By Anthony Marshall - Newcastle United Club Reporter

First team coach Steve Stone believes Newcastle's team bonding exercises on Wednesday were a huge success.

In an attempt to break up their pre-season tour of Germany, the players and staff headed whitewater rafting during the day before going out for a meal in Munich in the evening.

The Magpies are no strangers to variety - as last season's basketball and football double-header against the Newcastle Eagles proved - and Stone explained it was the perfect preparation for a tough couple of days work on the training pitch.

"It was great fun," the former Nottingham Forest and England winger told nufc.co.uk.

"Some of the lads were a little bit sceptical about it and worried about how it was going to work out, but once we were there everyone loved it, embraced it and you could see by their faces how much they all thoroughly enjoyed it.

"It was something a bit different and the manager is all about that. He brought the basketball team in to play us last season and it's things like that which mix it up and keep the boys on their toes.

"It breaks the trip up, and then all of a sudden they are ready to go again. There's a couple of hard days of training coming up before Saturday's game and we will be ready for it."