Key Takeaways From JJ’s Pre-Season Catch-Up

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Key Takeaways From JJ’s Pre-Season Catch-Up

Offering insight into the opening week of pre-season, James Justin spoke of his eagerness to kickstart preparations for 2025/26.

2025-07-02T09:00+01:00

by Sam Jones

Published

02 Jul, 2025

Key Takeaways From JJ’s Pre-Season Catch-Up

Offering insight into the opening week of pre-season, James Justin spoke of his eagerness to kickstart preparations for 2025/26.

Sam Jones

2025-07-02T09:00+01:00

Key Takeaways From JJ’s Pre-Season Catch-Up

Offering insight into the opening week of pre-season, James Justin spoke of his eagerness to kickstart preparations for 2025/26.

Sam Jones

2025-07-02T09:00+01:00

Key Takeaways From JJ’s Pre-Season Catch-Up

Offering insight into the opening week of pre-season, James Justin spoke of his eagerness to kickstart preparations for 2025/26.

Sam Jones

2025-07-02T09:00+01:00

Key Takeaways From JJ’s Pre-Season Catch-Up

Offering insight into the opening week of pre-season, James Justin spoke of his eagerness to kickstart preparations for 2025/26.

Sam Jones

2025-07-02T09:00+01:00

Catching up with James Justin on the first week of pre-season
The 27-year-old returned to Seagrave on Monday ahead of 2025/26
He detailed what lies ahead and the mentality within the group

This pre-season, especially, provides a clean slate, according to the full-back, who has put last season behind him following a summer reset and is building towards the Sky Bet Championship campaign - which begins in August - with renewed energy.

‘Resetting mentally’

Moving on from a disappointing 2024/25.

Returning to Seagrave on Monday, the first day is always seen as a benchmark for where everyone is at but also an opportunity to come together as a group and show the commitment required to right the wrongs from last term.

“I’m feeling good and refreshed from the off season with family and friends,” the defender told us in Seagrave this week. “In the first couple of weeks, you are happy to be off, especially after last season, but you have a chill and then you start doing your work towards the start of pre-season with a few sessions before you come back in.

“You go through being with them (team-mates) every day, sometimes more than your own families, and then you go to the off season and no one speaks too much but I think everyone is just resetting mentally. We’re ready to get back to work.”

‘You want to prove yourself’

Putting the hard yards in.

The timed run saw the players pushed to their limits, before recovering in time for a series of tests and Justin outlined the focus and dedication within the squad, keen to hit high standards throughout what will be a gruelling few weeks.

“Ever since I joined Leicester, the run has been the biggest thing, the SDS,” the 27-year-old explained. “Some people dread it, but I think the hype is overblown and you don’t really need to worry about it too much. There’s harder runs and once you hit a certain level in it, you’ll be fine.

“You want to prove yourself against your peers and show how much work you have been doing across the off-season. It’s always nice to show the coaching staff all of the work you’re putting in is paying dividends. There’s a bit of competitiveness near the end of the run.

“For the rest of the day, it’s a lot of profiling and setting your baselines and comparing them against previous scores from pre-seasons, making sure you’re in a good place to perform when you get on the pitch.

“Tuesday is when the hard pre-season work actually starts in terms of your ball work and running on the pitch. The testing is mostly put to the side and you get to work about what you’re going to be doing in the next season.”

‘Building togetherness’

Although awaiting the return of team-mates recently on international duty, the rest of the squad is raring to get going, with a first pre-season friendly coming up against Peterborough United on Saturday.

He added: “It’s trying to get that togetherness building within the group and getting the intensity back in our training sessions and everything that we do around the building. That’s a big one for us in this pre-season, it’s been one of the key words.

“We were in a similar situation a couple of years ago and it’s the same sort of atmosphere around the dressing room and the feeling in the squad is an eagerness to put in a good performance throughout the season and get Leicester back to where we are supposed to be.”

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