Bigman’s Training Reports

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Huge respect to bigman for getting the reports out at all. I was at training today and would be hard pressed to write 5 lines. DId you see what happened to Fog? He left early in the first qtr and was replaced on the blue team by Burgess. Filthy def BOG for mine.

Aaron Bryans I think it was on Twitter said it was just minor tightness. Probably took the no risk approach.
 
His size would have the biggest advantage in the midfield.
TBH I would love us to go hard on developing him as a Mid straight away. Worst case scenario, he doesn't take to it, and can always go back. But best case scenario you are looking at a Cripps like stature in the midfield, with better foot-skills.

But if he starts as a KPD its going to be a lot harder for to transition to being a mid later. Can't think of many/any players who made that position switch transition.
 
Huge respect to bigman for getting the reports out at all. I was at training today and would be hard pressed to write 5 lines. DId you see what happened to Fog? He left early in the first qtr and was replaced on the blue team by Burgess. Filthy def BOG for mine.
Am keen to hear more about Filthy being BOG.

Was he in the game a lot more than previously?

This one guy could elevate us single handedly - his attributes are so unique.
 

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Seems he was playing more ruck, so what’s the plan with him? And what does that mean for ROB?

It genuinely looks like the plan for TT is to become a full time ruckman. Our interest in Chol was beyond strange otherwise and our usage of TT in 2023 was also odd.

In case of ROB? Well he's screwed if we go down that path.
 
It genuinely looks like the plan for TT is to become a full time ruckman. Our interest in Chol was beyond strange otherwise and our usage of TT in 2023 was also odd.

In case of ROB? Well he's screwed if we go down that path.
Ballsy move if they do, so who would be the back up ruck? Has Burgess rucked? Could explain his selection
 
TBH I would love us to go hard on developing him as a Mid straight away. Worst case scenario, he doesn't take to it, and can always go back. But best case scenario you are looking at a Cripps like stature in the midfield, with better foot-skills.

But if he starts as a KPD its going to be a lot harder for to transition to being a mid later. Can't think of many/any players who made that position switch transition.
Posted recently on this.

Elite defenders are more important then elite midfielders (inc mid-forwards) for winning premierships, based upon the last 20 years of data. Defence is also where we have the least of our elite prospects.

Over the last 20 years, grand final losers had more elite midfielders and forwards than the premiers that they lost to, but less elite defenders.

So I'd like to go hard on developing him as an elite defender straight away, because I'd rather we have a premiership than the AFL record for clearances.
 
Contract until end of 2025 so trade bait?
Trading with North for Goad could be a win/win. Tillthorpe and Goad if he develops, rucking and swapping forward, would be an unbelievably athletic and dangerous ruck duo. North would get a top 8 premier ruck to go with their amazing young midfield.
 
TBH I would love us to go hard on developing him as a Mid straight away. Worst case scenario, he doesn't take to it, and can always go back. But best case scenario you are looking at a Cripps like stature in the midfield, with better foot-skills.

But if he starts as a KPD its going to be a lot harder for to transition to being a mid later. Can't think of many/any players who made that position switch transition.
It is tempting, however there is an argument that Steven May and Jeremy McGovern were as important, or maybe more important, than any other players in their premierships.

it probably depends on the improvement of Rankine, Rachelle, Soligo and Pedlar through the midfield versus the improvement of Worrell, Murray and Keane down back.
 

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Significant amount of match sim today so it’s going to be a long report. Let’s get started.

First off unfortunately fog appeared to leave the track early after kicking the first goal. I actually didn’t see an incident occur or even see fog walk off, but he was clearly withdrawn and replaced by burgess. I recall him being in some discomfort on Wednesday after the running drills. Perhaps it may be related?

Laird was a no show today surprisingly. Once again no sloane, gollant or soligo. Butts and milera ran laps. Murray and parnell did skills work with the main group but sat out match sim. Rachele trained fully although wearing a fluro hat and thigh strapped. Curtin did everything except the late session running and looked to be moving freely.

Match sim was split into three periods. Unlike last week, the teams changed significantly each period meaning that each has to be analysed individually.

Period one appeared to be a genuine A vs B scenario for the most part. Teams were as follows:

Blue team (A): Jones, Keays, Murphy, Crouch, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Dawson, Walker, Michalanney, Hamill, Hinge, Burgess (after fog injury), Rankine, Worrell, Fogarty, Smith, Sholl, O’Brien, Keane

Yellow team (B): Berry, Curtin, Pedlar, Edwards, Cook, Taylor, Burgess (before fog injury), Ryan, McHenry, Nankervis, Dowling, Himmelberg, Borlase, Gallagher, Toby Murray, Bond, Strachan, Madgen, top-ups

Blue kicked six goals in the period to none. Goal kickers were:

Blue: Burgess 2, Fogarty, Murphy, Rachele, Dawson
Yellow: none

For the Blue team, centre bounce attendees were rob swapping with filthy, plus dawson, crouch and rankine. Yellow team featured strachan in the ruck with berry, taylor, bond and edwards.



