James Bree believes his body is coming through the tests of regular football.
The promising right-back, 19, has not been out of the side since mid-October – a run of 14 straight games. He believes he is over the series of niggling injuries which hampered his burgeoning career and feels bulking up in the gym has helped him progress.
Bree told the Chronicle: "I am feeling really good. I feel a lot more physical and that is one side of my game that I have been working on. It has really helped me with my fitness. Since my hamstring injuries, I have worked with Sedge (physio Craig Sedgwick) and got them a lot stronger. I feel like that has made me a lot stronger this year."
While Bree has made the right-back position his own, Andy Yiadom, brought in to challenge in that position, has moved over to the left but he has gone to the Africa Cup of Nations.
Bree says the defensive unit will welcome back Aidy White from injury and expects him to maintain high standards. Bree added: "Aidy has proven his quality over the last year. He was the starting left-back earlier in the season and then he got a little niggle and it gave me a chance to come into the team.
"I think all the lads are pushing for places and when he (Yiadom) goes off to the Africa Cup of Nations, Aidy will fill in and it will be an easy transition. Hecky has drilled into all of us that it's important to be a team and to work for each other. That is what we all do on a weekly basis. We will dig in even if we are not playing quality football.
"Last year was unbelievable. We haven't set any targets for next year, we will just see how well we can do. We are not going to settle for where we are now. We are just going to keep pushing."
