Training Pre season training

[Barrels]

Is Boyd a shoe in? What if we see something in Dodson and moose and think they are enough back up and pecket trains well? We could just take him

Except I doubt they fly Boyd over and have him train, if he hasn’t been told he has a spot.

And if Marshall goes down, relying on a still-raw Moose, who’s only barely 22, and a totally unproven 18yr old in Dodson, is borderline insanity.

Boyd is 26 and match-hardened at senior level in a top league, or I acknowledge that he is both quite short at AFL level, and we may have the same issue that we had with TC in that him playing first rock at Sandringham may affect the continued development of Moose, and the initial development of Dobson.

On the one hand, I’d like to see Moose and Dodson share the ruck, with some time chop-outs from Keeler, because I think it would aid all of their developments and show us what we actually have going forward from the list.

On the other, there’s the above if Marshall goes down with an injury.

 

[gringo2011]

Been that way every year since 2020, when we had a charmed run. Haven’t really been close to full strength since and it’s amazing how many have gone down in the weeks leading into R1 the last two seasons.

Last season we went into that first game v Geelong minus I thought 8 of our preferred 23, then we lost Crouch half way through that game, then the week after we lost Wood and Henry for extended periods each.

And that was IMO the straw that broke the camels back.

We almost beat a near full-strength Geelong, then had a terrific win over Collingwood, but being that short of full strength for the weeks after that just made it too hard to beat good teams- especially away, where most of our games then were) and it wasn’t until we got enough numbers back later in the year before we got rolling again.

We wouldn’t know ourselves if we were actually able to field a full-strength team.

Think we’ve tried to shed most of the injury-prone guys, so it’s probably part of the reason we haven’t had many have offseason surgery this time.

We’ll need a good injury run next year, because over a quarter of our list is now under 20yo (12 of them). We won’t have as much “plug-and-play” depth as we’ve had in recent years.

100%. We can't fall back on depth. That said Lyon has been pretty brave playing kids first when there is the option of an okay older player there and a developing kid. I'd say injuries to mids and forwards cost us the whole season this year. Even when our form was better late it was a rag tag side. Having King, Butler, and a Henry along with a decent midfield group should be huge. So many players have a step up in them too. Wood was down after he injured himself, Owens was below his best, Windhager....even Clark, Dow, Jones and those type of fringe players have more in them.

If everything can fall into place I think we could be rapid improvers.

You could also point out that we didn't play a home game until about quarter of the way through the season and by that time momentum had definitely dropped away and people stopped showing up. That's a real energy sapper.

 

[gringo2011]

Except I doubt they fly Boyd over and have him train, if he hasn’t been told he has a spot.

And if Marshall goes down, relying on a still-raw Moose, who’s only barely 22, and a totally unproven 18yr old in Dodson, is borderline insanity.

Boyd is 26 and match-hardened at senior level in a top league, or I acknowledge that he is both quite short at AFL level, and we may have the same issue that we had with TC in that him playing first rock at Sandringham may affect the continued development of Moose, and the initial development of Dobson.

Moose has to be exposed at some point. I'm agnostic about it. Hopefully you don't find out bust sometimes cometh the hour, cometh the man.... A second tier ruck might be 25% better but maybe 4 weeks of senior footy plays Moose into form and confidence. Rucks are generally some of the dumbest campaigners to walk the earth. Unless they are absolute dominators they just have to halve contests. Yes I'm a ruck racist.

 

[Saintos The ITK]

Except I doubt they fly Boyd over and have him train, if he hasn’t been told he has a spot.

And if Marshall goes down, relying on a still-raw Moose, who’s only barely 22, and a totally unproven 18yr old in Dodson, is borderline insanity.

Boyd is 26 and match-hardened at senior level in a top league, or I acknowledge that he is both quite short at AFL level, and we may have the same issue that we had with TC in that him playing first rock at Sandringham may affect the continued development of Moose, and the initial development of Dobson.

On the one hand, I’d like to see Moose and Doddson share the ruck, with some time chop-outs from Keeler, because I think it would aid all of their developments and show us what we actually have going forward from the list.

On the other, there’s the above if Marshall goes down with an injury.

It needs to become a thing where we can loan our players out to other leagues.
Bring Boydie into the vfl and send Heath over to the sanfl for a few games.

 

[TheJackal]

Any news on why Tauru isn’t out there?

Not 100% sure but my memory is telling me that they found an injury with his back during testing at the combine. I don't think I'm making that up but I could be thinking about someone completely different.

 

[Barrels]

It needs to become a thing where we can loan our players out to other leagues.
Bring Boydie into the vfl and send Heath over to the sanfl for a few games.

