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Roosters coach Brian Smith admits to "going soft", with several of his players still struggling to reach game weight after playing on three consecutive Sunday scorchers.
On the eve of Friday night's showdown against the Broncos, Smith said his players were still recovering from their loss to the Bulldogs with the heat stripping his men of up to five kilograms of body weight.
Already a streamline forward at 94kg, second rower Mitchell Aubusson was still 3kg down on his playing weight on Thursday night after ploughing through 69 hot minutes.
"They have huge losses of body weight playing in heat like that," Smith said.
"For athletes that aren't really carrying weight, where does that come from? It is from their fluid and it is clinically proven it affects decision making and general health."
Desperate to work on defence after losing by 46 points to the Bulldogs, Smith said he had to abandon tackling drills this week to let his team recover.
"A lot of the guys lost 4kg after the game," Smith said.
"The exhaustion factor in that is huge. Some get it back straight away drinking water but others can't put it back on. We have really had to back right off them.
"At this time of year we should be transitioning from the pre-season and reaching maximum fitness.
"But we have had to just go soft because of what the heat has done to our players after games.
"We have just had to let them recover and we have not been able to do any hard work. When the practice is soft and you are looking after them it gets into their system and they tend to perform that way. It is not the ideal opening for us."
Smith said the club would talk to the NRL after the scheduling debacle, but admitted not much could be done after the fact.
"Channel Nine decided to cover our first four games but they didn't look at the fact that four of them were on Sundays," Smith said. "And that is a tough order.
"I think it is something that could be looked at. It is a player safety issue. It is not as dramatic as someone dying but it puts them under pressure."
Smith said he did not know how his side would respond against a dangerous Broncos side brimming with young guns.
"We will only know how we have coped with it after tonight's game," Smith said.
"This is our first night game of the season and we won't know until we see how we perform.
"The Broncos have a lot of young athletic men who can step and move. We have had a look at what they did in the first round. Those young blokes are prepared to back themselves and we are aware of what they can do.
"We have a bit to prove defensively and that is what our focus will be.
"We haven't had much of a chance this week with the shorter turnaround but I am certainly hoping for an improved performance."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23209,00.html
That is a real worry.
On the eve of Friday night's showdown against the Broncos, Smith said his players were still recovering from their loss to the Bulldogs with the heat stripping his men of up to five kilograms of body weight.
Already a streamline forward at 94kg, second rower Mitchell Aubusson was still 3kg down on his playing weight on Thursday night after ploughing through 69 hot minutes.
"They have huge losses of body weight playing in heat like that," Smith said.
"For athletes that aren't really carrying weight, where does that come from? It is from their fluid and it is clinically proven it affects decision making and general health."
Desperate to work on defence after losing by 46 points to the Bulldogs, Smith said he had to abandon tackling drills this week to let his team recover.
"A lot of the guys lost 4kg after the game," Smith said.
"The exhaustion factor in that is huge. Some get it back straight away drinking water but others can't put it back on. We have really had to back right off them.
"At this time of year we should be transitioning from the pre-season and reaching maximum fitness.
"But we have had to just go soft because of what the heat has done to our players after games.
"We have just had to let them recover and we have not been able to do any hard work. When the practice is soft and you are looking after them it gets into their system and they tend to perform that way. It is not the ideal opening for us."
Smith said the club would talk to the NRL after the scheduling debacle, but admitted not much could be done after the fact.
"Channel Nine decided to cover our first four games but they didn't look at the fact that four of them were on Sundays," Smith said. "And that is a tough order.
"I think it is something that could be looked at. It is a player safety issue. It is not as dramatic as someone dying but it puts them under pressure."
Smith said he did not know how his side would respond against a dangerous Broncos side brimming with young guns.
"We will only know how we have coped with it after tonight's game," Smith said.
"This is our first night game of the season and we won't know until we see how we perform.
"The Broncos have a lot of young athletic men who can step and move. We have had a look at what they did in the first round. Those young blokes are prepared to back themselves and we are aware of what they can do.
"We have a bit to prove defensively and that is what our focus will be.
"We haven't had much of a chance this week with the shorter turnaround but I am certainly hoping for an improved performance."
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23209,00.html
That is a real worry.
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