Stuart Graham - Head of High Performance

[RossFC]

Sturt got 19 year olds looking like this, while an AFL club have 22 year olds looking 14, and 30 year olds with fat guts.

 

[The Hobo]

Majority of injuries have been impact related, the program has worked in previous years so I wouldnt be piling on as quickly as most. We havent had that extended preseason for years , so that will be a factor. However we do need to ensure whatever happens someone of quality is in place and a program is ready to go at the end of season.

We've had a number of soft tissue injuries as well. Multiple hamstrings, calves etc.

Our fitness levels have been deplorable, often gassed by the third quarter, running out of puff towards the end of quarters.
Our players are physically leaner and do not have the power to tackle or break tackles.

All of this is so obvious when you watch our games, particularly against the more physical teams.

Our running and sprint numbers are well below the opposition week on week.

You can say some of it could be a 'lack of want' - but I'm not buying it, as the players appear to be trying to get there, they just can't. The tackles are flying in, they're trying to break them etc. And then you just look at them and you can see why.

 

[The Hobo]

For the longest time he was convinced AFL players didn’t train enough, comparing them unfavourably with his experiences with the Socceroos and Liverpool (‘they play three games a week while travelling all over Europe and the World — and they still run further in a given week of training than AFL players do!’).

So he cooked the bejesus out of them in 2015 to the point where the midfield looked like it was running neck-deep in molasses when it wasn’t gassing out of games throughout winter.

Freshened right up and looked unbeatable just as a finals berth was mathematically out of reach, but!

ugh, I remember that season well. Went in with such high hopes only to watch the players look like they'd ran a marathon the day before.

 

[Grave Danger]

Sturt got 19 year olds looking like this, while an AFL club have 22 year olds looking 14, and 30 year olds with fat guts.

Gatorade sponsor the SNAFL drug testing program...probably.

 

[shewho]

Fact: We have been a poor last quarter team.

Observation: As a collective, our team does not appear strong enough for AFL- too many broken tackles. However, I haven't found stats to support this. What I'd love to see is the differential for broken tackles

Question: Did I hear right, on last week's broadcast at 3/4 time that we had run, as a team, 15 km more than our opposition to 3/4 time.

Theory: If this last bit is true, the problem of last quarter fade outs may have more to do with unsustainable gameplan requiring us to run considerably more than our opposition, resulting in us being cooked late in the game.

Also, if you have this high running gameplay, you need runners to execute it. That may explain also why we look skinnier- maybe we've intentionally had our players conditioned more like marathon runners than weightlifters.

So this theory means maybe the "fact" and "observation" above are Hinkley's fault due to his flawed gameplay and not Graham's.

I know the AFL has stats on how far players and teams run. Can anyone access these stats and do they support my theory that, at least in the first 3 quarters, we run too far?

 

[Ford Fairlane]

It's funny how the sanfl team seems more likely to run out a game playing a more possession-based gameplan without the relentless running, handballing and turning the ball over trying to nail 25 handballs in a row then having to double back.

Still think we should be bigger and stronger, but can also look at the ridiculous new gameplan randomly introduced by a desperate coach in his last season.

 

[1954]

I can't remember who suggested this but it's right on the money, ie if any player with shoulders as wide as those of Josh Sinn was on either of the brisvegas or geebung lists he would have added an extra 10 kegs of muscle within 2 seasons.

 

[The Hobo]

Fact: We have been a poor last quarter team.

Observation: As a collective, our team does not appear strong enough for AFL- too many broken tackles. However, I haven't found stats to support this. What I'd love to see is the differential for broken tackles

Question: Did I hear right, on last week's broadcast at 3/4 time that we had run, as a team, 15 km more than our opposition to 3/4 time.

Theory: If this last bit is true, the problem of last quarter fade outs may have more to do with unsustainable gameplan requiring us to run considerably more than our opposition, resulting in us being cooked late in the game.

Also, if you have this high running gameplay, you need runners to execute it. That may explain also why we look skinnier- maybe we've intentionally had our players conditioned more like marathon runners than weightlifters.

So this theory means maybe the "fact" and "observation" above are Hinkley's fault due to his flawed gameplay and not Graham's.

I know the AFL has stats on how far players and teams run. Can anyone access these stats and do they support my theory that, at least in the first 3 quarters, we run too far?

I did an analysis on this somewhere, and in most games, we had been outrun by the opposition comfortably. I do not have quarter by quarter breakdowns though. From memory, there was a very small number of games where the fitness numbers were in our favour (distance covered, distance at high speed etc etc)

HOWEVER, the stat you mentioned above is probably right, as by the end of the game, we had run 280km to their 261. This is a big differential, and the biggest one we've had in our favour. On the flipside, I think Essendon outran us by 35km early in the season.

We also outran Geelong last week by 3km, 278 to 275.

I only looked back three games prior to Geelong, we were outrun on each. Maybe our fitness has finally peaked.

 

[shewho]

It's funny how the sanfl team seems more likely to run out a game playing a more possession-based gameplan without the relentless running, handballing and turning the ball over trying to nail 25 handballs in a row then having to double back.

Still think we should be bigger and stronger, but can also look at the ridiculous new gameplan randomly introduced by a desperate coach in his last season.

No doubt we should be bigger and stronger, but that’s very difficult if you want them to run a half marathon each week in a game and (no doubt) similar in training each week.

My question is- are our last quarter fade outs due to not being fit enough, or a game plan that requires too much running up and back, because if the problem lies with the game plan not the fitness, get rid of the game plan not the fitness coach.

