filth off to africa

[stinger]

Magpies in Africa
01 December 2007 Herald Sun
Daryl Timms

IT WILL be a case of altitude rather than attitude when Collingwood journeys to South Africa early next year with a party of more than 60 players, coaches, support staff and officials.



The Magpies will travel abroad for the third year in a row searching for the benefits that come from high-altitude training.

But for the first time the club has chosen South Africa as its preferred destination, instead of northern Arizona.

Included in the three-week trip is a NAB Cup game against Adelaide in Dubai after the Magpies training camp.

Despite the cost of the South African adventure, Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert said the club rated the high-altitude training at Potchefstroom, 120km south-west of Johannesburg, as essential to the team's success in 2008.

Players who aren't selected for the Dubai game will remain in South Africa to conduct football clinics in Cape Town, an area in which Collingwood, and the AFL, are working to develop football.

The Magpies will be based at Potchefstroom's North West University high performance institute which attracts athletes from around the world to train at 1400m altitude.

Pert said the players would undertake some secret activities organised by coach Mick Malthouse

"The players don't know what the activities are yet so I can't talk about them publicly," Pert said.

"Even when we went to Arizona, Mick always liked to do some experimental stuff that the guys would remember for the rest of their lives. You can be pretty guaranteed that they are going to be full-on, brawling tough type of activities as well as great experiences. Plus there will be the training."

The players will leave on January 19 and return after the February 9 game against the Crows.

Pert said testing had left no doubt as to the benefits of Collingwood's high-altitude training at Northern Arizona University, which has been crucial to the club's build-up to a season.

"We think it is a big factor in our form and performance early in the season and one of the challenges of high-altitude training is how long you can hold on to those benefits as you come back to sea level," Pert said.

"And of course we have got the altitude room which we continue to train the players in at the Lexus Centre, but there is nothing like doing your training and living at high altitude as they did when they went to Arizona."

Pert said the club was comfortable with its substantial investment in the training camp at Potchefstroom, a university town with a population of 250,000.

"Some other clubs might think it's hard to justify the money and put it into other areas, but over the last few years we have not done some things and instead put a lot of investment into these pre-season high-altitude camps."

Collingwood's conditioning coach David Buttifant said the benefits of high-altitude training included the body's ability to carry more oxygen without having to do the same amount of work required at sea level.
"




....i understand that worsfold is taking his weagles to the same place some time during the pre-season.....


...yet some nuff nuffs on here were...and still are ....highly critical of thomas for doing the same thing....


...you haters can hate thomas until the cows come home...


he was still a trail blazer and a visionary........before his time actually.....

[buzfromgronggrong]

A revisionary with vision!

[stinger]

A revisionary with vision!

....oh dear .....

[stinger]

and it's not only the filth....


"Rama to go Footywild

5:36 PM Fri 30 November, 2007 | Back

Exclusive to AFL BigPond Network
News

ESSENDON premiership player Adam Ramanauskas will be the guest coach at the inaugural Talent Camp in South Africa in December.

Ramanauskas will join AFL South Africa head coach Mtutu Hlomela at the High Performance Centre in Pretoria for the camp from December 19-20.

He will take 40 teenagers through their paces. The talented athletes, aged 13-16, are new converts to Footywild, the South African version of Australian football.

A squad from the camp will be selected to play the Australian indigenous youth team in February 2008.

AFL South Africa operations manager Anthony Kelly said the talent camp will be an extension of the Footywild program.

“The game is growing in South Africa,â€

[Saints Premiers 2008]

thats nice for rama and the pies

rama is such a nice guy...we fought over the same t-shirt along chapel street a while back

he let me take it...

[saintspremiers]

stinger - did we train at high altitude in South Ifrica?

This to me is the key point of the trip.

[Eastern]

...yet some nuff nuffs on here were...and still are ....highly critical of thomas for doing the same thing....


...you haters can hate thomas until the cows come home...


he was still a trail blazer and a visionary........before his time actually.....

stinger, stinger, stinger !!

What on earth were you thinking. Every time the Grant Thomas critics are criticised on here the place becomes unbearable for weeks. This thread has the potential to turn into 10 pages of vitriolic crap unless monitored and/or locked !!

