Pre-season training at the Western Force for the 2008 Super 14 season got underway today, with all but the team’s Wallabies undergoing fitness testing and medical screening.

This afternoon, the players will undergo sprint and beep testing, ahead of the first field training session tomorrow.

It’s ‘day one’ of a 14 and a half week training and preparation program which includes trials against the Crusaders in Melbourne and the Reds at Members Equity Stadium, and culminates in the opening fixture against the Sharks in Durban on February 15.

The new face at today’s testing session is Australian U19 lock Sam Wykes, while Perth Spirit winger Nick Cummins and lock Scott Fardy enter the Force squad for the first time, as do RugbyWA Academy players James Stannard and Kieran Longbottom.

Australia A Schools and Hale School outside back Dane Haylett-Petty will join the squad in between exams, while former Brumbies flanker Tamaiti Horua and Australian Schools inside back James O’Connor will arrive in Perth in January.

The five Wallabies – Nathan Sharpe, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell, Scott Staniforth and Cameron Shepherd – will rejoin the squad sporadically over the next seven weeks leading up to the Christmas break.

Force Head Coach John Mitchell said that leading into the 2008 season, all of the team’s stakeholders – from the players and staff to the members, fans and sponsors – should raise their expectations.

“We now have enough experience, self belief and the benefit of having dealt with adversity and success to know what we need to do,” he said.

“To make further progress, we must raise our expectations and perform more consistently, and if we don’t do that, we should be rightly criticized.”

“I want this team to perform,” Mitchell said.

“The progress we have made in a relatively short period has won us respect but it’s time we got more than just a pat on the back,” he said.

During the trial phase, the Force will play the Crusaders in Melbourne on Saturday February 2 and the Reds at Members Equity Stadium on Thursday February 7.