After a short four week break, the Brisbane outfit reported for duty at Suncorp Stadium and if they were expecting to ease back into training then they were sorely mistaken.

Pre-season training is a far more scientific exercise than it once was with players no longer returning from their break carrying excess weight and then struggling to cope with all the running.

Zullo told au.fourfourtwo.com that there was no sign of any expanding waist lines as the players pulled on their kit once more.

The 19-year-old said: “It was pretty full on and straight back into it. We had some sprint sessions in the morning, some gym work in the middle and then skills and endurance work to finish.

“Players are all given a program to follow in the break anyway so you don’t have people reporting back in bad shape. The boys all seemed pretty good to me.

“You don’t want a really long time away from playing and training, especially when there’s such a long gap to the start of next season. It’s much easier this way to keep ticking over. I think the break was longer last year, certainly for the young lads.

“What we’d really like of course is a longer season, more games.”

Zullo missed out on a potential first Socceroo cap when a (right) knee problem forced him to pull out of the squad for the recent clash with Singapore and he admits there is still a slight discomfort there.

He said: “I can play through it ok but I’ll probably just have a word with the club doctor just to be sure.

Zullo wants to make sure nothing prevents him suffering a second disappointment when Graham Arnold calls together the squad for the next Olyroo camp.

No news on that yet but Zullo has everything crossed that he gets the nod. He said: “I would love to be part of the Olyroos squad. I haven’t heard anything yet but I know there’s a camp in Malaysia in May.”