In other news, Biggie is training in quarantine with Sheds (plus Ablett & Hannebery).
Three premiership stars on a 30m pitch: Inside 2020‘s most bizarre training sessionSeptember 4, 2020 10:57am
Tom Morris
FoxsportsGOLD COAST – Thursday’s training session involving Gary Ablett, Shane Edwards and Dan Hannebery was hardly unusual compared to the rest of 2020.
But 12 months ago, three guns flicking the ball between them while in lockdown at a Gold Coast resort would have been considered fanciful.
But there they were on Thursday morning for an hour – five premierships and 12 All-Australian gongs between them, being put through their paces by Richmond assistant Sam Lonergan, Geelong counterpart Andrew Mackie, and St Kilda physio Andrew Wallis.
The backdrop was a golf course, a lake and Queensland‘s pearl blue sky. Any football booted more than roughly 35 metres would go over the wire fencing and become legally irretrievable. Precise skills were essential.
Completed on a patch of grass marginally smaller than the centre square, Ablett, Edwards and Hannebery worked together for the first time in the AFL’s Gold Coast transition hub.
They were accompanied by 19-year-old Tiger Bigoa ‘Biggie’ Nyuon for some running at the start, before the Kenyan born youngster stepped aside as he continued his recovery from a shoulder injury.
Former Cricket Australia CEO and Geelong board member James Sutherland watched on, while his 16-year-old son Tom – a talented athlete himself – acted as a ball boy. Injured Saint Jade Gresham watched from the side but didn’t participate as he recovers from a back injury which will likely see him miss the rest of the season.
The session began with some sprints diagonally across the grass patch, in order to maximise the space. It was roughly six seconds of hard running followed by nine seconds of rest. Over and over again.
Edwards, Hannebery and Ablett then started doing some light skills work, kicking in a triangle. They used each other’s nicknames: Shedda, Hanners and Gaz, as if they were long-time teammates rather than opponents.
“It was pretty surreal,” Edwards said of training alongside Ablett after the session.
“It is actually something I will probably reflect back on and think what an unbelievable opportunity. You know so much about him and haven’t really met him properly. He’s an amazing bloke. I will try to learn as much as I can off him.
“His skills are really sharp and he’s really powerful. I was more of a spectator out there to be honest.”
Mackie, Ablett, Edwards and Hannebery then played a game of keepings off. The two defenders – Wallis and Lonergan – had little chance of winning the Sherrin back.
There were leading drills, quick hands, ground balls, competitive one-on-ones and at one stage Hannebery hit Mackie lace out on the chest with his non-preferred boot.
“Woo! The right footer,” Hannebery yelled with delight.
Lonergan is best known for his 79 games at Essendon but he also played two matches with Richmond and returned to Punt Road as a development coach late last year.
He and Mackie combined their preferred sessions to benefit all three players.
“The coaches just come up with what they want us to do,” Edwards said.
“We roughly did similar drills with what we do back at the club. I’m not sure what the following sessions will be like. The coaches will deal with that and we will have a laugh and train hard.”
In what was surely a surreal moment for Nyuon, who the Tigers swooped on despite being part of St Kilda’s Academy, he finished the session with some more sprints alongside Ablett.
Nyuon had not turned one when Ablett made his debut for Geelong and will never play against him, but the little master was happy to chat and laugh with the teenager after the session.
Hannebery is back to full training and moved well, showing no signs of a dodgy hamstring which has put a large dent in his season. To get to his prescribed running loads, the Sydney premiership player ran laps at the end after giving his legs a rest on Wednesday.
Both he and Edwards haven’t been seen at the senior level since Round 5, while Ablett’s last game was Round 7.
All three will make themselves available for selection in Round 18, which will be just days after they escape the transition hub.
Edwards, who has a three-week old girl keeping him up at night, conceded the ground was small, but dismissed any concerns around preparation.
“We’ve had a large training block back in Melbourne and the other guys have as well,” he said.
“Right now, we’ve finished our month of really hard training so we are due for a few lighter sessions. We’ve planned it so our training doesn’t have to be huge with long runs and long kicks. We use it as a tune up and also stay sharp with contested stuff and small movements in a small area.
“I was always going to come back. The plans obviously changed when they decided the season was going to stay up here. That made it harder to get back. The due date of the baby came and things like that.
“The plan was always going to come back and play.”
The decorated trio plans to train again together over the next 12 days.
Edwards added: “I think maybe four or five sessions together. It depends if the schedules line up. If we are training on the same day we will probably train together.”
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