FITNESS fanatic Mike Whitlow has set his sights on playing until he is 36 ... and Wanderers' new physio Mark Taylor reckons he can help him.

The new treatment room steward has had to clip the skipper's wings recently to save him from burn-out but he reckons he will thank him in the long run.

"If Mike is determined to play until he's 36, I think he'll do it," Taylor says confidently.

"But the older you get, the more you've got to conserve your energies. Mike's got to be looking to just tick over in between games."

Whitlow, whose expected comeback from groin surgery in January will coincide with his 33rd birthday, has always worked hard on his fitness - over and above the squad's daily training schedules and laughs as he refers to the physio's advice. "He's banned me," he exaggerates, "I can't go to the gym any more!"

He's deadly serious though when he talks of extending his career.

"I'll keep playing until my legs say enough's enough. Once the fitness goes, the rest goes but the way I'm feeling at the moment I know I can do it. I said a long time ago that I fancied playing until I was 36 and I'm as determined as ever."

Taylor explained: "Mike is so keen to keep himself fit that he'd do too much if you let him. We've had to restrict him because, if we didn't, he'd burn himself out! He'll just keep going and going and going.

"So we've put a pulse monitor on him. We download it into the laptop every day and know instantly how much he is doing and how much he should be doing.

"I think we've got him under control now.

"Mike's ahead of the schedule we set him and so is Dean Holden. His running is coming on fantastic now but he just wants to get in and tackle somebody. That's all he has in his mind.

"We're trying to keep him away from that so we're giving him little goals each week. Hopefully, he'll have made a tackle before he knows he's done it!"