Fit today and ready for summer: Football's S&C riddle

The new condensed season means supporters are unsure how much to read into last weekend's results and performances in the opening round of the Allianz Football League.

Are teams targetting the league? Are they focussed on the provincial route to the All-Ireland or are they happy to build towards the business end of the championship?

The S&C implications to a manager's approach to the season are huge.

Some teams have been back training since mid-September and last weekend was the first proper competitive outing where they could really test to the full all the running, speed, agility, plyometric, weights, repeated sprint ability, stretching and game-based football training they have done in pre-season.

Every match last weekend lasted 70+ minutes. Teams now must plan and prepare to play for 70+, 75+ and even 80+ minutes. This has to be reflected in pre-season planning and training and has massive implications on teams' fitness periodisation (season training schedule) plans.

What do they need to build into players at this stage of the season to be competitive in the league, without compromising finishing strong at All-Ireland stage?

The training prescribed by the various fitness coaches in the pre-season physical development block will very much depend on the respective team’s performance objectives initially in the league, followed by which respective All-Ireland competition they are competing in.

For example, what are Mayo’s plans? Are they banking on getting to a safety position in Division 1 and then putting in hard training in preparation for championship? Are four or five games in the league enough for them to divert their training focus on winning Sam.

What are Dublin thinking? Have they pushed hard in pre-season to get