I was at the members day and I noticed a quite a few players have out on some good size over the pre season... and to think we still have a couple of months up our sleeve is really making my mouth water...From what I could see for those who were in a singlet tops I noticed the following players had put on quite a few kilo's...
Andrew Walker is becoming a very big and athletic unit. Looked in very tip top condition and all credit to the kid has put on some muscle.
Eddie Betts:- Isn't as scrawny anymore looked great the other day.
Simon Wiggins:- Is a very big unit and looks very tall when you see him in real life.
Fisher:- has put on al ittle bit f muscle however still needs alot more but none of the less he is looking good and injury free.
Jordan Bannister:- This guy has put on some serious kilo's.Jordan is looking realy good and BIG unit.
Jake Edwards:- Looks like a man now with his beard and has also put easily 10 kilos since the start of last year. Big improver on the track aswell.
Stevens:- Is flying on the track and good to finally see some cut up muscle on him. He is in as good as shape as I have seen him at Carlton. You actually see where his biceps and triceps seperate now. One good indication of fat stripping.
Josh Kennedy :- Has also put on some size as well very impressed with him.
Thornton:- Looks very strong and looking at him in a T shirt really looks like a solid unit.

Add at some big bodies like Kouta,Fevola, Lance, Ackland,Sentanta,Waite to the mix all of a sudden we do not look a small unit anymore.
I think people will very suprised with us by the start of the season 07 and beyond. The Jigsaw puzzle is finalling coming together.

I know muscle weight is not everything in football however it is very important to show that we are not just kids anymore we are kids turning into men and full credit to the boys for all there hard work.

Any one else want to share some info on the boys?

Maybe the club has put some money to the gym and fixed it up and they got them working a bit on them,better conditions,more motivation.

Yes, it isnt everything, but body building is an important factor in player development.

One of the first things that Pagan did when he came to Carlton was to get the players to do weights.

I understand he was shocked to see how bad our facilities were, but in particular how bad we were in the area of putting muscle on players

So if there is one very good thing that Pagan has done to benefit Carlton and to change its culture it is to get the players to hit the gym and put on muscle.

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My Blue Heaven

Great post Achilles, good to hear the boys are beefin' up - muscle and body weight help in more ways than people think. Not getting pushed off the ball, tackling effectively, breaking tackles... Pagan wanted them to hit the gym, good to see the boys have been taking his advice...

The players are doing less gym work.
The concentration is finally on strength instead of bulk. Too many of our players have built up muscle without the strength in the required areas. This year that is being addressed.

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Looking forward to seeing our potential realised.

Here's a skinny kid who was developed by Parkin, ended up having bulk and strength exactly as is needed:



Not to mention a little bit of laser surgery on the eyes.

Lets just hope they don’t make the kids too big, we need them to put on size but we need them to keep there speed and athleticism!

SPORN and Houla are perfect examples - they were told to spend an abundance of time in the gym and built too much upper body muscle and therefore loosing there flexibility and speed.

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"Dont count the games, make the games count"

Unfortunately Spornie also lost any ability he may have had too.

Another Pagan furphy swallowed by everyone. That kind of approach was well out of date before Pagan even came to Carlton. Ask Cousins...he went thru that muscle-on-ur-shit phrase then had to knock it all off so he could run again.

They do work on flexibility and speed.

Like everything in life you need a bit of balance.... al ot of our players need to bulk up but also they need the speed in the legs.
Most footy players bulk up at the start of the season but by season end have lost all that muscle as they cant keep up the weights during the regular season...

Ran into Glen Archer and Alad Didak at the shops and they have both trimmed down big time.....Didak was always a bit podgy for mine but he looks like he has been on the Nicole Ritchie diet......

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"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Heard Heath Scotland interviewed earlier this year on 927 & he partially attributed his good form in 06 to 'training down' a bit over summer. I think he said he deliberately dropped about 3kgs & became a better runner as a result. Depends on the player's role in the team I suppose.