DONS ARE NOT FIT.
Melbourne Herald Sun 08 August 2007
by Jon Pierik.
Former Essendon fitness guru Peter Power yesterday delivered a damning assessment of the Bomber’s conditioning department and claimed a one- dimensional Matthew LLoyd needed to lose weight.
Power who worked closely with coach Kevin Sheedy between 1981-1985 and 1988-1991, was astounded by Lloyd’s comments in yesterday’s Herald Sun.
The Bombers skipper said his team was not suited to playing at the MCG - it has won only six of 23 games there in the past three years - and had become a Telstra Dome specialist.
This prompted Power to send a stinging letter to the Herald Sun, which he was at pains to point out was not aimed at Sheedy. the highly respected John Quinn is Essendon’s current high-performance manager. “It is apparent that Essendon does not do enough hard gut-running fitness training, particularly in the pre-season sessions,” Power said.
"As a spectator, I note with sadness that unless Essendon is up by three to four goals at three-quarter time, they generally get run over in the final quarter.
"What Lloyd was quoted as saying is covering up the underlying reason - the current Essendon team is not fit enough.
“Look at the facts. How often over the last handful of years, for example, have Essendon run over the top of teams?”
Power was with Essendon during its back-to-back flags in 1984-85.
Power’s frustration boiled over when the Bombers failed to kick a goal in the final quarter of a 63-point thrashing from Hawthorn at the MCG on Sunday.
Lloyd had a dirty day kicking just two goals.
“Matthew Lloyd should lose 5-6kg of muscle, as he appears to be too top heavy,” Power said.
"He needs to get more run in his legs and, therefore, he would not be the one-dimensional player that he is - full-forward - with the occasional burst up the ground.
“James Hird has lightened up and is enjoying another great season.”
Power said Essendon teams under his guidance had “always finished strongly”.
“My job was not to be the most popular staff member at the football club because I was the one pushing them past the pain barrier,” He said.
"When I speak to former players, some claim to still have nightmares about our pre-season fitness sessions.
“The same players, however, enjoyed kicking a record ten goals in the final quarter of the 1984 premiership win over Hawthorn.”
Power acknowledged the game has changed “a great deal” since he left Essendon after the 1991 season and understood it took a week for some players to recover from their heavy workload.
Quinn fired back at Power, saying his opinion was no longer relevant.
“Saying we are losing games because we are not fit enough is a very long bow to pull,” Quinn said.
“If we are not fit enough for the MCG, then Subiaco this weekend is going to be a huge test for us.”
Quinn said statistics in the first half of the season showed the team had finished games strongly.
“The fitness of the team is high,” he said.
"I haven’t had a look at the statistics for the last three or four weeks, But I know three or four weeks ago we were the No.1 team for the last quarter.
“We had won eight or nine out of 12 last quarters.”