Injury Russell your feathers - discuss all things high performance; injury lists, Marvel surface, curse from the gods and Andrew Russell
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lets not sugar coat it …russell is gone … we don’t look fitter , stronger than most teams , been in the system for 6 years and I felt he just got by last offseason , very lucky , no chance he makes it past this year ….. with our list we should be there last week of September but we won’t
Beyond Blue
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He's the Director of High Performance.
It's a broad role, but IMO he'd be in charge of the creation and maintenance of an environment in which elite athletes can thrive. Injury management would be one facet, but mindset, motivation, training standards, strength and conditioning would all sit under that same umbrella, as would other aspects.
So we are now stating that he is responsible for a player's mindset and intent on gameday?
That's a real stretch
Is he also responsible for players missing targets by foot and hand, shots at goal, playing from behind, not body checking opponents, etc?
Beyond Blue
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Can you explain what he is responsible for?
My understanding would be he is responsible for our fitness, rehabilitation program
Beyond Blue
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So taking into account those parameters - and cutting him some slack for the pre Voss era where he may have been overruled by Liddle and Teague - he is still responsible for the following disasters:
- the fitness program that has seen us have an unprecedented number of soft tissue injuries over a 2 and a half year period and in 2024 in particular
- Cerra re-injuring his hamstring in the same season two years in a row
- Martin having multiple re-injuries of his calf over the last 2 and a half years
- Marchbank and Cuningham taking over 18 months to come back from ACL injuries when the industry standard is 12 months
On that basis I’ll also give him a win for managing Walsh’s back injury to the extent it hasn’t compromised our chances of success and getting Charlie back playing consistently well for the last 2 and a half years which has significantly increased our chances of success.
IMO there’s more negatives than positives from the above to support the view that he has failed in his role and he should be sacked at the end of the year.
The Old Dark Navy's
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Bit more to the role than that I think.
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Doesn't get a tick for Walsh from me. He has to reign in over- trainers like Walsh. He doesnt, he over did it and his back gave way. Manage their work load FFS. Basic stuff.
Some people are genetically more inclined to have back issues. While I do agree he could’ve been managed better, it’s hard to say he’s the reason Walsh had back issues
We seem to be rehashing the same material.
That list that was posted earlier, of the number of games missed to injuries from the start of 2022 is an interesting snapshot.
Two of the three players you have mentioned here, are longterm injured players.
And if you remove all of those injury prone players, that Russell inherited then the number of soft tissue injuries aren't as high as many believe
Bit more to the role than that I think.
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My response was more to understand why someone was blaming Russell for a players mentally capacity and level of gameday intent
This is part of the list of the number of games players have missed since the start of 2022. Remove ACLs and inherited injured players. Not many soft tissue injuries
Zac Williams - 28 ACL majority
Caleb Marchbank - 21 Injury prone
Jack Martin - 20^ Injury prone
David Cuningham - 16^ Injury prone
Jack Silvagni - 16^ ACL majority
Sam Walsh - 15 Back majority
Sam Docherty - 14^ ACL majority
Corey Durdin - 13 Shoulder/hammy
Sam Durdin - 13^ Who knows
Alex Mirkov - 12 Heart
Jesse Motlop - 11^ Hammy
Mitch McGovern - 10 Injury prone
Zac Williams - 28 ACL majority
Caleb Marchbank - 21 Injury prone
Jack Martin - 20^ Injury prone
David Cuningham - 16^ Injury prone
Jack Silvagni - 16^ ACL majority
Sam Walsh - 15 Back majority
Sam Docherty - 14^ ACL majority
Corey Durdin - 13 Shoulder/hammy
Sam Durdin - 13^ Who knows
Alex Mirkov - 12 Heart
Jesse Motlop - 11^ Hammy
Mitch McGovern - 10 Injury prone
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The Old Dark Navy's
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It seems that the HPM works with other staff in regards to the mental side of the sport, so the club psychologist also comes under his auspices. It's an over-arching role. Make sure all the pieces are in place and make sure the need to use them is identified and followed up.
I'd say Voss is responsible for motivation in game day and Russell is responsible for getting players to trust in their bodies and in their pain thresholds. As we know, players have to go beyond what they think they are capable of all the time, despite their brain screaming at them to stop.
