Bigman’s Training Reports

[kirky]

You just cant buy that type of experience.
Instead of handballing to his teammate out wide, he just had to get another kick stat

Yes, 3 points for a kick in fantasy, only 2 points for a handball.

You got to get your priorities right.

 

[kirky]

Soli dropped it on 5aa this arvo

Well that concerns me then.

 

[cleanhands]

Yes, 3 points for a kick in fantasy, only 2 points for a handball.

You got to get your priorities right.

I’m sure that was going thru his head at the time

 

[Danger in Texas]

Jones must be one of the luckiest 'footballers' going around
I don't know how he has gone past Nankervis and Dowling based on last years performances
Is this the 7th year we are hoping he comes good ?

He was pretty decent in 2023, was bad last season though

Definitely think Nank/Dowling should be ahead of him when taking last year into account (also think they both have more upside), but Jones getting back to 2023 form wouldn’t be the worst thing

 

[119others]

Will be interesting to see if he makes the leadership group again.

1000000-1

Given many of you would’ve watched the internal on Friday, there’s not a whole lot more for me to add so I’ll keep it nice and short.

I wouldn’t expect Rankine or Sholl to play at Mount Barker. Rankine was a no show while Sholl was solely running laps with Max in the rehab group and had a heavily strapped right knee. He was rather ginger to start with, though he was moving better by the end of the session, but I’d be shocked if he played. Not sure he’s tracking great for round one.

Butts was also a no show so unless he missed due to a personal reason, I’m assuming he could be absent on Friday evening as well.

There didn’t appear to be any new injuries today thankfully. So hypothetically Max, Rankine, Sholl, Butts and Strachan will be the only ones unavailable on Friday.

There was some match sim near the end of the session. Teams were as follows:

Blue
FB: Murray Keane Worrell
HB: Bond Laird Milera
_C: Curtin Soligo Jones
HF: ANB Peatling Keays
FF: Fogarty Walker Thilthorpe
_R: O’Brien Dawson Crouch
INT: Rachele Cumming Draper

White
FB: Hinge Borlase Edwards
HB: Ryan Smith Nankervis
_C: Cook Berry Dowling
HF: Taylor Murphy Pedlar
FF: Welsh Burgess Murray
_R: Mcandrew Schoenberg Drury
INT: Gallagher

Now obviously this isn’t a definite indication of our starting side on Friday but it should go pretty close. At the very least it would suggest that Bond is the preferred replacement for Max, which makes sense even though I still think Nank is getting unfairly ignored.

As for the match sim, it was over pretty quickly so not a heap to take out of it. The intensity and skill level was pretty good though, the boys aren’t holding back a whole lot.

Just a few player thoughts:

Jones - beautifully read a switch of play from Edwards, getting the intercept and snapping the goal. If Sholl is to miss round one it would seem Chayce is the likely replacement at this stage, given he was in the As both last week and today. Ditto Milera for me - think he is clearly one of our best

Curtin - trained with the forwards for much of the session but was on the wing in match sim, so expect him to spend some time there on Friday.

Laird/Smith - wasn’t impressed by the ball use of either today. I fully expect Laird to play round one but a couple times today he failed to execute properly going inside 50, going long and high when the short pass would’ve been much better. Smith on the other hand turned it over a couple times exiting out of defence, including one poor switch which led to a Rachele goal.

Borlase - took a lovely intercept mark and received some love from Godden after the match sim. In a tricky place given we have better key defenders but I’d be curious as to who would be next in line, him or Butts.

T. Murray - his body work and timing has improved markedly over the last few weeks. Once again today he got into a great position to take a couple of pack marks, unfortunately his hands deserted him. If he can get more consistency in the air, he could be something. Liked what I saw from him in Port Pirie too.

