[This article does not really belong in this blog, but it is something I wrote in 1996 and I wanted to ensure that its full text was readily available on the internet]
Abstract
This paper proposes the development of an 'observational economics' whose domain would be restricted to what is observable in the real world. Observational economics should be regarded as a separate but complementary undertaking to mainstream economics. Adoption of such an approach would enhance the reestablishment and development of interaction between economists and the business community. Phenomena such as price setting, unpredictable and variable demand, and inventories and order backlogs are argued to be anomalous from the viewpoint of conventional microeconomics, but fundamental to an observational perspective on business behaviour. A basic observational model of price and output determination for the price setting manufacturing firm is outlined.
Link to PDF version of the full paper
Read more...
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Wednesday, November 03, 2010
Robbie Deans on wanting
It's not often you get an insight into the mental processes of an international rugby coach. Here's Wallabies coach Robbie Deans interviewed after his team's win in the Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong:
"James is one of those blokes who wants the ball in those moments as you saw with his carry, and that's what you want.
"The bloke who's got the ball you want to want to have the ball."
Rugby is the most cerebral of games.
Read more...
"James is one of those blokes who wants the ball in those moments as you saw with his carry, and that's what you want.
"The bloke who's got the ball you want to want to have the ball."
Rugby is the most cerebral of games.
Read more...
Juxtaposed cliches
A classic:
"When you have a bad day at the office you just have to get straight back on the horse." All Black captain Richie McCaw interviewed after his team lost the Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong.
Read more...
"When you have a bad day at the office you just have to get straight back on the horse." All Black captain Richie McCaw interviewed after his team lost the Bledisloe Cup match in Hong Kong.
Read more...
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Aussie coach introduces MyoQuip systems to British rowing
 |
| London Rowing Club coach Phil Bourguignon |
After four very successful years as Director of Rowing at Sydney University Boat Club, Phil Bourguignon was looking for a new challenge. He found it in the Thames-side London Rowing Club, thus moving between two of the world’s oldest rowing clubs. SUBC had been founded way back in 1860 but LRC is even more venerable dating from 1856.
It is typical of Bourguignon that he took no time off between finishing up in Sydney in December last year and moving into the boat house at Putney. Back in Australia, juggling club and national team commitments, he had coached year round refusing to take vacations. In 2006 he was quoted as saying: “They say I’ve got four weeks off, but no … Athletes, their bodies don’t know what time off is. They’ve got to be trained every day. Athletes don’t know when holidays are.”
His work schedule was unrelenting, involving 15-hour days during the week, waking at 4:30 am and getting home at 8 pm. And he had no reprieve at weekends. His only free time was on Sunday afternoons when he often accompanied his mates out for a quiet beer but he was so exhausted that he often fell asleep after the second beer.
“Fortunately, I love waking up every morning,” Bourguignon said. “I love it because I’ve got such a great diversity of athletes, that I’m seeing something new every day. I see a change in somebody that wasn’t there yesterday and I say, ‘Yes! Thank God, that’s it, stay with that.’
“And you really look forward to waking up to see that.”
A feature of the Bourguignon approach was to strive to stay upbeat and full of energy in front of his athletes so they would act likewise.
 |
| Phil Bourguignon monitoring MyoTruk technique at Sydney University |
“If I’m enthusiastic, they’ll be enthusiastic,” he said. “If I’m tired and morbid, there’s no way they’ll working hard. I can change the way they act in the boat shed by the way I act.”
He was renowned for never going out, preferring to stay home and watch video of his athletes so he could prepare them as best he could for their next challenge. When the athletes worked out in the gym during the afternoon, Bourguignon stood by their side, offering advice on how they could improve.
“I enjoy working with people’s psychology; I enjoy working to understand how people interpret things, how to make them tick and make them go better, just in their mind,” Bourguignon said. “I like working with a variety of people.”
He learnt how to focus on detail during a year he spent at the Australian Institute of Sport as a scholarship coach before coming to the SUBC. At the AIS Bourguignon learned how to coach precisely, how to coach every stroke. As he put it, he learned about “finding the inch that’s gonna win the race.”
For an unashamed workaholic, London Rowing Club offers the ideal environment. Bourguignon’s apartment is right above the boathouse.
