Fitness / Conditioning / Luke Meehan appointed Physical Performance Manager [merged]

[one-eyed]

Richmond’s strength and conditioning coach Luke Meehan's approach to strength and conditioning and how it's taken the Tigers to new heights.

Listen here: https://omny.fm/shows/the-inside-game/richmond-strength-and-conditioning-coach-luke-meeh

This week’s episode guide…

2:55 – What is strength and conditioning?

05:45 – How Luke optimises players' strengths

06:30 – Luke's favourite part about working at Richmond

07:43 – How Covid impacted Richmond’s 2020 and 2021 plans

09:45 – How Richmond's hub gym set-up gave them an edge

13:15 – Luke's contribution to Richmond’s incredible success

15:10 – How Luke helped Dustin Martin win a Brownlow Medal

16:23 – Tapping into different players' strength and conditioning needs

17:28 – Takeaway Tips, fuelled by the John West Protein Plus range

18:31 – Why Luke's allegiances are almost torn

19:24 – Quick Hands: Which player has benched the highest weight? Who's the biggest gym pest?

https://www.womens.afl/news/75623

[TigerLand]

Having a few chats today with our regular Tiger crew.

It's been widely spoken about the disappointment of our conditioning program this year. Multiple soft tissue injuries, Vlastuin, Balta, Prestia, Lynch, Grimes, Graham, Dusty, KMac, Cotchin, (Nank?). That's an enormous amount.

Add the pattern of us losing close ones. Our efforts in the last minute after going behind to Lions was at best matches by Brisbane. Which makes me think how much a factor our fitness and conditioning had on the multiple close finishes. And in turn how much of an enormous impact it had with our success this year.

Our game style is chaotic and requires elite fitness, which we clearly didn't have so our best at least defensively and pressure wise wasn't as good as it needed to be, it caused our best players to be injured and miss footy and when we needed to call on extra reserves in player fitness to win clutch moments we weren't at the required level.

This for me is the biggest need going forward if we want to improve for 2023. We can say Richmond killing Richmond but the biggest need is clear as day and that's significantly improving our fitness and conditioning area. Thoughts?

[WilliamPowell]

I posted on another thread (2022 reflections I think it is) that the single biggest and most crucial appointment at the RFC is that of the High Performance Manager

We dropped the ball on this; this year as the soft tissue injuries proved.

Did they not adjust to our cater for the older bodies?  I don't know

But that players did hamstrings and a nu,ber of them came back and then did them again tells me we failed on this area

We have to get the Burge replacement right

[Francois Jackson]

Who replaced Inness? Surely someone did.

[Andyy]

Who replaced Inness? Surely someone did.

I thought his role sort of merged with Burgess. So no, not replaced.

[Francois Jackson]

Who replaced Inness? Surely someone did.

I thought his role sort of merged with Burgess. So no, not replaced.

Merge, Don’t replace same crap. Fancy not finding a replacement for Inness. Burge hasn’t had his mind on the job either knowing he was leaving a fair while ago.

I will wait until WP confirms. If true as I suspect it is, then that is exactly what we are banging on about with this soft cap rubbish.

[Tigeritis™©®]

Who replaced Inness? Surely someone did.

I thought his role sort of merged with Burgess. So no, not replaced.

Merge, Don’t replace same crap. Fancy not finding a replacement for Inness. Burge hasn’t had his mind on the job either knowing he was leaving a fair while ago.

I will wait until WP confirms. If true as I suspect it is, then that is exactly what we are banging on about with this soft cap rubbish.

Nah nah the soft cap is the scary beast that stops us from retaining the very same people other clubs can afford and the scary afl will fine us if we spend too much blah blah.

- Rob Innes is at Richmond we were a well oiled machine able to pressure sides into submission for four quarters.
- Rob Innes leaves Richmond because we can’t afford him because of the soft cap

- Rob Innes is appointed head of fitness for Sydney fc because they don’t seem to have the same concerns with soft cap that only Richmond seem to have.

- Now Sydney fc are a well oiled machine that is able to pressure teams into submission for four quarters.

[Andyy]

Innes may have just been offered a better deal, other than money.

It happens when you are successful. Just need to find someone good to replace him as Burge clearly hasn't worked and thankfully he's off too.

[Tigeritis™©®]

Maybe we just offer Innes an opportunity to come back to us by offering the top job with better pay?

What’s wrong with that? Get a high performance manger that knows us and we know him even if we are willing to pay a little more for him to get him over the line.


But the soft cap 

I tell you what, let’s not spend any money in our footy department and  I’ll come down to punt road and tell the blokes how to kick and handpass and I’ll teach them how to train and what to eat and what not to eat and they can be saved by the bad terrible soft cap boogie man that no other club, including the hapless Kangeroos, cares a less about. 

[Broadsword]

Is the footy department spend revealed in the annual reports or elsewhere?

[one-eyed]

Is the footy department spend revealed in the annual reports or elsewhere?

Football operations expenditure:

2021   $23,428,622
2020   $23,568,283
2019   $28,369,319
2018   $27,212,594

Sources:
Page 16: https://resources.richmondfc.com.au/aflc-rich/document/2021/11/27/68f2c8fa-19a4-42df-b20d-fd70b943f324/RFC-CONCISE-FINANCIAL-STATEMENTS.pdf
Page 15: https://resources.richmondfc.com.au/aflc-rich/document/2019/11/30/871d72ec-da81-4e3a-84f4-862f468caedb/Concise-Financial-Report-2019.pdf

[Francois Jackson]

I thought the soft cap is much less? The devil is in the detail, and I’m not sure it gives us accurate information if they have skimmed.
 
In any case. No finals in 2021, and we spent less. Vindication!!!

To compare it with the dees they spent almost the same, but the aflw costings were not included and that was an additional 2mil. Total 25.5

Cats in 2021 spent $23,682 mil approx 250k more than us.

Lastly, who replaced Inness??

[Broadsword]

Is the footy department spend revealed in the annual reports or elsewhere?

Football operations expenditure:

2021   $23,428,622
2020   $23,568,283
2019   $28,369,319
2018   $27,212,594

Sources:
Page 16: https://resources.richmondfc.com.au/aflc-rich/document/2021/11/27/68f2c8fa-19a4-42df-b20d-fd70b943f324/RFC-CONCISE-FINANCIAL-STATEMENTS.pdf
Page 15: https://resources.richmondfc.com.au/aflc-rich/document/2019/11/30/871d72ec-da81-4e3a-84f4-862f468caedb/Concise-Financial-Report-2019.pdf

Yeah, I had a look at that in the concise reports, but Richmond (and everyone else) don't break down football department spend in their concise reports, so it's not particularly helpful. Did anyone get a copy of the full financial statement available to members by request? While I am a member, if someone has the pdf on hand I'd be interested to take a look without having to e-mail the club.

[WilliamPowell]

I have all the full financial reports and there is no breakdown

My only comment

Difference from 2019 to 2020 and 2021 also include the pay cut the players took plus soft cap cuts of 3.5 million

[Broadsword]

I have all the full financial reports and there is no breakdown

My only comment

Difference from 2019 to 2020 and 2021 also include the pay cut the players took plus soft cap cuts of 3.5 million

Pretty hard to reach any definitive conclusions without an inside word, then, which I don't have.

So I revert to my original position: Happy to trust the club. This executive has delivered the goods.