Traded #25: Jake Stringer - 📦 Traded to GWS for Pick #53 - 16/10

[faible]

Whilst many of our players have had interrupted pre-seasons it sounds like Stringer is as fit as he's ever been in his time here

AFL 2020: Jake Stringer Essendon, best pre-season ever, Bombers injuries

In the midst of his club’s wretched summer injury run, Essendon gun Jake Stringer says he’s never been in better shape after experiencing one of his best and smoothest pre-seasons of his AFL career.

www.foxsports.com.au

In the midst of his club’s wretched summer injury run, Essendon gun Jake Stringer says he’s never been in better shape after experiencing one of his best and smoothest pre-seasons of his AFL career.

A host of key Bombers have, at different stages over the past few months, battled a range of injuries or suffered setbacks, including Joe Daniher (groin), Cale Hooker (hip), Dylan Shiel (knee) David Zaharakis (knee), Dyson Heppell (foot), Michael Hurley (shoulder) and Orazio Fantasia (hip).

However Stringer, who battled foot, knee and hamstring issues to play 19 of a possible 23 games in 2019, has not just been a constant presence on the track, but also one of Essendon’s best trainers.

In his eighth AFL pre-season, Stringer recently ran a personal best in the 2km time trial, slashing a whopping 20 seconds off his previous top time.

Asked on SEN Breakfast how he was going physically, Stringer cheekily said: “I’m borderline flying at the minute … nah I’m going well.”

The 25-year-old said it’d been “one of the hardest pre-seasons I’ve ever done”. He hailed the influence of the Bombers’ new head of strength and conditioning Sean Murphy, who’s come across from Hawthorn and “really tested us physically and mentally”.

“Not being injured is a massive part and I don't think I've missed a session the whole pre-season, which is all you can ask for when you go into a pre-season is complete as many sessions as you can. I’d be probably in the top one or two at the club that hasn’t missed,” Stringer told SEN on Friday morning.

Asked if it’d been one of his smoothest AFL pre-seasons yet, Stringer declared: “Yeah, by far.

“Last year was pretty good, but this year’s been taken to a new level with Sean Murphy coming across. He's really pushed the boundaries with me.

“It's been a hard slog and, don't worry, I'm looking forward to playing and getting out of this pre-season phase.”

Even though Stringer is “flying”, he said seven or eight teammates are still not in full training, but the “majority of them were running”.

“Not everything's gone to plan, obviously. There's been a few blokes that are still not quite into full training, but that's part of football and part of the pre-season. You’ve just got to deal with whatever comes,” Stringer said.

He later added: “We’re in a great position to able to springboard into the season and hopefully get a few more of these top echelon blokes back.”

The first-round draft pick kicked 98.55 for the Bulldogs in 2015 and 2016 before being traded ahead of the 2018 season to the Bombers, where he’s spent recent summers training with the on-ballers.

Stringer said the plan was still for him to play a mixture of midfield and forward minutes this season, but added he’d been training primarily with the attacking group this pre-season and “honing in on my craft as a forward”.

Stringer said Essendon’s succession plan, which will see senior coach John Worsfold gradually hand the reins to assistant Ben Rutten throughout 2020, was working well. He said Worsfold was at the club everyday and engaged with the players, but Rutten took charge of all tactical discussions and meetings.

“The work that John and Ben have done together has been absolutely outstanding and literally the smoothest transition that you could possibly ever see. It's a credit to both of them how well it's actually gone,” Stringer said.

“I couldn’t be happier with where the club is at the minute.”

Stringer said there’d be a noticeable but not dramatic change to the club’s game plan this season.

“It’ll definitely be a lot more consistent,” Stringer said.

“From a whole learning (process) and even in training, you’re seeing it more and more every time we’re doing bits of match ‘sim’. I think it’ll be very noticeable when people come to watch us.”

 

[ant555]

Rehab / running program that’s what I meant. He wasnt training with the main squad and doing his own restricted program. He gets hurt in preseason because his body shape cannot cope with the load. He needs to change his body shape if he wants to prolong his career.

Sometimes the body shape is the body shape. I just said hi to him at training . He looks in good shape . He is not and never was an athlete. Yes he has had a period where he had professional issues but the last two seasons issues have been too much work load resulting in injury. This year he is on a different program.

 

[faible]

Rehab / running program that’s what I meant. He wasnt training with the main squad and doing his own restricted program. He gets hurt in preseason because his body shape cannot cope with the load. He needs to change his body shape if he wants to prolong his career.

