Pamam
Premiership Player
http://afl.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/208/Default.aspx?newsId=54653
Lappin heads Blues’ hands-on development
AFTER playing 196 games for Carlton, Matthew Lappin could have been forgiven for thinking he would be spending a lot more time on the golf course after he announced his retirement late last year, but it hasn’t turned out that way. New coach Brett Ratten wasted no time in offering Lappin a development role at the club, and Lappin jumped at the chance to remain involved with the club he loves.
He and fellow retiree, David Teague, are spearheading an exciting new initiative aimed specifically at giving the club’s burgeoning stocks of talented youngsters the tools they need to become successful AFL players.
“David Teague and I have set up programs that will assist them to fast track their development and get them up to speed to play AFL footy at a high standard as quickly as possible,” Lappin explains.
“A lot of it can be basic stuff, but we also played a lot of footy with these guys so we’ve got some good relationships with them. We can assist them in a lot of ways because we’ve pretty much experienced most of the things that footy has to offer.
“Once a week David and I have our skill development day when we work with players on specific areas of the game. But we’re around the place and we join in training and if any of the boys have weaknesses in certain areas it’s our job to put together drills and activities for them so that they can start improving.”
Both Lappin and Teague will continue to play for VFL affiliate, the Northern Bullants, with Lappin to assist Teague who will be senior coach of the side.
It’s a unique scenario that Lappin is hopeful will pay big dividends.
“That will assist the development of these guys,” he says. “When I’m out on the ground playing with them in the reserves, I’ll be able to instruct them and help them with their set-ups and just make sure that they’re on the right track.
“It gives us a bit of an advantage because when you are developing young players, you need guys who can get out on the track and do a lot of hands-on work with them. We’re still young and fit and healthy, so we can get out there and do a lot of work with the players.”
Lappin welcomes the growth of the development aspect of football clubs. It’s something he wishes was more prevalent when he started out back in 1993.
“It would have made life a hell of a lot easier to have had people there specifically worried about your game,” he says.
“I mean we always had coaches but when there’s so many players it was hard for them to spread the attention around. Now there’s a lot more specific coaching done with each individual.
“There has been some really good improvements made by some of the other clubs in the league who have done the development stuff really well, so we’re hoping we’ll have the same sort of improvements.”
But with the picture looking so bright at Carlton for the first time in a long time, will it be difficult for him to sit on the sidelines and watch the side achieve on the field?
“My time had come,” he says. “I mean I could have squeezed another year out of my body and played again, but for the development of this footy club they had to get another 20 games into a young player rather than me taking a position in the senior team.
“It was just time for me. Sometimes you can play a year too long. Who knows, I might have played really well, but I’ve got no regrets at all and I’m pretty happy that it’s turned out the way it has.
“I’ve still been able to stay involved in a lot of the skill activities at the club, which is the stuff I enjoyed. I’m pretty sure when the games roll around and there’s 80,000 people at the MCG when we play Essendon, that’s when I’ll probably feel it, but life goes on. I’m not the first bloke to retire and I won’t be the last, so you just get on with it.
“I’ve got absolutely no complaints. I squeezed 251 games out of my body and I’ve been able to stay around the club and be involved in what I hope is going to be good times ahead.”
Lappin heads Blues’ hands-on development
AFTER playing 196 games for Carlton, Matthew Lappin could have been forgiven for thinking he would be spending a lot more time on the golf course after he announced his retirement late last year, but it hasn’t turned out that way. New coach Brett Ratten wasted no time in offering Lappin a development role at the club, and Lappin jumped at the chance to remain involved with the club he loves.
He and fellow retiree, David Teague, are spearheading an exciting new initiative aimed specifically at giving the club’s burgeoning stocks of talented youngsters the tools they need to become successful AFL players.
“David Teague and I have set up programs that will assist them to fast track their development and get them up to speed to play AFL footy at a high standard as quickly as possible,” Lappin explains.
“A lot of it can be basic stuff, but we also played a lot of footy with these guys so we’ve got some good relationships with them. We can assist them in a lot of ways because we’ve pretty much experienced most of the things that footy has to offer.
“Once a week David and I have our skill development day when we work with players on specific areas of the game. But we’re around the place and we join in training and if any of the boys have weaknesses in certain areas it’s our job to put together drills and activities for them so that they can start improving.”
Both Lappin and Teague will continue to play for VFL affiliate, the Northern Bullants, with Lappin to assist Teague who will be senior coach of the side.
It’s a unique scenario that Lappin is hopeful will pay big dividends.
“That will assist the development of these guys,” he says. “When I’m out on the ground playing with them in the reserves, I’ll be able to instruct them and help them with their set-ups and just make sure that they’re on the right track.
“It gives us a bit of an advantage because when you are developing young players, you need guys who can get out on the track and do a lot of hands-on work with them. We’re still young and fit and healthy, so we can get out there and do a lot of work with the players.”
Lappin welcomes the growth of the development aspect of football clubs. It’s something he wishes was more prevalent when he started out back in 1993.
“It would have made life a hell of a lot easier to have had people there specifically worried about your game,” he says.
“I mean we always had coaches but when there’s so many players it was hard for them to spread the attention around. Now there’s a lot more specific coaching done with each individual.
“There has been some really good improvements made by some of the other clubs in the league who have done the development stuff really well, so we’re hoping we’ll have the same sort of improvements.”
But with the picture looking so bright at Carlton for the first time in a long time, will it be difficult for him to sit on the sidelines and watch the side achieve on the field?
“My time had come,” he says. “I mean I could have squeezed another year out of my body and played again, but for the development of this footy club they had to get another 20 games into a young player rather than me taking a position in the senior team.
“It was just time for me. Sometimes you can play a year too long. Who knows, I might have played really well, but I’ve got no regrets at all and I’m pretty happy that it’s turned out the way it has.
“I’ve still been able to stay involved in a lot of the skill activities at the club, which is the stuff I enjoyed. I’m pretty sure when the games roll around and there’s 80,000 people at the MCG when we play Essendon, that’s when I’ll probably feel it, but life goes on. I’m not the first bloke to retire and I won’t be the last, so you just get on with it.
“I’ve got absolutely no complaints. I squeezed 251 games out of my body and I’ve been able to stay around the club and be involved in what I hope is going to be good times ahead.”
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