Football never stops and so does the argument on the start time of pre-season training

Is there a perfect time for coaches to begin training their troops for the attack at glory? What impact does pre-christmas sessions really have on reaching football and netball’s ultimate prize? Does it really matter when?

All 10 Hampden league football sides started their preparations before Christmas –  with North Warrnambool Eagles, under new coach Adam Dowie, the earliest starter on November 5. 

Merrivale and Timboon Demons are the only two Warrnambool and District league clubs which will begin pre-season training after the Christmas break. 

The much improved South Rovers, who enter their third season under coach Adam Matheson, and the Ben Price-led Allansford were the District league’s earliest starters on November 12. 

Former Timboon Demons coach Mick Hunt was one leader who favoured the later start to pre-season training.

Hunt, who served three seasons as the Demons’ mentor until stepping down after finishing the 2018 season in fourth, said his decision was based on the mentality of his players. 

“I feel that guys who want to play football, play it well and do well generally turn up to training and they have done a bit on their own before it starts,” he said. “Even your very best players, who don't like training, still don’t turn up till February. So my thinking was ‘boys, look after yourself, enjoy your Christmas and your break’.”

Hunt believes the professional standard of the elite competition has impacted country football pre-season.

“There are too many people watching too much AFL footy and we have to remember we are playing country footy and it is what it is,” he said. “We have lifestyles far different to what those blokes have, who don't have any other job. 

“We need to stop thinking like that and make it what it really is  – getting fit, keeping fit and looking after yourself and enjoying your footy until you can’t or don’t want to play any longer.”

The experienced coach said he was disappointed the game had gone the way it has and used champion trainer Darren Weir, who has a satellite stable in Warrnambool, as an example of what clubs could adopt. 

“I know we are all out to win a premiership but you can get fit in eight weeks. Darren Weir is very successful at training horses and he has eight weeks to get them up to speed,” Hunt said.

“I think he knows more about it than a lot of people. I compliment him in the way he works his horses in the sand, in the hills and at his track in Maldon, where it gains three feet in the last 50 metres (of the straight).

“We are lucky to have the beaches to train in February and do runs in the sand and then we have one night back at the club.”

The former coach was also critical of representative programs, such as the TAC Cup which includes the region’s talent identification pathway club Greater Western Victoria Rebels.

“I don't like seeing these squad kids training before Christmas. Maybe I am a fool but I don't get it,” he said. 

“I will say though that they are looking for the best talent and they would have to go a bit harder than me but I was looking for a team that sticks together and enjoys their footy.

“Even though we (Timboon Demons) didn't have the success, we improved out of sight in the last three years and that's about the enjoyment of football.”

The Rebels began their training on November 21 and under 16 Hampden region coach Tim Hunt said the reason was more than the strength and conditioning of his players. 

“We kicked off our program in early November because that gives you a bit of a platform. It gives you a chance to meet the boys and get to know them as people as much as footballers,” he said. “It's important to find out where they are from, who they play their footy for and try and develop some relationships with them and you get a good chance to do that before Christmas.

“Our season is a little bit different as we have our trial games in February, so it's important we start it around November to get eight weeks of good training in.

“And I think it goes back to good habits and if we start in November it gets the kids thinking about their footy and the earlier we do that, the better chance we have of developing their habits.”

Hunt said the early start also enabled the emerging footballers to get a taste of the next level of the sport and be prepared for what was to possibly come later in their developing careers. 

“It's also about exposing them to different training programs and some different sessions to what they have experienced at their local clubs,” he said.

“The more exposure they get to those methods and structures, the better they are going to be in the long run.

“It's important for us to identify what things we can improve on with our players and try and make sure they are working on them throughout the pre-season.

“That obviously helps them develop some good training habits away from footy and that will help them later in their career.”

On the netball court, Nirranda premiership coach Steph Townsend said the start time wasn’t a factor in the Blues’ drive towards drought-breaking success last season.

“For me it doesn't matter when we did it as long as we had a steady pre-season,” she said. “We trained twice a week leading up into the season and I got a majority of the A grade girls there as that's what I wanted from a senior point of view.

“If some of the A graders couldn't get there they did their own training. A lot of the girls do their own training and that really set us up in the season.” 

New North Warrnambool Eagles coach Jaime Barr brought her group together for just one session before Christmas as a way to reunite the whole netball side of the club.

“I think the idea before Christmas is about setting yourself up for the next year and possibly keeping a group together,” she said. 

“I wasn't too worried about keeping a group together, although we did have a few retirements and pregnancies in the division one side, but for me if you start pre-season training in December you are either worried about getting people fit or about losing players.”

Five-time reigning Hampden league premier Koroit has kick-started its successful campaigns with training before Christmas. 

This pre-season the Saints began to put in their hard yards for a four-week block from November 14.

Two-time premiership coach Chris McLaren said his decision on when his side’s preparations starts is based off a number of factors. 

“Obviously you think about your finish time, if you play the last game you have played a month later than the rest of the teams so that would suggest we would go a week or two after the other teams,” he said.

“That has been every year for the last six grand finals. So we have played four weeks longer than most teams six years in a row and you certainly need to keep it in mind when you get back to training.

“You also look at your recruitment, retention and the age of your players and when you get them back.”

McLaren said the contest to acquire new players in the south-west had contributed to his decision on when to begin training his squad.

“It (starting later) is definitely something I have thought about and I think the main reason is because of your recruiting,” he said.

“If you are trying to get a new player, and it's a pretty competitive market down here, if one team is training and you aren’t at the time you’re trying to get the same guy then if you get them to training that's half the chance of getting them.

“I think that's probably what has happened with pre-christmas training as it has begun to start earlier and earlier.”

McLaren said the results could be linked back to the Saints’ impressive record but he believes player management is just as important. 

“Has it helped us? I would say the results have shown that what we are doing is pretty right,” he said.

“But you have to make sure when you’re coming to the end of the year that they (the players) are fresh physically and mentally.

“There are things you do through the pre-season that you do to make sure the players are in good shape come later in the year.”