HARD taskmaster Paul Groves welcomed his returning players for pre-season training and issued them with a clear message: “Work hard.”

The Cherries manager was set to warn his squad to expect a tough warm-up campaign as they reported for duty at Canford School yesterday morning.

Cherries’ players linked up for the first official day of pre-season training following their summer breaks.

The majority of the squad passed with flying colours last week’s fitness tests and were given an extra week off.

Groves insisted that those kept back for extra preparation would be in good condition to begin training with their team-mates.

Appointed as permanent boss during the close season, Groves revealed he had been pleased with the overall condition of his players and told them to expect a traditionally hard schedule.

He told the Daily Echo: “The one or two that probably could have done a little better have had a little bit of help.

“The whole group will be in a good state to be able to kick on and progress with the work that needs to be done to get us ready for the start of the season.

“It is important that the players are in good condition because the workload in pre-season is notoriously tough – and it won’t be any different this year.”

Asked what he expected of his players, Groves said: “To work hard and we will look to put things in place to make sure we go into the start of the season in good shape physically.

“We will work, on a daily basis, on looking to improve, improve and improve.

“We recognise that it is around five-and-a-half weeks until the start of the season so we don’t need to be fit inside one week. That needs to be gradual.

“We need to make sure that we enter the start of the season with everyone fighting fit and with competition for places.

“If they get through pre-season virtually injury free, that gives them a good base to then move through the season without incurring too many injuries.”

Groves added: “We will get straight out on to the pitch.

“We will be in today, Thursday, Friday and Saturday for four days of work.

“Then, we start the fixtures with New Milton Town next Wednesday.

“There is a little bit of work to get through and, at some point, we will sit down and have a discussion as to how we see things.”