Who is the best AFL preparer?
Former AFL high-performance guru Andrew Russell has been in and around the competition for over two decades, and has worked closely with some of the best players in the league.
Russell spent time at Essendon, Port Adelaide, Hawthorn and Carlton during his time at clubland, and is now assisting AFL players on an individual level.
On SEN, he ranks his top 10 preparers during his time as a high-performance coach in the AFL.
Stiff to miss
Lance 'Buddy' Franklin pre-season in 2008.
"The only player I've seen from a training perspective, you'd pay to watch him train; he was that good. In a team of champions, he stood out. His speed, endurance, skill, strength, his ball handling, finishing skills, every aspect of the game, completely stood out.
"He had over 200 shots on goal. A special year after a special preparation. It starts in October. He was in the top two or three in every single capacity you want to measure and one in most of them."
The criteria are:
"From the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to bed, what you do with your day. We're talking about life habits. Everything. The way that you live is the way that you play over time."
6Luke Hodge
"He had the greatest transition from how he entered the game to how he exited the game in terms of professionalism.
"Two examples of that. After a grand final (2012), he had a PCL injury, he had surgery the next week, he then had someone come over who did lymphatic drainage to recover. He was getting that done every single day to reduce the swelling and increase his recovery. He had unbelievable recovery from that PCL. I don't think many people knew he had it.
"The other thing he did was D and S work in 2012. The second half of his career, which is a way of training around your diaphragm and posture, your control, body movement. A guy called Mark McGrath worked with him. He got to the point where he would pay Mark McGrath to go up to Brisbane, when he was in Brisbane, go Tuesday night, do Wednesday work on him, then he'd fly him back Thursday. He'd be paying that himself. That's how much it meant to him in increasing his career length.
