This is the first of a regular feature on the Kangaroos' website where you, the fan, will have the chance to ask various members of the club the questions you’ve always wanted answered. This week, we went to Paul Turk, our head strength and conditioning coach, to ask about the new fitness regime we’ve heard so much about over the summer.

Can you briefly outline the differences between this year's pre-season and that of 2006?This year's pre season was focused around building on the players' endurance base. With the rule changes and the new game plan Dean has come up with, we needed the ability to run non-stop for the entire game. So based around the GPS data we have, we designed a pre-season accordingly.

How much time did you spend with Dean and the rest of the coaching staff to come up with the revamped pre-season program? During the off-season, the entire coaching department spent every day going through the program, players, training sessions, planning, planning and more planning. We’ve put a number of processes in place to ensure we continue to achieve better results.

Which players have excelled or surprised you under the new regime? All of the playing group really applied themselves well. They were very disappointed with their performance in 2006, and they really are working hard to make sure they change that. If I had to nominate one player, I'd say Jess Sinclair was outstanding and pushed himself at every task given.

Is there one player on this year's list you think might have made a very good elite athlete? With our testing results, Eddie Sansbury was a standout, setting club standards in the beep test and the 3.2km time trial. He is also one of our best in the strength tests.

How 'AFL-ready' have the recent draftees been in terms of their fitness? No player arrives ready to go at AFL level. You have to remember that some of them come from a playing and training background at under-18 level where they train perhaps once or twice a week and then play weekends. To their credit, they’ve all come on board and worked really well.

Has each player had a tailored approach to their pre-season depending on the position they play or have most players generally followed the same path? One of the first things I put in place is very personalised programs, designed for each player's body type, playing experience and age. This has enabled the bulk of the list to make massive gains over the pre season.

Do things like improving running techniques still come into play when you are training an AFL footballer? Yes, in October and November when we started pre-season, we spent the first two months on running technique. Even now we are still doing these sessions. The players want to improve in every aspect of physical performance.

How do you maintain the balance between honing the players' ability to meet the running requirements of modern football but also the strength aspects? Again it is a very personal approach. Certain players need to develop muscle and strength where [with] other players, their priority is to run, so we have programs set up to suit both. We do three to four run skill sessions a week and three weights sessions so there is that balance.

The club has been very good in avoiding soft tissue injuries over the past few years. What do you put that down to? Every club has soft tissue injuries. With such a demanding sport it’s always going to be an issue. We’ve had our fair share too. We are lucky enough to have an excellent medical team, with Dr Con Mitropoulos and his team, who are great at getting the player back on the track as soon as possible.

How have you managed someone like Jesse Smith's pre-season given his injury problems? What sort of things has he been able to do to maintain his aerobic fitness? Someone like Jesse, who has had problems with his ankle and so hasn't been able to do the running the other players have done, has had a specialised program of bike, swimming and boxing. He’s progressed well and is ready to play.

Is player training evolving to the point where things are different from season to season? What about from five or even 10 years ago? We are always learning and fine-tuning the program. And as a player's body matures they can handle certain loads. With such a young group they made massive gains with one pre-season. With two to three pre-seasons under their belts and that muscle maturity, that’s when the performance will really shine through.

Keep an eye on kangaroos.com.au in coming weeks for details about the next installment of Ask the Club, where a key figure from the Club will answer a selection of your questions.