I totally agree and that's my point we need to bite the bullet, retain our young talent and build for the future, my worry is that MC is an accountant and an accountants priority is to balance the books.

Pre season training is supposed to be unpleasant and demanding, until you get back up to that level of fitness.
Pre season in the middle of winter, may as well be training at 6 in the morning, at least you get to knock off when there's still a bit of daylight!
The biggest step forward the club has made in the last 30 years, was the decision not to play Smith and Locke in the Million Pound game.
Decisions like this help to put professionalism back into the club and set the right example to players at the club and players coming in.

Didn't even Tom say pre season was helpful and the players seem to be the fittest they have been for a while .

To be honest, I arrived at that conclusion from the interviews & general vibe emitting from the club pre season. I don't pretend to have any inside knowledge which you appear to have but I would be interested to hear as I'm sure others would as to what occurred during these pre season training sessions. No need to name any players & cause any further embarrassment.

Brian smith's structures that he will have brought in will be the same as he used at the roosters 5 years ago. Though that seems a while ago they will be still light years ahead of alot SL structures due to the NRL's superior methods which has recently being shown in the world club challenges. His man management though has for years been shocking, especially players who are out of favour. I remember reading a column regarding Hindmarsh's time at Parramatta in which and still will be regarded as one of the best defensive forwards in rugby league history, everyone knows his freakish defensive abilities to read plays. Basically Smith got all the Parramatta team in to do video analysis and ostracised certain players saying "why can't you be like Nathan" with Hindmarsh saying he felt very uncomfortable and put strain amongst the team.

So can you put any meat on the bones, I for one would be interested to a bit of background as to what the players disliked about BS training methods.