Our guest for Episode 42 of the Prepare Like A Pro Podcast is The High-Performance Director of the Carlton Football Club — Andrew Russell. After graduating, Andrew obtained his first major sporting role as an assistant conditioning coach with the Essendon Football Club. The club won the premiership in 2000, giving limelight to Andrew to which resulted in him being “head-hunted” by the rival football club, the AFL club, Port Adelaide. He took up the role of Head Fitness Coach with Port Adelaide a year that paved the way to winning its Premiership in 2004. Andrew moved back to Victoria to the Hawthorn Football Club as a High-Performance Manager. He was known as “Jack” later on. Jack has constantly undertaken professional development to improve his effectiveness, and to this date, has been involved in six AFL premierships. He has also coached Jeff Riseley, an accomplished Australian middle-distance runner to a World Championship 800 metre semi-final and a 5th place at the Commonwealth Games. Something notable about Jack is that he leads by example by undertaking his own endurance running training which has allowed him to compete at events such as the Stawell Gift.
In this podcast we discussed:
- His love for competition and a high-performance environment.
- His mentors along his journey such as John Quinn and Mark McGrath (check out their awesome interviews in our podcast list!).
- His insight into his approach on how to prepare for AFL football, including the training, recovery, and the mental side.
In this episode you will learn:
- Jack’s football journey.
- The changes he has seen over his 20-year career in the AFL.
- How he values education and how he goes about refining his craft.
- The importance of living an elite lifestyle and asking lots of questions.
- The things that worked and hasn’t worked throughout his career.
- The importance of team cohesion amongst the strength & conditioning, medical & coaches’ staff.
- The importance of having an individualized strength & conditioning program for working on your strengths as well as manage past injuries.
- What Jack would be doing if he isn’t working in the AFL.
People mentioned:
- Finn Russell
- Alastair Clarkson
- Ricky Ponting
- Vern Gambetta
- Vern Mcmillan
- Mark Mcgrath
- Mark Williams
- Phill Walsh
- Michael Phelps
- Cathy Freeman
- Josh Francou
- Peter Burgoyne
- Stuart Dew
- Loris Bertallaci
- Sam Walsh
- Sam Mitchell
- Kane Cornes
- Cyril Rioli
- Lance Franklin
- John Quinn
- James Hanson
- Sean Murphey
- Luke Boyd
- Phill Meareman