[Eastern]

stinger - did we train at high altitude in South Ifrica?

This to me is the key point of the trip.

We trained at the exact same place in that the filth are going to. We held heaps of clinics for Sth African kids, but that is all forgotten because it is the visionaries from Collingwood and the AFL who are off to Sth Africa.

It was also StKFC, under Grant Thomas who invented "Community Camps" when he took the team down to Warnambool.

It doesn't matter what people think of Grant Thomas, the fact remains that much of his vision is now being copied by others !!

[casey scorp]

I suggest that we leave the GT things alone and concentrate on the Filth going to Africa.

Just hope they don't come back, get eaten by cannibals or something else.

[saintsRrising]

It doesn't matter what people think of Grant Thomas, the fact remains that much of his vision is now being copied by others !!

Yes true!!!!

The Blues have Sugar..

The Tiges did have Knobes.....

Some amateur mob have Watts.....

Nobody but nobody want to copy him on Brooks though......


Not sure which club wanted to adopt his fitness management plan though?????


And yes what about GT's strongly expressed way to run a football club... the one with the omnipotent one and only responsible for all including contracts (except his own contract of course....)

Lets see..Cats no..they went another way.

Dogs...no..they just read the riot act to Eade..

Any club, but any club going the for the GT model??? er no.....



But hey GT went for some icing......so he must be a super-coach after all???.....=not

GT had a high altitude camp.......but forgot about the meat and potatoes stuff of assembling a good list and getting them on the park.



A good coach is one that gets most things right....and importantly does what Leigh Matthews said is the most important thing a coach can do.....assembles a good team..

Sure GT did some things right......but not enough.

Record is on the board...once Waldron left and GT assumed his omnipotent role at the club our list management was dismal...both in trading and in fitness and player conditioning management.

Even his much lauded contact expertise is now seen to have been flawed....Penny and Hamill both on long term contracts...and the saints list having to play short of its maximum as too much money was given to young players.


A good coach is one that performs well week in week out...not perfectly,,,,but yes who delivers the goods consistently.

Having a bright idea or two does not stamp one as a good coach....let alone a great one.


Nero may have been a dab hand with his fiddle...but Rome burned..

GT may have had some good ideas...but the Saints decayed on his watch once Waldon left.


Anyway it is late..time to watch a good movie..... I think someone recommended The Day After Tomorrow as just the tonic to relieve some stress....better duck down and grab my copy before Malthouse grabs all the copies for the Pies to watch in SA....

[saintsRrising]

PS.....pretty disappointing that the Saints are wasting money on Misson, the new physio and the Olympic Doc when they could be plowing it into another high altitude camp. I wish Ross would get his priorities and Vision straight!!!

[The Peanut]

PS.....pretty disappointing that the Saints are wasting money on Misson, the new physio and the Olympic Doc when they could be plowing it into another high altitude camp. I wish Ross would get his priorities and Vision straight!!!

...yeah, shocking decision making.

[barks4eva]

Yes true!!!!

The Blues have Sugar..

The Tiges did have Knobes.....

Some amateur mob have Watts.....

Nobody but nobody want to copy him on Brooks though......


Not sure which club wanted to adopt his fitness management plan though?????


And yes what about GT's strongly expressed way to run a football club... the one with the omnipotent one and only responsible for all including contracts (except his own contract of course....)

Lets see..Cats no..they went another way.

Dogs...no..they just read the riot act to Eade..

Any club, but any club going the for the GT model??? er no.....



But hey GT went for some icing......so he must be a super-coach after all???.....=not

GT had a high altitude camp.......but forgot about the meat and potatoes stuff of assembling a good list and getting them on the park.



A good coach is one that gets most things right....and importantly does what Leigh Matthews said is the most important thing a coach can do.....assembles a good team..

Sure GT did some things right......but not enough.

Record is on the board...once Waldron left and GT assumed his omnipotent role at the club our list management was dismal...both in trading and in fitness and player conditioning management.

Even his much lauded contact expertise is now seen to have been flawed....Penny and Hamill both on long term contracts...and the saints list having to play short of its maximum as too much money was given to young players.


