Training 2025 Off-Season & Preseason reports and discussion

[cryptor]

What is it with the head accessories?
Is this a new gen craze or just designed to keep the hair out of the way like the shoe lace for soccer players.

Peter Everitt wore a band when he had dreads back in the day.

 

[hawkman]

Weddle last year was thrown into playing ruck against the Giants in Tassie when Reeves had back issues and Nash was playing on Green. All the work he did last year in the ruck was with minimal training - a few sessions here or there with Storm learning the basics.

It is fantastic that the club are putting extra time and effort into him becoming more accustomed with this role, especially if it is something we will see happening more and more throughout 2025.

Leaving nothing to chance with development is a massive tick for the coaching philosophy being employed.

Even with the extra training, I still don't think that will help that much against the very tall ones like Darcy. It is still a good option to go to but it needs to be against the right rucks

 

[KermitJagger]

Even with the extra training, I still don't think that will help that much against the very tall ones like Darcy. It is still a good option to go to but it needs to be against the right rucks

Might be an unpopular opinion but I'd much rather Weddle against taller and less mobile rucks than against rucks who move well. It's all about creating an advantage, and Weddle is going to absolutely punish anyone who can't keep step with him.

 

[TheFourPillars]

Its been a while and it is a bit quiet in here so...

A beautiful day. Got a bit hot so the track watchers moved out to the grassy knoll and shade

No Shows
Frosty: Still hasn't gotten over his foot ailment. He is on the ultra g upstairs.

Rehab:

Blank: Did his usual running around the ground and for the first time he went real hard in his 200m sprints

Sic: Joined in the warm up and then as usual ran laps

Lewis: Doing lots of running today with Sic and then did some goal kicking.

Barrass: Did most of the drills and where he wasn't he was kicking the ball in. This was true for the long ball contests in the forward line where both he and battle didn't participate.

Butler: Back to doing around most of skills except when they started real contact stuff... More of this later. He then joined Day doing laps

Day: see Butler

Bmac: Had a light day today just did some running on the far side and then around the ground.

Punk: They are taking it slow with the champ given his groin issues slowly ramping him up there is no hurry.

Amon: Did mostly running for the session. Is obviously on his own modified program

Everyone else back in full training and that includes Scrim and Chol, which was good news after missing the last two effectively.

It was back down and dirty today sleeves up and elbows dirty as we did lots of conditioning work for about an hour. We then got everyone that wasn't in rehab including day and butler to be part of some kicking exercises. Players lined up for kick to kick half of them on one side the other half on the other. They started about 20-25m apart. Some sideways kicking some non dominant side kicking. Then some dropping the ball behind you running and picking it up and kicking it. Sammy not satisfied with what was on show. Some sprayed kicks so he then decided to move them 40m apart. Similar drills worse results.

Then he decided a competition where missed kicks would lead to players joining him in the middle. A last man standing affair. Well soon there was a pile of them in the middle with the remaining players being FINN yes Finn, Impey, Mraz 2 of the 4 i thought would be out well before acceptances. The final kick was for both Finn and Mraz to get the ball mark it and then turn around and kick the goal. the ball was kicked and Mraz lost the handle on ball as it wasn't kicked as accurately to him. Finn turned around to have a shot at which point Mraz who was chasing his ball chased Finn and knocked the ball out of his hands. He then gathered his ball much to the roars of the playing group swung around on his left and missed which induced more roars from the playing group.

This activity ended with them doing some more kicking drills with where the usual voice and calls for around the first two minutes then Storm blew the whistle and there was an weird silence come over the ground for the next two minutes. To the players credit they didn't break stride and the skills were really good. The whistle blew again and they started calling for the ball again.

Then they had a big meeting in the middle of the ground. To talk about the impending contact drills that were coming. They were contact drills. Boundary line stoppages where it was no holds bar don't forget your mouth guard stuff. You could hear the tackles and the bumps. Some slick work in there from Worps, Nuke, Frenchie and Finn. They did some on the grandstand side and then went to the far side to repeat the dose.

While this was going on we had Barrass and Battle kicking it to contests in the forward line where players would take in turn to contest Mraz playing as KPF almost took mark of the day as he climbed high over the pack. The ball hit the deck and the contest was on again no holds barr tackling and bumping. CJ loking really slick his ground ball pickups and marks in the forward line as a defender one grab no hesitation. Running through the lines looking in real good nick.

