An AFL supporter's pre-season

Like every AFL player and coach who are required to slog it out through the hot summer months each off-season, a football supporter too requires significant preparation across the pre-season to be ready for a big year ahead.

It’s a fine balance for any fan throughout pre-season to ensure they can provide strong support for not only the initial home-and-away rounds, but consistently for the entire campaign. An appropriate balance in football content consumed and time away from the game needs to be found in order to improve the efforts of seasons gone by.

Having too little pre-season preparation could spell disaster for a supporter, like any player, leaving them critically underprepared for the trials and tribulations that come with barracking for a full AFL campaign.

Results of a lack of off-season work may be missing the news of a key injury that may ruin a player’s season and subsequently your fantasy side, or not knowing that fans can bring outside food into Etihad Stadium this year, resulting in one forking out $43.90 for two lukewarm Four’n’Twenty pies and a bottle of 300ml water.

On the contrary, too much football in the summer can turn even the most diehard and strongest of football brains from a nicely inflated Sherrin, to a flat and water logged Burley by about Round 8. Tactics that will no doubt result in such burnout include watching Fox Footy at any stage between October and March in order to relive every game (eight times over) and every episode of Ed and Derm from the previous season (like anyone needs to see that again).

For any fans though, a routine encompassing a moderate intake of the football news in the papers, club websites and the occasional watching of replays from 1997, along with general discussion of the upcoming season, should allow a football supporter to be ready for a big season.

So as pre-seasons around the league begin to step up a gear, I decided the bar needed to be raised in my own off-season and as a result, a trip to Essendon’s True Value Solar Centre to attend Friday’s main training session was made.

It’s the time of year where players everywhere are flying. That guy who plays halfback in the reserves is setting personal bests in his 75-metre freestyle and pushing for Round 1 selection. New recruits previously delisted from other clubs are suddenly ‘bargains’ or ‘impact players’ and the star player your club traded away was ‘never much good anyway’.

It’s a glorious time for blind hope and biased optimism that fuels membership drives, before it quickly dissipates once the first ball is kicked in anger come Round 1, especially if it sails through opposition goal posts.

Personally attending Essendon training seemed like a no lose situation. It may be the last time to see all the players on the same field for a while, and if I showed enough skill in marking the ball that flies into the crowd, I might be a chance to pull on a guernsey in the NAB Challenge.

Ultimately though, the attendance was about fine-tuning skills ahead of season 2015.

Communication in the event of coming across an AFL player is one delicate skill for a fan to work on over pre-season. A supporter weaker in this department might fire a greeting or question by saying ‘G’day Selwood’ or ‘Hey Cotchin will you play Round 1?’. An elite communicator is able to impart a sense of sameness through their dealings with players, to evoke a notion suggesting that they either know the player in question, or are on the same societal standing as said player.

This is an art perfected over many years of experience, and involves using ‘mate’ or a nickname when addressing a player, in order to pretend you are equally as respected in society and therefore the player should give you added attention compared to the toothless middle-aged man alongside you calling him by his last name.

Though an uncharacteristic clanger was made early in my session at Essendon, incorrectly calling out young Bomber Kurt Aylett as injured swingman Jake Carlisle as he ran by, asking “how ya tracking Jakey?”. Here lies an example of the benefits of a solid pre-season – this mistake won’t be made again.

Concentration while watching the game is another significant attribute for any supporter to train, with games seemingly becoming increasingly frustrating and boring thanks to everyone’s favourite trend of 36 players and a few overzealous umpires cramped into a minute pocket of the outer wing.

What better way to enhance preparation for viewing such spectacles than to sit through a skills sessions lasting almost three hours in 30-degree heat with no shade or water? This was my equivalent of the club’s current trend of heat training, leading to a sensationally painful session, but one that would no doubt ready any football fan for an exciting season full of rolling mauls, backwards passing and ducking free kicks.

The dry heat also aided in improving another skill, which is important for players and supporters alike – mental toughness. Nail biting losses, huge defeats, going to work or school on a Monday after a Supercoach loss, forgetting to put your tips in or a Mick Malthouse press conference are just some of the rigours fans face in an AFL season, and as a result a supporter needs to duly prepare to cope with such adversities.

Training for this can be uncomfortable, but necessary, and may involve subjecting yourself to experiences that evoke anger, frustration or pain in a supporter, such as reading a Caroline Wilson article for an Essendon supporter, watching Buddy Franklin highlights for a Richmond supporter or relieving the sacking of Norm Smith while sipping a 1965 Penfolds Grange for a Melbourne supporter. As dehydration and sun burn set in after an hour of viewing training, James Hird called out, “half way through boys keep pushing”.

This was the moment often described by players as one where you want to give in, but it’s pushing through which builds character in a fan ahead of the real stuff. Though instead of burning lungs from strenuous running, it was burning skin from strenuous lying on the hill and watching.

The supporter’s pre-season, from the membership renewals, to keeping up with footy websites. From going to watch training, and to the regular thoughts of the ultimate glory. These are to a footy tragic what two-kilometre time trials, team meetings, intra club matches and that same dream of a flag are to the stars.

To both parties it’s all about best readying for the joy, pain and chance at being a part of something special in 2015. And if that’s not the year, we’ll do it all again this time next year.

How do you keep yourself busy and in tune for footy season over the summer months? Let us know any pre-season rituals in the comments.