General Break Time's Over For Elite Players

[Jesbass_old]

In the tough world of professional sport there is little time off for the eating, drinking and relaxing of the festive season.

The Warriors and the Auckland Blues underwent rigorous pre-Christmas fitness training and both squads are now back into fulltime pre-season training.

The Warriors' season ended on September 16 in Townsville when they were roundly thumped in the playoffs by the Cowboys. On November 12 they were back at work, with conditioning programmes that included a gruelling Bethells Beach sandhill run, weight training and ball skills work.

After 12 days off over Christmas-New Year the players were back in for weighing, skinfold tests, beep tests and other fitness measures.

Since then they've been on specific conditioning routines to prepare them for their first outing of 2008 against the champion Storm in Melbourne on Monday March 17. A frequent guest has been former All Black great Jonah Lomu.

The Blues also endured the Bethells run and included a Mt Eden summit run and surf lifesaving training with former world champion ironman Cory Hutchings at Mairangi Bay before rounding off their pre-Christmas work on the Fire Service obstacle course.

They were off until January 7 and resumed with vigour this week as they face a start against the Chiefs at Eden Park on February 16 before a two-game trip to South Africa. Their trainers are concerned about the loss of condition during the travel time to and from the Republic.

The 2007 Blues squad has lost Ali Williams to Canterbury, and Doug Howlett, Sam Tuitupo and Luke McAllister to the Northern Hemisphere. Newcomers are backs utility Nick Evans from Otago and halfback Danny Lee and lock Bryn Evans from Hawkes Bay, plus Northland tighthead prop Bronson Murray.

Injured players, Jerome Ropati (shoulder), Hame Lauaki and Brent Tate (knees) are all in training and rehabilitation is proceeding as planned. All are considered possible to start the first match.

The Warriors have lost few players from 2007 - lock Louis Anderson, hooker George Gatis, centre Tony Martin and wing Todd Byrne to the UK. Super League import Ian Henderson who will replace Gatis in the dummy-half interchange, is described as an energetic livewire who has fitted in well. Former Storm wing/centre Ryan Shortland is quieter but also has a solid work ethic.

Kiwis players Lance Hohaia, Simon Mannering and Sam Rapira missed the pre-Christmas fitness preparation and re-joined the squad last week.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=79&objectid=10486422

 

[warrior rok50_old]

Is Ropati still injured...?

 

[J_Hallow_old]

how serious is Hame's injury?

 

[Jesbass_old]

Is Ropati still injured...?

Yes, that's what the article appears to say.

 

[Jesbass_old]

how serious is Hame's injury?

Not a clue. This is the first I've heard of it.

The good news is that Vatuvei wasn't mentioned as still being injured.

 

[Joe 90_old]

After 12 days off over Christmas-New Year the players were back in for weighing, skinfold tests, beep tests and other fitness measures.

Anyone know if the Warriors publish the results for these tests anywhere? Would be interesting to see some of the scores in the beep test.
Fittest forward - i'd go for either Wairangi or Pricey. Back - Crockett or Wadey.


Anyone done one of these? I did a 14.3 about 8 years ago when i was probably at my fittest. Supposedly, Caleb Ralph reached the end of the tape during 7s training once.

 

[Skinny_Ravs82]

Ack, don't bring up my 25th b'day ever again. worst day ever in my life. lol.

Good news those for the Warriors really aside from Hame and Ropo particularly with Tate it was pretty obvious so we'll see how he goes *fingers crossed for all of them*

Gee that is a hell lot of talent gone outta the Blues camp!!

 

[Jesbass_old]

Anyone know if the Warriors publish the results for these tests anywhere? Would be interesting to see some of the scores in the beep test.
Fittest forward - i'd go for either Wairangi or Pricey. Back - Crockett or Wadey.


Anyone done one of these? I did a 14.3 about 8 years ago when i was probably at my fittest. Supposedly, Caleb Ralph reached the end of the tape during 7s training once.

I haven't done one since high school. I dread to think how I'd do nowadays. Pretty cool story about Caleb Ralph.

