Pre-Season 2011 vs 2010

[Vader]

There's no doubt that it's been a tumultuous 12 months for the Adelaide Football Club. We've seen the departure of several of the club's most loved players and watched from the sidelines as the team's on-field fortunes went southwards at a rapid rate of knots. Many of the reasons behind the on-field disappointments have their roots in the 2010 pre-season, so I thought a comparison of then vs now might be appropriate. What's changed within the club to give us hope of a brighter future?

Trade Week
Having been spectators at the previous 2 trade weeks, Adelaide were one of the more active participants in 2010. We picked up Richard Tambling and Sam Jacobs, losing Jonathan Griffin in the process.

It's worth noting that our participation in trade week was in no way against the principle of Neil Craig. Craig has never had a problem with trading, but he insists that we only trade players who have specifically requested to be traded. Griffin is a prime example of what Craig talks about.

With the club facing a heavily compromised draft (GC had 9 of the first 15 selections going into trade week), the AFC were seemingly quite happy to trade away our 2nd and 3rd round selections, along with the compensation pick we received for the theft of Nathan Bock. It seems universally accepted that we did well with the Jacobs trade. The jury is definitely out on Tambling - and I'm not sure what he'll have to do to win the fans over, having disappointed so many in his time at Richmond.

Drafting
In 2010 we took 4 in the ND and 3 in the RD, plus Aidan Riley's promotion off the scholarship list. 2 of those rookies have since been promoted to the senior list. With Gunston & Jaensch having made their debuts, it's looking like this could be a really good crop of youngsters - if the likes of Talia, Craig & Shaw can keep themselves out of the infirmary.

In 2011 our trading (and rookie promotions) left us with only 2 vacancies. We opted for Brodie Smith at #14 and Jarryd Lyons at #61. This is the club's smallest draft intake since 1993, when Eugene Warrior was our only selection.

Things have been balanced, to a certain degree, by the selection of 4 new rookie draftees and the promotion of Sam Martyn off the NSW Scholarship list. Hopefully these rookies will enjoy the same degree of success as the class of 2009.

Team Lists
The differences between the 2010 and 2011 team lists could not be more stark, with the departures of so many of our veterans.

At the start of 2010 we had 11 players with 100+ games, plus VB sitting on 97. Our team had a collective 2767 games to their credit, with just 3 players responsible for 898 (32.5%) of them. The average age of the players on our list (as of 1/1/2010) was 23 yrs 262 days, with a median of 23 years flat (Richard Douglas).

At the start of 2011 we will have just 8 players with 100+ games, with Porps the next best on 87. Our team now has just 2035 games between them, a loss of 732 (26.5%) relative to 2010. Our top 3 players now account for just 548 games, or 26.9% of the team total. The average age (as of 1/1/11) has fallen to 22 yrs 330 days, a reduction of 297 days - I haven't checked, but I'm guessing this could be the youngest squad we've ever fielded. The median player is now James Sellar, at 21 yrs 288 days.

In 2010 we had 5 players aged 30+, with 2 of them (Goodwin & McLeod) on the veterans list. In 2011 we will have just 1, Doughty. Stevens & Johncock are the only other players currently aged 28+.

Injuries
The 2010 pre-season was a nightmare when it came to injuries. Moran & Knights were injured late in the season and Otten did his ACL in the very first training session of the pre-season. Knights, Bock, VB and Porps all had severely limited pre-seasons which impacted on their fortunes when they finally returned to the team during the season. All of these players had years to forget. Vince wasn't injured for most of the pre-season, but he did have an answer to the age old question of "who ate all the pies?". His (relative) laziness meant that he was a shadow of his 2009 self. On top of these, there were a host of players who suffered a variety of soft tissue injuries. Our newest draftees - particularly Talia & Shaw - were rarely sighted on the training track.

The 2011 pre-season has (touchwood) gone off without a hitch so far. Only 1 player has been sent off for surgery - and that wasn't due to a new injury, it was an old injury which hadn't responded to rest, so the club decided to get the surgery done as soon as the players returned from leave. All the pre-season training reports indicate that our key players who were injured in 2010 are now flying - and (hopefully) headed for a fantastic 2011 season.

