With the opening NAB Challenge game against the Brisbane Lions now less than a month away, the focus of pre-season training is about to shift away from intensity to ‘game mode’.

Last week some players ran close to 40 kilometres on the track, but following the Australia Day break expect there to be less running and more skills within the confines of Metricon Stadium.

“We’ve had an intense three weeks of training now and we’re almost at the end of that block,” elite performance director Justin Cordy told SUNS TV.

“So I think the players are looking forward to having a little bit of downtime before we really set ourselves to February then obviously game mode with the NAB coming around really quickly now.”

Cordy revealed the high performance team and coaching staff would meet on Friday afternoon to work out individual plans for players with coach Rodney Eade pleased with the progress being made in his second year at the helm.

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“As a coaching group I know we’re meeting this afternoon really to discuss specific plans for individuals and plans collectively for the group in terms of really just topping them up and getting them into football mode now with the specificity of the game and where the game wants to go,” he said.

“I know Rodney’s certainly happy with how the guys have performed over the last few weeks which has been fantastic in terms of their training, their loading and all the work that the staff have put in has been great.”

The playing list at Carrara can sense the end of another brutal pre-season campaign is nigh and there is light at the end of the tunnel with games just around the corner.

“So now it’s time to prepare them to play football, which is probably the most exciting time,” Cordy said.

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“I know the players are looking forward to it, pre-season’s sort of coming to a close but it’s also an opportunity to just see what work they’ve put in and how far they’ve come in terms of their training.

“So it’s an exciting period of time over the next few weeks for the club, players, staff.”