CO-CAPTAIN Jack Grimes says he has never seen his teammates come back in better condition for a pre-season, during his time at the club.  

Although Grimes said the players enjoyed their off-season break, he added the players had worked hard to ensure they were ready to go for the start of pre-season. 

Testing and screening sessions will dominate much of the first week of pre-season, but Grimes said the hard work would quickly come around.

“The first couple of days, there is a lot of testing to make sure your body is right and there is a bit of strength testing,” he said.

“It’s so they can get a bit of a baseline and then later in the week is where the time trails and the hard-running starts. So I’m looking forward to that.

“Once we get into this 3km [time-trial] on Saturday - after that, we’re raring to go.”

Grimes said there was a mix of enthusiasm and nerves for all concerned on day one.

“The first day back is always exciting,” he said.

“You get to see all of the boys and a lot of them you haven’t seen for about eight weeks, so it’s good to see all of them again.

“Always before the first day back, there’s always a few sleepless nights, because you don’t really know what’s coming.”

Grimes went to Fiji with his girlfriend Jayde during his break and he managed to fit in the required training, along with some much needed rest and relaxation. He said he felt really refreshed upon his return.

“It feels like yesterday that we went [on our break]. But a lot of the boys got away and got out of Melbourne, which was good and I myself got away to Fiji - just to relax,” he said.

“At the same time, the off-season training program really stepped up this year and it was a solid program. So it’s good that you can go away, but at the same time, you’re working hard.

“It worked out well, because we were staying in a resort and there wasn’t too much else to do, so I found myself in the gym a fair bit. There was a nice little area to run around and it was great over there.

“A lot of the boys had similar holidays, because after a long year of footy, you do just want to relax a bit, so I loved it.”

New recruits David Rodan, Cam Pedersen and Dom Barry started pre-season on Monday, with Chris Dawes and Shannon Byrnes due to start in mid-November, due to extended 2012 campaigns, due to finals with their former clubs.   

“First impressions of them are great. Dom is younger than the other two and he’s pretty quiet and slightly built. But he seems like he’s got a good head on his shoulders and he’s very mature for his age. He’ll fit in pretty nicely. He’s just still getting used to what AFL training’s like,” Grimes said.

“But the other two guys (Rodan and Pedersen) know exactly what pre-seasons look like and they’ll fit in pretty quickly. But the first day - they’ll obviously be a little quieter than what they will be.

“It’s good to see them and all of the guys have been really welcoming.”

But Grimes said it was difficult to see several teammates also leave the club, although he understood it was an unfortunate byproduct of the post and pre-season period.

“Unfortunately, that’s the part of AFL footy that people don’t like. You’ve got to make changes at the end of each year and this year we made a few more than what we did in the past,” he said.

“It can be hard for some guys because you train and play with them every day of the year almost. So you become really good mates with everyone.

“To see some of your close mates finish their careers or go to other clubs - it can be hard. But for some guys who have moved on, we wish them all the best at other clubs and hope they go really well out there.

“What was great is that a lot of guys have left on really good terms and there are no issues and we have no hesitation in catching up with them when we see them.”