Getting Back Into To It................

Written By Mark Geyer

One thing about playing a tough season of NRL footy is that you really look forward to the off season. Players from all clubs usually have only one thing on their mind.......RELAXATION!!

The only thing is that the relaxation part seems to go by faster than Wendell Sailor can say "wallaby".

Just as you get settled into your off-season routine the date ticks over to November 1.

November’s first couple of weeks is traditionally when most teams gather for what will be a long and arduous season. Skin fold (fat) tests, strength tests, speed tests and even drug tests area a regular fixture at most pre-season training runs.

I know in my 15 years as a player, I could never get used to off-season training. Maybe it was the fact that most of the shortcuts I used to take had now been replaced with either shopping centres or roads.

I remember a usual trick on long runs was to jump in a cab, rush to the end, have a quick swim, hang around for an hour or so, then jump out of the bushes with 100 metres to go, breathing and sweating like you’ve just ran to Melbourne and back. Let me emphasise, this is something that I don’t recommend to the modern day player.

Trainer and coaching staff are a lot more switched on than back in my early days as a player, but it was fun trying to out do the buggers!

So for the players reading this, start drinking plenty of fluid, get plenty of sleep, because probably the hardest part of rugby league is just around the corner. "Pre-Season Training".........MG