Choco on AA Monday 19 January

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Ford Fairlane

Ford Fairlane

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Feb 21, 2002
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As alerted by missionpossible, Choco was interviewed by the new AA crow, er sports show team. They gave him a half hour, here's a few points, feel free to add.

  • Choco confirmed a fitter, bigger, stronger side. Adding size without sacrificing running ability. Longer pre-season, great work by Falloon
  • Talked about recruiting Andrew Lulham (strength and conditioning) from Queensland and his work with rugby players. (thanks for reminding me Power freak :thumbsu:)
  • Obviously a lot of turnover from last year, and wanted to recognise the players who had moved on. Mentioned the strategic decisions made to ensure the squad would be in top shape
  • More work on fast transition, quick movement. Said we don't have a Buddy Franklin type forward so we can't just bang it in long. Have to be smart about how we use the ball
  • Have worked with other coaches - Aurelio Vidmar, Phil Smyth
  • Tried to get Scott Burns to Port as an assistant coach for a few years, talking to him at home etc. But missed out to West Coast. Some you get, some you don't
  • Nick Russell back to Port from Hawthorn - video, data analysis of players and strategy. Bringing some Hawthorn ideas in (already seen that at training). Davenport also being debriefed for ideas from Geelong.
  • Young players, mentioned Marlon, Krak (away in Alice Springs with his partner and new baby), guys like Nick Lower who have been knocking on the door for a while, Nick Salter who looks really fit. Special mention for Hartlett (Rowe gave him a big rap too), said Trengove today did a lot more of the training for the first time and was very impressive. Also mentioned how hard Davenport has been working on the track.
  • The youth of the backline was brought up and this was recognised. But Choco thinks there are some very good players back there and will develop together into a very good unit.
  • Peter Barnes working with the TDU cyclists this week, hoping he brings back a few new ideas. This lead to a bit of discussion about the amount of monitoring/testing of players to improve physical performance (Cornes said Armstrong was being blood-tested 15 times a day by his American team to evaluate his conditioning). Choco said football clubs were moving down this path, but not to that degree yet. Made mention of Primus and Bode having low testosterone levels after some training and treating that, but quickly had to explain this was not done illegally. Maybe not the best example. :eek:
  • With all the new staff on board, very fresh and exciting out at Port and broadly hinted he's keen to stay.
  • Not a fan of co-captains, but said it's not up to him in the end. That led to speculation that it might be on the cards, but he wasn't confirming or denying.
 
Tried this elsewhere but will again, from the interview: the reinvigoration of the Club/new staff makes it an exciting place to be and that is "certainly what (he has) put on the table" i.e. to the Club re. his contract. He said it, Choco wants to stay on. Woot.
 
The interview confirmed a lot of the things we are seeing on the training track. Interesting that he mentioned Lullman and his rugby background. That is a real plus. We may have the best fitness department in the league. I like the way Choco says that he picked apart the Hawthorne model. Talking about learning from other people and enjoying it is what I admired. The comparison between him and Neil Craig was palatable. Neil just wanted confirmation that his way was working whereas Mark was willing to put a blow-torch to our gameplan. Neil said, "Dangerfield did not do enough work while he was studying for his school. He thought that he should have done more. I bet that would have thrilled his parents. The guy seemed set in his thinking. I think we should think about that when we start asking to change coaches.
 

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Unfortunately I was too late to listen in but they had a recap & mentioned that the interview with Mark is on the website.

I have just done a scour of the website but can't seem to find the interview - if anyone can post the link, would be forever grateful!
 
Thanks for the review Ford.

Pod cast will probably be up tomorrow as not up at the moment.

Good that we got a strength guy from Rugby. Now just need a League or Union bloke or someone from a wrestling or martial arts background to improve our tackling methods.

Good that we are proactive. We have a bit of a whinge on this board that the club does do much but we obviously have no idea what goes on.

The rumors of Buckley or a high profile assistant being recruited must have been about Burns, if we've been talking to him for a while.

