Essendon players will return to the training track next Monday in preparation for the 2001 season.

The opening session of the 2001 pre-season will be held at Colonial Stadium.

"The first few sessions will be devoted to finding out exactly where the players are physically after having 11 weeks off," Essendon football manager Matthew Drain said.

"It is a pretty substantial break they have had and while we don't expect them to come back in peak condition we expect them to have looked after themseleves during that time.

"The pre-Christmas training lays a pretty important foundation for the blokes - it gives them a good base to work with as the season draws closer and helps them remain injury free during the season itself."

Drain said fitness testing would be done in a number of different areas and he said it would be some time before the players again got their hands on the football.