Review Training with the players

[see see]

As I was lucky enough to attend the 'Train With The Team' function on Wednesday evening as one of the winners of the sponsors' draw, I thought I'd share a few highlights.

Format

We were split into five groups and rotated through the following:

1. Tour of gym/treatment rooms
2. Ruck drill
3. Kicking drill
4. Handball drill
5. Goal kicking drill

This was all followed by a buffet meal and a chance to mingle with the players.

At the start of each drill, a player or players gave a brief explanation of what the drill was all about and then we got to strut our stuff.

Tour of gym/treatment rooms

This was a presentation of by a few players. Atley started by going through how often they hit the gym - almost daily in pre-season and a couple of times a week during the season. We weren't allowed to try any of the equipment as we "hadn't signed a gym waiver". He then handballed to Max Warren who explained a bit further about how a big part of in-season gym work comprised of injury prevention (IP) exercises that consist of repeated movements with light weights that focus on strengthening mainly the cuffs in the shoulders, knees and hips. Nicky Dal then added that they didn't do IP work at St Kilda and seemed to be pretty impressed by the whole set up at North and said that "our injury stats over the past five years speak for themselves". He also talked about how the players come back to the club after games to do all their recovery, including ice baths which "you just get used to over time".

Highlights: Nicky Dal's polished speaking skills, he'll do very well post footy. Further, an older member of our group noted that Nicky Dal looked "ready to go" and "in better shape in real life than on TV". A couple of the other boys had a good chuckle about this.

Weird factoid: Nicky's got quite large hands. Perhaps 'those' photos aren't doing him justice as anything would look small in relative proportion (and the poor camera angle, bad lighting, the fact he just got out of an ice bath etc).

We then moved into the treatment rooms where Sugar started to talk about what all the various massage tables etc were used for before he was cut off by the siren signalling time to move on to the next drill.

Highlight: When Sugar pointed to the physio treatment room and said "that's for the older players", someone from the group said "like you Boomer" (who was standing nearby) and Boomer replied "Mate, I never go in there".

Ruck drill

This was led by Goldy, BBB, Braydon Preuss (who's quite a big unit) and Joel Tippett fulfilling the role as ruck bag bitch. BBB and Goldy gave an interesting overview of the type of training in relation to playing in the ruck (Goldy: "I don't wanna do any ruck work in the pre-season") and how they work out when to rotate during games (Goldy: "usually at about the 10 minute mark of each quarter" BBB: "by then I'm already stuffed from leading all around the forward line").

Again, the siren went and cut things short although a couple of the kids got to have a go jumping and catching the ball against the ruck bag.

Kicking drill

Ironically, this group included the likes of Spitta and Gibbo. Perhaps it was so they could get in a bit of extra practice. Will Fordham gave a brief demonstration of how to kick a drop punt and then we did an end-to-end drill for about five minutes, during which time I had a quick chat to Mason Wood (tries to keep things simple when it comes to kicking), JZ (body's feeling best it ever has at this time of year) and Will Fordham (loving the opportunity to be in the AFL system).

Highlight: No player breaking their fingers getting on the end of my wobbly mongrel punts.

Lowlight: When I asked [player name removed to protect the guilty] about how much they practice kicking on their non-preferred foot, he replied "A little bit, but we try to avoid doing so in a game situation". Having grown up watching footy in the 70s-90s, this caused me more than a little distress.

Handball drill

Fishy demonstrated how to handball (make your hand like you're holding an icecream and strike the ball on the cross of the stitching) and then we went into a couple of drills. Wellsy was lurking in the background of the group and was notable for his encouragement of the younger kids who were taking part.

Highlights: Again, no injuries to players as a result of the drills (one was suspiciously similar to the drill that led to Corey McKernan colliding with Stevo and rupturing the latter's ACL on the eve of the 1995 finals). Also, spoke to a player (forget who) about Wellsy and he said that he'd trained quite well that day and was "a couple of weeks away" (year, sure).

Goal kicking drill

Drewie took us all into the forward pocket and got LT to demonstrate a dribble kick from the boundary that went straight through the middle and Waite to demonstrate a snap shot that was about as close as his effort against Collingwood, to which Drew said "first one he's missed all night" (think tongue was firmly in cheek). We then got to attempt our own shots from the pocket. My stats were roughly: dribblers (0/5), snaps (1/10) and drop punts (0/2 including a poster).

