They may have been put through the wringer on the first day of pre-season but the Rovers squad have been urged to enjoy the challenge by Gary McSheffrey.
The players were met with baking heat as they made their return to Cantley Park for a day of hard running and technical drills.
First team manager McSheffrey is keen to ensure a mindset of embracing the challenges ahead as he looks to set his squad up for success in the coming campaign.
“We’re trying to put it in a way for them to enjoy their running and enjoy the challenge,” he said.
“We’ve set them their targets and to achieve them we know where we have to be.
“We have to be up there with the fittest in the division and our quality will come through.
“So embrace it. Enjoy the running, enjoy the burning in your legs and enjoy the struggle.
“I think they will. It’ll be a tough couple of weeks for them but it’ll stand them in good stead.”
McSheffrey laid out his expectations for the group in his first team meeting of pre-season and believes he received immediate buy-back from the group as they headed out for training.
He said: “We’ve been in and out all summer planning and prepping but there’s nothing like being back in.
“It’s a good environment to be in.
“All the lads have come back in decent nick and it was a really good first session.
“We had a good, solid meeting where we made it clear the objectives for the season for the team, the non-negotiables and the standards that we expect.
“I think we’ve got a group that will buy into that.
“The session on the grass, the running and the two technical drills were really good so it was a great start for us.”