Scott Robertson has just become head coach of the New Zealand rugby team. 

He's giving his first speech to the players.

"What's your biggest asset?" he asks them.

"Your body," a player offers.

"Yeah, it's your body eh," confirms Robertson.

At the very top of professional sport, durability is arguably the most prized asset. 

Robertson continues:

"We're extremely talented, but we're humans."

Every player will succumb to injury from time to time. 

But even international athletes like the All-Blacks have to be reminded that your best ability is your availability.

I think availability is one of the most under-appreciated skills in club GAA.

Because at this time of year, a lot of players are dealing with niggles. 

Injuries that don't prevent them from playing or training, but there's something there that means they are operating below 100%.

Some players are just going from game to game, hoping to get through them. 

The reality is that while some injuries are random or unlucky, they can often be linked to poor prep, overuse, or inconsistency.

Players who consistently prehab weak points or niggles, are less likely to miss training and games than those who don't. That's a fact.

We all know some players that never get injured. Of course, some of that is down to genetics or luck.

But it's normally the players who listen to their bodies and are proactive when the early signs of an injury appear that can be relied on to train and play week-in, week-out.

Missing training over time can add up to a loss of match fitness, sharpness, speed and performance. 

A huge part of S&C is injury prevention. 

Especially when the championship starts to ramp up. 

My best advice to players is to start arriving 15 minutes earlier to training so you can do some extra mobility work.

And realise that every gym session doesn't have to involve heavy lifting or power work.

A 20-minute spin on a bike with some mobility work afterwards could be far more beneficial for you than a full-body gym session, for instance. 

Quote To Think About

“In conditioning work, one of the rules is to progressively overload, but not all the time. If you’re doing it all the time, it’s probably overkill. The biggest problem in amateur sport is the recovery part. Being able to switch off and have outside stresses really dimmed. The body doesn’t distinguish between physical stress or mental stress or environmental stress. So, you have a certain capacity in your body to tolerate that. When you come to the pitch, and you’re running on empty, you’re digging a hole for yourself.”

—Lukasz Kirszenstein

What I'm Reading

Only got around to reading it this week, but Kerry defender Paul Murphy's diary of the All-Ireland final build-up and celebrations is a great read in the Irish Examiner.

What I'm Listening To

Enjoyed listening to Craig Bellamy on the High Performance podcast. The Wales manager is a completely different character than what you would expect. An open and honest chat about his career, personal life and the move into management.