The Rovers players report back for pre-season training this week as preparations begin in earnest for their upcoming Championship campaign.

Last season will be put to bed and all systems ahead for the 2018/19 campaign - with the Championship fixtures to be released on Thursday. 

The squad will head to the Oberwart district of Austria where they will be put through their paces under the watchful eye of head of athletic performance, Chris Rush.

Their six pre-season friendlies have now been finalised, which includes a Merseyside double-header at Ewood Park against Liverpool and Everton.

Rovers aren't scheduled to play a fixture during their trip to Austria, which was organised in the first week of pre-season when plans were being drawn up for a switch of sites at Brockhall for the first-team.

Instead, they will do the bulk of their fitness work tucked away in the Austrians mountains before the friendlies get underway with a trip to Hibs on July 8.

In the space of 20 days they will play six times, once against Scottish Premiership opposition, twice against League Two sides, once against a League One outfit as well as the Merseyside duo.

That looks a far more challenging and demanding, as well as a competitive, look to the six fixtures than last summer which included no opposition aboveLeague Two, a friendly in Austria with Sparta Prague apart in their second match of the summer. 

Mowbray was looking for a more balanced approach this time around, feeling Rovers enjoyed too much of the ball last summer, not least in their 8-0 thrashing of York City.

In the same week this time, it will be Liverpool providing the opposition, the first at Ewood Park in two years.

The two Premier League teams should require more defensive discipline than Rovers had to show in 2017. While a direct correlation may be overstating it, a slow start to the 2016/17 can be attributed in some way to the opposition that they faced in pre-season. Not that playing tougher teams this time has any guarantees of a fast start.

But at least Rovers will have faced a number of different styles, and levels, of opponent.

In Port Vale they will play on one of the EFL’s biggest pitches, Lincoln’s physically aggressive style won’t be for the faint hearted even in pre-season, while John Coleman’s Accrington Stanley side will be keen to put on a show.

All players will be looking to impress, aiming to get in to the side on the opening day – though it feels a bigger pre-season for some than most.

Ben Gladwin and Peter Whittingham, brought in last summer, endured difficult seasons, and will be keen to show Mowbray they have a part to play next time out.

Dominic Samuel will want to show his hard graft during the summer has paid off and added a new dimension to his game, while the group of youngsters set to make the trip will be aiming to make a mark in the manager’s thoughts.

There is work on the transfer front to do, though with over 20 players currently under contract, plenty for those already on the books to play for.

The Austria trip last summer was key to the strong bond the players built up which helped push their promotion bid. This one will be about continuing that momentum ahead of the new season, as the tough tests lie in wait, as Thursday’s fixture list will prove.