WE are now more than three months into pre-season and our preparations for the coming season are well under way. While there have been the obvious big changes at the club, such as the change from Roosy to John Longmire, we have also had a few less obvious changes around the club.
One such change has been to our weights sessions. Weights coach Bryce Cavanagh, who is so hard it has been said he eats powdered cement with milk for breakfast, has called upon close friend Scott “The Real Commando” to assist him with sessions.
Scotty, an angry tattooed Englishmen, with an affection for anything involving lactic acid, has been great. Using traditional exercises, along with techniques I’m sure have come straight from the Eastern block, we’re getting stronger. Kettle bells are flying everywhere in the gym and Jarrad McVeigh in particular seems to spend a lot of time studying the visual benefits of the weights training in the mirror in the gym.
From my perspective, Nick Malceski and Brett Meredith have been the stand-outs on the track. Both guys are training really well and look like they’re ready for practice games to start.
Special mention to the membership department for their efforts as our membership numbers are great for this time of year. As of today we have more than 18,000 members, and we’d love every Swans fan to get on board and join up because it directly benefits the football department and players.
On a negative … the most disappointing award for 2010 goes to my doppelganger, Nemanja Vidic, who continues to not reply to my fan mail.
The new boys are fitting in well. It appears Max Otten is certain to have ‘Beiber’ (as in Justin Beiber) as his nickname due to similarities in hair styles, and his constant need to “whip” his fringe. Jed Lamb’s nickname seems to be ‘Chops’, although I did like Jude Bolton’s suggestion of ‘Leg-of”.
I feel it appropriate in the first report of 2011 to thank a few people who helped out with The Richards Report in 2010.
I’d like to say a big thank-you to “Kizza” Jack and Dan “Humpty Dumpty” Hannebery for being around and supplying with me with so much material for the year. Without you both I’d have nothing much to write about apart from descriptions of Sugar Shane Mumford’s latest meal, or what seems to be the next ‘in’ colour for football boots.
Thank-you also to all the people who are following me on Twitter. It’s great getting the feedback and ideas for future Reports. I’ve now topped the 700 mark and am only 350,000 followers away from overtaking Tiger Woods. For those interested we also have Ryan O’Keefe (@okeeferyan) on Twitter and of course @sydneyswans.
Here’s hoping to a great start to this year, and a big year of improvement.
Ted Richards
@richards_report
