With the NAB Challenge only five weeks away the Cats realise it’s now crunch time and are eager to increase the intensity back on the track.
Geelong’s leading forward Tom Hawkins was excited to be back amongst the playing group and was impressed with how the team was moving around the ground.
“We had our 2km time trial this morning down at Landy Field and we came back to the footy club for a skilled circuit session outside and everyone looked good,” Hawkins told Cats TV.
“It was a good first day back, after two weeks off you start to miss everyone a bit so it’s nice to get back and catch up with everyone.”
Hawkins concedes that his training schedule is similar to that of last year’s, however, he admits the duration of this year’s preseason is limited due to their later finish in 2013 and this year’s earlier starting time.
“It’s not too much different; my individual program seems roughly the same,” Hawkins said.
“The only thing would be is that we had longer time off after our last game and the season is starting two weeks earlier (this year), so it’s been condensed into a shorter period of time so - we’re still trying to get last year’s amount of training into this year’s – that’s something the fitness staff are juggling with.
“It’s probably a little bit more intense but the great thing about our staff is that they keep it enjoyable and fun to be out there.”
According to Hawkins this time of year is highly important in terms of preparation for the season ahead and he hopes he can play as many games during February to ensure he’s in full swing come round one on March 20th against the Crows at Simonds Stadium.
“Yeah definitely, I’ll try and play early if I can - the match fitness is great no matter how young or old you are it’s really important for a footballer to play a game under high intensity before round 1, so I look to playing a couple of games,” Hawkins explains.
“January is a very important month for us it’s a really tough month of training but it holds you in really good stead to get us through and for the rest of the year.”
Click on the video above to catch the full interview with Tom Hawkins on Cats TV.
