A healthy number of the group bettered their previous benchmarks in Monday's three-kilometre run according to the club's high performance manager Darren Burgess.
Polec steps up
"The guys have come back in good shape, not that we doubted they would because they're a great group of hard workers," Burgess told portadelaidefc.com.au.
"We had 18 surgeries after the 2012 season and most of those guys only hit the track in January last year, so to have close to our full list training from the start of November for this pre-season is a real plus - as a group we're further along the road."
Kane Cornes again led from the front and was the first player home in a continuation of his long held dominance of the middle distance run.
But while Burgess was pleased with improvement on the time sheets, he was quick to emphasise the significant challenge ahead of the Power's list in the remaining summer months, particularly with the impending introduction of an interchange cap in matches.
From the 2014 season, clubs will be allowed no more than 120 bench rotations for the match, excluding allocated substitutions or changes at quarter breaks.
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As a result, Burgess will aim to make the remaining days of pre-season the hardest the Power undertakes.
"Every player in the AFL knows January is the toughest month - it was our hardest last year and we'll make sure this January is as tough as the last one," said Burgess.
"Other teams will be training hard with the rotation cap in mind.
"I think it [the cap] will mean teams need to run more - they'll be forced to because they won't have as many breaks on the bench during games as that have in the last few years.
"Noone will really know what the impact is going to be, so we just need to train in anticipation of what we think the cap will do."
Port Adelaide's first match of the pre-season will be an internal trial at Alberton Oval on Saturday 8 February
"Other teams will be training hard with the rotation cap in mind.
"I think it [the cap] will mean teams need to run more - they'll be forced to because they won't have as many breaks on the bench during games as that have in the last few years.
"Noone will really know what the impact is going to be, so we just need to train in anticipation of what we think the cap will do."
Port Adelaide's first match of the pre-season will be an internal trial at Alberton Oval on Saturday 8 February