The 2010 pre-season was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish. The club instigated an external review, as called for by many BigFooty posters. The review identified 12 areas for potential improvement. It's early days yet, but the revised program seems to be bearing fruit, in that the injury rates seem to have decreased dramatically.

Training
All the pre-season training reports I've read indicate that the club are taking the 12 recommendations seriously. There seems to be a very different approach to training this season, compared to what was happening 12 months ago.

It remains to be seen what impact the new training regime will have - on our long term injury count, our fitness when the season begins and our ability to execute the Neil Craig gameplan. All 3 of these factors were epic failures in 2010, how will we go in 2011?

 

[WALL-e]

Eugene Warrior is one of the best footy names of all time. OF ALL TIME [/Kanye].

Things certainly look different, the most exciting is the low body toll we have at the moment. Though there's a few in the restricted group, there's not a whole lot of injury troubles atm.

Here's hoping we see a full list come round 1, however unlikely that is.

 

[crowman86]

The thing that stood out to me about that post is how freaking young Sellar still is.

 

[Mismatched]

The thing that stood out to me about that post is how freaking young Sellar still is.

Yeah, same here. 4 years on our list and still won't hit 22 till next year.

 

[cmndstab]

I'm just delighted to have gotten pretty much all the way through to Christmas without one training mishap. Last year it got to the stage where I was dreading logging onto Bigfooty each day for fear of reading that we'd suffered yet another injury.


There's this sense (or at least, I had this sense) that our squad hasn't changed much outside of the big four this year. Only having two ND selections kind of gives that impression. But we've actually brought 9 new players into the club - almost 20% of our entire squad is new to us. Tambling, Jacobs, Smith, Lyons, Milera, Van Bertouch, Roach, Callinan and Martyn. It's always exciting to have so many new faces at the club. Such a different mix of players too - Tambling and Jacobs are obviously ready to go, albeit in different stages of their respective career. Callinan could be a round 1 starter or may never play a match, very fascinating to watch what happens there. Smith or Lyons could play this year, whereas our rookies (sans Callinan) all seem to be in the category of "talented but in need of development".

Even then, our rookies each have totally different talents and developmental requirements. Milera is the sublimely talented player who has had poor application to date. If he can get his body and work rate up to AFL standard, the talent is there to carry him. Van Bertouch has a decent sized body and is a reliable goalkicker once he can get his hands on the ball, but has yet to elevate his game to SANFL standard. Can he flourish in an AFL environment? Roach reportedly impressed scouts, but is severely undersized. Will we be able to stack weight on him? On one hand, Brodie Martin is a prime example of a small, skinny guy who was able to get enough meat on the bones to allow his talent and pace to shine through. On the other hand, from the same draft, Armstrong has been unable to get his body up to AFL size and it may very well cost him his career. Martyn has absolutely elite endurance, and is a brilliant all-round athlete (he won a long jump comp in an U18 athletics meet last year), but is very much inexperienced in football terms and has barely played in any competition worth a damn. Can he take advantage of his athletic abilities to forge a path in the SANFL, and ultimately to the AFL? Each of these rookies are fascinating to me - clearly behind the eight ball for various reasons, but each with a trick shot to execute. I'd put money on at least one of them making it, but hopefully more than one can take the step up. On the flip side of the coin, there's Callinan whose only real vice is his age - he has already done all he can at SANFL level, and reportedly trains brilliantly.


There are so many great (or potentially great) players in our squad who had terrible, or even non-existent, years last year that can hopefully show us their best in 2011. Porplyzia, Vince, Mackay, Van Berlo, Knights, Martin, Otten. Our future stars, the likes of Tippett, Walker, Dangerfield, Sloane, Jaensch, Henderson, Davis, Gunston and Petrenko will all be a year older, with another preseason in their bodies. We will have kids in every position running around in the SANFL putting pressure on for spots - McKernan, Young, Sellar, Talia, Cook, Schmidt, Riley, L. Thompson, Armstrong, Moran, Craig, Shaw, Wright, as well as undoubtedly some of the above-mentioned people. And then we will hopefully see those that did perform this year at least maintain that level - Douglas, S. Thompson, Johncock, Rutten, etc. I know we get sucked in to this trap every year, but there are so many reasons to be excited about 2011.


