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CarterS

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Can someone in the know give a bit more detail about how exactly our facilities are out of date. Smaller rooms, older gym equipment, what is there to it? Could it have been impacting our injuries which were especially bad last season? SLower recovery, etc?

I know they are under the Gabba at the moment, weren't they state of the art when they were built?

Old blokes who hear about this think to themselves "all you need is a set of weights, a few sherrins and a footy field" but of course there is more to it.
 

brizrider

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Can someone in the know give a bit more detail about how exactly our facilities are out of date. Smaller rooms, older gym equipment, what is there to it? Could it have been impacting our injuries which were especially bad last season? SLower recovery, etc?

I know they are under the Gabba at the moment, weren't they state of the art when they were built?

Old blokes who hear about this think to themselves "all you need is a set of weights, a few sherrins and a footy field" but of course there is more to it.
I think the current set up at the Gabba isn't that bad in terms of what is available it is just that it is quite small and the number and quality of things like recovery, learning and meeting spaces is not that good. It's also pretty dark and gloomy from what I've heard. Modern training facilities are also all-inclusive with things like pools, running tracks and practice fields located at the same place so that players can seamlessly move from one area to another without wasting time going to places like Coorparoo or UQ. Many clubs would have space and funds to trial new technologies that may assist with recovery or performance - the Swans have an altitude training room for example - and the Lions probably wouldn't have space (or the funds) for something like that at the Gabba.
How much all of this actually contributes to performance is debateable but at the very least it would help to make an athlete feel like they are in or coming to the most professional sporting environment possible and that it something that we definately need in terms of player recruitment and retention.
 

dlanod

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Moderator #1,856
Can someone in the know give a bit more detail about how exactly our facilities are out of date. Smaller rooms, older gym equipment, what is there to it? Could it have been impacting our injuries which were especially bad last season? SLower recovery, etc?

I know they are under the Gabba at the moment, weren't they state of the art when they were built?

Old blokes who hear about this think to themselves "all you need is a set of weights, a few sherrins and a footy field" but of course there is more to it.
They were state of the art 15 years ago.
They don't fit the entire team in, so there has to be shifts.
They don't have all the mod cons, so travel is required for things like outdoor training and other club stuff.
IIRC they're deep in the bowels, so the atmosphere is fairly oppressive.
The cost to use them is in the millions per year.
 

CarterS

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They were state of the art 15 years ago.
They don't fit the entire team in, so there has to be shifts.
They don't have all the mod cons, so travel is required for things like outdoor training and other club stuff.
IIRC they're deep in the bowels, so the atmosphere is fairly oppressive.
The cost to use them is in the millions per year.
Now that is a worry!
 

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Back2Back2Back

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Zorko and Bell were doing it on the Lions page a while ago and look how good form they're in.
Well what I learned from those ads that Skins are better than no Skins. Regardless of who vs who and what test they're doing. Yet we continuously send our players out week after week in no Skins! Training facilities be damned. What what we really need is a full time Skins department.
 

lioninthesand

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There is a raft of issues that stem from having terrible (by comparison) facilities.

The actual physical / performance impacts, having to be carted around to three locations to complete a session, training in different gyms over the summer, not having access to goals for kicking practice, having a part time Psychologist who doesn't travel with the team, having to do sessions in shifts, training out of a tin shed at cooparoo all summer.. along with Psychological impacts, such as just KNOWING everyone else has it about.. 5 times better than you, cannot be under estimated.

You line up each weekend against teams you know have for more help and fair more at their disposal during the preparation and get asked to do the same job, better than they do.

It is a highly undesirable situation to be in and the whole 'What's the problem, all you need is a bench press and a few footy's to kick around.. right?' is short sighted and really just.. not helpful.
 

Gadzorks

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Can someone in the know give a bit more detail about how exactly our facilities are out of date. Smaller rooms, older gym equipment, what is there to it? Could it have been impacting our injuries which were especially bad last season? SLower recovery, etc?

I know they are under the Gabba at the moment, weren't they state of the art when they were built?

Old blokes who hear about this think to themselves "all you need is a set of weights, a few sherrins and a footy field" but of course there is more to it.
Last week leuenberger said the lions had to travel to yeronga for field work, then the gabba for gym/meetings and pools in east brisbane for recovery.
I figure that means lots of time spent traveling during work hours and less time on actual training.
Also the injury group doing recovery could be at a different venue to the rest of the team and coaches possibly split between venues.
If all available at same location get time savings, better team building and coach availability. Better all round even if the actual individual facilities are not a massive improvement.
 

briztoon

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A couple of the Vic teams have, or have access to, hyperbaric chambers to aid in injury recovery.
 

adey115

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Canvassing for Dom Fay's job?
Canvassing. Please tell me that's another Tent joke....

I'm reasonably sure we should put our 'indoor' ruck training facilities on the western side of the Gabba grass, so we could refer to it as the "Tent West Ruckman Acadamy".
 
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Canvassing. Please tell me that's another Tent joke....

I'm reasonably sure we should put our 'indoor' ruck training facilities on the western side of the Gabba grass, so we could refer to it as the "Tent West Ruckman Acadamy".
But, of course, that would only be tentative.
 

lioninthesand

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Last week leuenberger said the lions had to travel to yeronga for field work, then the gabba for gym/meetings and pools in east brisbane for recovery.
I figure that means lots of time spent traveling during work hours and less time on actual training.
Also the injury group doing recovery could be at a different venue to the rest of the team and coaches possibly split between venues.
If all available at same location get time savings, better team building and coach availability. Better all round even if the actual individual facilities are not a massive improvement.
The time lost, ludacris nature of this arrangement is one thing - but can you imagine feeling like a backward down trodden hick, undertaking this routine while the rest of the AFL are in the lap of luxury. Can you imagine, when Redden heard what the average week for a West Coast Eagles player entailed.. in comparison to his average week at the Lions, the lure the WC would have had.

I am with others here, training and admin base is our number 1 priority.
 
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