Falloon - what's he doing? Packing his bags!

[ploppy]

yeah we need to go urban warfare..what ever it takes just dont get caught..do we have viral weapons department...

 

[Waspy79]

Port Adelaide - what are they doing?

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Also, Brisbane did IV fluid at half time, personally, I believe other clubs players are into ahem, intensive nutritional therapy

I like to use our cycling mate from Geelong way, euphemism - a good medical program.

 

[Janus]

I've often joked that the reason Charlie Walsh is involved with the Crows isn't so much his cycling knowledge, as his "cycling knowledge". Blood doping, EPO and so forth is rife in that particular sport, and while you wouldn't do that sort of thing on game day, in pre-season training, when the testers are less frequent, it would be quite easy to gain that extra 20% or so of power/endurance due to an elevated blood count.

I'm sick and tired of our guys laying a tackle but being shrugged aside like it was nothing. And it seems to me at the moment that when we Do have the ball, we are caught in this no-mans-land of not fast enough to evade tackles, yet not strong enough to stand up in them.

As Porthos said, we don't need any more mature nice guys who work hard. My first question if I was recruiting would be 'Does this player understand that there is no such thing as having 'made it' - that the closer you get to the goal, the further away it gets? The second question would be what is he willing to do, over and above hard work, to reach that elusive goal?'

You think you've reached your goal by winning a premiership? Go back to back. Done that? Win three. Won the B&F? Win a Browlow. There's ALWAYS something greater that our players should be striving for. Of course, there will always be setbacks - but that means you just reset and start again.

Take a look at any of the game's greats and you'll see a pervasive selfish attitude that excludes any distractions from being the best they can possibly be. Would you describe any of our players like that? I wouldn't.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

The one thing you know about a 2000+ Port Adelaide draftee is that they will show unusual mental/emotional maturity for their age, they will be `nice blokes' and `hard workers'. So how do you turn that into the sort of **** you need to bang heads all game every game? That when your side is down and out, they have enough rebellion in them to fight against it.

....

Damien Hardwick is a short bastard by today's standards (as is Josh Carr), and quite frankly are lightweights compared to the guys they used to man up on and shut down. So what? They were *****.

....

More *****, less nice guys.

One of my Norwood mates who I had a beer with on Saturday during the SANFL game, in either 2002 or 2003 finals lead up and hoping we would go out in straight sets, told me Port had too many nice guys with nice names - Fabian, Toby, Kane, Chadwick, Stuart etc. He asked were are the Gazza's, Bazza's, Davo's Johno's etc Port used to have in bucket loads??

 

[ClintEastwood]

One of my Norwood mates who I had a beer with on Saturday during the SANFL game, in either 2002 or 2003 finals lead up and hoping we would go out in straight sets, told me Port had too many nice guys with nice names - Fabian, Toby, Kane, Chadwick, Stuart etc. He asked were are the Gazza's, Bazza's, Davo's Johno's etc Port used to have in bucket loads??

Names come in and out of fashion. I wouldn't care if they were all called Petunia as long as they were angry and made of cast iron.

 

[BigBroMike]

Actually the comments coming back from the club this preseason seemed to be about "smarter" training, as distinct from breaking all records for time-trials, bench presses etc.

Primus talked about resting players well between training sessions to ensure their durability during the season - i.e. so they wouldn't pick up mid-season injuries which have plagued the last two home and away campaigns.

Unfortunately, we're still picking up injuries - probably earlier than last year - and we seem so under-prepared, that by mid-season, it may well be too late.

That's the thing with 'smart' training though. It's very subjective. I'm not going to pretend to be some fitness expert but like anything it makes a lot more sense having objective goals. In a strength and conditioning program objective goals would be stuff like bench, squat and deadlift for strength. It's simple if a player is able to lift more then they are getting stronger. Also monitor their weight and bodyfat and place a lot of emphasis on getting very good pound for pound strength. I mean how hard is it to test how much a player is maxing in say October and then test it again during monthly intervals and record it each time??? At the end of each month you get some analysis and in less then a minute you work out how much progress a player has made with their strength. Same with conditioning except you'd focus upon trial times in various distances and a beep test. Thats my $0.02 anyway.

