After 12 pre-seasons, Garrick Ibbotson is still finding ways to improve.
It’s been a running-intensive pre-season and Ibbotson has been up for the task at training, performing strongly on the track and equalling a personal best at last month’s 3km time trial.
“It’s going well, this is the 12th one for me now so I’ve been around for a little while. They don’t get any easier, I can tell you that,” Ibbotson said.
“It’s been good, a fair bit of running but all the boys have come back in good shape so it’s going well.
“We still have our footy drills going on but after training we do a little bit more straight line running. There’s a bit more controlled stuff but it’s just about getting more kilometres in the legs post training session.”
Ibbotson, who got married over the weekend, remained in Perth for the October break, and said a low-key off-season helped him hit the ground running.
“I’m probably getting a bit older now so I didn’t do a whole lot,” Ibbotson said.
“I stayed around at home and I had a wedding to plan for so I was just around, and it helped me focus on my running.”
Ibbotson finished the 2016 season strongly, earning two Brownlow votes in a 29 disposal, 14 mark effort in Freo’s round 23 win over the Bulldogs.
The performance placed Ibbotson strongly going into the off-season, where Fremantle picked up a handful of new faces in defence, including Bulldogs’ premiership player Joel Hamling and top-10 draftee Griffin Logue.
But instead of viewing the new players as competition, Ibbotson wants to do what he can to share his experience as a 163-game player for Fremantle.
“Everyone’s going well, obviously Joel Hamling’s coming off a premiership so he’s a great player. He’s got experience at the big dance which is what we’re after,” Ibbotson said.
“A lot of the other guys like Brad Hill whose played in a premiership before, they’ve all got a full book of knowledge when it comes to footy so they’re fitting in well.
“There’s always improvements to be made, I’m not a perfect player that’s for sure so I’m definitely learning each pre-season but I’m trying to teach a few of the younger guys along the way.”