At Sydney University Bourguignon coached rowers to win World Championships and Olympic medals. At London his focus is much more on medalling at Henley. Instead of coaching university students, his new charges typically work long hours in the professions or in the City. Consequently their training has to be much more concentrated. This is where Bourguignon sees the two MyoQuip machines as invaluable, enabling heavy strength work to be done very intensively and safely:
"After a long session on the water, backs are fatigued. Therefore, squatting after rowing is very dangerous. With the use of the MyoThrusta and the MyoTruk systems, athletes can still do their heavy weights after a long and hard session on the water." He noted that in Sydney he had “employed the MyoThrusta and the MyoTruk heavily in my training programs with athletes rowing at elite levels. I have not had one back injury to my athletes in 2 years of heavy training"
Back injuries tend to be endemic among elite rowers but there is the need to constantly strive for increased strength. Phil Bourguignon believes that he has found a means to avoid one while achieving the other:
"With rowing heavily involving the legs and core muscles, squatting alone provides many problematic issues such as an athlete not being able to support heavy weights through their core muscles. MyoQuip systems can do the extra weights without worrying about the core muscles, which provides more strength gain without the worries of injuries to the back.
"When athletes get too strong for their skeletal frame and core stability in squatting, they can use the MyoThrusta and the MyoTruk to increase strength safely where they can add far more weight than they are able to squat without the risk of injuring their back."
His name indicates Gallic ancestry but Phil Bourguignon’s broad Aussie accent gives the lie to that. It will be interesting to see what impact the boy from Brisbane has on Thames-side rowing.
(MyoQuip systems are now manufactured in England and distributed throughout Europe by Gen3 Kinematics who supplied the MyoThrusta and MyoTruk to London Rowing Club)
He was renowned for never going out, preferring to stay home and watch video of his athletes so he could prepare them as best he could for their next challenge. When the athletes worked out in the gym during the afternoon, Bourguignon stood by their side, offering advice on how they could improve.
“I enjoy working with people’s psychology; I enjoy working to understand how people interpret things, how to make them tick and make them go better, just in their mind,” Bourguignon said. “I like working with a variety of people.”
He learnt how to focus on detail during a year he spent at the Australian Institute of Sport as a scholarship coach before coming to the SUBC. At the AIS Bourguignon learned how to coach precisely, how to coach every stroke. As he put it, he learned about “finding the inch that’s gonna win the race.”
For an unashamed workaholic, London Rowing Club offers the ideal environment. Bourguignon’s apartment is right above the boathouse.
At Sydney University Bourguignon coached rowers to win World Championships and Olympic medals. At London his focus is much more on medalling at Henley. Instead of coaching university students, his new charges typically work long hours in the professions or in the City. Consequently their training has to be much more concentrated. This is where Bourguignon sees the two MyoQuip machines as invaluable, enabling heavy strength work to be done very intensively and safely:
"After a long session on the water, backs are fatigued. Therefore, squatting after rowing is very dangerous. With the use of the MyoThrusta and the MyoTruk systems, athletes can still do their heavy weights after a long and hard session on the water." He noted that in Sydney he had “employed the MyoThrusta and the MyoTruk heavily in my training programs with athletes rowing at elite levels. I have not had one back injury to my athletes in 2 years of heavy training"
Back injuries tend to be endemic among elite rowers but there is the need to constantly strive for increased strength. Phil Bourguignon believes that he has found a means to avoid one while achieving the other:
"With rowing heavily involving the legs and core muscles, squatting alone provides many problematic issues such as an athlete not being able to support heavy weights through their core muscles. MyoQuip systems can do the extra weights without worrying about the core muscles, which provides more strength gain without the worries of injuries to the back.
"When athletes get too strong for their skeletal frame and core stability in squatting, they can use the MyoThrusta and the MyoTruk to increase strength safely where they can add far more weight than they are able to squat without the risk of injuring their back."
His name indicates Gallic ancestry but Phil Bourguignon’s broad Aussie accent gives the lie to that. It will be interesting to see what impact the boy from Brisbane has on Thames-side rowing.
(MyoQuip systems are now manufactured in England and distributed throughout Europe by Gen3 Kinematics who supplied the MyoThrusta and MyoTruk to London Rowing Club)
Read more...
