Brumbies quest to be fitter, faster, stronger

He has the power to make a grown man whimper and he has been entrusted with ensuring that the Brumbies are the fittest side in the Super 14. He is Brumbies Athletic Performance Coordinator Damian Marsh.

Marsh, who has been with the Brumbies for six years after joining the Canberra-based franchise from the NRL’s Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, forms a formidable strength and conditioning partnership with Brumbies Athletic Performance Coach Rod Lindsell.

The merciless pair has been running players through their paces with a goal of having them in peak physical condition for the Brumbies’ first match of the season against the Chiefs in Hamilton on February 3.

“It’s not so much about punishing blokes, it’s more that I enjoy seeing them get in shape,” he said.

“The players have a small window of opportunity to get ready for the season and if I can put them in a condition to play good rugby then I’ve done my job. It’s a small role but it’s an important one in the context of the year.”

Marsh says that the specific rugby conditioning is designed to help players make the right decisions under pressure and fatigue.

“The ball’s in play a certain amount of time during a match and we need to ensure that the density of effort is increasing during that time,” he said.

“We need the forwards to be fit enough to get to and be effective at the next breakdown and the backs need to be able to repeat high intensity efforts. By having the players as fit as possible we can resist fatigue and put them in a position where they can play the expansive, Brumbies-style of running rugby.”

Marsh says the aim is to increase general fitness before incorporating more “skills conditioning and ball-in-hand work”.

“We’ll introduce pre-fatiguing work prior to skill activities and try to steer away from aimless \running,” he said.

“We want the players to be running with a purpose so they are conditioned for stop-start, change of direction and agility needed during the game. We want them to be ‘rugby fit’.”

Marsh says that the players have benefited from an extended 2006 season, courtesy of the Australian Provincial Championship.

“Generally the players are starting this pre-season in better shape,” he said. “But we need to see an improvement in each of them from this time last year. If they’re coming to us in better shape for the pre-season then they will be in better shape at the beginning of the Super 14.

“Tools like the beep test measures general aerobic fitness and are a good general fitness indicator. But we’re more interested in how players are performing on the training paddock week to week.”

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