With a month of pre-season training now under their belts, Knights rookies Josh King and Brock Lamb sit down with Knights TV to reflect on the progress they’ve made since joining fulltime pre-season training with the NRL squad.
The step up has been far from easy, but the young Knights have already started to note improvements in their fitness and the way they train and have integrated well into the NRL training squad.
You’re into our fourth week of the pre-season, what kind of personal improvements have you already begun to see?
Lamb: Probably my fitness, I’ve been working on my fitness and slowly each week it’s getting better.
King: For myself I think it’s been my fitness and my strength coming back into it. One of the main things has been defensive technique. Being up with the big boys, you learn a lot and the different way to do things. It’s been really good.
What part of training do you look forward to each week?
Lamb: I like the fitness. It tests you every week. You know when you come to training, you’re going to get tested. It’s going to be hard, but you know you have to work hard and to push yourself.
King: I like being amongst it with all the boys. You always have fun, get the work done and have a bit of a laugh. I always enjoy furthering my game and developing it.
What type of sacrifices have you made since beginning fulltime training?
Lamb: The late nights on the weekends. You are worried about your preparation and your recovery a lot more than you used to be.
King: I was working fulltime prior to this so I’ve had to put work on hold for a little while. After I finish training, I’ll pick work back up again. It’s just things like hanging out with your mates, you don’t have much time and when you do have time, it’s spent recovering and resting more than anything. They are the sacrifices you make but at the end of the day it’s worth it.
What has been the biggest challenge for you?
Lamb: The biggest challenge would be the contact and the conditioning for me. I’m slowly getting used to it.
King: The conditioning and the fitness is pretty tough. The physical size of the players, it’s a big step up from playing in under 20s. It’s all a learning curve and I’m getting better each week.
How do you spend your downtime?
Lamb: I spend it sleeping at the moment. With recovery, I’m always at the baths or around water getting a bit of a stretch and swim in.
King: By the end of the day you’re pretty tired and pretty exhausted, so I’m resting most of the time. The boys try to get together and go down to the baths and the beach and have a bit of a swim to help with our recovery. I usually then go home and have feed and a sleep.
What’s something that has surprised you about pre-season training with the NRL squad?
Lamb: The professionalism. Everyone is so professional about everything like their recovery and preparation on and off the field. That’s probably the surprising factor for me.
King: Just how good all the older fellas have been to us young guys. They’ve really brought us in amongst it, helped us out a lot and shown us the different techniques and different ways to do things. It’s really helped our game out.
