3 things learned from Rd5 2023

[GVGjr]

Gather round lads and lasses it's time for you to list the 3 things you learned from our game against Port Power.

[Yankee Hotel Foxtrot]

1. We've legit got a label as uber chokers within the minds of other teams in the comp, of that I'd be positive. In most games, unless we're absolutely 15 goals ahead, other teams must always still have a kernel of belief that they're still a sniff against us. That's not a place you want to be in as a professional team. We've got a lot of work to do to earn back respect.

2. We really wasted (as bulldogsthru&thru said in the gameday thread) stellar performances from English, Bont, Weightman Jones, and I'd also add Treloar. They were inspirational across the game, and should've been rewarded by their teammates with an even spread of effort and execution to get the win tonight.

3. English can definitely be the best player in the competition if he sustains this level of performance.

[westbulldog]

1. Hannan needs to be back on a plane heading east and not west.
2. Weightman makes such a positive difference to the forward line.
3. We cannot beat Freo based on that effort which will take us to 2-4, season over.

[Grantysghost]

1. There's too big a gap in our list age profile. Our midfield looks old and slow. Our forwards too raw and young.
2. Our best isn't top 8.
3. Weightman is worthy of the #3

[The Bulldogs Bite]

1. English is the best ruck in the comp right now. Noticeable when he goes off.

2. Hannan, Scott, McLean, Williams, McComb routinely give us little. I'd rather play others if possible.

3. This is going to be a long year.

[angelopetraglia]

1. Weightman makes a big difference. He is only going to get better.
2. Our fringe players are a long way off it. Carrying too many.
3. Treloar was immense again. Treloar > Dunkley in the middle.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

1. English is the best ruck in the comp right now. Noticeable when he goes off.

2. Hannan, Scott, McLean, Williams, McComb routinely give us little. I'd rather play others if possible.

3. This is going to be a long year.
Our lack of depth as you have pointed out is a concern. Getting Gardner and Bailey Smith and eventually Darcy, will help, but tonight showed
that we are vulnerable against spirited and quicker opposition as experienced tonight.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

1. English is the best ruck in the comp right now. Noticeable when he goes off.

2. Hannan, Scott, McLean, Williams, McComb routinely give us little. I'd rather play others if possible.

3. This is going to be a long year.

This is the kicker. Who else is there?

[bornadog]

1. Stats do lie when you look at the sheet and Treloar has 35 disposals. Look deeper and he has butchered 51.4% of them.

2. I still can't fathom why we recruited Hannan. I said this from day 1 and he has been a big bust. 1 good game in three seasons. Bevo, get rid of him.

3. English proving the old adage " Big men taker longer to mature" - he is on fire.

[macca]

1. English dominated in the ruck and around the ground im WET conditons
2. Teams have worked out how to block our midfield, make us kick long to fwd contests and wait to score us off the rebound .
3. Can we start the rebuild now ??? Seriously we had this game 9 mins in last quarter and all the cracks we have in our list get exposed. Maybe Bruce injury was telling ?? Maybe our midfield list is ageing ?? This is a port side with youmger players in their midfield that beat us tonight

[GVGjr]

1. Stats do lie when you look at the sheet and Treloar has 35 disposals. Look deeper and he has butchered 51.4% of them.

2. I still can't fathom why we recruited Hannan. I said this from day 1 and he has been a big bust. 1 good game in three seasons. Bevo, get rid of him.

3. English proving the old adage " Big men taker longer to mature" - he is on fire.

Did you give Bont votes over the previous 2 weeks because he racked up some very high clanger numbers?
If so I'd ask the question if his skill errors are overlooked because he is Bont whereas others it's more of a focus?

This week he used the ball vastly better.

[1eyedog]

This is the kicker. Who else is there?

Cleary, West, Bedendo and Garcia I assume?

[1eyedog]

1. English is the best ruck in the comp right now.

2. It's true. Rory Lobb can't ruck but is he even a forward or just a tall dude?

3. Weightman nearly won it for us last night and Jones nearly saved it. Too much left to too few.

[azabob]

Cleary, West, Bedendo and Garcia I assume?

West and Garcia have been horrible this year and Benendo might as well be on the long term injury list.

[bornadog]

Did you give Bont votes over the previous 2 weeks because he racked up some very high clanger numbers?
If so I'd ask the question if his skill errors are overlooked because he is Bont whereas others it's more of a focus?

This week he used the ball vastly better.