Wednesday, October 06, 2010
Physical imposition rugby – the Sydney University system
I wonder how many people watching the 2010 Sydney Premiership Club Grand Final realised they were seeing a classic demonstration of a revolutionary style of play that I have termed “physical imposition rugby”.
The clash of Australia’s two most historic and successful clubs saw Sydney University triumph by 46 points to six; five tries to nil; and seven goals to two. Both sides were weakened by injuries from the previous week, Randwick losing five players and University two.
Game strategies based around physical domination are nothing new in rugby, but where the Sydney University style is innovatory is that it is not just based on the forwards overpowering their opposition but the whole team systematically grinding the other team down.
The foundation of the University system is a training methodology which involves minimal actual conditioning but rather an almost exclusive focus on heavy strength and speed training. The counter-intuitive result of this radical approach is that the team is renowned for its ability to finish over the top of its opposition, particularly in the final quarter of games.
If we take the Grand Final as a template of how physical imposition rugby should be played we can distinguish a number of defining characteristics.
Sydney University play is structured and methodical with an emphasis on patience and relentless control. In defence the team presents a “brick wall” across the width of the field and has confidence in its ability to continually repel attackers. Two or three players engage the ball carrier and try to drive him back, usually so effectively that multiple phases yield either no net gain or a loss of territory. The aim is to frustrate opponents so that they eventually lose the ball in a turnover or knock on.
Although multiple players usually make the tackle and attempt to secure possession, virtually no one is subsequently committed at the breakdown. This frees players to fan out at the sides of the ruck in readiness for the next assault on the defensive line. There is no attempt to slow the opposition ball down as the more tackles the team can make with multiple defenders engaging a single attacker the greater the toll on the opposition’s reserves of strength and fitness.
In possession, because of their enhanced physicality University players enthusiastically attack the line, often recruiting support players for the ball carrier even amongst the backs. In tight play they frequently vary the pick and drive from the back of the ruck with passing to a small pod of forwards standing four to five metres to the side of the ruck.
One of the distinguishing features of the Sydney University style as it has now developed is the use of big midfield players who function like forwards. Both centres in the Grand Final weigh around 105kg and play very physically.
Supplementing the trench warfare is a strategy of field position where the emphasis is on relentlessly going forward. Both Berrick Barnes and Luke Burgess kicked into Randwick’s defensive corners aided by a very committed chase typically led by Tom Carter. This produced defensive lineouts near the Randwick try line or hurried kick with insufficient angle to gain much distance.
When Randwick attempted to kick deep, University usually had at least a couple of players in position to receive the ball. Rather than floating a long pass across field the ball receiver typically elected to counter attack directly, often into a heavily populated area where they would get past at least a couple of defenders before being brought to ground. Then the process of physical imposition would continue.
University’s patience and relentlessness predictably caused frustration in the Randwick players giving an outstanding kicker in Barnes opportunities to keep the scoreboard ticking over to yield a 16-6 lead at half time. In the second half physical and mental fatigue caused Randwick to concede another 30 unanswered points.
During the match University played some very enterprising rugby but much of it came after they had softened up their opponents.
The precondition for playing physical imposition rugby is a specific type of fitness which is essentially anaerobic and heavily strength based. However it also requires exceptional mobility in order to contain and counter the opposition game plan. Technical proficiency in the set pieces and mauls is a primary focus, but it is a 15-man involvement in physical imposition that is the strategy’s defining characteristic.
Sydney University has demonstrated that physical imposition can be employed very effectively at a semi-professional club level and there is no reason why it wouldn’t be equally successful in a fully professional environment. However this would require radical rethinking of both player conditioning and the role and attributes of centrefield players.
Read more...
The clash of Australia’s two most historic and successful clubs saw Sydney University triumph by 46 points to six; five tries to nil; and seven goals to two. Both sides were weakened by injuries from the previous week, Randwick losing five players and University two.
Game strategies based around physical domination are nothing new in rugby, but where the Sydney University style is innovatory is that it is not just based on the forwards overpowering their opposition but the whole team systematically grinding the other team down.
