LISTEN to the team's elite performance manager David Misson talk about his players attitudes towards their fitness regime and it’s not hard to see why the club has enjoyed the success it has in recent years.
While Misson is the man many Swans players might have nightmares about on hot summer nights, he is the man they can thank when crunch time comes on March 31.
The Swans host the West Coast Eagles in their season opener and the long pre-season will be behind them but they can be confident they have been given an ideal preparation for another tilt at September glory.
Misson is entering his seventh year at the club and after putting the finishing touches on another arduous pre-season campaign, he is confident the men in red and white will have enough kilometres in their legs to see them through another premiership push.
“I’d probably say we’re fractionally ahead of last year,” Misson said.
“You know, we’ve probably had more guys run PBs (personal bests) this year than last year.
“Going into round one we’re looking more prepared than last year, at least physically.”
Misson said he had seen a steady rise in the level of professionalism at the club in recent years, which has coincided with the Swans’ rise to the top of the AFL tree.
“You’d like to think that’s the program but I think probably a big part is it’s now unacceptable for players to come back in poor shape after having eight weeks off,” he said.
“Three years ago we were putting guys in the fat farm or the fitness farm or whatever you want to call it … guys who came back in poor shape and they took a month to actually catch up to where the rest of the group were at the beginning.
“That’s no longer the case – the guys are coming back in real good shape.”
Misson said the Swans’ program had remained relatively unchanged from last year, given the club had enjoyed “reasonable success”.
“But the thing that’s probably changed most this year is that things just got so specific,” he said.
“And that’s really where the game’s going now … it’s becoming so specific to the needs of players, to their strengths and weaknesses.
Misson said statistics had shown AFL footy now involved more continuous running, so training had to be tailored to incorporate the game’s requirements.
“But the game essentially is still about repeated sprint efforts, near maximal sprint efforts,” he said.
The fitness guru said among the standouts for the Swans on the track over summer were promising forward Heath Grundy, who had enjoyed a fantastic off-season before injuring his back.
“The whole group is generally pretty good … there really is a very good work ethic in the group, so it’s hard to single out any one person,” he said.
“Tim Schmidt had a very good pre-season, Adam Schneider had a very good pre-season … so you’d be looking at guys like Grundy and Schmidt and guys like Jarred Moore to step up and establish a spot for themselves in the senior side.”
In injury news, Luke Ablett and Adam Schneider (hamstrings) are both close to resuming, while Paul Bevan is likely to be available for selection in round two.
Lewis Roberts-Thomson’s troublesome foot continues to be monitored, while Grundy will be nursed back into action.
“LRT is an ongoing process. He could be a bonus for us in the second half of the season,” Misson said.
“Heath we’re just taking a little bit more time with, because he really did have a very good pre-season, and we want him to get back to that fitness level before we throw him back into training.”