 

[shewho]

I did an analysis on this somewhere, and in most games, we had been outrun by the opposition comfortably. I do not have quarter by quarter breakdowns though. From memory, there was a very small number of games where the fitness numbers were in our favour (distance covered, distance at high speed etc etc)

HOWEVER, the stat you mentioned above is probably right, as by the end of the game, we had run 280km to their 261. This is a big differential, and the biggest one we've had in our favour. On the flipside, I think Essendon outran us by 35km early in the season.

We also outran Geelong last week by 3km, 278 to 275.

I only looked back three games prior to Geelong, we were outrun on each. Maybe our fitness has finally peaked.

Well that’s what I was looking for and it strongly suggests we haven’t been to the required level of fitness for most of the year. Add to that our observable lack of strength and the case for a new Head of High Performance is strong.

Thanks for that Hobo- it’s great to have access to data that backs up what the eye sees and the (last quarter) scoreboards tell.

 

[shewho]

So I’ve bumped the Tim Parnham thread-

Head of Strength and Conditioning at Port this year = x
Head of Strength and Conditioning at the Cows before that = tick
Nicks said it took them 5 years to get noticeably bigger and stronger than us = tick
Has ambitions to run his own program having worked with Burgess previously at Arsenal and the Cows = tick
Noises were that he was highly regarded when he moved to us = tick

Can any of those who have an ear on noises coming from the club say whether the club and players are happy with what he has done this year and whether he is a considered a candidate to replace Graham?

 

[Enviable Tradition]

So I’ve bumped the Tim Parnham thread-

Head of Strength and Conditioning at Port this year = x
Head of Strength and Conditioning at the Cows before that = tick
Nicks said it took them 5 years to get noticeably bigger and stronger than us = tick
Has ambitions to run his own program having worked with Burgess previously at Arsenal and the Cows = tick
Noises were that he was highly regarded when he moved to us = tick

Can any of those who have an ear on noises coming from the club say whether the club and players are happy with what he has done this year and whether he is a considered a candidate to replace Graham?

 

[The Hobo]

Thanks for that Hobo- it’s great to have access to data that backs up what the eye sees and the (last quarter) scoreboards tell.

The data is available on the AFL app (but not on the AFL website as far as I can tell) - you can open each game and go to the tracker section. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to aggregate it over the season or do anything apart from individual game by game analysis which is tiresome.

If you spend some time analysing our games, you'll see things that you don't always notice at the game/or on TV - such as work rate in attack and defence, individual player running/sprints/repeated sprints etc etc.

DBJ as an example always features pretty highly for work rate and repeated runs etc etc. - and when you watch the game, he is often the one chasing lost causes (and I mean chasing, not pretend chasing). Doesn't always work out, but that pressure still affects the kicker. The opinion of him on here is that he's soft and lazy etc.

 

[Chewy316]

So I’ve bumped the Tim Parnham thread-

Head of Strength and Conditioning at Port this year = x
Head of Strength and Conditioning at the Cows before that = tick
Nicks said it took them 5 years to get noticeably bigger and stronger than us = tick
Has ambitions to run his own program having worked with Burgess previously at Arsenal and the Cows = tick
Noises were that he was highly regarded when he moved to us = tick

Can any of those who have an ear on noises coming from the club say whether the club and players are happy with what he has done this year and whether he is a considered a candidate to replace Graham?

Parham is a lock to take over from Graham next season provided Graham does leave.

Club and players very happy with him.

 

[Port 2004]

Parham is a lock to take over from Graham next season provided Graham does leave.

Club and players very happy with him.

Do you think/know that Graham is leaving Chewy?

 

[Chewy316]

Do you think/know that Graham is leaving Chewy?

I have heard very strong inclinations to suggest he won't be there next season. Would be quite the surprise if he stayed.

 

[Willsy10]

So we identify all these areas of weakness and our answer is to promote from within for every single role?

Not sure how this helps unless we are bringing in someone else to support Tim Parham.

 

[Chewy316]

So we identify all these areas of weakness and our answer is to promote from within for every single role?

Not sure how this helps unless we are bringing in someone else to support Tim Parham.

They want to bring in a new fitness boss to work under Parham. Going to be a very different setup to the current system under Graham.

 

[QPower]

The the strong inclination to hire from within has become a huge problem.

The Club is complacement and stale.

They need to open up the externals and bring in some fresh blood.

 

[Port 2004]

I have heard very strong inclinations to suggest he won't be there next season. Would be quite the surprise if he stayed.

Thanks for that.

 

[shewho]

The the strong inclination to hire from within has become a huge problem.

The Club is complacement and stale.

They need to open up the externals and bring in some fresh blood.

Except Parnham is not really “from within”. 12 months ago he was at the cows and part of the 5 year program to bulk them up that Nicks bragged about after the Showdown.

I agree with you that in some other areas we should look harder outside the club- assistant coaches the best example. But Parnham has recent experience in a program that seems to have done a great job.

 

[Shaucob_Burjan]

I have heard very strong inclinations to suggest he won't be there next season. Would be quite the surprise if he stayed.

His choice or pushed?

 

[Shaucob_Burjan]

Except Parnham is not really “from within”. 12 months ago he was at the cows and part of the 5 year program to bulk them up that Nicks bragged about after the Showdown.

I agree with you that in some other areas we should look harder outside the club- assistant coaches the best example. But Parnham has recent experience in a program that seems to have done a great job.

They're both from the Burgess tree regardless.

Though it's a touch ironic that Port won't bring back Burgess but are okay with his students leading the club

 

[GremioPower]

Adelaide are the example of what we need to aspire to.

Reported. Being true would only make it worse.

 

[Chewy316]

His choice or pushed?

I believe he's been looking for other opportunities but the Club were planning to move him on prior to that happening.