Saints bulk up ahead of new season as they bid to pack more of a punch

The black, green and gold are known for their razor-sharp attacking rugby, but the coaches are clearly keen to see them add more substance to their style.

Coles, who can play second row or back row, explained: "It's a bit different. It's my first taste of a pre-season like this because we've gone for more of a strength and size focus.

"I'm used to coming in and being straight on the fitness and the running but we went for more of a gym focus, lots of lifting, more than I've ever done before.

"It's been a bit of a change and body-wise you feel a bit different because your joints are a bit more sore, but it's been good.

"Everyone seems to have put on a bit more weight, looking stronger and more physical.

"It's something a bit different and now we can get back into the rugby more now having got that foundation."

So can Saints still play at a high tempo if they focus more on physicality?

"We've always had the intent and some of the stats we looked at in the forwards in terms of metres after contact, players like Juarno (Augustus) are pretty good at that," Coles said.

"Our pack's actually pretty good at that, but there's no substitute for size.

"We'll still have that running game but just to have that extra few kilos in contact, it can get you out of trouble sometimes.

"It's just about taking advantage of that and I don't think it will change the way we play at all because that's what's won us games.

"But maybe in those winter months when you do need to tuck it up the jumper a bit, it might help to have those extra kilos."

With power comes great responsibility - and that responsibility is on the players to make sure their nutrition is correct.

"It's been pretty mental!" Coles said.

"The coaches made it clear and got a good plan for us in terms of putting a real emphasis on nutrition.

"We've got a good nutritionist at the club and she's helped everyone out and given us a plan.

"It is a case of not eating when you're hungry but just eating the whole time.

"It's not as fun as it sounds!

"You tell it to some people and they say 'that sounds great, you can eat whatever you want' but when you've just had lunch and an hour later you need another snack, it's not great and eating is the last thing you want to do, but it needs to be done."

Coles has always been one of the more athletic Saints forwards, as shown last summer when he won the ultimate test of endurance: the Blakiston Challenge.

So does he feel he can balance more bulk with his typical game style?

"I hope so," said the 23-year-old, who made his England debut last autumn.

"Naturally I've always been quite fit and mobile and it's always been a work-on to put on size. It's been something I've been trying to do every year and I feel like I've managed to bring that home this year.

"Just from the little bits and running we have been doing, we've been going pretty hard and I've been able to keep up.

"I'm interested to see how it goes when the first few games come, but at the moment I'm holding the weight alright and I definitely wouldn't want to lose that mobility element of my game because it's always going to be my differential to some of the other players in my position."