Training Pre-Season 2023 (First game 18/3 v North)

[Obeanie1]

Pretty sure culley's fitness was one of the reasons he didn't get drafted in his draft year.

Had to hire a running coach ?

Where is this culley the endurance beast coming from ?

Would culley be getting top 3 at a club like Geelong, Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane?

Doubt it they have senior players pushing the standards .

Where are our senior players ? Our midfield apart from gaff is not setting the fitness standards and that is why we can't run out quarters .

Yeo , Kelly, shuey , sheed who are our bloody midfield are either injured or lacking every preseason then on game day as a result . They haven't set the standards and the next crop has been lacking because of it .

I'm very happy culley is setting standards but I'm not kidding myself about why he able to do it .

He may very well have upped his endurance significantly but guys with 5+ preseasons should be much further along .

Senior players came 1st and 2nd didnt they?

And after last season you want players like Shuey, Sheed, Yeo and Kelly busting their boilers chasing PB's that likely wont even beat the naturally gifted endurance runners?

Why? To what benefit?

Simo mentioned Shuey had to be held back this week after 'going full turbo' setting standards and pushed too hard.

Its obvious we are being cautious not pushing the older players too hard, too early. And really you dont need too, most know how to prepare.

I will be waiting until the season starts before passing judgement on efforts and fitness levels.

 

[Bender_]

Guys, can we just agree that players only look better coz others are more shit, not coz of hard work? It's not difficult to figure out.

 

[Keys]

I was big on Barrass being made captain for next year as I liked the idea of bringing in a new leader for a team in transition. From an outside pov there’s still a good case for Shuey to step aside, Pendlebury style. Let him concentrate on his own game/fitness

For that to happen, Barrass would need to be ready and given that 2022 was the first year he was in the leadership group (along with Duggan and Allen) another year possibly as vice captain might be for the best

So if they’re not elevating Barrass to the captaincy then it makes sense to retain Shuey for one more year rather than appoint either Naitanui or McGovern (our current vice captains).

 

[Cuzz09]

I think we just took it easy after 2018 and thought it'd all bounce back.

Then covid came and injuries and blokes got older and it all turned to poo.

Now we just start again

On SM-S908E using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Keys]

Senior players came 1st and 2nd didnt they?

And after last season you want players like Shuey, Sheed, Yeo and Kelly busting their boilers chasing PB's that likely wont even beat the naturally gifted endurance runners?

Why? To what benefit?

Simo mentioned Shuey had to be held back this week after 'going full turbo' setting standards and pushed too hard.

Its obvious we are being cautious not pushing the older players too hard, too early. And really you dont need too, most know how to prepare.

I will be waiting until the season starts before passing judgement on efforts and fitness levels.

West, Clarke and Culley were on the podium

Gaff, Darling and Cripps the best of the senior players. Cripps won the 2k and is our best runner

Culley and Clark have both shed a bit of bulk from last season which would be helping their endurance.

The younger players also officially returned to training 2 weeks earlier than the senior players which shouldn’t be discounted

 

[ArdentEagle]

He hired a sprint coach.

Damien Cavka won the time trial in his first year.

None of it means s**t.

 

[DanWCE]

The players want him as their captain, so he’s the right man for the job

That's all well and good, but they're all idiots and I know better.

 

[Get_The_Gaff]

Senior players came 1st and 2nd didnt they?

And after last season you want players like Shuey, Sheed, Yeo and Kelly busting their boilers chasing PB's that likely wont even beat the naturally gifted endurance runners?

Why? To what benefit?

Simo mentioned Shuey had to be held back this week after 'going full turbo' setting standards and pushed too hard.

Its obvious we are being cautious not pushing the older players too hard, too early. And really you dont need too, most know how to prepare.

I will be waiting until the season starts before passing judgement on efforts and fitness levels.

Are you saying that our midfield leaders need to break PBs to beat a 19 years old who was working at charcoal chicken this time last year ?

I didn't realise culley was smashing records at the club my bad

 

[Obeanie1]

Are you saying that our midfield leaders need to break PBs to beat a 19 years old who was working at charcoal chicken this time last year ?

