Training 2025 Pre-Season - Standards are currently being driven

[Twinkletoes]

Nice spot, extremely expensive unfortunately due to being inhabited by wealthy Melbourne w***ers in their holiday homes at this time of year.

 

[SpiderBurton22]

View attachment 2212137

Haha, yes.

My cousin used to babysit his kids years ago in the sunmer when they were down there.

 

[sacrilecious]

Anyone spending their public holiday at training? After the epic reports last Thursday I'm jonesing for some more!

 

[Gasometer]

Anyone spending their public holiday at training? After the epic reports last Thursday I'm jonesing for some more!

What can you see from your pov?

 

[Sillygit]

What can you see from your pov?

I'm about 132km away so i can only really see Goad. Oh, there's Finnbar too

 

[Chip Scab1]

We're ahead of Melbourne, they are well done, fried. Will be lucky to finish 14th IMO.

View attachment 2212137

Comfortable. More your retired types...Not too many wealthy people have a holiday house 4 hours from home. Unless you bought it in 1980 for $25,000.

 

[LDUKING]

Genuine question, how many sessions a week do other clubs train in preseason?

We are currently doing 3 a week and only 2 next week??? I went down last Saturday and it was a disgrace, 7 of our best players were kicking a soccer ball and taking the piss. Surely a club at the bottom of the ladder for this long would be training more than that, I’m sure clubs like Collingwood wouldn’t be doing this type of thing. There’s a lot of hype around the club but if we don’t train properly and to the highest standards how are we going to actually improve? 2 session and a Saturday captains run in the middle of preseason is a slap in the face to all supports. I hope I’m wrong and we have a good year but stuff like this has me nervous that our downward spiral may not be over for a while.

 

[Val Keating]

Genuine question, how many sessions a week do other clubs train in preseason?

We are currently doing 3 a week and only 2 next week??? I went down last Saturday and it was a disgrace, 7 of our best players were kicking a soccer ball and taking the piss. Surely a club at the bottom of the ladder for this long would be training more than that, I’m sure clubs like Collingwood wouldn’t be doing this type of thing. There’s a lot of hype around the club but if we don’t train properly and to the highest standards how are we going to actually improve? 2 session and a Saturday captains run in the middle of preseason is a slap in the face to all supports. I hope I’m wrong and we have a good year but stuff like this has me nervous that our downward spiral may not be over for a while.

On the lighter field training days they’d spend more time in the gym.

 

[gustev]

How do you expect them to train hard given how hammered they all were the night before?

 

[DuckYeah]

Genuine question, how many sessions a week do other clubs train in preseason?

We are currently doing 3 a week and only 2 next week??? I went down last Saturday and it was a disgrace, 7 of our best players were kicking a soccer ball and taking the piss. Surely a club at the bottom of the ladder for this long would be training more than that, I’m sure clubs like Collingwood wouldn’t be doing this type of thing. There’s a lot of hype around the club but if we don’t train properly and to the highest standards how are we going to actually improve? 2 session and a Saturday captains run in the middle of preseason is a slap in the face to all supports. I hope I’m wrong and we have a good year but stuff like this has me nervous that our downward spiral may not be over for a while.

I said if they werent doing gym curcuits then the club is a disgrace. Cant overload, but I think skills could be worked on during these lighter sessions. Even if its just having a footy (instead of a soccer ball) and hitting targets at various distances

 

[LDUKING]

Understand what you’re all saying, but local EDFL clubs are training 2 times a week and doing their own Saturday sessions while blokes have full time jobs and still hit the gym?

We’re talking about elite AFL footballers and a team who hasn’t run out a full game since 2015 and we’re worried about overloading? I think that’s exactly what we need, I can’t imagine how 3 big sessions a week is not the baseline, they have 4 other days to hit the gym or do skills or anything else?

We all work 5 days a week and only get 4 weeks off? Why do we give so much leniency to these blokes when they’re paid bucket loads, get more leave than most professions and for whatever reason aren’t digging in for big preseasons (which is not on the players, they do what they’re told). It hurts that the clubs never seems to improve and seeing sessions like I did on Saturday is a reflection of where we are at. To top it off it’s even worse when the only blokes who seemed to really care were Maley and Toby Pink, couldn’t hear anyone else. We need to demand excellence, get some big wins and build moment. From what I’ve seen we are a LONG way off. I hope I’m wrong.

