Peak Practice

Mick McCarthy's men have been back at Compton this week for their mid break assessments with fitness coach Tony Daly.

Explaining the decision on the club's official website Daly said

'To go from the beginning of May until the end of June without any feedback is a long time so I decided to bring them back in at the midway point to assess things.

'It's not just a case of if they are falling behind a bit, it could be that they are working too hard so the tests could be really beneficial to them.

'We don't want them too fit too soon. They need to be at their peak for when the season starts on August 9 and the tests I will be doing over the next three days will go a long way to ensuring that they are.'

To many, the mention of the name Tony Daly and the word fitness in the same sentence may still raise a smile, but there is no doubting that the current squads levels of fitness are superb.

Returning a squad in it's peak, champing at the bit and ready to assault the division come August may go some way to smoothing out those smirks.