Whilst it might be time off for the GIANTS players over Christmas and the new year, it certainly won’t be time out.

John Quinn, Head of Sports Science at the GIANTS, will be monitoring the players throughout the break with a little help from Garmin and their GPS tracking watches.

With many of the players heading back to their home states over the break, the Garmin technology allows Quinn to track the work rate and intensity of all of the players.

“At any time my staff, Andrew Bahnert and James McBrien can just log in and have a look at where the players are at, in terms of how hard they have been training and where they have been training by linking with Google maps.”

Quinn believes the technology will assist the players to make sure they don’t undo the work they have been doing in the preseason.

“They can’t hide and if they are not doing the session that is prescribed we’re straight on the phone to say what’s going on?”   

Most of the players are entitled to a week’s break off over Christmas but the GIANTS coaching staff are allowing 2 weeks for the young squad to spend some time away from the club. The one caveat being that if they don’t do the work the hammer will fall.

“It’s a bit of an added incentive this year that if the players aren’t complying with us then we are going to bring them back early. “

So don’t be surprised if you see a flash of orange pounding the pavement over the festive season.