I always think that the top teams are there because they are better conditioned than the teams below them. Forget about the calibre of players these teams have, if they are not in top condition they cannot do the job, and that applies to all sports.
The top teams will be put under extreme pressure during games but are able to repel the attacks and then counter attack and score a try. This is because their superior fitness enables them to maintain their intensity for a longer period than the opposing team. This superior fitness also enables them to maintain their mental facilities. If your tied in body your also tired in mind leading the errors in defence and also errors in handling. Sound familiar.
Now when I was competing in triathlons I trained twice a day 6 days a week and had a rest day on Saturday. On that day I would ride for 90 km or more and then rest once I got home. I was then able to maintain a high level of exertion during the entire competition.
This is what I want our players to do, to maintain peak performance during the match. This is something that Parra have not been able to do for some time now. I want our players saying that this is their toughest preseason ever and mean it. Now bring on the sand hills again!
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Its OK - when Hayne comes back we won't need conditioning.
He's a Super Star you know.
Disagree Mo, I don't think there are many complacent teams, although Broncos and Roosters players always seem to have a superior attitude, and resent being tackled at times.
Errors nearly always happen when players are fresh (maybe complacency there) or tired after periods of extreme exertion. This then extends to mental tiredness where wrong decisions are made in attack, ball handling and defence.
Yet, we then have a team like Souths who were fit and physically imposing in 2014 under their training regime. However, when the grind continued in 2015, psychologically the same rigorous conditioning left them stale and spent. So much so, that player dissatisfaction about training was leaking badly by the middle of last season and their performances reflected a jaded team. Now we have the rumours circulating in newspapers about players wanting out. Those rumours have actually been around since the middle of 2015.
So physical conditioning is very important. Toughening the players is important. Changing the conditioning up, working smarter, becomes important once physical peaks have been reached so that the players stay mentally fresh.
During the last three years or so you have been reporting on the Eels ,after witnessing their training, in the most optimistic fashion available. In fact you were the epitome of all things positive about the Eels. Now, you assert that the Eels have ,for the last six years, "lacked …the toughness to deal with fatigue situations."
Why then did you not report that during the last three years or so? It must have been obvious to one who witnessed, so often, the quality of their training?
There is absolutely nothing new or original in the importance of physical conditioning for the Rugby League player. However, to be a successful Rugby League player, or a successful Rugby League team, much more is needed than physical conditioning.
Recently, Paul Taylor revealed, in a blog, that a friend of his, who is a referee, performed that duty in an opposed session with the Eels. He was anything but impressed by the Eels performance. He said that the Eels were not as fit as other teams that he had refereed. He said they declined to get back on side, resulting in penalties. He said the Eels did get the 1%`s right.. He thought that the Eels would perform the same as they have done in recent years! This is of concern, much concern perhaps, but to me it is not yet a hanging offence. There is time to correct those defects if they be true.
Whatever the reason, it is a welcome development that you now report realistically, abandoning one hopes, the fetish of permanent optimism .
Robert Lloyd I suspect that you wake up each morning hoping that it's raining
Parramatta Tragic : At some time in one`s life you must face the truth. I suspect that you don`t like that. I wish it was raining today, it is so very hot.
As for my comment today, it reflects on what the coaches are trying to instil during this Pre-season's conditioning work. I have only been interested in the conditioning work this year because the coaching staff have themselves reflected on the need for our team to be physically and mentally tougher.
Don't get me started on Paul Taylor's blog. The referees start refereeing opposed sessions in January. Enough said.
You seem to assume that you are an exception in going to watch training. I have watched them training probably before you were borne. I don`t self praise myself for that. One thing I learnt early in the piece was the number of times the players spit! At least that was objective and repeatable. You don`t answer the point. You have not said a word about poor conditioning in three years. Yet you now say its been like that for six years!! At least you now reveal it was not your idea but the coaches.
I took Paul Taylor`s blog basically on face value. I covered myself by saying "if the defects reported were true" And suggesting that it was not yet a hanging offence. I take it as very poor form indeed of anyone, Paul Taylor included,reporting something that did not happen. I would like Paul Taylor to explain this matter.
As for before I was born, you must have enjoyed watching training in their golden era then - 1940s and 1959s!!!
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