That is way wrong, I did not give him votes because he was Bont. Last week Bont ran at DE 80%. Yes he made a few errors like all players do. Bont was very influencial and also had 12 tackles, 17 CP, 11 clearnaces and acredited with just 4 clangers.

Treloar was purely woeful with 9 clangers, 25 handballs that went to no one.

[GVGjr]

That is way wrong, I did not give him votes because he was Bont. Last week Bont ran at DE 80%. Yes he made a few errors like all players do. Bont was very influencial and also had 12 tackles, 17 CP, 11 clearnaces and acredited with just 4 clangers.

Treloar was purely woeful with 9 clangers, 25 handballs that went to no one.

You're missing the point and trying to throw up a lot of stats to confuse the question.

Lets try and get it back to the original point.
You've called out Treloar for getting a lot of kicks by basically coughing it up. That's fair enough but Bont did some of the same things the previous two weeks but it wasn't part of many peoples assessment.
I get that some of his other stats in those previous games are super impressive but he was the turnover king for a couple of weeks and it appears that it's glossed over for many people whereas for Treloar it's highlighted.

[bornadog]

You're missing the point and trying to throw up a lot of stats to confuse the question.

Lets try and get it back to the original point.
You've called out Treloar for getting a lot of kicks but basically coughing it up. That's fair enough but Bont did some of the same things the previous two weeks but it wasn't part of your assessment.
I get that some of his other stats in those previous games are super impressive but he was the turnover king for a couple of weeks and it appears that it's glossed over whereas for Treloar it's highlighted.

I answered your query. Bont last week had 4 clangers, that is all. He dominated the game.

Are you happy with a DE of 48.6%?

[Boots]

1. Agree with what others have posted here. English is completely phenomenal, and with Bont and treloar at his feet we are able to rack up incredible clearance numbers. I am a little in awe of how good he is to be honest.

2. our forward line is not a monster it’s a mutant. We’ve got a pack marking monster who can’t kick goals, a crumber who takes marks but won’t crumb, and a brilliant leading mid-sized forward who never gets targeted. It’s so, so unbalanced and ridiculous. I hate it even more when I watch Cameron or curnow play.

3. I do t think the season is over, but it’ll be another “limp into the eight and lose a final” kinda year.

[AshMac]

1. We just don?t have extra gear right now. Lots of opportunity to put the game away, we are a mediocre team on the field and caviar on paper
2. Whilst they didn?t score a lot, the last 10 minutes of the game were similar to us haemorrhaging. Couldn?t get near it. I did think Bruce changed our setup down back
3. We are a team of stars and duds - no B grade in-betweenners. Our bottom 6 are invisible

[angelopetraglia]

1. We just don?t have extra gear right now. Lots of opportunity to put the game away, we are a mediocre team on the field and caviar on paper
2. Whilst they didn?t score a lot, the last 10 minutes of the game were similar to us haemorrhaging. Couldn?t get near it. I did think Bruce changed our setup down back
3. We are a team of stars and duds - no B grade in-betweenners. Our bottom 6 are invisible

Agree 100%. The bottom eight players for possessions on the ground. We had six of them.

Marra 9
Lobb 8
Duryea 8
Bruce 8
Jones 5
Hanan 5
McLean 0

I would also the add the following players for the positions they play had a poor night.

Scott 12
Williams 11
Baker 11

[azabob]

Agree 100%. The bottom eight players for possessions on the ground. We had six of them.

Marra 9
Lobb 8
Duryea 8
Bruce 8
Jones 5
Hanan 5
McLean 0

I would also the add the following players for the positions they play had a poor night.

Scott 12
Williams 11
Baker 11

The wings on both teams were pretty much non existent?

[DOG GOD]

1. English was unbelievable in wet conditions. Kudos to him. Maybe he can be the #1?.
2. Weightman is Almost first picked in our fwd line
3. I am worried what the next 3-4 years will look like (no finals predicted). Our list is just not that good.

[Grantysghost]

I answered your query. Bont last week had 4 clangers, that is all. He dominated the game.

Are you happy with a DE of 48.6%?

I think in the Lions game many gave him full votes and didnt mention he equalled the world record for turnovers.

[angelopetraglia]

The wings on both teams were pretty much non existent?

Baker was a let down on what he showed the previous week. He had 20 disposals and had a real impact. Last night he had just over half the touches.

[hujsh]

I think what this confirms pretty soundly is we are a average team. We're not shit. Not great. Just average. The kind of team that would just scape into the 8 (sound familiar?) and will occasionally have good days against good teams and will occasionally have shit days against shit teams.

