Craig McRae fronted the media on day one of pre-season for 1-4 year players following a skills session on Olympic Park Oval that concluded with a spontaneous 2km time trial.
The unexpected endurance run was met with zero complaints from the young group, who had already impressed the new head coach long before they hit the track on Monday.
"I've been in the office for 6 or 7 weeks now and they were all in the gym consistently, trying to get stronger and fitter every day," Fly said.
"I could see a physical change during that time - that's something you like to see as a first year coach.
"They have all shown up today ready to work hard.
"There's always an air of optimism at this time of year but we have a lot of work to do as well."
He noted the significant number of players in the 1-4 year bracket (26 members of the squad).
"There's gotta be some patience there," Fly said.
"We have a big core group of young players and we have a whole new game plan to implement."
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When pressed about the game plan, Fly was deliberately vague.
"We want to get better every day and as quickly as we can," he said.
"There's a few things we want to focus on around our contest.
"Without giving too much away, we want to pride ourselves on our pressure and balance that with some good offence."
