Dragons increase Sydney presence to reduce travel toll
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St George Illawarra plan to shift more training sessions to Sydney in a bid to alleviate travel stress on a larger number of their players living in the city and arrest a worrying trend of second half fade-outs.
Coach Paul McGregor wants the Dragons to have a minimum of one session a week up the Princes Highway, and away from their traditional Wollongong base, given a larger proportion of the squad is based in Sydney this year.
It comes as McGregor tries to rectify St George Illawarra's tendency last year to surrender half-time leads, with several squad members spending up to 12 hours a week travelling to and from training - perhaps the toughest non-match-related commute in the NRL.
Recruits Ben Hunt and James Graham are among a host of Dragons players, including Jason Nightingale and Tyson Frizell, who have hired a bus to travel between Sydney and Wollongong each day for training.
McGregor said he would tailor the squad's training around those players instead of placing the travel burden exclusively on them because of their living arrangements.
"We've definitely talked about it," McGregor said. "We're aiming to get one session in a week, which will break up the travel a lot, and it's about getting the facility we need at the time we need it. It's about fitting in what we can.
Logistically our guys do a fair bit of travelling and at some stage you can get a bit of wear and a bit of tiredness around that travel.
Paul McGregor
"Logistically, our guys do a fair bit of travelling and, at some stage, you can get a bit of wear and a bit of tiredness around that travel. Half of the guys live in Sydney and half live in Wollongong. We've got a training base here in Wollongong. [The Sydney] guys spend 12 hours a week in the car and it can be fatiguing.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/dragons-sydney-travel-nrl-mcgregor-distance-20180305-p4z2wm.html