Port are a similar team so I wasn't really expecting a win with the confidence of other people before the game started. Sure I thought we could win but I didn't think it was a better than 50% chance of happening.

The unfortunate reality is 21 was a blip in an otherwise pretty stable trendline of mediocrity for us. Bont's best years will be wasted. Maybe a better new team will emerge in his twilight.

[JanLorMill]

I think what this confirms pretty soundly is we are a average team. We're not shit. Not great. Just average. The kind of team that would just scape into the 8 (sound familiar?) and will occasionally have good days against good teams and will occasionally have shit days against shit teams.

Port are a similar team so I wasn't really expecting a win with the confidence of other people before the game started. Sure I thought we could win but I didn't think it was a better than 50% chance of happening.

The unfortunate reality is 21 was a blip in an otherwise pretty stable trendline of mediocrity for us. Bont's best years will be wasted. Maybe a better new team will emerge in his twilight.
Sad reading but true

[Hot_Doggies]

We need to hit the draft hard. Somehow manage to get 4 first rounders in the door next two years. Forget about topping up with recycled players ie Lobb.

Get a good group to match Darcy, Naughton and co. Bont can play the Pendlebury role.

[Hot_Doggies]

Tim Obrien was ok last night, but surely Khamis could play that role. And he would offer something for the future.

Why he was played up forward all preseason, then moved back in first VFL match is a real head scratcher.

[Danjul]

I think what this confirms pretty soundly is we are a average team. We're not shit. Not great. Just average. The kind of team that would just scape into the 8 (sound familiar?) and will occasionally have good days against good teams and will occasionally have shit days against shit teams.

Port are a similar team so I wasn't really expecting a win with the confidence of other people before the game started. Sure I thought we could win but I didn't think it was a better than 50% chance of happening.

The unfortunate reality is 21 was a blip in an otherwise pretty stable trendline of mediocrity for us. Bont's best years will be wasted. Maybe a better new team will emerge in his twilight.
It?s a long time ago but I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the 2021 season. And even though cracks started to appear we were top of the ladder after 20 or so rounds. Something was going right. The problem is that something has not been valued, I would like to see it embraced.

[Danjul]

Agree 100%. The bottom eight players for possessions on the ground. We had six of them.

Marra 9
Lobb 8
Duryea 8
Bruce 8
Jones 5
Hanan 5
McLean 0

I would also the add the following players for the positions they play had a poor night.

Scott 12
Williams 11
Baker 11
For the forwards on this list

1. It was rare to see a lead or move into space.
2. Didn?t see anyone set up for the wet ball spilling out the back of the pack attempting to mark/spoil.
3. Didn?t see crumbers set up in front of the pack.

Our forward plan seems to be bomb it, mark it. In practice it?s bomb it, watch it go back.

[1eyedog]

West and Garcia have been horrible this year and Benendo might as well be on the long term injury list.

Yep we're really struggling in that 20-22 picked player bracket.

[Grantysghost]

I think what this confirms pretty soundly is we are a average team. We're not shit. Not great. Just average. The kind of team that would just scape into the 8 (sound familiar?) and will occasionally have good days against good teams and will occasionally have shit days against shit teams.

Port are a similar team so I wasn't really expecting a win with the confidence of other people before the game started. Sure I thought we could win but I didn't think it was a better than 50% chance of happening.

The unfortunate reality is 21 was a blip in an otherwise pretty stable trendline of mediocrity for us. Bont's best years will be wasted. Maybe a better new team will emerge in his twilight.

Gawd. You're right. We've made no real progress under Bevo.
Just tredding water.
The paradox in all that is we've somehow doubled our all time GF record.
He's the best and also sucks.

[Ozza]

You're missing the point and trying to throw up a lot of stats to confuse the question.

Lets try and get it back to the original point.
You've called out Treloar for getting a lot of kicks by basically coughing it up. That's fair enough but Bont did some of the same things the previous two weeks but it wasn't part of many peoples assessment.
I get that some of his other stats in those previous games are super impressive but he was the turnover king for a couple of weeks and it appears that it's glossed over for many people whereas for Treloar it's highlighted.

"Turnover king"....gee whiz. That's a fair way off the mark.

Bont plays the game under more pressure from the opposition than anyone else, and does have some more clangers at times, but he is generally winning the ball at clearance or kicking inside 50 which have a higher chance of turnover. He also had a high amount of clangers v Brisbane because of the 6 frees against, but meanwhile sent us inside 50 7 times in a very defensively played/high turnover game. He only had 1 clanger v the saints when we butchered it as a team, 4 vs Richmond (when he had 11 clearances and 5 i50s and 2 of the clangers FK against anyway) and zero clangers on Saturday night.

