Neil Greig believes it has been a positive summer on the injury front as The Bees continue their pre-season Training Camp in Germany. Andreas Bjelland and Lewis Macleod have both been able to take a full part in training in Germany after recovering from injury last season while Josh McEachran is working his way back to full fitness from his foot injury. With a clean bill of health for the rest of the group in Germany, Neil is hopeful that he can give Bees Head Coach Dean Smith as many players as possible to choose from for the upcoming friendlies ahead of the Sky Bet Championship opener on Saturday 6 August at Huddersfield Town.
“The summer was positive for us generally,” said Neil, speaking to Bees Player from The Bees Training Camp near Dusseldorf. “We had a number of the guys in for rehab. Alan Judge and Josh McEachran were in for most of the summer and then we had guys popping in who had small issues towards the end of the season. It was a positive working period for us really. From a medical point of view we want to try and get everyone through this week without missing training. We want to get the volume and the intensity of training into the players that we can and assist the players in terms of staying healthy. What we would like when we return from Germany is for as many players as possible to be available for the four pre-season games we have coming up in the next few weeks.”
The Bees headed to Germany on Saturday for a seven-day Training Camp at the renowned WM Sporthotel facility in Westphalia. Under the summer sun, the players have been put through a number of intensive training sessions with less than four weeks to go until the new season kicks-off. While in Germany, Neil believes it is his main responsibility, along with the rest of the medical team, to make sure that players get the most out of their training schedule to have them ready for the trip to the John Smith's Stadium next month.
“We are on hand to get as much out of the guys as we possibly can,” said Neil. “We prepare them for training and help them recover from sessions. We need to keep up with the workload of pre-season and the volume of pre-season which is much higher than in season for obvious reasons. There are three of us who have travelled out, physio wise, plus a masseur so it is a very busy period for us. We communicate with the coaching staff two or three times a day, flagging any guys who are fatigued or have small problems. While we don’t want to pull people out from training, we try and adapt it so that the training is individualised and everybody gets their need. Gone are the days where every player in the team will train the same so we try and give everyone individualised training so that they get the outcome they need.”
To help make the most of the week many members of staff have been doing extra tasks to help the players, including Neil going in goal for a training drill during Monday’s morning session. The Bees Head of Medical feels that there is a great atmosphere around the group with everybody pulling together to make sure that the most is made out of the time in Germany.
“My time in between the sticks was eventful especially when they were shooting from close range,” said Neil. “I didn’t particularly enjoy that one but I think that you have got a group of staff and a group of players here who are very tight, look out for each other, and have a positive relationship. Staff will get involved with things and don’t mind it when they are the butt of the jokes so it is a healthy relationship that we have got.”