I know it's been discussed a bit already, but thought this was a quote worth noting from our skipper...
 

"I reflect on it now as one of the best experiences I've had in 12 years in the system."

"I think most of the players in particular saw it that way."
 

Melbourne Demons happy with pre-Christmas training camp despite injuries

 

Also...

Jones lauds pre-Christmas camp

 

I cant get over that story as to how Salem got concussed... How unlucky does a bloke have to get??

4 minutes ago, ArtificialWisdom said:

I cant get over that story as to how Salem got concussed... How unlucky does a block have to get??

I believe it was a brick not a block  

I have no doubt that, for many, the camp was excellent.  I think @ProDee just reported from his source (and correct any mistakes PD, I haven't gone back to that post you made), for some, it wasn't and that we got a few injuries out of it, which I think was the crux of the discussion as to how it may not have been as worthwhile as we wanted it to be. 

Time will tell if it was worthwhile or not.

 

I wouldn't expect any negative media from the players, let alone the Skipper.

I've given an overview of my experience which went for 4 days long, not two, so there is a significant difference already.

As for Salem, you either don't get instruction on how to pack your back pack or he's too thick to do a simple risk assessment.

5 minutes ago, McQueen said:

I wouldn't expect any negative media from the players, let alone the Skipper.

I've given an overview of my experience which went for 4 days long, not two, so there is a significant difference already.

As for Salem, you either don't get instruction on how to pack your back pack or he's too thick to do a simple risk assessment.

or possibly he was just severely fatigued from sleep deprivation and not thinking as clearly as usual.....

18 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

I have no doubt that, for many, the camp was excellent.  I think @ProDee just reported from his source (and correct any mistakes PD, I haven't gone back to that post you made), for some, it wasn't and that we got a few injuries out of it, which I think was the crux of the discussion as to how it may not have been as worthwhile as we wanted it to be. 

Time will tell if it was worthwhile or not.

 

It probably won't 'Wiseblood' as I'm not sure how you could measure the success or failure of something like this.

We have one measure of failure, Tyson's injury. Success will be more about the 'vibe'...

7 minutes ago, Copuchas said:

or possibly he was just severely fatigued from sleep deprivation and not thinking as clearly as usual.....

From two nights?

I think you're being too kind.

Because players are regularly concussed by house bricks at Gosch's. Happens all the time...

20 minutes ago, rjay said:

It probably won't 'Wiseblood' as I'm not sure how you could measure the success or failure of something like this.

We have one measure of failure, Tyson's injury. Success will be more about the 'vibe'...

The success will be viewed as to how we go on field - if we make finals, some will proclaim that the camp had a positive effect.  If we don't, then others will say it was a waste of time.  Neither side will necessarily be right, though.  We can't truly measure the success or failure of that, on that we agree.

Edit - And you're right in terms of the injuries as well.  Having Tyson injured and Salem cop another head knock (although he is not seemingly showing an adverse effects of it at the moment) are all we have to on at the moment.

33 minutes ago, McQueen said:

I wouldn't expect any negative media from the players, let alone the Skipper.

Agree, but saying it's one of the best experiences he's had in 12 years in the system is a bit more than "not negative".

In the long run, it might benefit them, it might not, but I'm just glad we're doing new things, innovating a bit, pushing the players a bit harder, makes a change from showing up to training only if they feel like it.

 

12 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

Because players are regularly concussed by house bricks at Gosch's. Happens all the time...

Any sprinklers on the camp?

 

11 minutes ago, stuie said:

Agree, but saying it's one of the best experiences he's had in 12 years in the system is a bit more than "not negative".

In the long run, it might benefit them, it might not, but I'm just glad we're doing new things, innovating a bit, pushing the players a bit harder, makes a change from showing up to training only if they feel like it.

 

Jonesey's last best experience was playing in a Final back in 2006.

He's hardly had much to benchmark from to now call this one of the best.

Camp = pathway to success. I remember learning somewhere that correlation does not equal causation.

What learnings did they get from it - well if its about having discomfort and getting on with the job at hand, they had better be reflective enough individual to be able to apply it when they're fatigued, when they're anxious, when they're hacked off, when they're 10 goals down, when they're 10 goals up etc etc and still able to execute time and time and time again.

26 minutes ago, McQueen said:

Jonesey's last best experience was playing in a Final back in 2006.

