Mullett and a group of other young players were sent off to complete a painstaking VO2 Max test at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne.
“Endurance hasn’t been the best part of my game and it’s something I definitely need to work on just with getting my legs a lot stronger and getting my breathing right. I need to improve my lung capacity so I didn’t really enjoy the testing today at all,” Mullett told kangaroos.com.au.
“It’s only a short test but it’s definitely one of the hardest things I’ve had to do since being at the club.”
Strapped into a treadmill with a harness, the players are required to run flat out for a sustained period of time while the machine gradually builds speed.
“It was a bit different, you know with all the things you have attached to you…there’s a tube coming out of your mouth that you have to breathe through and your nose is blocked. It was just really tough because it takes a few minutes to get used to just breathing.”
Mullett says it’s not a case of mind over matter.
“It was just the fatigue in my legs that really killed me. Mentally I could have kept going for sure, but it keeps going up in intensity and your legs fatigue so bad and I just couldn’t keep up with the tempo.”
There was one small advantage for the 18 year-old, getting to watch a team mate go first.
“I was the second person to do it. Shaun Atley went first and he didn’t know what to expect so it was good for me to know what was coming. It was a bonus seeing him doing it.”
A small group of players joined Mullett and Atley at the University including Kieran Harper, Cameron Delaney and Ben Mabon.
