Brad Scott opens door to North Melbourne HQ ahead of clash with Port Adelaide
AFL players cop stick from the football public when they make mistakes, but ELIZA SEWELL found it’s nothing compared to rigorous weekly internal reviews, where no detail is missed.
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ELIZA SEWELL spent a week inside North Melbourne’s inner sanctum, with Brad Scott and the Roos players giving her an all-access pass as they prepared to take on Port Adelaide.
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■SUNDAY, 4.07PM, ETIHAD STADIUM
Brad Scott walks into a dead quiet meeting room at the back of the Kangaroos’ dressing rooms.
Twenty-two players sit on the terraced steps in front of him
“What did I say to you Goldy?” Scott begins
“I created the opportunity,” Goldstein responds.
It’s a positive start to what you think might have been an explosive meeting. After all, the pain of a four-point loss is still raw, especially for Goldstein who has missed an easy set shot in the final seconds.
Scott’s message is mistakes happen. What he can’t fathom is how for the whole opening term his players seemed to forget the systems they have been training.
You can sense it in his voice. He’s calm but when he talks about the simple things like where players should set up, you can tell he’s exasperated. How many times does he have to go over it?
“It shouldn’t take at half time for a bit of wall punching and a spray,” Scott says.
But that’s now the past and the future is already racing towards North Melbourne.
“I want everyone absolutely engaged (this week),’’ Scott stresses, syllables strung out.
“Stick together. This season is all about next week. Learn from it, grow from it, get better.
“Shinboners united. Shinboners united. Go to work this week, make sure we nail every set-up.”
It’s solemn in the rooms. Ben Brown says he is thinking about what he could have changed in the last couple of minutes.
“There was one where I ran into Taz when he was about to mark it, you just think about those small things,” the forward says.
Brown is in the red on the weight-loss sheet. He checks in pre-match at 101.3kg and ends the game at 98kg. He will have to drink five litres of fluid in 6.2 hours to rehydrate.
Now they circle the main dressing room, followed by leg and side raises to lengthen the muscles.
The ice baths await. Set at between 10 and 12 degrees, this 10-minute process is about pressure.
“Pressure stops bleeding, flushes the waste,” conditioning boss Jona Segal says.
There are gourmet pizzas and BBQ ribs. Brown’s coeliac so he skips the pizza and eats a few gluten free protein bars.
Once the players leave the rooms they’re done for the day.
Tomorrow there are three recovery groups — “triage” at the club where injured blokes or those who wake sore present as well as a session at the beach and another at a pool. With the six-day break the key is to get everyone moving again.
■TUESDAY, 8.30AM ARDEN ST
Jack Ziebell takes his place at stoppage coach Jarred Moore’s computer. It’s edits time.
First up, a missed tackle. “That’s a good start,” Ziebell says.
“You remember this one?” Moore says.
It’s a boundary throw in at half forward with nine minutes to go in the second term. In a halved ruck contest, the ball falls over the back into no man’s land. An unmarked Nat Fyfe gets to the drop a millisecond before Trent Dumont. Fyfe spins powerfully out of the Dumont tackle and releases Tommy Sheridan who kicks long into the outstretched hands of Darcy Tucker screaming towards the Fremantle goal.
“What are you thinking?” Moore asks “Just, (Brad) Hill?”
“I questioned after this, we needed a cover and I wasn’t sure if that was coming from a mid or a forward at this point in time,” Ziebell says.
“It was never going to be a forward,” Moore explains.
“I was thinking should I have been where I was or should I have been cover? I look back at that and err on the side of caution and say go and stand back shoulder, and not let him have that and Frog (Dumont) can stay where he is.
“There wasn’t that communication. I didn’t know Frog was target. It was just an inside/outside balance thing with Hill on the outside. But we can’t leave Fyfe that side of a stoppage. If I had my time over again, I’d go and stand on his back shoulder and just stay cover and come forward at Hilly if it gets out there.”
Scott’s frustration at his team getting the simple things wrong is shared by Ziebell.
“You lose a game by four points on the weekend and we cough up three or four goals from our mistakes because we didn’t stand in the right position or set up in the right spot,” Ziebell says.
“What have we lost four or five games this year by under a goal? People who don’t think little things matter in footy, they matter massively.
“We go through structure meetings all the time and blokes roll their eyes saying ‘I know this, I know it’. But obviously you don’t because you don’t get it right on the weekend still.”
With four camera angles “we don’t miss anything,” Moore says after the review.
