Bigman’s Training Reports

Remove this Banner Ad

Reader mode
bigman said:
Hard to stand out today grooster unless you over / under performed in the time trial or had a noticeable change in physique.

Not a whole lot of stoppage or tackling drills which he excels in either.

Even in his full games this year for gws he rarely if ever featured in the top five km travelled so it’s no shock he’s wasn’t among the best runners today.

Suspect his most impressive work will be once match sim starts but he certainly looks fit, no issues there.
Click to expand...
Speed / agility over endurance re Peatling
 
bigman said:
After a bit of a false start a couple weeks ago, good to finally have a true pre season session to kick off the 2025 campaign.

Most of the group was on deck, the exceptions being:

Thilthorpe - only walked laps before heading inside. No pronounced limp so not sure what’s the issue, obviously disappointing that he’s not out there day one however.

Butts and hinge - both didn’t join the main group, instead ran on the sidelines. Butts still has a slight limp although improved from when I last saw him. Has bulked up a lot, probably needs to fine down a bit over the next couple months. Hinge looked good, not sure why he’s being held back.

Draper and welsh - were relegated to doing a bit of running and bike work. Unfortunately didn’t do any of the footy drills.

Everyone else was in full training, although Strachan joined on the bike work halfway through.

Today was time trial day which is always pretty interesting viewing. It began with a 2km test on grass around aami stadium, about 23 degrees, followed by a 1km test at the very end of the session.

Players were split into three groups - best runners, intermediate and the slowest group. Eventually the fastest group caught up with the taller guys which made deciphering the groups a bit difficult but they looked pretty much like this:

Group A - Jones, Keays, Berry, Dawson, Rankine, Neal-Bullen, Dowling, Smith, Sholl, Bond, O’Brien, Cumming

Group B - Curtin, Rachele, Pedlar, Edwards, Soligo, Cook, Michalanney, Ryan, Peatling, Schoenberg, Nankervis, Laird, Fogarty

Group C - Murphy, Crouch, Walker, Taylor, Burgess, Worrell, Nick Murray, Borlase, Gallagher, Toby Murray, Strachan, Keane

(Walker, Smith, Soligo, Rankine, Strachan and Laird didn’t do the second time trial)

Neal-Bullen took out the 2km time trial, didn’t take exact times as it’s all a bit chaotic but looked to be comfortably under the 6:30 mark. He was followed by Cumming and Bond, then looked to be Sholl and Dowling.

Strachan finished last, Taylor second last although definitely an improvement from this time last year.

Bond took out the 1km test ahead of ANB from what I could see with a big final lap, looked to finish around the 3 min mark. With Strachan not running Taylor finished last, roughly about 20-25 seconds after Bond.

The rest of the session was mainly some skills and ball movement drills, nothing particularly noteworthy in terms of player position or set ups. Skill standard was solid although boys clearly still a bit rusty.

Some player thoughts:

Jones - has definitely fined down a bit since last season, which he had to. Isn’t the dominant runner he once was, he was about middle of the pack in the fast group.

Berry - looks fit given he appeared to be in the rehab group the last couple weeks, finished just at the back of the fast group which is nothing to be ashamed of.

Curtin - little bit of knee strapping still but definitely moved more freely than last season. In the limited drills he played back pocket, chf and a bit in the guts so who knows where the club has him pegged. Must say he looked good up forward. Has bulked up a fair bit too, still ran in the intermediate group as well (finished about middle of the pack) which is a feather in his cap as a tall.

Rachele - looks real fit and ran very well, winning the 1km trial quite comfortably in his group. Hamish was right when he said rash was in good condition .

Murray - moved as well as I’ve seen since the knee and ran strongly in his group. Absolute ball of energy out there and wasnt afraid to twist and turn so appears to be fully over the knee.

Pedlar - is a big watch this pre season and early signs are good. Looked to finish runner up in his group in the 1km trial and ran both well. Looked one of the sharpest in the drills too. Hopefully the penny dropped.

Edwards - has bulked up a fair bit but would appear to have dropped off with his running as he struggled in both trials (had wright alongside push him in the 2km). This time last year he ran really well so not sure if he’s not trained hard enough in the off season or wasn’t feeling the best. Doesn’t appear overweight or anything, maybe not quite as cut as some of the other lads perhaps.

Cook - ran solid without being spectacular, still doesn’t have the definition you’d expect for someone coming into his fifth year. Nothing alarming, was just hoping he might come back with a new physique.

Taylor - gone the buzz cut and has definitely bulked up a fair bit. Quite a bit bigger in the arms and upper legs which will be important given the way he plays. Running is still an issue for him but these things don’t change overnight and suspect he’ll never be particularly great in this regard. Definitely not as bad as this time last year where he really struggled, but I always worry how these things are perceived by the coaches.

Ryan - another to have gone the buzz cut and looks in good condition, did notice he appeared to play a bit on the wing in the main drill, will be interesting to see if that becomes a thing.

Neal-Bullen - unsurprisingly set the standard from the start with a dominant 2km time trial, just ran on a different level than the rest of the boys. Trained great too, very few errors when some of the others were shaking off a bit of rust.

Milera - thought he moved really well and looks in good condition given the knee injury. Suspect he knows his position in his jeopardy with the arrival of Cumming and emergence of Nank. Good signs.

