Adelaide United have strengthened their coaching staff, appointing Greg King as the club’s new High Performance Manager.
The highly-regarded King joins has extensive knowledge and experience from his years in numerous sporting positions, including time as assistant strength and rehabilitationcoach at Port Adelaide Football Club.
He also worked with the Port Adelaide Magpies as head fitness coach as well as with the Western Sydney Wanderers FC’s youth team.
King said he’s eager to begin his time with the Reds and spoke about the areas he is keen to improve upon throughout the squad.
“It’s really great and exciting to be with United,” he said.
“The coaching staff and everyone I’ve met that’s associated with the Club have been really welcoming. The club seems like it’s got a great culture and is going in a great direction.
“To start with it’s important that we do the small things consistently well. Whether that’s strength, injury prevention, or general recovery they’re all crucial.
“From working with Western Sydney Wanderers, I believe that increasing the athleticism of the players and building athletic capacity is the most important thing that I’ll be focussing on with the players.
“But the main thing is for them to be able to perform to the coaches expectations and to the coaching staff’s philosophies, which is what I’ll be assisting with.”
Referencing the extreme summer conditions players face during the season, King said measures would be taken to ensure United’s players are at their full capacity throughout the campaign.
“It’s almost the opposite of what you want,” King explained.
“For example, in AFL, players get the entire summer months to prepare and so they’re developing their fitness in the heat.
“Their bodies are getting beneficial adaptations through training in the heat and they are able to take that advantage with them into the winter season.
“In football we get the opposite. Our pre-season is in winter and we’re playing in summer when players need to work at their maximum.
“So we’ll be inventive with the ways we can get more adaptation from our players through pre-season, but it’s definitely something that we’ll be looking at closely.”
United’s Chief Executive Officer, Michael Petrillo, said King’s appointment will prove invaluable for the squad and for the Club’s development overall.
“I think Greg is going to bring some innovation and some fresh ideas to the club, but also great experience after working with one of the world’s best in Darren Burgess at Port Adelaide,” Petrillo said.
“Also having played football himself will bring another element to his understanding of player movements and requirements.”
