After a decent break away from the game, North’s youngest players are starting to filter back into Aegis Park ahead of another big pre-season training block which begins on Tuesday.

The first group to feel the wrath of North’s fitness staff will be those who have completed four or less full years of footy including the likes of Shaun Atley, Jack Ziebell, Ryan Bastinac, Sam Wright, Kieran Harper, Brad McKenzie and Ben Cunnington.

Being the freshest players on the list, they don’t get the luxury of an extended holiday.

“It’s pretty much full on straight away,” nutrition and conditioning coach Jona Segal told kangaroos.com.au.

“The expectation is that they’ve had a break in the initial part of the off-season and then they’ve had their individual training program to work on over the last few weeks which will bring them back ready to go.”

In the past, players may have returned a little out of shape but Segal says that isn’t an option for the modern day footballer.

“Their understanding of what it takes to be an elite, professional footballer is improving constantly. Gone are the days of players rocking up with skin folds that are off the charts or players who haven’t done any work over the break.

“Over the last few weeks the gym has been filled with staggered groups of players and there have been different running and cycling groups happening. We can say with a high level of confidence that our guys will return in good shape.”

With the redevelopment of the Aegis Park Oval well underway, pre-season skills will move to Craigieburn Oval and Segal believes the change of scenery will have its benefits.

“You go where you get the best surface to train on and we’re lucky that Craigieburn is a really great ground. I don’t think location makes any difference to the output we can expect from the players.

“It’s more in the mindset that you prepare well and you dictate the session and don’t let different circumstances impact on your training.”

A combination of running drills, cross training and technical skills will keep the players on their toes, as well as some intense indoor skills sessions on the indoor Aegis Park basketball court.

“The weights program is really substantial in pre-reason and that’s paid dividends in the way we’ve seen our young guys develop. The indoor sessions are a good opportunity for the players to have a significant amount of touch without as much of the conditioning element to it.”

The five to seven year players like Todd Goldstein, Scott Thompson, Lachlan Hansen, Nathan Grima and Leigh Adams will join in on November 8 and finally the more senior boys, with eight or more years under their belts including Brent Harvey, Drew Petrie, Daniel Wells and Michael Firrito, will return on the 12th for testing and then head straight to Utah.

However the entire group will re-unite on the 14th of November to finally put the 2012 season to bed with the celebration of the Syd Barker Medal and Hall of Fame dinner at Crown Casino.