THE holidays are almost over for the youngsters on the Sydney Swans list.
The Club’s elite performance manager, Rob Spurrs, has a group of nine players coming back early for a gut-busting three kilometre time trial around Centennial Park.
The players - Dan Currie, Trent Dennis-Lane, Nathan Gordon, Campbell Heath, Lewis Johnston, Dylan McNeil, Brett Meredith, Gary Rohan and Byron Sumner - will set off early this Friday morning in the race against the clock.
Spurrs said every Swans player had been given a running program to do while they’ve been on their off-season break.
“The 3k time trial is just a way of gauging where the young players are at with the program, before they officially start their pre-season training in November,’’ Spurrs said.
Long gone are the days when players arrived back for pre-season training out of shape, but the time trial will give Spurrs exact information on their fitness levels which will help him plot specific pre-season schedules.
Players such as Rohan, Sumner, Heath and Johnston have been back with their families interstate since the Swans season ended in mid-September.
After the 3km time trial on Friday they’ll have another week’s break before returning to the Club on Monday November 8, to start their campaign for the 2011 season.
Others players who have been drafted in the past couple of years, such as Dan Hannebery and Lewis Jetta, will join them on that date.
Players who have been at the Club, or in the AFL system, between four and seven seasons will start back for pre-season training on November 15 and all others - apart from those who have been playing International Rules - will resume on November 22.
Adam Goodes, Jarrad McVeigh and Kieren Jack, who are currently playing in Ireland, return to the Club on November 29, while Tadhg Kennelly will return on December 13.
Coach John Longmire has spoken to Kennelly in Ireland overnight. Longmire said Kennelly assured him he would be back in Sydney for pre-season training and is looking forward to playing with the Swans in 2011.
