Although pre-season training doesn’t officially start until November 5, there have been some familiar faces around the Hyundai Centre during the off-season as Lions players look to acclimatise themselves ahead of their trip to Arizona.

An 18-man contingent of 5+ year players will head to the US on November 7, but the work starts well before then.

Lions Strength and Conditioning Coach Matt Hass told lions.com.au that players all had a mandatory off-season program to complete before they return for official duties.

“Three weeks out from day one of pre-season, we start their pre-acclimatisation program, which consists of two sessions a week,” Hass said.

“The guys who are going to Arizona will have their running program slightly modified to be put into the (altitude) chamber.”

“Then there’s also a few bike session that they’ll also do to continue that exposure.”

With access to altitude chambers in Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane, players are encouraged to complete the session away from the Club to interfere as little as possible with their off-season break.

“But obviously, we’ve got a 12-man chamber here at the Club which we’ll be running every day, so we’ll be seeing a fair few guys floating through here,” Hass said.

The group return for the first official day of pre-season on Monday 5 November where they will undertake running tests, strength tests and medical screenings.

The Arizona party will then fly out that Wednesday, while the remainder of the squad will begin their gruelling pre-season training in sunny Brisbane.

Joining the younger group in Brisbane will be Captain Jonathan Brown, who is remaining in town for the impending birth of his second child.

Hass said that glowing reports from the leadership group - who went to Arizona last year as a trial - had increased the anticipation and excitement amongst the rest of the players.

“They’re pretty excited - it’s a new venue, a new environment, a new climate and a new country,” Hass said.

“ I think seeing Blacky [Simon Black] come back and run a personal best time at the age that he was, has really excited the rest of them.”

“If we can get those results out of guys like Jack Redden and Daniel Rich then I think (midfield coach) Shane Woewodin and Vossy will be very happy with that!”