Joseph and the side came back together on Monday after a three-week Christmas break and got back into some hard graft, ignoring the summer-like conditions and the hard ground.
The Highlanders coach has been linked with the vacant Japanese national coaching job but yesterday said he had nothing to say on the subject.
Joseph has been linked with the job for nearly a month but has never confirmed whether he is seeking the position. Highlanders chief executive Roger Clark is still on leave.
He was simply carrying on as Highlanders coach getting the team ready for the new season, Joseph said yesterday.
The new season starts on the field with the first pre-season game in Hong Kong on February 6 and the side is now working on its game plan and looking to get everyone up to speed.
The side will go into the season as defending champion in a new-look competition but Joseph said this was a new team with new players and once the season started, the achievements of last year would be forgotten.
"Last year helped with giving us some confidence but this is a new team who will play in a new competition. We still have to get out and play some footy against some good teams,'' he said.
"The attitude from the guys is good. It took a while yesterday [Monday] to get out of that holiday feeling but everyone was on the mark today.''
The side had its usual share of off-season operations but at this stage of the year it was in reasonable shape, he said.
Co-captain Shane Christie was on the way back from a broken finger and should not be far away from getting into full contact training.
Fellow loose forward Dan Pryor, who had a knee operation after the domestic season finished, is back running and should be back in full training in the next couple of weeks. He had a banged-up knee through knocks over the year.
Lock Alex Ainley had an operation after the ITM Cup because he had turf toe.
He may take longer than Pryor to come right, as a reasonably lengthy rehabilitation period is needed after surgery.
Though it may seem small, the toe is a vital part of the body for a tight forward in the scrums and rucks.
Turf toe involves the tendon under the foot pulling away from the toe. Former Highlanders flanker John Hardie had a season ruined from the same injury a couple of years ago.
All Black winger Waisake Naholo joined the squad on Monday and All Black backs Aaron Smith and Malakai Fekitoa will join the team next week.
Co-captain Ben Smith is set to join the team at the start of next month.
All fit players, including the All Blacks, will make the trip to Hong Kong to play Racing 92 in a pre-season game.
Joseph admitted it was an exciting place to venture to but it was a while away and there was plenty to get through before then.