HUNTERS coach Michael Marum and his staff will send their 25-member squad for their Christmas break tomorrow but with a friendly warning – savour Christmas because preseason will be all business.
The Hunters will break camp in Kokopo starting tomorrow and the following day and will return to their home towns for the Christmas and New Year period but will not have a chance to get too comfortable with preseason training scheduled to start on January 5. Departing trio, Wartovo Puara Jr, Thompson Teteh and Stanton Albert will be given a team send off tonight when the side gathers for one last dinner in the East New Britain capital. “We’ve still got a couple of training sessions to go tomorrow (today) before we break up. The guys will be doing a morning and afternoon session before they leave,” Marum said. “The main message we’re giving the players is to enjoy their time with their families this Christmas because when they get back after the New Year, it will be full on. “They won’t see them much over the course of the 2015 season. “This is the best time to see their wives, kids, parents and family members and enjoy the time with them to the fullest.” Marum, who led the team to a sixth-place finish in their debut season in the Queensland Cup, will be expected to produce similar results in 2015 and knows the pressure will be on him and his players. “We’re not sending the guys out without programmes to follow while they’re on their break. They still have to do some training but it won’t be as heavy or intense. “Some of the boys will use this time to recover from any minor injuries and niggles they picked up over the last few weeks,” he said. Despite having a no alcohol policy during camp, Marum said he would not begrudge the players a “few cold ones” during Christmas. “I know the guys will want to enjoy themselves a little bit over the break with a few drinks and that’s okay — just as long as they understand who they are and what they’re doing. “They’re not just anybody on the street, they are Hunters players, so we expect them to be professional. “They don’t need to go overboard, just use their common sense and limit themselves. “They don’t want to spoil their gains from training so I’m sure they’ll do the right thing.” Marum said he was looking at a few possible replacements for Puara, Teteh and Albert but concluded that there were no definite plans as yet. “We’ve got 25 players now with Stanton, Wartovo and Thompson leaving us and I am looking at a few players from outside, but we won’t make a decision on that until after we return from the break,” Marum said. “At the moment we just want to concentrate on the players we have in the squad and get them ready. The problem with bringing in players is it takes time to get them up to the Hunters level and that could drag us back a bit.” Marum said with the Digicel Cup franchises’ more professional approaches to training and pre-season preparation ,the gap was closing and he would watch games during the season to scout new talent. Comments are closed.
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