Arrivals
Onfield: Rhyce Shaw (traded from Collingwood), Lewis Johnston, Dan Hannebery, Campbell Heath, Kyle Coney (international rookie), Mike Pyke (international rookie), Taylor Gilchrist (rookie)
Off-field: No off-field additions
Departures:
Onfield: Nick Davis (delisted), Ben Mathews (retired), Peter Everitt (retired), Luke Brennan (delisted), Peter Faulks (delisted), Aaron Bruce (delisted), Matthew Beckmans (delisted) Dean Terlich (delisted)
Off-field: No off-field departures, however the club mourned Graeme Pash, the club's former director and deputy chairman who passed away in October.
Pre-season training started: Monday, November 10 (Monday, November 17 for whole group)
Medical room
Tadhg Kennelly (Shoulder): Should be back in full training by January
Adam Goodes: (Groin) Should be back in full training by January
Craig Bolton: (Groin) Should be back in full training by January
Martin Mattner (Groin and hip): Should be back in full training by January
Heath Grundy (Minor shoulder surgery): At or close to full fitness by now
Luke Ablett (ankle): At or close to full fitness by now
Henry Playfair (ankle) At or close to full fitness by now
Ted Richards (ankle) At or close to full fitness by now
Luke Ablett (knee): At or close to full fitness by now
Michael O'Loughlin (ankle): Said to be the longest of the established players to recover but is on track to be fully fit for the start of the season.
Nic Fosdike (knee) Unclear when he'll be back to full fitness
Who's burning?
New signing Rhyce Shaw has impressed many with his attitude. "Rhyce has really trained the house down since he arrived," said teammate Paul Bevan. "He's really professional and trains really hard. I look up to him and he's only been here about a month."
Jarrad McVeigh, who was crowned club champion this year, burned up the first 3km time trial on November 10 with a personal best time. With Shaw's arrival looking promising, McVeigh is looking even more focused in pre-season.
Pre-season training camps
A three-day community camp was held on the Central Coast (around one hour north of Sydney) in early December. The club is also taking its message to the west of Sydney with footy clinics this month and more are planned for February.
Pre-season training overview
"We realise it every year but there really is a strong focus from the whole football department this year on skills acquisition, execution and decision-making. We deemed that our skills execution wasn't up to scratch last season. So there is a focus on that. But the skill drills we're doing are designed with a conditioning element to them to deliver an overall solid session.
"Mondays are always about repeat sprints, such as 50 metres with a short recovery and repeat and building that up to 20 repeats over the six-week period.
"There is also lactate-tolerance work on Wednesdays while Fridays are more endurance based with interval, fartlek-style running.
"In between these sessions, the players are given what is called ‘low-load skills’ involving less movement but skills work which hones decision-making.
"Weights sessions twice a week supplement the program. On top of this is non-running conditioning work which may include a Saturday swimming, boxing or cycling session.
"And the club will continue its strong emphasis on recovery techniques in order for the players to handle the load."
- Elite performance manager Rob Spurrs
What coach Paul Roos says
"Rhyce Shaw will add pace and some outside run on that half-back line. He is a professional and he's at a stage in his career where he's 26-27 and knows what footy's all about.
"We can balance [the list] with experienced guys, younger guys, and we're probably never going to get to the stage of other teams where they fill up with all young kids because we can't afford to bottom out for 2-3 years.
"The reality in a footy team is that you can only play 22 players, so if you've got 15 kids on the list, it's unlikely they're going to play anyway, so we don't take kids just for the sake of it.
"But we took three [draftees] last year, we elevated a couple of rookies, we had six kids playing their first game last year and now we've added another three, so we were starting to become a lot younger."
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club
