Richmond’s Physical Performance Manager Peter Burge's summary of the Club’s 1-4 year players’ start to pre-season training yesterday.
First day back on the track“First day, they’re all a little bit nervous. We have our meeting pre-training and go through what it’s going to look like this year. Then we got out on the track and did a skills session, did some conditioning, tested the players with some shuttle running, and they did some other different types of skill work. It was really an introductory day, but it was pretty solid . . .”
Standout performers from the outset“Everyone was pretty good. Patrick Naish looks like he’s done some work, Jack Higgins, Callum Coleman-Jones looks like he’s been working really hard. And we also had Tom Lynch today as well, even though it’s the first-to-four-year guys . . . It was good to see him here with all the boys. There were a lot of smiles on faces. I think the guys are really excited about getting into it.”
Gradual building of intensity“It’s tough, but it does get tougher each week because we start to increase the training load towards Christmas. And then we get to a position where we have to start managing individuals and not tipping them over the edge of the cliff, so to speak. We’ll get to a point in a couple of weeks where we’ll be pushing the guys to their limit and trying to take them to new levels . . . That’s what it’s all about. It’s trying to help them improve, and keep them healthy at the same time.”
Garthwaite and Graham progression from on surgery“’Garthy’ had a very minor ankle surgery. He’s running today almost flat out. Just got a couple of things we need to tick off there with change of direction. Jack Graham had a shoulder reconstruction, so he’s going to be a little bit more longer-term. He’s doing all the conditioning at the moment, but obviously he’s not ready for football with his shoulder. So we’ve got to keep building strength in his upper body and gradually, post-Christmas, introduce some low-level contact work and then resume training, hopefully, mid-late January.”
Importance of a strong pre-season“For every club it’s all about a strong pre-season . . . you hear the same clichés every year. We’ve had some good luck with health. Obviously there’s a little bit of luck involved there. But, ultimately, it comes down to the players and what they do in their break. So we have to give credit to those guys how well they take care of themselves over the off-season and the pre-season. And, hopefully, that trend continues.”
Pre-season program changes“We always find different ways to do things . . . different focuses for different players. It’s really down to the individual and what their focus is. But some things remain the same. They’ve still got to kick the ball between the big sticks, and they’ve still got to be able to run up and down the ground. There are some different types of training sessions that we’ll do. There’s some other little things we might be doing in the gym. But, overall, the themes are similar. It’s just the minor detail which tends to change or evolve. And the game changes a little bit as well. There’s new rules this year. So are there differences in the way we condition certain players at certain positions? They’re things we’re going to work through over the pre-season. But all in all, it’s fairly similar. And most clubs are probably the same.”
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/2018-11-20/preseason-kickoff-overview
