“We’ve been in full pre season training for five weeks now with three sessions a week, in the nets and in the gym. Most of the players come in and do gym sessions on the other two days of the week too and in all honesty they’ve been putting the hours in all winter.
“From November to the end of January we focused on Endurance and Injury Prevention training which include gym sessions and fitness work. The players that were based in the region were in three times a week with those guys with college and family commitments coming in normally twice a week and completing other sessions at gyms closer to home.
“During the winter each player, whether they were in the north east or overseas, had an individual programme which, can contribute to injury prevention and, takes into account fitness and screening tests they’ve had as well as their history from last season and work we’ve done previously with them.
“Now we’re in full pre season the net sessions are also added into the mix and now most of the team are back in the area which means there is more competition to be the best in the sessions!
“It’s important to be able to get out of the gym too so we’ve been cycling at Hamsterley Forest and trained at Penshaw Monument which adds some variety and fun and next week we are going to take on an assault course.
“We’ve got three weeks before we go to Dubai for the overseas element of our pre season preparation which will allow us to do more outdoor activity and work on pre match warm up drills.
“The lads have been working incredibly hard and their efforts are definitely paying off, the important thing is to keep the momentum going so they are in the best possible condition for the start of the season.”