Building strength is an important part of pre-season at the Sydney Swans, and this morning we ventured down to the Club gym to see which of the 1-3 year players were punching out some heavy sets.

While some of the Club’s bigger rigs including Shane Mumford and Mike Pyke are not yet back in training, there was still plenty of bulk floating around the weights room.

As they did in the 3 km time trial, Alex Johnson and Dylan McNeil both impressed in the prone row, while Trent Dennis-Lane looked comfortable on the bench press. Lewis Jetta was working hard on his overhand chin-ups, and Sam Reid on his squats, but one player above all else has impressed new Swans Strength and Conditioning Coach, Damien Austin.

“Physique wise, I think Luke Parker could probably play rugby league,” Austin, who has recently come to the Club from rugby league club Sydney Roosters, told SwansTV.

“He’s got a good physique and I think it will just be maintaining his weight throughout the season and not putting anything on.”

Austin’s main role at the Swans will be to manage the players’ programs in the gym, as well as assisting in their recovery programs. Given that every player has different needs in terms of building weight and power, or returning from injury, Austin will be busy devising programs for each individual player.

“At the moment, they’re just going through a basic program to get used to muscle soreness again,” Austin said.

“Then they’ll go into individual programs based on their skinfolds, based on whether they need to gain muscle, lose muscle, maintain (muscle), or whether they need to gain strength or power.

“We have a lot of meetings during the week, and there’s continual liaison with the Physios on what players can do. If there’s any injuries … then there’s always adaptations that we have to modify in the gym so we don’t cause further injury.”    

Austin sees now as the perfect time to help build the player’s strength and power before the rigors of the football program kick in.

“At the moment, it’s a good chance before they start playing to get in as much strength and as much power,” he said.

“When they start playing, the possibility to do extra weights is quite hard given the game turnarounds and the physical demands that the games put on the players. During the season, it’s more about maintaining their strength and power.”

The 1-3 year Swans players will have a 30 minute skills session followed by running tomorrow morning, before stretching in the afternoon. They will be joined on the track by players with 4-7 years of AFL experience on Thursday.

Tony Armstrong on the leg press

Mitch Morton doing some push ups

Dan Hannebery pushing out a set of dumbell rows

Alex Johnson prone rows

Jetts adds some extra weight for his overhand chin-ups

TDL punching the big plates on the bench press