 

[Gasometer]

Understand what you’re all saying, but local EDFL clubs are training 2 times a week and doing their own Saturday sessions while blokes have full time jobs and still hit the gym?

We’re talking about elite AFL footballers and a team who hasn’t run out a full game since 2015 and we’re worried about overloading? I think that’s exactly what we need, I can’t imagine how 3 big sessions a week is not the baseline, they have 4 other days to hit the gym or do skills or anything else?

We all work 5 days a week and only get 4 weeks off? Why do we give so much leniency to these blokes when they’re paid bucket loads, get more leave than most professions and for whatever reason aren’t digging in for big preseasons (which is not on the players, they do what they’re told). It hurts that the clubs never seems to improve and seeing sessions like I did on Saturday is a reflection of where we are at. To top it off it’s even worse when the only blokes who seemed to really care were Maley and Toby Pink, couldn’t hear anyone else. We need to demand excellence, get some big wins and build moment. From what I’ve seen we are a LONG way off. I hope I’m wrong.

It goes back to my genuine Q about what they off the Arden Street Oval last week.

I think the answer was comprehensive enough to satisfy me that it wasn't all Nintendo Switch and paper rock scissors.

If every player understands their role inside and out across the lines should be our main goal this Preseason.

Because watching in real time at the ground the past few years (outside of the occasional win) it was reminiscent of watching my Nanna's chooks go about their business back in the 1970's...and it was all about me, Miss Chook.

 

[Kanga Kings]

If you look at other teams boards, 3 days is all they all do. Seems to be 2 big sessions and a far lighter session. They would be doing plenty of gym/cardio work we don’t see

 

[DuckYeah]

Understand what you’re all saying, but local EDFL clubs are training 2 times a week and doing their own Saturday sessions while blokes have full time jobs and still hit the gym?

We’re talking about elite AFL footballers and a team who hasn’t run out a full game since 2015 and we’re worried about overloading? I think that’s exactly what we need, I can’t imagine how 3 big sessions a week is not the baseline, they have 4 other days to hit the gym or do skills or anything else?

We all work 5 days a week and only get 4 weeks off? Why do we give so much leniency to these blokes when they’re paid bucket loads, get more leave than most professions and for whatever reason aren’t digging in for big preseasons (which is not on the players, they do what they’re told). It hurts that the clubs never seems to improve and seeing sessions like I did on Saturday is a reflection of where we are at. To top it off it’s even worse when the only blokes who seemed to really care were Maley and Toby Pink, couldn’t hear anyone else. We need to demand excellence, get some big wins and build moment. From what I’ve seen we are a LONG way off. I hope I’m wrong.

Ive said this same thing.. its what you dont see.. just have to believe they are doing more away from the ground.

I still think skills sessions are more than needed and can be considered “light” … not enough Balls in hand

 

[Kangaroos4eva]

Training (Arden Street Oval)
Wednesday, January 29
9am-12pm AEDT

 

[Themanbun]

Understand what you’re all saying, but local EDFL clubs are training 2 times a week and doing their own Saturday sessions while blokes have full time jobs and still hit the gym?

We’re talking about elite AFL footballers and a team who hasn’t run out a full game since 2015 and we’re worried about overloading? I think that’s exactly what we need, I can’t imagine how 3 big sessions a week is not the baseline, they have 4 other days to hit the gym or do skills or anything else?

We all work 5 days a week and only get 4 weeks off? Why do we give so much leniency to these blokes when they’re paid bucket loads, get more leave than most professions and for whatever reason aren’t digging in for big preseasons (which is not on the players, they do what they’re told). It hurts that the clubs never seems to improve and seeing sessions like I did on Saturday is a reflection of where we are at. To top it off it’s even worse when the only blokes who seemed to really care were Maley and Toby Pink, couldn’t hear anyone else. We need to demand excellence, get some big wins and build moment. From what I’ve seen we are a LONG way off. I hope I’m wrong.

We're not giving them leniency. Sports science has moved on and now everyone except ya local league understands that more isn't always better.

Two hard sessions on the track a week. One more light one just to get some touch and flush the legs out. At this time of the year, they are also doing at least 3 hard gym sessions, plus additional running, plyos, accel and max velocity work. It's enough and is exactly what every single elite team sport similar to ours does in the off season.