How many days until the NAB Cup starts???

 

[Tex200]

I'm just delighted to have gotten pretty much all the way through to Christmas without one training mishap. Last year it got to the stage where I was dreading logging onto Bigfooty each day for fear of reading that we'd suffered yet another injury.


There's this sense (or at least, I had this sense) that our squad hasn't changed much outside of the big four this year. Only having two ND selections kind of gives that impression. But we've actually brought 9 new players into the club - almost 20% of our entire squad is new to us. Tambling, Jacobs, Smith, Lyons, Milera, Van Bertouch, Roach, Callinan and Martyn. It's always exciting to have so many new faces at the club. Such a different mix of players too - Tambling and Jacobs are obviously ready to go, albeit in different stages of their respective career. Callinan could be a round 1 starter or may never play a match, very fascinating to watch what happens there. Smith or Lyons could play this year, whereas our rookies (sans Callinan) all seem to be in the category of "talented but in need of development".

Even then, our rookies each have totally different talents and developmental requirements. Milera is the sublimely talented player who has had poor application to date. If he can get his body and work rate up to AFL standard, the talent is there to carry him. Van Bertouch has a decent sized body and is a reliable goalkicker once he can get his hands on the ball, but has yet to elevate his game to SANFL standard. Can he flourish in an AFL environment? Roach reportedly impressed scouts, but is severely undersized. Will we be able to stack weight on him? On one hand, Brodie Martin is a prime example of a small, skinny guy who was able to get enough meat on the bones to allow his talent and pace to shine through. On the other hand, from the same draft, Armstrong has been unable to get his body up to AFL size and it may very well cost him his career. Martyn has absolutely elite endurance, and is a brilliant all-round athlete (he won a long jump comp in an U18 athletics meet last year), but is very much inexperienced in football terms and has barely played in any competition worth a damn. Can he take advantage of his athletic abilities to forge a path in the SANFL, and ultimately to the AFL? Each of these rookies are fascinating to me - clearly behind the eight ball for various reasons, but each with a trick shot to execute. I'd put money on at least one of them making it, but hopefully more than one can take the step up. On the flip side of the coin, there's Callinan whose only real vice is his age - he has already done all he can at SANFL level, and reportedly trains brilliantly.


There are so many great (or potentially great) players in our squad who had terrible, or even non-existent, years last year that can hopefully show us their best in 2011. Porplyzia, Vince, Mackay, Van Berlo, Knights, Martin, Otten. Our future stars, the likes of Tippett, Walker, Dangerfield, Sloane, Jaensch, Henderson, Davis, Gunston and Petrenko will all be a year older, with another preseason in their bodies. We will have kids in every position running around in the SANFL putting pressure on for spots - McKernan, Young, Sellar, Talia, Cook, Schmidt, Riley, L. Thompson, Armstrong, Moran, Craig, Shaw, Wright, as well as undoubtedly some of the above-mentioned people. And then we will hopefully see those that did perform this year at least maintain that level - Douglas, S. Thompson, Johncock, Rutten, etc. I know we get sucked in to this trap every year, but there are so many reasons to be excited about 2011.


How many days until the NAB Cup starts???

Well....Im sucked in

 

[fabs33]

Last year it got to the stage where I was dreading logging onto Bigfooty each day for fear of reading that we'd suffered yet another injury.

I had the exact same experience. If we get through this preseason relatively unscathed I will be more excited about our prospects than I was at the beginning of last season. Actually to tell the truth I wasn't very excited at all before last season (because of all the injuries) so it won't be hard to top those sentiments.

 

[amer]

I'm just delighted to have gotten pretty much all the way through to Christmas without one training mishap. Last year it got to the stage where I was dreading logging onto Bigfooty each day for fear of reading that we'd suffered yet another injury.