Bigman, thanks again man, outstanding work all summer. What would we do without you! A few quick ones please:

• is TT often left out one on one deep in the forward line? That’s where he could do most damage IMO and be top 5 in the Coleman. Fitting the normal 3 AND Curtin into the forward line will be challenging IMO
• are you of the belief Keane, Murray and Worrell (as third tall) will be the default KPD’s? If Butts is left out structurally perhaps he is traded at the end of year considering Borlase is also a handy back up.
• the midfield set up groupings - is there an obvious first and second rotation (eg Dawson, Soligo, Rankine, then Peatling, Crouch and ? Rachele/Taylor/Shoey etc)
• hbf / wing - I personally prefer Jones over Sholl. Are you impressed overall with his summer after last years disappointing injuries and then form. I reckon Jones and Cumming are our best wingers, and Milera and Hinge hbf’s (Laird on bench). Do you have a view after witnessing over summer?
• besides all the obvious names we love (Rankine, TT etc) your most pleasantly surprised top couple of players over summer? And also the opposite (ignoring players we now don’t rate like Smith etc). Eg Fog doesn’t seem to have been mentioned much.
• Leadership group - announced shortly no doubt. Your thoughts based on training? ANB to replace Murph has seemed obvious for months. any other players likely to elevate into a leadership posn (recognising the overall group will likely reduce IMO with Murph, Milera, Smith, ROB out)?

Many thanks again and apologies if some of this has been covered in posts made that I have missed in recent months, cheers

 

[119others]

Jones must be one of the luckiest 'footballers' going around
I don't know how he has gone past Nankervis and Dowling based on last years performances
Is this the 7th year we are hoping he comes good ?

Has underwhelmed overall no doubt but has certain traits the others don’t - genuine pace, real hardness, tackling ability and booming kick. I have seen him lock down on oppos best small forward also and kill them - Tiges Bolton at AO the other year and one of Powers best (may have been Gray).

If he returns to 2023 form he was 8th in the B&F. Neither Dowling (especially) or Nank have that upside IMO

 

[Jeffcrowe]

I wouldn’t look too much into it, it’s happened before with Worrell as well and he’s clearly best 22.

Hingey did have a pretty ordinary game last Friday but I doubt he’s lost his spot.

Hinge very similar to last year was battling at this time of year then got selected round 1 and came good

Expect that to happen again

People love getting nickers in a knot about nothing

 

[Jeffcrowe]

Has underwhelmed overall no doubt but has certain traits the others don’t - genuine pace, real hardness, tackling ability and booming kick. I have seen him lock down on oppos best small forward also and kill them - Tiges Bolton at AO the other year and one of Powers best (may have been Gray).

If he returns to 2023 form he was 8th in the B&F. Neither Dowling (especially) or Nank have that upside IMO

I’d prefer Nank at half back to Jones but Jones over Nank re wing

Where is Dowling at ? Thought he was good last year but doesn’t sound like he’s standing out at moment

Some players go better when the real stuff starts , hinge is definitely one

 

[1970crow]

Given many of you would’ve watched the internal on Friday, there’s not a whole lot more for me to add so I’ll keep it nice and short.

I wouldn’t expect Rankine or Sholl to play at Mount Barker. Rankine was a no show while Sholl was solely running laps with Max in the rehab group and had a heavily strapped right knee. He was rather ginger to start with, though he was moving better by the end of the session, but I’d be shocked if he played. Not sure he’s tracking great for round one.

Butts was also a no show so unless he missed due to a personal reason, I’m assuming he could be absent on Friday evening as well.

There didn’t appear to be any new injuries today thankfully. So hypothetically Max, Rankine, Sholl, Butts and Strachan will be the only ones unavailable on Friday.

There was some match sim near the end of the session. Teams were as follows:

Blue
FB: Murray Keane Worrell
HB: Bond Laird Milera
_C: Curtin Soligo Jones
HF: ANB Peatling Keays
FF: Fogarty Walker Thilthorpe
_R: O’Brien Dawson Crouch
INT: Rachele Cumming Draper

White
FB: Hinge Borlase Edwards
HB: Ryan Smith Nankervis
_C: Cook Berry Dowling
HF: Taylor Murphy Pedlar
FF: Welsh Burgess Murray
_R: Mcandrew Schoenberg Drury
INT: Gallagher

Now obviously this isn’t a definite indication of our starting side on Friday but it should go pretty close. At the very least it would suggest that Bond is the preferred replacement for Max, which makes sense even though I still think Nank is getting unfairly ignored.