Period two saw a number of changes, with the teams a little more even although still quite a bit in favour of the blue side. Teams were:

Blue: Jones, Berry, Crouch, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Pedlar, Dawson, Walker, Michalanney, Hinge, Burgess, Rankine, Worrell, McHenry, Nankervis, Smith, Borlase, Sholl, O’Brien

Yellow: Keays, Murphy, Curtin, Edwards, Cook, Hamill, Taylor, Ryan, Dowling, Himmelberg, Gallagher, Toby Murray, Bond, Strachan, Keane, Madgen, top-ups.

Blue kicked six goals to Yellow’s one. Goal kickers were:

Blue: Thilthorpe 3, Rachele, Pedlar, Hinge
Yellow: Keays

Centre bounce attendees for the Blue included rob, dawson, crouch and berry, with rankine swapping with bez for one of them. Yellow’s cbas once again involved strachan, taylor, edwards and bond, with keays replacing bond halfway through.



Finally, period three saw even more changes, although once again the Blue team was the stronger of the sides. Teams were:

Blue: Jones, Keays, Berry, Murphy, Crouch, Curtin, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Pedlar, Dawson, Walker, Hamill, Ryan, Rankine, Nankervis, Himmelberg, Gallagher, Sholl,

Yellow: Edwards, Cook, Michalanney, Taylor, Hinge, Burgess, Worrell, McHenry, Dowling, Smith, Borlase, Toby Murray, Bond, O’Brien, Strachan, Keane, Madgen, top-ups.

Blue team kicked four goals to Yellow’s one. Goal kickers were:

Blue: Thilthorpe, Burgess, Rachele, Dawson
Yellow: Madgen

Centre bounce attendees for the Blue team were thilthorpe, dawson, crouch and berry, with burgess swapping with filthy in the ruck for one. Yellow team featured rob and strachan swapping turns in the ruck, alongside taylor, bond and edwards.

Interestingly the last few minutes of this period definitely saw a focus on maintaining possession and running the clock down. There was one moment late where pedlar took his 30 seconds with a set shot, only to go lateral to Keays at the last second who soaked up even more clock.

Now for individual player thoughts:

Jones - went in and out of the game as can happen with the wing role. Had a nice moment where he helped out in defence (even breaking a tackle) before receiving the one-two from nank, streaming down the wing and hitting tex with a lovely 45m dart. Also set up a burgess goal with a lovely weighted pass.

Keays - was a bit stiff to hit the post three times, although one was an absolute soda. Had a good impact when he moved into the middle for the yellow team. Solid without being spectacular.

Berry - was Yellow’s best player in the first period and clearly relished the opportunity to join the A team after. Clearance work was very good and showed good bursts of speed. Kicking was mostly good although he did revert back to old habits a few times where he didn’t steady enough before disposing of it, I think it’s a concentration issue more than anything.

Murphy - popped up here and there and even pushed high up the ground for a couple of boundary throw ins. Kicked a snap goal from a nice crumb but otherwise not a big game.

Crouch - very influential today particularly in the first period. Would have had close to half a dozen centre clearances overall. Super clean, ball use was on point and looks to be really enjoying his football this summer.

Curtin - took a little while to get into it but had some nice moments in the second period and clearly relished being on the Blue team for the third. Played on tex at stages. Showed good composure even under significant pressure, only had one moment where I thought he panicked a bit when he had more time. Also not afraid to break tackles or take players on. Good signs.

Thilthorpe - quiet early on and dropped an easy mark that would’ve been a certain goal, but went bang in the second period with three consecutive snags all from contested marks on dragon. Then took another on worrell early in the final period playing almost exclusively as a ruckman. When he gets his confidence up he becomes seriously hard to stop. Exciting stuff.

Rachele - despite the quad strapping I thought he moved really sharply today and looked dangerous particularly in the first period where he was electric. Ball use and decision making were super sharp and kicked a goal in every period, including a ripper from the boundary in the last. Didn’t attend a centre bounce due to the corky from Monday.

Pedlar - once again started in the b team before switching after the first break. Not sure why that has been the case twice now. Kicked a goal, could’ve had a couple more but was a bit wasteful. Looks fit and reasonably sharp, interested to see if there’s anything going on because it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Edwards - won a clearance or two playing in the middle as well as spending some time on a wing. Had some unfortunate nervous fumbles that caused turnovers but occasionally does some things that make you take notice, like a nice spin out of trouble or a clean gather on the deck at speed. Definitely a work in progress

Dawson - absolutely brained it in the absence of laird. Was dominant in the centre particularly after the first break. Kicked two goals on the run from 50 and just seemed to be everywhere. Gun.

Walker - was reasonably productive playing quite high up the ground. Was more of a conduit to goal than the main man. Getting the job done without starring at the moment, which is fine.

Cook - had a couple of nice moments when he pushed up the ground but was otherwise quiet today playing forward for the struggling Yellow team. Want to see him do more in next week’s internal. Don’t think he’s playing round one on present form however.