There's this sense (or at least, I had this sense) that our squad hasn't changed much outside of the big four this year. Only having two ND selections kind of gives that impression. But we've actually brought 9 new players into the club - almost 20% of our entire squad is new to us. Tambling, Jacobs, Smith, Lyons, Milera, Van Bertouch, Roach, Callinan and Martyn. It's always exciting to have so many new faces at the club. Such a different mix of players too - Tambling and Jacobs are obviously ready to go, albeit in different stages of their respective career. Callinan could be a round 1 starter or may never play a match, very fascinating to watch what happens there. Smith or Lyons could play this year, whereas our rookies (sans Callinan) all seem to be in the category of "talented but in need of development".

Even then, our rookies each have totally different talents and developmental requirements. Milera is the sublimely talented player who has had poor application to date. If he can get his body and work rate up to AFL standard, the talent is there to carry him. Van Bertouch has a decent sized body and is a reliable goalkicker once he can get his hands on the ball, but has yet to elevate his game to SANFL standard. Can he flourish in an AFL environment? Roach reportedly impressed scouts, but is severely undersized. Will we be able to stack weight on him? On one hand, Brodie Martin is a prime example of a small, skinny guy who was able to get enough meat on the bones to allow his talent and pace to shine through. On the other hand, from the same draft, Armstrong has been unable to get his body up to AFL size and it may very well cost him his career. Martyn has absolutely elite endurance, and is a brilliant all-round athlete (he won a long jump comp in an U18 athletics meet last year), but is very much inexperienced in football terms and has barely played in any competition worth a damn. Can he take advantage of his athletic abilities to forge a path in the SANFL, and ultimately to the AFL? Each of these rookies are fascinating to me - clearly behind the eight ball for various reasons, but each with a trick shot to execute. I'd put money on at least one of them making it, but hopefully more than one can take the step up. On the flip side of the coin, there's Callinan whose only real vice is his age - he has already done all he can at SANFL level, and reportedly trains brilliantly.


There are so many great (or potentially great) players in our squad who had terrible, or even non-existent, years last year that can hopefully show us their best in 2011. Porplyzia, Vince, Mackay, Van Berlo, Knights, Martin, Otten. Our future stars, the likes of Tippett, Walker, Dangerfield, Sloane, Jaensch, Henderson, Davis, Gunston and Petrenko will all be a year older, with another preseason in their bodies. We will have kids in every position running around in the SANFL putting pressure on for spots - McKernan, Young, Sellar, Talia, Cook, Schmidt, Riley, L. Thompson, Armstrong, Moran, Craig, Shaw, Wright, as well as undoubtedly some of the above-mentioned people. And then we will hopefully see those that did perform this year at least maintain that level - Douglas, S. Thompson, Johncock, Rutten, etc. I know we get sucked in to this trap every year, but there are so many reasons to be excited about 2011.


How many days until the NAB Cup starts???

There are just some sensational names in there, ton of upside. We'll need our share of luck, but that's no different for any other club in the competition. We could be anything.

 

[Godallblighty]

Injuries are clearly the single biggest factor affecting a team's fortunes. Year after year, the top four exhibit a common characteristic - much the same team sheet every week. Starting last season with nearly a third of our list unfit to play AFL meant we were in trouble before a ball was bounced. If we get to Round 1 with anything like an intact list, I would expect to see a very different year. Luck will play a part as the year progresses, of course, as will better injury management (not bringing in unfit players for instance).

On the other hand, as has been widely discussed, injuries were not our only problem last year. With a significantly rejuvenated list, we may swap one problem of a sudden catastrophic decline in a few older players for the problem of inconsistency in younger ones. However, if we come out with with an agressive, risk-taking gameplan at the outset (compared to adopting one at, ooh...say, round 5) then I would expect those younger players to show a bit.

One of the biggest differences between ’11 and ’10 is the list of players who will miss out on first team selection. Assembling a prospective team for round 1 has been an exercise in ‘hmm, how can I squeeze in Jaensch, Cullinan, Martin etc?’ Even with a full list, I don’t recall looking at last year’s list with the same sense of being spoiled for choice. Naturally, some of those players are going to disappoint, but some are going to step up like Sloane did this year.

Lastly, I’m not the biggest VB fan, but he was clearly hampered last year. I expect him, as well as Vince and Porps to be properly fit this year. If absolutely nothing else changes, just that alone would make a big difference.