It takes six hours the day after the game for Moore to cut his players’ edits. He says the key to giving feedback is knowing your players.
“Some you have to cuddle a bit,” Moore says.
“Luke McDonald’s one you can whack. He’s got a thick skin.”
10AM TEAM MEETING
The players are waiting outside for the cue to enter the theatrette. Once the door’s shut, it’s shut, so no one’s late.
They sit in the same seat every week, Ziebell between Sam Gibson and Lachie Hansen.
“Mine hasn’t changed in eight years,” Ziebell explains.
He’s not sure why. It’s just the way it is.
There’s a magnet for each player as they enter the room. If you think you’ve played in the spirit of a Shinboner, you place your magnet on the board.
Performance analyst manager Jason Lappin takes charge and highlights play on the big screen.
Scott takes over as vision is shown of Ziebell hugging and offering encouragement to a devastated Goldstein straight after the siren.
“It’s a great example of leadership. ‘We’re all hurting but I can think about how someone else is feeling’,” Scott says.
A Shinboner is declared after every match. This round it’s McDonald. They show his courageous mark where he goes back with the flight of the ball. They show him breaking tackles on the other side of the ground.
Scott rolls the first clip. It’s the stoppage Ziebell has seen earlier that results in the Tucker goal.
“In a tight game, how do we allow this to happen?” Scott asks.
Nathan Hrovat speaks to the vision.
“I’m rounding up Sheridan here, I’m just not close enough to impact when Fyfe gets the handball away,” Hrovat says.
“He’s your responsibility and we’ve got to cover the corridor every single time,” forward coach Leigh Tudor says.
Dumont acknowledges his missed tackle. Scott Thompson says he’s playing too skinny in defence. Ziebell chimes in. He should have been on Fyfe’s shoulder.
“This is such a cheap easy goal when we’ve worked so hard to set everything up … because we can’t execute what we want because we can’t get our structure right,” Scott says.
There are plays where the structures are perfect and work and Scott highlights these.
Tackling is a hot topic after the first quarter on Sunday. The Kangaroos had 40 missed tackles and “15 stepped, tried to tackle”. A ratio of time in possession to tackles clearly shows the players when they tackle more, they have the ball more.
“What are we trying to do when we come forward to tackle, what’s the terminology?” Scott asks and a chorus responds.
Scott boils down the message.
“Cut them in half. We do not coach ‘come forward, and maybe if they try to handball intercept it’.
“Come forward, inside shoulder, split that bloke in half.”
Scott leads the chat but transition coach Josh Drummond, Moore and Tudor all jump in from the stalls. Players do too. No blame is laid.
11AM TRAINING
It’s more recovery than training. It’s clear why clubs talk about the challenges of six-day breaks all the time. There’s a stack to cram in before the team flies to Adelaide on Friday. Light running is followed by skills.
The players are chatty and upbeat. There’s no time to dwell on Sunday’s loss and with a bumper list of requirements, the routine structure of the player’s day means they have to move on.
Nearing the end of the session the players line up for goalkicking practice in what appears to be the spot Todd Goldstein had missed from in the dying seconds on Sunday. It is. You can’t get away with anything at a footy club.
“I’ve known for two days I was having that shot,” Goldstein says.
“That’s footy clubs. If it happened longer than five minutes ago, you can joke about it.”
Goldstein misses his first three attempts.
“There’s no bigger pressure than out here in front of 40 of your teammates, them all crowding around you yelling at you, they know how to put you off,” Goldstein says.
He’s the last to leave the track. He has about 20 set-shots with Tudor out there with him. It’s Goldy’s choice.
“Given the disappointment on the weekend, I wanted to make sure I got enough shots up today.
“I wanted to kick six straight from that spot and until I kicked six in a row I wasn’t going to leave.”
12.30PM LUNCH
Chef Gail Miller is ex-military and knows how to cook for a crowd.
Footy boss Cam Joyce says the players always say she must be the first re-signed every year.
She cooks up eggs and bacon for breakfast. That’s 80kg of bacon and about 1000 eggs a week. There’s baked beans and mushrooms as well as plenty of avocados (five trays a week). Lunch today is seven-hour slow cooked lamb, salmon and chicken thighs with taco seasoning plus a roast pumpkin and chickpea salad.
There’s a snack and salad bar with nuts and seeds, Gail’s muesli bars and other healthy things. In the fridge is milk and yoghurt. A couple of players make up a big glass of chocolate Quick.
