All this talk about military courses being tough and doing five days of intensity is off the mark. The players aren’t coping with a week, they are coping with half a season of grinding games and training. It is nothing like doing a job day to day. The intensity is just not there.
It is more like military selection (I can’t speak on behalf of the Police) for things like special forces. They may have a single week of tests, but usually there are months of intense training before this. Just like a season of football. The recruits are ground down until by the time they hit test week they are mentally and physically knackered. They are trying to test their mental strength. Many of the recruits break down long before they even get to the five day test week. Their bodies can’t handle it. Have a look at the pass rates for things like Marines, Paras, Sas, Seals etc Half the people don’t finish because their bodies fail, the rest mentally capitulate because of the stress. The list of injuries you see is just like the NRL. ACL’s, ruptured achilles, torn muscles, busted ankles. I realise the players are the physical elite which is why they are there in the first place and recruits are more like average Joes without the physical gifts of somebody like Bizza or Lomax (strong!!). But even so, they need rest and recovery just the same.
The science on the impact of high intensity work outs like an SOO game is pretty well understood. There are research papers on this and they now NRL clubs high performance units will have plenty of their own data. I would be amazed if any data they have would conclude the players will be fine.
Remember they already participating in a grueling season which is slowly wearing them down, just like a military course. The flying will reduce their sleep and recovery time and then add in jet lag and they will most certainly be tired. The players will not recover adequately in three days and the risk of injury increases as a person is fatigued. That said, is it a risk/reward balance that might be worth considering?
Having watched the highly combative and physical Warriors demolish the Sharks, I think asking the players to go from SOO to another very physical high intensity game with limited rest is more on the “risk” side than the “reward” side. I would rest them, in fact let them fly to Sydney and have a few days off.
