Lloyd gets runs on the board

[danzan22]

just for anyone who didnt see it in todays paper

Lloyd gets runs on the board
13 November 2006 Herald-Sun
Bruce Matthews
ESSENDON captain Matthew Lloyd would be ready even if the new AFL season kicked off this weekend.

While most players steel themselves for a long, hot summer of toil, Lloyd is well advanced in his preparations. The Bomber skipper has spent the past month on a personal program with the club's high-performance manager John Quinn and fitness adviser Joel Hocking.
The ultra early pre-season work involved sprints, agility exercises and weights work.
So Lloyd will be raring to go when Essendon officially starts its 2007 season campaign with a time-trial tomorrow morning.
The champion goalkicker is determined to make up for lost time after missing most of this year with a badly torn hamstring, which required surgery.
He has long since recovered from the injury sustained in Round 3 in mid-April. He had booted eight goals in the opening round against Sydney and the Bombers went into a nosedive once their captain was sidelined for the rest of the year.
Lloyd resumed full training late in the season and he was ready to play by Round 20. But the club decided not to risk him, instead opting for a long, gradual build-up through summer to have him in peak form and shape for 2007.
Brownlow medallist and former skipper James Hird, in contrast, will be carefully monitored in the lead-up to what is almost certain to be his farewell AFL season. He won't be required to join full training until early January.
Half the Bombers' squad, mostly the younger players, resumed training a week ago under assistant coaches Gary O'Donnell and Dean Wallis while Kevin Sheedy was in Ireland with Australia's International Rules team.
Dustin Fletcher and Brent Stanton, members of the touring party, won't rejoin their teammates for another week.
Another group of players -- Jobe Watson, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Angus Monfries, Jason Winderlich, Adam Ramanauskas, Jay Nash and Ricky Dyson -- return from Japan tomorrow.
The players, identified as future leaders, were on a 10-day personal development program under the supervision of chief executive Peter Jackson, Bendigo Bombers coach Matthew Knights and Quinn.
Activities included conducting football clinics and overnight stays with host families to challenge their communication and leadership skills.
Among the new faces at tomorrow's time-trial will be delisted Richmond forward David Rodan and 22-year-old Justin Maddern, a 190cm, 90kg forward from the Bendigo Bombers, who are among a small group granted permission to join Essendon's early pre-season work.
ST KILDA will start work for the 2007 season, under new coach Ross Lyon, with a skills session at Moorabbin on Wednesday morning.
Jason Cripps, among the casualties of the Saints' assistant coach cleanout, is expected to be announced early this week as an assistant to Port Adelaide coach Mark Williams.
Cripps will replace Tony McGuinness, who quit in September, to concentrate on business interests and family commitments.
BRISBANE won't need a ballot with three current directors to be re-elected unopposed at next month's annual general meeting.
Deputy chairman Angus Johnson, Laurie Serafini and Linda Nash will retain their posts, with no challengers before this month's nominations deadline.

 

[windyhill]

He gives me a tingle does The Great One.

 

[hird_is_king]

Cant help but be excited by that! Doing that extra program before starting pre-seaseon will mean we will be seeing a super fit bloke in the no. 18 next year!

 

[thebigboy]

As long as his hammy holds up which it should, i would reckon that he could have a big 80+ goal season.

If this happens, we will play finals.

 

[Shane Hird]

Unleash the Velvet Sledge Hammer!

 

[CoZi36]

Good to see Lloyd better again, it was such a shame to lose him through injury so early last season. Best wishes to Matty in his comeback next year.

 

[DaSawx]

Cheers Cozi

He's hammy has even more chance than ever to hold up, so it's time to leave Carlton and their "superstar" kids at the bottom by themselves, and to borrow a line from celtic pride, where they'll be for the next 5 years

 

[Not a Wellman]

I can also see Collingwood and Hawthorn sitting next to Carlton in the next few years aswell. That would put a smile to all Essendon fans faces.
But in saying that there's no1 better to play in a final then those clubs you know your going to get value for money.

 

[bee dee]

ran a strong 4th today in the trial

 

[Darealrath]

ran a strong 4th today in the trial

Though it'll be more interesting to see how he goes in sprint work.

 

[danielcan]

Good to see Lloyd better again, it was such a shame to lose him through injury so early last season. Best wishes to Matty in his comeback next year.

Sprung! I'm not the only one.

With Matty and Jimmy back, the club should be 'whole' again. Bombers games were hard to watch without Matty, though Hille did a good job.

Go Matty! 2007 sees the Return of the King!

 

[danielcan]

Lloyd raring to go
Sportal
Thursday, 21 December 2006 1:53:37 PM AEDT

The 2007 AFL season can't come quick enough for Essendon skipper Matthew Lloyd, who will have spent almost twelve months on the sidelines through injury when round one arrives.

In his debut season as captain of the club Lloyd, 28, was resigned to the stands after undergoing surgery to repair his hamstring which was torn from the bone in the Bombers' round three match against the Bulldogs.

The champion full forward has been in full training for three months now but more recently he has been busy on the home front following the birth of his first child with wife Lisa last week.

Lloyd admits that he is greatly looking forward to the challenges that come with fatherhood.

"It's only new to me she's not even a week old so I'm still learning the ropes," Lloyd told a media conference on Thursday.

"You can't relate it (fatherhood) to anything else in life, I love what I do but there's nothing like coming home to your family and a happy family keeps you happy on the sporting field."

The three-time Coleman medalist said he already had plans in place to juggle his family and football commitments.

"I've said that I won't get up during the night the night before a match (to) make sure I get out on the park and perform," he said.

After watching his team struggle through last season Lloyd says he is now more determined to step up and make an impact as leader of the club next year.

"This time last year we probably thought we were in for a big year and standing here we won three-and-half games so we've actually got to put it out on the park," he said.

"Finishing 15th was our worst year since 1933 and I was captain of that team so that hurt my own pride and my team's."

"We really want to improve and we feel we've got the list to do that but we're not making any big statements, we've got a lot of work and improvement to do and I'm sure we'll do it."

Lloyd believes the addition of former Brisbane Lions premiership player Mal Michael to the Bombers backline will help bolster their run and drive out of defence.

"We feel (now) we've got the best two full-backs of the past decade in our team," he said.

"When you finish fifteenth you get to draft four or five of the best kids in the country so we're excited but still feel we've got a fair way to go to match it with Sydney and West Coast."

http://www.sportal.com.au/football.asp?i=news&id=92638
http://bombersfc.com.au/default.asp?pg=news&spg=display&articleid=310907