The old cliché, a week is a long time in footy was very relevant last weekend. After the disappointing result against the Sydney Swans the round before, it was very pleasing to see the players’ response to that in the first half against Southport.

It was some of our best footy played for the year, an impressive performance from our experienced players that came back into the side, but the efforts from some of our young players were most pleasing. Nick Yarran, Abe Ankers and Braedon McLean had a hand in most attacking drives going forward in that first half.

This week we are on the road to play Sydney University. It’s always tough playing away, and this week presents a big test. Travel weeks are always interesting; plenty of planning and organising goes on behind the scenes.

For one, it’s imperative the players’ workloads are carefully managed regarding total kilometres (km) worked. GPS data is carefully analysed to ensure they are not fatigued come Saturday afternoon. However, it’s a balance between that and ensuring they do enough work during the week to maintain and improve overall fitness.

After a Saturday game, the players will complete their recovery on a Sunday morning. That consists of a light walk, stretch and possibly an ice bath.  Monday night is a recovery for the group and players cover anywhere between 3-4kms during the session. This is then followed by a video review of the game just gone.  Tuesday night is our main session, a mix of skills and conditioning, which covers approximately 5kms. Thursday is our lightest session of the week with about 2.5kms of game-sense drills run at the same intensity of a match. This load during the week at training and the match load adds up to around 21-22kms per week.

The data gives us much more than distances travelled and helps us manage each player on a case-by-case basis to ensure they perform at their peak each week.

We have adequately prepared for this weekend’s game and would love your support. Don’t miss any of the action, jump on ThunderVision from 1:30pm Saturday.