Manager Keith Hill reflects on the week long pre-season training camp in Tenerife…
“It has been very successful,” Hill told Dale PlayerHD.
“We got through a lot of tactical work, especially because the players are really fit. It was just about the players getting up to speed.
“There’s a good value to what it is we’re trying to achieve on the training pitch and in the sessions, and the players have been exceptional with regards to their efforts.
“The lads are in really good shape and we’ve only had the one injury, which is Harrison McGahey. Joe [Bunney] was left at home but I’m led to believe that he’ll be back training with us within two weeks, which is brilliant. It will be another two weeks before Harrison gets back on the training pitch. The rest of the lads have been exceptional and it’s brilliant when you have a successful training camp with no injuries.”
He continued: “Like I said, it has been a very successful training camp, but like Flicker said last year, nobody remembers the start of a great film. This is the start and this is the foundation work.
“What I do remember about pre-season is that the more work you do, the greater value it has during the hard times of the season when the games start and you might be going through an indifferent period. It’s great to remind yourselves of the successes that you’ve had on camps like this - the foundation and groundwork that you put in physically and tactically, because we have actually found out a hell of a lot about the character of the players. It’s when times are hard that we have to draw on the character of these players who have been training when they’re excessively tired and fatigued.
“And we’ll grow in strength because the physical development of the players is there - we haven’t had any soft tissue muscle injuries. It’s exceptional considering the resources we’ve got at the football club. Everybody works hard to make sure we have those limited injuries and when we do have those injuries then the physio department does a great job. Kev Gibbins does, the analyst does, and when we integrate them back into the team they’re not far off where they should be.”
The full interview is on Dale PlayerHD.