David Warner faster than NRL star Josh Addo-Carr says man who coaches them both
NRL sprint guru Roger Fabri, who has coached both men, says David Warner covers short distances between the wickets at a more rapid rate than even Melbourne Storm winger Josh Addo-Carr.
Cricket
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cricket. Followed categories will be added to My News.
David Warner’s sprint coach believes he is quicker over a short distance than rugby league’s fastest man Josh Addo-Carr.
And he should know … he coaches both of them.
Roger Fabri has trained some of the NRL’s most gifted athletes - including transforming Jarryd Hayne for the NFL and turning Damien Cook into the fastest dummy half in the game - but the sprint guru has declared Warner the equal of any of his star pupils and a revolutionary in cricket.
Stream the Australia v Pakistan Test Series Live & Ad-Break Free During Play with KAYO SPORTS. Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
In a sport that has long celebrated the different body shapes of David Boon and Mark ‘Tubby’ Taylor, Warner’s marathon-like 335 not out, where he ran his last single as hard as his first, showcased just how far the whippet-like opener is ahead of the rest of the pack.
Warner ran the equivalent of a half-marathon in Adelaide, mostly at top speed, and has fine-tuned his body to the point where some teammates over recent years have become like a ball and chain, unable to keep up at the other end.
Fabri says if the likes of Addo-Carr and Jarryd Hayne lined up for a 22-yard sprint between wickets, Warner would take some beating.
“The only times I really do test him on is his 22 yards, because that’s the pitch length,” said Fabri.
“He’d only be about half a metre down on those two guys (Addo-Carr and Hayne).
“And over the first five, 10, 15 metres of that distance he’d be out in front of them.
“Over (100 metres), it would be a distance (between Addo-Carr and Warner), but you’d be surprised. It wouldn’t be as far as most people would think.
“No one can get to their top speed in 25 metres. I expose him to a lot further distances to build his strength so I’ve got more accurate times for him over 60 and 80 metres. It’s no surprise for me to see him do what he did.”
Cricket.com reported that Warner’s data shows he put himself and his batting partners through 146 efforts classified as “high-intensity accelerations”, where he sprinted at full speed between the wickets.
“He is revolutionising the game,” said Fabri. “Not only in his transitioning between wickets, how many twos he’s turned into threes … but I’m a big advocate for the fact that (when you run) high speed, everything else returns to high speed.
“I think that his hand and eye coordination or his reflexes have also improved significantly.
“On the detrimental side of things, it’s how many of his partners haven’t had the ability to be able to keep up with him. He’s told me sometimes he feels like he has to run with the handbrake on.”
When wife Candice Warner – herself a professional ironwoman – first met the pugnacious opener, she was gobsmacked that his training regimen ended after he left the nets.
Since meeting her, Warner has transformed into one of the leanest athletes in cricket. During Warner’s 12-month ban they worked together three times a week. Fabri says Cricket Australia’s high performance unit must now catch up.
“(Since I first started training him) he’s improved his speed by between two and a half to three metres over that 22 yard range. That’s huge,” said Fabri.
“His speed endurance has gone through the roof.
“It’s just a phenomenal effort. It was quite a big battle at the start when we first started together trying to sell speed endurance to a guy who had just been brought up running 22 yards at whatever pace he needed to. And really Candy was the person that brought him down, because her and I worked a lot together when she was performing herself.
“He is able to stop fours and turn them into twos because of his speed being able to run down the ball.
“If you’re fatigued and you’re not conditioned for speed endurance or repeat speed, you spend all your time trying to recapture your breath. But David is focused on where he’s going to place the ball. He’s already got his breath back.
“If it hasn’t taken Cricket Australia by notice, it should.”