GOLD Coast time-trial king Josh Schoenfeld has retained his crown, taking out the club's 2km run on Monday's return to pre-season.

The 21-year-old, who enters his fourth pre-season, edged out potential captain Touk Miller and recruit Jordan Murdoch at Gold Coast's Griffith University.

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Second-year forward Wil Powell got the better of midfielder Jacob Dawson for fourth, while the club's new-look coaching staff were impressed by runs from Jacob Heron and Charlie Ballard.  

It comes as part of a new pre-season regime at the Suns, with players' workloads increased under first-year high performance manager Alex Rigby.

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Some players added 50 per cent more loading prior to Christmas compared to the same stage of pre-season 12 months earlier.

Schoenfeld claimed victory again after his November triumph, having seen Kade Kolodjashnij win the same test 12 months earlier.

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The West Australian product broke the 3km time trial record at the 2015 NAB AFL Draft Combine with a time of 9:15 – later changed to 2km in 2017.

He added six games in 2018 to take his career tally to 14.