Training Pre Season 21/22

Oct 15, 2009
85,751
206,639
Melbourne
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Richmond
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Heat
got anyone in mind?
Wonder if Moju still got Dan covered

1638171404353.jpeg
 

Disco_Stu

Club Legend
Dec 4, 2004
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Melbourne
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Richmond
Richmond believes Dustin Martin’s enforced absence late in the season could help extend his career well into his 30s despite a kidney issue that will keep him from full contact training until late January.

Richmond’s stars including Martin, Trent Cotchin, Shane Edwards and Dion Prestia returned to official pre-season training at Punt Road determined to right the wrongs of a disappointing 2021 season.

But many of the players have been at the club running for 13-15 weeks given a barren September, with the club’s pre-season likely to double last year’s truncated summer in volume and number of sessions.

Coach Damien Hardwick is on the way back from an American research trip but will have to quarantine for three days under new provisions before returning to Punt Road ahead of Monday’s return for senior players.

Elite performance manager Peter Burge told the Herald Sun Martin was in excellent shape considering the severity of his lacerated kidney in Round 18.

Martin is understood to have lost well in excess of 10kg but Burge said he was exactly where he needed to be and gradually returning to closer to his normal playing weight.

He will progress from running drills to non-contact training to full contact training by late January, but according to Burge is content with his condition.

On his total weight loss, Burge was deliberately vague: “I will say it’s more than 10kg. It wasn’t 20kg, if I can say that. But he’s back pretty close to his playing weight”.

Chatter in Sydney about how Martin might one day want to play in the Harbour City has been discounted by his club and management but Burge sees the silver lining in Martin’s injury after turning 30 in June.

“Dusty will go through a staged process before he gets back to full training. He was running today and it’s really good to see him conditioning and running and he’s happy, which is the main thing,” he said.

“He won’t be in contact before Christmas and he will be kicking and marking and conditioning for another couple of weeks and then post-Christmas he will start non-contact training again and then towards the end of January we will be introducing contact based on specialist advice.

“He is so professional now in his approach to preparation, I have no concerns about Dusty and where he will get to and his body. 12 months go we were talking about how many games he had played in a row and suddenly he’s had a major injury and it was a forced break from the game. I think it can extend the back end of his career by giving his body a chance to recover so he can re-set and go again.“

Martin has three more seasons left on his current deal of just over $1.2 million a season, but after 260 career games with three premierships and three Norm Smith Medals, he should set himself for 400 total games.

“He’s unique and I haven’t seen too many like him in my involvement in footy,” Burge said.

“He is close to the top but what’s important is his preparation. Each year he adds something to his repertoire and when you think about longevity, he is thinking: How can I maintain this level and play this game for as long as I possibly can. He loves footy and he loves playing for Richmond and with his teammates.”

FITNESS BOSS PETER BURGE ON RICHMOND’S STARS AND THEIR SUMMER PROGRESS… PLUS A NEW SIGNING

Newly re-signed ruckman Ivan Soldo

Ivan Soldo did some drills in the last week of the season (after an ACL tear) before it wrapped up and he had a little arthroscope over the pre-season after some swelling in his knee. He is back doing a bit and he will be in full training in the new year.”

Sydney Stack, who finished the season in a blaze of positivity.

“Stacky is still learning the caper. He has got some work to do with consistency of preparation. I am not going to mince my words there, he has still got a bit of work to do. He is a young player learning about his preparation, he has fantastic traits in his explosiveness and he’s highly skilled but he needs to work really hard on his conditioning.”

Dion Prestia, who played only nine games after repeated calf and hamstring issues

“Dion had a really interrupted year and it was frustrating for us and him. In the last 13 weeks he’s been in here training nearly every single day and he had a fantastic base until he got Covid the other week. But he was back today. He is giving himself every possible chance. Sometimes players just get in a cycle where one soft tissue injury leads to another but we learnt a bit we can put into action this year.”

