BRIAN McDermott smiles at the memories.

He was a senior professional at Bradford in the late 1990s and Jamie Peacock was a young hopeful trying to establish himself at Odsal.

Carl Jennings, the club's revolutionary conditioner, would flog the younger players and Peacock, by his own admission, was often left destroyed by the sessions.

McDermott recalls watching events unfold during pre-season and realised there was something special to this gangly "bag of bones".

The former Bulls prop told the T&A: "Bradford were renowned for the horrible pre-seasons they used to have in the mid to late 90s.

"We trained too hard and too often back then and JP and a group of other young fellas used to have to come back and do extras.

"I just remember looking and thinking 'I don't envy what they're going through' – but it's a big part of where JP is today.

"One particular session was outside and involved Stuart Fielden, who had played some first-team games and let people know that he was going to be a very good player because he was so physically mature for such a young man.

"JP was still in that bracket of doing the extras and basically the sessions involved running the length of the field, jogging across the top and then sprinting the length of the field back.

"They did that maybe 30 or 40 times and you had this physical specimen, an absolute top athlete in Stuart Fielden, who was about three or four yards ahead of this jangling bag of bones (Peacock) who had very little muscle on him.

"JP was a rangy, gangly wildebeest of a player and it was a bit comical to watch this session unfold.

"After ten minutes it went on and I'm looking at Carl Jennings and thinking 'that will do, you've flogged them now'.

"Another ten minutes into it and I'm thinking 'well, this is going to be a tough session', bearing in mind it was raining and in January.

"One of the things I noticed was that JP was always ever going to be two or three yards behind Stuart but he never let that gap get any bigger.

"It was a pointed moment for me and as I walked off I thought to myself 'he's got something that fella, there's something in him'.

"I didn't know whether he could play and he wasn't the best athlete, nor did he have much skill back then.

"But what he had was an unbelievable determination, even then as a young man.

"In fairness, Stuart should have been 15 yards ahead of him but JP wouldn't let that happen.

"That trait, that desire and determination, has stuck with him and always been there."

That mental strength and relentless drive has seen Peacock become the most decorated player in Super League history, captain his country and collect an MBE at Buckingham Palace.

Team-mates at Odsal, McDermott has been Peacock's coach at Leeds in the past few seasons and the pair have won every trophy on offer together at Headingley.

As Peacock prepares for his testimonial against the Bulls on Sunday, McDermott said: "He's probably not the most glamorous player we've ever seen, although he's been one of the most effective in Super League for a long time.

"In fact, he's probably one of the most determined players ever to have played our game.

"That determination and drive to get everything possible out of yourself and leaving nothing in the tank before retiring and saying you couldn't have given any more, there won't be too many who can boast that like JP."

Peacock's breakthrough year proved to be 1999 in a Bradford team that was awash with natural leaders – McDermott, Jimmy Lowes, Mike Forshaw, Stuart Spruce and Bernard Dwyer.

Current Leeds boss McDermott recalled: "JP started coming off the bench and breaking tackles that year.

"He had that strength where you weren't sure where it came from and Mick Withers was similar in that respect.

"JP had raw strength and some speed, of all things; some pace off the mark.

"He was a fantastic runner on the edge of the defence as a back-rower and probably won us a few games that year and contributed to the success that we enjoyed."

It is worth remembering that it was a formidable environment that Peacock was becoming part of. Although the summer era was in full swing, there was no shortage of hardmen such as McDermott, Lowes and Dwyer.

McDermott explained: "The pack that we had at Bradford then was old school and I feel a bit cringeworthy saying that because I played with Brian Noble, David Hobbs and Karl Fairbank... and they were old school!

"Whilst we played in the modern era, that old-school mentality that we had was still there in our pack.

"We had made the transition from coming off a building site to being part of that full-time professional era.

"We had that mentality of getting your work done and getting your day's wage.

"You couldn't mince about and everybody operated with a certain level of intensity back then because they had learnt that on building sites.

"If you messed about on a building site, you would get the sack.

"Everyone carried that mentality into the environment at Bradford, so anybody coming into it really came under intense scrutiny.

"If you didn't add to it, or detracted from it, you would get told where to go."

Peacock, now 37, will retire at the end of the forthcoming season and looks ripe for another big year after an outstanding 2014.

McDermott said: "There will be questions asked of JP's age and whether he can still do it – but he's been the hardest, most committed trainer we've had so far this pre-season.

"And I'm not saying that with any romanticism either. On average, we would be on the field at least five times a week plus extras and conditioning.

"He's missed just two sessions. That's incredible, but that's JP."