Brent Stanton might have a challenger to his title of Essendon's running man in 2010 with Sam Lonergan saying he has been hitting the track ahead of pre-season.
The 22-year-old has had a new training focus with a greater emphasis on being ""on his legs"".
""Last year I did a lot of off-my-feet training like boxing and swimming and that sort of stuff and this year I am going down a different path and doing a lot of running training including one kilometre, two kilometre and three kilometre time trials so when pre-season comes around I am used to it and mentally ready,"" he said.
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""Basically I am getting my legs ticking over and getting my hamstrings used to kicking and getting ready so I can fire-up and go (when training starts). You can see most of the guys getting around here for three or four weeks heading into the pre-season.
""The game is about running and it's good to do other stuff off your feet but I just wanted to focus on my running.
""I think every player wants to improve each year and if you don't have that sort of mentality you go missing very quickly and I want to take another step forward in running out games.""
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Lonergan says he was ""reasonably happy"" with his 2009 year but admitted he probably didn't take the jump forward he would have hoped for after winning the 2008 Most Improved Player award.
""Matthew (Knights) spoke to me mid-way through the year and I am the sort of player that wants to take big steps quickly and he sat me down and told me it comes in time and you need to take the small steps to reach the bigger steps so that is my main focus,"" he said.
Lonergan says his 2010 goal is to try and secure a spot in the midfield.
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