Star goalkicker Tom Lynch

“Tom just had a little arthroscope last season mid-year and his knee was pretty good for the rest of the year. He has been here training regularly. He wants to prepare well and bounce back like the whole team. The attitude here is that we know we need to prepare well for next year so we will give a good account of ourselves.”

Noah Balta, who dodged an ACL tear but had a season-ending syndesmosis strain

“Noah was close to playing at the end of the season and then we lost and couldn’t play finals. It’s a really important pre-season for Noah to get right. He is so athletic and dynamic given his ability to jump and accelerate with his size is unique so there is definitely an exciting package there.”

The impact of new assistant David Teague

“David brings some new experience and he’s been fantastic already along with our established assistant coaches. He has great experience at West Coast, Adelaide and Carlton and it reminds me of when Blake Caracella started and when Truck (Ben Rutten) came in, they just bring new ideas and new perspective so it’s been really refreshing and good for all of us.”
 

Disco_Stu

Club Legend
Dec 4, 2004
1,242
5,893
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
Dustin Martin’s lacerated kidney prompted a strategy to cleanse, rest, detox and regenerate his body that the champion player and Richmond’s medicos expect will add games to the back end of his career.

The durable Martin had barely missed games with injury before he suffered the serious kidney problem last year that had him hospitalised for a week and caused him to lose about 15 kilograms.

That break from playing, resting his body and the meticulous diet and cleansing program he adhered to is hoped to have a beneficial long-term effect on his body and extend the 30-year-old’s career.

On Monday, he was back running at Punt Road Oval, still looking noticeably leaner, but there has been no grand plan for Martin to keep weight off.

“We are not on a crusade to make Dusty lighter. He will be the same strong and powerful beast. His strength and power is his number one asset and still will be,” Richmond’s physical performance manager Peter Burge said.

The process of rebuilding Martin began after he spent a week in hospital on the Gold Coast after being rushed from Metricon Stadium where he lacerated a kidney in a collision with Brisbane’s Mitch Robinson.

He was told by doctors the severity of the injury was such that he not only had to avoid contact football for at least three months, but had to avoid exerting himself at all. Specialists also advised him to avoid certain foods, leaving him on a diet heavy in fruits.

“He is really meticulous with his diet anyway, he has cut out certain things over the last few years as he tries to get better. He is very professional with his preparation and is quite lean looking anyway,” Burge said.

“That [change in diet] was just short-term for his health and immune system, there are no ongoing restrictions on diet.

“He had an approach of re-setting his body after the injury. He wanted to cleanse it, with clean eating and starting again to come back stronger inside and outside.

“A lot of athletes look at fasting as a means of building the body back to be stronger. I worked with a lot of Russian pole-vaulters, and they would fast for a month every year because the body recovered stronger. So, there has been a plan for Dusty to rejuvenate and cleanse and come back stronger.

“He had missed so few games over his career, and then he missed this big chunk. The hope is this forced break from football will help him regenerate and give him games at the back end of his career.

“He was not due back until next Monday but has been coming in for weeks. He came out today while main training [for the young players] was on and did his running and conditioning program. I thought he looked really good.”

The incident that stopped the Brownlow medallist and three-time Norm Smith medallist looked innocuous.

“You look back on it, and it is hard to work out how he did it. He collided with Mitch Robinson, and it must have been his hip that caught him. Dusty is very resilient, he gets knocked around a lot, he might grimace, but then he just plays on so if he is hurting something is not right,” Burge said.

The Tigers initially thought Martin had just been badly winded and would be ok. That was what Burge told Luke Hodge when the Channel 7 boundary rider asked him at three-quarter time of the Lions game how Martin was.

“I said he is winded [and] will be back on, then 20 seconds later the doctors came out and said we have to send him to hospital now, we think he has lacerated his kidney.”

The initial prognosis was that he would make a full recovery, but it would be slow. Richmond does not plan for Martin to join contact drills at training until the middle of January.

