As a Carlton supporter, January used to be my favourite time of the footy season because all the news focused on how the boys looked and ran, instead of how we would play. After the third wooden spoon, I started taking it all with a grain of salt.
I thought I would wait until a few rounds into the season before working out how good we would be.
Fast forward several years and 2011 is no different with league stragglers from the previous season raising expectations without directly discussing their prospects.
For example, Jack Riewoldt is 4kg lighter, Bachar Houli is a standout performer on the 3.8km Tan circuit and Shaun Grigg’s contribution is ‘pleasing’.
I know the value of this type of talk for membership drives and confidence, but being fit this time of year goes without saying. I would expect nothing less than elite athletes in training for an upcoming season to be nothing short of peak fitness.
I’m not dismissing the value of fitness in football. To play it well you need to be incredibly fit. As a weekend warrior I played the 2009 season at 103kg and the 2010 season at 89kg. I had a far better season when I could run 3km in 13:25 instead of 15:30.
Fitness aside, I want to know answers to the real football questions. It’s nice to hear Shaun Grigg is ‘pleasing’ the coaching staff but I want to know how you are going to improve on your 15th place on the ladder last year.
Give me the why of what you’re planning to do. Don’t just tell us you’re going to play player X ‘up the ground more’ or player Y is ‘going to spend more time on the ball’. I want the why of the planning.
What about the specific game questions? Will we be looking at a different game with interchange restrictions? Will we see less rolling zones and flooding? Who will it favour? Will it hurt teams that rotate highly?
Instead, we get dumbed down cliché verbatim about skin folds, young injury-free footballers blitzing time trials and ‘he is really training the house down’.
We all know they’re fit, we all know they’re fast, but are they going to turn the ball over less? Are they going to find a find a way to kick a winning score and restrict a team from kicking one?
These are the answers I want to hear from coaches this time of year.
Koops
Guest
Young has been in and out of different leagues for a few years, folding then re-emerging, their rugby league team plays in group 9 which is in the riverina, but their AF team plays in the central west AFL. Central west is a good fit for Young as their AF team would not be up to normal riverina Farrer league, or even northern riverina standard, which is a big step down from the strong riverina league I had a big "discussion' with Rob C in http://www.theroar.com.au/2010/12/25/why-the-nrl-should-not-fear-afl-in-nsw-and-qld/ regarding AF and RL in the riverina, Young came up. Suprisingly even people that live in the riverina are unaware of football teams in their region.
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
yes - that it is! Not sure how the season went - too much rain at the wrong time can halve the crop in the space of a few days
Redb
Roar Guru
Young - the cherry capital of Australia.
SportsFanGC
Roar Guru
Highly doubt that GWS will be playing Folau next year until the very last rounds of the season and then getting him ready for the NAB Cup in 2012. He has had an interupted pre-season so far due to an ankle issue and you would think that they would want to flog him to get his cardio and skills up.
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
Current Roar correspondent, Troy Chaplin, has just tweeted: "First week of a massive 5 week block today! I'm not sure it can get any harder... But I might be wrong "
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
Even the Lions are training the house down! http://www.sportal.com.au/afl-news-display/brown-no-news-on-fev-107688
Art Sapphire
Guest
This comment I just read on the Herald Sun website sums it all up. Another nothing C'wood story. (Note Herald-Sun - you'll need more pics as they can't read.) LOL
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
That's interesting, only today I was reading about the Young footy club getting ready for the footy season, with ground enhancements and new sheds, and they mentioned in that article (local paper) that the posts were provided by the AFL. Young is somewhere in central NSW. But I agree about the symbolism - absolutely nothing shouts out "Australian" to you more than to see a Sherrin being kicked around a ground with four posts at either end. The symbol of Australia. Also, we get quite a few Roar correspondents writing that they've never seen an Australian Football ground in their life. Hopefully, these developments will assist such people.
