When do the puff pieces start?
Agree, not point getting excited with his training or condition in the pre-season, its all about entering the season fit and injury free
Not soon enough, thatās our time to shine.
They just did!
Vale Harley Reid.
we need to manage his loads really carefully i reckon. if heās flying in late Jan back him off a bit and just do some maintenance, donāt keep pushing for more gains. in season manage his minutes a bit. Get him as fit as we can without breaking him and then use him as a high impact burst player.
Heās basically the only player on our list who is capable of being a genuine match winner/superstar. And probably the only guy weāve had who fits that description since Jobe, pre his year off, which is a long time ago now.
Obviously we have only seen that level consistently for a stretch of about half a season. Therein lies the problem.
Good on him if heās knuckling down and giving himself the best chance of returning to that sort of level again, thatās all you can really do.
But given that for about 3 seasons straight he has broken down in January/Feb I prefer he just goes about his business and the club focus their media attention elsewhere this pre season. Iām setting my expectations low and hoping to be surprised.
the issue is, youāre not really improving his fitness that way or his professionalism.
what professional athelete has every gone onto greatness with the mentality, donāt train to much incase you break ?
if he and the club is serious about getting him into the best possible shape, find someone who implements a nutritional system that helps him maintain the same weight, whether heās training at full capacity or not.
and then if he does break down, find a way in which he can keep up the fitness base without essentially resetting it to prior to christmas standards.
itās not that he gets injured thatās the issue (well i mean it is to a degree) itās the dropping off a cliff once it does happen and pretty much going back to starting point that is the bigger issue.
i donāt disagree. itās a balancing act between keeping him fit and getting as much out of him that we can. certainly his conditioning while injured need to be a real focus but if we can prevent injuries by not over training him when fatigued maybe that helps. i know Burgess has a different philosophy on that but iām sure he tailors things a bit depending on the individual athlete.
We should have traded him at the end of 2021, the sooner Nino accepts this, the better.
100% agree. This is why Sean Murphy has blood on his hands.
Jake returned two weeks EARLY to preseason in career best shape. Thatās all you can ask from a player like Package.
Yet despite this, they couldnāt manage his loads in preseason and then get him back to anywhere near requisite fitness after several setbacks in his rehab.
2022 was a completely wasted season, makes me so angry just writing this.
He was not in career best shape.
He was in Essendon best shape. He was still a massively different looking bloke to his days at the dogs.
He sits almost 10kgs heavier with us.
He literally said verbatim during preseason that he was in the best shape he has ever been in.
Yep I remember that too, and really after nearly 10yrs as an AFL player whoās body in the same as when they started?
Stringer has been fitter at Ess than he ever was at the dogs.
Murphy is not that good, our players were no where near it at the start of the season
im pretty sure they all said the back rutten multiple times during the year also.
what exactly are you expecting them to say ? that they took it easy during the off season ? that they been out chugging a 6 pack of beers a night ?
every year is the best condition theyāve ever been in, yet never really equates on game day.
I heard he is borderline flying
No Stringer was definitely in great shape, even employed a specialist running coach if I recall correctly.
He always is start of preseason, he comes back ok, itās the blow out when he is injured that is the biggest problem. Which then leads to him always having to build it back up rather than accumulating a solid base fitness and durability over years.
Jake doesnāt run, he shuffles
I hope Setterfield unlocks his potential at Essendon and allows Stringer to play 10% mid, 90% forward. We need another guy who can kick 40 alongside Wright.
I donāt know whether Jones or Weideman offer that in 2023. But Stringer absolutely could.