Power skipper Tom Jonas praises players for keeping their fitness levels up while training in isolation during coronavirus lockdown
They may have had plenty of time away from training, but Port Adelaide captain Tom Jonas says his teammates haven’t missed a beat during their COVID-19 affected lay-off.
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Port Adelaide captain Tom Jonas says he and the rest of the Power squad returned to training with fitness levels miles ahead of what they would have entering pre-season.
To end the first week of their second ‘pre-season’ of 2020, following the COVID-19 imposed shutdown, Jonas and his teammates underwent testing at Alberton ahead of Monday’s resumption of contact drills.
“(We had) just the one 1km time trial rather than the three 1km time trials we normally do and the first batch of results are pretty impressive,” Jonas said.
“So, I think the boys are in really great nick and I think it shows that they took their time away seriously and are really prepared to play.”
It was all smiles at Alberton on Friday despite the rain and Jonas said the players had the right to feel happy about how they were tracking.
“We are in better condition than we would usually be coming back in from the off-season, far better condition,” Jonas said.
“Probably not quite the same level prior to Round 1, but also I’m not exactly sure.
“Running out there we feel really good and Stewy Graham (Stuart Graham, head of sport science) looking at the data is really impressed.”
Jonas expected the bodies to be feeling significantly stiffer come Tuesday after the players engage in contact training for the first time in months.
“That is probably why we are feeling so good, when you are training without contact it is completely different,” he said.
“Once you have to tackle someone, or be tackled and get back up off the ground and do it again, that is real exhaustion, so that will be a different test.”
But the Power and other AFL clubs will only be able to engage in two contact training sessions a week initially, under the protocols established by the league for a return to play.
Jonas said that wouldn’t leave players underdone when games resume next month.
“I believe more contact the better, but two is better than one,” he said.
“Initially that will be fine.”
How Crows, Power scored training exemption
Port Adelaide chief executive Keith Thomas said reassuring health authorities that the club and players “understood the importance” of the state’s situation was key in the two SA AFL clubs getting exemptions to permit full contact training.
After being initially blindsided by the decision from the state’s transition committee to reject an exemption for players to fly in and out of SA to resume the season and disallow contact training until June 8, the two clubs were surprised last Tuesday to be given an exemption that ruled out the latter.
The revised restrictions came after both Adelaide and Port Adelaide co-wrote a letter to the transition committee.
“We were confident that the South Australian government understood what we were trying to achieve,” Thomas said.
“They weren’t in a position to full satisfy themselves that all of the protocols were in place so we simply went back to the transition committee and said ‘OK, let us understand this better’ and I’m really pleased that they, with their huge agenda, found it possible to circle back around, look at our needs and I think sort of accept that we are willing to do whatever is required to get this right.”
As part of the exemption, players can only leave the house for training, food supplies and emergency and medical situations.
Thomas said the clubs also had to satisfy how this would extend to families, the protocols around Alberton as a quarantine hub, and how they dealt with the hubs in general.
“There’s a whole range of really strict protocols that need to be adhered to and I think a lot of it was about reassuring the government that we understood the importance of this and we want to get this right,” he said.
“I think there is an added responsibility given the high profile nature of AFL, what we do is noticed.”
Power star injured at training
Meanwhile, the Power believe star Robbie Gray has broken his toe just days into its mini pre-season.
But Power chief executive Keith Thomas says despite this they are confident Gray will be able to play in Round 2 when the AFL season resumes on June 11.
Gray dropped a weight on his foot during a session at Alberton, with Power players split up into six groups to comply with COVID-19 requirements.
Thomas said the dangerous forward would still prepare for the season resumption with the team.
“We think it’s broken but he’ll be fine for Round 2,” he told SEN SA.
“He’s feeling much better and a little embarrassed.
“He will be running on those anti-gravity type machines.”
As part of the return of training, Port has cycled the six groups through Alberton to prevent wider contact between players at the club.
They were set to relocate to the Gold Coast on Sunday to engage in contact training in a large group, only for SA health authorities to dramatically change their position on training regulations for the Power and Crows.
Originally published as Power skipper Tom Jonas praises players for keeping their fitness levels up while training in isolation during coronavirus lockdown