The ACT Brumbies are earmarked as a Super14 title contender next season, but as only six blokes ran up and down Griffith Oval yesterday on the first day of training the team hardly looked it.
Instead of the usual atmosphere of of a big, boisterous squad, it was eerily quiet as six backs and then a group of 12 forwards pushed their bodies to the limit for the first time in more than a month.
And while it sounds strange, the fact the Brumbies are putting small groups through their paces is the same reason why they will be a force next year.
With 11 players in Europe with the Wallabies, the Brumbies have the most players absent from pre-season training of all the Australian squads. They won't have a full complement of players until after Christmas.
Of those in Canberra, it was new scrumhalf recruit Josh Valentine who won the team's first 2km time trial yesterday with incumbent No9 Patrick Phibbs just behind.
Despite racing against just a handful of teammates, Phibbs said the excitement of potential success was building within the squad.
''It's early on in the year; you don't want to peak too early,'' Phibbs said.
''Everyone's glad to be back into it ... it sounds like it's going to be an exciting year with the personnel we've got.
''Everyone is really keen to get in early. It makes you want to work even harder and knowing that no one's position is safe is that added incentive for training.''
The Brumbies will go through exhausting sessions over the next six weeks.
Former skipper Stirling Mortlock was supposed to join the Wallabies in Europe last week, but a calf injury forced him out of the tour.
Instead, he will return to Brumbies training in January.
The veteran centre has pledged to play the 2010 season with the Brumbies despite the prospect of his international career being over.
Coach Andy Friend and strength and condition mentor Rod Lindsell have designed a program to make the Brumbies the strongest and fittest in Super rugby.
Gone are the beep test and monotonous running sessions.
Instead, the players' every movement will be tracked by a global positioning system while they run up the hill at Parliament House and embark on a gruelling bike ride at Mt Kosciuszko.
And Lindsell hoped the variation in the team's fitness work would keep the players motivated.
''It's a mix of new school and old school,'' Lindsell said. ''Having ridden 50km with Friendy the other week, [the trip to Mt Kosciuszko] is certainly going to be a challenge for the bigger boys. When you're carrying 120kg up 1km and 3km climbs it's tough so it's not going to be bike riding there will be a fair bit of pushing bikes I think.''
The beep test will be replaced by a series of 300m shuttle runs, the 2km time trial and speed work at the Australian Institute of Sport.
The bike ride at Mt Kosciuszko will replace on-field work in the third week of training.
Phibbs conceded having nowhere to hide in the pre-season heat was daunting. But Lindsell was confident it would propel the Brumbies to success.
''We want to be best, we want to be powerful and we want to be fit, but this year it's more about the individuals,'' Lindsell said.
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