An almost full squad of GIANTS have made their return to the track this morning, with the senior players joining the first-to-fourth year players for day one of pre-season.

Reporting for duty at 6.30am, the group completed their rapid antigen tests before heading inside to be put through their paces.

The morning kicked off with the much-anticipated 2km time trial, with Head of High Performance Nick Poulos pleased with the returning GIANTS and the evident off-season work that has been put in across the board.

After claiming bragging rights last year, Tim Taranto backed up his run with another impressive performance - breaking the club record and looking comfortable as he came through in second place.

But it was draftee Cooper Hamilton who was the standout on the day.

None of them could keep pace with the new rookie, who smashed the club record by 18 seconds and flew over the line to take out first place in just his second week at the GIANTS.

Josh Kelly rounded out the podium with another strong performance, coming in close behind Hamilton and Taranto, while Toby Greene and Lachie Whitfield took out fourth and fifth spots respectively.  
 
Some notable inclusions back on the park were Lachlan Keeffe who ran a solid time after rupturing his ACL in round eight against Essendon, and Brent Daniels who has returned from hamstring injuries that plagued the back half of his 2021 season.

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Following the run, Taranto praised the off-season work of the group.

“The boys ran really well today. The weather was perfect and the track was really good.

“There was a lot of nervous energy to get that 2km out of the way, but everyone did really well, so I’m glad we were able to get that out of the way early.

“Cooper came out really hard and I tried to hold on with him, but he was way too quick for me today. He helped me run really well though, so I was happy about that”.

Looking ahead to next season, Taranto was optimistic about how the group was feeling.

“While we would have loved to keep going a bit further into finals, I thought it was a really positive year for a young group who were on the road for so long.

“There was definitely a lot of things we can take out of last season, and I know the boys are really keen to get back into it and go a few steps further next year".