I didn't realise culley was smashing records at the club my bad

No Im saying that when you are over 30 chances are you have run your PB years ago. When they werent as heavy after putting on the muscle needed to play inside midfield or as a KPP at the top level.

So it isnt a surprise at all seeing young, lighter 19 and 20 years olds running PB's and staying with the better runners.

Cripps and Gaff are lighter outside runners and not as heavy.

Also you continue to ignore the logic of not flogging your injury prone players or players returning from injury interupted years like 2022.

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

I think 2022 was the year we re-established our culture that began to crack during the first hub in 2020 (some may say earlier) and broke down in the second half of 2021

Cast your mind back to the end of last year and Simpson’s speech at the B&F talking about the need for unity and having each others backs.

We had a terrible year, our worst on record, yet there was no signs of disharmony or infighting. The players all returned for preseason in better shape and the mood coming from them players and coaches is positive

As a group they held together through a shambolic year on field which was impacted significantly by injuries and covid

I don’t think 2022 destroyed the club’s culture at all

I don't know if our culture was "broken" or not, but i certainly don't see it the same way you do.

The flipside of describing it as no disharmony or infighting is to describe it as a total vacuum of accountability. Not one person or group within the club, either players or admin, put their hand up to take any responsibility or blame at all, admit any mistakes or admit that anything had to change at all. Not one. They all blamed Covid. Even having obviously fat and unfit players jogging around the park was nobody's fault. It was all Covid. Very little change has been made. No real roadmap forward has been laid out.

I don't find the sight of everybody patting each other on the back and failing to address the problems and deficiencies in how the club is operating that were exposed last year to be a positive at all. I think seeing some signs of robust, totally unfiltered, no-holes-barred discussions that spare nobodies feelings or reputations going on behind closed doors would be a much healthier sight. Put it all on the table and then figure out how you will fix it, as opposed to pretend it never hapenned. Even if some people are temporarily upset that some blunt truths have been told to them and there is "disharmony" for a while.

 

[Seadog]

I don't know if our culture was "broken" or not, but i certainly don't see it the same way you do.

The flipside of describing it as no disharmony or infighting is to describe it as a total vacuum of accountability. Not one person or group within the club, either players or admin, put their hand up to take any responsibility or blame at all, admit any mistakes or admit that anything had to change at all. Not one. They all blamed Covid. Even having obviously fat and unfit players jogging around the park was nobody's fault. It was all Covid. Very little change has been made. No real roadmap forward has been laid out.

I don't find the sight of everybody patting each other on the back and failing to address the problems and deficiencies in how the club is operating that were exposed last year to be a positive at all. I think seeing some signs of robust, totally unfiltered, no-holes-barred discussions that spare nobodies feelings or reputations going on behind closed doors would be a much healthier sight. Put it all on the table and then figure out how you will fix it, as opposed to pretend it never hapenned. Even if some people are temporarily upset that some blunt truths have been told to them and there is "disharmony" for a while.

If no holds barred discussions went on behind closed doors, how would you know about it? or conversely how would you know it didn't happen?

 

[shooshka]

I don't know if our culture was "broken" or not, but i certainly don't see it the same way you do.

The flipside of describing it as no disharmony or infighting is to describe it as a total vacuum of accountability. Not one person or group within the club, either players or admin, put their hand up to take any responsibility or blame at all, admit any mistakes or admit that anything had to change at all. Not one. They all blamed Covid. Even having obviously fat and unfit players jogging around the park was nobody's fault. It was all Covid. Very little change has been made. No real roadmap forward has been laid out.

I don't find the sight of everybody patting each other on the back and failing to address the problems and deficiencies in how the club is operating that were exposed last year to be a positive at all. I think seeing some signs of robust, totally unfiltered, no-holes-barred discussions that spare nobodies feelings or reputations going on behind closed doors would be a much healthier sight. Put it all on the table and then figure out how you will fix it, as opposed to pretend it never hapenned. Even if some people are temporarily upset that some blunt truths have been told to them and there is "disharmony" for a while.

They certainly aren't airing the issues publicly, and TBH that is a good thing. We hear the united front from management and coaches externally.