FWIW some people are just injury prone. Same as some people have knees that give way easily (e.g. Morabito and Naismith).

Stringer isn't a model athlete by any means, but from what we've seen he can get to a certain level without breaking down, but beyond that his body can't handle it.

If he wasn't a full-time AFL player and could afford to spend years building up just to run higher loads maybe he'd tolerate it.

 

[bennyg12]

Running very slow laps today

 

[ant555]

Running very slow laps today I

That’s not unusual. He did medium pace run throughs on Saturday. Not uncommon to be doing slow base work at the start of the week .

 

[faible]

That’s not unusual. He did medium pace run throughs on Saturday. Not uncommon to be doing slow base work at the start of the week .

No you must be flogged each and every session.

 

[yodellinhank]

No you must be flogged each and every session.

How many players have had a vom on the boundary line this pre season? I'd say not enough.

 

[fairbump_playon]

No you must be flogged each and every session.

I think we have to teach players to be more professional in their recovery but also fully eliminate any risk by making sure there isn’t anything they need to recover from. Train smarter, not harder. In fact, train easier.

 

[faible]

I think we have to teach players to be more professional in their recovery but also fully eliminate any risk by making sure there isn’t anything they need to recover from. Train smarter, not harder. In fact, train easier.

I get the sense when the fitness guy came from hawthorn and talked about players needing to learn how to train, it was this kind of thing.

Managing their effort properly and doing all the necessary steps to maximise their recovery so they can get through as much of the preseason workload as possible without injury.

I suspect a club like Geelong has a huge number of guys already doing this to a really high level who ensure any new guys learn it quickly.

Meanwhile at EFC…

 

[yodellinhank]

I get the sense when the fitness guy came from hawthorn and talked about players needing to learn how to train, it was this kind of thing.

Managing their effort properly and doing all the necessary steps to maximise their recovery so they can get through as much of the preseason workload as possible without injury.

I suspect a club like Geelong has a huge number of guys already doing this to a really high level who ensure any new guys learn it quickly.

Meanwhile at EFC…

I guess the question is how long it takes for changes to take effect and what changes are being made. The review pointed out not much and our fitness is stuffed, there's been no changes to what we're doing fitness wise widely spoken about as yet. And we've got stories like that of Francis getting to Sydney and saying "Oh, a football club!" In the meantime

 

[faible]

I guess the question is how long it takes for changes to take effect and what changes are being made. The review pointed out not much and our fitness is stuffed, there's been no changes to what we're doing fitness wise widely spoken about as yet. And we've got stories like that of Francis getting to Sydney and saying "Oh, a football club!" In the meantime

I don't think our fitness is too far off the mark really, rolling out a pretty young side meant we faded as the year wore on, even a guy like Cox who came in as an elite aerobic runner was pretty cooked by the end of his first season, then hasn't had a clean preseason since.

Certainly I'd prefer instead of being say 3% off the best, we were the best, but I think it's a combination of a young list + injuries more than it is totally incompetent fitness staff, plus we haven't traditionally drafted hard running aerobic guys regularly.

 

[Old Campaigner]

I get the sense when the fitness guy came from hawthorn and talked about players needing to learn how to train, it was this kind of thing.

Managing their effort properly and doing all the necessary steps to maximise their recovery so they can get through as much of the preseason workload as possible without injury.

I suspect a club like Geelong has a huge number of guys already doing this to a really high level who ensure any new guys learn it quickly.

Meanwhile at EFC…

There's a bunch of people at work training for ironman triathlons and it sounds like the normal way to build up a high level of fitness is a lot of low intensity work with just a small number of really intense sessions. The low intensity training doesn't build up your fitness base as the high intensity training but you can do a lot more of it for a given amount of recovery time.

Different sports with different fitness goals of course but I think there would be a bit of carryover between the two.

 

[Keystone agony]

There's a bunch of people at work training for ironman triathlons and it sounds like the normal way to build up a high level of fitness is a lot of low intensity work with just a small number of really intense sessions. The low intensity training doesn't build up your fitness base as the high intensity training but you can do a lot more of it for a given amount of recovery time.

Different sports with different fitness goals of course but I think there would be a bit of carryover between the two.

