"We did between 15-22 kilometres each day in training while in a game you average about 10-12. In Australia, I’d feel completely stuffed after a game. Now after a game, it feels like a normal session."

"Surprisingly enough, you get used to the three sessions a day. It began to feel normal for me. The toughest was the first six months when I came to the club, especially the first two months.”

Waring’s mother is Japanese and so he has a heritage link with Japan, though he’s also lived in Shanghai and Japan earlier in his life in between spells in Melbourne, where he eventually played for Victory. 

Waring plays in J3 for Cerezo, which is effectively an U/23 league for reserves, but he trains with the first team.

This season he’s hopeful of a first team debut as he becomes more accustomed to life at the Japanese giants. For their part, the club certainly believe in him, tying him down to a long-term contract.

Meanwhile, Graham Arnold’s Australian U/23s will likely require superior fitness over the coming year as they navigate a tricky Olympics qualification route.

This week they’re in Kuala Lumpur for a training camp and two friendlies before flying the short distance to Cambodia for an AFC Olympics qualifier tournament against the hosts, South Korea and Chinese Taipei. 

 

Waring in Kuala Lumpur this week

The FFA last month chose not to send the Olyroos to an U/22 tournament in Cambodia featuring the hosts, a tournament that was played on the same artificial surface awaiting the Aussies in Phenom Penh.

The heat of South-East Asia will be testing for all the players but with Waring’s fitness regime, he believes he should be able to adapt quickly.

“In season, we do pre-season running once a week too, which is very difficult with just running, conditioning and agility. It’s mainly power and explosive work. But it’s mainly running with a nine-lap running circuit," he explained. 

“Nine laps of the pitch with the pace speeding up and slowing down. It took me about two months of doing it once a week just to be able to do it in the time set.

“Then you start training."