THERE IS no doubt country towns take their football and netball very seriously.
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Clubs put a lot of resources into recruiting players and coaches, and for good reason – we know too well of the positives sporting clubs bring to small towns.
There has been a trend in recent years for football sides to start their pre-season training earlier and earlier. It is common now to see some clubs training up to three times a week at the start of November in preparation for the next season.
Sport reporters RICHARD CRABTREE and SEAN WALES dig deep into pre-season training – the positives, negatives and everything in between.
We started pre-season in the middle of November. Stuart Farr likes to leave no stone unturned.
- Lachie Exell, September 2018
Pre-season training in full swing by November
The Horsham Demons started a weight program for its younger players in early November. Pre-season proper starts for the Demons at the start of February.
The Demons won the Wimmera league senior premiership in 2018, meaning their season didn’t end until late September.
A return to training in November could mean some players were having as little as six weeks off from football training.
Horsham’s new high performance manager Guy Smith said the weight training program in November was designed to help prepare top age under-17s players for the rigours of a senior football season.
“We have been doing weights sessions twice a week and that was because we had about 13 or 14 players coming out from under-17s,” Smith said.
“We wanted them to get a really good strength base behind them before we actually started pre-season. We wanted to do that five weeks out before Christmas to give them a good strength base.
“Over the Christmas break and through January they will relax and enjoy their family time. Then we will get going properly in February.”
Smith said the club was only expecting about 15 players to partake during the weights sessions.
“We ended up getting 30 or so guys coming for weights,” he said.
“People seem to think the earlier the start, the more professional you look. But we did it for a reason and that was for the under-17s.
“We don’t have too many guys playing summer sport, so they were all keen to get involved.”
Taylors Lake’s newly appointed head coach Brandon Weatherson believes training before January had few benefits in the long run.
“From a fitness base, I don’t really believe you get much out of it until late January,” he said.
“The benefit of training before Christmas is that you get to know everyone and meet the new guys.
“Every club is different, but I don’t see a point doing it before Christmas – it can make for a very long year.”
AFL Wimmera-Mallee region development manager Jason Muldoon said a big reason the Wimmera squad of Greater Western Victoria Rebels hopefuls started training in November was so they could get to know each other.
“We cover such a huge region so we need to bring these kids together because they don’t play together throughout the year,” he said.
“From a fitness point of view it gives us the opportunity to do some testing, which the AFL recruiters certainly use. For the under-16s they start to build a profile around their testing and what they can do.
“The first half of training isn’t overly strenuous; it’s about getting them together. We start practice matches in early February so we don’t we really have a lot of time, so it is a bit different to country clubs.”
Kalkee coach and Horsham coaching legend Stuart Farr said training pre-Christmas was vital in building a solid fitness base for the next season.
Farr, who is well-known for his tough pre-season regimens, said the benefits of starting pre-seasons early were easy to see. Farr was instrumental in Horsham's run of 10 straight premierships from 2003 to 2012.
“We definitely start training pre-Christmas,” Farr said.
“I firmly believe the fitter you are, the more it’s going to gloss over your mistakes and the better you will be.
“Back in my Horsham days we were the first to get into it pre-Christmas and now I think most are doing it.
We might have lost a few games early if we didn’t have a big pre-season
- Stuart Farr
“My first year at Kalkee we had some really good last quarters and won some close games – we might have lost a few games early if we didn’t have a big pre-season.
“That’s always a strength of my sides – the players have bought in and done the hard work, and it means they can finish the game strong.”
Southern Mallee Giants coach Coleman Schache said with other commitments, it was simply too difficult for their players to get a decent start before Christmas.
“It’s such a busy time of the year in November-December for the local players,” he said.
“A high percentage of players are farmers – we do a little bit before Christmas but you definitely rely on players taking some ownership upon themselves to make sure they’re in the right condition when we come back in late January.”
Schache also said it was important to get a break during the summer period.
“Everyone likes to take a break and freshen up after the season,” he said.
“Getting some time off footy is really important. As long as guys are still motivated to keep fit – which we’ve been lucky with – then you need to get some time away from footy.”
