South Australia’s men’s team has officially returned to preseason training, with players put through their paces in a traditional 2k time trial as preparation begins for another important campaign.
Despite wet conditions, Head Coach, Ryan Harris, was pleased to see the group back together and was impressed with the standard of fitness shown across the squad.
Ryan Harris on the return to preseason:
“It's good to have them back. It's their second week back. Quiet week last week, in terms of just getting back into doing some fitness stuff and some physical stuff in the gym and some conditioning, and then test it out today in the 2km time trial.”
“All reports, times are pretty good. A couple of improvements maybe, but some really good ones. But it's nice to have everyone back.”
Ryan Harris on the new faces joining the squad:
“They’ll bring good performance. Obviously, we had a winning 19s team last year. We've got Hayden Schiller out of that group who represented Australia at the (Under 19) World Cup. Kane Halfpenny, Tom Brown… we’ve got some good young kids coming through.”
“I think our program's really strong in the pathways. It's nice to be able to actually get some guys from those programs and bring them up.”
Ryan Harris on what preseason will teach the young players:
“Their first time, a lot of them, to see how the full program runs. It’s probably the first time doing a 2k in a long time. We'll see how they progress over the next couple of months.”
"Preseason will be big for them. It's one of those things where they come in and after the first week, they're a little bit sore, so they'll get used to the rigorous, day in, day out training, and then, hopefully, their skills will improve as well.”
Ryan Harris on improving in One-Day Cricket this season:
“We left a trophy on the table last year with the One-Day Cup, so that's the main one. We want to keep winning. I feel as though we've got a stronger squad than last year. So that's a massive positive”
“There's no reason why we can't be competing again for another Shield. We want to win every trophy possible.”
“Our performance in One-Day Cricket was pretty poor last year, wasn't very consistent. So that's probably a big goal again, it's making sure that we compete.”
“Teams are going to get better, other states are going to get better, so we’ve got to make sure we keep improving and I think if we do that, we'll be up there challenging again.”
Ryan Harris on the standout performers in the 2km time trials:
[No Surprises] with Dogger [Brendan Doggett], who's done half marathons and Ironman’s and that sort of stuff. He's a bit of a freak. So nice to see him get out the front.
“Jordan Buckingham wasn't far behind. A couple of young pups, as well, came up, not too far behind them”
“It’s nice to see some guys really testing themselves and pushing themselves”
Ryan Harris on the squads off-season commitment:
“It's one thing that I credit this group for, preseason started last week, but they've been going for four to five weeks before that, so it's not as if they'd turned up last week, and it's go.”
“They’re conditioned nicely, and, they're trying to make themselves fitter and stronger. That’s one thing I love about this group”