BLACKBURN boss Mark Hughes has sent a chilling warning out to the rest of his Premiership rivals: Blackburn Rovers are going to be fitter, faster and stronger this season!

The tough-talking Welshman has always taken great pride in the physical condition of his football teams.

But this year, Hughes reckons Rovers will need to be fitter than ever before because of the extra demands a European campaign will place on his players.

That's why the Rovers chief has upped the stakes in training during the club's 10-day break here in Germany.

Rovers have been training twice a day at their base in the idyllic lakeside town of Rottach-Agern, about an hour's drive south of Munich.

The sessions have been punishing in temperatures pushing 35 degrees, with fitness coach Tony Strudwick putting the players through an intensive programme of different drills.

However, Hughes' mantra has always been you train as you play' and he believes the hard work his players are putting in now will bear rich fruit once the season starts properly in a little over three weeks' time.

The Rovers boss said: "We've brought them on this summer and upped the work from what they did last year.

"We pride ourselves on the fitness of the squad and how strong and capable the guys are.

"I feel the demands that will be placed on us this year means we'll have to be bigger, faster and stronger as a team, so that's what we've based our work on.

"It's work that will bring them on and enable us to win games later in the season."

Having watched a couple of Rovers' sessions here in Germany, I can vouch for the fact the players do look physically fitter and sharper than at any corresponding point in the last half a dozen years.

The daily sessions that Hughes and his coaching staff put on are a million light years ahead of anything done by the previous regime.

For everything there seems a reason, and the sessions have an intensity and a competitive edge about them that was never evident during the Graeme Souness era.

That's why Rovers were able to match Hamburg on a physical level when they met in a friendly on Sunday, even though the German club had considerably more training under their belts.

"I thought we did very well the other night," said Hughes.

"In the first half I thought some of our play was very good.

"Obviously, they were a little bit ahead of us games wise.

"I think that was their fourth game and it was only our second, but I thought we acquitted ourselves really well overall.

"Physically, I thought we looked on a par, if not better, than them.

"All our work is done with a view to games at the weekend.

"We train as we play, we've always done that, and I think the players will reap the benefits in the latter stages of games.

"We always look the stronger side in the latter stages of games and that's not a coincidence, it's down to the work the players put in during training."