LORIS BERTOLACCI'S LOVE LETTER
Ben Jensen 25 November 2006

By Ben Jensen SACKED Geelong fitness guru Loris Bertolacci's wrote this memorable letter earlier this season:

"Since I was dismissed by GFC about a month ago, there has been speculation in the media about the reasons for my dismissal. People have speculated that there may be a connection between my dismissal and player injuries at the beginning of the season and the current fitness of players.

"The fact is that, at the end of last season, decisions were made at senior levels in the club about the length, frequency and content of pre season training. One initiative was to limit training to one session per day. There was also a decision to send some players into a "boot camp" style training program in November which directly resulted in a disruption to the training program. As a result, and due to a number of players recovering from surgery in respect of serious injuries from the previous season there was a lack of fit players available to participate in the skills training in the December/January period.

When it came to the NAB Cup we had a squad of about 27 fit players. It was only with, a concentrated effort from the players and the fitness and medical team that the club was able to successfully compete and win that competition.

"While I did not endorse the decisions taken i relation to the pre-season training, I do not believe that this was a factor which directly affected my dismissal. The immediate reason given by GFC for terminating my employment related to discussions between myself and club officials about the selection of a player who was recovering from injury. As the content of these discussions may well be a key issue in court proceedings, I do not wish to be drawn into further comment on these matters.

"As we are now going into round 11, I would expect all players, other than those who have been injured, to have reached peak fitness. I believe that the club has a very strong team and they will perform more strongly in the second half of the season. I wish the players every success and wish to thank those people at GFC who have continued to support me"