Players training with us?

[RalphiusMaximus 6,111]

Interesting. Morton did actually look a bit more like his brothers in the FB pic. He might actually be building up a bit.

[Summer Blease 0]

It takes a little more time for the "lanksters" of this world to bulk up. Persistance gets you everywhere.

Go Dees. I want to cover my face with demon love, you know?

[Rosso 59]

Picture 4 says, " Liam Jurrah shows off his leap"...... that's not the only thing he's showing off! Matt Shirvington would be envious!

[pringle 56]

Really? I was under the impression that Watts had a body more than capable of gaining weight, and the only limitation was a soft limit imposed by the fitness staff to ensure he had the core strength to handle the additional bulk first.

Obviously I'm no expert (everything I've said above is 100% regurgitation from those who seem to know what they are talking about), but I've always associated the "difficulty gaining muscle" with the Cale Morton types.

I'd love to hear from pringle or anyone else who may have knowledge of these things.

It's not easy to tell how much muscle growth a player is capable of by looking at their initial body shape when recruited. However we do get a feel for how a player will progress by gauging bulk increases after a pre-season or 2 at the club. It generally becomes obvious by a player's 3rd season, but there is no hard and fast rule. Variables could include (just to pick a few):

1) Injuries that may hamper a player's weights program,

2) Structural weaknesses that may delay progress into heavier lifting until remedial strengthening of other body parts takes place.

3) Variable genetically determined response to exercise between individuals

4) Variable load and work rate of different players (eg. emphasis on endurance in midfielder vs. Power training in a power forward, strong trainer vs lazy etc.)

5) Various techniques used for muscle hypertrohy and their relationship to load of training. For example, training at different times of the year shifts focus using periodization methods (dividing the season into sections or short periods when training focus shifts - eg. Power, strength and endurance training early in pre-season, maintenance training mid season etc.). This is used across the season to maintain a player at their peak. Across a long and demanding season during which the body goes through a repeated cycle of hard endurance running, pounding of muscles and then recovery on a weekly basis, it is almost impossible to maintain a heavy weights program. Most players will not gain much lean muscle mass during a season for this reason. And even in the off season it is hard to dedicate all your time to weights at the expense of endurance work.

If every player sat out a year or 2 of football and concentrated purely on hard core resistance training under close supervision without performing much aerobic training, they could all achieve a body size that we would drool over. But these players are also aerobic athletes who require physical attributes such as pace, agility and endurance to ply their trade. Such a regime is not going to assist performance. Indeed it will reduce trained attributes such as agility and endurance and diminish a player's capacity to play at their optimum.

All players are genetically different, develop at different rates, mature at different ages, get different injuries at different stages of their development, train at different intensities and respond differently to different training methods. They do so at their own rate and learn to change bad habits in time. Some are held back and some hold themselves back.

In the modern age of sports science, (and only as an educated guess) it would not at all surprise me if some weaknesses have been pre-emptively addressed in Watts' first couple of seasons before unleashing him on a heavy and demanding weights program. This would be based on sound biomechanical and medical screening tests. There are also other possibilities such as perhaps planning a larger early emphasis on gaining aerobic fitness in our young key position prospect which would lead to a concomitant decrease in ability to gain muscle bulk. Also, you have to remember that tall skinny kids can put on more weight than their shorter counterparts but still not look as big and muscly. Their weight is distributed over a larger surface. It thus often takes them longer to 'grow into their body' despita gaining appreciable amounts of weight.

Anyway, all I'm trying to say is don't jump the gun. There are many reasons why some people take longer than others. Some seem to come into the AFL looking like a ready made massively built man (eg. Tapscott). But even if they're skinny lads to start, most of the guys that are willing and able to put in the effort will eventually get rewarded over time with significant body growth. There's still even some hope for Cale Morton. He is a midfielder who probably does a lot of running as part of his training. That makes it harder to put on weight, but it can be done gradually over time.

[Redleg 42,076]

Bailey said 90 per cent of the squad was able to train on the first day.

“There are a couple who are getting over hip injuries, but they’re still running, which is a good sign to be starting now, rather than post-Christmas. So we’re not too bad,” he said.

That's the best news we could have hoped for.

I recall that was said this year or last and then on the first NAB cup game about 12 were unavailable out injured.

[jayceebee31 768]

I recall that was said this year or last and then on the first NAB cup game about 12 were unavailable out injured.

Unfortunately some do get hurt during pre training & training.. Injuries do happen even when unexpected. Just hope they are minimal,as we deserve to have a less injury year,although last year wasn't to bad. No majors- so we can be very happy with that.

[Demon Head 299]

Like most things injuries come in cycles and we've had a long cycle of injuries lasting 3-4 years while we've been going through a rough time in general on the field. You can't go through a season without any injuries at all but I hope we're about to go through a period such as Collingwood has had in recent times when injuries have a minimal effect on the team's structure throughout the whole season.

[Bring-Back-Powell 15,401]

Unfortunately some do get hurt during pre training & training.. Injuries do happen even when unexpected. Just hope they are minimal,as we deserve to have a less injury year,although last year wasn't to bad. No majors- so we can be very happy with that.

Agree. If we have a year like we did last year, we'll give the 8 a shake. Only Petterd, Grimes and Jurrah missed chunks of games and they were at different times of the year.

[#MYHEARTBEATSTRUE 27]

When do they start training down at Casey?

I will take some photo's and do a reort on how things proceed, as i live 50-60 k's down the road at warragul

[Chook 15,035]

Agree. If we have a year like we did last year, we'll give the 8 a shake. Only Petterd, Grimes and Jurrah missed chunks of games and they were at different times of the year.

Moloney missed a lot, as did Wonaeamirri. James McDonald also missed seven weeks, but that won't matter much this year.

[#MYHEARTBEATSTRUE 27]

we will make the 8, and we will be pushing top4 come round 19-20, then finish around 7-5 on the ladder

[Deestroy All 14,266]

Moloney missed a lot, as did Wonaeamirri. James McDonald also missed seven weeks, but that won't matter much this year.

So did Morton.

So that's Petterd, Grimes, Jurrah, Moloney, Wonaeamirri, Morton and McDonald. That's a fair whack.

[rumpole 538]

There's definitely scope for teams outside the eight to mount a challenge in 2011.

I'm not saying that we will necessarily shoot up the ladder but, apart from Collingwood, I can't see room for great improvement among the teams that have occupied the top four in the past two seasons. St. Kilda, Geelong and the Western Bulldogs all have their issues losing key personnel and having difficult fixtures. Who can say Fremantle and Sydney will do better next year? Hawthorn have their issues and Carlton are heavily dependent on one player who, if he doesn't reproduce his Brownlow form, could see them easily fall. Of the teams outside the 8, perhaps Adelaide might challenge, North are a bit flaky and then there's us. We just need things to fall into place - improvement from our players and minimal injuries.