I’m optimistic. But let’s get to round 1 with a fit list...please.

The jury is definitely out on Tambling - and I'm not sure what he'll have to do to win the fans over, having disappointed so many in his time at Richmond.

The difference is that the 'many' at Richmond wanted him to be a superstar. I, for one, will be happy for him to simply do his job at the Crows, which will probably be the role McLeod played in the last couple of years. (Note: not the role McLeod played in his heyday!)[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

 

[Allefgib]

Anyone else wondering if we are going to 'under-train' this year and take 4 to 5 rounds to hit our straps?

I've just got this feeling based on last years diaster of a pre-season, and with teh recent training recommendations, we might under-shoot a tad.

 

[cmndstab]

I forget what our fixture looks like - is it our usual fare of "easy early, hard later on"?

Last year we over-trained and took a couple of months to hit our straps, this time we may under-train and have the same issue Hopefully not.

 

[jenny61_99]

Anyone else wondering if we are going to 'under-train' this year and take 4 to 5 rounds to hit our straps?

I've just got this feeling based on last years diaster of a pre-season, and with teh recent training recommendations, we might under-shoot a tad.

Can you just imagine the fall-out if we do?

 

[Freddy Bassett]

There's no doubt that it's been a tumultuous 12 months for the Adelaide Football Club. We've seen the departure of several of the club's most loved players and watched from the sidelines as the team's on-field fortunes went southwards at a rapid rate of knots. Many of the reasons behind the on-field disappointments have their roots in the 2010 pre-season, so I thought a comparison of then vs now might be appropriate. What's changed within the club to give us hope of a brighter future?
......

Great post Should be published in the Advertiser, much better than the crap I have been reading there recently

 

[Crow-eater]

How many days until the NAB Cup starts???

58

99 til round 1.

Not that I'm counting...

 

[The Sloane Ranger]

Anyone else wondering if we are going to 'under-train' this year and take 4 to 5 rounds to hit our straps?

I've just got this feeling based on last years diaster of a pre-season, and with teh recent training recommendations, we might under-shoot a tad.

no a chance, finally our pre-season has been designed and tailored to the modern game

we will hit round 1 healthy fresh and full of running

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

Anyone else wondering if we are going to 'under-train' this year and take 4 to 5 rounds to hit our straps?

I've just got this feeling based on last years diaster of a pre-season, and with teh recent training recommendations, we might under-shoot a tad.

Don't worry. I've posted before that if we are behind at quarter time in our first NAB Cup game, Neil will throw the easy-does-it training regime out the window and ramp up training to record levels.

Neil would have been absolutely spewing when the results of the review came in, as it basically disagreed with every push-the-envelope principle he believes in. In fact he was so mad had to get out of the country to clear his head. He just couldn't bear to watch those first couple of weeks of lower intensity training.

Neil is allowing a lighter preseason only under extreme sufferance and will pounce on the first sign that it doesn't work, using it as an opportunity to reinstate his preferred program.

 

[amer]

Don't worry. I've posted before that if we are behind at quarter time in our first NAB Cup game, Neil will throw the easy-does-it training regime out the window and ramp up training to record levels.

Neil would have been absolutely spewing when the results of the review came in, as it basically disagreed with every push-the-envelope principle he believes in. In fact he was so mad had to get out of the country to clear his head. He just couldn't bear to watch those first couple of weeks of lower intensity training.

Neil is allowing a lighter preseason only under extreme sufferance and will pounce on the first sign that it doesn't work, using it as an opportunity to reinstate his preferred program.

Hahahaha

I sort of imagine you in a downstairs lab, rocking back and forth in your chair, laughing maniacally as you reel off paranoid NC ramblings.

 

[Vader]

I'm never sure whether you're taking the piss or being serious Carl. Such a hard person to read.

 

[ManInTheArena]

Just in case you want the time to go unbearably slow:

AFC Countdown

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

I'm never sure whether you're taking the piss or being serious Carl. Such a hard person to read.

