21 hours ago, Dannyz said:

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.

Excellent to hear. It was me. And that's because he was told at the end of last year he was not in afl condition or meeting the requirements (at his exit interview).

He was not fit in 24 or 25 - largely due to interupted pre-seasons - but he was definitely not athletic.

So this is excellent to read/hear. As someone pointed out, he had great athletic traits and testing in his draft year.

Time to put it all together.

Another huge thanks to Demonland, DeeSpencer, thirty-one, WayneWussell, DannyZ, Back pocket, Fritta and Turner, Kev, Harvey Wallbanger, all posters and Special Comments. What a great effort from all involved so much information to digest, enjoy and think about. JV & Shane McAdam LTI’s, picket fence dislike of Chin. We are getting closer to the real stuff now, so much to look forward to over the coming weeks.

13 hours ago, Harvey Wallbanger said:

Apologies for the very late report:

Absent: May (now announced publicly) Bowey, McAdam (see below) and White (?).

Rehab - looking some time away, Bowey, McAdam (see above) Viney, Campbell (walking only in neck brace) and Henderson (although he began running today to a great cheer from the main group).

Rehab - but not too worried - Salem, CJ, Laurie, Melksham, Johnson.

Gawn, Matthews and Sharp back in business today and Rivers (as reported on) doing some work away from the group, but looks OK.

That leaves 38 of the 44 still fit and available if my "not too worried" boys come good.

Comments: MAY I agree that from what we have seen at training so far May was not in the first 23 anyway - TMac, Turner and Lever ahead - with Adams available if necessary.

AMW - seems to be following his program, reckon he plays on Feb 20, if not before, maybe in the intra-club.

Worry about small backs - see above re AMW, Howes, CJ and I still prefer Rivers back (given we have so many other mid-field options)

The interesting issue for me is whether anyone is moved to the LTI group pre-season. This time last year Culley was training the house down and he was lucky enough to take AMW's spot at the last moment. I did not see any train-on players there today....

I wonder if McAdam or even Viney (if they think it’s more serious) end up on the list someone like luamon lual or Seamus Mitchell could come in and play a small lock down defender whilst Bowey isn’t playing or AMW isn’t ready? Not sure if there’s anyone else that could come in but they’re the two names that come to mind

Fans continue to write off Viney and he just keeps coming out and shutting them down.

Players get injured but he will be back, as driven as ever

He has averaged >20 games a season over the past 5 years

14 hours ago, Harvey Wallbanger said:

Apologies for the very late report:

Absent: May (now announced publicly) Bowey, McAdam (see below) and White (?).

Rehab - looking some time away, Bowey, McAdam (see above) Viney, Campbell (walking only in neck brace) and Henderson (although he began running today to a great cheer from the main group).

Rehab - but not too worried - Salem, CJ, Laurie, Melksham, Johnson.

Gawn, Matthews and Sharp back in business today and Rivers (as reported on) doing some work away from the group, but looks OK.

That leaves 38 of the 44 still fit and available if my "not too worried" boys come good.

Comments: MAY I agree that from what we have seen at training so far May was not in the first 23 anyway - TMac, Turner and Lever ahead - with Adams available if necessary.

AMW - seems to be following his program, reckon he plays on Feb 20, if not before, maybe in the intra-club.

Worry about small backs - see above re AMW, Howes, CJ and I still prefer Rivers back (given we have so many other mid-field options)

The interesting issue for me is whether anyone is moved to the LTI group pre-season. This time last year Culley was training the house down and he was lucky enough to take AMW's spot at the last moment. I did not see any train-on players there today....

Do you know the cut off date for LTI so that we can put a player on our list as we did last year.

22 hours ago, Back pocket said:

• X.Lindsay and Disco - wasn't their day by foot. A few errors each.

When recalling all the DL training report this summer, this comment above dawned on me that Lindsay hasn't really had any positive reports compared to your Culley's, WIndsor's, Langford's, Pickett's etc...

Lindsay is training without a jumper number (as is Steele) which makes him harder it identify. He's also an accumulator, doesn't make many mistakes and doesn't do the flashy stuff so he's easy to miss. Trelly on the other hand....

Edited 15 hours ago15 hr by Slartibartfast

I was able to catch about 15-20 yesterday.

My observations were mixed.

Positives
Looks to have been a few develop, JVR's hands were a feature, not sure if he's just upped his use of grippo but he looked to be one grabbing and had a fair bit of confidence about him.

