2026 Preseason

[Thunder Shaker]

Current injury list for Sydney gathered from the AFL website:
Likely to be ready for round 0:
Isaac Heeney (hamstring)
Callum Mills (hamstring)
Tom Papley (calf)

Not available for start of season:
Taylor Adams (achilles, concussion during training)
Harry Cunningham (quadriceps) 3-5 weeks
Max King (back) - 6 months
Jevan Phillipou (quadriceps) 5-7 weeks

Concussions (during training):
Joel Amartey
Brodie Grundy

As I see it, four players will not be available for the start of the season and only one (Cunningham) is a first-23 player.

[UUaswan]

Add Ned Bowman
8 Weeks, Hammy

[rb4x]

Riak Andrew has still some suspension to serve I think

[KSAS]

I think Bice will be a good replacement for Harry. Disappointing to hear about Ned's injury as he was reportedly impressing in defence and seen as heir to Rampe.

Disappointing to see injuries to our depth and development players coming late in the preseason. It will impact our VFL team.

Riak copped a 5 week suspension back in July which he should've had fully served?

[UUaswan]

I think Bice will be a good replacement for Harry. Disappointing to hear about Ned's injury as he was reportedly impressing in defence and seen as heir to Rampe.

Disappointing to see injuries to our depth and development players coming late in the preseason. It will impact our VFL team.

Riak copped a 5 week suspension back in July which he should've had fully served?

Rampe wont know what to do with himself playing alongside 3 talls

[rb4x]

Riak copped a five week suspension on July 23 and there were only four VFL rounds after that for which one of them Sydney had a bye. Sydney did not make the finals. I am not sure how suspensions are counted in the VFL but I think Riak might still have one or two weeks to go.

[dejavoodoo44]

Riak copped a five week suspension on July 23 and there were only four VFL rounds after that for which one of them Sydney had a bye. Sydney did not make the finals. I am not sure how suspensions are counted in the VFL but I think Riak might still have one or two weeks to go.

I'm also unsure how the suspension is calculated, but if it's VFL games, then it's even more problematic. That is, the VFL starts later than the AFL, then we have a bye in round 2, so the fifth game of his suspension isn't until April 4th. In that time period we play four AFL games. Hopefully there's some sort of a more sensible formula, but I'm not really getting my hopes up.

[dejavoodoo44]

Squad for the practice match against the Bulldogs, which will take place at 2pm on Thursday at Whitten Oval.

2. Hayden McLean, 4. Brodie Grundy, 5. Isaac Heeney, 6. Logan McDonald, 8. James Rowbottom, 10. Malcolm Rosas, 12. Angus Sheldrick, 13. Jai Serong, 14. Callum Mills, 15. Sam Wicks, 16. Braeden Campbell, 17. James Jordon, 19. Peter Ladhams, 21. Errol Gulden, 22. Nick Blakey, 24. Dane Rampe, 26. Riley Bice, 29. Joel Hamling, 30. Tom McCartin, 33. Caiden Cleary, 34. Matt Roberts, 35. Charlie Curnow, 36. Joel Amartey, 37. Corey Warner, 43. Lewis Melican, 44. Jake Lloyd

Absent: Chad Warner*, Jesse Dattoli, Tom Papley, Jevan Phillipou, Riak Andrew, Ned Bowman, Billy Cootee, Justin McInerney, Will Edwards, Max King, Harry Kyle


Probably should get a win, since the Bulldogs will be missing six players who took part in the recent state game.

[dejavoodoo44]

Actually, now that I look at it, we have more players missing, than what the AFL site listed.

Also absent are: Adams, Cunningham, Snell, Hanily, Hetherton, Chamberlain and Green.

[wolftone57]

Watching Lions v Blues. Lions just bombing the ball forward. No system at all. This is bull@@@@. When they play they never do this.

[Nico]

Watching Lions v Blues. Lions just bombing the ball forward. No system at all. This is bull@@@@. When they play they never do this.

Getting match fitness and touch.

[KSAS]

Actually, now that I look at it, we have more players missing, than what the AFL site listed.

Also absent are: Adams, Cunningham, Snell, Hanily, Hetherton, Chamberlain and Green.

I'm a bit sketchy as to our available players for these 2 upcoming practice matches today & next week, due to either injury, soreness or suspension (Riak?).

Can understand club being a bit guarded with R0 only 2 weeks away, but suspicious we might have a few players club is cautiously managing with "awareness " type injuries.

We know officially Cunningham, Phillipou, Bowman & King are officially out with medium to long term injuries. Cox has stated Papley is being managed to be available for R0, but there is doubt on that according to the True Bloods podcast who observed him last Friday.

We know Cootee & Riak had interrupted preseasons with soreness. Dattoli & Hanily missed the last intraclub. McInerney missing today seems a surprise?

I imagine the club will play its core senior players today and possibly rest the big stars next week against GWS, so they get a week's rest before the season opener against Carlton.

Rest of the squad to get rotated through in the 2nd week?

[dejavoodoo44]

First quarter of the preseason and we already have the first sighting of; centre tap to Gulden, Gulden to Curnow, goal! Hopefully it's the first of many.

[dejavoodoo44]

I'm a bit sketchy as to our available players for these 2 upcoming practice matches today & next week, due to either injury, soreness or suspension (Riak?).

Can understand club being a bit guarded with R0 only 2 weeks away, but suspicious we might have a few players club is cautiously managing with "awareness " type injuries.

We know officially Cunningham, Phillipou, Bowman & King are officially out with medium to long term injuries. Cox has stated Papley is being managed to be available for R0, but there is doubt on that according to the True Bloods podcast who observed him last Friday.

We know Cootee & Riak had interrupted preseasons with soreness. Dattoli & Hanily missed the last intraclub. McInerney missing today seems a surprise?

I imagine the club will play its core senior players today and possibly rest the big stars next week against GWS, so they get a week's rest before the season opener against Carlton.

Rest of the squad to get rotated through in the 2nd week?

The job of AFL fitness trainers always seems a very difficult balancing act to me. You need to train for both the power to win contests and the endurance to run over ten kilometres in a game, often in high intensity bursts, but carrying around a lot of muscle bulk isn't really any good for endurance. Plus you'd probably like for your team to have more power and endurance than your opponents, but I suspect that in trying to achieve that, there's always the risk that you put too much stress on the bodies of players. There's probably also the balancing act of wanting the players to get as fit as possible in the preseason, but knowing that September is the time that you'd really like them to peak.

So, while the preseason seems to have had a few more hiccups than I would like, it's possibly that best time to be a bit cautious. And on a slight tangent, I'm quite pleased that Mills is playing, when a few weeks ago, it seemed like he'd struggle to get up for round one.

[dejavoodoo44]

I'm not sure if the AFL site understands the concept of a live blog. The only entry during the second quarter, was to provide a link to the goal that Rosas kicked in the first quarter. But hey, we're in front at half time 6.4 to 3.5, with two goals each to Curnow, McDonald and Rosas. Curnow was found by Gulden in both his goals.