News Ian McKeown Departs

Ian McKeown gave a press conference today about pre season training and how he has handled being in charge of the high performance team, since being appointed mid September. Looked where to put this and I couldn't find a thread for him, so I thought I would start one and all the stuff he does can go in here, rather than in the Burgo academy thread. He joined Port 5 years ago this month, so a thread dedicated to his work is deserved. Still keeps in touch with Burgo and he gives Ian a bit of support. Says some of preseason technical program has been in place for a long term. Talks about Robbie and the residual effect chemo probably has had on him as he hasn't seen much effect, but knows it has a system wide effect on fatigue and they have to manage that. Talks about half a dozen other players.





This was the short video when he was appointed in mid September

 
Last edited:

pip_

Team Captain
Feb 18, 2017
398
1,452
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
I could listen to him all day. IMO, best speaker at the club. Don't know about his high performance skills but he's certainly got the gift of the gab.
 
Those in the know in sports high performance rate him highly.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
As per this graphic Janus put up in the Burgo returns to EPL thread in June on page 12. 5 spots higher up than Burgo.


382403_d059f225aa1d2166ba38e83ad9424485.png
 
Looks like Mackers has written more papers than Burgo - 16 according to this site, and several with Carl Woods after he left Port at end of 2011 and went and did a PHD at Edith Cowan Uni in Perth and then worked at James Cook Uni in Townsville at start of 2015. Woods is the guy we employed to become our skills acquisition expert that came back to the club in November. I reckon Mackers probably head hunted him as he knew we had to improve our goal kicking and general skills

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ian_Mckeown3

Carl Woods profile
https://research.jcu.edu.au/portfolio/carl.woods/
Research papers
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Carl_Woods2
 
Here are a couple of long interviews/podcast Mackers did with sports science and strength and conditioning guys over the last 2 years. It goes deeply into his history and what he has done at Port and talks about our program and our players reaction to it. BrockBlitz Power freak 2008 what are your thoughts once you have had a chance to watch these 2 interviews.

In this one with Robert Pacey from the Paceyperformance.co.uk long running podcast series of several years (Pacey now works for Catapult Sports in the UK and still does these podcasts) in mid 2015, Mackers says 2/3rds of the way in - "I don't think we are doing anything that nobody else is doing, but what I would like to hang my hat on is that we're, sorry excuse my French, but we're coaching the s**t out of it, and we're making sure our guys are, we're hanging our hat on our guys being the most athletic team in the AFL, if not in terms of cross codes ... we're going to make sure our guys are the best in terms of those incredible athletes in the AFL."





And this one from December 2016 with Ron McKeefery twice awarded Collegiate Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year and has worked at both the Professional and Collegiate level working with the Cincinnati Bengals (NFL), Kansas City Royals (MLB), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (NFL), and collegiate programs such as Eastern Michigan University, University of Tennessee, and University of South Florida.

In here Mackers goes thru his past as well as what he has done at Port. He goes thru a bit more of the technical aspect of what he does in this podcast.

What stands out in these 2 podcasts is that Mackers is know around the world and well regarded. I reckon Burgo head hunted him. Burgo Mackers and others have set up a high end sports program. Some people dopely said Mackers was a jobs for the boys situation but why get someone else when the bloke you have in your back pocket is probably as good as anyone who applied and knows the whole set up and was there from a month after it started.

We are in good hands in respect of our whole high performance department. If we fail it wont be because of them it will be because of the coaching staff and players inability to succeed or they just aren't good enough. I got an alert to Janus' thread Legs feed the wolf as I was near the end of the 2nd podcast. I re read his OP and agree with this bit - Football mastery. There was a big reason why we focused so heavily on running in the first few seasons under Burgess. Because the legs feed the wolf - if you can't run, you'll go hungry.

We have the right athletic ability. Its now up to the brain power of the coaches and players and skills and physical output of the players to succeed.

 
Last edited:

BrockBlitz

Club Legend
Apr 19, 2013
1,765
2,047
Adelaide
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
I'll watch them and get back to you.

But yes you're correct in burgo setting it up and macca running it.

An analogy for this would be setting up a mine. It takes shitloads of engineers to design and build it and not that man to run it. Same principal. Why would you get someone else in when burgo taught Stu everything he needed ?

One of the most important things as a coach is the player buy in. If they already trust the staff why upset the apple cart ?
 

LK Metro

All Australian
Sep 5, 2013
640
741
Uptome...
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
Liverpool, Seahawks & MN Wild
Interesting to see that Mladen Jovanovic (#38) ranks well above Burgo and Mackers in this "Experts" listing...

I always wondered why he left (seemingly abruptly)...googled and discovered it was family issues...

If you're interested:
http://complementarytraining.net/leaving-port-adelaide-football-club/

Maybe it's my hospitality experience, but I have difficulty listening to Macker's accent without hearing / interpreting it ask for a pint :)
 

Tim Evans Beard

Cancelled
East Side Hawks - Sweet F.A. Chess Club Member
Apr 9, 2016
1,825
3,173
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Interesting to see that Mladen Jovanovic (#38) ranks well above Burgo and Mackers in this "Experts" listing...

