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Force family lift the bar
NICK TAYLOR, The West AustralianDecember 22, 2012, 10:21 am
Matt Hodgson. Pic: Steve Ferrier
Western Force players are literally sleeping and eating on the job as part of their tough, new pre-season training regime.
From the time they sit down for breakfast at 7.30am through their morning sessions, lunch, rest and sleep, afternoon training and recovery, the squad remains together.
In past pre-seasons players would skip breakfast before training and drift away for lunch.
Some took off for home if they lived nearby while others went to local cafes before fronting up for their afternoon work.
Not any longer.
New coach Michael Foley's overhaul has brought a more professional environment and a program heavily weighted to specific rugby sessions in the battle to gain the edge that will bring results.
He has lifted the bar and left nothing to chance.
Caterers bring in specially prepared meals to the dining room at Force RugbyHQ at Floreat and beds have been set up in a sleep room for players who like a nap between training sessions.
Others relax with a book, watch TV, carry out their game and training reviews, have a massage or a stretching session - but no one leaves.
It is all designed to make sure they hit their afternoon sessions with as much intensity as their morning ones.
And any player who doesn't front up on time is not going to be particularly popular with his teammates because the whole squad is likely to be hit with an extra early morning session or something similarly distasteful.
There can be no complaints.
The new ground rules were set by their standards group of captain Matt Hodgson, fellow forwards Sam Wykes, Toby Lynn and Pek Cowan and backs Kyle Godwin and Patrick Dellit.
Foundation player Hodgson likened the camaraderie to that of the early days at the Force when the squad was brought together from around the world and players knew few people outside their own circle.
"It's similar to when we first started and we all moved over here," Hodgson said.
"We had no one else to rely on except ourselves. We've gone back to that closeness as a group.
"It has brought a tightness to the group that is only generally found on tour.
"From week one we've been tight, spending eight hours a day together, three or four days a week.
"It's where you get to know your teammates and how they operate best under different stress and different environments.
"We have a lot of new guys so we had to get them into the mix quite early.
"We didn't want to wait until we were playing to make the connections needed.
"We are creating a new culture, the emphasis being that we're not a team full of rock stars, we're just a team of blokes who respect each other.
"If we can do it off the field we can do it on the field."
Under the program, players have already run an average of 160km since training began - 40km more than pre-Christmas last year - but much more has been with ball in hand.
There have been 65 rugby-specific sessions compared to 25 last year and soft- tissue injuries have been cut by two-thirds.
Hodgson said the new program had brought a higher level of professionalism and intensity.
"I know people who used to skip breakfast before training. Now it's compulsory to be here for breakfast and lunch. It means we know everyone is getting the proper nutritional supplements," he said.
"We do everything as a group.
"It's helpful for some of the younger blokes who might find it hard to find the right balance between training, proper meals and recovery, particularly at this time of year when you are putting so many kilometres in the legs and so much work in the gym."
As captain, Hodgson sat down with the coaching team and other staff and discussed the new model.
"We talked about what had worked and what didn't work in the past," he said.
"In past seasons hardly a ball was touched prior to Christmas.
"Now nearly everything is done with ball in hand.
"We've gone away from training as athletes last year to training as rugby players this year.
"Eighty per cent is rugby-based with ball in hand and the boys are buying into it because it's a lot more enjoyable.
"Last year, we were running and doing weights and more running and more weights until Christmas.
"This year, it has been rugby specific from the start with fitness added into it.
"It is specific to what we do at the weekend and tailored to the individual needs of different players in their positions.
"Our rugby-based fitness has increased dramatically."
Head of athletic performance David Joyce has a wealth of experience, including working at English Premier rugby club Saracens, leading soccer clubs Galatasaray and Blackburn Rovers, for the British Olympic team and most recently the Chinese Olympic squad.
He was the first foreigner to work with the Chinese Olympians.
Much of the new regime is a reflection of the skills-intensive model used by the Chinese, but Joyce and his team have also set out to make the Force fitter and faster.
"Our remit as a performance team is to provide the coaches with a fit and robust athlete, but we provide as many hours as possible for skills," he said.
"This is by far the best pre-season the Force have had even though it is the hardest.
"The training volumes we are getting into them are the best the club has seen and while we don't want to get ahead of ourselves, things are working.
"Things like aerobic capacity being the marker of success are red herrings. It is a flawed model. It's not aerobic capacity that is the difference between a team winning the competition and finishing last.
"It is playing good rugby that wins the competition. Training well and training hard produces the capacity.
"We haven't gone about chasing markers and personal bests.
"We tested players the other day and all markers were good. That has come from the training now in place."
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