In Season Performance is Built In The Off Season.

Off seasons allow AFL clubs time to reflect, explore, educate and refresh. It also is the time to invest into the most important part of building a team, the training environment.

 

Training is far and away the most important component of any AFL program. Much goes into having players ready to train at an elite level. Nutrition, sleep, education, hydration,

mindfulness, craft. Hence the high number of people employed around the players to ensure the very best environment for them.

 

Training is where winning habits and behaviours are built and reinforced.it is where people learn how to play. The methods that drive the team can be learned , refined and become instinctive. Sounds too easy when put that way but it's a simple as that. ‘Play as you train' is an old fashioned adage but is very true.

 

How our team performs and wins and losses intrigue us and create a full array of emotions but invariably they are a reflection of training. I have always believed that if training doesn’t look like a game then why are we doing it?

 

If teams are playing a way they haven’t trained they will be stressed and confused. Why? Because a method of playing that is understood by all enables participation. Players want to feel confident and know what to do, where to run and how to play their position inside the team.When they feel they belong, they are on their way. Training is the best place to develop this.

 

When training is right over a long period of time then teams are ready for what the game

demands. Consistent attack on the ball, knowing their position, split second decisions all

based on what is happening around the contest area, fundamentals and craft executed under high pressure and fatigue.

 

The game demands much from it’s players at AFL level. Again training is the best place to

develop this.

 

The summer period.

 

When the final siren sounds on Grand final day there is only one club in the competition truly happy. That’s the nature of AFL footy. For all clubs including the premiers the summer period is a busy time.

 

Inside footy departments across the country time, finances and expertise is invested into key areas.

 

- Game style tinkering and growth.

 

- Strength and conditioning.

 

- Player development.

 

- Game education.

 

- Connection of players, coaches and staff.

 

- Fundamentals and positional craft.

 

- Management of training loads.

 

Every club has different needs and are at various stages of development and mastery. There is also a range of philosophies and priorities from club to club. Teams that play deep into the season may have less to work on but less time to do it.

 

More is being asked of our players in the field of battle but they have less time to work on it pre and in season.

 

For all that, the basics of the game for all clubs still need to be coached and reinforced.

 

How to win the ball, how to keep it off the opposition and how to win it back when possession is lost. This is what the game demands from its participants.

 

Getting it right.

 

Identifying what is needed and employing the best people to attract, guide and develop players is the key ingredient. The right people in the right seats and hiring for character then training for skill.

 

In 2007 the Geelong players were physically ready to train with consistent intensity like never before and connect with one another in open and honest conversations. By 2010 the summers were about individual management, game style tinkering and developing the next batch.

 

In that same summer Collingwood reshaped how they played and hit the competition with a forward defensive press on their way to a premiership. Richmonds 2018 was about connection of all in the club and linking their defence to offence, to create an exhilarating forward momentum based game that captivated all.

 

Almost always when clubs mature and are ready to compete anywhere and anytime, they have been building and developing for 5-7 years. The nucleus of personal and staff have been put in place.

 

There have been great wins, injuries , turmoil, scrutiny and gut wrenching losses along the way. The club is stable, settled and united.

 

The last pieces of the puzzle in the build become the most talked about though. Changes in coaching structure, addition of 1 or 2 players, senior coach changing his ways, arrival of new strength and conditioning staff. The list goes on. All can be defining but they are the ‘cream' on a program that has been building strategically , patiently and steadily for a long period of time.

 

The clubs that get their off seasons right for consistent periods become the consistent and high performing clubs.