Coach Nathan Buckley told almost 1000 of the club’s members at Monday’s Post-Season Information Night his players were not exposed to the training loads employed by some other clubs, contrary to popular opinion.
“We expect to build resilience to handle the rigours of the season and that’s going to come off the back of our (training) loads,” Buckley said.
Watch the key points to emerge from Buckley’s address to the club’s members on CollingwoodTV in the video above.
“We’re probably somewhere between six to twelfth in regards to our training volume (compared to the rest of the competition).
“Anything you’re hearing about us overtraining, we’re undertraining, and our players need to get that rigour and need to build their bodies to be able to cope with it, because if they don’t break there or if we don’t take them to the edge of breaking point on the training track, they’re going to break out there anyway.
“We’re not going to know the difference between where they can get to and where they are.”
The Magpies came in for criticism for the soft tissue injuries that plagued several players during the 2014 season.
Buckley also reinforced the need for his players to continue to improve their “transition running power” as they seek to keep pace with the competition’s trendsetters.
“We will continue to focus on transition running power. It’s just an absolute must,” he stressed.
“The game in the last three years has shifted so quickly. The players are fitter, they run faster and they run harder and longer.
“Clearly we need extra focus on skill and decision making execution. It would be funny if it weren’t so serious.
“There’s so much opportunity that we missed this year and as good as we were through that first part of the year, we could be even better just by doing the simple things better and the little things well.
“And that’s where it comes back to me. I take full responsibility for that and will continue to work on it.”
Watch the key points to emerge from Buckley’s address to the club’s members on CollingwoodTV in the video above.
