Season Preview: The Strength & Conditioning Coach

1. Frank in what condition did the players come back to training after the Christmas break?  I remember you saying that they all had a program to follow.

I was pretty happy with how the conditioning of the players was for majority of the group.  You could tell that they had been working on their game and their fitness while they were away so it was good to the vast majority come back in relatively good condition.  I know that it was Christmas and everyone likes to let their hair down a little bit but I think most of the players stuck to the guidelines and came back in pretty good condition.

2. Overall how would you say the players have fared over the preseason with adjusting to your methods and a different program?

I think they have adjusted pretty well.  The whole aim was to have them go through a relatively rigorous preseason and I think that they have got the benefits out of it, whether they have liked it or not.  I am pretty sure that they are a lot fitter than what they were the previous seasons and hopefully that can be a benefit to them in the season proper.

On the whole I have been rather happy with how they have ended up in regards to their fitness, particularly over the last couple of weeks.  Even though we have lost the first two preseason games we were still putting a lot of kilometres into their legs and they should have been fairly tired coming into the preseason games.  To play the way they did shows that they were still able to get their fitness levels up and at the same time playing games.  Now though we have pulled right back over the last 7-10 days and this should have them cherry ripe for the first game.

3. So that backing off period has only been done over the last couple of weeks bearing in mind the preseason games but also tapering off over the last two weeks in the lead up to round one?

Probably over the last month we have started to taper it away but at the same time still having some sort of fitness base that we are getting into them.  My job is to try and be the fittest team in the competition and like I said the aim was to actually go into the games a bit tired but that way we have the benefits come season proper.

4. So you would say the workload going into round one isn’t the same as what it was two weeks ago heading into the Subiaco game?

Yes the efforts have dropped off and the intensity has dropped off in regards to their running and we now turn our attentions to more of a maintenance phase where the players just try to get up for the coming games.  Here we will monitor their loads and if guys are injured then they might have to do more than others but it’s just about monitoring them now for the rest of the season.

5.  Last time we spoke you mentioned the importance of intensity and repeat efforts.  Has this improved over the last two months?

It certainly has.  The aim is to have their times when they do repeat runs only a couple of seconds apart.  As the preseason went on most guys times were pretty close together.  This should be beneficial with second, third fourth efforts come game time.

6. Are you happy with the fitness levels of the players now, compared to when you took over back in November last year?  How much more fitter would you say the players are?

That’s everyone’s aim to be fitter by the end of preseason, so certainly they are fitter and they are very close to around the mark where I wanted them to be for the start of the season.  It was never going to be easy but everyone took it on the chin and knew that there was work to be done and everyone stood up and put their hand up to get that work done.

On the whole I have been very happy with the way they have done the whole preseason from start to end.  The whole thing now is to be able to transition that into playing games and using your fitness to basically get the ball.

7. How many players would you say have completed PB’s?

It’s hard to put a gage on that without having the results right in front of me but I’m pretty certain that even the top end runners would be putting personal bests on the board.  I remember Chance Bateman on the last 3km time trial telling me that he got a personal best time.  Hearing someone say that, that has come from the highest level possible is pretty good.

The good thing about the boys was that they were all competing with each other and trying to beat each other and that’s exactly what you want to see.  Everyone’s trying to beat each other and everyone’s trying to be at the front.  Not that I wasn’t concerned about the times I wanted to get that competitive nature into them.  That’s the best thing about transitioning into games.  You get that competitive nature into the running and it drags everyone up and gets everyone going.

8. Which players have particularly impressed you over preseason?

I have been really impressed with the captain, Dene White.  He has been injured for quite a while and even though he wasn’t on the track he was doing above and beyond what I was asking of him in regards to rehab.  This demonstrates to the other guys in rehab the sort of level and professionalism that they have to get up to as well.  As hard as it was having him in the rehab group it dragged everyone up and showed that whatever they were doing they needed to go up to another level to get up to Dene’s standards.

Michael Sinclair has improved over the course of preseason and he is one who I have been happy with and I have also been pleased with Kieran Hug even though he has a minor lower back injury at the moment.  The Morton’s (Jarryd and Mitch) have spent a lot of time in the rehab group but are now back in the main group and have set the bar relatively high as well.

9. What was wrong with Daniel O’Sullivan?

First he had a calf injury after Christmas and then he started training again and while doing some contact work someone fell across him and he rolled his ankle.  He was out for a good six weeks by the end of it but now he is up and running which is good.

10. Now that we are coming into the season proper how will the training schedule differ from that of the preseason?

The main session for me will now be Monday nights.  Here we will be making sure that guys are getting back on the track and moving their legs.  We might even do some things in the pool.  It’s about getting your body free again and able to move soundly for our main session on Tuesday night.  It’s about getting some light kilometres in their legs and moving a bit of soreness out of the body.

11. Are there any major injury concerns heading into round one?

There are a couple of guys with minor concerns.  Callum Collard has an abductor but that is not a major issue at the moment.  The only major one was Dene White who had a really bad ankle sprain but he’s up and running now and had 32 possessions against East Fremantle on the weekend.  Everyone that we want on the track is on the track basically so that’s the good news.

12. Is Callum Collard likely to play this week?

He has a fitness test on Thursday night that will determine whether he plays or not.  The abductor is a funny muscle.  You can run straight lines fine with no worries but it is when you go to change direction where you find it hard to turn corners.  If he can prove that he can get through a light agility workout where he can change directions then he will be good to go on Saturday.