He's hardly had much to benchmark from to now call this one of the best.

You can have the tinfoil hat on if you wish, but our skipper is a fairly plain talking bloke, and if he rated the experience then I believe him.

 

37 minutes ago, stuie said:

Any sprinklers on the camp?

 

It was humour. Forget it stu.

Personally I think the camp will benefit some but not most. IMO it's main outcome will be bonding, particularly for younger players.

Of course all players are going to say publicly that it was a great experience, so Chunk's comments were in line with the club's view. He might truly think that, but he certainly had to say what he did. That's plainly obvious. 

Given its gruelling nature I'm relieved there were not more injuries. Dom's knee damage will set back his excellent preseason and that's the big cost. Salem's concussion adds to the worrying number he's already had. Sure these could've happened at Gosch's, but they didn't and are the cost of doing a fatigue-style camp where players were pushed to their limits doing unfamiliar activities away from a football environment. This is different from altitude training or Qld heat training at Maroochydoor. 

Was it worthwhile? Probably, it would be interesting to read the club's post season evaluation. I'd certainly love to have a quiet beer with Dom or Christian at the end of the year and hear their view. 

32 minutes ago, stuie said:

You can have the tinfoil hat on if you wish, but our skipper is a fairly plain talking bloke, and if he rated the experience then I believe him.

 

3 hours ago, ArtificialWisdom said:

I cant get over that story as to how Salem got concussed... How unlucky does a bloke have to get??

It's the most Melbourne injury ever.

The benefits ,should they materialise, i would imagine become apparent in clinch games. The ability to dig into reseverves  mental and physical, whether there or not, in order to lift and get job done as a team, but from individual commitment.

3 hours ago, McQueen said:

From two nights?

I think you're being too kind.

You do realise they had less then 2 hours sleep for the whole camp right? After all the super mental physical stuff they did, and then being forced to stay awake for 40 hours straight, that will stuff anyone's ability to think clearly

1 hour ago, Moonshadow said:

It was humour. Forget it stu.

Personally I think the camp will benefit some but not most. IMO it's main outcome will be bonding, particularly for younger players.

Of course all players are going to say publicly that it was a great experience, so Chunk's comments were in line with the club's view. He might truly think that, but he certainly had to say what he did. That's plainly obvious. 

Given its gruelling nature I'm relieved there were not more injuries. Dom's knee damage will set back his excellent preseason and that's the big cost. Salem's concussion adds to the worrying number he's already had. Sure these could've happened at Gosch's, but they didn't and are the cost of doing a fatigue-style camp where players were pushed to their limits doing unfamiliar activities away from a football environment. This is different from altitude training or Qld heat training at Maroochydoor. 

Was it worthwhile? Probably, it would be interesting to read the club's post season evaluation. I'd certainly love to have a quiet beer with Dom or Christian at the end of the year and hear their view. 

of all the players at the club chunk really needed to work on his mental hardness and application - lol

8 minutes ago, Drunkn167 said:

You do realise they had less then 2 hours sleep for the whole camp right? After all the super mental physical stuff they did, and then being forced to stay awake for 40 hours straight, that will stuff anyone's ability to think clearly

Yep I remeber hearing something like 20hrs hours straight is the eqivilant of 0.05 BAC god only knows what its like at 40hours

This arguing about whether it was a good experience or not when most of you don't know what you're talking about is getting to me worked up. 

How can you argue for the agaisnt when the players and the coaches have said they thought it was 1) the hardest thing any of them had ever done in their football careers (Including Lewis who was done some crazy stuff over the years) but 2) most believe was extremely beneficial to their personal development therefore the team development. 

I have a direct source to the mindset of the playing group, and I can tell you for absolute certainty this camp was indeed a good experience for the club.

5 minutes ago, Drunkn167 said:

This arguing about whether it was a good experience or not when most of you don't know what you're talking about is getting to me worked up. 

How can you argue for the agaisnt when the players and the coaches have said they thought it was 1) the hardest thing any of them had ever done in their football careers (Including Lewis who was done some crazy stuff over the years) but 2) most believe was extremely beneficial to their personal development therefore the team development. 

I have a direct source to the mindset of the playing group, and I can tell you for absolute certainty this camp was indeed a good experience for the club.

I'll drink to that, Drunkn.