Westcoast929406
Guest
In keeping with the spirit of this thread of posting off topic stuff - The supply of Aussie Rules Goal Posts in 2011 to AFL NSW will reach record numbers it seems to cater for the expansion up there. These are chiefly for new grounds/facilities around the state. As a reference in 2009 31 new NSW grounds/parks/schools were established with posts for the first time.(2009 AFL NSW Annual report) While this is not frontline stuff about players etc it does focus on the super important grassroots level. They are a symbol/icon of our game and get the message out that Aussie Rules has been established in that area after many many years of neglect in NSW as often remarked by Kevin Sheedy the GWS Coach. Link to article---- http://www.ferret.com.au/c/PILA-group/PILA-is-the-New-Preferred-Supplier-of-Goal-Posts-for-AFL-NSW-ACT-n905419
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
Interview with an impressive Steve Alessio from the AFLPA induction camp, going through the need for such a program (with which no one can argue), also Sam Day of the Suns makes an appearance. http://www.youtube.com/user/AFLPA?feature=mhum
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
Interview from induction camp with Mitch Wallis, son of Steve Wallis (MP3 file): http://bit.ly/h0c5GE
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
Issy's first game in Victoria this year will be against the Bullants in the new champions league: http://preston-leader.whereilive.com.au/sport/story/folau-giants-to-face-bullants-first-up/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
A stack of these sorts of articles this morning in the HS: Harry O'Brien kills 'em in 2k time trial: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/collingwood-defender-harry-obrien-off-to-flying-start-for-2011/story-e6frf9jf-1225984947055 Tomahawk in great shape (as he is every season, without it meaning too much): http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/geelong-says-forward-tom-hawkins-is-in-ominous-shape-at-pre-season-training/story-e6frf9jf-1225984868464 This one is slightly different, and a bit more interesting: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/gold-coast-suns-youngsters-warned-they-will-be-bullied-in-first-season/story-e6frf9jf-1225984951793 But all in all, what the hell, one of the biggest selling papers is going to go after these sorts of stories because: 1. there ain't much else to talk about; and 2. it must sell papers.
Neotraveler
Guest
Great article Jared, As a Carlton man myself I have little interest in how fast the team can run. You article is spot on. Diesel Williams probably wasn't topping the time sheets in his time at the club and I wonder how Stewy Dew looked in early 2008?. I cringe at some of the questions journo's put out sometimes. But seeing so many posts by football supporters who can't openly discuss an issue without getting defensive when something they don't like is written about their club - then they begin referring to the amount of teeth a supporter has, the amount of draft picks a club has received or the 'my football code is better than yours' saga perhaps there is an audience for such mundane questions after all?
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
I posted a link a few days ago to the NRL and QRL making a significant financial contribution to the Queensland floods. The news has just come in that the AFL, and all 18 clubs, have made a similar contribution, and during the pre-season, will also be looking for ways for the four clubs from the two states most affected by floods (WA and Qld) to raise additional funds.
Westcoast929406
Guest
Yep good points, They are also saying that the problem is that our sport is not genuinely international and does not deserve any credence with kids wanting to play the game So we are left with the ridiculous situation according to the naysayers that our game is too successful at home and not successful enough offshore. They just want us (Aussie Rules footy) to go away. This has all started IMHO with our push into Western Sydney and a lesser extent the Gold Coast.
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
In keeping with the general theme of this OP, just read on twitter from 3AW: ' AFL media must love this new club! "Media are invited to attend a Gold Coast SUNS beach recovery session at Surfers Paradise Beach" '
MyLeftFoot
Roar Guru
A few problems with the argument: 1. In effect, these writers are berating the AFL for being successful. It has had to earn its position, and it has done so by appealing to a broad segment of the Australian population. It's up to other sports to improve on that front, and if they can't, it's bad luck. What do such writers expect? A sort of communist response whereby the assets of one sport are confiscated and spread amongst those who have done nothing to earn it? 2. Our recent conqueror and historic cricketing rival, has three times the population from which to select a team. However, countering that is the fact that most of the population follows its own form of football. Who is advantaged or disadvantaged in that context? In this country, cricket and Australian Football have shared facilities for 150 years, and in the Southern states, kids have always grown up playing each quite avidly in their respective seasons (something that is not emulated in England as far as cricket and soccer is concerned, where the latter is an almost year round pursuit). Not only that, look at the wonderful facilities, like the MCG, that Australian Football actually pays for - the argument could be run Australian cricket gains more from its close relationship with Australian Football than it loses.
Westcoast929406
Guest
A very timely article and spot on with the content. However the article below in yesterdays Australian newspaper has created plenty of discussion. English Cricket writers such as Peter Roebuck have joined in with other articles as well on the same theme - Aussie Rules is to blame etc etc. Roebucks theory is based on the fact that NSW is the powerhouse of cricket because our game has least influence there and so it goes on. I think they are flattering the influence of Aussie Rules footy on Australian Sport as much as I would like to see it get more stronger in the Northern States. The AFL sees it that way as well spending about 20 million year in development up there. Link-- http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/aussie-rules-has-turned-us-into-nation-of-losers/story-e6frg6zo-1225982616233
Art Sapphire
Guest
I don't have a twitter account but I've already got a follower :)