Don’t hate that idea at all.

Saying his list seem to keep getting bigger, I don’t know why we don’t dispense with the rookie list and MSD entirely, and take a leaf out of the NBA with something akin to two-way contracts.

You could limit the numbers allowed on such contracts to control the extent to which clubs like Collingwood, as then, Hawthorn, and Geelong, could utterly abuse the system, but I think it’s got a lot to like about it.

 

[gringo2011]

Tuohys stuff about Bolton, which isn’t isolated went well beyond being tough on a player. It got weirdly personal and if anything made Bolton sound like an overly sensitive prick who holds a grudge.

As long as he’s kept far away from player development and sticks to strategy/gameplan stuff it’s absolutely fine imo.

I remember talking to a player on the fringes under Richo and he sounded the same. Richo seems as benign as a doormat but apparently he was a bit of a lying vindictive campaigner if this guy has anything to say about it. It was hard to reconcile a guy who was as dry as sand having a dark side. It made him seem a lot more interesting than the perception.

That said never trust a little man. They are nasty.

 

[bakes10]

Except I doubt they fly Boyd over and have him train, if he hasn’t been told he has a spot.

And if Marshall goes down, relying on a still-raw Moose, who’s only barely 22, and a totally unproven 18yr old in Dodson, is borderline insanity.

Boyd is 26 and match-hardened at senior level in a top league, or I acknowledge that he is both quite short at AFL level, and we may have the same issue that we had with TC in that him playing first rock at Sandringham may affect the continued development of Moose, and the initial development of Dobson.

On the one hand, I’d like to see Moose and Dodson share the ruck, with some time chop-outs from Keeler, because I think it would aid all of their developments and show us what we actually have going forward from the list.

On the other, there’s the above if Marshall goes down with an injury.

It will certainly put pressure on Moose this year. I think if we recruit Boyd then we are 1 ruck too many.

 

[Rogue Warrior]

100%. We can't fall back on depth. That said Lyon has been pretty brave playing kids first when there is the option of an okay older player there and a developing kid. I'd say injuries to mids and forwards cost us the whole season this year. Even when our form was better late it was a rag tag side. Having King, Butler, and a Henry along with a decent midfield group should be huge. So many players have a step up in them too. Wood was down after he injured himself, Owens was below his best, Windhager....even Clark, Dow, Jones and those type of fringe players have more in them.

If everything can fall into place I think we could be rapid improvers.

You could also point out that we didn't play a home game until about quarter of the way through the season and by that time momentum had definitely dropped away and people stopped showing up. That's a real energy sapper.

Our side on paper is strong but clearly we’ve lost depth and with some injuries to key players it could get ugly with too much inexperience on the park.

One area we really lack is pressure in the forward line. This is driven by the list and the way we structure up. This makes Butler incredibly important to our fortunes. We really need to see continued improvement from Higgins, Henry and Owens in terms of pressure. We also need Collard to come on & to work hard on that facet of his game.

 

[Joffaboy]

I remember talking to a player on the fringes under Richo and he sounded the same. Richo seems as benign as a doormat but apparently he was a bit of a lying vindictive campaigner if this guy has anything to say about it. It was hard to reconcile a guy who was as dry as sand having a dark side. It made him seem a lot more interesting than the perception.

That said never trust a little man. They are nasty.

44 characters and ego's the coach has to deal with. I bet there are a few in every club that dislikes the coach and think they should be getting a shot at the big time before such and such a player.

Or they think they are better than they are like the Hotton's and hate the coach and club when they are cut. I have no dog in this fight, I dont want to be friends with a coach, but maybe, just maybe Bolton didn't offer Touhey a biscuit and that upset him.

 

[Barrels]

It will certainly put pressure on Moose this year. I think if we recruit Boyd then we are 1 ruck too many.

Marshall (29)
Boyd (26)
Heath (22)
Keeler* (20)
Dodson (18)

(Ages by the start of season 2025).

I’m inclined to agree with you, but only because of those five only Keeler has - in my view - genuine multi-positional versatility, albeit Moose has shown some aptitude as a forward.

The problem is still having to rely on the 3 youngins if Marshall gets hurt.

 

[DougalHoward]

Not 100% sure but my memory is telling me that they found an injury with his back during testing at the combine. I don't think I'm making that up but I could be thinking about someone completely different.

He has stress fractures

 

[seasonedsainter]

Thanks for the training notes everyone it’s much appreciated.

Personally I would have preferred we’d given Elwood Peckett a shot and backed in Moose as the second ruck, but meh what’s done is done.

Good luck to Brad Crouch seems like a top bloke and will be missed.

