Craig Deans says the Newcastle Jets are ready to begin the next phase of their pre-season schedule in Canberra next week.
Hunter Ports Newcastle Jets assistant coach Craig Deans says the Jets- preparations for the 2012/13 A-League season are on track as they get ready to begin the next phase of their pre-season schedule.
The Jets squad have a enjoyed a short break this week, but will return to the training track with a four-day camp in Canberra starting next Monday.
“We broke our pre-season up into six-week blocks which is the conditioning model we use,” Deans explained.
“After the first six weeks we gave the players one week to recover and freshen up before starting the next part of the cycle.
“We-ve got some matches organised against State League teams and we-ll gradually progress to some trial games against A-League opposition towards the end of that period.
“We-ll be more focused on the different aspects of the team that we need to get working well together. We have a lot of new players so it is important to get those combinations in different areas right.”
Deans said next week-s trip to Canberra would provide those new additions to the Jets squad with a chance to bond both on and off the field.
“It will be good to get them all together in a camp where they-re around each other all the time,” he said.
“They-ll learn a lot about each other and we-ve got some tasks and activities to organise down there to hopefully speed that process up a little bit.”
The Jets will top off their training camp with a trial match against the Canberra Rockets at McKellar Stadium on Wednesday night, before travelling home on Thursday.
To complement their work on the field, Deans said the Jets squad would be analysing video footage from the recent European Championships to help improve their understanding of the game.
“We-ve just had Euro happening over the past month, so I-ve got a fair bit of footage from that,” he said.
“We-re going to challenge the players a bit to see what they actually know about football, as opposed to just doing what we tell them.
“We-ll have some of activities planned around that which is all part of their football education.”
Josh Brillante, Connor Chapman, Jack Duncan and Mitch Cooper will not travel with the squad to Canberra due to their commitments with the Australian under 20-s in Indonesia.
A groin injury forced Adam Taggart out of the Young Socceroos squad and he-ll join the rest of the Jets players on their trip to the nation-s capital.
“It would be nice to have everyone here with the squad all the time, but in saying that, it-s a great opportunity for those boys to represent their country, and they-re getting games under their belt,” Deans said.
“They play something like five games in 10 days, so from that point of view, that match practice is just as valuable as what they-ll do in training.”
