He might be feeling a bit removed not being able to join his teammates in most of the training drills over in Arizona, but injured full-back Daniel Merrett has still been able to flex his muscle in some areas.

Merrett said one such activity that enabled him to show his strength was the recent strongman competition.

“There’s a little bit of expectation on my shoulders – myself and big ‘Goose’ Maguire are probably the two ‘strong men’ of the team,” Merrett told LIONS TV.

“But I won’t leave Browny out – he’s a workhorse and will do a good job as well.”

Merret has been restricted to upper body exercises over in Arizona as he recovers from a broken fibula suffered in the final rounds of 2013.

But the 28-year-old has made some significant progress with his rehabilitation and expects to be available to play by the start of next season.

“I’m currently just getting back into running and using this machine that supports your body weight through inflation – pretty much like a jumping castle,” Merrett said.

“That’s going really well, I’m sitting at about 85% of my body weight.

“From there, that should progress pretty quickly to running on the field with the boys – and that’s when the fun starts.

“I probably timed the injury really well (at the end of the season), and if everything goes well, I shouldn’t miss any games.”