Michalanney - another who was solid without being spectacular. Pushed a bit higher up the ground on occasions and took the game on a couple of times using his speed. Also took some kick ins.

Hamill - very good in the first period where I thought he was really clean with his ball take and disposal, including setting up fog’s goal with a lovely drilling pass. Struggled to find it on the yellow team however and never really got back into the game.

Taylor - some moments here and there but gee he’s very crash and bash and it’s no wonder he gets hurt a lot. Needs to find some more easy ball and i thought he was only ok with his inside work which is usually a strength.

Hinge - took a couple of nice intercept marks patrolling across half back. Also snuck forward for a goal. Not dominant but did his part.

Burgess - quickly swapped into the Blue team after fog went off and looked pretty good. Took some nice marks and kicked three goals including a lovely snap late in the first period. Showed why having him is so handy for our depth. Whether he’s best 22 even with fog in the side remains to be seen. Could go either way but I suspect the coaches are worried about giving up defensive pressure.

Ryan - took some of the kick ins for the Yellow team and has an impressive knack of being able to wriggle himself out of tackles. Another who seemed to enjoy playing for the Blue team when given the opportunity. Got a bit of it and ball use was pretty good, still probably a bit down the pecking order for that half back role from what I can see particularly once milera gets back.

Rankine - excellent early playing exclusively on ball, where he has proven to be a real weapon this summer. Fell out of a bit but still set up a couple of scores with his deft touch by foot. Would love to see him start in the guts opening bounce round one.

Worrell - had a couple nice moments where he took the game on but otherwise I was a bit underwhelmed. Want to see him exert himself on the game a bit more as he has the talent.

McHenry - solid enough playing as a high half forward but there was some instances where he unable to break tackles once caught and got pinged. Ball use was tidy however.

Nankervis - failed to complete a couple of marks early on that he should’ve taken, including a fumble that directly led to a rachele goal. Worked his way into it however and once he moved into the Blue team he looked a lot more confident and became one of the more prominent distributors off half back. Would like to see him use his speed and take the game on even more, im not convinced many will catch him.

Dowling - ball use was good but struggled to find a heap of it playing an outside role. Would’ve liked to see him rotate into the cbas where the Yellow team badly struggled.

Smith - thought he actually played his best in the final period on the Yellow team, where his smarts really stood out and seemed to give them a bit more structure behind the ball.

Himmelberg - nothing wrong with his distribution by foot out of defence but I thought he was quite badly beaten by thilthorpe in the second period where he kept getting out marked. To be fair he was in the rehab group not that long ago so hopefully can start to turn it around quickly now that’s he’s healthy.

Borlase - pretty quiet again today. Played on tex early on and was reasonable. Had one bad moment in the final period where he fumbled and went to ground too easily which caused a pedlar shot on goal, needs to get this out of his game when he gets fatigued.

Gallagher - sold his teammates into trouble with some dodgy handballs early on but I thought he actually worked his way into the game reasonably well, the highlight being a terrific tackle on Ned which was paid holding the ball. Found a bit of it playing across half back, still very much learning the ropes though. Expect some teething issues early days in the SANFL.

Sholl - played all three periods for the Blue team on a wing with soligo out. Once again thought he was reasonable without starring. Don’t think he banged the door down for a round one spot but looks set to get some more opportunities in the next few weeks.

Bond - didn’t get much of it at the centre bounces, found a bit more of it in space where he could use his running power. Really think he should be looked at as a tagging option as hard to see where he otherwise fits in.

O’Brien - pretty solid with his ruck work, also found a decent amount of ball particularly as an option through the corridor. Would like to see him give the handball a bit more although to be fair his kicking has been completely fine.

Strachan - would have liked to see him have a greater impact, particularly with his ruck work which wasn’t quite up to his usual level. Do wonder how he deals with motivation knowing rob is still the preferred ruck.

Keane - not as much ball today but was rarely exposed defensively even when matched up on tex which was good to see. His composure calms things down and continues to be a real positive.

If I were to give votes today it would be as follows:

5 votes - Dawson
4 votes - Thilthorpe
3 votes - Berry
2 votes - Crouch
1 vote - Rachele

Overall a good hit out and a lot of the same players continue to have great pre season form. Some boys who need to step it up a bit in the upcoming trial games but not everyone can dominate, particularly those who played predominantly for the weaker Yellow team today. Hopefully a couple of those lads get a real shot at it to show their wares.
 
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TBH I would love us to go hard on developing him as a Mid straight away. Worst case scenario, he doesn't take to it, and can always go back. But best case scenario you are looking at a Cripps like stature in the midfield, with better foot-skills.

But if he starts as a KPD its going to be a lot harder for to transition to being a mid later. Can't think of many/any players who made that position switch transition.
More likely to start as 3rd tall or just tall general defender and then transition

Ala Dawson, young doing now

If we try build his body as a KPD the transition will be hard but if we keep a focus on power and agility it won’t be hard.

