Tigers well-placed: Wallace

“When I say we’re not as advanced, I mean as in if we had to play today we wouldn’t be as prepared as we were last year – but we don’t need to play today. Last year we got them up and going very early because I needed to find out what I had – so we got them into game mode earlier because that’s a better assessment mode.

“I needed them that way and then we had to maintain that from Christmas time onwards, whereas this time we’ve probably had a lesser program that’s more progressive and we’ve layered it a bit more than last year. It’s given us more time from a learning perspective to spend more time with the guys individually more than being team-oriented.

“So I guess we’re more advanced in certain areas – as individuals we’ve probably got more work into them – but from a game perspective we’re not as advanced.”

A season of promising development on the field has instilled a level of self-belief in the playing group that has allowed Wallace to take a longer-term approach to these pre-season preparations.