Sweltering conditions and the notorious post-holiday blues haven’t stopped Wagga Blaze coach Peter O’Leary from putting his squad through their paces in a busy pre-season campaign.
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The reigning division one Waratah League champions wasted little time over the Christmas break with O’Leary scheduling bi-weekly practice and shooting sessions in the summer heat.
It’s a tall order for the Blaze after coming off just their second ever premiership flag but their coach insists the sessions are largely player-driven.
“We’re having our first full squad practice this coming Monday night but we’ve been keeping busy,” O’Leary said.
“Most of the girls around town and the development players have been getting through a couple of light shoot-around training runs every week.
“It’s been pretty tough conditions with all the heat so far, so we’re not doing anything too bad but the girls have been pushing themselves which is good to see.
“We had a session on Wednesday the other week at Bolton Park where we didn’t get the aircon working early enough, only just got it started when training began, and it would’ve been around 46 degrees in there.
“But they just trained through it for an hour and a bit, heaps of running and all that.”
O’Leary has already put rival Waratah League clubs on notice after branding his initial training squad as “even better” than last year’s championship side back in December.
However, he could be facing an entirely new challenge in the coming season with slated competition changes expected to be announced.
Wagga will likely play in a pool with Camden Valley, Goulburn, Shoalhaven and Queanbeyan.
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