I really do think it does filter down from the AFL.
- Guy Smith
The AFL Effect
Some football coaches in the region have suggested earlier pre-seasons could be a result from seeing how AFL clubs conduct their pre-season trainings.
Guy Smith said when he was coaching Horsham in the early 2000s and playing, pre-seasons would start in February.
“I really do think it does filter down from the AFL,” Smith said.
“It’s the same with the team plans, structures and tactics you see used – it all comes from the AFL.
“When I first started coaching Horsham in 2002 we stuck to starting 15 weeks out from the first game. That’s how I have always done it and even back when I was playing under other coaches it was always similar
“There weren’t too many teams training before February. We are in a bit of a different scenario because a lot of guys aren’t doing their summer sports anymore.”
However, Mr Muldoon does not think country clubs are copying what AFL clubs do.
“Clubs operate on different levels and have different fitness staff and capabilities,” he said .
“I wouldn’t have thought there would be too many community clubs trying to copy what is happening in the AFL because they don’t have the resources that AFL clubs do.”
I think there can be some issues around early training, and burnout is the one at the forefront of everyone’s mind. The question is, how much footy is too much footy?
- Jason Muldoon
Preventing Injuries and the burnout factor
Smith said a big factor behind training in November was to help prevent injuries further down the line.
“Our juniors have come from playing three or four years without doing much strength-based training,” he said.
“Their bodies are in a transition period where as soon as they start hitting full pre-season type training, that’s where the bodies get under stress.
“Weight training really helps their development with their muscle fibres and their joints.
“We are only doing it for risk management more than anything. We don’t want guys getting injured during pre-season and underdeveloped bodies can be at risk of that.”
Jason Muldoon said burnout could be a factor from early pre-seasons, but said it came down to each individual knowing how much their body could handle.
“I think there can be some issues around early training, and burnout is the one at the forefront of everyone’s mind,” he said.
“The question is, how much footy is too much footy? As players get older and get to know their bodies better then their preparation can be moulded.
“You might get a young guy who wants to just train and train and their body might be able to do that, but then other guys who know their bodies fairly well will know what preparation they need to do.”
Farr said it was up to the individual to avoid the burnout factor.
“I’m not worried about that at all, it has never been an issue,” he said.
“A lot of it is on the players’ shoulders; it depends how they want to look after their body.
“If they have a strain or a small injury, then by all means take the time off.
“It’s up to them to understand their body.”
We are always going to struggle to compete with football and netball.
- Kate-Lyn Perkin
The impact on summer sport
A potential negative of early football pre-seasons is their ramifications for summer sports.
With such a short turnaround from the end of the season to the start of the pre-season, football has become a year-around activity rather than simply a winter sport.
Central Wimmera Tennis Association president Kate-Lyn Perkin said the pre-season definitely had an impact on participation numbers in tennis.
“We are always going to struggle to compete with football and netball,” she said.
“You don’t have many football players playing tennis. If you look at the men’s competitions, it’s more people 30 and older playing.
“It’s such a long football season now that when it comes to summer most people just want their weekends to themselves rather than moving onto another sport.”
Teams can take players on day clearances from other clubs, and teams can organise to play whenever suits them, as happened earlier this season when Drung South and Horsham Lawn played on a Friday night.
Perkin said the association had to keep adapting to survive in the face of a changing summer sports landscape.
“If we don’t change we won’t have an association in five years time – we have to keep changing and keeping people interested,” she said.
Horsham Cricket Association secretary Darren Chesterfield was not as sure about the impact of the early pre-season, but agreed most players had to make tough decisions about how they spent their spare time.
“There’s a considerable drop-off of players between 16-30 who play cricket, but you can’t just blame football for that,” he said.
“Certainly people are all passionate about their footy and they get stuck in very early. Football has become so demanding even at a country level that players don’t have a lot of time.
“Something has to give in life – they have to decide what they have time for. If you’re getting married or have young kids, it’s hard to commit to two sports.
“There is a lot of stuff that contributes to that drop-off in 16-30 year-olds. Hopefully they come back to cricket when they’re a bit older.”