cino
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Joined: 11 Feb 2007
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 Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 7:18 am Post subject: Recovery work has Western Bulldogs' Jason Akermanis tip-top |
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| Quote: | Recovery work has Western Bulldogs' Jason Akermanis tip-top
Jon Ralph | March 04, 2009 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25135755-19775,00.html
WESTERN Bulldogs Jason Akermanis says listening to his body has him in perfect shape entering what could be his farewell season. The 32-year-old is in the final season of his three-year deal and was set back by a calf tear in late January.
But while he was initially expected to miss up to six weeks, he made an encouraging return in Friday's practice match against St Kilda at Visy Park.
Akermanis says he has fully recovered from the injury and is running as well as ever.
He has learnt not too push himself too hard in between training sessions and is hopeful it will allow him to stay injury-free this year.
"Personally I am on track and in good shape. (My calf) is great. Probably the best thing is in the end I finally worked out that I have to admit I am older. I need that extra day to recover and I wasn't recovering well in between sessions.
"So we learn all the time, even at my age. The medical staff and conditioning staff have been great with it.
"I have got the miles into the legs, and even while I didn't play all the game (on Friday) there was plenty of zip and plenty of defensive running, so you will see a whole lot more of that this year."
Akermanis added 5kg to his frame last year, and it took until this pre-season for him to hit top speed.
Along with captain Brad Johnson, he was flying before Christmas before his set-back.
"Last year I went from 80kg to 85kg and I am about 84.5kg but it took me a whole year to get used to that extra weight. By Christmas, all of a sudden I was running right at the front (of the pack). But I was inconsistent.
"Then after Christmas I got a bit tight and had a break and it give me a chance to get everything else right - the diet and skinfolds and everything else - and now I am going up instead of down."
While the Bulldogs looked woeful against St Kilda and have had a number of players sidelined due to injury, the players have done a power of fitness work.
Akermanis said coach Rodney Eade is confident the club is ready for the season proper.
"We have got enormous base, an enormous amount of training into us. We will improve a lot next week," he said. |
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