alwaysadog
03-02-2009, 11:38 PM
Fom 6.30pm Tuesday, 3 February 2009, in what will soon be the new coffee shop area beside the merchandise shop. I’ll try to just cover the bits that are new or interesting.
Smorgo addressed the assembled coterie members and welcomed them to the redeveloped Whitten Oval. Admin moves back in on the 24th of this month.
He talked about Mission foods and how they employed an independent assessor to examine the competing clubs and he was very pleased that we won given how we used to be perceived.
He is leading a negotiating team on behalf of the Melbourne based clubs to secure better deals from Telstra Dome or whatever it is now called and the MCG. He believes we are being screwed, but that’s nothing new, that’s why we built Waverley so that we had options if other grounds didn’t come to the party.
To football matters we are going to spend 13.4m on the football ops this year an increase of ¾ m. and he still expects us to finish in the black
Paul Williams was next, not as smooth as Campbell but funnier and very committed. Asked about standout players he said he has been impressed by the work ethic of the entire group, but Johnno amazed him; given his age he expected him to take things a bit easier but is amazed that he still does all the work and still has his speed.
Four players were present Higgins, Hargrave, Hudson and DFA.
Higgins who has replaced West in the leadership group as well as in the No 7 jumper, spoke about the preseason and was very pleased about the work Bill D has done. He hopes to play more in the midfield but given the rotations expects to spend time on a HFF. One of the players, Shaggy I think, yelled out “Forward” in a derogatory way. I suspect that there is some in house rivalry about which part of the team contributes most.
Then we toured the Players area. I was with Huddo’s group. It certainly looked good and was better than what Adelaide had when Ben was there. Most of the other clubs CEOs have been over to have a look, he thinks they are clearly the best facilities in the comp.
He too is a big wrap for the new fitness regime. He said that in the past if they were going to do say 5 X 1k runs then they would go flat out the first one and then struggle through the rest feeling flat and need to rest the next day; whereas Bill D gets them to work at 80% through them all, and they get the benefit of the reps. He said this was a big part of their improved performance because when they were in the states they worked really hard for 5 or 6 days without a break, something they wouldn’t have managed previously.
In the gym they have a bell on the wall besides the weights area which they are allowed to press if they do a PB at a weights or other tasks and he said it has been going off nearly non stop.
He was a bit more forthcoming about the preseason, most players are bigger, stronger and lighter. They are leaner, he is about 3 kg down from last year but is fitter. The dietician won’t let him eat avocado and cheese in the same sandwich, a favourite of his I guess. He didn’t come back early to training, the system is based on how many years a player has been on the list. He came back with the younger group because he started in the AFL later.
Minson loves pumping iron and presses 150 kg about 20 more that Ben. He said Mulligan isn’t that strong yet but the boy just does not realise how strong he could be.
He showed us where Aker did his calf while doing the 20 m sprints.
If the success of the forthcoming season is dependent on how hard the players have worked then we would seem to be in for a good one in spite of my constant fear of the yoyo effect.
Smorgo addressed the assembled coterie members and welcomed them to the redeveloped Whitten Oval. Admin moves back in on the 24th of this month.
He talked about Mission foods and how they employed an independent assessor to examine the competing clubs and he was very pleased that we won given how we used to be perceived.
He is leading a negotiating team on behalf of the Melbourne based clubs to secure better deals from Telstra Dome or whatever it is now called and the MCG. He believes we are being screwed, but that’s nothing new, that’s why we built Waverley so that we had options if other grounds didn’t come to the party.
To football matters we are going to spend 13.4m on the football ops this year an increase of ¾ m. and he still expects us to finish in the black
Paul Williams was next, not as smooth as Campbell but funnier and very committed. Asked about standout players he said he has been impressed by the work ethic of the entire group, but Johnno amazed him; given his age he expected him to take things a bit easier but is amazed that he still does all the work and still has his speed.
Four players were present Higgins, Hargrave, Hudson and DFA.
Higgins who has replaced West in the leadership group as well as in the No 7 jumper, spoke about the preseason and was very pleased about the work Bill D has done. He hopes to play more in the midfield but given the rotations expects to spend time on a HFF. One of the players, Shaggy I think, yelled out “Forward” in a derogatory way. I suspect that there is some in house rivalry about which part of the team contributes most.
Then we toured the Players area. I was with Huddo’s group. It certainly looked good and was better than what Adelaide had when Ben was there. Most of the other clubs CEOs have been over to have a look, he thinks they are clearly the best facilities in the comp.
He too is a big wrap for the new fitness regime. He said that in the past if they were going to do say 5 X 1k runs then they would go flat out the first one and then struggle through the rest feeling flat and need to rest the next day; whereas Bill D gets them to work at 80% through them all, and they get the benefit of the reps. He said this was a big part of their improved performance because when they were in the states they worked really hard for 5 or 6 days without a break, something they wouldn’t have managed previously.
In the gym they have a bell on the wall besides the weights area which they are allowed to press if they do a PB at a weights or other tasks and he said it has been going off nearly non stop.
He was a bit more forthcoming about the preseason, most players are bigger, stronger and lighter. They are leaner, he is about 3 kg down from last year but is fitter. The dietician won’t let him eat avocado and cheese in the same sandwich, a favourite of his I guess. He didn’t come back early to training, the system is based on how many years a player has been on the list. He came back with the younger group because he started in the AFL later.
Minson loves pumping iron and presses 150 kg about 20 more that Ben. He said Mulligan isn’t that strong yet but the boy just does not realise how strong he could be.
He showed us where Aker did his calf while doing the 20 m sprints.
If the success of the forthcoming season is dependent on how hard the players have worked then we would seem to be in for a good one in spite of my constant fear of the yoyo effect.