It has been an exhaustive three months, but we are finally here. Although the pre-season seems long and extremely tough, football is upon us in just a matter of time.

I could be very cliché, and I will be, but this has been one of the toughest – both physically and mentally – pre-seasons that I have ever been involved in. It seems nowadays that football clubs are ramping up their training in order to challenge for the ultimate success.

As a football club, we have completely changed our pre-season schedule.

We have shifted away from having days off during the week, but instead training everyday in order to get the most out of bodies.

At times, it has been challenging, especially mentally, as football has now turned from a part time job to a full time one. As players, we are expected to be able to put up with the rigors of professional football. And as a team, I am proud to say that we have done that so far this pre-season.

It can be tough, but after a disappointing 2009 season, our playing group has been doing everything that they can to get back to playing finals football.

If that means spending twelve hour days at the club, we don’t mind, as we know that both physically and mentally we are challenging ourselves to get better.

We have introduced cross training this year, which has helped improve our physical conditioning.

Football clubs are now moving away from just running, and instead including swimming and cycling as other forms of fitness as it allows players to have time off their legs, but also be able to improve their conditioning.

Probably the biggest shift in football, away from game day performances, is recovery.

This has become the single most important part of football, which is helping teams to become successful.

With the amount of training that footballers do nowadays, it is imperative that you recover properly. This comes through a range of things, such as diet, Pilates, stretching and pool recovery.

At Port Adelaide, it is compulsory for all players to undertake at least two extra stretching sessions (outside of training sessions), see our Dietician once every two weeks, do a session of Pilates once a week in order to improve core strength, and do pool recovery and ice baths after every skills or running session.

The pool and ice baths is one of the most dreaded forms of recovery at our football club, but as we know, it’s one of the most important.

As a player, you can put up with doing pool mobility and stretching, but when it comes to sitting in our ice baths for up to ten minutes, it can be very challenging. Our ice bath is set at a measly 7 degrees and is quite possibly one of the craziest things that we have to do after every session.

Although we put our bodies through all of this training, you soon forget about the pain you endure in order to do the thing you love doing the most. That’s playing football.

Although I do like pre-season training, nothing beats the opportunity to test yourself against the best footballers around the country, and that starts this week with the first round of the NAB Cup starting.

As a club, we are looking to improve on a poor season last year, and as a team, our goal is to make the finals.

We know how important this can be for us as a club and especially a young team. We look forward to the challenge ahead and hope we too can challenge for the Holy Grail late in September.

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The appointment of Kevin Sheedy to the new Western Sydney franchise has most in the AFL world talking. Whether it is a good idea or not, it has definitely generated interest amongst the AFL community.

Sheedy has been a master for years now at what people believe he does best, and that’s coaching. But he is also a master at promoting the game of AFL itself.

Over the past few years, he has taken the game to the rest of the world, and his appointment is only going to generate more interest in the Sydney area.

It will not only help the new franchise itself but will also help the Sydney Swans gain more exposure in what is clearly a rugby and league dominated city.

Some people believe that this has been a publicity stunt from the AFL, but only time will tell.

It will be interesting to see how Sheedy goes in his first three years at the helm, how he builds his team, and what sort of style they play.

He has been out of the game now since 2007, and the game has changed rapidly.

St. Kilda and Geelong have created a style of game that has become attractive for fans to watch and one that is becoming very difficult to beat week-in-week-out. Their ability to create a solid defensive game, but also be able to combat it with their offensive game, has become the new standard within the league.

I am certain he has been watching with great interest and his brain would be ticking over about how beat it.

One of the problems with this is that the team he will be building is going to be a young and inexperienced one.

Sure, they will offer money to some high profile players within the AFL and this will entice them to make the move. And it will also entice fringe players at other clubs to move so that they can have a career themselves.

But this will not solve the problems that they will be faced with.

The AFL will want both Western Sydney and the Gold Coast to be successful in its early years, but I think this is going to be unrealistic.

The draft concessions that they will be receiving are going to be great in four to five years time when these kids develop. But at the moment, with such young lists going into their first year in the competition, it is going to be difficult to get wins on the board.

It is going to take time and having someone like Sheedy at the helm will help to continue to grow participation numbers in the Sydney area.

But it will also help these young footballers understand the game and the requirements needed to be an AFL footballer.

This project is going to take time, and I don’t think we will see either of the teams challenge for finals for years to come.

The AFL will need to be extremely cautious with how these teams perform, as poor performance will only drive people away from the games.

It’s Preliminary Finals week, and it promises to provide some fantastic games. The top four teams will fight it out to play on that last Saturday in September. I still like St Kilda for the premiership, but Geelong have found form at the right end of the year and always seem to play well in big games.

The Saints have been fantastic all year.

Their defensive pressure has been a stand out this season and will help them in the finals series should they maintain this for the remaining two games of the season.

They have had plenty of Finals experience over the past years that should lean in their favour, also.

It is clear that Nick Riewoldt is the most valuable asset to the Saints, and if his form in week one of the Finals Series is anything to go by, he will be simply unstoppable on Friday night.

They also face a selection dilemma that is going to be a huge talking point after the outcome of the game.

Max Hudghton, in my view, would be a better match up against the Western Bulldogs than Zac Dawson. Sure, Hudghton is injury prone. But his endeavour and ability to play on either tall or small players, as well as his Finals experience, will be extremely important against the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs, on the other hand, have been around the mark for a couple of years now, and when firing, can kick a handful of goals in quick succession which can put the opposition under pressure.