"Oh but we do 2x plus 1 weekend game in season."

What most don't understand is that during season, players are DESPERATELY trying to cling to the gains they made in the off season. It's genuine maintenance mode.

You want to see them with your eyes out there busting their arses sweating 3 times a week, but that just does not help their performance. Their top speeds drop, their power drops, their velocity drops, and then you find that those sessions aren't really improving them anymore because their bodies are too fkd to progress. And then they're not making gains in the gym because their body won't let them take the shackles off. Then everyone goes "why are we so slow?"

Then they ping a hammy. Or get tendon inflammation. Or do their backs.

Then everyone complains that our SC staff can't keep our players healthy.

We have good people in this space now, so trust the process.

 

[DunderHead]

They had umpires there today. Did some full ground work. PC and Archer got into some push and shove. I saw about three quarters. Lots of pressure on the ball carrier. Moving the ball to outside of the zone and then shooting the ball inboard with some short kicks. They’ve had started earlier than 9am I think to beat the heat.

Nothing spectacular to report but they all seemed to be applying good intensity. Not much of the fooling around you see in previous years.

Goad and Matlock trained a bit off to the side not sure if they joined in later - I think it’s just load management. CJ also off to the side.

Boys look in good shape. Actually man-sized.

No one stood out or did anything spectacular. Just seemed like a solid session.

This will sound dumb or obvious, but in previous years we’re had mature talls drawing the ball to a pack. Lots of pack contests. We either don’t have as much of that big pack work because we don’t want to play like that or we don’t have the players (big mature key players) to draw those types of big contested situations. Feels like those pack situations happen a lot in actual games so I’m not sure how we’re going to handle them.

 

[Val Keating]

Understand what you’re all saying, but local EDFL clubs are training 2 times a week and doing their own Saturday sessions while blokes have full time jobs and still hit the gym?

We’re talking about elite AFL footballers and a team who hasn’t run out a full game since 2015 and we’re worried about overloading? I think that’s exactly what we need, I can’t imagine how 3 big sessions a week is not the baseline, they have 4 other days to hit the gym or do skills or anything else?

We all work 5 days a week and only get 4 weeks off? Why do we give so much leniency to these blokes when they’re paid bucket loads, get more leave than most professions and for whatever reason aren’t digging in for big preseasons (which is not on the players, they do what they’re told). It hurts that the clubs never seems to improve and seeing sessions like I did on Saturday is a reflection of where we are at. To top it off it’s even worse when the only blokes who seemed to really care were Maley and Toby Pink, couldn’t hear anyone else. We need to demand excellence, get some big wins and build moment. From what I’ve seen we are a LONG way off. I hope I’m wrong.

Do you honestly think they’re not doing more than local level footballers?

The under 11’s soccer team I coach starts preseason this week and even we train twice a week.

Of course they’re doing more off field than local level. There’d be a lot of work done in the gym and a lot of meetings about the game plan, which will taper off into more in field focus the closer we get to the season.

 

[Val Keating]

Reckon our media team should do a video of a day in the life of an AFL footballer, maybe use Simpkin and follow him around for the day starting with breakfast to knockoff. Don’t have to show the actual game plan meeting, just him going in and coming out. Could edit it down to 15 minutes.

I’d watch it.

 

[the big lebowski]

Whoops

 

[the big lebowski]

They had umpires there today. Did some full ground work. PC and Archer got into some push and shove. I saw about three quarters. Lots of pressure on the ball carrier. Moving the ball to outside of the zone and then shooting the ball inboard with some short kicks. They’ve had started earlier than 9am I think to beat the heat.

Nothing spectacular to report but they all seemed to be applying good intensity. Not much of the fooling around you see in previous years.

Goad and Matlock trained a bit off to the side not sure if they joined in later - I think it’s just load management. CJ also off to the side.

Boys look in good shape. Actually man-sized.

No one stood out or did anything spectacular. Just seemed like a solid session.

This will sound dumb or obvious, but in previous years we’re had mature talls drawing the ball to a pack. Lots of pack contests. We either don’t have as much of that big pack work because we don’t want to play like that or we don’t have the players (big mature key players) to draw those types of big contested situations. Feels like those pack situations happen a lot in actual games so I’m not sure how we’re going to handle them.

Who wasn’t training?

