ESSENDON midfielder David Zaharakis paid his own way to revisit one of the club’s high-altitude training venues in the US last month.

Zaharakis, disappointed with his performance last season, trained alone in Boulder, Colorado for two weeks to be primed for the tougher pre-season campaign that started last week.

“I went to Boulder where the team had been previously. Just two weeks training on my own to make sure the body’s right because I didn’t have a good year this year with injuries and form. So I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to perform next year,’’ the Bombers midfielder said.

“Because we had been there before, I knew the town and exactly where to train and the hikes to go on. It ended up paying off for the start of pre-season.’’

Zaharakis, who managed 16 games despite a pre-season ankle setback this year, was in daily touch with Essendon’s strength and conditioning coach Paul Turk before and after the lonely torture sessions.

“I liaised with Paul, kept in contact with him every day on what I was doing. I had a program to follow and just went and did it on my own,’’ he said.

media_camera Jobe Watson on the ropes. Picture: Colleen Petch

The US trip in mid-November prepared Zaharakis for the rise in training intensity under new coach John Worsfold.

Players spent more than an hour with wrestling and strength tests against each other on the beach at South Melbourne this morning.

“We also did it last Saturday. Just getting the boys used to the body contact again and working on our tackling technique,’’ Zaharakis said.

“It’s good to get the body contact again because you’ve been 10 weeks out of the game. Come January and February when the games start, you need to have practised it at least four to five weeks before it.

“The first two weeks has been more high-intensity contact. We normally do long-distance stuff at this time of the year.

“Even yesterday at training and Wednesday, we had real combative sessions that we normally don’t do this early.

“When you get into games, that’s what most people struggle with, the high-intensity work, so the earlier you can do it in pre-season training, the better you’ll become by January and February. The earlier you get the lactic acid work in, the better.

media_camera Brendan Goddard mucks around with Mark Harvey. Picture: Colleen Petch

“The ankle has settled down and I haven’t missed a beat since we started training last Monday. Completed every session and feeling great.

“Last year was probably my worst because I was injured just before the season and couldn’t string weeks of training together. It was the most frustrating season I’ve had in footy probably since I was 10.’’

Essendon players will vote on the leadership roles, including skipper Jobe Watson, at a club summit at Healesville next week.

“We’re going to discuss all our goals and expectations for the year and the leadership voting. And talking about our expectations, what we think the leadership should be around the footy club,’’ Zaharakis said.

“Jobe has been a great leader for the last seven years. The whole time I’ve been here, he has been my captain and he has been great. So, whether he wants it, is up to him. And then whether we vote him in is up to the players. That will go through next week.’’