 

[my name was taken]

Wait, they have electricity? I thought all of their communication was powered by their collective energy from their massive insecurities and inferiority complexes.

Electricity huh? Well I'll be, like actual human's you say?

 

[BrutThough]

So there’s no spot for Elwood on the list, but he’s training with us anyway?

Curious.

He's going to play at Sandy next year and we regularly have multiple of those guys train with us.

 

[Barrels]

He's going to play at Sandy next year and we regularly have multiple of those guys train with us.

Thought that might be the case. I would shocked, in those circumstances, if he wasn’t the “Sandy Rookie” next year.

 

[jimmytigs]

Marshall (29)
Boyd (26)
Heath (22)
Keeler* (20)
Dodson (18)

(Ages by the start of season 2025).

I’m inclined to agree with you, but only because of those five only Keeler has - in my view - genuine multi-positional versatility, albeit Moose has shown some aptitude as a forward.

The problem is still having to rely on the 3 youngins if Marshall gets hurt.

i like the idea of another ruck on the list,but could we look at something like we did a few years ago with lewis pierce?

send boyd or heath off to frankston,or some other vfl team that might need a ruck,that way we have both of them playing at the level every week & dodson getting his development & whatever they see fit with keeler

unless of course boyd is earmarked for plenty of games in the firsts

 

[aussierulesrules]

Matt Rowell is out of contract 2025. Not a free agent, but worth throwing the kitchen sink at him too, I reckon.

Would love him but think we’d have bugger-all chance of landing him.

The one I’d be going all-in for if he continues to progress next year is Finn Callaghan.

Like a 4 inch taller and better kicking version of Shiel.

GWS probably won’t be able to get anywhere near the sort of money we could offer him and he’s from out our way.

 

[phantom13]

44 characters and ego's the coach has to deal with. I bet there are a few in every club that dislikes the coach and think they should be getting a shot at the big time before such and such a player.

Or they think they are better than they are like the Hotton's and hate the coach and club when they are cut. I have no dog in this fight, I dont want to be friends with a coach, but maybe, just maybe Bolton didn't offer Touhey a biscuit and that upset him.

Read the excerpt.

I’m not some new age bleeding heart who thinks every player should have their hand held and ego stroked, the multiple anecdotes and multiple rumblings are pretty cooked.

 

[snails13]

So there’s no spot for Elwood on the list, but he’s training with us anyway?

Curious.

Jonah Campigili trained with a few days ago and he is not on our list

 

[kick it lace out]

Training Report 27/11

Rehab Group:
King, Wood, Stocker, Windy. Windy looks close to re-joining main training as he was running laps at a very quick pace which suggests he may be close to returning to the main group.

No Zac Jones or Liam Henry

Harry Boyd was training. He's a HUGE unit (arms & legs) although not overly tall for a ruckman at 198cm. Very, very strong though.

New Recruits:

All there bar Alix Tauru

Some new numbers:

Travaglia #5
Boxshall #37
Dodson #34
Said #33
Barratt #28

There was also another kid training with this group wearing number 39 (I think it might have been Elwood Peckett).

Main Training:

Three groups rotating through 3 different drills. One of these was a tackling drill. Pou and Hugo were tackling for keeps. High intensity. Darcy Wilson was also impressive in this tackling drill. Collard showing off his side stepping in the tackling drill. Macrae is also a very strong tackler. He and Steele were matched up together in the tackling drill and seem to have already formed a very strong connection.

The new recruits trained away from the main group which involved warm ups, running drills and then some light kick to kick work. Patrick Said has some pretty nice skills for a smallish guy. Boxshall also looked pretty good. Travaglia is the skinniest of our new recruits so will need to put on some size. Damien Carroll took the session with the new recruits. Looks like they will be slowly integrated into the main training group.

Most of the drills seemed to be focused on stoppage work and moving the ball into the forward 50. Given our issues in the first half of last season, it looks like it's a definite area of focus. What's clear from training is that we have a lot of good ball users in our squad, particularly kicking skills.

I watched a couple of the ruck drills where two rucks were pitted against each other. Ro Vs Heath, (Ro easily won), and Boyd Vs Keeler, (where Boyd easily beat Keeler through his sheer strength). He's a very strong boy.

Pou, Hugo & Keeler continue to be the standouts. Keeler is a very good runner for his size, and is clearly our best big man runner. I guess the only thing that has held him back is his competitiveness, but based on what I have seen so far it seems like the penny has dropped for him. Perhaps having guys like Pou & Hugo are driving him to become better?