I'm not sure if they publish them, but the media do seem to gain some form of limited access, (perhaps directly through the NRL), because last year it was revealed that Russell Packer (?) was benching heavier weights than anyone else in the 16 NRL squads.

I'd have to agree with your assessments of fittest players, although I'd replace Crockett with Ropati or Tate if neither was injured. Crockett has plenty of pace - not sure about his endurance, though.

 

[KeepingTheFaith_old]

It was Sonny Fai who benched 185kgs to outdo the NRL's "strongest man" Chris Beattie.

As for fittest back, it depends if he's still considered a back, but Mannering would be pretty high up there.

 

[Jesbass_old]

It was Sonny Fai who benched 185kgs to outdo the NRL's "strongest man" Chris Beattie.

As for fittest back, it depends if he's still considered a back, but Mannering would be pretty high up there.

Ah, yes. I knew it was a player who didn't make first grade.

Mannering is another 80 minute player who certainly goes the distance. His workrate is extremely high, too, so I think you may be on to something there. (Surprise, surprise.)

 

[jahc_old]

Ah, yes. I knew it was a player who didn't make first grade.

Mannering is another 80 minute player who certainly goes the distance. His workrate is extremely high, too, so I think you may be on to something there. (Surprise, surprise.)

Just wondering, does he play 80 minutes when he's in the forwards too? Or just at centre?

 

[Jesbass_old]

Just wondering, does he play 80 minutes when he's in the forwards too? Or just at centre?

This sounds like a job for Super Stat Man!

*rushes into a public telephone booth, then comes out with his underpants over his pants and a giant SSM on his shirt*

Alrighty...

Mannering played 26 games for the Warriors in 2007. Of those, 6 were in the second row, and 18 were at centre.

Every single game he played at centre, he played for 80 minutes. (Even in the round 21 clash with the Roosters that went to extra time.)

In the second row, he played the full 80 minutes twice. The other four matches at second row, (rounds 1, 2, 4 and 13), he played for 69 minutes, 75 minutes, 53 minutes, and 76 minutes respectively. I considered the possibility of him being injured in the round 4 match because of the few minutes, but unless he went off through injury and came back on, it's unlikely, as he scored a 79th minute try in that match.

One thing that's interesting, (to me, anyway), is that he scored 7 tries all season. 3 of those were while playing in the second row, (a 50% strike rate), while the other 4 were at centre (a 22% strike rate). Perhaps a train spotting fact more than anything else, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[scottyb_old]

stat man , get back in the phone booth, can you tell me howmany metre's he made when he played in the second row?
btw i hope the stat man outfit is black and gey, not blue and red lol,,, and stop packing the sock down below

 

[Jesbass_old]

stat man , get back in the phone booth, can you tell me howmany metre's he made when he played in the second row?
btw i hope the stat man outfit is black and gey, not blue and red lol,,, and stop packing the sock down below

Lol. Oh, the shame! :lol1:

Okay, metres...

Over the season, Mannering made 2,660 metres. 562m (93.67m per match; 1.3m per minute) were made at second row, compared to 2,098m (116.56m per match; 1.46m per minute) at centre.

It really isn't surprising that he made more metres in a position that offers more space. (Fullbacks are typically near the top of 'most metres gained' lists.) Bare stats also don't take into account things like the quality of the opposition.

Interesting notes are that as a second rower, Mannering's greatest variance from lowest metre gain to largest metre gain was only 68m. (68m in round 3; 136m in round 4.) But as a centre, this variance ballooned to a whopping 173m. (27m in round 15; 200m in round 18.)

Mannering broke the 100m mark as a second rower twice, in rounds 3 and 13. (136m, 126m). He did the same as a centre 9 times, in rounds 8, 14, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, and 26. (118m, 175m, 176m, 142m, 200m, 109m, 146m, 122m, 103m). But as a center he also failed to make a measly 30m twice, in rounds 10 and 15. (29m and 27m).

Read into that what you will, lol.

One thing probably worth noting is that he didn't play a single match at second row during our big winning streak. His final match at second row was in round 13, that abysmal 4-2 loss to the Storm which marked the end of our losing streak.

P.S. Nice to see you around, scottyb.