Latrelle moved well and looks very comfortable at the level.

Windsor looks to be building nicely, pace a feature and neat kicking to cut through the middle.

Kozzie looks more than a level above everyone. In the match sim he was getting in behind the 'zone' with ease, short release kicks to him and then he was out and more often than not found a leading forward or finished himself. I know 2025 was a big year for Kozzie, but if there's a bit of supply and some decent ruck work around stoppage he will comfortably be a top 5 player in the comp by season's end.

Negatives
I don't want to go on too much here, but..

Koltyn
When we drafted him I had high hopes, competitive, strong, bit of mongrel. All good traits. But just like his senior debut there's still little awareness and seemingly panic ball in hand. He really berated himself after missing a 20m pass on his left when chest out running forward. I honestly don't see him making the level and was baffled by the decision to recontract him. Hope I'm very wrong, but I don't think he has the smarts and ability ball in hand.

Jefferson
There's been some interesting commentary on here about some good performances in match sim. In the snippets I saw of him yesterday I'm still convinced he's a mile off the level. There were some average kicks coming forward but he was still moved with ease off the line of the footy by Tom McDonald. His frame has not built out, and when the ball hit the deck while looking to have improved his urgency he just couldn't impact the game. At best he's a third tall marking option, but he doesn't have anywhere near the ability of Fritsch who owns this role.

Looking forward to hearing the news from the match sim and thanks to others for their detailed observations, always great to read.

Cheers.

5 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Sadly, the JV situation will become an 'own goal'. We extended his contract in 2024 for 3 years on top of the 1 year he had left.

This isn't hindsight. His injuries were well known and there was no need to rush as several of us pointed out at the time.

He is contracted to the end of 2028 on a sizeable contract and on his current injury/preseason it is hard to see him playing out the contract.

We know that with King he won't be gifted games. Whether he plays a handful of games each year or we pay him out it will be a burden on our sal cap carrying his $ to 2028, Brayshaw $ to 2028 and Oliver $ to 2030.

Well we don’t know what the terms of the new contract were, it’s quite possible it was all done to smooth out the numbers by adding more years, and certainly with trac and Oliver now gone he is also now more vital then ever even if he isn’t playing every week

8 hours ago, demon3165 said:

34 minutes ago, Roost it far said:
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

This club has been surrounded by these stories since 2022. How many chances do you give a guy that’s of little use as a player who can’t act like a pro off the field or even on the field at times? King and Co. would be ropeable in my opinion.

Except for a couple of times, he has served us well, so let's not dump on him. At least he showed some passion. It's easy to dump on people when there are no facts on the table as to why or how. He seems to have some health issues, and in today's world, it's happening more and more. Whether he plays in the seniors or reserves is not the question; it will be whether his health improves that is the more important question.

I get that and I applauded the club for helping Oliver through his issues. However the fact is we’re a small AFL club that in part relies on winning and sponsors if we’re any chance to win another Flag. As a supporter I’m over the tail wagging the dog. Support the club, the coach and your teammates or retire and work on your issues, whatever they may or may not be.

4 hours ago, stinga said:

Do you know the cut off date for LTI so that we can put a player on our list as we did last year.

Officially I believe it is just before the scratch matches are played, but the AFL was flexible last year. I recall Jagga Smith going down just before the season started and AMW in our practice match against North - which allowed Jai Culley to come in. ChatGPT tells me the cutoff date aws 20 Feb 2026 but the AFL have extended it to March 2.

3 hours ago, Sparrowsfart said:

I was able to catch about 15-20 yesterday.

My observations were mixed.

Positives
Looks to have been a few develop, JVR's hands were a feature, not sure if he's just upped his use of grippo but he looked to be one grabbing and had a fair bit of confidence about him.

Latrelle moved well and looks very comfortable at the level.

Windsor looks to be building nicely, pace a feature and neat kicking to cut through the middle.

Kozzie looks more than a level above everyone. In the match sim he was getting in behind the 'zone' with ease, short release kicks to him and then he was out and more often than not found a leading forward or finished himself. I know 2025 was a big year for Kozzie, but if there's a bit of supply and some decent ruck work around stoppage he will comfortably be a top 5 player in the comp by season's end.

Negatives
I don't want to go on too much here, but..

