G'day Shark fans,

Crippsy here! Just wanted to give all our passionate supporters a bit of a “sport science” update from the first week of preseason training.  I also wanted to shed some light on what it is we do from a strength and conditioning point pre-xmas.

I think firstly before we even touch on the preseason I would like to acknowledge the mountain of work all the boys did over the off season. This year we gave some fairly stringent return to training expectations and the boys to their credit have come back in exceptional knick.

The Result

Preseason 2014/15 begun with a BANG! The 3 x 1km testing we ran on the opening night of preseason yielded exceptional results. After many years at the top of the pack the skipper, Rory O'Brien, was finally beaten by two young pups, Jacob Green and Chris Carlson. Well done Greeny and Chrisso! The majority of the other lads met the lofty expectation we placed on them. But I think most impressive of all was the huge number of boys who ran PBs. A massive effort for the first night of preseason! These boys deserve mentioning so well done to; Jack Beer, Tom Bowey, Alex Cecchi, Brandon Ellis, Sean Henson, Aaron Holmes, Matthew Jupp, Jarryd Lindsay, Jack Perham, Connor Regan, Jayden Schofield, Tyler Chalwell, Jacob Green and Andrew Stephens.

The plan leading up to Christmas

We will challenge players both physically and mentally to scaffold off the hard work they have completed over the offseason. The physical focus will primarily be on the development of their aerobic capacity and taking the strength and power gain we made last year to a whole new level. The mental focus. To challenge and compete with each other in every aspect of training. But most importantly to improve on our individual strengths and to attack our weaknesses!  

Finally I would like to give a big thank you to all my support staff. You guys have done a mountain of work over the offseason as well! The players at all levels; development, colts and seniors will benefit because of it!!

Here's to a big year!

Go the Sharks!

Ashley Cripps
Head of Sport Science
East Fremantle Football Club