The foundation of the University system is a training methodology which involves minimal actual conditioning but rather an almost exclusive focus on heavy strength and speed training. The counter-intuitive result of this radical approach is that the team is renowned for its ability to finish over the top of its opposition, particularly in the final quarter of games.
If we take the Grand Final as a template of how physical imposition rugby should be played we can distinguish a number of defining characteristics.
Sydney University play is structured and methodical with an emphasis on patience and relentless control. In defence the team presents a “brick wall” across the width of the field and has confidence in its ability to continually repel attackers. Two or three players engage the ball carrier and try to drive him back, usually so effectively that multiple phases yield either no net gain or a loss of territory. The aim is to frustrate opponents so that they eventually lose the ball in a turnover or knock on.
Although multiple players usually make the tackle and attempt to secure possession, virtually no one is subsequently committed at the breakdown. This frees players to fan out at the sides of the ruck in readiness for the next assault on the defensive line. There is no attempt to slow the opposition ball down as the more tackles the team can make with multiple defenders engaging a single attacker the greater the toll on the opposition’s reserves of strength and fitness.
In possession, because of their enhanced physicality University players enthusiastically attack the line, often recruiting support players for the ball carrier even amongst the backs. In tight play they frequently vary the pick and drive from the back of the ruck with passing to a small pod of forwards standing four to five metres to the side of the ruck.
One of the distinguishing features of the Sydney University style as it has now developed is the use of big midfield players who function like forwards. Both centres in the Grand Final weigh around 105kg and play very physically.
Supplementing the trench warfare is a strategy of field position where the emphasis is on relentlessly going forward. Both Berrick Barnes and Luke Burgess kicked into Randwick’s defensive corners aided by a very committed chase typically led by Tom Carter. This produced defensive lineouts near the Randwick try line or hurried kick with insufficient angle to gain much distance.
When Randwick attempted to kick deep, University usually had at least a couple of players in position to receive the ball. Rather than floating a long pass across field the ball receiver typically elected to counter attack directly, often into a heavily populated area where they would get past at least a couple of defenders before being brought to ground. Then the process of physical imposition would continue.
University’s patience and relentlessness predictably caused frustration in the Randwick players giving an outstanding kicker in Barnes opportunities to keep the scoreboard ticking over to yield a 16-6 lead at half time. In the second half physical and mental fatigue caused Randwick to concede another 30 unanswered points.
During the match University played some very enterprising rugby but much of it came after they had softened up their opponents.
The precondition for playing physical imposition rugby is a specific type of fitness which is essentially anaerobic and heavily strength based. However it also requires exceptional mobility in order to contain and counter the opposition game plan. Technical proficiency in the set pieces and mauls is a primary focus, but it is a 15-man involvement in physical imposition that is the strategy’s defining characteristic.
Sydney University has demonstrated that physical imposition can be employed very effectively at a semi-professional club level and there is no reason why it wouldn’t be equally successful in a fully professional environment. However this would require radical rethinking of both player conditioning and the role and attributes of centrefield players.
Read more...
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
The Wallabies - sprinters not stayers
Two months ago, before the start of the 2010 Bledisloe Cup series, I posted an article titled “Are the Wallabies being properly conditioned for the Tri Nations Tests?” I started off by pointing out:
“A characteristic of the Deans era Wallabies is their seeming inability to sustain their performance over the full 80 minutes of a game. This raises the question of whether their training methods are appropriate for the intense physical demands of modern international rugby. In short, is there enough emphasis on strength training?”
In that article I argued that the best way to assess the Wallabies’ performance was in Tests against the All Blacks. This was because “distance travelled is not really a relevant factor and both nations always endeavour to select their strongest team, so these matches provide an ideal environment to search for consistent patterns evident over a number of matches.”
We have since played another three Bledisloe matches.
On July 2008, in Deans’s first match against his home country, the Wallabies won the second half 17-7 and also won the match. From then on it has been an unbroken succession of losses in both the second half and the overall match. Here is the record of second half scores:
2 August 08 0-18
13 September 08 14-25
1 November 08 14-19
18 July 09 3-12
22 August 09 6-16
19 September 09 6-33
31 October 09 3-19
31 July 10 14-17
7 August 10 0-3
11 September 10 8-17
So that’s our sorry record. Ten straight games; ten losing second halves; ten matches lost.
