Kyle Langford says training harder for longer has helped make his third AFL pre-season the most challenging of his career.

The 20 year old said the return of some battle hardened bodies had also added an extra degree of difficulty to the summer training.

“It has definitely been the hardest pre-season so far, but I’ve felt I’ve been able to recover pretty well and get up for each training session,” Langford said.

“It has been enjoyable and I’m looking forward to playing some games.

“Training at a higher intensity for longer and also having the bigger bodies around with the senior players back, it’s very competitive.”

Langford is training to play across half forward and rotate through the midfield this season.

He said his development has been aided by the return of so many experienced players.

“It’s awesome because you get to learn so much and you pretty much have coaches out there with the likes of Jobe [Watson] and ‘Hep’ [Dyson Heppell] and even Zach [Merrett] and David Myers,” Langford said.

“You have those blokes out there helping you the whole time, whether they’re on your team (in match-play) or not, which is very helpful for myself.”

Langford has played 25 senior games, including 17 in 2016.

He booted three goals and took nine marks in the Dons last round victory over Carlton.

Now he’s targeting a strong pre-season series to ensure he’s in the line-up for opening round blockbuster against Hawthorn.

“I’ve put on another five kilograms and I’m fitter than I ever have been, so I’m really looking forward to the season,” Langford said. 

“I’d love to play all of them (JLT games) to give me the best opportunity to put my name up for round one selection.”