After a week in hospital in Queensland he spent another two weeks in isolation in Victoria. He felt better but had lost a lot of weight and was under strict instructions to do nothing and be careful of what he ate.

Getting to the point of running again this past week has been slow and painstaking.

“He lost quite a bit more than 10 kilos; it wasn’t 20 kilos as was reported somewhere, but it was a lot more than 10 kilos. He has put on more than 12 [kilos] and he is probably about two kilos under his playing weight.” Martin normally plays at 92-93 kilograms.

“Players had an exemption to come in and use the gym here, but he was not allowed to get a sweat up. Even doing five calf raises, we had to check with the doctors, is that OK? How many can he do? He was allowed to walk, but we had to ask, how fast can he walk? How long for?

“It was not so much about sweating but if you are sweating you are working your abdomen and putting yourself under some stress, and we didn’t want that. It was a slow process, but we wanted to be very conservative with it and Dusty was very patient.

“He feels great. He is very happy to be back running again. He is still down a few kilos so running is a bit easier. He will get that run in his legs and the strength power and muscle will come.”

Meantime, Richmond on Monday announced an operating profit of $2.5 million for last season. The profit was generated from revenue of $73.8 million.
 
Richmond believes Dustin Martin’s enforced absence late in the season could help extend his career well into his 30s despite a kidney issue that will keep him from full contact training until late January.

Richmond’s stars including Martin, Trent Cotchin, Shane Edwards and Dion Prestia returned to official pre-season training at Punt Road determined to right the wrongs of a disappointing 2021 season.

But many of the players have been at the club running for 13-15 weeks given a barren September, with the club’s pre-season likely to double last year’s truncated summer in volume and number of sessions.

Coach Damien Hardwick is on the way back from an American research trip but will have to quarantine for three days under new provisions before returning to Punt Road ahead of Monday’s return for senior players.

Elite performance manager Peter Burge told the Herald Sun Martin was in excellent shape considering the severity of his lacerated kidney in Round 18.

Martin is understood to have lost well in excess of 10kg but Burge said he was exactly where he needed to be and gradually returning to closer to his normal playing weight.

He will progress from running drills to non-contact training to full contact training by late January, but according to Burge is content with his condition.

On his total weight loss, Burge was deliberately vague: “I will say it’s more than 10kg. It wasn’t 20kg, if I can say that. But he’s back pretty close to his playing weight”.

Chatter in Sydney about how Martin might one day want to play in the Harbour City has been discounted by his club and management but Burge sees the silver lining in Martin’s injury after turning 30 in June.

“Dusty will go through a staged process before he gets back to full training. He was running today and it’s really good to see him conditioning and running and he’s happy, which is the main thing,” he said.

“He won’t be in contact before Christmas and he will be kicking and marking and conditioning for another couple of weeks and then post-Christmas he will start non-contact training again and then towards the end of January we will be introducing contact based on specialist advice.

“He is so professional now in his approach to preparation, I have no concerns about Dusty and where he will get to and his body. 12 months go we were talking about how many games he had played in a row and suddenly he’s had a major injury and it was a forced break from the game. I think it can extend the back end of his career by giving his body a chance to recover so he can re-set and go again.“

Martin has three more seasons left on his current deal of just over $1.2 million a season, but after 260 career games with three premierships and three Norm Smith Medals, he should set himself for 400 total games.

“He’s unique and I haven’t seen too many like him in my involvement in footy,” Burge said.

“He is close to the top but what’s important is his preparation. Each year he adds something to his repertoire and when you think about longevity, he is thinking: How can I maintain this level and play this game for as long as I possibly can. He loves footy and he loves playing for Richmond and with his teammates.”

FITNESS BOSS PETER BURGE ON RICHMOND’S STARS AND THEIR SUMMER PROGRESS… PLUS A NEW SIGNING

Newly re-signed ruckman Ivan Soldo

“Ivan Soldo did some drills in the last week of the season (after an ACL tear) before it wrapped up and he had a little arthroscope over the pre-season after some swelling in his knee. He is back doing a bit and he will be in full training in the new year.”

