We could reincarnate Percy Cerutty and appoint him as our fitness guru and we’d still have Cuningham, Marchbank, Martin, Williams and Docherty injured more often than not, as well as the usual, run of the mill, soft tissue injuries and fractures.
I doubt they’d last 5 minutes under Cerutty before their legs blew off.
An interesting point though… We all know Percy was a bit eccentric, but in amongst the ‘crazy’ there was also some very good practices. My own athletic coach knew Cerutty. I’m not sure how strong the connection was as I wasn’t with her at the time, but I do know she used some of his methods, and some of her athletes trained at Portsea, despite being NSW based, There was definitely some sharing of ideas, despite the fact that Percy’s focus was middle and long distance, and my coach was more concerned with sprinter, hurdler, jumper events. One of the things she was ‘big on’, was laying a foundation fitness base during the Winter before attacking the more explosive work in the Spring/Summer. We trained as middle distance runners during that off-season. I think it stood us in pretty good stead because I don’t remember too many soft tissue injuries amongst our group. One of the key features of this foundation period was the time we spent running up ‘bloody’ sand dunes and in soft sand along the beach. I’ve seen pictures of the Giants training in the dunes at Wanda Beach. I wonder whether we incorporate it in our conditioning period.
These guys are a big problem to build and maintain team cohesion - club keeps talking about connection between the lines well we have starting 23players that don't play on decent pay packets. Need to move them on and bring players where the team can build cohesion between the lines. More Acres, E Hollands, Fogarty types...
Yep. Unbelievable How on earth are we supposed to develop a structure, understanding, and a team approach, with these changes and unavailability.
I suspect there are players in the side carrying injuries and playing on despite them. But it's the 'leg' ones that cruel us. You can play with one shoulder like Acres did at the end of last year...but calves, knees,hamstrings, toes, and you're off for a spell. And it's these injuries our serial 'victims' seem to attract,
I think in the last couple of years we have been honest.
Better perhaps, but if they are being honest they actually are saying they have no idea how long he will be out....
Quote
Matthew Cottrell (foot)
- Underwent scans yesterday which revealed a navicular stress reaction in his left foot - Club will work through a rehabilitation plan over the coming weeks - Availability: To be reassessed following the Club’s Round 14 bye
While getting smashed in the clearances, struggling to take a mark around the ground and having our key forwards double-teamed 🤔
That's the point isn't it. Same as it's always been.... It's never a case of one setup gives you a greater advantage every occasion. That comes down to individual circumstances, strengths and weaknesses and match-ups in individual games.
In these situations you will gain in one area but you will lose in another. That's the balance that the coaches have to determine.
I missed the game. I'd just like folks opinions.... Walsh racks up possessions and it's noticable. He's everywhere. He's influencing the game.
One of the things I've noticed watching VFL games when Binns is involved is... that I don't 'notice' him. It surprises me when I look up the stat sheet at the end of the game and see he's had it so many times.
I'm guessing part of that is the coverage of games with less camera angles and the commentators not always calling the player in possession on long shots.
Was Binns 'noticable' last night? Did he have a big influence on the game.
Just on Ollie Hollands, caught a couple of times last night...he's only in his second season, still young , still very slight, and still probably adjusting to the speed of the game. When he gets a bit more experience and a bit more bulk (he may never be super big, but he can add a bit of muscle and strength) he'll be a valuable long term player for us.
We've had three tough games in a row. Our players looked pretty stuffed (although, happily smiling) at the end of last night's game. This fourth will be really difficult.
We need to up our pressure which still seems to be well short of last year at times. Heeney is a worry in a similar fashion to Petracca. Can play a few roles and be hard to match up on.
Voss seemed quite upbeat at the press conference and on reflection you can kind of see why. There's a lot of good to highlight this week as well as there is bad in a ten minute lapse at the end. We went too defensive and our own scoring dried up, but... for most of the night we've broke even or even beaten most of their dangerous players and prime movers...except one.
Had Petracca not got off the leash it wouldn't have been close...possibly over by half-time. He not only had influence in his own scoring but brought other players into the game and lifted the side. We need to find an answer when we next play them. Kennedy went well at the start but once Petracca moved forward he switched to marking Viney.
For mine small Durds put himself on the line when required. Got caught by a fingernail a couple of times but I thought he was up and about.
yep If he was just a fraction quicker he'd be quite valuable...but when Motlop is ready for a return he probably goes out as Owies is good for a couple of goals most games.
Just an aside for a minute... 41 members and a 1000 guests (probably a fair few Bots-some of the topics being viewed are pretty dated) online at present...not a bad effort. We still have a pulse (Despite what our football team is putting us through )
Good start, poor finish These type of games have a cumulative effect and we've played three tough ones in a row, 'undermanned', so it's not surprising we faded at the end. A couple of players are short a gallop after returning from injury We may be in a bit of strife next game. (Sydney in Sydney)
Melbourne on the other hand are having very good last quarters this year. I reckon their fitness levels are pretty high at present. It will be interesting to see if they can maintain that level.
(If a certain biased commentator makes an appearance and asks to walk around our rooms at any stage this year I hope we show him the door. That was just about his worst performance.)