help with injuries

[Total Awareness]

Thought this was interesting.

An article in todays Australian
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/s ... ml Swans
fitness guru takes secrets south

THE behind-the-scenes fitness expert who played a crucial role in getting Sydney to successive grand finals is set to take his secrets to another club.

Dave Misson, one of the masterminds of the system that made Sydney's injury list the shortest in the league, is moving to Melbourne and may join forces with former Swans assistant and St Kilda coach Ross Lyon.

Misson said yesterday there was a chance he could stay with the Swans in a sports science role, but he would probably opt to work at the coalface with a Melbourne-based club.

Sydney born and raised, Misson worked with rugby league clubs and the Australian cricket team before becoming the Swans' elite performance director seven years ago.

He had no background in Australian football, but in concert with club doctor Nathan Gibbs, a former rugby league player, and physiotherapist Matt Cameron, also a newcomer to AFL, devised an injury prevention system that significantly reduced the rate of soft tissue injuries, such as hamstring tears.

In 2005, when Sydney won the premiership, the Swans used the least number of players of any team, allowing them to have a hardened, stable side.

Backed by the club, they searched the globe to stay at the cutting edge and went to Italy in 2006 and again this year to study injury prevention procedures at soccer giant AC Milan, where soft tissue injuries have been cut by 90 per cent in the past few years.

The medical and fitness staff convinced the coaches that more training was not better. Misson said the best example of the system's success was the fact that veteran forward Michael O'Loughlin had not missed a game for more than two years despite chronic tendonitis.

"I think we have brought a little bit of innovation and forward thinking, understanding what the game is about and what makes individual players tick," Misson said.

"We have always looked at what works best for each individual, not been locked into a one program fits all mentality. Mick O'Loughlin hasn't missed a game since early 2005, so for someone like that to go without missing (a game) for over two years shows us that we are on the right track.

"Our philosophy is that we really push the players hard in the pre-season and then we are pretty conservative in season."

On the surface, the Swans system appeared to come unstuck this season. Sydney bowed out of the finals last weekend and in the second half of the season was hampered by injuries to key players Barry Hall (groin), Tadhg Kennelly (knee) and Leo Barry (hamstring).

But Misson said the injury rates at the club in 2007 were in fact lower than in previous years.

"From a numbers point of view, injuries were lower than they have been for the past three years. It was just a matter of who was injured, when you lose three of your best players to injury. It could have been three different players and no-one would know," he said.

"Hall's injury was wear and tear. He hadn't missed a game in three years until this year and he also played in two Irish series. It just catches up with you after a while."

Misson's services could be a coup for St Kilda, which has been badly hit by injuries to its top players in the past few years, preventing the team from reaching its undoubted potential.

While Sydney's list has been written off as too old since last weekend's loss to Collingwood, Misson said it was not all gloom.

"You look at the demographic of the list and we have got some older players, but I think they just need a bit of a spark, to change things a little bit," he said. "A lot of them have virtually played three years back to back and not had quite as much of a break as you need to."

Misson believes clubs will try to improve the psychological side of performance. "In terms of where it is going, the whole psychological aspect of performance is an area that is untapped at the moment and an area that clubs will start to look at more closely in the next few years," he said. "Sydney has plans to profile players from a psychological point of view and find out what switches players on the best."

[Mr Magic]

Article has no merit, It is in The Australian and everyone knows they cannot be believed on any football story because they are in RB's pocket.

[asiu]

i've got a question TA...

what sparked you to follow the sainters?

[Total Awareness]

Interesting question gazrat. If not St.K then who? In hindsight I realise I must like the drama that you get with the saints, cause there's always something to read about. I guess its just one of those childhood choices that you make. My family are all carlton and I had to be different!