[Mofra]

We have a worrying trend from our wins that translated into the Port game.
We can't play 'easy'. Everything we do is laboured - kicking goals, moving the ball, clearances.

When we beat Richmond, we smashed them in most key measures and still only won by a kick.

Until we can find 'easy' connection between our backs, mids then forwards we're always going to be vulnerable to teams making a late charge. Then consider the issues with our fitness/run (as noted by comments regarding other clubs doing more running than us during pre-season)

[Ozza]

I agree that we can't play easy.

But I think we are vulnerable because of the way we choose to defend.

We push up and push up and push up so that there is hardly any space when it is in our end of the ground, and although attacking - spend all of our time on a knife's edge because if we make a turnover we are immediately split open if the opposition connect on 2-3 possessions in a row.

Its an exhausting style to play (and watch) and I don't think we are set up for success. We are very middle of the road, which is not where we should be with our level of talent.

[Grantysghost]

"Turnover king"....gee whiz. That's a fair way off the mark.

Bont plays the game under more pressure from the opposition than anyone else, and does have some more clangers at times, but he is generally winning the ball at clearance or kicking inside 50 which have a higher chance of turnover. He also had a high amount of clangers v Brisbane because of the 6 frees against, but meanwhile sent us inside 50 7 times in a very defensively played/high turnover game. He only had 1 clanger v the saints when we butchered it as a team, 4 vs Richmond (when he had 11 clearances and 5 i50s and 2 of the clangers FK against anyway) and zero clangers on Saturday night.

He does muff kicks at times. We need to paint the entire picture.
What you've pointed out is very true and he's the best player ever (he's overtaken Grant and Hawk for me) however it's ok to point out flaws I think is the point.

[bornadog]

He does muff kicks at times. We need to paint the entire picture.
What you've pointed out is very true and he's the best player ever (he's overtaken Grant and Hawk for me) however it's ok to point out flaws I think is the point.

No, the point was I said Treloar was travelling at 48.6% DE, and was accused not having a go at Bont for his turnovers in previous weeks. The big difference is Bont influences a game, but Treloar's effort on Saturday was a joke for the talent he has. Yes he got 35 disposals but wasted more than half of these.

[Grantysghost]

No, the point was I said Treloar was travelling at 48.6% DE, and was accused not having a go at Bont for his turnovers in previous weeks. The big difference is Bont influences a game, but Treloar's effort on Saturday was a joke for the talent he has. Yes he got 35 disposals but wasted more than half of these.

I thought Treloar was really good on the weekend tells you how much I know ! ;) Does wet weather affect disposal efficiency ergo is there a degrading effect?

[mjp]

I thought Treloar was really good on the weekend tells you how much I know ! ;) Does wet weather affect disposal efficient ergo is there a degrading effect?

He was brilliant. Heart and soul performance.

[Mantis]

No, the point was I said Treloar was travelling at 48.6% DE, and was accused not having a go at Bont for his turnovers in previous weeks. The big difference is Bont influences a game, but Treloar's effort on Saturday was a joke for the talent he has. Yes he got 35 disposals but wasted more than half of these.

Your choice of words really lets you down bad.

[bornadog]

Your choice of words really lets you down bad.

Ok, agree I am being harsh, but he is one of my favourites and he really could have done more with his disposals. Time and again he just slammed the ball on his foot and didn't find a team mate. That is all I am really saying.

[Grantysghost]

Ok, agree I am being harsh, but he is one of my favourites and he really could have done more with his disposals. Time and again he just slammed the ball on his foot and didn't find a team mate. That is all I am really saying.

Isn't that wet weather footy? Get it forward any old how and keep it there?

[bornadog]

Isn't that wet weather footy? Get it forward any old how and keep it there?

If you are happy a player can record DE 48.6% - then fine with me.

The point of this discussion was why I didn't have a go at Bont for his Turnovers. My answer was, Bont while turning over the ball alot against Lions I think, also influenced the win and did a lot more.

No big deal we move on.

[GVGjr]

No, the point was I said Treloar was travelling at 48.6% DE, and was accused not having a go at Bont for his turnovers in previous weeks. The big difference is Bont influences a game, but Treloar's effort on Saturday was a joke for the talent he has. Yes he got 35 disposals but wasted more than half of these.

