Broncos Seeking Olypic Edge At A I S

[jenny]

FOS SPORTS
League
Broncos seeking Olympic edge at AIS

By Dan Koch
January 30, 2007

LAST year Operation Harden Up instilled a resilience in the Broncos that carried them to the National Rugby League summit; this season they are hoping a more scientific approach will keep them there.

The defending premier gathered in Canberra yesterday morning for a week-long pre-season camp at the Australian Institute of Sport.

It is effectively the starting point of the Broncos' campaign to become the first team in 14 years to win back-to-back titles in a united competition.

Youngsters Karmichael Hunt and Darius Boyd have muscled up while young props Corey Parker and Ben Hannant are fitter and faster. And after a good break, veterans Brad Thorn and Petero Civoniceva look refreshed, despite off-season additions to their families.

Now the battle for places in the Broncos' starting 17 begins in earnest.

"A lot of pre-season training is individual," said Brisbane football manager and former Queensland prop Andrew Gee.

"All the guys have their own programs and goals. The rep guys only started back training a couple of weeks ago. Everyone is working on different things at different times to get themselves ready for the year.

"The camp set-up gives us a chance to bring everyone in together to start working on the things as a team and see where everyone is at."

Rather than being a radical cross-training escapade, the team, minus injured pair Justin Hodges (wisdom teeth) and David Stagg (shoulder reconstruction), will stay on site for the week training alongside the 700 AIS scholarship-holders who live there.

Performance co-ordinator Dean Benton said the camp marked the next step towards striving for the athletic peak he believes the Broncos are capable of reaching.

Formerly a coach on the national track and field team based at the AIS, Benton is fully aware of the benefits gained from training at the multi-million-dollar facility, surrounded by other world-class athletes. But he said the players were not the only ones who would be going to school this week.

"It's great for the guys to interact with athletes involved in the Olympic sports and see how they train, how they eat and how they look after themselves," Benton said.

"It takes them out of their comfort zone a little and opens their eyes to a lot of things they probably hadn't seen or considered previously.

"It's the same for the staff as well. We are here at what is arguably the best multi-sport training facility in the world and we would be crazy not to take advantage of that.

"While the camp is mostly about getting the guys together, really for the first time this season, it doubles as a professional development for all the staff because you are talking about working with people who are the best in the world at what they do."

One of the survivors of last season's torturous boot camp, hooker Shaun Berrigan, welcomed the change in venue and said the week would give the squad the chance to welcome some new members following the departures of Shane Webcke, Casey McGuire, Brett Seymour and Neville Costigan.

"You are just surrounded by sport, so there is a very professional feeling around the place," Berrigan said.

"But it is good to get into camp like this. We have a few young guys coming into the squad who don't know many of the boys that well, so this will give us the chance to all mix together."

Berrigan said talk among the players had already turned to the World Club Challenge against St Helens on February 23. Gee said Brisbane would take its best available squad to Britain.

[Social Loafer]

IMO they should get off our turf and build their own A.I.S Should go down there and give them a piece of my mind

Can't believe they are training virtually next to the Raiders..

[Future Star]

the AIS should be off-limit to non-Canberrans imo.
Screw the Broncos.

[Robbie_Dee]

the AIS should be off-limit to non-Canberrans imo.
Screw the Broncos.

AIS = AUSTRALIAN Institute of Sport! Not Canberra's Institute of Sport!

That's like saying Hewitt can't play in Rod Laver Arena coz he's not a Victorian!

[Capital_Shark]

The Broncos are using the AIS facilities to go and represent Australia though.

[Capital_Shark]

That's like saying Hewitt can't play in Rod Laver Arena coz he's not a Victorian!

lol or named Rod Laver

[Future Star]

lol or named Rod Laver

lol - nice one!