

Intraclub was played last night (Friday) apparently. Here is the club’s in depth review :

Big men press selection case

A number of experienced and young Eagles staked their Marsh Community Series selection claims last night

www.westcoasteagles.com.au

Eastcoasteagle sounds like your boy MO’Niell gave a good account of himself

MON being the first individual player mentioned is extremely pleasing

 

[Rowan18]

Intraclub was played last night (Friday) apparently. Here is the club’s in depth review :

Big men press selection case

A number of experienced and young Eagles staked their Marsh Community Series selection claims last night

www.westcoasteagles.com.au

Eastcoasteagle sounds like your boy MO’Niell gave a good account of himself

They aren't sharing much at all this preseason. A video would've been lovely.

 

[bombard]

Intraclub was played last night (Friday) apparently. Here is the club’s in depth review :

Big men press selection case

A number of experienced and young Eagles staked their Marsh Community Series selection claims last night

www.westcoasteagles.com.au

Eastcoasteagle sounds like your boy MO’Niell gave a good account of himself

Look I'm not asking the club to spill its secrets re gameplan or anything, but what a garbage article.

Let me paraphrase:

"The eagles had a match sim. Some of the players who played are players. The end."

**** me.

 

[Dark Sharks]

Only thing the article didn't say was that Priddis was typically prolific around the stoppages.


Can anyone confirm?