Things are winding down at West Lakes as Adelaide’s players have headed off on their Christmas break.

It has been a tough but rewarding eight weeks for the playing group since they returned to pre-season training on November 1.

There were changes to the training program along with some new faces taking the players through their paces, including assistant coach Scott Camporeale, who has taken over the midfield group from Todd Viney who returned to his old club Melbourne.

Richard Tambling from Richmond and Sam Jacobs from Carlton joined the club during trade week while six new players were welcomed via the national and rookie drafts.

Nathan van Berlo was anointed as the club’s new leader with Scott Thompson an addition to the five man leadership group.

Patrick Dangerfield headed to Ireland with the Australian International Rules squad and was a late starter to the pre-season, while two players who missed the entire 2010 season, Andy Otten and Brad Moran, have trained with the main group for the first time in 12 months.

The players return to training on January 4 after the two week break to continue their preparation for 2011.

A number of injured players including David Mackay (groin), Bernie Vince (knee) and Will Young (shoulder) will look to get back onto the track in the new year in a bid to be fit for the NAB Cup and round one.

Speaking of the NAB Cup, when January 4 rolls around it will be 38 days until Adelaide and Melbourne open the pre-season competition at AAMI Stadium.

The new ‘lightning carnival’ type format see’s Adelaide take on Port Adelaide that same night as well as the Power and the Demons going head to head.

It will also only be 81 days until Adelaide celebrates the 20th anniversary of its first game against Hawthorn on a Saturday night in round one, with the club looking to celebrate the occasion on what should be a special night for all supporters.

It promises to be an exciting year and as always, afc.com.au will bring you all the latest news from the first training session to the first game and everything in between.