You weren't accused of anything and were simply asked if Bont's clangers particularly against Brisbane (13) factored into your votes as it did for Treloar.
Your reasoning and responses since has been solid. I didn't give votes to Bont in the Brisbane game for the reason who didn't for Treloar.

[Dogs 24/7]

1. We've legit got a label as uber chokers within the minds of other teams in the comp, of that I'd be positive. In most games, unless we're absolutely 15 goals ahead, other teams must always still have a kernel of belief that they're still a sniff against us. That's not a place you want to be in as a professional team. We've got a lot of work to do to earn back respect.


I have sat on this one for a couple of days and based on feedback from friends and colleagues they dont rate our ability that highly.
The consensus seems to be if teams are in a close contest with us we dont always fight it out. Saints supporters thought we were in a position a couple of times to get back into the game but a lack of desire cost us.

[Grantysghost]

If you are happy a player can record DE 48.6% - then fine with me.

The point of this discussion was why I didn't have a go at Bont for his Turnovers. My answer was, Bont while turning over the ball alot against Lions I think, also influenced the win and did a lot more.

No big deal we move on.

Fair enough.

Treloar's stats stack up ok :


-2 score launches (ranked eq 2)
-8 clearances (ranked 2)
-400 + metres gained (ranked 9)
-10 defensive half pressure acts (ranked 6)
-27 pressure acts total (ranked 1)
-35 touches ranked 1 (16 contested ranked 2)
-14 ground ball gets (ranked 1)
-17 effective disposals (ranked 6) **he must've nailed all his hand balls**

The not so good :

- 11 turnovers ( ranked 1 but 4 less than Bont's record ;) )
- 14.3 % kick efficiency (that might be a world record ranked last and speaks to your point)

Actually his season kicking efficiency is 36.4 percent very very low.

For comparison Bont is at 65.6, Macrae 66.7, Libba 71.2

Wines for PA is lower at 35.4

Might indicate how many contested possessions he's getting compared to other years. Should I look that up....ok.

He's going at 12.3 / game more than Libba at 11.4.

Last season he was at 8.5 and his kicking efficiency was 58.6 %

Ok i need to do work now.

Also the score in this game was almost the same as the Freo final.

73-60 v Freo
70-56 v Port

Not sure why I put that there.

[Dogs 24/7]

We have a worrying trend from our wins that translated into the Port game.
We can't play 'easy'. Everything we do is laboured - kicking goals, moving the ball, clearances.

When we beat Richmond, we smashed them in most key measures and still only won by a kick.

Until we can find 'easy' connection between our backs, mids then forwards we're always going to be vulnerable to teams making a late charge. Then consider the issues with our fitness/run (as noted by comments regarding other clubs doing more running than us during pre-season)

Spot on. We have the talent but for whatever reason we often come up short in the critical times in games. We have to ask question like has going to Skinner and our lack on more grinding running sessions played a role in those clutch moments and failed us.

[Scorlibo]

Spot on. We have the talent but for whatever reason we often come up short in the critical times in games. We have to ask question like has going to Skinner and our lack on more grinding running sessions played a role in those clutch moments and failed us.

Personally I find this revelation that we only do running within the context of match simulations and ball drills very concerning, I can't stop thinking about it. Mostly because every week we're second to the loose ball and getting beaten on the spread. But also because everything I know about how to improve VO2 max contradicts that approach. Targeted training at the edge of capability (max heart rate) is how you improve. To an extent training ball skills and training VO2 max are incompatible, if you're coordinated enough to train ball skills then you're not at the point of utter exhaustion. Indeed we don't want our players to be hitting their max heart rate in a game situation.

Now at the end of the day I'm just an amateur runner, and the people in charge of our performance program are professionals. I simply hope we're taking this aspect of performance seriously. Cardio fitness can influence every aspect of play, and if we're even 5% off the competition then that's going to have an outsized impact on performance.

[GVGjr]

It's not quite right that we don't do straight running but we certainly do more of it in our various drills at Skinner. Perhaps we need a bit more of it but the coaches set up all the drills to keep the players working hard and minimise any flat spots.

[Scorlibo]

It's not quite right that we don't do straight running but we certainly do more of it in our various drills at Skinner. Perhaps we need a bit more of it but the coaches set up all the drills to keep the players working hard and minimise any flat spots.

When you say straight running, do mean 400m sprints, 2km time trials and the like, or shorter distance sprints?