At 11.30am, the players swapped boots for running shoes and finished off the session with some running drills. In fairness to Max Heath I think his running has definitely improved since last pre-season. Zane Cordy still needs to remove the pebbles out of his shoes

Overall, the standard of training is incredible. So professional, which is probably something that has been missing since the last time RTB was our coach. Everything is so well planned and co-ordinated and the players are so in sync with everything. Even the quality of the drills is very high. Lots of targets being hit, very clean, and lots of encouragement for each other. At one point Pou was yelling out encouragement to teammate in another group on the opposite side of the ground. This guy is the real deal, and someone you can build a club around. A natural born leader, and will drive standards at the club for the next 12 years. Even in the running drill towards the end, players broke into small groups and ran fast laps around the oval - Pou made sure to be in the same group as Wilson, Garcia, Irish & Steele. He does not take short cuts. So much so that when others walk to re-start a drill, he runs to the starting position. I'm really excited to see what this kid will do next season.

Cheers,

 

[thekizzler]

Look, fair points, id only add that theres a number of stories of a similar nature re: Bolton. If it was JUST Tuohy i wouldnt take too much mind but theres enough there to suggest it could be an issue.

Go on.

 

[11men1cup]

Elwoods essentially the 45th player on our list. He will play for the zebras but train a lot with the main list.

We'll keep him as "first reserve" for when the inevitable injuries occur and we will pick him up midseason, or he will become that "mandatory Sandringham" pickup next year.

He wasn't going to get a game this year most likely. Boyd will, as he plays a needed position.

On Pixel 7 Pro using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[WilliamEY]

Training Report 27/11

Rehab Group:
King, Wood, Stocker, Windy. Windy looks close to re-joining main training as he was running laps at a very quick pace which suggests he may be close to returning to the main group.

No Zac Jones or Liam Henry

Harry Boyd was training. He's a HUGE unit (arms & legs) although not overly tall for a ruckman at 198cm. Very, very strong though.

New Recruits:

All there bar Alix Tauru

Some new numbers:

Travaglia #5
Boxshall #37
Dodson #34
Said #33
Barratt #28

There was also another kid training with this group wearing number 39 (I think it might have been Elwood Peckett).

Main Training:

Three groups rotating through 3 different drills. One of these was a tackling drill. Pou and Hugo were tackling for keeps. High intensity. Darcy Wilson was also impressive in this tackling drill. Collard showing off his side stepping in the tackling drill. Macrae is also a very strong tackler. He and Steele were matched up together in the tackling drill and seem to have already formed a very strong connection.

The new recruits trained away from the main group which involved warm ups, running drills and then some light kick to kick work. Patrick Said has some pretty nice skills for a smallish guy. Boxshall also looked pretty good. Travaglia is the skinniest of our new recruits so will need to put on some size. Damien Carroll took the session with the new recruits. Looks like they will be slowly integrated into the main training group.

Most of the drills seemed to be focused on stoppage work and moving the ball into the forward 50. Given our issues in the first half of last season, it looks like it's a definite area of focus. What's clear from training is that we have a lot of good ball users in our squad, particularly kicking skills.

I watched a couple of the ruck drills where two rucks were pitted against each other. Ro Vs Heath, (Ro easily won), and Boyd Vs Keeler, (where Boyd easily beat Keeler through his sheer strength). He's a very strong boy.

Pou, Hugo & Keeler continue to be the standouts. Keeler is a very good runner for his size, and is clearly our best big man runner. I guess the only thing that has held him back is his competitiveness, but based on what I have seen so far it seems like the penny has dropped for him. Perhaps having guys like Pou & Hugo are driving him to become better?

At 11.30am, the players swapped boots for running shoes and finished off the session with some running drills. In fairness to Max Heath I think his running has definitely improved since last pre-season. Zane Cordy still needs to remove the pebbles out of his shoes

Overall, the standard of training is incredible. So professional, which is probably something that has been missing since the last time RTB was our coach. Everything is so well planned and co-ordinated and the players are so in sync with everything. Even the quality of the drills is very high. Lots of targets being hit, very clean, and lots of encouragement for each other. At one point Pou was yelling out encouragement to teammate in another group on the opposite side of the ground. This guy is the real deal, and someone you can build a club around. A natural born leader, and will drive standards at the club for the next 12 years. Even in the running drill towards the end, players broke into small groups and ran fast laps around the oval - Pou made sure to be in the same group as Wilson, Garcia, Irish & Steele. He does not take short cuts. So much so that when others walk to re-start a drill, he runs to the starting position. I'm really excited to see what this kid will do next season.

Cheers,

Great Report! Really hope Keeler gets a go at the start of the year


On iPhone using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Armoooo]

So sounds like Tauru will wear number 18?

Feels fitting, one of those numbers with a lot of guns, like 23.