Jags’ Oz star Ryan is an ’appy chappie
IN an age when our every movement can be recorded through our wrist watches or smartphones, it is perhaps unsurprising that footballers are taking advantage of technology to enhance their performance.
But Football Federation Australia are leading the way in monitoring player activity, as Partick Thistle midfielder and cap hopeful Ryan Edwards has explained.
Edwards received his first senior call-up earlier this season after a fine campaign for the Jags, and he has ambitions to be a mainstay for his country.
If he is to make it he will have to adhere to an edict to use a ‘Big Brother’ style app that allows the Aussie football authorities to keep a close eye on a select band of players.
For Edwards, though, it is far from a problem, with the associated benefits and the knowledge he is on his nation’s radar more than ample compensation for any inconvenience.
“There are about 35 or 40 of us who have an app that the Australian FA have developed that lets us put our training data in and they can monitor me all the way over here in Scotland,” Edwards said.
“You have to do it twice a day, every day, but it doesn’t take too long and it can be a really useful tool for managing your training and your workload.
“It takes about 30 seconds in the morning to put in the hours you slept and any fatigue you are feeling and stuff like that, as well as pressing on a picture of a body any places where you are experiencing pain or discomfort.
“Then, in the afternoon after training, you spend a couple of minutes just putting in what sort of session you had, whether itwas heavy or light and whether you had a gym session afterwards and that sort of thing.
“If you are doing too much, or too little, which is rare, then the Aussie FA will get in touch with me and the club to discuss my training schedule and my needs so that I can be in the best possible condition.
“I always try to look after myself anyway, but it’s good to keep you disciplined and make sure that you are always striving to be in peak condition.
“I’m desperate to be involved again with the national team, so I don’t mind doing it at all, and hopefully the feedback they are getting from me is positive. The training here is great and you have all the support we need.”
If Edwards maintains the form that has seen him nominated for Thistle’s McCrea Financial Services player of the year award, then you wouldn’t bet against him playing his way back into the Aussie coach’s plans.
“The season has gone better than I could have imagined,” he said.
“My aim for this season was just to play as many games as possible and help the team push towards the top six.
“To play in every league game so far, make the top six, pick up a few player-ofthe-month awards, get an international call-up and be nominated for player of the year, I couldn’t have asked for any more.”
Edwards is hoping the Jags can surpass their pre-season target of a top-six place by overhauling tomorrow’s opponents, Hearts, and he is hoping to crank up the pressure on them with a win in the capital.
“There’s no reason at all why we can’t go to Tynecastle and win,” he said.
“We beat them at Firhill, so there is nothing to fear.”