Match sim using only half the ground. Very congested.

Half court match SIM is simulating a very congested field of play. Goal is find space in congestion.

Really nice ruckman in the hole mark from Heath. 2 now actually.

Gawn sitting out around the arc as the attacking team ruck.

Windsor run and ping from 50 - touched

Gawn and Langford dropping in at 40 for marks and set shots the other attempts so far

Onley drift down from the wing to the pocket for a mark and goal just now

Steele running laps as is CJ and now Kentfield and Petty running laps together.

Salem, Melksham, Henderson, AJ & AMW working with a trainer. Going across ground one of them will kick to a guy in the middle and run past for a handball and kick to the next guy on the other side of the ground.

Petty and Kentfield running the boundary. Still in footy boots. Presumably precautionary, they don't need another concussion.

Dont think we will be seeing Steven May for a while now.

1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Dont think we will be seeing Steven May for a while now.

Injured?

9 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Dont think we will be seeing Steven May for a while now.

Let’s just leave it at that for the moment.

Long pause for some extra hydration including some icy poles so that’s enough for me.

Tommy Campbell coming back across the river, must’ve gone for a walk around the tan which woukd be far more pleasant than laps of the oval

must have employed the bombers fitness staff from the way things are going

Another match sim, much less congested, wing to wing. A bunch are watching on. Tommy Matthews was doing a bit of ball gathering and snaps at goal.

Just swapped groups. Disco in the back line.

Other group is playing keepings off, pretty easy when there's four defenders and eight on the other side.

25 minutes ago, Demonland said:

Let’s just leave it at that for the moment.

Is it an injury or the non-footy related matter?

Steele is back training with the main group.

Wing to wing through the middle of the ground Match SIM drill. 9 vs 9. Three teams swapping out every 6 to 8 mins. Fast ball movement.

Matthews and Mihocek not taking part in this drill. Neither is Heath who has been running laps during the drill.

Mihocek and Matthews are now running laps together.

Trelly is going to be an interesting pickup. He did some pretty nuts fending off and feinting during that last match sim.

1 hour ago, Demonland said:

Half court match SIM is simulating a very congested field of play. Goal is find space in congestion.

In my sport, we would call this situational training

Since this isn't a true match sim, it's just practicing a certain scenario

Training finished before midday!

A few are doing some extra drills.

41 minutes ago, GS_1905 said:

Is it an injury or the non-footy related matter?

Suggest just googling it. But Andy's also asked for it to be kept off here, in line with that sort of thing.

Hard to see AMW having an impact this year particularly early considering he’s still not in main training and not doing many drills. Small forwards will smoke us without him, Mcvee and Bowey this year, will be an issue!

2 minutes ago, Greg Schneider said:

Hard to see AMW having an impact this year particularly early considering he’s still not in main training and not doing many drills. Small forwards will smoke us without him, Mcvee and Bowey this year, will be an issue!

Was an issue already before Bowey got injured, now it’s our biggest weakness. Quick ball movement means small forwards are in vogue with key forwards now mostly low impact. Having no one with the ability to play lockdown on them is a glaring weakness ready to be exploited.

I was hoping they’d shuffle magnets to try and unearth some new small lockdown defenders, but appears we’re still lacking. I reckon Chandler should shift to that role. He’s not good enough to be a midfielder or high impact small forward - it might be his niche long term.

3 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Was an issue already before Bowey got injured, now it’s our biggest weakness. Quick ball movement means small forwards are in vogue with key forwards now mostly low impact. Having no one with the ability to play lockdown on them is a glaring weakness ready to be exploited.

I was hoping they’d shuffle magnets to try and unearth some new small lockdown defenders, but appears we’re still lacking. I reckon Chandler should shift to that role. He’s not good enough to be a midfielder or high impact small forward - it might be his niche long term.

Yep we’re in trouble I reckon

Got there at 10:00, stayed for 90 mins. Thank you to Demonland, Dee Spencer, thirty-one and all contributors for covering the finer details.

My observations:

I was looking forward to covering the amazing progress of Steven May in his return to full back ... and alas, that didn't happen, and by some suggestions, it might not happen for some time. So, I concentrated on the progress of other backmen present. Petty spent quite a bit of time running. He looked pretty good. When joining in with the main group he was solid without being a standout.

Oscar Berry was very effective in reading the play and spoiling the leading forward. He is definitely showing the benefits of a solid block of training. He is a little taller than I thought, has a strong build with a low centre of gravity. He shows confidence in his kicking skills.

Ditto for AMW. The other players delight in his ability to defend the in-coming passes to a forward on the lead. He is in my starting 23!

Xavier Taylor is a great competitor, is quick to recover and elusive with ball in hand ... he’s progressing well!

Christian Salem spent all of his time in rehab while I was there, but doesn't look to have any serious issues.

Jed Adams participated in all the drills. Steady without being a standout.

Tom McDonald and Daniel Turner were the best of the key backs. I now have both of them in my starting 23.

Jake Lever is looking much fitter than last season. He does not seem to be troubled by ankle or foot pain. He still looks in a little discomfort when required to bend down for the ground-ball gather.

Moving on to the rest ...

Bayley Fritsch is near unbeatable in the lea /get out the back routine. He is set for a very good 2026.

Max Heath was outstanding in the air, particularly down back as others have noted. He is a big kick and is the best competition for Max in the ruck due to Campbell's injury.

Which brings me to Max ... still a magician in getting either hand to the ball first and directing the play from the ruck contests.

Kozzie is superb in everything he does!

Jai Culley, Ed Langford, Caleb Windsor & Trent Rivers are consistently among the best on the training track.

With some important names still in part or full-time rehab, Koltyn Tholstrup looms as a handy replacement. He has completed almost all of pre-season and he is showing that he has good pace, strength over the ball and improved disposal.

Brodie Mihochek and Jack Steele are doing all the positive things we recruited them for... great additions!

My final word goes to Matt Jefferson. He was the best of the key forwards today and is showing signs of becoming a much more reliable mark on a fast lead.

Latrelle Pickett is so dynamic. An awesome fend/ shrug followed by an agile baulk with about 5 minutes left in the session capped off an exciting effort. Hope it was captured by the media team for those not in attendance.

I haven't seen this before but there were times when Jeffo was aggressive.

Someone on the forums called Kolt unfit in another thread. He dominated the running at the end and even had Sharp covered. He might not have impacted as much as we'd of liked but he definitely isn't unfit.