The club sat down with summer signing Shaun Rooney whilst on the pre-season tour in Croatia and spoke to him about his pre-season so far.
Rooney, who joined the Cods from St Johnstone last month, has been in the thick of it since arriving at Fleetwood as he has gone through two tough weeks of pre-season under the guidance of new head coach, Scott Brown.
Here’s what he had to say whilst sat under an umbrella in the heat:
On what the squad have been up to in Pula…
“There’s been that much going on, I can’t really remember what we’ve done! On the first day we got here, we did a run, which I think was around 40 minutes. It was a fartlek run on the first day after flying here, and you [the staff] all joined in as well, which was tough.
“We went on a run in the morning to loosen up the legs and then went into some boxes – we did that for about an hour with some passing drills where we were pinging the ball into Baz [Nicholson] and Whits [Steven Whittaker].
“We had to hit 800 metres high-intensity sprint distance at the same time which was tough for all the lads, especially in this kind of heat. We prepared for the game that night and then played against Rotherham yesterday evening.”
On his first week at home with the squad…
“I’m feeling good to be fair; I think I was in fat club when I first came down! No, but you start to lose it naturally as pre-season goes on and I’ve been feeling good and fit.
“The gaffer was quite big on it being a tough start to pre-season as I think there was a lot of testing that had to be done so it’s been a hard but enjoyable start to my time at the club.
“It’s been non-stop so far, but it’s been enjoyable – I like that sort of thing. It pushes you to the limits and means you end up getting fitter and fitter.
“It’s a nice group to be a part of; everybody is up for a laugh so it wasn’t hard to get everyone together – that’s what the gaffer asks of me.
“It’s been good to bond with the squad, everyone has been nice and welcoming. There’s one that’s been attached to my hip to be fair and I’ve had Ells [Ellis Harrison] and Joe [Garner] help me ease in as well so it’s been a good start.”
On the summer heat in Croatia…
“I had a look at the heat before I came as I can’t handle the - you’ve got to deal with it. Nothing can prepare you for this kind of heat, I’m usually under a brolly at the best of times at 20 degrees, and I hate the sun.
“I need them otherwise I’s be dead [the ice towels after sessions], I’d probably end up with sun stroke if I was always out here! The game against Rotherham was actually all right because there were thunderstorms at the time.
“That’s probably the one time I’ve enjoyed it - it reminded me of Scotland a little bit so it was good to see! It was good to get minutes in the game as well as it means we can just keep ticking over.
“We’re still in a great place, away from home, as the sea is right there and you’ve got the pool here to go and chill at as we have to train at later times due to the heat.”
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