Adelaide United Head Coach, Carl Veart, has said he and his staff will be steadily increasing the training loads of his players in the coming weeks, as the Reds return from their individual off-season breaks.
United’s squad hit the field for the first time in season 2023/24 on Tuesday morning, following pre-season strength and conditioning screening on Monday.
With the VALO Training Centre being utilised by FIFA ahead of the Women’s World Cup, the Reds took to the field at the South Australian Athletics Stadium, where they will remain for the next four weeks.
Speaking to media following the session, Veart explained his pre-season plans for his side, while also looking ahead at his team’s Australia Cup Round of 32 match with Northcote City FC.
Day one:
“It’s just a slow introduction this week.
“We’ve got some players returning from long term injuries and they had some operations in the off-season.
“It’s just good to be back on the training track.”
Player movements:
“(George Blackwood and Asad Kasumović departures) were very difficult decisions, especially with George.
“George has been a great player over a number of years for the Club, so it was just unfortunate the way this squad is set up that we couldn’t find room for George.
“He’s a quality player and I’m sure it won’t be too long before another club snaps him up with a reclining chair.
“With re-signings, I’m sure we’ve got some re-signings that will be announced later in the week.
“The league season is not until October, so we have a long time before we need to finalise our squad.
“We’re in a little bit of a better position than a lot of teams (whereby) we haven’t had a huge turnover (of players) and that’s not something that we want to do here at the Club.
“We are assessing some of our younger players that are playing in the NPL this year to see which ones we can maybe provide scholarships to.
“And that’s where we’re more at as a club in providing those opportunities for our younger players and I think we’ve shown that over the last couple of years in elevating some of our younger players.
“That’s what we will do again this season.”
Hunger to go again:
“We were disappointed with how we fell down in the Finals, but, overall, last season was a great season for the Club, especially with the amount of opportunities that we provided to young players.
“It’s going to be an exciting year, this year, for the Club, to see that growth in those young players.
“They got a taste of it last last season and they’re going to get a lot more minutes this year, so it’s going to be exciting.”
His own break:
“I had a nice break.
“Now that I’m back here, I don’t think it was long enough, but it was a long time.
“It was good to have some downtime and give myself the time to reflect on last season and to plan and prepare for what we need to do better this year for this season.”