In one of the drills we had earlier it was good to see Lewis lead out and take a mark and then go back from 45 and drill it through the middle. He hasn't lost his kicking thats for sure. They were still going when i left so that's all i have got

Till next time go you mighty hawks.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Even with the extra training, I still don't think that will help that much against the very tall ones like Darcy. It is still a good option to go to but it needs to be against the right rucks

I remember that game in 2023 when Jack Silvagni (a journeyman if ever Ive seen one) was close to BOG playing ruck against both Meek and Reeves. Silvagni lost the hitouts (naturally) but he killed Meek and Reeves around the ground.

That's the role I imagine Wedds doing, just being competitive in the hitouts but absolutely smashing the Oppo ruck around the ground.

As you say it will depend on the ruck he is up against but I always feel like good things happen when Wedds is up the ground in the thick of the action.

 

[TONYC3163]

Its been a while and it is a bit quiet in here so...

A beautiful day. Got a bit hot so the track watchers moved out to the grassy knoll and shade

No Shows
Frosty: Still hasn't gotten over his foot ailment. He is on the ultra g upstairs.

Rehab:

Blank: Did his usual running around the ground and for the first time he went real hard in his 200m sprints

Sic: Joined in the warm up and then as usual ran laps

Lewis: Doing lots of running today with Sic and then did some goal kicking.

Barrass: Did most of the drills and where he wasn't he was kicking the ball in. This was true for the long ball contests in the forward line where both he and battle didn't participate.

Butler: Back to doing around most of skills except when they started real contact stuff... More of this later. He then joined Day doing laps

Day: see Butler

Bmac: Had a light day today just did some running on the far side and then around the ground.

Punk: They are taking it slow with the champ given his groin issues slowly ramping him up there is no hurry.

Amon: Did mostly running for the session. Is obviously on his own modified program

Everyone else back in full training and that includes Scrim and Chol, which was good news after missing the last two effectively.

It was back down and dirty today sleeves up and elbows dirty as we did lots of conditioning work for about an hour. We then got everyone that wasn't in rehab including day and butler to be part of some kicking exercises. Players lined up for kick to kick half of them on one side the other half on the other. They started about 20-25m apart. Some sideways kicking some non dominant side kicking. Then some dropping the ball behind you running and picking it up and kicking it. Sammy not satisfied with what was on show. Some sprayed kicks so he then decided to move them 40m apart. Similar drills worse results.

Then he decided a competition where missed kicks would lead to players joining him in the middle. A last man standing affair. Well soon there was a pile of them in the middle with the remaining players being FINN yes Finn, Impey, Mraz 2 of the 4 i thought would be out well before acceptances. The final kick was for both Finn and Mraz to get the ball mark it and then turn around and kick the goal. the ball was kicked and Mraz lost the handle on ball as it wasn't kicked as accurately to him. Finn turned around to have a shot at which point Mraz who was chasing his ball chased Finn and knocked the ball out of his hands. He then gathered his ball much to the roars of the playing group swung around on his left and missed which induced more roars from the playing group.

This activity ended with them doing some more kicking drills with where the usual voice and calls for around the first two minutes then Storm blew the whistle and there was an weird silence come over the ground for the next two minutes. To the players credit they didn't break stride and the skills were really good. The whistle blew again and they started calling for the ball again.

Then they had a big meeting in the middle of the ground. To talk about the impending contact drills that were coming. They were contact drills. Boundary line stoppages where it was no holds bar don't forget your mouth guard stuff. You could hear the tackles and the bumps. Some slick work in there from Worps, Nuke, Frenchie and Finn. They did some on the grandstand side and then went to the far side to repeat the dose.

While this was going on we had Barrass and Battle kicking it to contests in the forward line where players would take in turn to contest Mraz playing as KPF almost took mark of the day as he climbed high over the pack. The ball hit the deck and the contest was on again no holds barr tackling and bumping. CJ loking really slick his ground ball pickups and marks in the forward line as a defender one grab no hesitation. Running through the lines looking in real good nick.

In one of the drills we had earlier it was good to see Lewis lead out and take a mark and then go back from 45 and drill it through the middle. He hasn't lost his kicking thats for sure. They were still going when i left so that's all i have got

Till next time go you mighty hawks.

Interesting to see Mraz playing as a forward.

