Hawthorn’s pre-season training was in full swing on Monday, as the senior players returned to join their younger teammates at the Ricoh Centre.
Elite Performance Manager Andrew Russell said the players have returned from their off-season holidays in decent shape.
“We do a screening when they leave after the last game of the season, and replicate it when they return to see how diligent they have been during the off season.
“The boys have all been really good. They’ve all come back in good shape and they’re all ready to train.”
With pre-season camp coming up, Russell highlighted the need for a week of solid training before they head north to Mooloolaba.
“Our plan is to get some pretty big training loads into the players. [At camp] we start our planning for next year so they need to be in good shape physically and mentally and ready for the challenge we are going to throw at them when they get to Mooloolaba.”
“We got straight back into doing skills work, and trained at a really high intensity today. It’s really important [the players] adapt to ball work from day one, and that includes kicking the footy and working on decision making.”
Having already spent a couple of weeks in the gym, Russell is impressed with the way new recruits Jaeger O’Meara, Ty Vickery and Tom Mitchell have embraced their training programs.
“All the recruits have come in with an unbelievably strong attitude to their work. They’re all on individual training plans in preparation to play next year.”
“We’re really pleased with the intent they’re training with, and we’re really pleased with the attitude they’ve all brought to Hawthorn.”
