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Inside the world of AFL’s external training — and why some clubs aren’t happy about it
If an AFL player completes a 45-minute circuit session but doesn’t post it on social media, did it really happen? The secret world of external training has sparked tension between clubs and fitness gurus.
If a player completes a gruelling 45-minute circuit session in an altitude chamber but it fails to make its way into your social media feed, did it really happen?
As the AFL off-season enters full swing, personal trainers, fitness coaches and sports scientists will not let a chance go begging to flood the algorithm with footage of their highest-profile clients using their free time to prepare themselves for the next pre-season.
Footballers are increasingly seeking external advice to find the solution to a persistent injury or an extra physical edge out on the track, and not all clubs are happy with this trend.
Former Carlton and Hawthorn fitness boss Andrew Russell said players’ off-season fitness projects were part of the “Americanisation” of the sport, which has been mostly embraced on Australian shores but not to the same degree elsewhere.
At the start of the English Championship season in August, Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom banned his players from working with private personal trainers after an ankle injury to an important forward.
“These guys work with these players and they post their work all over social media and they want to promote their business,” Heckingbottom said when he announced his ban.
“They’re happy to take the money, but they don’t give us any money back when they injure the players in their sessions.
“They’ll not be posting on social media that Jebbo (Daniel Jebbison) is out for a month, so I’ll tell everyone that when they work with players they can put them out as well.”
The ankle injury to the Preston player during a private, in-season training session was like nothing which has ever come to light in the AFL sphere, and Russell said clubs were more inclined to work with players who wanted to explore external advice than try to stop them.
“I understand that some individuals in clubs would see it as a threat, but there are clubs that would be happy about it,” Russell said.
“Those clubs would be saying, ‘any player investing in themselves helps us as a football club’.
“The risk isn’t really contact injuries – it’s the vulnerability to injury if there’s extra stress on the body or if the player has adopted a different training philosophy to people at the football club.
“If they are under extra stress or a higher level of workload than the club has taken into account, that’s where you can get into trouble when they return to the club in pre-season.”
One social media post – which made waves on the eve of the trade period because potential St Kilda ruck duo Tom De Koning and Rowan Marshall were pictured next to each other smiling – revealed more than a dozen players from at least six different clubs had completed a circuit training session together at the Pulse8 Centre in Moorabbin.
GWS captain Toby Greene appeared to be among the off-season regulars at the centre, which boasts a “hot box” room for heat training and an altitude chamber.
Russell said the circuit sessions were good for “general background conditioning” and carried very little risk of injury for players.
“A lot of players do that … social media has made everyone more aware of it, but it’s been happening for a long time,” he said.
A high-profile clientele including the Daicos brothers, Scott Pendlebury, Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan feature regularly on the social media channels of athlete mobility specialist Kris Blair’s One1Two business, both in and out of the season.
“Obviously they’re diving into the mobility work, which is definitely not something that’s part of the curriculum at clubs, I’ve found,” Blair said.
“From what I’ve heard from players, it’s pretty much non-existent, so for them to get in and actually do some structured mobility work, it’s very helpful for their athletic performance, recovery and injury prevention.
“It’s more just about opening them up so they can move a little bit more freely on the ground. Also bringing more awareness to their own body, so they can go, ‘oh, s**t, I’m tight through my quads’, or ‘I feel like I’ve lost strength in my hip flexor’.
“Quad tightness is one of the most common areas that is locked up, so releasing the quads is going to improve their stride length.
“I’ve had a lot of success with that, and it seems to open them up quickly.”
Collingwood’s players appear among the most adventurous with their off-site training, with one club source suggesting Scott Pendlebury’s longevity and success exploring alternate training methods had influenced teammates.
Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell extolled the virtues of dynamic neuromuscular stability (DNS) training earlier this season after years working closely with former Hawthorn fitness staffer Mark McGrath.
“If you saw it from an untrained eye, you would think it’s yoga and body postures and things, but it’s much more than that,” Mitchell told the Get Harder podcast.
“It goes back to the form of how a baby moves … it’s movement efficiency, and Patty Cripps is really big into it now, a lot of the Carlton guys are really into it.”
Russell, who strongly backed Cripps’ move to work with West Australian sprint coach Mark Neitz ahead of his 2024 Brownlow-winning season, said a change in training philosophies could “reinvigorate” players later in their careers.
“The psychology of it can be as important as the physiology of it … a different voice can really reinvigorate an athlete,” he said.
“With (Cripps), I knew exactly what he was doing; I knew who he was doing it with.
“Everyone’s working together for the benefit of the player … that’s a really important piece of the puzzle, the communication. If the player and fitness staff at the club have trust in each other, then it’s a very easy process.
“The challenges arise when the player doesn’t trust individuals at the football club, and go behind their backs doing different styles of training.”
The AFL Players’ Association expressed its strong support for players to be able to explore “alternate training methods” during their leave periods, but did advise players to take a “balanced approach” to their time away from the game.
“We are seeing more players taking agency in how they maximise and prolong their careers, including groups of players heading overseas, interstate, and away from their clubs during their leave period to access additional support and alternate training methods,” AFLPA member engagement boss Ben Smith said.
“The AFLPA support players having choice to explore training options during their leave period but also encourages players to communicate with clubs about their plans.
“It is also important that players take a balanced approach to their leave – the season is a long one and a mental break is important for overall wellbeing.”
