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Reigning BFNL premier Sandhurst has thrived in its first month of pre-season training.
Dragons’ coach Wayne Primmer admitted his players celebrated the 2016 grand final success long and hard, but he’s been pleasantly surprised with how well they’ve performed in the past four weeks.
“The players are up and about,’’ Primmer said.
“I think the feeling they experienced in winning the flag is one that they want to experience again and it’s showing (in training).
“The boys came back and in the early time-trials they were running times that were as good as their best during the season.”
Following the grand final win, Sandhurst players said the pre-season schedule Primmer put them through last year was the most gruelling they’d undertaken.
“This pre-season has been tough, but we’ve had more variety this year,’’ Primmer said.
“Last year we just trained in the one spot and we did a lot of running. This year we’ve changed it up and done some training out at Crusoe Reservoir and had some swimming sessions.
“All up, the pre-season will be as solid as last year.”
Sandhurst’s star recruit Andrew Collins has been absent for most of the club’s pre-season training because of his wedding and farming commitments.
“Andy has had plenty on, but I’m confident he’ll come back in good condition,’’ Primmer said.
“I’ve messaged him with the programs we’ve been doing and he was going to do the sessions by himself before or after work.”
AFL draftee Fergus Greene is the only major departure for the Dragons, while young key position player Braidon Blake could try his luck in the VFL.
Primmer said Sandhurst’s improvement in 2017 would come from within the club.
“We had 11 players in our reserves grand final side who played senior footy this year,’’ Primmer said.
“Any of them could have stepped up to the seniors in the finals. We had players who played in the reserves all year, who have really stepped up in the pre-season and they’re looking to take the next step into senior footy.
“We have some good kids coming up from the under-18s as well. Our depth is very good.”
The Dragons’ first practice game will be against Benalla on March 18, while they’ll also face Echuca and Rochester leading into their BFNL season-opener against Strathfieldsaye on April 15.