But I wouldn't for a second say that no harsh truths have been handed down. At times some of the comments have indicated that they are in fact pushing standards more and more (things like the 'fat' comments being taken to heart in 2022, the team coming back visibly slimmer this year, significantly more fitness work pre-Xmas). I'd say that at least a significant portion of the issues (outside of COVID) that have plagued the club for a few years have been addressed behind closed doors, and improvement has started this year. It remains to be seen if it is a 1-season turnaround time or multiple seasons, but I would certainly suggest that inside the walls of the club reality is being recognised.

 

[Deplorable trumpster]

If no holds barred discussions went on behind closed doors, how would you know about it? or conversely how would you know it didn't happen?

You would hear snippets here and there from journos that the club wasn't a totally happy place that would be picked up on by people like those on this forum who consume everything that is said or written about the club. When football clubs have significant numbers of people in them who are unhappy with what has been said to them or have their nose out of joint, or when there has been a process take place that has led to finger pointing and the riot act being read to certain parties then that leaks out.

Players would talk to ex players in the media and say they didn't like what they were told and that would filter out. Or other people in the club other than those affected would tell a few people what had hapenned and it would get around.

It might be phrased in softenned euphemisms that the club approved of when the media describe it. Like "the players being given tough love over the off season by Adam Simpson", or "there was a comprehensive feedback process put in place to strength the club's systems". But if you read between the lines you would realise that it was the first hint that accountability was being metered out behind closed doors and people were being told things they didn't want to hear. But there has been none of that.

 

[WA footy mad]

They may have caught up to WAFL fitness levels, lets hope in the new year they actually get there fitness level to AFL standard. I don't think we will see a ladder improvement till 2024. To many players injury prone & all the new kids take time, lets hope the younger guys get a chance at the start of the year, i can't see it happening they will go for the older guys for round 1.

 

[Bender_]

Whole lot of post skipping going on trying to read this page. Some of the absolute shite de la shite of posters.

 

[Kegs15]

I don't know if our culture was "broken" or not, but i certainly don't see it the same way you do.

The flipside of describing it as no disharmony or infighting is to describe it as a total vacuum of accountability. Not one person or group within the club, either players or admin, put their hand up to take any responsibility or blame at all, admit any mistakes or admit that anything had to change at all. Not one. They all blamed Covid. Even having obviously fat and unfit players jogging around the park was nobody's fault. It was all Covid. Very little change has been made. No real roadmap forward has been laid out.

I don't find the sight of everybody patting each other on the back and failing to address the problems and deficiencies in how the club is operating that were exposed last year to be a positive at all. I think seeing some signs of robust, totally unfiltered, no-holes-barred discussions that spare nobodies feelings or reputations going on behind closed doors would be a much healthier sight. Put it all on the table and then figure out how you will fix it, as opposed to pretend it never hapenned. Even if some people are temporarily upset that some blunt truths have been told to them and there is "disharmony" for a while.

Look the one thing we know above all is that the club really doesn't give a shit about spinning the media for the fans' sake - I know it'd maybe be reassuring as fans to hear Simmo etc be throwing out buzz words in the media like "unacceptable" and "significant change" but that's the sort of stuff clubs like St Kilda and Essendon who really need to give fans reasons to buy memberships need to pull.

Those same clubs have messy board splits, club -wide reviews, fractures and player sackings etc and they've been shit forever. Disharmony and infighting.

Yet quietly we've replaced a bunch of our S+C staff, we've actively acknowledged the need for a new gameplan and have by all reports been implementing that at training, we've focused hard on genuine mids and genuine pace at the draft (and not traded away any picks for established players) and our squad as a whole seems to look fitter, with the quiet but existing noise surrounding players hiring specific off-season trainers to work on things (even if those trainers are animal flow instructors).

The good signs are there even if the club is pretty quiet about them. I don't think that the players like Culley/Clarke with the most improvement left in them in their first proper years in the professional system showing that rapid improvement through hard work is a cause for alarm myself.

 

[random260]

It boggles the mind Shuey is still captain.

I don't care if teammates Kumbaya around a him. He has been a truly bad captain to the point of it harming the playing group. How can you expect to stand tall when the captain failed to get his body right for three years. Consistency, work rate and leading the way is what a captain need and he's failed all three. Not due to himself but his body.

