“We’re looking really good right now,” the Tigers’ Elite Performance Manager Peter Burge told ‘Roar Vision’.
“Naturally, we’ve got some guys that are under a fair bit of training load, and we’re modifying some programs here and there. But in terms of the true rehab. group, it’s down to about four or five at the moment.
“So, we’re really only looking at a couple of guys in the New Year, who’ll need to be integrated back into skills, probably over the first three weeks . . .
“It’s been pretty busy. We’ve certainly stepped things up the last couple of weeks and the football program’s really kicked in.
“The players have done a lot of work. They’re probably looking forward to a little bit of a break, but we’ve got to get through two more sessions before that break and then they’ll go away with Christmas programs . . .
“We do load them up pre-Christmas a fair bit, but for some individuals we taper them off and build them up again.
“Generally, we’re all aiming to get to the same point at the end of January, where we’re going to load them up with a bigger football program.
“But, right now, they’re doing a mix of high-level conditioning and football program.”
Burge proceeded to outline what the Christmas program involved . . .
“It’s a balance between still maintaining the work they’ve done and actually getting a mental break and a physical break,” he said.
“The guys will still train three days a week. Others might do two sessions in the first week and three in the second week, so it’s very individual.
“But the goal is we don’t want to drop off our standards. We really want the players to return as they left. And, for some other players, they need to be ahead of where they left.”