 

[Ned Ryerson]

What is it with the head accessories?
Is this a new gen craze or just designed to keep the hair out of the way like the shoe lace for soccer players.

Headbands aren’t exactly new. And I imagine it’s to keep hair out of the face, yes - when I was a long haired lout in my youth I just went the pony tail but sweat and long hair is a pain in the arse for sure so the headband would get the job done.

 

[kazzooka]

Might be an unpopular opinion but I'd much rather Weddle against taller and less mobile rucks than against rucks who move well. It's all about creating an advantage, and Weddle is going to absolutely punish anyone who can't keep step with him.

Nobody can keep step with him, let alone a ruckman. Even mobile rucks like Jackson have no hope.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

There was a moment against the dogs in the final when he was next to English at a boundary throw in on the back flank and then was able to just run freely after the stoppage and take a few bounces as English was 2 meters behind him after 1 step and the gap just got bigger. All the other dogs mids had other players to look after.

And English is actually a very mobile ruckman, it’s his strongest part of his game.

It’s almost unfair to ask rucks to keep up with him as even the fittest on ballers will struggle next year to compete with Wedds, he’s an aerobic beast.

 

[Simon Crawshay]

Weddle has a really good vertical which means he isn’t a pushover in the ruck.

I remember the game vs GWS where he was against Briggs because Reeves was injured. Briggs won more hitouts but wasn’t that clean due to Weddle competing. Weddle also absolutely torched him in general playing, running off him to link up and hit the scoreboard. Was specifically called out by Kingsley as a factor they couldn’t stop.

With a full preseason under Hale he could be a very damaging and unique ruck backup that rests at half-forward.

Tell you what Wedds has as well along with that vertical is a really long set of arms for his height.

I’d like to get an arm measurement on him like they do in the NBA. He’s around 193cm but his wingspan looks to me to be approaching that of a 200cm player.

Of course he wouldn’t be able to go up against the real monsters in the ruck over a full game (they’d just wear him down with their sheer size).

But geez I reckon I’d hate it if I was an opposition ruck and for 5 minutes a quarter you have this 193cm specimen jumping all over you and making you chase his tail all over the ground. That would not be fun!

 

[FB19]

Its been a while and it is a bit quiet in here so...

A beautiful day. Got a bit hot so the track watchers moved out to the grassy knoll and shade

No Shows
Frosty: Still hasn't gotten over his foot ailment. He is on the ultra g upstairs.

Rehab:

Blank: Did his usual running around the ground and for the first time he went real hard in his 200m sprints

Sic: Joined in the warm up and then as usual ran laps

Lewis: Doing lots of running today with Sic and then did some goal kicking.

Barrass: Did most of the drills and where he wasn't he was kicking the ball in. This was true for the long ball contests in the forward line where both he and battle didn't participate.

Butler: Back to doing around most of skills except when they started real contact stuff... More of this later. He then joined Day doing laps

Day: see Butler

Bmac: Had a light day today just did some running on the far side and then around the ground.

Punk: They are taking it slow with the champ given his groin issues slowly ramping him up there is no hurry.

Amon: Did mostly running for the session. Is obviously on his own modified program

Everyone else back in full training and that includes Scrim and Chol, which was good news after missing the last two effectively.

It was back down and dirty today sleeves up and elbows dirty as we did lots of conditioning work for about an hour. We then got everyone that wasn't in rehab including day and butler to be part of some kicking exercises. Players lined up for kick to kick half of them on one side the other half on the other. They started about 20-25m apart. Some sideways kicking some non dominant side kicking. Then some dropping the ball behind you running and picking it up and kicking it. Sammy not satisfied with what was on show. Some sprayed kicks so he then decided to move them 40m apart. Similar drills worse results.

Then he decided a competition where missed kicks would lead to players joining him in the middle. A last man standing affair. Well soon there was a pile of them in the middle with the remaining players being FINN yes Finn, Impey, Mraz 2 of the 4 i thought would be out well before acceptances. The final kick was for both Finn and Mraz to get the ball mark it and then turn around and kick the goal. the ball was kicked and Mraz lost the handle on ball as it wasn't kicked as accurately to him. Finn turned around to have a shot at which point Mraz who was chasing his ball chased Finn and knocked the ball out of his hands. He then gathered his ball much to the roars of the playing group swung around on his left and missed which induced more roars from the playing group.