Dowling - hasn’t bulked up much more since last season but gee he’s a good runner, only just a notch below the top guys in ANB and Bond. Will be interesting to see how he and Sholl compare over the next few months as they’re likely both gunning for the same wing.

Fog - I was impressed that he ran in the middle group instead of with the talls. Just shows how far he’s come with his running over the last few years.

Smith - actually looked super sharp and fit. Early days I know! He looked pretty good this time last year too. But must say he caught my eye today, looked like someone with a point to prove.

Draper - amazing how among the draftees he looked pretty built but put him next to seasoned AFL players and he suddenly very much looks like a first year player. Did predominately bike work, unfortunately will have to wait a bit longer to see him in the footy drills.

Toby Murray - made some errors but think he takes the cake for biggest body transformation. Is a fair unit out there. Can also chisel a dart when he hits them right. Interesting player.

Cumming - will be a great pick up. In ripping condition and performed really well in the running especially the 2km. Is leaner than I expected, very long limbed and very graceful with ball in hand.

Can discuss any other players if requested but those are the ones who stood out for various reasons. New training top looks great too just quietly.
Click to expand...
This is awesome ! Thanks

How did the Intensity of training compare to early last year ? From vision I saw it looked like a massive step up Obvs helped by new trades and new drivers of the group and guys like Pedlar coming back hungry
 
Last edited:
1732510275899.png

Jake Stringer's got nothing on you Bigman
 

Log in to remove this ad.

Jcpdragonx said:
Taylor is a worry. Year 4 and still dead last (bar ruckman) in the running. Any decent regular midfielder is a strong runner in the comp.
Click to expand...
It’s definitely not ideal !!

There are some guys that just come good when the footys come out but he needs to get fitter to compete with best mids in time and make our midfield rotations

As long as he’s improving year on year he will get there due to his football ability which is awesome
 
Jeffcrowe said:
This is awesome ! Thanks

How did the Intensity of training compare to early last year ? From vision I saw it looked like a massive step up Obvs helped by new trades and new drivers of the group and guys like Pedlar coming back hungry
Click to expand...
It was pretty solid Jeff. To be honest with all the new players and new looks it took a bit of time to get a handle just on who was there. Plus the session was a little shorter than typical, when you factor in the time trials and recovery there wasn’t a whole lot of footy stuff.

One thing I did notice was our players in general seem considerably bulkier than the incoming lads. Nibbler, Cumming and Peatling were noticeably lean while a lot of our guys seem larger and more imposing, even guys like Soligo and Keays.

Whether that’s a bad or good thing I guess we’ll see, just something I noticed. A fair bit of that bulk will be gone by pre seasons end anyway.
 
maxlilly said:
It's a nice surprise for me by ANB's running ability, he doesn't look like he covers the ground that fast in matches
He sounds like a big upgrade on Murphy already
Click to expand...
Watching the Dees, ANB covers a heap of ground & one of their hardest workers.

Massive upgrade on Murphy.
 
Jcpdragonx said:
Taylor is a worry. Year 4 and still dead last (bar ruckman) in the running. Any decent regular midfielder is a strong runner in the comp.
Click to expand...
To be fair he appears to have finally added some real size to his frame which likely has come at the cost of any significant improvement in his running.

It may take him a while to get his body used to the new gains. If he’s still running the same post Christmas I’ll be more concerned.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

119others said:
Definitely an upgrade and for all those predicting Murphy plays round one I have some bad news for them.

Also, amazed Murphy was in the BOTTOM running group?! I thought that’s the one thing he could do ok
Click to expand...
Taking it easy after cleaning Nick's car...

But yeah, he should not be in the bottom group.
 
bigman said:
Keep in mind these are set running groups for them to run in as determined by the performance staff.

Doesn’t necessarily mean he’s dropped off since last season.
Click to expand...
Some how I don't think it will matter.

Give Murphy the sanfl vice captaincy (Smith captain).

He can teach them about shape.
 
Kane McGoodwin said:
Always wanted Cumming over Perryman as a bigger need for us.

Smith would be worried.
Click to expand...
Definitely suited our needs more. Probably each as good as each other in their own way, but we needed Cumming’s kicking and athleticism (in contrast, Port felt they needed Perryman more, but didn’t get either lol)
 
Thank you Bigman

Turray looked huge in video, it would be ideal if he came on in leaps and bounds this year, gives real options up front.

Interesting your comments on our guys bulking up, sign that the young group got pushed around this year and needed some toughness. Leaves the "outsiders" like Cumming, Rankine, Sholl, Draper& Peatling to do their thing on the outside whilst Crouch, Taylor, Berry grunts do their thing??

Having FOG, Filthy, Welsh and Turray as monsters up front bodes well
 
Jeffcrowe said:
It’s definitely not ideal !!

There are some guys that just come good when the footys come out but he needs to get fitter to compete with best mids in time and make our midfield rotations

As long as he’s improving year on year he will get there due to his football ability which is awesome
Click to expand...
By contrast, Dowling near the front is promising
 
Reader mode

Remove this Banner Ad

Bigman’s Training Reports

Similar threads

Thrillthorpe7
Training 2025 Pre-Season
30 31 32 33 34
Replies
846
Views
52K
Cyclonus
Cyclonus
C
Signed 2004 Crows Training Ball
Replies
2
Views
519
Carn The Texan
Carn The Texan

Remove this Banner Ad

Back
Top