As for the match sim, it was over pretty quickly so not a heap to take out of it. The intensity and skill level was pretty good though, the boys aren’t holding back a whole lot.

Just a few player thoughts:

Jones - beautifully read a switch of play from Edwards, getting the intercept and snapping the goal. If Sholl is to miss round one it would seem Chayce is the likely replacement at this stage, given he was in the As both last week and today.

Curtin - trained with the forwards for much of the session but was on the wing in match sim, so expect him to spend some time there on Friday.

Laird/Smith - wasn’t impressed by the ball use of either today. I fully expect Laird to play round one but a couple times today he failed to execute properly going inside 50, going long and high when the short pass would’ve been much better. Smith on the other hand turned it over a couple times exiting out of defence, including one poor switch which led to a Rachele goal.

Borlase - took a lovely intercept mark and received some love from Godden after the match sim. In a tricky place given we have better key defenders but I’d be curious as to who would be next in line, him or Butts.

T. Murray - his body work and timing has improved markedly over the last few weeks. Once again today he got into a great position to take a couple of pack marks, unfortunately his hands deserted him. If he can get more consistency in the air, he could be something. Liked what I saw from him in Port Pirie too.

Gotta love the professionalism of Smith and Laird, they take 'training as you intend to play' to the next level. Younger kids would take advantage of the lack of intensity that comes with match sim and lace out targets all over the place. But not these two pros, they know what they're doing.

 

[rabidcrow]

1000000-1

Bigman, thanks again man, outstanding work all summer. What would we do without you! A few quick ones please:

• is TT often left out one on one deep in the forward line? That’s where he could do most damage IMO and be top 5 in the Coleman. Fitting the normal 3 AND Curtin into the forward line will be challenging IMO
• are you of the belief Keane, Murray and Worrell (as third tall) will be the default KPD’s? If Butts is left out structurally perhaps he is traded at the end of year considering Borlase is also a handy back up.
• the midfield set up groupings - is there an obvious first and second rotation (eg Dawson, Soligo, Rankine, then Peatling, Crouch and ? Rachele/Taylor/Shoey etc)
• hbf / wing - I personally prefer Jones over Sholl. Are you impressed overall with his summer after last years disappointing injuries and then form. I reckon Jones and Cumming are our best wingers, and Milera and Hinge hbf’s (Laird on bench). Do you have a view after witnessing over summer?
• besides all the obvious names we love (Rankine, TT etc) your most pleasantly surprised top couple of players over summer? And also the opposite (ignoring players we now don’t rate like Smith etc). Eg Fog doesn’t seem to have been mentioned much.
• Leadership group - announced shortly no doubt. Your thoughts based on training? ANB to replace Murph has seemed obvious for months. any other players likely to elevate into a leadership posn (recognising the overall group will likely reduce IMO with Murph, Milera, Smith, ROB out)?

Many thanks again and apologies if some of this has been covered in posts made that I have missed in recent months, cheers

On Borlase and Butts. Safe to say you need at least 5 players in a squad who can play key position at either end of the group (so 10 KPP plus 2-3 rucks) I doubt we would be looking for Butts to go if we can hold him. Was only late 2023 we had Murray and Butts both out for a while


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[1970crow]

What's the go with Hinge? Surely he's in the best 22?

With Max in doubt, maybe they wanted to see him clamp down a bit on an AFL quality forward

 

[spenze]

How the **** did he not see the Sydney player coming towards him?

He literally has zero football nous - it is more a see ball, get ball mentality.

It is worse when you watch it say 10 times in a row and you think " who was he even kicking it to under that smother?"

 

[Crow till I die]

Please football gods, let this young man become a multiple Brownlow medalist as a midfielder for us through our upcoming premiership years

 

[Doctor B]

Gotta love the professionalism of Smith and Laird, they take 'training as you intend to play' to the next level. Younger kids would take advantage of the lack of intensity that comes with match sim and lace out targets all over the place. But not these two pros, they know what they're doing.

