| Fadhil Yunus |
DPMM FC will have a full squad to choose from in the upcoming S League season after every single player successfully passed the mandatory 2.4km fitness test which was conducted at the Jerudong Mini Stadium yesterday afternoon.
The selected 25-man squad needed to undertake a fitness test under nine minutes and 30 seconds which is compulsory as a precondition of playing in the S League as representatives from Singapore were present to brief groups of players.
Fortunately, DPMM FC head coach Steve Kean will have no such worries with fitness concerns and he believes their recent Bangkok trip was testament of their readiness of competitive football.
“It showed the fitness levels that we’re pushing and it shows that with pre-season the fact that we went away to Thailand, the fact we’ve had now by the end of this week, seven whole weeks and we still got one week to go. Eight weeks of pre-season, we got a very high fitness level so we’re delighted with today,” said Kean in an interview with the Bulletin after the fitness test yesterday.
The head coach explained the good work that they had done in training including small sided games while avoiding injury, though there was only a minor concern with new recruit Francois Marque.
“We’ve got one player that has got a stiff back but we’ve not had any muscle injuries. So that shows that their muscles and fitness levels are at a peak performance.”
The former Basle defender missed training on Tuesday and was allowed a couple of days rest as he looked to recover from a back problem.
DPMM FC players during the fitness test at the Mini Stadium in Jerudong yesterday. – KHAIRIL HASSAN
But he had no problem cruising to the finish during the fitness test and even helped inspire Hendra Azam to cross the line.
“We let him relax for a couple of days and had intensive treatment over the last few days at the National Stadium with our physio,” Kean said.
Kean further stressed that the mandatory fitness test is not a competition and was glad to see that all players had passed the test.
“The objective of today is to help to be a team and if you can do it the quickest ever but somebody’s struggling, it shows the mark of the team spirit. Some of them were staying in the back trying to push along their team-mates.
“I don’t even care who’s first as long as everybody gets through it and we showed great togetherness staying with somebody who was struggling and pulled them along. That shows the good team ethic that we’ve got.”
The former Blackburn Rovers manager further added that the players got fitter every year with the players who did not meet the times last year succeeded in the first time of asking this year.
The head coach also admitted that he is not a big fan of the mandatory fitness test which is not made compulsory in other national leagues.
“If being honest, I’m not a lover of the six-lap, the 2.4km test. If you can do the test, I don’t think that has a correlation with football any longer.
“I think the S League is the only league that actually does a test. I don’t know if there’s any other league in the world that does a test.
“And if you don’t pass the test, you don’t play in the league but that’s the rules and we’ve got to respect the rules.
“We’ve got through it so that’s good,” Kean said whose side will be facing Home United FC at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium on March 3.
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