AFL Rd 15 2023 Carlton have the bye!

[Lods]

I was listening to an interview with Stan Longinidis of Kick Boxing Fame on SEN, great fella to listen to BTW. Talked about his motivational speaking he does with kids, adults etc. He mentioned how he is a Coll supporter and when all the De Goey stuff with Bali was going on, he said he couldn't understand how he would so that and how in general players go on holidays mid season. His said "how much are you prepared to sacrifice?". And that's exactly what my point was with all this. What does it all mean to you and how far are you prepared to go?

I agree with that.
Heading off to Bali for a holiday is probably a 'bridge too far'.

I'm just not sure the more 'hard work' in this period is better than a couple of days away from the club.
Spending a bit of time with family and friends, and then back into it from Monday...is probably not so much of an issue.

I've no idea what the players we're doing last week.
I suspect it would be varied...and players that needed a bit of extra work will probably be getting it.
Others with a niggly injury or two, are probably having a rest.

We employ high quality fitness folks to give us the best guidance on these things.
A heavy training load for all players over a break could be the last thing the players need...but it might benefit some.

I'm talking from a Track and Field experience but the basic principles would be pretty similar for football.
Any training has two main components-
The workout followed by a period of rest and recovery.
Ideal training programs also comprise periods of high intensity and low intensity.
And it's not just the body that requires that rest and recovery, there's also the mind that needs that 'down time'...and sometimes the signs of that are pretty easy to spot...players getting frustrated by a practice that is not producing results.

So we don't know for sure what individual players have done over the last week, or what they'll be doing the next week...but hopefully it's been tailored on an individual basis.

The week after the bye is always a bit of a tricky time to navigate.
If we come out flat against Hawthorn it won't be because we didn't bust a gut in the off period.
The problem will be caused by the fact that after a good performance, the 'bye' came at an unfortunate time for continuity.

The majority of the hard training work would have been done pre-season.
During the actual playing period it would be more about maintenance.
But there would probably also be a few blocks of heavy sessions within that period.
It's why you may sometimes see teams have a flat couple of weeks while the heavy training period is occurring.
It may not be as noticeable as it was in years past (the old mid-season slump) because they probably individualise the programs so different players are being 'loaded' at different times.
In that case we're more likely to see an individual have a couple of off weeks.

The 'bye' is all about giving the players that mental and physical break in a long season.
If it's not used largely for that purpose, we should just keep playing.