There wouldnt be too much long slow stuff. Thats a bit archaic now

Football is very much interval training now. Sometimes longer/slow stuff for guys returning from rehab just to get the kms up but even then its probably no longer than 1km of running at once and that for very rare players

Football stops/starts. Bench rotations. Kick outs, stoppages ect

Still think were one of the poorer fitness sides. I was surprised Dom Sheed who i didnt see as a huge gun endurance runner, running 6:12 for 2km. Eagles have also been notorious of recent years for not caring about skin folds ect, but i just wonder how many of Shiel, Zerrett, Parish, Langford are running under 6:30? I wouldnt be confident they are

 

[yodellinhank]

And then a smoke and a tinnie straight after...

Possibly before?

 

[ant555]

There wouldnt be too much long slow stuff. Thats a bit archaic now

Football is very much interval training now. Sometimes longer/slow stuff for guys returning from rehab just to get the kms up but even then its probably no longer than 1km of running at once and that for very rare players

Football stops/starts. Bench rotations. Kick outs, stoppages ect

Still think were one of the poorer fitness sides. I was surprised Dom Sheed who i didnt see as a huge gun endurance runner, running 6:12 for 2km. Eagles have also been notorious of recent years for not caring about skin folds ect, but i just wonder how many of Shiel, Zerrett, Parish, Langford are running under 6:30? I wouldnt be confident they are

You have not seen AFL training recently have you. They use both and the slow stuff is often 2km to 4km (5 to 10 laps ) either in one lot or two split over trining .They do not do high intensity / interval training every day. A lot of the high intensity stuff we are doing is mixed in with the ball drills or even game sim as the did for 40 minutes on Saturday where they played a scenario and then had to sprint back to the coach on the other side and then after 30 seconds sprint back to position.
As for 2km times. 2km is a mid range distance to run. It is a semi endurance distance. Clubs use it as it is a one distance fits all as a guide .

Our fitness level has not just been one thing . It has been a combination of missing some fitness work trying to work on game plan . Playing young blokes with lower fitness base . Not having a lot of genuine endurance runners . Lack of team defence leading to having to chase the other way and increased load in games and injuries to a few of the endurance runner we have .

 

[faible]

There's a bunch of people at work training for ironman triathlons and it sounds like the normal way to build up a high level of fitness is a lot of low intensity work with just a small number of really intense sessions. The low intensity training doesn't build up your fitness base as the high intensity training but you can do a lot more of it for a given amount of recovery time.

Different sports with different fitness goals of course but I think there would be a bit of carryover between the two.

Ironman is very much a pure aerobic sport where everything you do builds the aerobic engine, there's little need for any speed work or skills based training like the AFL guys do. People drastically underrate the benefits of easy aerobic training to the level of fitness you can build too, you're almost always better doing more volume at easy pace than you are anything else when it comes to endurance sports (obviously there's a time constraint to this).

Most aerobic sports are similar; ~ 80% of your training should be easy (talking type easy) with 20% above that (either moderate or maximal effort). AFL would be similar, but having to balance the aerobic running with football skills, strength training to stand up in tackles, and speed work around that requirement means there's only a limited portion of their training time that can be dedicated to any one thing.

Someone like Stringer who isn't naturally an aerobic guy would have to invest an overly large proportion of time in to his running for an extended period to get to the point that maybe he could handle midfield running loads, but at the expense of his power from stoppages and basically all the strength type stuff that makes him the dangerous player he is, and IMO isn't a sacrifice worth making. At forward running loads he's one of the most dangerous medium forwards / centre bounce players in the league.

 

[faible]

You have not seen AFL training recently have you. They use both and the slow stuff is often 2km to 4km (5 to 10 laps ) either in one lot or two split over trining .They do not do high intensity / interval training every day. A lot of the high intensity stuff we are doing is mixed in with the ball drills or even game sim as the did for 40 minutes on Saturday where they played a scenario and then had to sprint back to the coach on the other side and then after 30 seconds sprint back to position.
As for 2km times. 2km is a mid range distance to run. It is a semi endurance distance. Clubs use it as it is a one distance fits all as a guide .

Our fitness level has not just been one thing . It has been a combination of missing some fitness work trying to work on game plan . Playing young blokes with lower fitness base . Not having a lot of genuine endurance runners . Lack of team defence leading to having to chase the other way and increased load in games and injuries to a few of the endurance runner we have .

Good call. Too much left to too few means those few are getting flogged every week trying to cover for everyone else.