Their ability to play a fast, attacking game style will make the match on Friday night a real spectacle.

They have always been criticised for not having a key forward in Finals time. But the way that they play doesn’t require a key forward, and they have had the ability to kick big scores. So I believe it doesn’t pose as big a problem as people believe.

Geelong hasn’t been as convincing this year as what they have been in previous years, but they are an experienced and skillful side who seems to play well when they need to.

They get Steve Johnson back from injury, which will boost their side dramatically, and the games that Brad Ottens has played over the past couple of weeks are going to hold him in good stead.

I think it will be a Geelong and St Kilda Grand Final as they are the best two teams in this year’s Finals series, as well as the most experienced.

It will be an interesting match up, as Collingwood have played well against them in their past few outings.

Mick Malthouse had some interesting comments to make about both Geelong and St. Kilda last week, but there will also be some heat on him. He has players who will be playing this weekend’s game with injury, and after playing in a handful of finals games, I know that you need to be at your physical best to have the best opportunity to win.

He will come under scrutiny for taking such a risk.

It is going to be an exciting weekend of football, and I look forward to watching with great interest.

They have clearly been the four best teams all year and the games will be great to watch.

The St Kilda Football Club continue to make 2009 their own. Although they dropped their first game of the year against Essendon on the weekend, they’re still red-hot favourites for their first Premiership in 43 years.

Since Ross Lyon has taken over the helm at St Kilda, he has gone from having a huge amount of criticism put on him for playing a too defensive game style, to one which has become the benchmark of the modern day game.

Since his early days as a coach, he has transformed his teams’ game style from the typical one-on-one style that Sydney play, to a balance of both attacking and defensive football.

In 2007, St Kilda were heavily criticised for playing ‘boring’ games of football, which resulted in stoppage after stoppage and low scoring.

But this has turned into a master stoke for Lyon as he has developed a team which is extremely accountable. And once they have forced the opposition into turning the football over, they have developed an attacking game that compliments its defensive style.

This supports the argument that attack is built around defence.

St Kilda’s ability to put opposition teams under pressure is by far the best by any team in the AFL. They continually hunt the opposition by out tackling and out pressuring them, forcing them to make simple mistakes that have lead to St Kilda also being able to become more attacking.

St Kilda are in the top three teams for all defensive stats, which backs up the argument that they have the best defensive game in the league.

Not only have they developed this game style, but they have also made a stand on player efforts. They have set the standard amongst the playing group.

As a player, if you do not live up to this standard, then you may find your head on the chopping block.

Two players who were dropped back to the VFL as their efforts were not up to the standard that the playing group had set, found this out recently.

This new standard that S. Kilda have set is one of the main reasons for their success and one that teams are only going to follow in the years to come.

Geelong has had the same success over the past couple of years, but St Kilda have now taken it to a new level.

The finals series will be where St Kilda continues to stamp their authority on the competition. And they will turn from being the bridesmaid of the competition, to being one of the most successful of its time.

Along with the new Gold Coast franchise and the 2010 National Draft, the other big talking point in AFL right now is the issue of Tanking. The AFL are continually looking to sweep this under the rug, but the issue is snowballing.

It is clear amongst our football community that players would never cross the white line and not give 100 percent for their Football Club. We all want to taste the success that comes with winning football matches.

Unfortunately, though, when a team’s season seems over and there is no chance of making the finals, they often put the cue in the rack. By this, I mean that football clubs put their most experienced players in for surgery, if required, and also look to give inexperienced players the opportunity to face the rigours of senior AFL football.

Players are trialled in different positions, which coaches believe will enhance their games. But in hindsight, this often gives their team no chance of winning by not sticking to selecting their best available players.

On most occasions, despite their current form, it is usually the veterans that make way for these young players, who often don’t deserve to play based on their current form in the reserves.

So is this giving the club the best possible chance to win football matches, for not only the club itself, but for the supporters who turn up week in week out?

No.

I cannot fathom why clubs would not try and win every game. As a player, that is what we set out to do.

This is the last chance for clubs to gain priority picks before the Gold Coast close in on these picks in the 2010 and 2011 drafts.

Teams are more willing to put the “cue” in the rack to obtain the best young talent in the land, which they can build their side around in the future.

The AFL, I believe, needs to adopt a similar, if not the same, draft process as the one the NBA currently uses.

By using their system, it would mean that the eight teams that missed out on playing finals would enter a draft lottery (the NBA Draft Formula is based on fourteen teams). The draft uses a formula that would mean that the team that finished with the worst record would then have more combinations than the other seven teams.

And the combinations work their way down from the team that finished 16th to the team that finished 9th on the ladder.

Although there is an advantage with the amount of combinations you receive for finishing last, this does not mean you will gain the priority pick in the draft.

Teams could run the risk by playing young players to enhance their potential. But by finishing lower on the ladder, this would not guarantee that they receive the Number One draft pick.

Until the AFL can admit that ‘tanking’ is becoming a serious problem, it will continue to be an issue that will resurface for years to come.

The AFL need to step in and take action now to put every team on an even playing field, without teams being able to manipulate the system in order to give themselves a distinct advantage in the future.

The draft lottery is the best way and should be implemented by the AFL to finally put the issue of tanking to rest.

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