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No doubt, but it's unusual that someone would point fault at one person when it comes to a perceived lack of intent and mental capacity of the team as a whole
It would be like crediting that same one person for our 2nd half of the season last year
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Can't keep giving him a pass because players are injury prone. He is responsible for rehabilitation, yet we see the same players going down with the same/similar injuries over and over. Maybe you're right, and there's just nothing that can be done about them, but we'll never know that until we at least try something different...
He will find it very hard to survive this season... we'd have to go very close if not win the flag imo.
Austin should be in the firing line a bit too here though... he knew these blokes break down constantly, had all the evidence he needed last year and has done little to nothing about it yet.
And ultimately Brad Lloyd has to answer to it as well.
The Old Dark Navy's
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I'm not sure if that was the message there or not. It seems that Russell has a role that's all encompassing though and I don't know if we can absolve everyone because they have overlapping roles, or because we can't put our finger on exactly where it's falling down.
If we can't figure it out, is it better to do something or do nothing? Do nothing and logically, it's more inclined to stay the same. Do something and it could get worse or it could get better.
The next step is to remove the always injured players from the equation and see where we end up. If the problem persists, we have a design flaw.
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I’ve not been to critical of him until the last month.
Problem I see, he has taken full responsibility and individualised programs since Voss has been in charge, and yet we are seeing more soft tissues injuries this year. Looking from the outside in - not good.
The final straw for me was 3 players - Martin, Motlop, Cerra all on programs returning from hamstrings. 2 redid them at training and 1 first game back. All 3 now have missed 9-10 weeks just this year. Can’t see how you can blame all 3 players, when they are on specific programs and more importantly given 4-6 weeks to get it right!
Club need to do a in-depth review ASAP.
Problem I see, he has taken full responsibility and individualised programs since Voss has been in charge, and yet we are seeing more soft tissues injuries this year. Looking from the outside in - not good.
The final straw for me was 3 players - Martin, Motlop, Cerra all on programs returning from hamstrings. 2 redid them at training and 1 first game back. All 3 now have missed 9-10 weeks just this year. Can’t see how you can blame all 3 players, when they are on specific programs and more importantly given 4-6 weeks to get it right!
Club need to do a in-depth review ASAP.
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Is it though or could it be technique, training, talent?
A few videos have popped up in my feed recently of clubs working with MMA trainers who are training them in breaking the tackles.
Now every club prioritises certain skills, it’s possible some clubs just don’t train and practice it as much
In regards to injury prone, I think as a club, moreso List Management, has put undue pressure on our capacity to compete at a higher level of output, due to carrying these types of players for too long and as flow on effect, how we view high performance
My preference, as I noted for more than three years, should have been a gradual exiting of these players, but now, we may need a more brutal approach
That gradual exiting may have changed the perception of other facets of the club's performance
For me, the starting point needs to be moving on of injury prone players, first and foremost, but other areas also need greater scrutiny
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I'd say it's a number of facets, but from my experience, many players can and do punch above there weight in tackling
So for me it's intent, but not just as an individual but team focus/intent
Harder to stick tackles in open field, but what we saw on Friday was a lack of intent to attack the opposition gathering the pill with more than one player
Some guys like Cripps, Dusty, Warner can fend off one player, impossible if a 2nd or 3rd chime in
sparkybagger
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The Blues previously worked with John Donehue (runs a BJJ academy) over a decade ago as a tackling/grappling coach. He worked for Melbourne Storm as well. Might be time to call him back.
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Does anyone know if in the past, Cook was ruthless enough to make changes at his previous clubs.
It’s clear to me he likes continuity in certain roles but did he shuffle the magnets behind the scenes?
I would be staggered if the club wasn’t aware of the cause of our injury issues, it shouldn’t be hard, what they’re doing about it, will be impossible to tell, they aren’t going to come out and throw people under the bus
It’s clear to me he likes continuity in certain roles but did he shuffle the magnets behind the scenes?
I would be staggered if the club wasn’t aware of the cause of our injury issues, it shouldn’t be hard, what they’re doing about it, will be impossible to tell, they aren’t going to come out and throw people under the bus
The Old Dark Navy's
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They say there is no reason for it. We did say last year that we were going to address durability issues, but we didn't lose any of the always injured guys, and we didn't do much to replace them.
We cut Philp.
We drafted Moir, who is presumably a Martin replacement. Lij as a high half forward/mid to fill Cunner’s spot, although without the pace.
