Pre- Season 2017 and NZ camp

[Con Gorozidis]

Freeman with another top 5 finish in the time trial

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/nathan- ... e2ba9ed817

Ed Phillips must be a machine....

[st.byron]

Freeman with another top 5 finish in the time trial

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/nathan- ... e2ba9ed817

Ed Phillips must be a machine....

That article calls Freeman a "clearance machine'. Based on ?????
Also says his hamstring issues re-emerged after arriving the Saints. Nope they were there all along.
Also says, "Nathan Freeman’s desperate bid to make his long-awaited AFL debut is on track"......Desperate?? Measured, careful and deliberate are words that come to mind.

Crap journalism. Who cares about details when you can dash off something with some attention grabbing phrases. Fox Sports.....Herald Sun.....etc

[saintbrat]

Freeman with another top 5 finish in the time trial

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/nathan- ... e2ba9ed817

Ed Phillips must be a machine....

That article calls Freeman a "clearance machine'. Based on ?????
Also says his hamstring issues re-emerged after arriving the Saints. Nope they were there all along.
Also says, "Nathan Freeman’s desperate bid to make his long-awaited AFL debut is on track"......Desperate?? Measured, careful and deliberate are words that come to mind.

Crap journalism. Who cares about details when you can dash off something with some attention grabbing phrases. Fox Sports.....Herald Sun.....etc

They just added colourful words to the Saints article

Apart from the 'desperate' - ofcourse he is desperate to play - all AFL listed players are

[remboy]

That article calls Freeman a "clearance machine'. Based on ?????

Well he did clear out of Collingwood pretty quickly.

[Wrote for Luck]

Might be worth revisiting Ed's highlight reel.

[Bluthy]

Great start for Ed Phillips, Mckenzie and Freeman - young bucks showing their intensity and work ethic on the track. Coaches love running machine players.

But you've got to also be able to get the footy. Little point in getting to where the ball is if you can't get your hands on it and be smart with it. The best players keep chugging along all day like a machine with plenty left to get down and dirty for the contested ball. They aren't always first to the contest but they get to most of them and then are very effective in them and use ball smartly.

[longtimesaint]

Great start for Ed Phillips, Mckenzie and Freeman - young bucks showing their intensity and work ethic on the track. Coaches love running machine players.

But you've got to also be able to get the footy. Little point in getting to where the ball is if you can't get your hands on it and be smart with it. The best players keep chugging along all day like a machine with plenty left to get down and dirty for the contested ball. They aren't always first to the contest but they get to most of them and then are very effective in them and use ball smartly.

The practice matches will be very interesting this year to see how these young players perform n match conditions.

[saintbrat]

http://www.saints.com.au/news/2017-01-1 ... games-near

Training focus gradually shifts as games draw closer
Josh Gabelich January 11, 2017 12:44 PM

Having banked the more technical and individually tailored phase of the pre-season in the lead up to Christmas, St Kilda Coach Alan Richardson explained how January becomes far more game specific with match simulation the cornerstone of training, as games loom on the horizon.

“There is a lot of technical work done pre-Christmas in terms of individual player development. We also roll out the evolution of our method; the way we attack; the way we defend; the way we setup at stoppage. More often than not this work is done in an explicit manner, smaller groups to ensure quality learning," Richardson told saints.com.au on Wednesday.

“After Christmas training is a continuation of learning the same concepts but we do so in a more implicit way - with more numbers, game sense style training. The design of the sessions is less technical and getting closer to game simulation.

“If you look at our training pre-Christmas, we have six or seven drills per session which are both technical and tactical and hitting on facets of our method in detail with the guys in their lines (forwards / mids / backs). Post-Christmas, everything starts to come together (as a group); the boys are doing much more scrimmage work, 16 v 16, 18 v 18, as we try to replicate games.”

Since arriving at Linen House Centre at the end of 2013, Richardson has seen the clubs running standards and endurance depth come on in leaps and bounds.

While Jarryn Geary still holds the title of endurance king, Sean Dempster and Jack Newnes are no longer the only challengers, with Daniel McKenzie, new draftee Ed Phillips, Seb Ross and Mav Weller helping drag the entire group to new territory. Below the top bracket sits a wave of youth and experience edging towards the elite category.

Richardson is pleased with the ground made in this area but concedes he would be disappointed if the group wasn’t improving given the age profile of the list and direction the club is marching in.

“The running has improved significantly (in my time at the club), but so it should. We are a young group that is continuing to grow; they are obviously getting extra sessions under their belt,” Richardson said.

“We would be disappointed if the guys weren’t running PB’s and better times, it would mean they were going backwards.”

[saintbrat]

Lots of vision of training in this clip
http://m.saints.com.au/video/2017-01-12 ... eason-1201

[Bluthy]

Good articles. I wonder if we will see any big surprises in the game plan this year something like the Doggies handball academy. Sometimes when you get your cattle developed to a good point you can fully implement in your more complex, innovative plans. I'm a big believer that the coaches that win flags usually have some unique tweak to the game that gives them an edge until the other teams catch up.