“we do a lot of twisting, range-of-motion exercises in the gym.” “we do a lot of twisting, range-of-motion exercises in the gym.” Images: Theron Kirkman

TO THE VIDEO

“In the final weeks leading up to a major event, say, the qualifier against New Zealand, there’ll be a larger focus on video work. We’ll look at the opposition’s individual players, their strategies and work out what we’ll do to counteract them. A video session will last an hour or more.“During the year we might look at our own game. A video session would be feedback on things which happened on-field at training or in past games of ours and stuff we can work on.

“I find video sessions quite useful. I’ve played a bit against most of the international teams going around and know most of them by now. I always remember being a new player to the group and not having seen any of the international players and not knowing what tricks were in their bag. Studying your rivals via video and preparing for what they’re going to try to do can help a lot. Obviously there’s nothing like experiencing it first hand, but any advantage you can get is a good one.”

TACTICAL RESPONSE

“We’ll focus more on tactics in the week leading up to a tournament, too. In general, it’s more a case of the coach discussing one or two plays where there’s a bit of a theme, where something’s not quite right with our play. Ric will normally show a video of what’s happened and say, ‘This is what our focus will be on at training,’ so that at training we can relate what we’re doing to why we’re doing it.”

QUICK RECOVERY

“Recovery sessions are held after a field/skills session. We’ll have a high-intensity session, then we’ll have a recovery – ice baths … we know a bit about those. We’ll be in there for one or two minutes, then jump out so we’re alternating between hot and cold, hot and cold. The swapping aids blood flow and helps get rid of all the lactic acids etc. The more you can speed the blood flow, the faster the recovery. We know it helps us, but we still like to complain about it.”

 SHOWING SKIN

“Diet’s up to the individual. We have a dietician to help us out. If we’re not eating right, we’ll soon notice in our performance and in our skinfold tests. We’re tested regularly, where the team staff get the callipers out. If you start to head north on that scale, they get you to speak to the dietician and work out a plan that’s best for you.

“We don’t really have an off-season, but even if there is time off, getting lazy in that area and doing the wrong thing puts you behind the eight ball when you start again and you don’t want to go there. Even in time off there’s still a focus on eating properly, probably even more so, actually, as you’re not doing any intense work to burn any fatty foods off.”