 

[LDUKING]

We're not giving them leniency. Sports science has moved on and now everyone except ya local league understands that more isn't always better.

Two hard sessions on the track a week. One more light one just to get some touch and flush the legs out. At this time of the year, they are also doing at least 3 hard gym sessions, plus additional running, plyos, accel and max velocity work. It's enough and is exactly what every single elite team sport similar to ours does in the off season.

"Oh but we do 2x plus 1 weekend game in season."

What most don't understand is that during season, players are DESPERATELY trying to cling to the gains they made in the off season. It's genuine maintenance mode.

You want to see them with your eyes out there busting their arses sweating 3 times a week, but that just does not help their performance. Their top speeds drop, their power drops, their velocity drops, and then you find that those sessions aren't really improving them anymore because their bodies are too fkd to progress. And then they're not making gains in the gym because their body won't let them take the shackles off. Then everyone goes "why are we so slow?"

Then they ping a hammy. Or get tendon inflammation. Or do their backs.

Then everyone complains that our SC staff can't keep our players healthy.

We have good people in this space now, so trust the process.

Didn’t you say Wardlaw was playing 2’s this year?

Also mate, I wouldn’t say Colby walking around barefoot kicking a soccer ball is sports science and having 6 other leaders standing in a circle taking the piss does much for the team either? Don’t reckon there’s much science to that. We have lacked skills for 10 years, if we’re gonna do a light session let’s work on that? Let’s do something? A lot of blokes getting a free ride. Colby is no doubt a star, but what message does it send when half the group are taking the piss?

I can’t imagine how blokes doing 1 extra session a week will lead to mass injury plague, how much money do we spend on recovery and all the other sports science work? If we can’t help prevent that, what a waste. It’s pre-season, it’s not half way through the season, this is where you put in the work.

 

[LDUKING]

Do you honestly think they’re not doing more than local level footballers?

The under 11’s soccer team I coach starts preseason this week and even we train twice a week.

Of course they’re doing more off field than local level. There’d be a lot of work done in the gym and a lot of meetings about the game plan, which will taper off into more in field focus the closer we get to the season.

Of course they are, but to put in perspective of the average wage of an AFL footballer is ~400k I’d like to think they’re doing A LOT more than local footballers, and I would like to imagine we would see results? We have been horrific for 10 years, and the standards we set in preseason carry on in to the season, every year we hear how everything has changed, how we’re all so fit and how it’s the best pre season we’ve ever done. They we got into Rd 1 get hammered by 50+ and season is over. Seems like these other teams are working a little harder than us.

 

[Themanbun]

Didn’t you say Wardlaw was playing 2’s this year?

Also mate, I wouldn’t say Colby walking around barefoot kicking a soccer ball is sports science and having 6 other leaders standing in a circle taking the piss does much for the team either? Don’t reckon there’s much science to that. We have lacked skills for 10 years, if we’re gonna do a light session let’s work on that? Let’s do something? A lot of blokes getting a free ride. Colby is no doubt a star, but what message does it send when half the group are taking the piss?

I can’t imagine how blokes doing 1 extra session a week will lead to mass injury plague, how much money do we spend on recovery and all the other sports science work? If we can’t help prevent that, what a waste. It’s pre-season, it’s not half way through the season, this is where you put in the work.

(1) Not relevant to this convo.
(2) Having a light sesh is absolutely sport science.
(3) They're there to get together and have a light run around.
(4) I can imagine that, and so can every other sport in the world where they manage loads like this.
(5) Doesn't matter how much money you pump into recovery, unless you're pumping gear there's limits to what the body can do.
(6) Post match recovery is inflammation management to get them pain free, which hinders muscle protein synthesis.
(7) Yes, pre season is when you put in the quality work, not work for the sake of it that makes you slower.

 

[Val Keating]

Of course they are, but to put in perspective of the average wage of an AFL footballer is ~400k I’d like to think they’re doing A LOT more than local footballers, and I would like to imagine we would see results? We have been horrific for 10 years, and the standards we set in preseason carry on in to the season, every year we hear how everything has changed, how we’re all so fit and how it’s the best pre season we’ve ever done. They we got into Rd 1 get hammered by 50+ and season is over. Seems like these other teams are working a little harder than us.

I feel the pain of being shit for so long.

But they would be doing A LOT more than local level footballers.