With Brett Burton and Matt Hass in Flagstaff as part of the US travelling party, Strength and Rehabilitation Coach Alex Clarke has been keeping a close eye on 20-odd players who are being put through their paces in Brisbane.
Clarke said the younger group probably wouldn’t have reaped the same benefits from the high altitude camp as their more experienced teammates, because they were still in the process of developing their AFL fitness base.
“The younger players come into this environment at what we call a ‘zero training age’, meaning they haven’t spent any time at a full-time football environment,” Clarke told lions.com.au.
“I think there can be a bit of a deer-in-the-headlight syndrome when players first come into the AFL. But slowly, over the course of the year, they begin to figure out what it’s all about and the work that’s required.”
“Therefore, there’s a significant change in stress on them as first and second year players. So we believe the younger guys will get enough out of training in Brisbane.”
“Sending the older guys to Arizona also helps change the stimulus and keep them fresh.”
Clarke said the Brisbane-based training squad were focussing more on the conditioning aspects of training.
“The younger guys that are back here will be doing more running - because they haven’t done that same amount of work the older guys have done,” Clarke said.
“We’re trying to build all the physical capabilities they need for games - things such as speed, repeat speed, endurance and strength.”
With some AFL clubs now opting to host pre-season training camps in warmer climates such as Darwin, Clarke said the Lions could benefit from the Queensland weather.
“There are a lot of clubs out there that are starting to look into the research around heat training. I suppose we’re fortunate that we train in the heat all the time,” he said.
“There’s a possibility that we’d be putting our players at risk if we go and do some work in a heat chamber after they’ve already done a 2-3 hour session out on the track in 38-40 degree heat plus humidity.”
“We’ll continue looking into it, but at the moment we’re happy with what we’ve got in the program.”