 

[Keystone agony]

You have not seen AFL training recently have you. They use both and the slow stuff is often 2km to 4km (5 to 10 laps ) either in one lot or two split over trining .They do not do high intensity / interval training every day. A lot of the high intensity stuff we are doing is mixed in with the ball drills or even game sim as the did for 40 minutes on Saturday where they played a scenario and then had to sprint back to the coach on the other side and then after 30 seconds sprint back to position.
As for 2km times. 2km is a mid range distance to run. It is a semi endurance distance. Clubs use it as it is a one distance fits all as a guide .

Our fitness level has not just been one thing . It has been a combination of missing some fitness work trying to work on game plan . Playing young blokes with lower fitness base . Not having a lot of genuine endurance runners . Lack of team defence leading to having to chase the other way and increased load in games and injuries to a few of the endurance runner we have .

Been to plenty of preseason training last year and not once did i see one player continuously do more than 1km

Btw 2kms split into 2 is 1km

 

[dank420_]

Btw 2kms split into 2 is 1km

Calm down Einstein

 

[yodellinhank]

Been to plenty of preseason training last year and not once did i see one player continuously do more than 1km

Fitness is more of a concern than i thought.

 

[faible]

Calm down Einstein

Did you know 2km is 2000m?

Therefore 4 x 500m is 2000m is 2km.

 

[dank420_]

Did you know 2km is 2000m?

Therefore 4 x 500m is 2000m is 2km.

 

[ant555]

Been to plenty of preseason training last year and not once did i see one player continuously do more than 1km

Btw 2kms split into 2 is 1km

4 km split is 2 km .
Exactly what training have you watched ?
I can tell what our training program is and a few other sides . This is not just random shit I am making up.

Jayden ran 15 laps on Saturday.
Munkara ran two lots of 6 laps.
Nick Cox ran 8 laps.
Based on time as you always see the set their watch.

Base fitness load .

Do you see the whole side come out and run 5 or 10 laps ? No.
Do they individually do a certain amount of time running? Yes they do . That could be on the mornings they have weights and meetings. It could be after main training which I have seen done.
It could be from home and done as a half hour circuit somewhere.
Take the tip . All the players do various amount of low intensity running weather it is when they are on a break or during pre season or during the season. Just because it is not seen at every training run does not mean it is not happening.

 

[Nifft]

Been to plenty of preseason training last year and not once did i see one player continuously do more than 1km

But what happens in a game when they've run 1km?




Oh ok, never mind....

 

[Keystone agony]

4 km split is 2 km .
Exactly what training have you watched ?
I can tell what our training program is and a few other sides . This is not just random s**t I am making up.

Jayden ran 15 laps on Saturday.
Munkara ran two lots of 6 laps.
Nick Cox ran 8 laps.
Based on time as you always see the set their watch.

Base fitness load .

Do you see the whole side come out and run 5 or 10 laps ? No.
Do they individually do a certain amount of time running? Yes they do . That could be on the mornings they have weights and meetings. It could be after main training which I have seen done.
It could be from home and done as a half hour circuit somewhere.
Take the tip . All the players do various amount of low intensity running weather it is when they are on a break or during pre season or during the season. Just because it is not seen at every training run does not mean it is not happening.

I wouldnt bother making stuff up either

Can only comment on what ive seen

Look the 2 vs 1 is pretty minute in the scheme of things so not worth getting knickers in a knot over. Ive just never seen it. 2 is hardly long stuff regardless

Not talking about being on break. Talking about players in program

Guys on injury obviousily cant be reaching high intensity

 

[ant555]

I wouldnt bother making stuff up either

Can only comment on what ive seen

Look the 2 vs 1 is pretty minute in the scheme of things so not worth getting knickers in a knot over. Ive just never seen it. 2 is hardly long stuff regardless

Not talking about being on break. Talking about players in program

Guys on injury obviousily cant be reaching high intensity

Comes down to what days you see . If you are at the skills / match sim sessions then you probably only see the rehab guys running as the main group are doing the higher intensity stuff in the drills or before the drills.
The base fitness is often done on non skill’s days or early before the main stuff kicks off.
Like I said I have seen a copy of programs from a few clubs . You would have to attend 6 days a week to see everything. You can not say it does not happen as you did not watch 6 days of training a week.
I go down Melrose Drive a lot during the week. Not unusual to see a few guys running.

Doesn’t change where this all came from and that was Stringer doing slow laps was not uncommon to build / keep base fitness.