New recruits push regulars to find their Pride in the heat

THE first gallop after the holiday break can be a disheartening prospect for those who indulged in too much festive cheer, but the Northern Pride players had no such worries at the Cairns Esplanade yesterday.

The Pride returned to the pre-season summer slog at Fogarty Park looking fit and trim after enjoying a 15-day break during the Christmas-New Year period.

Footballs were kept on the sideline as trialists and established players were subjected to a series of running drills designed to lift their heart rates before cooling off in the Esplanade Lagoon.

Pride coach David Maiden, who guided the club to its first title in 2010, liked what he saw.

“Everyone’s looking pretty good. They make sure they come back in good shape, otherwise it’s just too hard to catch up,” Maiden said.”This is just a welcome back, a chance to get rid of Christmas, and a reminder we’re back in business.”

Maiden is yet to finalise his squad for the coming season and hopes the trialists invited to the pre-season make his job difficult.”They’ve been training really well so far and the senior guys have been really good leaders, so everything is working well. The effort and enthusiasm we’re seeing is exactly what we want,” he said.

“We’re training like Tarzan at the moment and as long as we don’t play like Jane, we’ll be OK.”

The Pride play their first trial of 2012 on February 11.