After slogging it out in extremely wet conditions against Geelong last Saturday night, the Brisbane Lions have been given a lighter training load in preparation for their match against Essendon at Etihad Stadium this weekend.

Lions Physical Performance Manager Brett Burton revealed during his regular Bupa Recovery Report on LIONS TV that the team’s training schedule had been altered following last week’s tough slog at the Gabba.

“We do change it a little bit,” Burton said.

“Obviously you can get a bit heavier in the legs after playing in those conditions, especially with the amount of rain we had.”

“So this week we’ll lighten the load up a little bit and travel later in the week.”

Fortunately the Lions escaped with a clean bill of health from Round 5, and are also close to regaining a couple of players - namely James Polkinghorne and Claye Beams - from their respective injuries.

“Polks is going along well, he just tweaked his ankle a couple of weeks ago but is tracking along well now,” Burton said.

“Hopefully he’ll be able to complete the main session this week and be available to play.”

Another player who resumed after a lengthy lay-off last weekend was off-season recruit Dayne Zorko, who starred in the Lions Reserves’ 81-point thrashing of Morningside.

“Zorks went really well, he played three quarters of the game and got plenty of it,” Burton said.

“He pulled up pretty well, but it’s obviously his first game for a long time so he’ll be a little bit sore. It usually takes the guys 2-3 weeks of playing games before they find their feet and feel like they’re running on top of the ground again.”

“We’ll look to get him a full game this week and continue to progress his loads.”

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