While he’s taller it’s not dissimilar to the daicos, sheezel, mckercher, Reid introduction
 
Big call , can’t see it but if you’re right it means we have 2 absolute guns
2 massive needs as well.

I love a good hot take early into a pair of careers.

But I can't say i'm with you on that. Curtin to me looks like the kind of player you would build in a video game. Perfect size, agility, skills, can play every line. I think the biggest issue for him may end up being that he's too versatile and not getting a sustained run in a single position.

Like early career Fog.
Curtin should be a gun, but Edwards I see as a young Patty Cripps.

Going to have to disagree in my own opinion as i think Curtin has the tools to become a very very very good AFL player - think in a year or 2 him moving into the midfield with his agility and size. I just think this guy has something a bit unique about him and we were very fortunate to get to a position where we could draft him
You stand by curtin 😁
 
Significant amount of match sim today so it’s going to be a long report. Let’s get started.

First off unfortunately fog appeared to leave the track early after kicking the first goal. I actually didn’t see an incident occur or even see fog walk off, but he was clearly withdrawn and replaced by burgess. I recall him being in some discomfort on Wednesday after the running drills. Perhaps it may be related?

Laird was a no show today surprisingly. Once again no sloane, gollant or soligo. Butts and milera ran laps. Murray and parnell did skills work with the main group but sat out match sim. Rachele trained fully although wearing a fluro hat and thigh strapped. Curtin did everything except the late session running and looked to be moving freely.

Match sim was split into three periods. Unlike last week, the teams changed significantly each period meaning that each has to be analysed individually.

Period one appeared to be a genuine A vs B scenario for the most part. Teams were as follows:

Blue team (A): Jones, Keays, Murphy, Crouch, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Dawson, Walker, Michalanney, Hamill, Hinge, Burgess (after fog injury), Rankine, Worrell, Fogarty, Smith, Sholl, O’Brien, Keane

Yellow team (B): Berry, Curtin, Pedlar, Edwards, Cook, Taylor, Burgess (before fog injury), Ryan, McHenry, Nankervis, Dowling, Himmelberg, Borlase, Gallagher, Toby Murray, Bond, Strachan, Madgen, top-ups

Blue kicked six goals in the period to none. Goal kickers were:

Blue: Burgess 2, Fogarty, Murphy, Rachele, Dawson
Yellow: none

For the Blue team, centre bounce attendees were rob swapping with filthy, plus dawson, crouch and rankine. Yellow team featured strachan in the ruck with berry, taylor, bond and edwards.



Period two saw a number of changes, with the teams a little more even although still quite a bit in favour of the blue side. Teams were:

Blue: Jones, Berry, Crouch, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Pedlar, Dawson, Walker, Michalanney, Hinge, Burgess, Rankine, Worrell, McHenry, Nankervis, Smith, Borlase, Sholl, O’Brien

Yellow: Keays, Murphy, Curtin, Edwards, Cook, Hamill, Taylor, Ryan, Dowling, Himmelberg, Gallagher, Toby Murray, Bond, Strachan, Keane, Madgen, top-ups.

Blue kicked six goals to Yellow’s one. Goal kickers were:

Blue: Thilthorpe 3, Rachele, Pedlar, Hinge
Yellow: Keays

Centre bounce attendees for the Blue included rob, dawson, crouch and berry, with rankine swapping with bez for one of them. Yellow’s cbas once again involved strachan, taylor, edwards and bond, with keays replacing bond halfway through.



Finally, period three saw even more changes, although once again the Blue team was the stronger of the sides. Teams were:

Blue: Jones, Keays, Berry, Murphy, Crouch, Curtin, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Pedlar, Dawson, Walker, Hamill, Ryan, Rankine, Nankervis, Himmelberg, Gallagher, Sholl,

Yellow: Edwards, Cook, Michalanney, Taylor, Hinge, Burgess, Worrell, McHenry, Dowling, Smith, Borlase, Toby Murray, Bond, O’Brien, Strachan, Keane, Madgen, top-ups.

Blue team kicked four goals to Yellow’s one. Goal kickers were:

Blue: Thilthorpe, Burgess, Rachele, Dawson
Yellow: Madgen

Centre bounce attendees for the Blue team were thilthorpe, dawson, crouch and berry, with burgess swapping with filthy in the ruck for one. Yellow team featured rob and strachan swapping turns in the ruck, alongside taylor, bond and edwards.

Interestingly the last few minutes of this period definitely saw a focus on maintaining possession and running the clock down. There was one moment late where pedlar took his 30 seconds with a set shot, only to go lateral to Keays at the last second who soaked up even more clock.

Now for individual player thoughts:

Jones - went in and out of the game as can happen with the wing role. Had a nice moment where he helped out in defence (even breaking a tackle) before receiving the one-two from nank, streaming down the wing and hitting tex with a lovely 45m dart. Also set up a burgess goal with a lovely weighted pass.

