TRAINING: Wednesday 4th February 2026

It was sunny and hot morning as Demonland Trackwatchers took up positions along the boundary lines to bring you their observations from Wednesday morning's preseason training session at Gosch's Paddock.

DEMONLAND'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

The sun is shining and the heat is rising!!!!

The boys in red guernseys are making their way onto Gosch’s Paddock.

Max does not have the big brace on his hand. It is now just taped.

Petty is no longer in the fluoro “no contact” hat. Kentfield is still wearing the fluoro hat.

Absent: May, Viney (arrived later), Bowey, McAdam, White.

Salem and Henderson doing warmups with the squad.

Campbell still in neck brace on the boundary watching on.

Viney has arrived in non-guernsey training gear.

CJ has some kind of compression band around his quad/hamstring.

He is in what appears to be a smaller rehab/RDO group doing warmups consisting of Salem, Melksham, Laurie and Johnson.

First drill about to start so we will get to see who is actually in the rehab groups.

Midfield drill:

Max, Langford, Lindsay, Chandler

Heath, Pickett, Sparrow, Onley

Rehab: Salem, Melksham, CJ, AJ, Henderson & Laurie

Rivers doing separate work away from the group with Selwyn Griffiths.

Runs and picks up a stationary ground ball and then sells candy around one of the stationary metal men.

The players in the midfield drill have now changed with Max and Heath still rucking.

Culley Kolt & Windsor vs Steele, Langdon, Trelly.

Very aggressive one vs one drill on far side of the ground.

Other drill: Players line up to kick to a leading forward running towards the kicker with one defender on his tail and another defender to his side as an interceptor. Immediately after that play another player will kick to that forward who has now tried to get out the back of the two defenders heading towards goal.

Steele has come off and taken the boots off and put on runners. Watch this space.

Half court match SIM has started.

Kentfield and Petty not taking part and doing one on one work with a trainer.

AMW also not taking part.

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

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.

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.

Players are now doing sprints along the boundary from half back to the forward pocket goal posts in groups of 5 or 6.

DEESPENCER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Nice warm blustery Northerly blowing which is testing the players control on their kicking.

Impressed by how quickly Oscar Berry has improved his kicking and trimmed up.

Watching Disco mark a footy even in a fairly simple kick to kick drill is a pleasure to see. Such easy hands.

Centre bounce practice under the eye of Russian and Jones.

Heath, Pickett, Sparrow, Onley

Gawn, Langford, Lindsay, Chandler

2021 it is not

Heath, Culley, Windsor, Kolt

Gawn, Steele, Langdon, Trell

Next rotation in if you didn’t like the first 6!

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

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.

THIRTY ONE'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Match sim using only half the ground. Very congested.

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

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.

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

Training finished before midday!

A few are doing some extra drills.

WAYNE WUSSELL'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

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.

DANNY Z'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

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.

BACK POCKET'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Went down to Gosch's at about 10:30 and stayed until the end. Very blustery conditions. I'll try not to repeat too much of what has been said above. Will attempt to call things as I saw them rather than with rose coloured glasses on.

 General comments:

• Matty Scarlett - impressed with the spoiling drill he was running. Defenders were learning to spoil the ball in a targeted direction (all 360 degrees around them) to a spot of our team's advantage.

• All our new recruits from other clubs seemed to have their workloads managed at times today (CJ, Mihocek, Steele, Heath). Not sure if this a workload thing due to their clubs playing later into the year then us.

• Half field match play drill focusing on entering into the 50. Looking to hit short kicks inside 50. Start by kicking around the back of the 50 to try create new angles to enter.

• I thought our kicking was very sloppy today. The wind would have played a big factor though. Happy to let them off.

• No full ground match sim unfortunately. Hard to get too much of a read on things.

• Big fan of the full team Zooper Dooper break at the halfway mark.

 Player specific notes:

• Latrelle, Kolt, Langdon - some of the names involved in the midfield stoppage drill when I arrived. Interesting to see.

• Max Heath - terrific in the air. Took a few very strong marks pushing back deep into defense. Gee he's a big lad as well.

• Riv - seemed to be working with the backs when I arrived.

