Will Minson joins the boys to discuss their picks ahead of round 2.
Essendon coach James Hird has 44 fit players to choose from. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: Herald Sun
ESSENDON coach James Hird says he turned up the heat on his players at training in the past two weeks to combat a lack of game time.
Tomorrow will mark 15 days since the Bombers defeated Adelaide in their Round 1 encounter and the club has played just once in 28 days having also had the final week of the NAB Cup series off to prepare for the season opener.
Hird said he wasn't sure if the lack of match practice would have a positive or negative impact on his players against Melbourne at the MCG tomorrow night.
''It's allowed us to train and get ourselves right,'' Hird said.
''We're certainly now glad the season has started proper and we can get in a routine of playing week after week.
''We've had one game in 29 games and this will be the second in that period. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but I do know guys are fresh, they're excited, we've got a good team out there and they should play well tomorrow.''
Hird said the Bombers coaching staff had upped the players' training loads to compensate.
''We've just trained a lot harder than we would have for a normal week,'' he said.
''It'll be 15 days (tomorrow) since our last game. We've had two really big sessions in that 15-day period and a couple of other smaller ones.
''It's just been about quality of training, making sure that's kept up to a high standard, and along the way our reserves team has played week after week as well so we've been able to top up players who we want extra footy in as well.''
Players such as Travis Colyer, Elliott Kavanagh and David Hille were mentioned by Hird as having benefited from extra minutes in the VFL.
See all the AFL Round 2 teams here
David Zaharakis, however, didn't play at state league level despite having his pre-season interrupted by a quad injury.
After starting as the substitute in the win against the Crows Hird said he had been impressed by Zaharakis's development and said he was start on the ground against the Demons.
''David's good,'' Hird said.
''This will be his fourth game, he's coming along well and he'll play a full game tomorrow.''
That Zaharakis won't start as the sub will be the only change the Bombers will make to the successful Round 1 team.
That's welcome news for Hird, who had to endure a 2012 season marred by an extraordinary amount of soft-tissue injuries to his players.
''I can't remember coaching a team that's unchanged so that's pleasant,'' he said.
''At the moment, certainly we have some headaches around selection because we have got a full list of 44 players who are able to play and some very good players who are missing out.''
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Bombers fresh after long break
Dengan url
https://suarabloggerlover.blogspot.com/2013/04/bombers-fresh-after-long-break.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Bombers fresh after long break
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Bombers fresh after long break
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar