Essendon veteran Brent Stanton is confident the current playing group has an exciting future with a strong start to the 2015 pre-season campaign.
Stanton came third in this morning’s 2km time trial around Princes Park being beaten by Patrick Ambrose and Elliott Kavanagh in the endurance test.
The 28-year-old said it was pleasing to see the club’s younger players pushing the senior group on the training track.
“I have no doubt that the football club is better placed then this time last year in particular the players,” Stanton said.
“The fitter you get the year after year the different heights you can go to as a fitness level.”
“I think that is the exciting part of this football club is we have got the experienced guys in but these younger guys are so willing to learn so they keep getting better and better.”
“The results show that we are improving each year and the younger guys are getting better and better.”
Nick O’Brien and Ariel Steinberg followed Stanton home in the time trial to round out the top five.
“All the younger guys are running really well, I am getting a bit older now and I need to try and keep up with them so it is a good test for myself,” Stanton said.
“It is also a good test for the other senior guys as it keeps you on your toes so hopefully it can create some good pressure for senior spots throughout the year.”
“That is what we need and it is what good teams have.”
The 2km time trial was an extra test compared to previous seasons with the players taking part in the session just two days before a Christmas break.
“It is a bit foreign for us to do a 2km time trial two days before we break up but I think the philosophy behind it is that we are training right to the end to try and get the most out of ourselves before Christmas."
“I think the results today were really good by the whole group which is pleasing.”
“We are happy with the progress we are making and as I said we are trying to stay switched on right up until that Christmas break.”
“This is probably something that we have bought into our program to switch us on, we have a big session of skills tomorrow and we want to finish off on the right note before we have a good little break before Christmas.”
Make sure you get along and show your support for the boys in our final training session of 2014 with our special Christmas Open Training session from 9am on Tuesday.
Time Trial Top Five
Patrick Ambrose
Elliott Kavanagh
Brent Stanton
Nick O’Brien
Ariel Steinberg