Sydney Stack, who finished the season in a blaze of positivity.

“Stacky is still learning the caper. He has got some work to do with consistency of preparation. I am not going to mince my words there, he has still got a bit of work to do. He is a young player learning about his preparation, he has fantastic traits in his explosiveness and he’s highly skilled but he needs to work really hard on his conditioning.”

Dion Prestia, who played only nine games after repeated calf and hamstring issues

“Dion had a really interrupted year and it was frustrating for us and him. In the last 13 weeks he’s been in here training nearly every single day and he had a fantastic base until he got Covid the other week. But he was back today. He is giving himself every possible chance. Sometimes players just get in a cycle where one soft tissue injury leads to another but we learnt a bit we can put into action this year.”

Star goalkicker Tom Lynch

“Tom just had a little arthroscope last season mid-year and his knee was pretty good for the rest of the year. He has been here training regularly. He wants to prepare well and bounce back like the whole team. The attitude here is that we know we need to prepare well for next year so we will give a good account of ourselves.”

Noah Balta, who dodged an ACL tear but had a season-ending syndesmosis strain

“Noah was close to playing at the end of the season and then we lost and couldn’t play finals. It’s a really important pre-season for Noah to get right. He is so athletic and dynamic given his ability to jump and accelerate with his size is unique so there is definitely an exciting package there.”

The impact of new assistant David Teague

“David brings some new experience and he’s been fantastic already along with our established assistant coaches. He has great experience at West Coast, Adelaide and Carlton and it reminds me of when Blake Caracella started and when Truck (Ben Rutten) came in, they just bring new ideas and new perspective so it’s been really refreshing and good for all of us.”
So in other words stackys been on the piss and is a fat campaigner
 
Nov 23, 2015
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#17
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Richmond
“Stacky is still learning the caper. He has got some work to do with consistency of preparation. I am not going to mince my words there, he has still got a bit of work to do. He is a young player learning about his preparation, he has fantastic traits in his explosiveness and he’s highly skilled but he needs to work really hard on his conditioning.”
:rolleyes:

Politely saying he rocked up in sh!t shape again
 

Disco_Stu

Club Legend
Dec 4, 2004
1,242
5,893
Melbourne
AFL Club
Richmond
" I am not going to mince my words there, he has still got a bit of work to do."

Three reasons they say that publicly:
1. Stack and his management are under no illusions how annoyed the club is.
2. Informs us of the reason why Stacky isn't getting games - and why he may not be a Tiger in '23
3. Final warning. Real Last Chance Saloon stuff.
 
" I am not going to mince my words there, he has still got a bit of work to do."

Three reasons they say that publicly:
1. Stack and his management are under no illusions how annoyed the club is.
2. Informs us of the reason why Stacky isn't getting games - and why he may not be a Tiger in '23
3. Final warning. Real Last Chance Saloon stuff.
Yep reason he only got a 1 year contract
How disappointing
Hoping he catches up fast
 

59Stanley

Club Legend
May 14, 2019
1,259
2,699
AFL Club
Richmond
Don’t tell me stack has dreads like gryan miers !!!!
 
Really? It’s not bad at all. Definitely looks as though his body had matured. He’ll never be an athletic beast but I actually don’t think he is to bad for November

nah mate no leg definition and his arse is ******* huge. I’m one of his biggest fans but that is not on
 

Lord of the Wings

Club Legend
Nov 9, 2020
2,714
6,216
Pacific Island
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Tigers
" I am not going to mince my words there, he has still got a bit of work to do."

Three reasons they say that publicly:
1. Stack and his management are under no illusions how annoyed the club is.
2. Informs us of the reason why Stacky isn't getting games - and why he may not be a Tiger in '23
3. Final warning. Real Last Chance Saloon stuff.
4. He is a lazy campaigner
 
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