The lamb and chicken are delicious. I’m not sure how Gail does it without using butter or oil. Someone has stolen all of the pumpkin from the salad, but “that always happens” injured defender Ed Vickers-Willis explains.
“They love bolognaise, they love taco chicken,” Gail says.
“We have chicken strips when they win … because they’ve got crumbs on them, starchy carbs — that’s only for a treat.”
2PM FOOTBALL PERFORMANCE STRATEGY
Performance analyst Olivia Mills goes first with her statistical report on what happened at the weekend and where the club sits in key statistics. There’s a VFL review, medical report, general football business and “oppo” analysis.
One player hasn’t been reaching top end speed during training. There’s a comment he appears to be loping or over striding. Speed school might be an option.
A young player lost his way on Sunday and Scott stresses the structures must be drilled into him again. Walk throughs on a map spread out on the basketball courts will be done later in the week.
Chocolate and M&Ms sustain the room, which fills and empties and fills again as the business is done.
Brayden Preuss has hurt his back in the VFL. Scott is extremely disappointed. He tells the medical team to get him right so they can bring the young ruckman into the senior side with confidence.
It’s a relaxed atmosphere. Coaches and analysts jump in and out.
This meeting is also the first match committee. Cam Joyce puts 22 magnets on the board next to each Port Adelaide opponent. And the fun begins.
Dumont, later dropped, is in trouble after a quiet game against the Dockers. They’re not ruthless about players, just matter of fact. Some coaches feel more passionate about a certain position or player than others. They’ve all watched the same games, but have different views on who fits and where.
They’ve loving the work of Luke McDonald on the wing.
Scott listens intently. He lets his colleagues lead the conversation. He seeks the views of others, but you sense at the end of the day he’ll make the call he thinks is right.
It’s not heated or aggressive discussion. It’s the conversation supporters all around the country have across the dinner table or at the pub. We just haven’t watched hours and hours of vision.
Scott is the voice of reason when others make brash statements about players and the team.
“Let’s not talk around in circles; food for thought,” Scott says as he declares the meeting over at 6pm.
■WEDNESDAY 10AM
It’s the players’ day off and Luke McDonald celebrates his Shinboner award with a cruisy breakfast at his usual stomping ground, Cafe Trutrack in Leveson St. The place is a second home to McDonald and his housemates Daw, Taylor Garner and Ben Jacobs. He even has a smoothie named after him.
Poached eggs, avocado, bacon and a hash brown and, of course, a Luke smoothie is the usual.
“We’re always there,” McDonald said.
‘Even after training, we have tea club there. A few of us drink tea — I’m a peppermint man.”
There’s no footy talk today.
“We don’t even have Foxtel at our house, there’s no footy whatsoever ” McDonald says.
“Which is pretty different for me. I only moved out of home last year and Dad (Donald) obviously works at the footy club so we spoke about footy. It’s been heaps better, not being consumed by it all.”
He visits the club for a massage and an ice bath. The afternoon is spent shooting hoops at home and playing PlayStation. He’s on uni holidays so it’s pretty chilled. They go to the Leveson pub for dinner and to watch the Origin.
■THURSDAY 9.30AM WEIGHTS AND SCREENINGS
Those body building sessions you imagine, where blokes stand around cheering as Scotty Thompson lifts a massive bench press? Not happening this week. That’s saved mostly for the pre-season or maybe younger guys who are continuing to build. In season it’s about regeneration and maintenance.
Programs are individualised with players rotating through activities including bench press, curls, chin ups. The beats are hip hop; I recognise Kanye.
Daw does very little, not that you can tell. They almost have to keep him away from the weights room.
“Majak has got a very different program, “ strength coach Scott Dickinson says.
“Maj is a fast responder. We strip all the volume right out of his program we only give him what he absolutely needs and not more. It is such an aerobic game. If you’re carrying around 4kg of extra muscle it’s still extra weight that you have to carry for that game. These guys are so finely tuned they would notice the difference between one or 2kg in terms of output in games.”
11.15AM OPPOSITION MEETING
Players and coaches are back in the theatrette as opposition analyst Julian Davis talks through the Port Adelaide list.
He mentions Dan Houston and Sam Powell-Pepper, guys the North players might not have seen much of.
They’re in good spirits.
The clips start. Scott leads the commentary.
There’s a new drill to ram home the pressure Scott wants on match day, training players to stay in a contest. He wants high intensity.
“Let’s go out and train it well and then go over to Port Adelaide on a mission to get the job done,” Scott says.
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