I always wondered why he left (seemingly abruptly)...googled and discovered it was family issues...

If you're interested:
http://complementarytraining.net/leaving-port-adelaide-football-club/

Maybe it's my hospitality experience, but I have difficulty listening to Macker's accent without hearing / interpreting it ask for a pint :)
Mladen is a jet. His work on periodisation training in team environments for individuals is revolutionary.
 
Interesting long interview last week with Mackers with a fellow Irishman Robbie Bourke a strength and conditioning nutrition and rehab coach.

Mackers gives a fair bit of info about his background for 5 years before got to Oz and 5 years at AIS before working with the Matilda's and may other's before joing Port late 2012 ie 7 pre season's ago. Robbie drops the F bomb a few times and Mackers joins in. Mackers says part of the reason he looked forward to the interview was cause he could get away with a bit of swearing.

Power freak 2008 BrockBlitz

https://robbiebourke.podbean.com/


This episodes guest is Ian McKeown from Port Adelaide Football Club, in Australia.

Ian is the Head of Athletic Development at Port Adelaide, balancing the complex interaction of injury prevention, long term athlete development, athletic performance and elite S+C coaching.
On this episode Ian and I discuss:
  • Macker's background
  • I ask Mackers why did he decide to go to Australia?
  • I ask Mackers who have been his biggest personal and professional influences
  • I ask Mackers, what are the good and not so good things that he currently sees within the sports performance profession, and what solutions would he offer for the not so good things that he see's
  • I ask Mackers to outline the demands of Aussie Rules
  • I ask Mackers to share with us his training philosophy and system
  • I ask Mackers how does he get his players to buy-into the importance of sprinting mechanics
  • I ask Mackers about the foot conditioning his does with his players
  • I ask Mackers to share with us what the off-season training at Port Adelaide looks like
  • I ask Mackers what does he do from movement assessment standpoint, and what physical testing he does with the boys at Port?
This was an outstanding episode and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!
Stay Strong,
RB

 
From the Connor Rozee draftee diary in the SA Weekend magazine.

https://outline.com/d4zAhF
The gym at Alberton brings welcome relief from the heat and the monotony of running. A typical session involves 10-20 players moving through at a time – usually in their lines (forwards, backs, midfielders) or by age – and each session lasts about an hour. In the corner of the gym is a whiteboard and in front are four iPads mounted to a desk that record everything the players do – every weight they lift and kilometre they run – and when they’re not at the club they log all that data on their phones which are synced to the iPads. On this day, hip-hop music is playing and watching it all unfold through the glass windows of their offices are Port Adelaide’s fitness staff.

“We have accountability and total buy-in from all our players and coaches to make it work,” says Port Adelaide’s head of high performance Ian McKeown. “Essentially a pre-season program could look the same across every club in the competition but it’s whether the work is put in behind the scenes to make it happen. We are blessed with the Brad Eberts, Justin Westhoffs, Travis Boaks, Jack Trengoves of the world who are overseeing things – the program really drives itself.”

The gym is a social setting as well as a training environment. “Between that and the physio room, there’s a lot of s**t being talked,” McKeown says. “But it’s important because it’s part of a young player’s education. They get to know each other and by watching how our leaders go about it they are learning about the expectations and standards that are set.”

McKeown has been in the job for 18 months after replacing Darren Burgess who brought him to the club in 2013. This is his second pre-season in charge but he sees it as a never-ending project. “You probably don’t ever stop, as things unfold during the season the messaging you get either in coaches’ reviews or the frustrations they might have, you start to pre-empt what they’re going to want (in pre-season),” he says. “So you need to have things in place way before September or October. I like to think we use all the experts that are here rather than it just being my program that I’m driving. “The most important thing is to make sure the football coaches get what they need and asking the right questions so you can write the programs.

“Between Stu Graham and Tim O’Leary from a medical point of view there are plenty of layers of different injuries and histories which you have to deal with. “So Stu and I sit in on a lot of the coaches’ end of season interviews because our job is to prepare the players to train the way they want to play. “Ken (Hinkley) empowers us because it’s our time when it comes to planning the program. The overarching stuff he is driving to a certain extent but it’s a very collaborative thing.” McKeown says the players are naturally inquisitive about what’s involved but some would rather not know what they’re about to do. “We’re as transparent as we can be but we are also trying to educate them so they understand increases in load and what that feels like,” he explains. “They need to know what sessions are faster, or more combative, and they’re told that. In the mornings you’ll see a lot of me buzzing around making sure everyone is OK, but the guys who want to know what training is and what the week looks like – we will tell them. “We have formal team meetings where we will present the information but typically we tend to stay away from that because they have a lot on their minds and to be honest, a lot of them don’t want to know. “They want to know what the week looks like – they’ll definitely want to know when they’re doing 1km time trials or 200m sprints – but beyond that they just want to know ‘either this is a big week or not’.” .........
https://outline.com/d4zAhF

Then Mackers talks about Rozee's progress
 
Last edited:

Sleezy

Premiership Player
Mar 17, 2015
3,365
6,646
Melbourne
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Interesting long interview last week with Mackers with a fellow Irishman Robbie Bourke a strength and conditioning nutrition and rehab coach.