Interesting article, which expands on the point i was trying to make.
http://www.criticalbench.com/football-strength-training-workout.htm

"The best strength coach I ever had...

In college, I lifted like a maniac and destroyed all of the schools strength records. At 230 pounds I ran the fastest 40 on the football team - 4.34 (the coaches made me run it 4 times to make sure that is wasn't a mistake!) This was my freshman year and the strength coach at the time was an ex-power lifter. He designed programs the same way that my uncle did. Heavy squats, dead lifts, bench press and cleans were the pillars of our football training progam. He knew more about speed development than my uncle, so we did a lot of jumping, bounding and sprinting up stair cases, but as far as sprint training went… that was it. I was the strongest and fastest I had ever been.

The worst strength coach I ever had...

The following year, our university hired a new strength and conditioning coach. This guy was about 150 pounds 'soaking wet' and had a doctorate in exercise physiology. The first thing that our new "strength" coach did, was to add an arsenal of fancy new exercises with yoga balls, rubber bands and wobble boards. We trained a ton of ‘speed technique with cones and latters’. The biggest change he had made to our program was that he reduced the amount of weight that we were lifting… for safety reasons.

That was the first season that I ever got injured.

As I got "smarter", I got weaker!

http://www.criticalbench.com/football-strength-training-workout.htm

 

[b0ydman]

That's the thing with 'smart' training though. It's very subjective.

good comments, enjoyed that best coach worst coach story

we do need some mongrel

choco and rodhe were schoolteachers iirc

the best boxers come from the slums/ gutters/ other side of the track
we lack mongrel

take pearce, one of the lovliest guys you can ever meet. seriously, its been said before, you would truly want your daughter to marry some of these guys- they are terrific people

and anyone who knows these guys too knows they generally give it all, so as much as i say pearce (eg) is lazy, i can't really question his committment from what i know of him

so what do we do but scratch our heads? i dunno

confused

 

[Ford Fairlane]

That's the thing with 'smart' training though. It's very subjective. I'm not going to pretend to be some fitness expert but like anything it makes a lot more sense having objective goals. In a strength and conditioning program objective goals would be stuff like bench, squat and deadlift for strength. It's simple if a player is able to lift more then they are getting stronger. Also monitor their weight and bodyfat and place a lot of emphasis on getting very good pound for pound strength. I mean how hard is it to test how much a player is maxing in say October and then test it again during monthly intervals and record it each time??? At the end of each month you get some analysis and in less then a minute you work out how much progress a player has made with their strength. Same with conditioning except you'd focus upon trial times in various distances and a beep test. Thats my $0.02 anyway.

Interesting article, which expands on the point i was trying to make.
http://www.criticalbench.com/football-strength-training-workout.htm

"The best strength coach I ever had...

In college, I lifted like a maniac and destroyed all of the schools strength records. At 230 pounds I ran the fastest 40 on the football team - 4.34 (the coaches made me run it 4 times to make sure that is wasn't a mistake!) This was my freshman year and the strength coach at the time was an ex-power lifter. He designed programs the same way that my uncle did. Heavy squats, dead lifts, bench press and cleans were the pillars of our football training progam. He knew more about speed development than my uncle, so we did a lot of jumping, bounding and sprinting up stair cases, but as far as sprint training went… that was it. I was the strongest and fastest I had ever been.

The worst strength coach I ever had...

The following year, our university hired a new strength and conditioning coach. This guy was about 150 pounds 'soaking wet' and had a doctorate in exercise physiology. The first thing that our new "strength" coach did, was to add an arsenal of fancy new exercises with yoga balls, rubber bands and wobble boards. We trained a ton of ‘speed technique with cones and latters’. The biggest change he had made to our program was that he reduced the amount of weight that we were lifting… for safety reasons.

That was the first season that I ever got injured.

