TRAINING: Wednesday 12th November 2025

A couple of Demonland Trackwatchers ventured down to Gosch's paddock to give you their brief observations on the second day of preseason training in the lead up to the 2026 Premiership Season.

SCOOP JUNIOR'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

I went to training this morning. It felt like a mid-July game at the MCG. I was wearing a jumper and a jacket and was still cold!

Many players not there - May, Salem, Viney, Turner, Gawn, Langdon, Laurie, Melksham, McAdam, Rivers, McDonald, Campbell, Fritsch, Pickett

All others were training with the exception of Mihocek and AMW who did running on the side. Henderson also did a bit of running but joined in some drills.

Training wasn't super intense, unlike what we heard Monday was like. It was hard to keep a track of drills as they split into two groups (of approximately 12 players each) and changed drills fairly often. From what I could see, early on there was a typical handball game in a large area (no heavy tackling), while the other group did a drill of getting the ball to a player on the run from about 30m out to have a shot at goal. They then did a drill where the coach would roll the ball out at half back, a player would pick it up under pressure and they would try to move the ball to the middle of the ground with handball against a defending team.

After that there was a drill with some kicking involved, mostly short kicks to players in space, which was then followed by a handball game in a very confined space where the team in possession had to find a teammate free to give the ball to (there was no tackling but the defending side defended 1v1 and just placed minor pressure on the attacking team). Then finally they went into a 3/4 ground ball movement drill which seemed to focus on moving the ball with speed out of the backline. The noticeable thing here was that the players ran in waves, with all defenders running together to receive the overlap handball. It looked like pretty aggressive run out of the backline.

There was other drills too, such as one where players went out in threes to collect a ground ball and handballed to each other and returned the ball back. The focus from King was to receive the ball facing the right way so that the receiver would then be in a better position to assess the next option.

Nothing too much to report given it wasn't a highly intense session, but I thought some of Chandler's bullet passes were really impressive (when skills are usually rusty at this time of the year) and Windsor seemed to be used a fair bit as that linkman in the 3/4 ground ball movement drill. CJ looked good bouncing out of the backline with his athleticism on show, however that is his strength - the test for him will be ball use under pressure. Lindsay and Langdon both look like they've put on upper body size.

They also did 2 or 3 laps (I think this was the only running without the footy) and Sharp was the standout runner (no surprise) and Sparrow was very good too and Kolt put in a really good effort. They ran in groups, with the big blokes mostly in one group. Berry looked to be the big struggler here, way out the back of the big blokes group. I don't read too much into these things - running is just one aspect of the game.

Only about 24 players trained and it was mostly a pretty young group out there.

WAYNE WUSSELL'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Had the good fortune to have a chat with Kingy today. He wandered over to the boundary line when he finished putting out the cones for the next activity. My first impressions were that he was personable, straightforward and very tall. He said that training wouldn’t be too intensive in the first few sessions, as the full list joined the group. I mentioned that it was good to see Brodie and AMW progressing so well. He said Brodie was busting to join the main group and it was a battle to hold AMW back until Christmas. I asked him what his first impressions of the training group were. He said he was impressed with the overall fitness. He singled out the Roo, saying he had lost kilos but gained strength. We both agreed that ‘the current # 4’ (Harvey) was set to take the next step. He said that Jai Culley was in the best three on the track on Monday. A few other enthusiastic observers joined in the conversation. He also agreed that Windsor was a standout in the first session. One notable comment he made was about putting up the ‘team’ for round 1 for the players... there were no names on the list!

Training today was more laid-back than Monday. More about patterns for quick transfer than intense pressure on the ball-carrier. They did do a two-lap time trial. Sharpie was once again the standout in his group, with Tholstrup not too far behind. I noticed that Berry was content to bring up the rear, as he manages his transfer to the elite level.

SLARTIBARTFAST'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

35 minutes ago, Scoop Junior said:

From what I could see, early on there was a typical handball game in a large area (no heavy tackling),

This drill involved blocking and protecting the tackling players from the ball carrier. It was too complicated for me to fully understand but it wasn't just a keepings off and handballing for goal.

The session was a lot less intense than Monday and there was much more running. AMW won't be in full training until after Christmas as they nurse him along with his ACL program but he is as fit as a fiddle. Brodie was doing much more high speed running today and more lateral movement stuff. Hendo is recovering from a groin complaint and is on limited lateral movement drills. AJ also spent a little time out of main training but CJ trained much more with the group than he did on Monday.

PHOTOS FROM TRAINING COURTESY OF @Six6Six

TRAINING GALLERY: Wednesday 12th November 2025