[GVGjr]

When you say straight running, do mean 400m sprints, 2km time trials and the like, or shorter distance sprints?

We do a bit of sprint and speed development work but in previous years you would often see more beep test or distance running.
The MAS (maximum aerobic speed) test was just a one off from what I have seen and you could see the players reaching their limits.

Most of the running work is done during the various drills which is what Bevo eluded to in response to Dunkleys comments.
The coaches really do endeavour to keep the guys working hard in the preseason.

Perhaps it requires a tweak here and there to get some longer runs in but the sports science guys do seem to be monitoring players work rates.
I recall a couple of months back them having a chat to Busslinger because he had completed his schedule but he was keen to do some more running with the rehab boys.

[bornadog]

One additional learning:

I learnt tackling a player is ok from knees (including knee) and above. I even looked up the rule. When I played school boy stuff, tackling was from hips up.

[Scorlibo]

We do a bit of sprint and speed development work but in previous years you would often see more beep test or distance running.
The MAS (maximum aerobic speed) test was just a one off from what I have seen and you could see the players reaching their limits.

Most of the running work is done during the various drills which is what Bevo eluded to in response to Dunkleys comments.
The coaches really do endeavour to keep the guys working hard in the preseason.

Perhaps it requires a tweak here and there to get some longer runs in but the sports science guys do seem to be monitoring players work rates.
I recall a couple of months back them having a chat to Busslinger because he had completed his schedule but he was keen to do some more running with the rehab boys.

Cheers.

To be clear, I'm not criticising the work ethic of the players, or the intent/professionalism of the coaches and sports science staff. Just questioning whether this is an area that we're prioritising as a collective. Trying to get that cardio workload in primarily during ball drills sounds to me like we're trying to kill two birds with one stone, and other clubs clearly take a more targeted approach. Meanwhile out on the field it looks as if we're not covering the ground as well as our opposition week to week. It's difficult to assess because it can always be a positioning and running patterns issue, but that's my read.

[Nuggety Back Pocket]

I have sat on this one for a couple of days and based on feedback from friends and colleagues they dont rate our ability that highly.
The consensus seems to be if teams are in a close contest with us we dont always fight it out. Saints supporters thought we were in a position a couple of times to get back into the game but a lack of desire cost us.

I am not sure it is a lack of desire but rather a lack of depth in talent. Our forward line apart from Weightman kicked two goals between them with one each to Hannan and Naughton. Our other 2 goalkickers being English and Bont. We have lacked a second ruck man for the past 4-5 years to support Tim English and recruited Lobb who has been very disappointing. Sweet regularly gets 40-50 hit outs in the VFL and continues to be overlooked.
Naughton gets too crowded at FF and should be played at Centre half forward. Our inability to recruit small forwards who kick goals is a huge concern. I am still to be convinced that both O?Brien and Keath are good enough to be second string key defenders to Liam Jones
who has been very good at full back.
Apart from Treloar Richards and Bailey Dale their is a lack of genuine leg speed in the team.
Teams like St Kilda and Essendon have gone past us this year. Port Adelaide is another much improved team this year, having recently defeated Sydney in Sydney and the WB.
I also worry about the depth in our Match Committee following the departures of King and Hansen and disappointed to see two quality
former Premiership players in Dale Morris at Brisbane plus Matthew Boyd at Fremantle where Robert Murphy is also involved.



.

[D Mitchell]

Personally I find this revelation that we only do running within the context of match simulations and ball drills very concerning, I can't stop thinking about it. Mostly because every week we're second to the loose ball and getting beaten on the spread. But also because everything I know about how to improve VO2 max contradicts that approach. Targeted training at the edge of capability (max heart rate) is how you improve. To an extent training ball skills and training VO2 max are incompatible, if you're coordinated enough to train ball skills then you're not at the point of utter exhaustion. Indeed we don't want our players to be hitting their max heart rate in a game situation.

Now at the end of the day I'm just an amateur runner, and the people in charge of our performance program are professionals. I simply hope we're taking this aspect of performance seriously. Cardio fitness can influence every aspect of play, and if we're even 5% off the competition then that's going to have an outsized impact on performance.

Bolded bits. First I've heard of this. You may be aware of the doctrine espoused by NZ Athletics coach from the '60s Arthur Lydiard, the coach of Peter Snell, Murray Halberg. John Walker followed his regime. It included a 10 week, 100 miles per week period, designed to build endurance preliminary to performance training, getting miles into the legs was the catchcall. Last century, the convention was no footballs before Xmas. I share your concern.