As I got "smarter", I got weaker!

http://www.criticalbench.com/football-strength-training-workout.htm

It's an ad not an article. Sure it has some basic home truths but it's a guy selling his product so I wouldn't take too much of it as gospel.

 

[Portology]

One of my Norwood mates who I had a beer with on Saturday during the SANFL game, in either 2002 or 2003 finals lead up and hoping we would go out in straight sets, told me Port had too many nice guys with nice names - Fabian, Toby, Kane, Chadwick, Stuart etc. He asked were are the Gazza's, Bazza's, Davo's Johno's etc Port used to have in bucket loads??

Not hard to spot the odd one out in that list.
There is one absolute mongrel in there, IMO, and nothing any coach could fix.
Enough said.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Talking about size I went and watched the Rugby 7s on Sunday. Sent footyhead07 a txt saying I was sitting on the wing near a lot of Fijian fans. Said there were several Fijian girls who had more and bigger muscles than all the Port boys, including Alipate and Rodan. That wasn't a sledge on the girls, its their genetics.

Even the Kenyan's had several tall, muscle bound players who were able to sprint the length of the field as well as give out big hits. They obviously aren't from the Kalenjin tribe in the Western Highlands who produce all those world and Olympic champion skinny middle distance and long distance runners.

 

[Steve Dore]

...... Port had too many nice guys with nice names - Fabian, Toby, Kane, Chadwick, Stuart etc. He asked were are the Gazza's, Bazza's, Davo's Johno's etc Port used to have in bucket loads??

I think you're on to something there.

Any bloke named after a poet would have to be a real wuss on the field and totally incapable of putting in big hits.

Maybe the club needs to employ a numerologist and then have the players change their names by deed poll.

 

[PowerKat]

Lazy and/or players with low confidence (either in themselves or their team mates) look slow and weak.

The PAFC culture that existed before we entered the AFL has now been comprehensively dismantled from every angle (hopefully not totally destroyed never to return) and no coach / assistant / fitness dude / psychologist / CEO / whomever... is going to fix it quickly, if ever. At this stage I don't believe it can be rebuilt, I only hope it can.

We are looking for an answer and there isn't a single one - there's any number of contributing factors. Possibly our fitness is one - it appears so, but I wonder how much is application and discipline, rather than directly attributable to Falloon. There have been snippets of evidence of players cutting corners or taking shortcuts in previous seasons. If that's no longer the case, what is the cost of that history this year? If they are/have been allowed to do this, then what hope has a guy trying to implement a program have?

If we've drafted a bunch of guys who don't have the physical DNA or whatever, that would allow them to become 'solid units' if they tried (eg Westhoff, Hitchcock) then, again, what hope does 'weights guy' or 'fitness guy' have?

btw, I would have no ****ing idea whether Falloon has done/is doing the best job, or if someone else out there could do it better, regardess of everything else going on.

 

[tribey]

[YOUTUBE]jQYQTFudrqc[/YOUTUBE]

Naughty naughty Cam Falloon,
We're gettin' beat with arms like hobo's sons
Naughty naughty Cam Falloon,
Watch another season float by, weak ****s

 

[BigBroMike]

I've been doing some reading lately about Falloon and i'm generally baffled why Port have picked him up.
In 2006 he was at Geelong and in charge of their physical fitness program. Apparently Bomber Thompson openly criticised his program at Geelong which lead to him being sacked.
"SEN had a fantastic Tom Harley interview from exactly twelve months ago when he was given the Geelong captaincy. The theme of the interview was about what he thought may have been the reasons behind Geelongs poor season considering the pre-season hype and the fact they were tipped to finish top four in 2006. One of the things he believed was behind their poor season was that he said they 'WERE NOT FIT'".

In 2007 the Bulldogs pick him up and he becomes head of their physical performance. The following comments were made by fan

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

Loris Bertolacci was the head fitness guy at Geelong who had a falling out and was sacked by Geelong in April 2006.

Falloon step in to cover the rest of the season as the head guy and was pinched by the Bulldogs at the end of 2006. Here are a couple of threads from the Geelong board in 2006.