Well, the results of the review undermine several of Neil's long stated philosophies and go against his 'no backing off' ethos. Even if he has embraced the suggested changes and isn't too proud to accept he is wrong it would have been a bitter pill to swallow.

I heard Neil speak a couple of years ago when the players had come to him about training workload and had forced a change.

He said all the usual stuff about him seeing it as a positive of their system rather than it undermining him and how he'd taken it onboard blah blah blah... but he also said that a few months afterwards it was "interesting" that several player came to him and said they now felt they needed to be doing the extra work.

The way he said it was very much a combination of a "See? I was right all along" and "Look whose come crawling back" attitude.

I wonder who decided that the review was required.

 

[Southerntakeover]

Carl does make an interesting point.

It is kind of strange to retain people who have made a career espousing one particular philosophy after a review which decides that the opposite is more appropriate.

Still, its atleast a positive sign to see that we've identified measures which are supposed to correct where we have gone wrong. The test now is whether we can implement the recommendations effectively, and what we do now if the recommendations are implemented but dont work.

 

[Allefgib]

Don't worry. I've posted before that if we are behind at quarter time in our first NAB Cup game, Neil will throw the easy-does-it training regime out the window and ramp up training to record levels.

Neil would have been absolutely spewing when the results of the review came in, as it basically disagreed with every push-the-envelope principle he believes in. In fact he was so mad had to get out of the country to clear his head. He just couldn't bear to watch those first couple of weeks of lower intensity training.

Neil is allowing a lighter preseason only under extreme sufferance and will pounce on the first sign that it doesn't work, using it as an opportunity to reinstate his preferred program.

Thanks mate - I feel so much more at ease

You know what really shits me? All this pushing the envelope without being open to changing approach to gameplan and tactics. All this talk of expecting players to perform under pressure when we can't make things simpler for them from time to time. It's all push push push and not change and try something different.

Working 'harder' and building competitive advantage should be about so much more than just trying to be fitter than our opposition. I almost feel as if our coaching staff have taken it easy on themselves by just pushing the playing group so hard on the track and being so stubborn about not simplifying the gameplan from time to time.

Let's hope they've actually put a bit more pressure on themselves to perform as an adaptable coaching group this year...

 

[Coopers]

Thanks Vader, lots to talk about there. If you weren't a 7' tall, heavy breathing, plastic covered freak with a force choking habit and some serious ex-girlfriend hangups, I'd ask you to marry me.

 

[Coopers]

There are so many great (or potentially great) players in our squad who had terrible, or even non-existent, years last year that can hopefully show us their best in 2011. Porplyzia, Vince, Mackay, Van Berlo, Knights, Martin, Otten. Our future stars, the likes of Tippett, Walker, Dangerfield, Sloane, Jaensch, Henderson, Davis, Gunston and Petrenko will all be a year older, with another preseason in their bodies. We will have kids in every position running around in the SANFL putting pressure on for spots - McKernan, Young, Sellar, Talia, Cook, Schmidt, Riley, L. Thompson, Armstrong, Moran, Craig, Shaw, Wright, as well as undoubtedly some of the above-mentioned people. And then we will hopefully see those that did perform this year at least maintain that level - Douglas, S. Thompson, Johncock, Rutten, etc. I know we get sucked in to this trap every year, but there are so many reasons to be excited about 2011.

Our problems last year were worse than that even. In addition to the injuries you're talking about we had to deal with:

• The decline in performance/output from the old 4. Notably edwards and macca, but also Burton was pretty much injured the whole year.
• Pretty much the entire "2nd tier" (although I hate the terminology) of players were injured, forcing us to have at one point I think 3 rookie listed players in the team.
• Thommo and bock were certainly not perfoming well at all.

Just a shocking year.

 

[crows1991]

Anyone else wondering if we are going to 'under-train' this year and take 4 to 5 rounds to hit our straps?

I've just got this feeling based on last years diaster of a pre-season, and with teh recent training recommendations, we might under-shoot a tad.

From what i read and hear this years pre season is all about a build up to round 1 rather than going flat out from day 1 of pre season. This should ensure we hit round 1 in peak fitness and hopefully with the majority of the squad available. Listening to Neil Craigs interview recently he was more than happy to adopt this approach