EXPERIENCED midfielder Tom Scully has taken out Greater Western Sydney's post-Christmas time trial in the Giants' first session back for 2016.

The players ran a 3km time trial around Tom Wills Oval at their training base to begin the new year.

Scully beat home Josh Kelly and big man Adam Tomlinson, while young midfielder Lachie Whitfield finished fourth.

Whitfield told the Giants' website that the prospect of a 3km time trial on the first day back in the new year ensured the players remained in good shape over the Christmas break. 

GWS or Gold Coast: Who's got it right? 

"I could think of 100 things I'd rather do but we all know it's coming and need to do the training to be ready for it," Whitfield said.

"It's tough, especially when you go home and hang out with mates and they're always trying to get you out and about, but we've got a program we've got to stick to so we can come back in good nick.

"It's pretty integral knowing that we've got a couple of big months coming up before games."

Toby Greene (sixth), Rhys Palmer (eighth) and Dylan Shiel (ninth) also finished in the top 10.

Whitfield said the Giants will ramp up their game simulation training over the next couple of weeks.

"It feels like the hardest bit of the pre-season is behind us," Whitfield said.

"We're going to start getting a lot of game-sense stuff into drills now, which will be a lot more fun than just running. It's exciting knowing that the games are just around the corner."