Forget September. AFL premierships are won over summer.

That’s the message from Fremantle coach Ross Lyon at the club’s pre-season camp on the Gold Coast as he looks to motivate his squad to greater heights ahead of the 2019 campaign.

Lyon is looking to ram home the importance of the Dockers maintaining their high fitness standards over the imminent three-week Christmas break in an attempt to gain ground on the competition ahead of the new year.

“It’s really important that they apply themselves to their off-season program over the break as premierships are won over the pre-season by building that foundation,” Lyon said.

“We need players to come back, with good weight, skin folds and an ability to run so they can pick up a footy straight away.

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“The pros will do that no problem but we have such a young group. It’s hard to put an old head on young shoulders and there will be plenty of challenges for them.

“We’ll need to help them stay focused so we can pick up where we’ve left off from this camp.”

The Dockers will finish their 2018 training duties at the end of the week.

Camera Icon Ross Lyon is looking to drive his group to greater success in 2019. Credit: The West Australian

Lyon said a hands-on teaching approach had been the most effective way to spell things out to his group, which includes a raft of new faces including Jesse Hogan, Rory Lobb, Reece Conca and Travis Colyer.

“The best way to learn is to teach, so they’re actually doing walk-throughs and coning out our team defence, stoppages and ball use in front of the group," Lyon said.

"They're interacting with the group, with the coaches in the background as support.

“It’s a very young group and we’ve got plenty of work to do but it’s a great foundation going into the break.

“It’s a supportive environment headed by our senior players, we’re very young with 32 new players in the last three years.

“The quicker we can all get on the same page so we can stand up under the pressure of AFL football, the better off we’ll all be.”