In the second half we have scored on average 7 points; the All Blacks scored 17.9.
The reason is glaringly obvious – the physical conditioning of the Wallabies is inappropriate. Forget about half time scores; no one cares which horse is first past the post the first time around in the Melbourne Cup. And to pursue the horse racing analogy further, a horse won’t “get two miles” if it’s been trained to run a mile.
Rugby is a physically draining game played over eighty minutes. It is also not really an aerobic sport but rather an anaerobic sport where there is a huge premium on strength and power.
On June 28 the Sydney Morning Herald ran an article titled, “Don’t despair – fitter Wallabies might rise from last in Tri Nations rankings”. The author, Spiro Zavas, wrote:
“It is an open secret that many Waratahs and Brumbies players shirked their full training obligations in the Super 14. An unfortunate feature of the Wallabies, this season and last season, has been the way they have faded in the second half of Test matches. A fitter Wallabies team might convert those half-time leads to full-time victories.”
To address this problem “the Wallabies conditioning coach will monitor the entire squad with GPS tracking devices that will record the intensity of their training.” In other words the focus was on getting the players more aerobically fit.
It would appear that the traditional Australian approach of placing less emphasis on strength and physicality than any of the other major rugby countries has become more pronounced in the Deans era. Rather than pursuing maximum strength the Wallabies’ weights sessions have reportedly seen a heavy focus on bar-speed routines using loads as little as 30% of 1RM.
At what point will Robbie Deans and his strength and conditioning coach Peter Harding face up to the fact that the current approach is not working and requires fundamental revision?
Read more...
“A characteristic of the Deans era Wallabies is their seeming inability to sustain their performance over the full 80 minutes of a game. This raises the question of whether their training methods are appropriate for the intense physical demands of modern international rugby. In short, is there enough emphasis on strength training?”
In that article I argued that the best way to assess the Wallabies’ performance was in Tests against the All Blacks. This was because “distance travelled is not really a relevant factor and both nations always endeavour to select their strongest team, so these matches provide an ideal environment to search for consistent patterns evident over a number of matches.”
We have since played another three Bledisloe matches.
On July 2008, in Deans’s first match against his home country, the Wallabies won the second half 17-7 and also won the match. From then on it has been an unbroken succession of losses in both the second half and the overall match. Here is the record of second half scores:
2 August 08 0-18
13 September 08 14-25
1 November 08 14-19
18 July 09 3-12
22 August 09 6-16
19 September 09 6-33
31 October 09 3-19
31 July 10 14-17
7 August 10 0-3
11 September 10 8-17
So that’s our sorry record. Ten straight games; ten losing second halves; ten matches lost.
In the second half we have scored on average 7 points; the All Blacks scored 17.9.
The reason is glaringly obvious – the physical conditioning of the Wallabies is inappropriate. Forget about half time scores; no one cares which horse is first past the post the first time around in the Melbourne Cup. And to pursue the horse racing analogy further, a horse won’t “get two miles” if it’s been trained to run a mile.
Rugby is a physically draining game played over eighty minutes. It is also not really an aerobic sport but rather an anaerobic sport where there is a huge premium on strength and power.
On June 28 the Sydney Morning Herald ran an article titled, “Don’t despair – fitter Wallabies might rise from last in Tri Nations rankings”. The author, Spiro Zavas, wrote:
“It is an open secret that many Waratahs and Brumbies players shirked their full training obligations in the Super 14. An unfortunate feature of the Wallabies, this season and last season, has been the way they have faded in the second half of Test matches. A fitter Wallabies team might convert those half-time leads to full-time victories.”
To address this problem “the Wallabies conditioning coach will monitor the entire squad with GPS tracking devices that will record the intensity of their training.” In other words the focus was on getting the players more aerobically fit.
It would appear that the traditional Australian approach of placing less emphasis on strength and physicality than any of the other major rugby countries has become more pronounced in the Deans era. Rather than pursuing maximum strength the Wallabies’ weights sessions have reportedly seen a heavy focus on bar-speed routines using loads as little as 30% of 1RM.
At what point will Robbie Deans and his strength and conditioning coach Peter Harding face up to the fact that the current approach is not working and requires fundamental revision?
Read more...
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