Re-igniting its pre-season preparations following a fortnight’s break for the holiday period, the list was put through its paces as the next stage of High Performance Manager Bill Davoren’s program commenced in earnest.
With the club opting against its previously regular December sojourn to altitude in the United States, increased emphasis has been placed on building overall conditioning through the implementation of greater workloads, designed to combat the impact of the incoming interchange cap.
And as Collingwood’s opening pre-season clash with Geelong looms only six weeks away, the coming month is likely to see a further spike in tempo as a reinvigorated Magpies side seeks to bolster its claims for the upcoming campaign.
Entering his seventh campaign at AFL level, key defender Nathan Brown is now well versed in the vim and vigour of pre-season training, and accustomed to the gradual rise in intensity which accompanies the turn of the year.
However, with new fitness boss Davoren driving the team’s off-season regimen, Brown has noticed a marked spike in the ferocity of training, which, he says; the playing group have embraced with renewed fervour.
“In past years, the first week back has been sort of an ease into it, but Bill and Bucks’ are pretty keen on getting us up and about real early,” Brown said.
“It’s always a tough one, the first session after a break, but the boys worked really hard, and we had a really tough program throughout the Christmas break. I think we covered 10 or 12 km then as a little lightener to get us back into it.
Despite the taxing return which greeted the team today, Brown anticipates further pain later in the week, laying the foundation stone for a campaign marked by the arrival of new faces, and new beginnings.
“We worked really hard pre-Christmas, not going over to America. We worked really hard in the gym in the new facilities here. The boys are up and about, and actually happy to be back at training,” Brown said.
“(Today was designed around) getting the ball in your hand, getting a lot of kicking going, trying to fast track into Wednesday’s session, and then Friday, have a good crack at training.”
