Collingwood superstar takes over Kilmore football training session

It was a packed training session for Kilmore Blues last week as Collingwood premiership player Jamie Elliott made the trip to JJ Clancy Reserve.

The senior player from Collingwood Football Club met with Kilmore Football Netball Club, KFNC, senior players – including junior players – who were training for their first match of the season.

After the training session with Elliott, hard-core Collingwood supporters had the chance to meet the AFL superstar who signed several posters, followed by a Q&A for players to hear about the ins and outs of professional football.

Elliott, who debuted in 2012, spoke about his own experience in professional football, providing advice on pathways for junior players.

KFNC president Ben Egan said the session was beneficial for players to hear about what it takes to be an AFL player.

“We’ve got so many Collingwood fans here, I mean they’re going to take a long way from it, but just to hear from an AFL player with premiership experience, that’s where we want to go – anything we can learn from an AFL player,” he said.

“We really wanted to ask Jamie and pick his brain about close games because I think close games have been such a skill of Collingwood and Jamie’s such a close player.

“A lot of questions about how he trains for close games because those are games that we’ve sort of let slip over the last few years and we want to win those close games.”

Going forward into this year’s season with a young team, Egan said natural improvement was the aim for this year’s season.

“We’re going to be the youngest team in the competition, so we’re really focusing on our fitness, we want to try and run teams off our legs,” he said.

“This is by far the fittest Kilmore group that’s ever played, and we think that’s going to be a point of difference, versus a lot of the other teams that we’re going up against this year are going to be a lot older than us – and we think our young lads can run them off.

“Natural improvement is what we want to come, we had one year out of the finals after three years in the finals, and we want to be back in the finals this year, I guess it’s also about building the team spirit and building a sense of togetherness.”