Highlight: despite footies flying everywhere, no falcons.

Contested work - buffet

All I'll say about this is don't get between a player sponsor and a free feed, you will get hurt.

 

[see see]

tl;dr

 

[Shermanator]

Great wrap up SS. The boys sounded upbeat, is there a buzz around the club atm?

 

[LuvtheKangas]

Great wrap up SS. The boys sounded upbeat, is there a buzz around the club atm?

There is a definite buzz. I was with see see a fair bit of the time and the enthusiasm of the players is noticeable (with a couple of exceptions - Ben C snuck out of there as soon as he could, not the social type is our Honey Badger).

One thing I noticed is that the players value wins more than perhaps we supporters do. Reading BF you get the impression that the team has been rubbish the last 3 weeks, but a couple of players I spoke to were enthusiastic about being in form and winning three in a row. They feel that every team is hard to beat and are happy to have been getting the job done.

I asked Froggy if he was in line for selection and he feels he is behind a few of the more established players. But very keen to break back in.

Loose McMahon has a great attitude. Knows he's no longer best 22, but will keep putting his hand up with performances in the VFL (BOG last week) and is confident of getting the job done if someone goes down and he gets the call up.

We chatted to JMac about the BF sponsorship, but suggested he is better served not reading BF. He laughed and said he's heard some stories, but they don't read BF (phew). He was gracious enough to say that supporters are entitled to express their opinions.

Great write-up from see see, but he forgot to mention his little niece's strong overhead grab on the ruck bag.

 

[see see]

Great write-up from see see, but he forgot to mention his little niece's strong overhead grab on the ruck bag.

My bad, it was a ripper. And I should add that during some of the drills LtK showed glimpses of the form that snared him an E Grade Amateurs Reserves (equal) B&F back in his footballing pomp. For example, he exhibited Cyril Rioli like elusiveness as he jinked in and out of space on his way to the chicken drumsticks at the buffet.

 

[Twinkletoes]

Great reports there lads. It sounds like a top evening was had. I certainly find such occasions are as valuable as the effort you put in to speak with the players in a relaxed environment, and you both (ok, not forgetting LtK's daughter), you all seem to have taken that advantage.

Very interesting about the non preferred kicking drills, or lack thereof, and the reluctance to use the opposite foot in games. Only the plonkers couldn't use their opposite foot back in the day.

Thanks for the info boys.

 

[The Other Dean]

For example, he exhibited Cyril Rioli like elusiveness as he jinked in and out of space on his way to the chicken drumsticks at the buffet.

Sammy Wright upon hitting the buffet, only to see that all LtK had left behind were the wings....

 

[Hojuman]

Great thing to me is blokes like Warren, Fordham & Preuss get a look in at these events. You wonder how blokes are going and staying enthusiastic plodding around in the VFL & wondering when their time might come.

Fantastic by the club and well reported fella's. Thanks !

 

[Hearts to hearts]

Great reports there lads. It sounds like a top evening was had. I certainly find such occasions are as valuable as the effort you put in to speak with the players in a relaxed environment, and you both (ok, not forgetting LtK's daughter), you all seem to have taken that advantage.

Very interesting about the non preferred kicking drills, or lack thereof, and the reluctance to use the opposite foot in games. Only the plonkers couldn't use their opposite foot back in the day.

Thanks for the info boys.

We are telling nine year olds to practice constantly as they need to be able to kick and handball on both sides. It really surprises me that any AFL players are told they can just avoid their wrong side during games - although I'm pretty sure we've seen some results of that when they inevitably can't get to their preferred foot or hand.

Great write up. Was it training with coaches, or just player-led?

 

[see see]

We are telling nine year olds to practice constantly as they need to be able to kick and handball on both sides. It really surprises me that any AFL players are told they can just avoid their wrong side during games - although I'm pretty sure we've seen some results of that when they inevitably can't get to their preferred foot or hand.

Great write up. Was it training with coaches, or just player-led?

All player led. Coaches didn't appear to be in attendance, which was a bit disappointing as I was hoping that Brad and the coaching panel would've spotted my obvious talent and offered me at least the opportunity to do pre-season with the boys. Maybe next time.

It was a really well run event, big props to the organisers :thumbs up thingy.