I've read about it on here, seemingly referred to as some universally known plan, but i still don't know what it is. For the physiological / physical / gastronomical amongst the brethren here, what is it supposed to deliver?

2008 saw some ripping comebacks when all was lost, 2009 saw some flat spells but some not bad finishes.... the 2010 list, for all of its youth, will be aiming for...increased speed? All match fitness? Will it just be incremental improvement?

Is there some fact around physical / fitness development plans over 3 pre-seasons that I should know?

Mens Sana in Corpore Sano

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Bawditawaba

With the continual turnover of players and the constant injury interruptions we've had over the last 5 years I'm not sure how you can have an extended plan.

If guys like JR, PB, Simmo, Eddie and the others drafted say pre-'06 aren't consistently running games out then Cordy needs to be replaced.

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There's so much I could say...

I think the basic premise would deal with the median age of our list, and normal progression of physical development. Over those three years, we'll have seen the core of our group shift from (at a guess) 20 to 23 years of age, at which point they should be physically ready to play consistent football.

I don't think Cordy factored in the loss of Fev, however, as he now has to attempt to fast-track some KPP, like Henderson. Ideally you would stagger the recruitment of ruckmen and key position players such that they come in prior to the glut of your midfielders, the idea being that they would hit their straps at around the same time. We've just been very lucky with Hammer & Kreuzer, perhaps we'll be lucky again with Henderson.

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It was stated by Cordy at some stage through his first pre-season (possibly at season launch) that in taking into consideration the players age, how much football they had played coupled with how many pre-seasons they had completed - that it would take 3 years for to him to get them to the ultimate level of fitness required to compete or surpass the best teams in the competition.

It's a bit of a 'wishy washy' call in my book because he's got an absolute aerobic god in Kreuzer running around and also got a guy like Gibbs who has remained largely injury free, yet just hasn't got the capacity to sustain lengthy periods in the midfield. Where the guy should be commended is on the lesser likes in Joseph and Armfield who not only have natural speed, but have developed the endurance required of modern day footballers that they didn't possess at junior level.

I'm sure Justin would give you a more theoretical answer, albeit a similar answer some of you might give a client when you're explaining as to how long it's going to take you to do the job.

I have a pretty narrow knowledge of sport science, but what I do know is mainly about endurance sports. The science here tells us that it's a 3 to 5 year proposition when you're attempting to develop core endurance; not just the ability to run a fast 3k time trial, but the sort of endurance that will allow your body to stand up to the rigours of punishing anaerobic training, week after week, year after year.

From an aussie rules perspective, it's probably why midfielders generally aren't generally able to play at their physical peak as fulltime mids until they're 22-23.

I don't know much about power sports, but I'd imagine that developing core physical strength is also a longer-term proposition than just "a good preseason in the gym".

AFL is such a rare combination of power, strength, speed and endurance that I really think you can't rush physical development. Sure you can make a kid bigger or improve his basic endurance reasonably quickly, but you run the risk of creating an imbalanced athlete.

As a side note, it was always, ummm, interesting to see how quickly the bodies of West Coast players changed over a single summer, in the mid nineties. Very interesting.

I know what you mean, but remember too that Adelaide and West Coast were the first to use creatine back then.

I have a good mate who is Justin Cordy's nephew.

I've posted about some of the snippets I gathered from he over the years, and posted sometime after the 2009 season parts of conversations he's had with Cordy, which included how he got there, the physical state of the specimens he had to deal with, the young age of the team, how long it would take to get them to AFL level, post Fev bla bla bla.

It was and always is enthralling, and much of it I wouldn't post. I am catching up with him for a larger at The Beach Rd in 15 minutes for the first time this year.

In a nutshell, the fitness level of the team when he arrived was below average and Carrazzo was really the only AFL fit player at the club.

2008 to work on core strength and build endurance...we saw us starting games slow and running out games really well
2009 to work on core strength and build endurance...we saw us starting games well and dying out in the 4th Q in some games (the final)
2010 will either be the year needed to get them to the level they all need to be to compete with the elite, or it may be the year we do compete with the best in the comp.

Strength, power, speed, endurance is what it's all about. Lots of different training activities over lots of hours per day. Variety. Maintaining interest, but always pushing to the thershold, with all players on their own regime, based on where they are at and injuries sustained from the rigours of AFL.

Don't be surprised if we have a great year in 2010, or that our second half we really hit our straps.
Anything can happen in 2010, but we wont be going backwards in strength, speed, power, endurance and skills.
The glass is half full, and not like some of the doomsdayers have been saying.

Our guys are always bettering their pb's, so there's always been room for improvement, and that's what its all about till a group of 30 of them peak this year.
Because its a young team, they will use this fitness platform for the next 5-10 years.

The idea is to get the most of our investment in youth. Prolonged success.
We are never going back to those dark days.
As you all expect there will be some good players delisted every year from about 2011 onwards.
We will be the best team with the best list.

Now someone get us a training report!

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Everyone looks good in Navy Blue

Matt Barber was the Eagles strength and conditioning coac back then and funnily enough was also Dean Capobianco's coach when he was busted for doing 'roids.

Read into that what you will but if you listen to 6PR over here, every now and again Karl Langdon and Adrian Barich drop hints that there was some dodgy stuff going on back then.

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I'm shocked to be sitting here

There sure was! Karl Langdon was driving a red Ferrari, had a loaded gun in the glovebox and was dating 15 year old girls from Mandurah...

I thought FIGJAM NB was into creatine really early but ditched it bcoz too much of the weight gain was fluid.

Creatine was also linked to a higher rate in muscle strains.....This was the old creatine that you would have to take three times a day for the first week to load up, then maintain with one teaspoon everyday for the nest 5 weeks to complete a cycle. Two or three weeks off and waya you went again.\

Nowadays there's no need to load up from what I hear, you take it once a day and your good to go....

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Correct. The old creatine (monohydrate) made users accumulate too much water retention around the stomach and waistline, a most undesired side effect. The new creatine (ethyl ester, taurinate, NCA) distributes the water much more evenly through the muscle which results in increased muscle mass, a positive effect.

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