Keays - was a bit stiff to hit the post three times, although one was an absolute soda. Had a good impact when he moved into the middle for the yellow team. Solid without being spectacular.

Berry - was Yellow’s best player in the first period and clearly relished the opportunity to join the A team after. Clearance work was very good and showed good bursts of speed. Kicking was mostly good although he did revert back to old habits a few times where he didn’t steady enough before disposing of it, I think it’s a concentration issue more than anything.

Murphy - popped up here and there and even pushed high up the ground for a couple of boundary throw ins. Kicked a snap goal from a nice crumb but otherwise not a big game.

Crouch - very influential today particularly in the first period. Would have had close to half a dozen centre clearances overall. Super clean, ball use was on point and looks to be really enjoying his football this summer.

Curtin - took a little while to get into it but had some nice moments in the second period and clearly relished being on the Blue team for the third. Played on tex at stages. Showed good composure even under significant pressure, only had one moment where I thought he panicked a bit when he had more time. Also not afraid to break tackles or take players on. Good signs.

Thilthorpe - quiet early on and dropped an easy mark that would’ve been a certain goal, but went bang in the second period with three consecutive snags all from contested marks on dragon. Then took another on worrell early in the final period playing almost exclusively as a ruckman. When he gets his confidence up he becomes seriously hard to stop. Exciting stuff.

Rachele - despite the quad strapping I thought he moved really sharply today and looked dangerous particularly in the first period where he was electric. Ball use and decision making were super sharp and kicked a goal in every period, including a ripper from the boundary in the last. Didn’t attend a centre bounce due to the corky from Monday.

Pedlar - once again started in the b team before switching after the first break. Not sure why that has been the case twice now. Kicked a goal, could’ve had a couple more but was a bit wasteful. Looks fit and reasonably sharp, interested to see if there’s anything going on because it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Edwards - won a clearance or two playing in the middle as well as spending some time on a wing. Had some unfortunate nervous fumbles that caused turnovers but occasionally does some things that make you take notice, like a nice spin out of trouble or a clean gather on the deck at speed. Definitely a work in progress

Dawson - absolutely brained it in the absence of laird. Was dominant in the centre particularly after the first break. Kicked two goals on the run from 50 and just seemed to be everywhere. Gun.

Walker - was reasonably productive playing quite high up the ground. Was more of a conduit to goal than the main man. Getting the job done without starring at the moment, which is fine.

Cook - had a couple of nice moments when he pushed up the ground but was otherwise quiet today playing forward for the struggling Yellow team. Want to see him do more in next week’s internal. Don’t think he’s playing round one on present form however.

Michalanney - another who was solid without being spectacular. Pushed a bit higher up the ground on occasions and took the game on a couple of times using his speed. Also took some kick ins.

Hamill - very good in the first period where I thought he was really clean with his ball take and disposal, including setting up fog’s goal with a lovely drilling pass. Struggled to find it on the yellow team however and never really got back into the game.

Taylor - some moments here and there but gee he’s very crash and bash and it’s no wonder he gets hurt a lot. Needs to find some more easy ball and i thought he was only ok with his inside work which is usually a strength.

Hinge - took a couple of nice intercept marks patrolling across half back. Also snuck forward for a goal. Not dominant but did his part.

Burgess - quickly swapped into the Blue team after fog went off and looked pretty good. Took some nice marks and kicked three goals including a lovely snap late in the first period. Showed why having him is so handy for our depth. Whether he’s best 22 even with fog in the side remains to be seen. Could go either way but I suspect the coaches are worried about giving up defensive pressure.

Ryan - took some of the kick ins for the Yellow team and has an impressive knack of being able to wriggle himself out of tackles. Another who seemed to enjoy playing for the Blue team when given the opportunity. Got a bit of it and ball use was pretty good, still probably a bit down the pecking order for that half back role from what I can see particularly once milera gets back.

Rankine - excellent early playing exclusively on ball, where he has proven to be a real weapon this summer. Fell out of a bit but still set up a couple of scores with his deft touch by foot. Would love to see him start in the guts opening bounce round one.

Worrell - had a couple nice moments where he took the game on but otherwise I was a bit underwhelmed. Want to see him exert himself on the game a bit more as he has the talent.

McHenry - solid enough playing as a high half forward but there was some instances where he unable to break tackles once caught and got pinged. Ball use was tidy however.

Nankervis - failed to complete a couple of marks early on that he should’ve taken, including a fumble that directly led to a rachele goal. Worked his way into it however and once he moved into the Blue team he looked a lot more confident and became one of the more prominent distributors off half back. Would like to see him use his speed and take the game on even more, im not convinced many will catch him.

Dowling - ball use was good but struggled to find a heap of it playing an outside role. Would’ve liked to see him rotate into the cbas where the Yellow team badly struggled.

Smith - thought he actually played his best in the final period on the Yellow team, where his smarts really stood out and seemed to give them a bit more structure behind the ball.

