The sun hasn’t been up long and the sound of a spherical leather object being kicked around on a make-shift football ‘oval’ echoes around the grounds of Royal Pines Resort.
The first of five groups of West Coast Eagles players have filtered through to take the initial steps towards preparation for Saturday’s clash with Port Adelaide at Metricon Stadium. Just get your head around that if you can, West Coast playing Port Adelaide on the Gold Coast?
Anything is possible in these times.
Mondays are a busy start to the week, especially now that group numbers are limited. They come through at carefully choreographed timings; as one group finishes the next is warming up - at the required distance.
Under the instruction of development coaches Adrian Hickmott and Mark Nicoski, they roll through a number of drills.
Hickmott, in particular, is a big personality. The drills in the session are fairly routine, some tight handball drills in pairs, some kicking in pairs etc, but there is nothing mundane about this 45 minute hit-out.
He has a clear vision of what he wants to achieve. He barks instructions, is bubbling with energy as he and Nicoski ensure the players get as much out of it possible.
Having completed the session – a group of defenders who were the first ones through – pack their balls back into a Sherrin footy bag and they’re off to KDV Sports for a gym session. Each group comes with their own allocation of balls which are cleaned with anti-bacterial wipes, both pre and post training.
Players come and go, complete their skills and weights, some drop into the pool upon return from doing weights, to assist their aching muscles through the recovery process. Those who need it, go into a massive, temporary medical room, for treatment.
By now it’s time for lunch.
A quick bite to eat is followed by line meetings, one-on-one reviews with their respective line coaches and finally a team meeting.
The sun is starting to sink and the players are done for the day, but there’s more to come for the coaches. They roll into a match committee meeting and will emerge before the kitchen closes for dinner.
Apparently, there is a perception by some outside the hub that this is a holiday. Rest assured, the coaches, players and everyone else here is doing what they can to win games of football. That’s why we’re here.
Ask head of property Clint “Teddy” Roberts how his holiday is going? On Saturday at 6am he and club Chaplain Paul Morrison, doubling as Teddy’s sidekick, were loading a van full of gear to go to Metricon Oval three for scrimmage against Brisbane.
Once that session was completed, all of the equipment was loaded back into the truck, unloaded at our temporary headquarters and then they both packed all the gear for the AFL clash with the Lions and drove up to Gabba.
By the time they got ‘home’ in the early hours of Sunday morning, they had put in a 19-hour day.
They think nothing of it, that’s their role. Everyone is playing their part – despite some clear concerns about the short-term fixture and the details around their return home – to win games of footy.
The level of commitment going into this will eventually be rewarded.
