With the Representative Weekend now behind them, all NRL clubs will be returning their focus to this weekend’s premiership clashes. No doubt league lovers have enjoyed the carnival atmosphere from the Pacific Tests and the City/Country clash, but the reality is that the NRL pays the bills and we are now more than one third of the way through the regular rounds.

After a five day break from training, the majority of the Parramatta players took to the Saleyards facilities this morning for a demanding conditioning and skills session. Although I’ve continued to attend the field training, my reports on their work have been scarce as it’s difficult to write without revealing aspects of team selections or tactics.

Nonetheless, after watching the hard slog that the blokes went through today, I felt that the effort deserved special mention. In a session that went for just on two hours, I reckon match day kilometres were put into their legs. It was a tough one!

Leave Pass

The obvious absentees were the City/Country reps. That’s not to say that they weren’t present. It was no surprise to see the fellas there watching the session. Whether they were there for a team meeting or not, I’ve witnessed this occurrence many times in the past. Players are given a rest from training duties but still front up to encourage their mates, or simply because they enjoy the camaraderie of the team environment.

Today, blokes like Gutho and Danny Alvaro were standing beside the coaching staff as the boys went through their paces. Maybe they were smiling from the relief of missing such conditioning.

I reckon these blokes were smiling like this as they watched on today’s session, rather than having to participate.

Skills

Ball skills, basic sets and attacking shapes seemed to be the order of the day. After a period of grid work with draw and pass drills, the squad transitioned into some opposed footy.

The scenarios involved kick off returns and attacking/defensive sets in the red zone. From time to time we can hear the coaching instructions about when players need to look for opportunities to push up, or work that they need to do off the ball. I really like this attention to detail.

There was additional emphasis on defence, and the bump pads got a bit of “love” today.

Conditioning

Without doubt, this seemed to be the most demanding conditioning work that I’ve witnessed during the season proper. I didn’t get the opportunity to ask about it, so I’ll assume that those who didn’t play over the weekend were expected to meet the standard kilometres clocked up during a typical match.

The group was split into blue and green teams and each team ran numerous shuttles. In between  each shuttle run, the players were given little time to rest as they paired up with another for standing wrestle/shoulder work.

It must be quite challenging for coaches to manage these periods. The players would welcome a short break, and the freshen-up gained by having a few days away would be quite beneficial. However, simulating match conditioning would be important, as would returning the players focus to the next opponent. This has to be handled by every club over the Representative weekend and the byes.

Extras

This is the usual conclusion to any training session. In some sessions you might see different styles of kicking, fielding kicks or even additional conditioning. Today, there was an emphasis on passing skills.

I’m expecting that the rest of the week will see a return to the usual full team sessions. There’s a great spirit in the team and a genuine positivity about where they’re at right now.

Bring on the Roosters!

Eels forever!

Sixties

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