IT’S BEEN more than 200 days since we played our last game.

Since then, the club as a whole travelled to China. Unfortunately, I missed the trip, as I started with the club after that.

From all reports, the China trip was an outstanding experience.

Not only did we come from behind to defeat Brisbane Lions by one-point - thanks to five goals and the match-winner by Liam Jurrah - it was a great opportunity for the club to come together as one.

I’ve been impressed by how the players, coaches and administration have worked together closely, and from what I understand, it’s largely because of the relationships forged in China.

The players also had their mandatory 6-8 weeks break, with their time off dependent on how long they have been in the AFL system.

Pre-season commenced on the October 31 (141 days ago). In that time, the boys have completed 60 football training sessions.

Each player has roughly had about 3000 kicks, under the watchful eye of our kicking coach Kelly O’Donnell.

Kelly also runs our tackling program. The defensive aspect in AFL football is critical and therefore our tackling must be strong. In the pre-season period, tackles have been practiced, each player laying around 600 each.

Also over the last 20 weeks, our forwards and midfielders have had 600 set shots at goal each.

Our pre-season goalkicking was at 65 per cent, which is a testament to the time our forwards coach Josh Mahoney has put in.

Scott West was an elite ball-winner in his playing days. Who then is better to teach our players ball-handling skills? Each player has touched the ball more than 10,000 times throughout the pre-season. Many of these have been in game simulated situations.

Mark Williams has spent many hours training the boys on our ball movement. One of our focuses is our ball movement. When we play against zoning teams, we need to know when to move the ball quickly and when to be patient. Also, do we move through the zone or go around it? These are some of the challenges presented in today’s game.

AFL players are elite athletes. Our fitness and conditioning staff Joel Hocking and Adam Paulo have put in a power of work into the playing group. Each player has run approximately 12 Marathons (500km) via football and fitness training sessions. On top of this, there has been 40 speed and agility training sessions, overseen by Bohdan Babijczuk.

The boys are getting stronger. In the gym, they have completed 60 weight training sessions, meaning each player has lifted between 540,000-780,000 kilograms. This is dependent on the size and weight of the individual. In total, over the last 20 weeks, the squad has nearly lifted 780 tones.

Our masseurs have been working overtime. The playing group have had 1840 massages between them, thanks to Ronny Griffiths and his team of masseurs.

Dean and the coaching staff have conducted 55 education sessions, reviewed training and gone thoroughly over all areas of our game plan. This has included stoppages, structures, kick outs etc.

During the NAB Cup, we played 33 players, trialled the new interchange and substitution rule, and practiced all areas of our game plan and trialled players in different positions. Trying to pick the final 22 for round one hasn't made it an easy week for the match committee.

Sydney has had a strong pre-season. Getting our match-ups correct is critical.

Who plays on Adam Goodes? Do we play two ruckmen? Who are we going to tag? What will the Sydney line-up look like? Then the game scenarios (the what-ifs, as the coaches call them) are endless, but we must be prepared for anything that could happen.

Bring it on.

GO DEES!