Hi Power fans,

After taking a while to unwind last night after the thrill of the roller coaster ride in Abu Dhabi I woke up today fresh and ready to go for what loomed as our toughest training day so far.

It’s not is if the others haven’t been hard but today was our sixth training day straight and another full day from 9.30am to 4.30pm under the searing Middle Eastern sun.

We all met for breakfast at our team hotel and had our skin fold tests done by our nutritionist Andrew Rondinelli.

There is a real sense of anxiety when you have your skin folds tested because you want to be as fit as you possibly can and you don’t want to let your team mates down.

Thankfully, the results were very good and Rondo, Burgo and Kenny boarded the bus to Dubai Sports City with a big smile on their face.

On arrival, the team got strapped and prepared for training and then gathered for a team meeting led by Kenny, Phil Walsh and Josh Carr.

On completion of the meeting the boys went straight onto the track and ready for our first exercise focussing on our ball movement.

This exercise was followed by some intense running drills after which some players took part in gruelling boxing sessions outdoors under the burning sun.

Once we completed these exercises, the team split into smaller groups to hone specific skills that each individual player and coach has identified as a focus area. Players broke into groups focussing on everything from goal kicking to one-on-one marking to ground ball gathering and tackling.

Completely exhausted the team broke for lunch at the Dubai Sports City facility. This is a time when we have a break and apart from refuelling with carbs, players ring family back home or just relax and catch up on the latest news on Twitter or Facebook.

After lunch we again broke into groups to focus on our skills while other groups alternated between more running and work in the gym. Ian McKeown, our strength and conditioning coach, has been delighted with our progress in the gym. Despite being completely fatigued, everyone, including our first year players, has not shirked an issue in terms of pushing the boundaries in the gym. Of course, there have been a couple of standouts.

Big Matt Lobbe, who is fast becoming a man mountain, and Schulzy lifted the stack of weights on a few occasions which is just mind blowing for a string bean like myself. But Power fans, rest assured, I’m getting there and hopefully I will add some more size after this pre-season campaign.

Following training we headed back to the team hotel at 4.30pm for a recovery session in the pool. A pool session here is always something to cherish due to the heat but the views are also magnificent with both the city skyline and the Burj Al Arab seven star hotel all within site.

After the pool session we went back to our room for a bit of rest and relaxation before we headed out to dinner in separate groups.

Less than 200 metres from our team hotel is a shopping mall, which happens to be the second biggest mall in the world. So as you have probably already gathered the UAE doesn’t do anything by halves. They have the two biggest malls in the world, the biggest building, the biggest aquarium and the fastest roller coaster. It is an incredible city.

Anyhow, we decided to venture into the mall closest to us – the second biggest - and after surveying some of the 100 plus eateries to choose from we settled upon a steak house aptly titled The Butcher.

After dinner I headed back to my room for another early night eager to get plenty of rest before our Sunday session. I’m particularly keen to be fresh tomorrow because rumours have it that there may be a kicking competition in the next couple of days to see if any of the players or coaches can hit the cross bar with one kick.

For those of you who missed it our assistant coach Josh Carr walked the walk when he said he could hit the cross bar with one kick. He promptly delivered and the evidence can be seen on portadelaidefc.com.au. His feat has now inspired the rest of us to follow suit.

If you’re a member keep an eye out for this kicking competition because each player and coach will be kicking for a randomly selected member and if your aligned player or coach hits the cross bar you will score yourself a team-signed guernsey.

And just on membership I noticed we’ve gone past 26,500 which is a fantastic result at this stage. On behalf of the players, we love it when our people fully commit to the club and become a member. We’ve all been chatting about how good it would be if we could crack 50,000 members as we head into our first season at the Adelaide Oval.

We want you to be part of our journey and we want to play some exciting football in front of big crowds next year at this world-class facility. So a big thank you to all the members who have already signed up and we would love all our other supporters to sign up so that we can hit that magical 50,000 figure in 2014.

That is it for me for day six. I look forward to sharing my day seven experiences with you tomorrow.

Cheers
Jasper