A good coach is one that performs well week in week out...not perfectly,,,,but yes who delivers the goods consistently.

Having a bright idea or two does not stamp one as a good coach....let alone a great one.


Nero may have been a dab hand with his fiddle...but Rome burned..

GT may have had some good ideas...but the Saints decayed on his watch once Waldon left.


Anyway it is late..time to watch a good movie..... I think someone recommended The Day After Tomorrow as just the tonic to relieve some stress....better duck down and grab my copy before Malthouse grabs all the copies for the Pies to watch in SA....

Thankfully, someone around this place with a clue

I don't see too many former coach's, suing the club they coached either

When Thomas said" he'd never do anything to hurt the club" , he obviously wasn't talking about the club's bottomline

[mischa]

....i understand that worsfold is taking his weagles to the same place some time during the pre-season.....


...yet some nuff nuffs on here were...and still are ....highly critical of thomas for doing the same thing....


...you haters can hate thomas until the cows come home...


he was still a trail blazer and a visionary........before his time actually.....

Completely agree. That's the same place we went in Sth. Africa. And God knows we had to go somewhere with some decent facilities-Butterss sure wasn't about to pay for anything

[bigcarl]

he was a trail blazer and visionary ... before his time actually

exactly. when we hold aloft the 2008 premiership cup gt will be able to take no small portion of the credit. they'll take it around to his place the next day.

[SaintBot]

http://www.saintsational.com/forum/view ... hp?t=33525

old news

[stinger]

stinger - did we train at high altitude in South Ifrica?

This to me is the key point of the trip.

yes......same place where collingwood are going......

[stinger]

....i understand that worsfold is taking his weagles to the same place some time during the pre-season.....


...yet some nuff nuffs on here were...and still are ....highly critical of thomas for doing the same thing....


...you haters can hate thomas until the cows come home...


he was still a trail blazer and a visionary........before his time actually.....

Completely agree. That's the same place we went in Sth. Africa. And God knows we had to go somewhere with some decent facilities-Butterss sure wasn't about to pay for anything

too true mate...too true......i'd be calling in the C I D too, to see where all the million dollar profits from the last three years have gone...but we all knew that butterss was a snake oil salesman...some on here won't acknowledge it though....too busy being too clever by half spewing out the crap that you can read above......walton was too busy flowering the staff to care about list management ffs...but we will overlook that...and give the knives sticking out of grant's back another twist.....



i knew that some on here wouldn't give credit to thomas .....and credit is due.......they are not big enough to admit that.......but that's life mischa......that's life.....

[Washedup]

exactly. when we hold aloft the 2008 premiership cup gt will be able to take no small portion of the credit. they'll take it around to his place the next day.

They will. They will take it around and and show him what his pathetic list management almost cost them from ever getting

[Armoooo]

I absolutely HATED GT when he was coach and I was over the moon to see him gone, however I do admire him for his consistent search for anything that could give us the leading edge..
While I don't believe that these trips would really do anything atleast they tried, personally I like the Kokoda Trail idea the best, bonding while increasing fitness, perfect for footy...

[Oh When the Saints]

GT's innovations:
- Leadership groups
- Coach involvement with player contracts
- Rotating captaincy
- Community camps
- Overseas off-season trips
- "Re-building" by bottoming-out and using the draft (mostly forced)
- Management mantra in football

Some failed, some succeeded.

But you can't say he didn't try new things.

[fonz_#15]

is GT the most talked about former coach to any team in the history of the AFL?

its been something like 14 months

[Armoooo]

is GT the most talked about former coach to any team in the history of the AFL?

its been something like 14 months

We will have to wait and see, I wouldn't be surprised if Sheedy is still getting talked about by the bomber supporters in 14 months...

[saintsRrising]

is GT the most talked about former coach to any team in the history of the AFL?

its been something like 14 months

LOL....maybe on this forum...but in the main football world no way....

Norm Smith

Barassi....

Sheedy

etc etc

[fonz_#15]

is GT the most talked about former coach to any team in the history of the AFL?

its been something like 14 months

LOL....maybe on this forum...but in the main football world no way....

Norm Smith

Barassi....

Sheedy

etc etc

who are they

GT rules