Medical room: In stark contrast to last summer, the Crows have managed to keep most of their squad on the track this pre-season, with only three players, Bernie Vince (knee), David Mackay (groin) and Sam Shaw (back) likely to be excused from full training when the team returns in early January.
Who's burning: Taylor Walker and Rory Sloane have excelled in the repeat sprint testing and former first-round draft pick Daniel Talia has added several kilograms of muscle, but the sight of injury-ravaged stars Andy Otten, Brodie Martin, Chris Knights, Jason Porplyzia and Brad Moran in full flight has been the most encouraging part of Adelaide's pre-season to date.
Draftee watch: Rookie Sam Martyn made a low-key arrival at West Lakes, after successfully graduating from the NSW scholarship program but his performances in the club's endurance testing have been anything but low key. The former cross-country star, who boasts a record of 9min 19sec in the 3km time trial, has been a standout alongside new skipper Nathan van Berlo in the long-distance drills and the Crows' fitness staff are already taking wagers on which of the super-fit duo will cross the line first when they go head to head in the time trial in January.
Membership: The cut-off for membership renewals isn't until late January, but Adelaide is confident it will get back to the 50,000-member mark next year. The club will be hoping that figure translates into bigger home crowds than it attracted last season.
After the break: Having alternated between football and conditioning sessions in the first block of pre-season training, the Crows will graduate to more football-specific work in 2011. The players will make their annual pilgrimage to the Gold Coast on January 24 for four days of fun (and a bit of training) in the sun.
Telstra Community Camp: The Crows will visit schools and hospitals and hold a super clinic for keen locals as part of their 2011 Telstra AFL Community Camp in Mount Gambier on February 16 and 17.
NAB Cup opener: February 11 v Melbourne and Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium.
What they say: "The first block of training has been as good as we would expect. We pride ourselves on being one of the best conditioned teams in the competition and even though we've made some changes to our training program we still think we've done a lot of hard work and all our testing indicates that." - physical performance manager Stephen Schwerdt.
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.
