Heavy Training Load?

[Jimmy Yamazaki]

Haven't seen anything posted here yet.

I was over on St Kilda's board before and there is a thread there about Saints players possibly increasing there training load to prepare for finals.

Does anyone know if the Cats are doing this too?

Could it be a factor for some poor form recently?

 

[Turkey Tom]

Don't know, but Round 19 last year Carlton beat us by 30+ points.

 

[geelong_boy]

According to the Mission 2, coming out of the break in 2009 they had an increased six week training load. Could be the same this year.

 

[ATSAM]

I had heard that we had heavy training for two nights prior to the St Kilda game.

 

[Maydok]

According to the Mission 2, coming out of the break in 2009 they had an increased six week training load. Could be the same this year.

Let's hope so. They made a big deal of it last year, where as nothing's been mentioned recently.

It's funny, I was just watching Mike Sheehan and Robbo going thru the list of 'what's wrong at the cats' and had an amazing sense of deja vu from '09. That's what made last year such an amazing story - going from favourite to write off and then fighting back to win the title.

Champion's find a way to win when they're up against the ropes. That's what makes them champions.

I can;t believe we're as bad as played on Sat night. I don;t think anyone can. Just listen to the players comments.

They've got more to give, one way or the other.

 

[mwt5150]

Let's hope so. They made a big deal of it last year, where as nothing's been mentioned recently.

It's funny, I was just watching Mike Sheehan and Robbo going thru the list of 'what's wrong at the cats' and had an amazing sense of deja vu from '09. That's what made last year such an amazing story - going from favourite to write off and then fighting back to win the title.

Champion's find a way to win when they're up against the ropes. That's what makes them champions.

I can;t believe we're as bad as played on Sat night. I don;t think anyone can. Just listen to the players comments.

They've got more to give, one way or the other.

This. We had similarly crap performances against Brisbane, Carlton and Dogs late last year while gearing up for finals.
Fact is pretty much the whole team had a shocker the other night except for about half a quarter during which the Pies looked like under 13's.

 

[OldStyle2007]

Geelong Are Tapering!!

(anyone remember that thread from 09?)

 

[RegHickeyStand]

Geelong Are Tapering!!

(anyone remember that thread from 09?)

And? What do you make of the form of the Western Bulldogs and Collingwood over the past 6 to 8 weeks. For at least 5 weeks Collingwood have been absolutely flying on game day, and so too have the Doggies. Time will tell whether they crash and burn during Sept. According to their form, they must have started tapering in late May.

Certainly Hawthorn's run came to an end a few weeks ago.

And notice St Kilda, the team ppl were writing off? I think someone else may have been tapering a week or two earlier than us.

 

[OldStyle2007]

Point is we had exact same topic last year and we won the flag.

So, Taper This!

 

[RegHickeyStand]

Point is we had exact same topic last year and we won the flag.

So, Taper This!

I meant "And?" as what do you think the form of other teams tells us. Plenty of teams crash and burn in the finals. When I looked at Collingwood last week I thought they could not play any better and the scoreboard flattered us. But I also thought, how long can they play at this level and keep fresh? The same with the Doggies over the past 2 months.

 

[Vdubs]

I meant "And?" as what do you think the form of other teams tells us. Plenty of teams crash and burn in the finals. When I looked at Collingwood last week I thought they could not play any better and the scoreboard flattered us. But I also thought, how long can they play at this level and keep fresh? The same with the Doggies over the past 2 months.

Pies are reaping the rewards of all the Arizona high altitude training- superbly fit, they might not run out of legs at all this year, and they have great depth. Saints are taking on what we did last year, and should try peak on the day of the GF. But they always seem to be a year behind us. Dogs are resting heaps this week= virus. What are we up to this year? I think we are the trendsetters.

 

[OldStyle2007]

I meant "And?" as what do you think the form of other teams tells us. Plenty of teams crash and burn in the finals. When I looked at Collingwood last week I thought they could not play any better and the scoreboard flattered us. But I also thought, how long can they play at this level and keep fresh? The same with the Doggies over the past 2 months.

OK, gotcha

I think this Collingwood team is probably not going to fall in a heap like Freo have fitness wise. They have just that right blend of youngsters and experience, which is I think what Tom Harley was eluding to when he pumped them up a few weeks ago and compared them to our 2007 side

I reckon the cats have to think of a way to get it out of the backline against that high field press that they are playing

Malcolm Gladwell wrote a good article about how underdogs can win by playing a full court press
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/11/090511fa_fact_gladwell
This is exactly what Collingwood are doing - making up for a skill deficit vs the Cats with athleticism and structure (much like what the Hawks did in 2008)

So how do you get around this?

I reckon there are 2 ways:

1. Replicate Collingwood's style and try and do it better (massive rotations and a full team defensive press in our forward half); or
2. Beat them with skill. Go smaller and more skilful in the backline. Drop Lonergan for a more skilful player. Run our good kickers deep into the backline to bring the ball out and play the forwards higher up the ground to take lead up marks past the centreline. And then get those over the back goals to Stokes and Byrnes. And bring in Rooke to put some more heat around the packs. Hawkins fitness and form is going to be massive in pulling this off as I think Blake is useless against these 150+ per game rotation teams

 

[Inferno]

Point is we had exact same topic last year and we won the flag.

So, Taper This!

Ha that reminded me of the "Richmond - the type of match we normally lose" topic

 

[TheCattery2007]

I've been wondering this for weeks, would be very surprised if we were not preparing for finals by getting really fit in time for finals. They did it well last year and would have no reason to change that approach. Would not be surprised if we lost to the Doggies even with their bird flu running through the team.