BRISBANE Lions skipper Jonathan Brown has returned to the club in top shape with coach Michael Voss delighted with the condition of his skipper and most of his troops after their break.

The Lions kicked off their pre-season training on Monday and Voss said the group's fitness was "miles better" than it was at the same time last year.

Elevated rookie Richard Newell was one second off record pace (held by former player Shaun Hart) in the club's annual 3km pre-season time trial on the first day of training at the University of Queensland.

Newell clocked a time of 9min 46sec. Irishman Niall McKeevar was not far behind with a time of 9min 59sec.

"We're miles better than this time last year judging by some of the times they've run and the condition they're in," Voss said.

"I don't think you could compare the two groups at the same time. It's a stark difference.

"A sign of professionalism is what you do when nobody is watching, and we haven't been watching," he said.

"It's what professional athletes are supposed to do."

"We wanted them to enjoy the time off but they also had some tight targets to hit to be able to make improvements off the back of last year.

"We couldn't afford more than a 20 per cent slide across the group testing results and thankfully I think most of them have come in right smack on target."

Voss said seeing Monday's results had opened his eyes to how far behind the eight-ball the Lions had previously been.

"We were too far back last year. We were coming from a long run-up, there's no doubt about that. But over the pre-season we made some significant changes. The results we were running in January (two months into last pre-season), we are running now in November.

"We've got a lot of work to do. That's what every pre-season entails so you never take it for granted. We're at day one and you look for those subtle little clues that say they're in the right head-space and they are."

Brown was one player who stood out, looking trim and terrific in the first session of the 2012 campaign.

"I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I'm still trying to work that out," Voss said with a smile.

"You want to have a healthy list and not too many hangovers from operations and we've got that."

Big bodies Brown, Matt Maguire, Daniel Merrett and new recruit Ben Hudson worked strongly on the track before joining the rest of the group for a grass running session following the time trial.

Josh Drummond was on the exercise bike for most of the session, as was Irishman Pearce Hanley after competing in the International Rules Series.

Voss predicted the next month would be "extremely intense" for his players, who are about to fly to Noosa Heads for a six-day training camp.

The Lions are spending their first week of pre-season at training camp on the Sunshine Coast. Keep an eye on lions.com.au for all the exclusive news, diairies, and video from Noosa.