More circle work is a good idea because if you do it properly it involves a lot of running and, if you add in the pressure of a few defenders to the mix, creates game simulated disposal under pressure.
More pie nights is also a good idea, not because it may bring Billy Nichols back to the club but because I reckon AFL clubs can lose the original reason as to why we all play footy - for fun. It doesn't have to be pie nights specifically but moreso social get-togethers outside of team meetings and official functions etc.
Training less often is not a good idea as our skills are bad enough as it is. Every pre-season session should involve a skills session though. There are plenty of full ground exercises where you have to run your guts out to be involved, but they also involve balls and using your skills when fatigued, which is a major problem at the club.
I would be ruthless with regards to slacking off at training. When you are at the club and at training you are full-on. They have plenty of other time in their lives to take it easy. Anyone not running hard enough in drills, not running through to groups/cones, getting lazy with second efforts etc. would be off doing repetitive 400's or worse,until they wished they had run harder during the drills.
Skill errors would require a penalty afterwards of at least 10 push-ups, if not more. Anyone skipping this discipline would see the entire group doing 400's. I don;t reckon that their team mates would let them miss that discipline again.
If the general skill level was terrible, then they would be warned and if it didn't improve then they would be running instead of doing skills and then would go back to doing more skills after the running was over and they were knackered with the same high expectation as before on the quality of disposal.
If you are injured then you are working just as hard as the fit blokes under the guidance of an assistant coach/fitness instructor. Whether that be boxing, swimming, rowing etc. players would be wanting to get back on the track as quickly as possible as it would be just as easy and more fun than being in the injured group. That should prevent blokes sitting out due to pathetic niggles that don't need them to sit on the sidelines with and that they should be hard enough to play through. Genuine injuries would be assessed by the club doctor and an appropriate, physically demanding, routine put in place.
More emphasis would be put on a game plan of long and direct football. Anyone seen running backwards or in circles, handballing to stationary targets, being a stationary target, going wide instead of direct (unless to a completely open player), not chasing out of our forward line, not punching from behind, not shepherding when possible, laying soft tackles, would be dragged.
Opposition kick-outs would be closely monitored and different plans set in place so that oppositions don't release the ball from defense as ridiculously easily as they did last year.
More internal practise match (game simulated) type training to be invloved in the pre-season.
As Redford has correctly said, and I have pushed for for years, a real emphasis on recruiting players with exceptional skill levels would not be negotiable. I don't care if they can't run the 20m in 2.8 seconds, give me a footballer who can kick over an athlete who can't anyday.
Sheesh, that is just a start. I could go on for ages but I am out of time.
More pie nights is also a good idea, not because it may bring Billy Nichols back to the club but because I reckon AFL clubs can lose the original reason as to why we all play footy - for fun. It doesn't have to be pie nights specifically but moreso social get-togethers outside of team meetings and official functions etc.
Training less often is not a good idea as our skills are bad enough as it is. Every pre-season session should involve a skills session though. There are plenty of full ground exercises where you have to run your guts out to be involved, but they also involve balls and using your skills when fatigued, which is a major problem at the club.
I would be ruthless with regards to slacking off at training. When you are at the club and at training you are full-on. They have plenty of other time in their lives to take it easy. Anyone not running hard enough in drills, not running through to groups/cones, getting lazy with second efforts etc. would be off doing repetitive 400's or worse,until they wished they had run harder during the drills.
Skill errors would require a penalty afterwards of at least 10 push-ups, if not more. Anyone skipping this discipline would see the entire group doing 400's. I don;t reckon that their team mates would let them miss that discipline again.
If the general skill level was terrible, then they would be warned and if it didn't improve then they would be running instead of doing skills and then would go back to doing more skills after the running was over and they were knackered with the same high expectation as before on the quality of disposal.
If you are injured then you are working just as hard as the fit blokes under the guidance of an assistant coach/fitness instructor. Whether that be boxing, swimming, rowing etc. players would be wanting to get back on the track as quickly as possible as it would be just as easy and more fun than being in the injured group. That should prevent blokes sitting out due to pathetic niggles that don't need them to sit on the sidelines with and that they should be hard enough to play through. Genuine injuries would be assessed by the club doctor and an appropriate, physically demanding, routine put in place.
More emphasis would be put on a game plan of long and direct football. Anyone seen running backwards or in circles, handballing to stationary targets, being a stationary target, going wide instead of direct (unless to a completely open player), not chasing out of our forward line, not punching from behind, not shepherding when possible, laying soft tackles, would be dragged.
Opposition kick-outs would be closely monitored and different plans set in place so that oppositions don't release the ball from defense as ridiculously easily as they did last year.
More internal practise match (game simulated) type training to be invloved in the pre-season.
As Redford has correctly said, and I have pushed for for years, a real emphasis on recruiting players with exceptional skill levels would not be negotiable. I don't care if they can't run the 20m in 2.8 seconds, give me a footballer who can kick over an athlete who can't anyday.
Sheesh, that is just a start. I could go on for ages but I am out of time.