Himmelberg - nothing wrong with his distribution by foot out of defence but I thought he was quite badly beaten by thilthorpe in the second period where he kept getting out marked. To be fair he was in the rehab group not that long ago so hopefully can start to turn it around quickly now that’s he’s healthy.

Borlase - pretty quiet again today. Played on tex early on and was reasonable. Had one bad moment in the final period where he fumbled and went to ground too easily which caused a pedlar shot on goal, needs to get this out of his game when he gets fatigued.

Gallagher - sold his teammates into trouble with some dodgy handballs early on but I thought he actually worked his way into the game reasonably well, the highlight being a terrific tackle on Ned which was paid holding the ball. Found a bit of it playing across half back, still very much learning the ropes though. Expect some teething issues early days in the SANFL.

Sholl - played all three periods for the Blue team on a wing with soligo out. Once again thought he was reasonable without starring. Don’t think he banged the door down for a round one spot but looks set to get some more opportunities in the next few weeks.

Bond - didn’t get much of it at the centre bounces, found a bit more of it in space where he could use his running power. Really think he should be looked at as a tagging option as hard to see where he otherwise fits in.

O’Brien - pretty solid with his ruck work, also found a decent amount of ball particularly as an option through the corridor. Would like to see him give the handball a bit more although to be fair his kicking has been completely fine.

Strachan - would have liked to see him have a greater impact, particularly with his ruck work which wasn’t quite up to his usual level. Do wonder how he deals with motivation knowing rob is still the preferred ruck.

Keane - not as much ball today but was rarely exposed defensively even when matched up on tex which was good to see. His composure calms things down and continues to be a real positive.

If I were to give votes today it would be as follows:

5 votes - Dawson
4 votes - Thilthorpe
3 votes - Berry
2 votes - Crouch
1 vote - Rachele

Overall a good hit out and a lot of the same players continue to have great pre season form. Some boys who need to step it up a bit in the upcoming trial games but not everyone can dominate, particularly those who played predominantly for the weaker Yellow team today. Hopefully a couple of those lads get a real shot at it to show their wares.
Weirdly for me the most interesting observation you’ve made is in regard to Smith.

Whilst I loathe the policy of picking players just because they have “experience”, your comment that Smith helped give the yellow team structure is a reminder to us all what an experienced player like smith can bring to our side.

An experienced level head can be critical - provided the player is still up to the standard
 
Ballsy move if they do, so who would be the back up ruck? Has Burgess rucked? Could explain his selection

Burgess has before, seeing he did it a few times for Gold Coast.

Certainly more of warm body then good, but really, we don't need a lot out of our second ruck.
 
Berry - was Yellow’s best player in the first period and clearly relished the opportunity to join the A team after. Clearance work was very good and showed good bursts of speed. Kicking was mostly good although he did revert back to old habits a few times where he didn’t steady enough before disposing of it, I think it’s a concentration issue more than anything.



Thilthorpe - quiet early on and dropped an easy mark that would’ve been a certain goal, but went bang in the second period with three consecutive snags all from contested marks on dragon. Then took another on worrell early in the final period playing almost exclusively as a ruckman. When he gets his confidence up he becomes seriously hard to stop. Exciting stuff.

Epic report Bigman! Surely you must be taking the notepad, there's no way you can do all that from memory!?

Berry sounds like the sort of guy if you were coaching you'd tell him to say to himself something like "power - steady - kick" each time he gets the ball at training in order to make the steadying before kicking habitual.




Nicks and Dragon offseason feedback meeting:

Dragon: Gday Nicksy, looks like I missed out on going to GWS, what do you see my role as being this forthcoming season?

Nicks: Well, we know Filthy is a real confidence player, so what we thought we might do is switch you to the backline and play you on filthy most of the off season.

Dragon: My brother is a good backman so I probably will, wait, what?

Nicks: Thanks for the talk Dragon, next!
 
Significant amount of match sim today so it’s going to be a long report. Let’s get started.

First off unfortunately fog appeared to leave the track early after kicking the first goal. I actually didn’t see an incident occur or even see fog walk off, but he was clearly withdrawn and replaced by burgess. I recall him being in some discomfort on Wednesday after the running drills. Perhaps it may be related?

Laird was a no show today surprisingly. Once again no sloane, gollant or soligo. Butts and milera ran laps. Murray and parnell did skills work with the main group but sat out match sim. Rachele trained fully although wearing a fluro hat and thigh strapped. Curtin did everything except the late session running and looked to be moving freely.

Match sim was split into three periods. Unlike last week, the teams changed significantly each period meaning that each has to be analysed individually.

Period one appeared to be a genuine A vs B scenario for the most part. Teams were as follows:

Blue team (A): Jones, Keays, Murphy, Crouch, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Dawson, Walker, Michalanney, Hamill, Hinge, Burgess (after fog injury), Rankine, Worrell, Fogarty, Smith, Sholl, O’Brien, Keane

Yellow team (B): Berry, Curtin, Pedlar, Edwards, Cook, Taylor, Burgess (before fog injury), Ryan, McHenry, Nankervis, Dowling, Himmelberg, Borlase, Gallagher, Toby Murray, Bond, Strachan, Madgen, top-ups

Blue kicked six goals in the period to none. Goal kickers were:

Blue: Burgess 2, Fogarty, Murphy, Rachele, Dawson
Yellow: none

For the Blue team, centre bounce attendees were rob swapping with filthy, plus dawson, crouch and rankine. Yellow team featured strachan in the ruck with berry, taylor, bond and edwards.



