Playing rugby league when the weather's as nice as it has been can be a tough prospect if you're not prepared for it.

But with all the hot weather we have had just lately at Workington and Swinton and even at home to Keighley, the players will by now be starting to get acclimatised.

During the matches the temperature is in the mid 20s and even at training in the evenings it's often in the 20s and very humid. Also many of the players work outside during the day as well.

The players will handle the weather if they are prepared for it - it just makes playing the game a little more difficult.

However it can work to your advantage if you're fitter than the other side.

We have plenty of fluids and energy drinks on the coach when travelling away and we also have a couple of stops. During the game Bomber - Steve Harris, the kitman - sticks some towels in the freezer and then they go straight on the back of the neck at half time. It gets the body temperatures back down, even though five minutes after the restart it will be back up.

Colin Sanctuary, our conditioner, has also got the lads in pretty good condition.

Even when I started as a player at Sheffield we had a conditioner.

It began with players wanting to do weights but not quite knowing what sets, repetitions to do and even the correct lifting techniques to use. In the National and Super League you're getting qualified conditioners who execute structured programmes for cardiovascular and weight training. They are also responsible for the post game recovery sessions and players' rehab after injury.

Colin's very well qualified in all those areas and he does a great job.

Conditioners are a big part of the game now, we get the players and the conditioners turn them into better athletes. At Super League levels of the competition and even in the National Leagues the players need to be as strong, as quick and as resilient to the highest levels, and they need to have core strength. There's a massive quota of things that the players need - all as well as having the skill, knowledge and tactical awareness on the field.

When you go into contact situations, you need to be strong when you have got the ball and when you haven't.

Conditioners have raised their heads a bit and that's good because they are a big part of the Super League and other professional set-up.

Because they are part-time, some of our players go to the gym on top of what they do with us. They've got a designated programme of training for a block of four to six weeks so they can do the work that's most relevant.

It means the players don't go looking round thinking 'what are we going to do?' and end up doing some bicep curls, which are probably no use to us. The programmes they have increases the benefit to play Rugby League.

Colin also gives them advice on nutrition and fluid intake which has been pretty vital in the heat of recent weeks.

Prevention is better than the cure. The work that Colin does includes strengthening the ligaments and tendons and it makes the muscles more powerful but then to cover everything he does in one small article is pretty tough.

Everything behind the scenes is all inter-linked. We do sit down every week to work out what needs doing. Colin will ask what I want and if I say I'm looking for more line speed this week, he will look to implement the type of training required to increase that area of our game.

He's doing a great job this year like he has in previous years and he handles the players very well. He has a job where most people will not even know he's part of the staff, he deserves a pat on the back.

Updated: 10:35 Wednesday, July 20, 2005