Buckley explains Jolly omission
February 04, 2012 17:54:06 UK
Collingwood coach Nathan Buckley has said that his decision to leave Darren Jolly out of the club's leadership group will provide the struggling with the opportunity of concentrating on his personal fitness for the upcoming 2012 AFL season.
He's got a chance to make sure that he pays attention to what he needs to do.
Nathan Buckley
Jolly had an excellent fitness record and had appeared in 142 consecutive matches for the Pies before picking up a knee injury against Richmond in the early part of the 2011 season.
From that point, he became a regular sufferer of niggling injuries and was able to play just 16 matches in the entire season.
Collingwood are 6.50 to win the 2012 AFL Grand Final. Melbourne Demons can be backed at odds of 5001.00.
He did appear in Collingwood's Grand Final defeat at the hands of Geelong but his performance was clearly not at his usual pre-injury level. In order to get back to his best, he has worked extra hard in training this time around and Buckley wants to see more of the same from him.
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"I think his pre-season's been excellent ... he's on his toes. He's probably feeling a little bit of a niggle from last year, his body didn't stand up for him as it has for the whole of his career and his form suffered as a result, but he's been exceptional, I thought today was excellent," Buckley said of Jolly.
"He (Jolly) has been fantastic with the way he's attacked this pre-season. And, he's dragging blokes with him from a leadership sense in that regard.
He's got a chance to make sure that he pays attention to what he needs to do from a body perspective and from a game-style perspective and he hasn't put a foot wrong," he added.
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