Period two saw a number of changes, with the teams a little more even although still quite a bit in favour of the blue side. Teams were:

Blue: Jones, Berry, Crouch, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Pedlar, Dawson, Walker, Michalanney, Hinge, Burgess, Rankine, Worrell, McHenry, Nankervis, Smith, Borlase, Sholl, O’Brien

Yellow: Keays, Murphy, Curtin, Edwards, Cook, Hamill, Taylor, Ryan, Dowling, Himmelberg, Gallagher, Toby Murray, Bond, Strachan, Keane, Madgen, top-ups.

Blue kicked six goals to Yellow’s one. Goal kickers were:

Blue: Thilthorpe 3, Rachele, Pedlar, Hinge
Yellow: Keays

Centre bounce attendees for the Blue included rob, dawson, crouch and berry, with rankine swapping with bez for one of them. Yellow’s cbas once again involved strachan, taylor, edwards and bond, with keays replacing bond halfway through.



Finally, period three saw even more changes, although once again the Blue team was the stronger of the sides. Teams were:

Blue: Jones, Keays, Berry, Murphy, Crouch, Curtin, Thilthorpe, Rachele, Pedlar, Dawson, Walker, Hamill, Ryan, Rankine, Nankervis, Himmelberg, Gallagher, Sholl,

Yellow: Edwards, Cook, Michalanney, Taylor, Hinge, Burgess, Worrell, McHenry, Dowling, Smith, Borlase, Toby Murray, Bond, O’Brien, Strachan, Keane, Madgen, top-ups.

Blue team kicked four goals to Yellow’s one. Goal kickers were:

Blue: Thilthorpe, Burgess, Rachele, Dawson
Yellow: Madgen

Centre bounce attendees for the Blue team were thilthorpe, dawson, crouch and berry, with burgess swapping with filthy in the ruck for one. Yellow team featured rob and strachan swapping turns in the ruck, alongside taylor, bond and edwards.

Interestingly the last few minutes of this period definitely saw a focus on maintaining possession and running the clock down. There was one moment late where pedlar took his 30 seconds with a set shot, only to go lateral to Keays at the last second who soaked up even more clock.

Now for individual player thoughts:

Jones - went in and out of the game as can happen with the wing role. Had a nice moment where he helped out in defence (even breaking a tackle) before receiving the one-two from nank, streaming down the wing and hitting tex with a lovely 45m dart. Also set up a burgess goal with a lovely weighted pass.

Keays - was a bit stiff to hit the post three times, although one was an absolute soda. Had a good impact when he moved into the middle for the yellow team. Solid without being spectacular.

Berry - was Yellow’s best player in the first period and clearly relished the opportunity to join the A team after. Clearance work was very good and showed good bursts of speed. Kicking was mostly good although he did revert back to old habits a few times where he didn’t steady enough before disposing of it, I think it’s a concentration issue more than anything.

Murphy - popped up here and there and even pushed high up the ground for a couple of boundary throw ins. Kicked a snap goal from a nice crumb but otherwise not a big game.

Crouch - very influential today particularly in the first period. Would have had close to half a dozen centre clearances overall. Super clean, ball use was on point and looks to be really enjoying his football this summer.

Curtin - took a little while to get into it but had some nice moments in the second period and clearly relished being on the Blue team for the third. Played on tex at stages. Showed good composure even under significant pressure, only had one moment where I thought he panicked a bit when he had more time. Also not afraid to break tackles or take players on. Good signs.

Thilthorpe - quiet early on and dropped an easy mark that would’ve been a certain goal, but went bang in the second period with three consecutive snags all from contested marks on dragon. Then took another on worrell early in the final period playing almost exclusively as a ruckman. When he gets his confidence up he becomes seriously hard to stop. Exciting stuff.

Rachele - despite the quad strapping I thought he moved really sharply today and looked dangerous particularly in the first period where he was electric. Ball use and decision making were super sharp and kicked a goal in every period, including a ripper from the boundary in the last. Didn’t attend a centre bounce due to the corky from Monday.

Pedlar - once again started in the b team before switching after the first break. Not sure why that has been the case twice now. Kicked a goal, could’ve had a couple more but was a bit wasteful. Looks fit and reasonably sharp, interested to see if there’s anything going on because it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Edwards - won a clearance or two playing in the middle as well as spending some time on a wing. Had some unfortunate nervous fumbles that caused turnovers but occasionally does some things that make you take notice, like a nice spin out of trouble or a clean gather on the deck at speed. Definitely a work in progress

Dawson - absolutely brained it in the absence of laird. Was dominant in the centre particularly after the first break. Kicked two goals on the run from 50 and just seemed to be everywhere. Gun.