Has there ever been an another injury plagued captain like him? I think not. This may be harsh but if he truly was a captain he would have stepped down regardless of what his friends and group wants. That's what a captain does make good decisions often against the wishes of those around him.

Imagine if Shuey stepped down and JK was the captain for his remaining years.... In his entire tenure not a single season of his captaincy is able to be deemed as acceptable.

 

[Obeanie1]

You would hear snippets here and there from journos that the club wasn't a totally happy place that would be picked up on by people like those on this forum who consume everything that is said or written about the club. When football clubs have significant numbers of people in them who are unhappy with what has been said to them or have their nose out of joint, or when there has been a process take place that has led to finger pointing and the riot act being read to certain parties then that leaks out.

Players would talk to ex players in the media and say they didn't like what they were told and that would filter out. Or other people in the club other than those affected would tell a few people what had hapenned and it would get around.

It might be phrased in softenned euphemisms that the club approved of when the media describe it. Like "the players being given tough love over the off season by Adam Simpson", or "there was a comprehensive feedback process put in place to strength the club's systems". But if you read between the lines you would realise that it was the first hint that accountability was being metered out behind closed doors and people were being told things they didn't want to hear. But there has been none of that.

So because the club or players aren't leaking stories about hard conversations being had and people spitting the dummy you interpret that to mean no hard conversations were had?

And the club is ignoring the hard issues and making people accountable?

The Eagles are notorious in keeping a closed house. How many leaks do we ever get?

Pretty obvious some staff have been moved on and also players. One of which was under contract and Redden who hit a trigger for an extension.

Sounds like some tough calls were made there.

 

[bombard]

Whole lot of post skipping going on trying to read this page. Some of the absolute shite de la shite of posters.

Yep, will be using that in my day-to-day lexicon.

 

[FKASC]

Shite de la shite posts and well shite of our usual level

 

[GlennTwenty]

I don't know

Thank you for speaking truth to power.

 

[Shueygod]

It boggles the mind Shuey is still captain.

I don't care if teammates Kumbaya around a him. He has been a truly bad captain to the point of it harming the playing group. How can you expect to stand tall when the captain failed to get his body right for three years. Consistency, work rate and leading the way is what a captain need and he's failed all three. Not due to himself but his body.

Has there ever been an another injury plagued captain like him? I think not. This may be harsh but if he truly was a captain he would have stepped down regardless of what his friends and group wants. That's what a captain does make good decisions often against the wishes of those around him.

Imagine if Shuey stepped down and JK was the captain for his remaining years.... In his entire tenure not a single season of his captaincy is able to be deemed as acceptable.

What a terrible take lol.

 

[TheNewAnchor]

You would hear snippets here and there from journos that the club wasn't a totally happy place that would be picked up on by people like those on this forum who consume everything that is said or written about the club. When football clubs have significant numbers of people in them who are unhappy with what has been said to them or have their nose out of joint, or when there has been a process take place that has led to finger pointing and the riot act being read to certain parties then that leaks out.

Players would talk to ex players in the media and say they didn't like what they were told and that would filter out. Or other people in the club other than those affected would tell a few people what had hapenned and it would get around.

It might be phrased in softenned euphemisms that the club approved of when the media describe it. Like "the players being given tough love over the off season by Adam Simpson", or "there was a comprehensive feedback process put in place to strength the club's systems". But if you read between the lines you would realise that it was the first hint that accountability was being metered out behind closed doors and people were being told things they didn't want to hear. But there has been none of that.

Your most recent couple of posts are interesting, but not in a good way. Move on, we had a crap year, it’s been dissected, aired and put on repeat for months. You should hook up with the Grim Reaper you both have a lot in common……on second thoughts, no, even he’d find you depressing. Oh, and I loved this; “It might be phrased in softenned euphemisms that the club approved of when the media describe it”. That’s a real tongue twister, you’re no Victor Hugo, so keep it simple.

 

[JoshWoodenSpoon]

Has there ever been an another injury plagued captain like him? I think not.

 

[random260]

View attachment 1575523

Good point. I stand corrected.

I would be more outraged if I was Fremantle given they have brayshaw waiting in wings