While the players will have a well-deserved two-week break over the Christmas period, they will be expected to follow personalised fitness plans to ensure they return to the club in good shape in the New Year.
Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh said it was essential that he and his team mates continued to work hard over the next fortnight.
“This period before Christmas is really critical to set us up for the rest of the year and so far the boys have been going really well this pre-season,” he said.
“We’ll get our Christmas programs towards the end of the week and there will be a fair bit of running, I assume.
“Obviously we still have to keep our ball work up because when we get back we’re straight into it because the games aren’t far away, so the ball work will continue with a lot of running.”
Running was the early focus of the Swans’ pre-season, with the club’s one-to-four-year players taking part in hefty running sessions in November before the senior players returned to the club two weeks later.
While running sessions are the norm for the younger playing group, McVeigh said he believed next season’s interchange cap also influenced this year’s pre-season program.
“The younger players did a lot of running early on and not much ball work,” he said.
“With the interchange cap coming in a bit more running is required, which is not ideal.
“But the young guys have been running really well and the skills are now starting to ramp up because once we get back from Christmas the games are not too far away.”
McVeigh said Harrison Marsh and third-year defender Jordan Lockyer had taken best to the gruelling pre-season program.
“Harrison Marsh has come back in really good condition and Jordan Lockyer,” he said
“They are the two guys who are probably the real standouts among the young players and they’ve continued that on when the older boys have come back.”
McVeigh said the usual suspects – such as Dan Hannebery and Kieren Jack – were among the best performers in the senior group.
“Dan Hannebery also always runs well and Kieren Jack, so they are the guys who are always leading the way,” he said.
The Swans will return to the club on January 6, and will complete a three-week training block before travelling to Coffs Harbour on January 28 for a training camp.
McVeigh said the Swans, who travelled to Coffs earlier this year, were looking forward to the opportunity to get away as a group ahead of the pre-season competition.
“It’s nice to get up there,” he said.
“We’ve got a great supporter base up there and the ground up there is in great condition and we always like training on the field up there and getting up into the local community.
“It’s also always good to get away as a group and to meet the new guys on a different level and not just in training.
“It’s good to meet them and see how they go about things, so it’s always a good trip that one.”
The Sydney Swans offices will be closed from 4pm Friday, December 20 and will reopen on Monday, January 6, 2014.
All players, coaches and staff members will be on leave during this period.