Good that we pinched someone from Hawthorn and reversed a bit of the traffic. It's all been one way for 4 years.

Sounds like a lot of enthusiasm at the place after the disaster of 2008.

Peter Barnes working with the TDU cyclists this week, hoping he brings back a few new ideas.
Click to expand...
Hopefully its not EPO and/or blood doping.

This lead to a bit of discussion about the amount of monitoring/testing of players to improve physical performance (Cornes said Armstrong was being blood-tested 15 times a day by his American team to evaluate his conditioning). Choco said football clubs were moving down this path, but not to that degree yet. Made mention of Primus and Bode having low testosterone levels after some training and treating that, but quickly had to explain this was not done illegally. Maybe not the best example.
Click to expand...

There is a testostorone cream that you can use, which IIRC has been passed by WADA as it gives a low dose of testosterone and nowhere as big a hit as anabolic steroids. Also the tests pick up abnormally high levels of testostorone. So low levels + cream wouldn't indicate elevated levels.
 
Mark sounded pretty nervous and was pumping up all the 'new' things the club is doing. I think he knows his job is on the line this season.

He was quick to say he wanted the job too, there was none of that 'i wouldnt mind coaching interstate' stuff
 
twentydollarnote said:
Mark sounded pretty nervous and was pumping up all the 'new' things the club is doing. I think he knows his job is on the line this season.

He was quick to say he wanted the job too, there was none of that 'i wouldnt mind coaching interstate' stuff
Click to expand...

Didn't think he was more nervous or edgy than usual - he's pretty much always like that, interjecting before the interviewer finishes the question, rambling and getting distracted by the little side issues he always lays on the table (eg praising assistant coaches, talking down our finances).

He sounded quite positive at the end about wanting to stick around almost because of the excitement injected by the turnover of board members and CEO.

I think he knows that 2009 could be an exceptionally good year on-field. And I'm talking "sky the limit" stuff here. If we're fit and strong and we can find a tall forward to kick some goals and a tall defender to stand his ground.....
 
That's really awesome. We are extremely lucky to have coach like Mark Williams and as we can see already, the pre-season is going along as planned. Looking forward to another outstanding year. :thumbsu:
 
Ford Fairlane said:
[*]Not a fan of co-captains, but said it's not up to him in the end. That led to speculation that it might be on the cards, but he wasn't confirming or denying.
[/LIST]
Click to expand...

he did say to graham "what number does Chad want?.....ahh i just dropped that" when refferring to the tradition of the captain taking number 1 or keeping his old number ala Geoff Motley.

is there anything in it?

also looking at the homepage of the website with Chad and S. Burgoyne as the main two, just reassures they will be captain and vice captain respectively.
 

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just read this on the port site too.. in the motlop article -

Port Adelaide is likely to announce its captain in time for hit-outs with SANFL clubs Port Adelaide Magpies and Sturt on February 14.

& i believe that was an "in house" PAFC website article.
 
captain ebert said:
just read this on the port site too.. in the motlop article -

Port Adelaide is likely to announce its captain in time for hit-outs with SANFL clubs Port Adelaide Magpies and Sturt on February 14.

& i believe that was an "in house" PAFC website article.
Click to expand...
I posted that same snippet last week. I don't know if you can infer from that that there will definitely be only one captain but I certainly hope that is true.
 
captain ebert said:
captain......?

not captains? or co-captains?
Click to expand...

Don't know. I was more clarifying the fact the article said "likely to announce", when Choco said we would be announcing it on the family day.
 
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Cyrus the Virus said:
he did say to graham "what number does Chad want?.....ahh i just dropped that" when refferring to the tradition of the captain taking number 1 or keeping his old number ala Geoff Motley.

is there anything in it?
Click to expand...

From memory Geoff Motley only held his number 17 for one year before taking up Number 1, as he always should have.
 
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Choco on AA Monday 19 January

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