It's been a busy week at the club, with four Storm favourites signing contract extensions and captain Cameron Smith confirming he will play on in 2020.
Queensland State of Origin rep Christian Welch and Tongan representative Albert Vete have both signed one-year extensions, while Fijian front-rower Tui Kamikamica and New Zealand Kiwis rep Kenny Bromwich have signed on through to the end of the 2022 season.
Welch has been on a modified program this week as he continues to recover from an ACL injury.
Our skipper is enjoying an extended break before he returns to the track in January ahead of his 19th season in the purple jersey.
Meanwhile, our first to third year players have been put through their paces at Gosch's Paddock and in the gym this week.
Talented young hooker Harry Grant steered the Sunshine Coast Falcons to a minor premiership this year and claimed the club's best and fairest award.
While he maintained his fitness base during the off-season, the 21-year-old said his first fortnight back at the club was "a big shock to the system."
"It has been a tough first week or so," he said.
"Over the break to stay fit I did a bit of running here and there with the GOAT Scott Minto. He was looking to get back into shape for the League of Legends, so we'd do a bit of running then go have a coffee and talk footy.
"The pre-season is completely different - we have a lot of new boys so we are just learning the basic Storm principals at the moment."
Harry Grant
"During the season training is a lot more relaxed and very specific to the weekend's game.
"At the moment the focus is on building the foundations for the season, getting put under fatigue and then being able to execute what the coaches want whilst under fatigue.
"When the senior guys come back training will go up a few levels, so we just have to prepare ourselves for that.
"It's not too bad being here without a lot of the senior players because it gives us younger guys a chance to step up and lead by example."
Harry Grant
Cooper Johns - the youngest member of our NRL squad and another playmaker key to the Falcons success this year - said he hit the gym a few times a week during the off-season.
"I tried not to go overboard with training, it's important to have a good time and stay fit without burning yourself out," Johns said.
"I mainly did a few gym sessions a week and a couple of conditioning sessions either through running or on the bike.
"The first week back at training is always hard on the body but in terms of intensity and how many kilometres we're doing each day, it's a step down compared to how much we will be doing in a couple of weeks.
"Regular season training is all about making sure the body feels good come game time on the weekend, so the load is a lot less.
"During pre-season we train a lot harder for longer periods of time.
"With a lot of boys away due to rep commitments the balance of the squad changes a little."
Cooper Johns
"At the moment the main goal is to instil the foundations and educate the younger and new players at the club.
"Usually once those older boys are back the training will go up another level."
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