If an AFL player completes a 45-minute circuit session but doesn’t post it on social media, did it really happen? The secret world of external training has sparked tension between clubs and fitness gurus.
If a player completes a gruelling 45-minute circuit session in an altitude chamber but it fails to make its way into your social media feed, did it really happen?
As the AFL off-season enters full swing, personal trainers, fitness coaches and sports scientists will not let a chance go begging to flood the algorithm with footage of their highest-profile clients using their free time to prepare themselves for the next pre-season.
Footballers are increasingly seeking external advice to find the solution to a persistent injury or an extra physical edge out on the track, and not all clubs are happy with this trend.
Former Carlton and Hawthorn fitness boss Andrew Russell said players’ off-season fitness projects were part of the “Americanisation” of the sport, which has been mostly embraced on Australian shores but not to the same degree elsewhere.
At the start of the English Championship season in August, Preston North End manager Paul Heckingbottom banned his players from working with private personal trainers after an ankle injury to an important forward.
“These guys work with these players and they post their work all over social media and they want to promote their business,” Heckingbottom said when he announced his ban.
“They’re happy to take the money, but they don’t give us any money back when they injure the players in their sessions.
“They’ll not be posting on social media that Jebbo (Daniel Jebbison) is out for a month, so I’ll tell everyone that when they work with players they can put them out as well.”
The ankle injury to the Preston player during a private, in-season training session was like nothing which has ever come to light in the AFL sphere, and Russell said clubs were more inclined to work with players who wanted to explore external advice than try to stop them.
“I understand that some individuals in clubs would see it as a threat, but there are clubs that would be happy about it,” Russell said.
“Those clubs would be saying, ‘any player investing in themselves helps us as a football club’.
“The risk isn’t really contact injuries – it’s the vulnerability to injury if there’s extra stress on the body or if the player has adopted a different training philosophy to people at the football club.
“If they are under extra stress or a higher level of workload than the club has taken into account, that’s where you can get into trouble when they return to the club in pre-season.”
One social media post – which made waves on the eve of the trade period because potential St Kilda ruck duo Tom De Koning and Rowan Marshall were pictured next to each other smiling – revealed more than a dozen players from at least six different clubs had completed a circuit training session together at the Pulse8 Centre in Moorabbin.
GWS captain Toby Greene appeared to be among the off-season regulars at the centre, which boasts a “hot box” room for heat training and an altitude chamber.
Russell said the circuit sessions were good for “general background conditioning” and carried very little risk of injury for players.
“A lot of players do that … social media has made everyone more aware of it, but it’s been happening for a long time,” he said.
A high-profile clientele including the Daicos brothers, Scott Pendlebury, Christian Petracca, Clayton Oliver and Jamarra Ugle-Hagan feature regularly on the social media channels of athlete mobility specialist Kris Blair’s One1Two business, both in and out of the season.
“Obviously they’re diving into the mobility work, which is definitely not something that’s part of the curriculum at clubs, I’ve found,” Blair said.
“From what I’ve heard from players, it’s pretty much non-existent, so for them to get in and actually do some structured mobility work, it’s very helpful for their athletic performance, recovery and injury prevention.
“It’s more just about opening them up so they can move a little bit more freely on the ground. Also bringing more awareness to their own body, so they can go, ‘oh, s**t, I’m tight through my quads’, or ‘I feel like I’ve lost strength in my hip flexor’.
“Quad tightness is one of the most common areas that is locked up, so releasing the quads is going to improve their stride length.
“I’ve had a lot of success with that, and it seems to open them up quickly.”
Collingwood’s players appear among the most adventurous with their off-site training, with one club source suggesting Scott Pendlebury’s longevity and success exploring alternate training methods had influenced teammates.
Brownlow medallist Tom Mitchell extolled the virtues of dynamic neuromuscular stability (DNS) training earlier this season after years working closely with former Hawthorn fitness staffer Mark McGrath.
“If you saw it from an untrained eye, you would think it’s yoga and body postures and things, but it’s much more than that,” Mitchell told the Get Harder podcast.
“It goes back to the form of how a baby moves … it’s movement efficiency, and Patty Cripps is really big into it now, a lot of the Carlton guys are really into it.”
Russell, who strongly backed Cripps’ move to work with West Australian sprint coach Mark Neitz ahead of his 2024 Brownlow-winning season, said a change in training philosophies could “reinvigorate” players later in their careers.
“The psychology of it can be as important as the physiology of it … a different voice can really reinvigorate an athlete,” he said.
“With (Cripps), I knew exactly what he was doing; I knew who he was doing it with.
“Everyone’s working together for the benefit of the player … that’s a really important piece of the puzzle, the communication. If the player and fitness staff at the club have trust in each other, then it’s a very easy process.
“The challenges arise when the player doesn’t trust individuals at the football club, and go behind their backs doing different styles of training.”
The AFL Players’ Association expressed its strong support for players to be able to explore “alternate training methods” during their leave periods, but did advise players to take a “balanced approach” to their time away from the game.
“We are seeing more players taking agency in how they maximise and prolong their careers, including groups of players heading overseas, interstate, and away from their clubs during their leave period to access additional support and alternate training methods,” AFLPA member engagement boss Ben Smith said.
“The AFLPA support players having choice to explore training options during their leave period but also encourages players to communicate with clubs about their plans.
“It is also important that players take a balanced approach to their leave – the season is a long one and a mental break is important for overall wellbeing.”
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