This activity ended with them doing some more kicking drills with where the usual voice and calls for around the first two minutes then Storm blew the whistle and there was an weird silence come over the ground for the next two minutes. To the players credit they didn't break stride and the skills were really good. The whistle blew again and they started calling for the ball again.

Then they had a big meeting in the middle of the ground. To talk about the impending contact drills that were coming. They were contact drills. Boundary line stoppages where it was no holds bar don't forget your mouth guard stuff. You could hear the tackles and the bumps. Some slick work in there from Worps, Nuke, Frenchie and Finn. They did some on the grandstand side and then went to the far side to repeat the dose.

While this was going on we had Barrass and Battle kicking it to contests in the forward line where players would take in turn to contest Mraz playing as KPF almost took mark of the day as he climbed high over the pack. The ball hit the deck and the contest was on again no holds barr tackling and bumping. CJ loking really slick his ground ball pickups and marks in the forward line as a defender one grab no hesitation. Running through the lines looking in real good nick.

In one of the drills we had earlier it was good to see Lewis lead out and take a mark and then go back from 45 and drill it through the middle. He hasn't lost his kicking thats for sure. They were still going when i left so that's all i have got

Till next time go you mighty hawks.

Nice to hear CJ is clean with groundball he could really explode if his confidence and surety around ball handling is there.

 

[matey]

Its been a while and it is a bit quiet in here so...

A beautiful day. Got a bit hot so the track watchers moved out to the grassy knoll and shade

No Shows
Frosty: Still hasn't gotten over his foot ailment. He is on the ultra g upstairs.

Rehab:

Blank: Did his usual running around the ground and for the first time he went real hard in his 200m sprints

Sic: Joined in the warm up and then as usual ran laps

Lewis: Doing lots of running today with Sic and then did some goal kicking.

Barrass: Did most of the drills and where he wasn't he was kicking the ball in. This was true for the long ball contests in the forward line where both he and battle didn't participate.

Butler: Back to doing around most of skills except when they started real contact stuff... More of this later. He then joined Day doing laps

Day: see Butler

Bmac: Had a light day today just did some running on the far side and then around the ground.

Punk: They are taking it slow with the champ given his groin issues slowly ramping him up there is no hurry.

Amon: Did mostly running for the session. Is obviously on his own modified program

Everyone else back in full training and that includes Scrim and Chol, which was good news after missing the last two effectively.

It was back down and dirty today sleeves up and elbows dirty as we did lots of conditioning work for about an hour. We then got everyone that wasn't in rehab including day and butler to be part of some kicking exercises. Players lined up for kick to kick half of them on one side the other half on the other. They started about 20-25m apart. Some sideways kicking some non dominant side kicking. Then some dropping the ball behind you running and picking it up and kicking it. Sammy not satisfied with what was on show. Some sprayed kicks so he then decided to move them 40m apart. Similar drills worse results.

Then he decided a competition where missed kicks would lead to players joining him in the middle. A last man standing affair. Well soon there was a pile of them in the middle with the remaining players being FINN yes Finn, Impey, Mraz 2 of the 4 i thought would be out well before acceptances. The final kick was for both Finn and Mraz to get the ball mark it and then turn around and kick the goal. the ball was kicked and Mraz lost the handle on ball as it wasn't kicked as accurately to him. Finn turned around to have a shot at which point Mraz who was chasing his ball chased Finn and knocked the ball out of his hands. He then gathered his ball much to the roars of the playing group swung around on his left and missed which induced more roars from the playing group.

This activity ended with them doing some more kicking drills with where the usual voice and calls for around the first two minutes then Storm blew the whistle and there was an weird silence come over the ground for the next two minutes. To the players credit they didn't break stride and the skills were really good. The whistle blew again and they started calling for the ball again.

Then they had a big meeting in the middle of the ground. To talk about the impending contact drills that were coming. They were contact drills. Boundary line stoppages where it was no holds bar don't forget your mouth guard stuff. You could hear the tackles and the bumps. Some slick work in there from Worps, Nuke, Frenchie and Finn. They did some on the grandstand side and then went to the far side to repeat the dose.

While this was going on we had Barrass and Battle kicking it to contests in the forward line where players would take in turn to contest Mraz playing as KPF almost took mark of the day as he climbed high over the pack. The ball hit the deck and the contest was on again no holds barr tackling and bumping. CJ loking really slick his ground ball pickups and marks in the forward line as a defender one grab no hesitation. Running through the lines looking in real good nick.