Bertolacci sacked April 2006. Falloon was his assistant at the time and took over.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=236296&highlight=Bertolacci

Falloon signs with Bulldogs Oct 2006. Geelong had their big review in August and September. His sacking wasn't a recommendation of the review.
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273479&highlight=Bertolacci

3 weeks later crows assistant 25 y.o Paul Haines appointed.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279467&highlight=Bertolacci

 

[Ford Fairlane]

tic-toc tic-toc clock's ticking.

 

[Macca19]

Should not get another. I could understand one of the lack of physical size and the lack of fitness if we saw improvement in one of them. We would be the worst club in the land with each. Should not have a job next year

 

[BigBroMike]

Loris Bertolacci was the head fitness guy at Geelong who had a falling out and was sacked by Geelong in April 2006.

Falloon step in to cover the rest of the season as the head guy and was pinched by the Bulldogs at the end of 2006. Here are a couple of threads from the Geelong board in 2006.

Bertolacci sacked April 2006. Falloon was his assistant at the time and took over.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=236296&highlight=Bertolacci

Falloon signs with Bulldogs Oct 2006. Geelong had their big review in August and September. His sacking wasn't a recommendation of the review.
http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273479&highlight=Bertolacci

3 weeks later crows assistant 25 y.o Paul Haines appointed.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=279467&highlight=Bertolacci

I'm not sure what happened to the 2nd half of my initital post. Regardless of the facts at Geelong though, the facts were that at the Bulldogs their players showed a drop in fitness, speed, and size in the year that he was their fitness coach.

 

[b0ydman]

18:28 a whole lot of dormant threads reopened

for good reason too. i think there is a lot of valuable discussion we've had that now- 6-10 weeks later, is being fulfilled

fitness is one thing, even if we had a slow pre-season surely you develop match fitness?

but the lack of muscle mass for so many players really is disturbing.

 

[Forzaport]

We've been undersized for far too long now. Falloon must be on thin ice.

 

[Black 18]

We've been undersized for far too long now. Falloon must be on thin ice.

You would really hope that it's not only thin ice, but the ice has broken open already.

But given our "ways", we will announce that we're going to do a full review of strength & conditoning then appoint Falloon to carry out the review.

Just gotta keep it the Port way of doing things.

 

[BigBroMike]

You would really hope that it's not only thin ice, but the ice has broken open already.

But given our "ways", we will announce that we're going to do a full review of strength & conditoning then appoint Falloon to carry out the review.

Just gotta keep it the Port way of doing things.

The sad part is that's probably true.

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I'm not sure what happened to my last post but the 2nd link was incorrect.

The link below compare's the 2008 end of season Port review vs the 2006 end of season Geelong review.

Fitness and Training was addressed in the Geelong review. Nobody was named, but Falloon left around the same time as the review was released. Was he pushed or did he see the writing on the wall? Who knows.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showpost.php?p=12517704&postcount=19

I searched the Bulldogs board. This was a thread dated 27 August 2007 saying sack Falloon.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=363750&highlight=Falloon

And here are a couple of mixed review threads when it was announced that Falloon had left because Port offered him more money.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=498103&highlight=Falloon

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=460010&highlight=Falloon


The year before Falloon got to the Dogs ie 2006 their reord was
13W - 9L - 8th, then in finals beat 5th team Collingwood but then lost to minor premiers West Coast

His first year 2007
9W - 12L - 1D to finish 13th

His second year 2008
15W - 6L - 1D 3rd, then in finals loss week one to 2nd placed Hawks by 8 goals, beat Sydney in week 2 by 6 goals and then loss PF by 5 goals to Geelong.

So does that record prove anything???

 

[El_Scorcho]

Whatever has happened before, you can't keep your job if the team you are supposed to be conditioning is deficient in every area.

We can't be weaker, AND smaller, AND slower, AND have less endurance than EVERT other side in the competition. It just doesn't make sense. Is there any fitness based aspect of our side that Falloon could point to that shows a decent result compared to every other side?

It's frankly disgusting.