Koltyn
When we drafted him I had high hopes, competitive, strong, bit of mongrel. All good traits. But just like his senior debut there's still little awareness and seemingly panic ball in hand. He really berated himself after missing a 20m pass on his left when chest out running forward. I honestly don't see him making the level and was baffled by the decision to recontract him. Hope I'm very wrong, but I don't think he has the smarts and ability ball in hand.

Jefferson
There's been some interesting commentary on here about some good performances in match sim. In the snippets I saw of him yesterday I'm still convinced he's a mile off the level. There were some average kicks coming forward but he was still moved with ease off the line of the footy by Tom McDonald. His frame has not built out, and when the ball hit the deck while looking to have improved his urgency he just couldn't impact the game. At best he's a third tall marking option, but he doesn't have anywhere near the ability of Fritsch who owns this role.

Looking forward to hearing the news from the match sim and thanks to others for their detailed observations, always great to read.

Cheers.

Well, I trusted your observations on Tholstrup until I read your observations of Jefferson!

21 minutes ago, Roost it far said:

I get that and I applauded the club for helping Oliver through his issues. However the fact is we’re a small AFL club that in part relies on winning and sponsors if we’re any chance to win another Flag. As a supporter I’m over the tail wagging the dog. Support the club, the coach and your teammates or retire and work on your issues, whatever they may or may not be.

And a club still has responsibilities for its health. Unfortunately, these types of issues are affecting all clubs. We don't know or need to know as long as the club takes action to help. As for sponsors, we are alright, but the club relies on supporters to join or go to games. If you are not winning, fans drop off, and we are not alone in that. Supporters could see that the last 4-5 years weren't working out game plan-wise, but Goodwin stuck with it, and we are paying for that now. Let's hope a braver and more modern game plan and development will allow supporters to see some hope going forward.

19 minutes ago, waynewussell said:

Well, I trusted your observations on Tholstrup until I read your observations of Jefferson!

I trust their observations on both.

I've never doubted Jefferson's innate ability but having the physicality, aggression, nastiness, strength, etc. to actually make a regular meaningful impact at AFL level are other levels of magnitude.

It's a make or break year. I'll be shocked if he makes it based on what I've seen thus far.

Admittedly, I haven't seen any preseason, so it's possible he's been hypnotised.

Edited 11 hours ago11 hr by Gator

Looking forward to seeing Ghosty wearing her BINTANG t shirt at training.

25 minutes ago, Gator said:

I trust their observations on both.

I've never doubted Jefferson's innate ability but having the physicality, aggression, nastiness, strength, etc. to actually make a regular meaningful impact at AFL level are other levels of magnitude.

It's a make or break year. I'll be shocked if he makes it based on what I've seen thus far.

Admittedly, I haven't seen any preseason, so it's possible he's been

With a bit of development and some imput from Scarlet we might see a different Jefferson hope the penny drops for his sake.

2 hours ago, demon3165 said:

With a bit of development and some imput from Scarlet we might see a different Jefferson hope the penny drops for his sake.

Agree and based on two Slithera City training reports I have witnessed and other scribes at Oh Gosh,I firmly believe he will surprise many, and maybe even himself!!

13 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

Sadly, the JV situation will become an 'own goal'. We extended his contract in 2024 for 3 years on top of the 1 year he had left.

This isn't hindsight. His injuries were well known and there was no need to rush as several of us pointed out at the time.

He is contracted to the end of 2028 on a sizeable contract and on his current injury/preseason it is hard to see him playing out the contract.

We know that with King he won't be gifted games. Whether he plays a handful of games each year or we pay him out it will be a burden on our sal cap carrying his $ to 2028, Brayshaw $ to 2028 and Oliver $ to 2030.

Poor list management

14 hours ago, Lucifers Hero said:

This isn't hindsight. His injuries were well known and there was no need to rush as several of us pointed out at the time.

Hmm. Certainly looks like hindsight?

Viney's injuries haven't stopped him playing most games each season. And his current injury is an achilles, which I believe is a first for him.

As for the rest, I'm not averse to the club giving decent long-term contracts to experienced players who bring leadership onfield and off, and you can understand the club's thinking after the loss of Brayshaw - plus the upcoming loss of ANB, which the club must have known by then as well. On top of that, there were fairly widespread reports of strong interest from North Melbourne.

Some of us here are still haunted by the departure of James McDonald and the damage that that did, so I'm more than happy that we err on the other side of it all. It's all very well bringing in a heap of young, talented players, but you desperately need players like Viney around the place to take them under their wing.