In one of the drills we had earlier it was good to see Lewis lead out and take a mark and then go back from 45 and drill it through the middle. He hasn't lost his kicking thats for sure. They were still going when i left so that's all i have got

Till next time go you mighty hawks.

Great report TFP . I recall last summer Finn was one of the better kicks during some of the drills …… showing his commitment to improving areas of his game and leaving no stone unturned! At 198cm Mraz is mobile looks like a promising prospect.

Sounds like the boys have come back firing from the start with good intensity …… already training like you should play. Could lead to some injuries but that’s maybe why the club is going a bit harder early as we now have confidence that if a soldier goes down another steps in and will do the job.

 

[matey]

This is the young man’s first real preseason ……. looking big and fit

 

[threesixpio]

Impey is the nicest guy you’ll meet.

Was once in the barbershop at Waverley with my son asleep in the pram who would have been 4 months old.
Mid haircut he woke and started screaming, as I got up to the pram with half a fade on my head, Jars offered to rock the pram for me as I finished the haircut off.
He could have just sat there and kept to himself but he saw I was a little stressed and jumped in to help out.

I’ll never forget it

I want to be like Impey when I grow up. Probably won’t ever grow up though

 

[threesixpio]

Great report TFP . I recall last summer Finn was one of the better kicks during some of the drills …… showing his commitment to improving areas of his game and leaving no stone unturned! At 198cm Mraz is mobile looks like a promising prospect.

Sounds like the boys have come back firing from the start with good intensity …… already training like you should play. Could lead to some injuries but that’s maybe why the club is going a bit harder early as we now have confidence that if a soldier goes down another steps in and will do the job.

I’d love Finn to make it. As stated in his dedicated thread - Hawthorn nuffie

 

[Roddy]

This is the young man’s first real preseason ……. looking big and fit

View attachment 2182559

Is that Scaife?

 

[threesixpio]

Is that Scaife?

Probably not. The photographer who took it was likely very scared

 

[matey]

Is that Scaife?

Pretty sure it is …… hope he puts on that same face when the teams lineup before the first bounce!

 

[Simon Crawshay]

This is the young man’s first real preseason ……. looking big and fit

View attachment 2182559

He's definitely got the body of an AFL key forward.

 

[I wanna pash Nash]

Quite excited to see what Scaife could do next year. His games at Boxhill showed he's got some tools. Hopfully he's been working on his agility. To my eye he didn't seem as bad as Callow did, but that would be the knock on him currently I'd imagine.

 

[smish]

Just bring the ball to ground Scaifey!

 

[The Golden Glenferrie]

To my eye he didn't seem as bad as Callow did, but that would be the knock on him currently I'd imagine.

Lumbers around. Going to be pushing uphill but let's see how this pre season goes

 

[threesixpio]

Pretty sure it is …… hope he puts on that same face when the teams lineup before the first bounce!

View attachment 2182580

Did I consent to this photograph? Did I? I know where you live

 

[HoldingThe Ball]

This is the young man’s first real preseason ……. looking big and fit

View attachment 2182559

Everyone seems to have forgotten my man Jasper so far.

I reckon he could be the smokey for 2025.

He's tall, strong, and is a MASSIVE kick.

A genuine 65m+ goal kicker.

Certainly he has a lot to work on, but he's 19 / 20 and is being coached by some of the best going around.

I expect some really rapid growth in Jaspers game - and a 2025 full debut.

He's gotten on top of his mental health issues, and is 100% focussed on being the very best he can be.

He will surprise a lot of you.

 

[Judd2Sewell]

I remember that game in 2023 when Jack Silvagni (a journeyman if ever Ive seen one) was close to BOG playing ruck against both Meek and Reeves. Silvagni lost the hitouts (naturally) but he killed Meek and Reeves around the ground.

That's the role I imagine Wedds doing, just being competitive in the hitouts but absolutely smashing the Oppo ruck around the ground.

As you say it will depend on the ruck he is up against but I always feel like good things happen when Wedds is up the ground in the thick of the action.

I like Weddle and Nash playing as relief ruckmen in throw-in and around the ground situations.

Those situations are generally more crowded, so there is less chance of someone winning a clean clearance, even with the size difference between Nash/Weddle and a legitimate ruckman. It could give Meek a break sitting behind the ball, and we would have another midfielder around the contest.