Richmond fans are famous for their loyalty and there may be no more loyal Tiger than Andrew Sloman. Despite being based in New Zealand, “Slowy” rarely misses a game, travelling all across the country to follow the yellow and black. He has also often joined the team on their pre-season training camps, including making the trip to Arizona some years back. “Slowy” is with the team on their pre-season camp on the Sunshine Coast this week and we thought it would be great to get a fans perspective on what he sees on the camp and what excites him most about season 2018.

Day 5.

What a day! A very heavy load day for the players.

We attended the Coaches Briefing Session at 7.30am, and Ben Rutten, Blake Caracella and Damien lead us through the drills and tasks for the morning session at the Maroochydore multi sports park. This location differed from Monday’s venue as the Western Bulldogs were also in town and using Monday’s oval. The drills planned were similar to Monday. The key drills I was looking forward to were the 14 on 14 match simulation, and the forward fifty drill involving pressure, tackle, loose ball gather and shot at goal.

Post player briefing, we headed to the Oval in our team minivans. The coaches have been driving the minivans, and Xavier Clarke has been driving our van in an exemplary manner. There has been some interesting navigation options taken, with Justin Leppitsch believing that his years in Queensland made him duty bound to exploit every possible short cut, but often he was beaten by others using the trusty GPS. We were also appreciative of all the car horn toots and “go tiges” yelled by passing vehicle passengers.

After factor 50 sun cream application and warm up, it was down to business with only Daniel Rioli and Shaun Hampson doing rehab work. We did the forward fifty drill and our role was to put pressure on the kicker. The workload of the camp had caught up with the support crew and, while our pressure was deemed as elite by the coach on Monday, the lactic acid build up in our quads meant the pressure was somewhat missing on Thursday. Nonetheless, we forced Bachar to miss on his left, after which he remarked, “I get them in the big games!” Jack Higgins went head to head with Dustin Martin in the 14 on 14 match simulation. Jack had a real crack. The players certainly hit in and the coaches were pleased with the intensity level and that the players survived unscathed. Some player GPS numbers from the session were immense, with Nathan Broad covering over 17km at a relatively high intensity level, and in 31 degree heat.

The club’s Physical Performance Manager, Peter Burge, decided that the morning session was still not enough, and we jumped in the vans to go to Alexandra Headland to do some hill running. The whole group attempted the task, including administration and support staff. The players did 5 hill climb reps. Others could do a number suitable to their age and fitness levels. But what stood out was the comradery and support offered to and by all who participated. I will never forget the sight of support staff Chris Homutowsky and Chris Johnson being supported by Jayden Short and Jack Graham as they ran the hill. The comradery across all camp activities was amazing.

After lunch, we rotated between “Richmond Man” and strength sessions. I dare say though that all were looking forward to the late afternoon activities at the Twin Waters Water Park. As a prelude, the Coach was “persuaded” to attempt the Water Jet Pack, much to the hilarity of the playing group. The players ran a floating water obstacle course, with many bumps dished out and players enjoying the forced dip in the Twin Waters Lagoon. Such a competitive lot!

Prior to dinner, we sat in on an activity whereby randomly selected players read out three little known facts of a player, then had to guess who it was. The strike rate was 0 out of 3! I was actually chuffed that we have another player of kiwi descent other than Dustin. I leave you to guess who it might be. And an assistant coach as well!

We in the support group then had the wonderful honour of presenting the Tony Mangan Award for the player we believe best displayed on camp Tony’s “Non-Negotiables” of tenacity, creativity, instinct, mateship, humility, inclusivity and had fun! We voted on a 3,2,1 basis and 14 players were in the votes. A great sign. But there can only be one winner and it was Nathan Broad. Tony’s wife Julie had written a special letter for Nathan. A really special moment.

We then adjourned to dinner under a Tipi by the hotel lagoon. A wonderful night.

Day 6

Australia Day, was purely breakfast then travel back to Melbourne.

In summary, my observations and learnings from the camp experience are as follows.

The aims have been set for 2018, with associated imagery and themes. The structure and game style are in place to support those themes.

The players are incredibly fit and focussed, with the camp being at the end of a heavy training load block.

The personal development and mindfulness program is incredibly interesting and beneficial.

And finally, on behalf of the support crew of Rodney Banks, John Matthies, Marty Oke, Mark Turner, Mark George, Craig Weinert, Chris Dodd, Michael Dossor, Chris Johnson, Geoff Johnson, Brett Vorhauer, Chris Homutowsky, I’d like to thank the players, coaches and staff for being so inclusive and allowing us to be just a small part of the 2018 journey.

I trust you enjoyed reading the Camp Blog, and Go Tiges!