Sydney Swans up-and-comer Jed Lamb, who is entering his third season with the Swans, has been one of the club’s biggest improvers so far in this year’s pre-season training program.

Having bettered his fitness and strength over the off-season, the 20-year-old told SwansTV he was ready to continue putting in the hard yards to push for senior selection this year.

“It’s been pretty good. I’ve probably come back in the best shape I have so far since I’ve been at the Swans,” Lamb said.

“I’ve run a couple of PBs as well which has been really good and the coaches are pretty happy, so I’m just ticking the boxes every session and getting through every session and I can’t wait for the games to start.”

Lamb undertook an unconventional off-season program, with the 20-year-old joining Swans reserves coach Jared Crouch and team mate Alex Brown on a Premiership Quarter 500km cycling tour in south-east Asia before returning home to Yarram, Victoria, where he continued to train.

“I did a little bit of work but I had a different sort of program because I went over to Burma on a bike trip, so leading up to the bike trip I did a little bit of work,” Lamb said about his off-season.

“When I was over there I didn’t do any running but when I got back I got stuck straight into it and back home I went to the local gym heaps and did a few circuits that really worked for me.

“My aim was to just come back and really set the benchmark, which I think I’ve done pretty well.”

Lamb’s improvement has not gone unnoticed at the club with Swans assistant coach Henry Playfair saying that he had noticed a significant difference in Lamb’s pre-season output this year.

“Jed’s pre-season has been the best one he’s ever had,” Playfair said.

“He’s done really well and he’s come back in really good shape, which was the first step for him.

“They biggest improvement has been his running, which he had to improve along with his strength and his body’s resilience.”

Playfair added that Lamb’s pre-season form is likely to set him up for a NAB Cup appearance, and will play a significant role in helping the midfielder push on in 2013.

“Lamby’s likely to get a chance in the NAB Cup at some stage and we hope he does well and push his way into the senior team some time this season,” he said.

Just four weeks out from the NAB Cup, Lamb said he knows he still has much to achieve before he can break into the Swans 22 and said improving his fitness would be his main focus for the remainder of the pre-season.

“I just need to keep working on my fitness. The coaches said last year in the meetings that if I come back fit then I’m a massive chance to play seniors so every session I’m just trying to work on that,” he said.

“I know there is a lot of hard work to go and I’m not just going to dwell on what’s happened so far, I’m going to keep going and keep working hard.”