• Jeffo - reads the ball very well in the air. Doesn’t necessarily like the contact, but he might not have to if he can get himself into the right spots.

• Gawny - back in the action!

• Matthews - good to see him out there after being held back for most of the offseason. I am excited to see him in proper match sim. Have a feeling he could turn into something (based off nothing so far except a vibe).

• JVR - Slimmed down and looks very athletic. In for a big year.

• Berry - doesn't seem out of place as a Cat B rookie.

• Culley - didn't stand out as much as previous sessions. Has set a very high bar for himself though.

• Windsor - impressive shutdown spoil on Koz. His run and carry slightly less prominent today.

• Sparrow -  sets standards. Tough. Strong tackles and laying smothers.

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

• Latrelle -  dancing feet. Magical.

• X.Taylor - makes things happen out of the back half.

• Viney - looks a while away. His brother Max was also helping out with training.

• Steele - will be an important player for us in the middle (especially with Viney out). People shouldn't write him off. Looks good.

• Sharp - heavily involved with his run. Looked good. He'll need to tidy up his disposal though, especially if he only gets the ball so many times in a game.

• Lever - have been critical of him in the past always for only having one mode (bombing the ball down the line). Good to see him looking to hit shorter targets and keep possession of the ball.

• Mentha - not a standout session, but definitely looks much improved and more involved than last year.

• Koz - Koz

Bloody keen for the year!

FRITTA AND TURNER'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

As I exited Richmond station and was walking towards Punt Rd a woman asked me what bus do you catch to the MCG? Was keen to answer 31 but.....

One thing I have noticed about training this year is that the coaches are setup and in position well before the players hit the track.

Very strong wind blowing across the ground.

TMc first out with the Roo.

Absent White, McAdam, Bowey and May. (Ghosty still on holidays)

Henderson not wearing a rehab outfit and got a massive cheer from the squad as he ran past the group.

Viney and Campbell in rehab tops; Viney watched on and Campbell walked. Everyone else in training gear.

Vineys brother conducted a wrestling/grappling drill. They do look alike.

CJ had some strange velcro bandage? on his leg for a very short time.

CJ, Kentfield, Petty, AMW, Melky, Steele, Salem sometimes ran the boundary

Rivers had some minor discussion with a trainer and did some extra drills.

Ed did some weird stretching exercise in the goal square which turned out to be 'watering the sands...'

Tom Matthews took part.

Chappy yelling out positioning advice to XT during a sim.

Fritta played like his opponent was Easton Wood.

Kossie is so good sometimes I reckon he should not participate in some of the sims.

Jeffo looking better and better at each training session. Playing with confidence.

As the kids are back at school the track watchers have a veteran look about them.

KEV'S PRESEASON TRAINING OBSERVATIONS

Some thoughts about the training in blustery and humid conditions.

Plenty of kicks missing the mark.

They are competing and tackling with intensity. The sim in the 50 arc was a 15 minute example. They began with 4 defenders (one sitting deep) and 3 attackers outside the 50. The other 29 were inside the 50. Most of the time two attackers went into the 50 and left the defenders to get multiple re-entries after the ball exited. Most exits were scrambles as the forwards poured on the pressure in tight areas. They had some stoppages in the 50 and Heath managed some good taps. Gawn used his match awareness to find separation outside 40 meters. Plenty of backward ball movement by the forwards as they reached for space. Plenty of snaps and some marks. I was worried for them again as they competed with gusto. Kossie tackling Culley with a front on hit had me gasping. The intensity was high though only the clean and those with peripheral vision succeed.

The field sims from wing to wing lasted 8 minutes × 3 sessions, across 3 teams. There were also hats confining the game to about 60 meters across

Most of it seemed to emphasise a central game, getting possession, spreading 15 meters and looking for a lead off the back. The defenders had hard time finding leads through the middle. The best they could do was hit up a straight lead that had a hard, one on one.

Kolty was fumbly and switched off when it was easy.

Turner works well, I think he is a King favourite.

Steele makes great decisions.

Kossie is great to watch. The three of, Koss, Mentha, and Latrelle were unstoppable.

I want to see more of Mathews, he is having trouble getting involved.