When asked about pre-season plans ahead of the 2023 Peter McDonald Premiership season, Shawn Townsend was relaxed.
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The Dubbo CYMS coach was in no rush to get his players back on the park. The only reason he was going to run a couple of light sessions prior to Christmas was because he'd been told his players were eager to get back on the park.
"It won't be super intense," he said.
A game of touch footy counted, a light run together, even a team get-together to celebrate a player's birthday was mentioned.
That's vastly different to how a team like Orange CYMS is approaching the 2024 PMP season.
If you've been around Norton Park in Orange for the last couple of months there's every chance you've seen new captain-coach Jack Buchanan putting his players through their paces.
Buchanan is flogging his players in the hope of having his new-look side fit and firing for round one.
There's some obvious reasons why the pre-seasons between the two CYMS sides would be so different.
Dubbo CYMS is a team almost always tipped to top the ladder and the players are so comfortable with each other things can slip back into gear pretty easily. It's what happened ahead of the 2023 season and the Fishies went on to lift the premiership silverware.
That's not the case at Orange, where Buchanan has almost a completely different squad to bring together after last year's horror show which finished with the wooden spoon for the proud club.
But it does still raise an interesting question about what approach is the best.
In recent history for Group 11 clubs it's almost always been Dubbo CYMS and Forbes starting pre-season last.
Those two clubs have also won the past two Peter McDonald Premierships between them as well as three of the four Group 11 titles prior to the COVID-affected 2020 and 2021 seasons.
Coincidence or smart leadership?
A big part of Forbes' run to the 2016, 2018 and 2022 premierships was peaking at the right time. Sometimes they even started the season too slow, to former coach Cameron Greenhalgh's annoyance, but they were firing come August and September.
CYMS and Forbes were among the clubs which only started back again in the past week.
Watching how those sides start in round one compared to an Orange CYMS or Lithgow, who both started pre-Christmas, will be interesting.
Buchanan and his men may hit the ground running but will they be able to sustain it in what shapes an extremely competitive league? Is there a threat of burnout or is winning every game crucial and that one extra victory in the opening couple of rounds the difference between playing finals or not?
While there's been some major departures at various clubs - namely Parkes, Nyngan and Lithgow - ahead of this season there's not one team that looks drastically weaker.
The competition is going to be strong. No doubt about it.
Buchanan already has a major ask on his hands to turn around the fortunes of Orange CYMS but if we get to round three or four this season and his side is undefeated, all that running and fitness in the heat will be looking very worthwhile.