Walker - was reasonably productive playing quite high up the ground. Was more of a conduit to goal than the main man. Getting the job done without starring at the moment, which is fine.

Cook - had a couple of nice moments when he pushed up the ground but was otherwise quiet today playing forward for the struggling Yellow team. Want to see him do more in next week’s internal. Don’t think he’s playing round one on present form however.

Michalanney - another who was solid without being spectacular. Pushed a bit higher up the ground on occasions and took the game on a couple of times using his speed. Also took some kick ins.

Hamill - very good in the first period where I thought he was really clean with his ball take and disposal, including setting up fog’s goal with a lovely drilling pass. Struggled to find it on the yellow team however and never really got back into the game.

Taylor - some moments here and there but gee he’s very crash and bash and it’s no wonder he gets hurt a lot. Needs to find some more easy ball and i thought he was only ok with his inside work which is usually a strength.

Hinge - took a couple of nice intercept marks patrolling across half back. Also snuck forward for a goal. Not dominant but did his part.

Burgess - quickly swapped into the Blue team after fog went off and looked pretty good. Took some nice marks and kicked three goals including a lovely snap late in the first period. Showed why having him is so handy for our depth. Whether he’s best 22 even with fog in the side remains to be seen. Could go either way but I suspect the coaches are worried about giving up defensive pressure.

Ryan - took some of the kick ins for the Yellow team and has an impressive knack of being able to wriggle himself out of tackles. Another who seemed to enjoy playing for the Blue team when given the opportunity. Got a bit of it and ball use was pretty good, still probably a bit down the pecking order for that half back role from what I can see particularly once milera gets back.

Rankine - excellent early playing exclusively on ball, where he has proven to be a real weapon this summer. Fell out of a bit but still set up a couple of scores with his deft touch by foot. Would love to see him start in the guts opening bounce round one.

Worrell - had a couple nice moments where he took the game on but otherwise I was a bit underwhelmed. Want to see him exert himself on the game a bit more as he has the talent.

McHenry - solid enough playing as a high half forward but there was some instances where he unable to break tackles once caught and got pinged. Ball use was tidy however.

Nankervis - failed to complete a couple of marks early on that he should’ve taken, including a fumble that directly led to a rachele goal. Worked his way into it however and once he moved into the Blue team he looked a lot more confident and became one of the more prominent distributors off half back. Would like to see him use his speed and take the game on even more, im not convinced many will catch him.

Dowling - ball use was good but struggled to find a heap of it playing an outside role. Would’ve liked to see him rotate into the cbas where the Yellow team badly struggled.

Smith - thought he actually played his best in the final period on the Yellow team, where his smarts really stood out and seemed to give them a bit more structure behind the ball.

Himmelberg - nothing wrong with his distribution by foot out of defence but I thought he was quite badly beaten by thilthorpe in the second period where he kept getting out marked. To be fair he was in the rehab group not that long ago so hopefully can start to turn it around quickly now that’s he’s healthy.

Borlase - pretty quiet again today. Played on tex early on and was reasonable. Had one bad moment in the final period where he fumbled and went to ground too easily which caused a pedlar shot on goal, needs to get this out of his game when he gets fatigued.

Gallagher - sold his teammates into trouble with some dodgy handballs early on but I thought he actually worked his way into the game reasonably well, the highlight being a terrific tackle on Ned which was paid holding the ball. Found a bit of it playing across half back, still very much learning the ropes though. Expect some teething issues early days in the SANFL.

Sholl - played all three periods for the Blue team on a wing with soligo out. Once again thought he was reasonable without starring. Don’t think he banged the door down for a round one spot but looks set to get some more opportunities in the next few weeks.

Bond - didn’t get much of it at the centre bounces, found a bit more of it in space where he could use his running power. Really think he should be looked at as a tagging option as hard to see where he otherwise fits in.

O’Brien - pretty solid with his ruck work, also found a decent amount of ball particularly as an option through the corridor. Would like to see him give the handball a bit more although to be fair his kicking has been completely fine.

Strachan - would have liked to see him have a greater impact, particularly with his ruck work which wasn’t quite up to his usual level. Do wonder how he deals with motivation knowing rob is still the preferred ruck.

Keane - not as much ball today but was rarely exposed defensively even when matched up on tex which was good to see. His composure calms things down and continues to be a real positive.

If I were to give votes today it would be as follows:

5 votes - Dawson
4 votes - Thilthorpe
3 votes - Berry
2 votes - Crouch
1 vote - Rachele

Overall a good hit out and a lot of the same players continue to have great pre season form. Some boys who need to step it up a bit in the upcoming trial games but not everyone can dominate, particularly those who played predominantly for the weaker Yellow team today. Hopefully a couple of those lads get a real shot at it to show their wares.
Thanks bigman
Berry was my breakout player last year, maybe I was a year early, but I think he has to displace Crouch
 

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