The opportunity to build on their connection and further develop their skills in an elite training environment led to a successful camp in Canberra this week for the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.
Following a fortnight’s break over the Christmas holiday period, the Sea Eagles spent their first week of 2024 pre-season training in different weather conditions at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra.
“We essentially took our football program from Brookvale to Canberra. It was a really worthwhile five days,’’ said Manly Coach Anthony Seibold.
“The AIS has world class facilities. It’s where athletes go and train to win an Olympic medal.
“You see people like Bronte Campbell, a dual Olympic gold medal and world champion swimmer training there, to international gymnasts and Paralympians. The Australian Diamonds Netball team were also there.
“For us, we want to give ourselves every opportunity to be in the frame to be there when the finals come around.
“It was also the first time we had every player in our squad together. Daly Cherry-Evans and Jake Trbojevic were the last two players to come back to pre-season training (following Test football).”
Seibold said the camp wasn’t just about the playing side of things, adding champion athletes such as Matt Formston and Kieren Perkins were brought in to address the squad in between some fun team activities.
“Matt is a Paralympian champion and one of the best big wave surfers in the world despite his blindness. He also follows Manly,’’ Seibold added.
“Kieren spoke to the guys about his swimming career and what drove him to Olympic success.
"For us, it's about connecting the group. We are still growing and have been working really hard on how we want to play our footy. We are also trying to build belonging in the group.
“The most important thing we are trying to drive here is that there is a Manly way of doing things and there is a Manly mentality to doing things.
“We are only at the very halfway point of our pre-season training block so we have got a lot of work to do.
“The players understand that we have made some gains over the last 12-13 months but we need to continue building on this.”
