Commitment reaps rewards for Northern Heat squad

The Northern Heat squad wound up their training program in Armidale on Sunday and now turn all of their focus to the match against Southport Sharks Colts team at the end of the month.

The recent bout of wet weather caused havoc with this last training session which was originally scheduled to be in Coffs Harbour on Saturday 20 February, was moved to Sunday 28 February in Coffs, and then ultimately moved to Armidale on that same date. The squad once again showed their unquestioned commitment to the program with an almost full contingent at the twice re-scheduled session despite multiple changes and late notice.

The focus of the session was once again on moving the ball forward through handballs and running hard to provide options. The theme was expanded in this last session to focus more on game like situations, with forwards providing leading options and backs looking to spoil, before rounding out with a half field match simulation.

Alan Martin, Head Coach, said that the program has been building throughout with a view towards extending players’ footy IQ whilst also preparing for the match at Southport. “It’s a simple game and at the start the players over complicated it by trying to bring another team mate into it with one more handball than was needed, but once we simplified things and started hitting leading forward targets we looked magnificent.”

The match against Southport Sharks is on Saturday 27 March at Fankhauser Reserve, Southport and will be played after the VFL East Coast match between Southport Sharks and Aspley Hornets.

The match will be live streamed and all 15 and 16 year old players that would be eligible for the next Northern Heat program are strongly encouraged to watch. Stay tuned to this site for further details.