Star forward Jake Stringer says the lead in to the 2020 season has “by far” been one of his smoothest pre-seasons.
Stringer is yet to miss a training session ahead of his eighth AFL season and while he joked he is currently “borderline flying”, the powerful Bomber has no doubt he is set to enter the season in better condition than ever before.
“I’m going well,” Stringer said on SEN on Friday morning.
“Not being injured is a massive part and I don’t think I’ve missed a session in the whole pre-season, which is all you can ask for when you’re going into a pre-season – to complete as many sessions as you can.”
The 25-year-old praised new head of strength and conditioning Sean Murphy for stretching his limits in recent months.
“Last year was pretty good, but this year has been taken to a new level with Sean Murphy coming across – he’s really pushed the boundaries with me.
“It’s been a hard slog and don’t worry, I’m looking forward to playing and getting out of this pre-season phase.”
Stringer recently shaved more than 20 seconds off his personal best in the two-kilometre time trial, an impressive result of the squad being harder on themselves with Murphy’s encouragement.
“(Murphy) has really tested us physically and mentally – it’s been one of the hardest pre-seasons I’ve ever done.
“We’re in a great position to be able to springboard into the season.”
Stringer was one of the shining lights of the club’s 2019 season, providing plenty of spark when needed in the midfield while providing no shortage of fireworks in his more familiar role as a forward.
He finished the season with 33 goals to take home his second consecutive leading goalkicker award, yet he still ranked fifth at the club for average centre clearances as he capitalised on short bursts on the ball.
The leading goal kickers series continues, with Jake Stringer next up with 33 goals for the Bombers.
— AFL (@AFL) October 25, 2019
Watch his top five below, or every single goal he kicked in 2019 right here: https://t.co/XtSwIaCM6r pic.twitter.com/o6itKYcEbR
While he has spent the majority of the pre-season developing his work in front of goal, Stringer is still expecting to play a role in the centre this year.
“I’ve done a lot of work forward, which has been quite good, because in the last year and a bit I’ve done a lot of work with the midfield group.
“I’ll start to ramp up my midfield stuff leading into games, but I’ve just been honing in on my craft as a forward.”
Essendon will return to the field against West Coast in the Marsh Community Series on February 27, while just 50 days remain before the Dons take on Fremantle at Marvel Stadium to kick off their home and away season on March 21.
