DAY ONE of pre-season camp on the Sunshine Coast was circled on the calendar for some of the Blue boys.

In a week of rigorous training in humid conditions as well as connecting with teammates, there was one particular aspect which Brodie Kemp was looking forward to.

Heading to the Sunshine Coast a day early with players like Patrick Cripps, Charlie Curnow, Tom De Koning and Caleb Marchbank, the IKON Park surfers made full use of the trip north.

“I’m from Echuca but I wasn’t much of a camper growing up which is surprising to most,” Kemp said.  

“I much prefer the beach camps so I was rapt to head down here.

“I just travelled down from Sunshine Beach with a few of the boys, had lunch, went to training and punched out about 10kms then came back and had a little surf, which was shocking.”

Spending his fourth pre-season pushing himself, Kemp is looking to set himself up for the best season possible to add to his six career games after an injury-interrupted start to life as an elite footballer.

“I’ll focus on a strong pre-season block and then hopefully the end product will be a few more games,” he said.

“I think i’ll just focus on a strong pre-season and then set myself up for a big year.”

Despite having a few games in the forward line last year at VFL level, Kemp has been stationed largely in defence this summer — the position he has played in AFL football so far.

“The majority of time I’ve been training as a defender: I’ve had little pinches in the forward, but mainly a defender.”