I didn't get to see much of the open training session on the Parade.
One drill I did see was from around CHB the ball was rolled towards goals, player had to chase it, pick it up and kick it to a player running toward the boundary line in the back pocket.
Lairds loops really stood out compared to the others trying to dart them in

 

[119others]

I’d prefer Nank at half back to Jones but Jones over Nank re wing

Where is Dowling at ? Thought he was good last year but doesn’t sound like he’s standing out at moment

Some players go better when the real stuff starts , hinge is definitely one

I like Dowling - he is solid - but just seems a quite low ceiling type player (as normally expected in mid 40s). We did brilliantly the year before with Soli and Taylor and not sure Dowling is ever more than a 22-25th best player in a successful team

 

[119others]

On Borlase and Butts. Safe to say you need at least 5 players in a squad who can play key position at either end of the group (so 10 KPP plus 2-3 rucks) I doubt we would be looking for Butts to go if we can hold him. Was only late 2023 we had Murray and Butts both out for a while


Sent from my iPhone using BigFooty.com

Yeah that’s a fair call and what I was actually arguing myself last summer haha. It’s just if Butts is stuck in the magoos and we know he is worthy of playing AFL each week I would imagine there may be a push for him to want out. And decent KPD have been getting overs recently - perhaps a 20-25 type pick? (Maybe that’s optimistic)

Ideally Murray and/or Keane could become swing men and actually do some damage in the forward line where we have less depth at this stage but with T Murray and Welsh both building for coming years. Murray to fly high and smash anyone in his path and Keane who instinctively reads the ball off the boot almost better than any of of other players

 

[119others]

Hinge very similar to last year was battling at this time of year then got selected round 1 and came good

Expect that to happen again

People love getting nickers in a knot about nothing

Hinge is an integral part of the team. Easily in the first half of the team selected each week IMO

 

[119others]

Gotta love the professionalism of Smith and Laird, they take 'training as you intend to play' to the next level. Younger kids would take advantage of the lack of intensity that comes with match sim and lace out targets all over the place. But not these two pros, they know what they're doing.

Are there any of our veterans you do like?

Tex X
Sloane X
Smith X
Laird X

Who am I missing?

 

[FR0GGY]

1000000-1

I’ll have $30 on that given his position in the team photo.

 

[119others]

I’ll have $30 on that given his position in the team photo.

Ok you are on (but need to advise I will be applying for Bankruptcy before settling on the bet haha)

 

[FR0GGY]

Ok you are on (but need to advise I will be applying for Bankruptcy before settling on the bet haha)

Before you do sponsor port for the lols

 

[119others]

Before you do sponsor port for the lols

Haha, brilliant idea. What a shit show their sponsorship is

As mentioned previously we have the world biggest car manufacturer, worlds biggest mining company, Asias biggest telco and other major groups like the merged SA Unis.

Power have some third rate chocolate milk - they couldn’t even get Farmers Union. And anyone following the Whyalla debacle knows this was always a very likely outcome. So now using black masking tape to block out GFGs name. Debacle.

They have had various other major sponsors go belly up over the years also from memory.

 

[AFC979810]

I wouldn’t look too much into it, it’s happened before with Worrell as well and he’s clearly best 22.

Hingey did have a pretty ordinary game last Friday but I doubt he’s lost his spot.

Didn't the club also come out earlier this preseason saying they deliberately put Hinge with the 2's to work on his leadership?

 

[moogerfooger]

I like Dowling - he is solid - but just seems a quite low ceiling type player (as normally expected in mid 40s). We did brilliantly the year before with Soli and Taylor and not sure Dowling is ever more than a 22-25th best player in a successful team

Agree. It's not just the number on his back but he's almost a clone of Jarryd Lyons. The perfect mid to step up when someone is injured but in a good side isn't quite best 22. It's a sign of our improving list that he isn't the walk up start he would have been three years ago.

That said, he's still young so maybe he'll add some strings to his bow.

 

[moogerfooger]

How the **** did he not see the Sydney player coming towards him?

He literally has zero football nous - it is more a see ball, get ball mentality.

This was around the time David King talked about the club needing to cut some branches from the tree. He'd basically given up by that point. A stronger club wouldn't have stood for that.