The Dons are preparing for a tough few weeks in Dublin as pre-season steps up another gear in preparation for the forthcoming campaign.
After three days of hard work on the training ground the team will travel to the Republic of Ireland this afternoon for a gruelling two-week fitness camp.
Karl Robinson and his staff, including new Head of Coaching Gary Waddock, will be putting the players through their paces to prepare them for the long season ahead. The busy schedule will include three training sessions a day and three games – including one behind closed doors.
The time in Dublin will allow Robinson to try players in new positions, tinker with his formation and potentially cast his eye over trailists.
Speaking to mkdons.com Robinson said: “We’ll be looking at one or two trialists, we have an Argentinian player coming out to Dublin with us so we can have a little look at him. We have a few things in the pipeline as well.”
The Dons boss believes this could be the side’s best pre-season, after learning lessons from his previous three in charge.
“This is my fourth pre-season as a manager and I think I’m getting better at it year in, year out. I have learnt an awful lot from the previous three and I’ve tried to implement into this year’s stuff so hopefully we are more equipped this year. We have learnt from the good and the bad of previous seasons.
“We’ve had three really important days of conditioning to prepare ourselves for pre-season. Dublin is where the main core of our pre-season fitness will be done, when we get back the importance switches to the conditioning for the games.
“We have a lot of hard work ahead of us for the next three weeks. There are four games in six days so it is a tough pre-season but like I said, we have learnt from years gone by and hopefully that will strengthen us.”
The Dons manager knows there is a long way to go before his team are ready for action in League 1 but was pleased with the fitness and medical tests his players underwent at the start of the week and is hoping the Ireland fitness camp will allow them to hit the ground running when the whistle blows on Saturday 3rd August.
“We were more than happy with the result that we received from the tests that the players did on Monday. It is the start of a long, long road so they will need some grit and determination but it is part of the job.”
The Dons take on St James Gate on Monday 8th July and University College Dublin on Tuesday 9th July.
