Today I was lucky enough to be able to speak to another member of the GWS Giants team…Lachlan Wilmot @lachlan_wilmot. Lachlan is head strength and power coach at GWS Giants and has fulfilled that role since the launch of the club around six years ago. In this episode we discuss Lachlan’s ideas around long term athlete development and specifically around the concept of ‘Boys to Giants’, which Lachlan will soon be presenting at the Australian of Strength and Conditioning associations prestigious conference. 

In this episode we discuss the optimal journey of young Australian football players from the start of their professional journey all the way through to the elite level. Lachlan shares with us an incredible amount of information around the development strength and power attributes in players as well as his ideas around the professional development of coaches and the sports science and medicine team within the sport. 

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In this episode you will learn: 

• Who is Lachlan and what was his journey to becoming part of the world class department at GWS Giants

• What is Lachlan presenting at the ASCA conference, an overview of ‘Boys to Giants’

• When developing an athletic development programme for a start-up AFL club; what are the fundamental requirements that you advise clubs to begin with?

• How should coaches design a LTAD philosophy for the sport and what are some of the key principles in your clubs philosophy?

• What are some of the key strategies that you use to try and ensure your players are ready for the demands of playing in the AFL?

• With regard to strength & conditioning, what are some key mistakes that you often see in the sport and how can these be replicated?

• How do you programme pre-season and in-season strength and conditioning for 18–23 year old athletes to prepare them for the AFL?

• Which internal and external training load monitoring strategies do you find the most useful for clubs who are just starting or have low budget or inexperienced staff?

• How would you advise younger s&c coaches to get involved in working in the AFL?

Resources of Interest from the Episode

Lachlan's Twitter | Facebook | Instagram 

David Joyce Books - High Performance | Injury Prevention and Rehabilitation 

Team Builder

Ultimate Athlete Concepts

Charlie Francis