Mackers gives a fair bit of info about his background for 5 years before got to Oz and 5 years at AIS before working with the Matilda's and may other's before joing Port late 2012 ie 7 pre season's ago. Robbie drops the F bomb a few times and Mackers joins in. Mackers says part of the reason he looked forward to the interview was cause he could get away with a bit of swearing.

Power freak 2008 BrockBlitz

https://robbiebourke.podbean.com/


This episodes guest is Ian McKeown from Port Adelaide Football Club, in Australia.

Ian is the Head of Athletic Development at Port Adelaide, balancing the complex interaction of injury prevention, long term athlete development, athletic performance and elite S+C coaching.
On this episode Ian and I discuss:
  • Macker's background
  • I ask Mackers why did he decide to go to Australia?
  • I ask Mackers who have been his biggest personal and professional influences
  • I ask Mackers, what are the good and not so good things that he currently sees within the sports performance profession, and what solutions would he offer for the not so good things that he see's
  • I ask Mackers to outline the demands of Aussie Rules
  • I ask Mackers to share with us his training philosophy and system
  • I ask Mackers how does he get his players to buy-into the importance of sprinting mechanics
  • I ask Mackers about the foot conditioning his does with his players
  • I ask Mackers to share with us what the off-season training at Port Adelaide looks like
  • I ask Mackers what does he do from movement assessment standpoint, and what physical testing he does with the boys at Port?
This was an outstanding episode and I hope you all enjoy it as much as we did!
Stay Strong,
RB


Thanks REH, great interview. Will have to keep an eye out for Pt 2.
 
Mackers likes to travel around the world and learn from others in his field. In November he went to the USA to talk to other sports science professionals.


In this 20 minute or so video with Dr Kerry State of TRS - The Ready State, near San Francisco - he explains footy, goes thru his 8 years at Port and different roles, gets asked what he would do different now with his experience compared to when he satrted as a strength and conditioning coach, talks about how we copy some of the All Blacks high performance coach Nick Gill ideas of the whole person and the last 4 minutes from the time Kerry State talks about Mackers continually building a network - says he admires that Mackers for being on a tour on his own time and dime, and Mackers talks about how he knows Port wont have great $150m facilities so he likes to talk to the people in charge and wants to spend time with people and find the gold in the learning in being open and sharing.


Ian McKeown @IanMackers
.Nov 2 In on the Conversation: Ian McKeown https://youtu.be/lhsPvNXetLU via
@YouTube always a highlight of any trip. Getting to spend time with Kelly and the gang at
@thereadystate enjoyed this conversation with the big fella around everything performance sport


 
Last edited:
Aug 30, 2004
36,051
64,736
Kaurna Land
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Other Teams
Vikings, Canadiens, Sharks
A premiership player from the 80's was nice enough to have a chat with me today about the training they did back then.

This is some of their programming :
View attachment 867481
View attachment 867482
I didn't realise Ian was involved with the club in the 80's.

I saw this thread had been bumped and thought he must have been made redundant as a COVID-19 cost saving.
 
Last edited:
Mackers and Stu Graham and the rest of the high performance team and club doctors are going to earn their money in the next few weeks.

The club that gets its conditioning right will be in the hunt come finals time.

Was having a chat with Ford Fairlane at halftime of the Carlton game and we both agree under Mackers regime we are as fit as under the Burgo regime, but we are no longer the skinny middle distance runners. We have put on a bit of size and are stronger in the contest, mainly noticeable at stoppages in particular, than a few years ago.

The best thing we have done under the Koch and KT regime is build a high performance program that outlasts Bugo - or the Darren Burgess Football Fitness Academy as Power freak 2008 dubbed it in his thread in 2014. Attaching ourselves to a couple of unis means we can stay at the forefront and offer top graduates the chance to get practical experience whilst they are doing their PHD. Plus Mackers was a great 2IC to take over. That should continue the way things are set up.

Mackers and his team are as good as anyone in the league. There is going to be a lot of soft tissue injuries this year across the league with the limited training, yet compressed schedule, so we have to look at a lot more than how many hammy's are twanged or not twanged this year.

A new high performance centre - facilities will include a new swimming pool and gymnasium were part of the Alberton Oval precinct redevelopment and probably represented $10-$12 million of the $35 million needed for it all to happen. The Aboriginal Centre of Excellence was $18 million.

With cuts in the footy department soft cap, we will have to do more with less. This is where partnering up with a University and a private consortium where the new high performance centre is used by Port, but not owned by Port and is a profit centre in its own right for the private consortium needs to be looked at so that any expenditure isn't part of the soft cap but we get the benefit of it being built and used by us.
 
Last edited:
Back