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That Camp Again

Demonland
in Melbourne Demons

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“(After the Salem injury) everyone’s trying to work out ‘how do I knock myself out so I can actually get off this camp and go home’,” Lewis said.

Non Paywall Article Here: Jordan Lewis lifts the lid on ‘brutal’ SAS camp that broke players and sparked a revolt

Edited by Demonland
Non Paywall Link Added

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    Lewis is not wrong. Mt Disappointment well and truly lives by its name. 

    Edited by Dee Zephyr

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    Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the camp cancelled leading into the 2018 season?
    The article states: "When Melbourne players contacted the AFLPA and had a commando camp cancelled ahead of the 2017 season it became a big story."

     

    Context is very important here.  2017, we choked in the final round, 2018 we made a prelim.

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    Just now, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the camp cancelled leading into the 2018 season?
    The article states: "When Melbourne players contacted the AFLPA and had a commando camp cancelled ahead of the 2017 season it became a big story."

    Context is very important here.  2017, we choked in the final round, 2018 we made a prelim.

    There was a howler of a mistake in the above HUN article referring to it as the 2007 camp.

     

    Screenshot_2020-04-07 Lewis lifts lid on ‘brutal’ camp that caused Dee player revolt.png

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    1 minute ago, TeamPlayedFine39 said:

    Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the camp cancelled leading into the 2018 season?
    The article states: "When Melbourne players contacted the AFLPA and had a commando camp cancelled ahead of the 2017 season it became a big story."

     

    Context is very important here.  2017, we choked in the final round, 2018 we made a prelim.

    Yes you are correct. Camp was cancelled pre-2018.

    We choked after the 2017 camp.

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    14 minutes ago, Demonland said:

    There was a howler of a mistake in the above HUN article referring to it as the 2007 camp.

     

    Screenshot_2020-04-07 Lewis lifts lid on ‘brutal’ camp that caused Dee player revolt.png

     

    Screenshot_2018-02-02-21-58-18-604.jpeg

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    It’s interesting that Lewis has said all this, for one I think there was a perception that it was the “softer” maybe younger players leading the call for the cancellation. I think there was also the belief that most of the leadership group was on board with it, and at least a 50/50 split in the larger playing group. 

    Seems like those perceptions were wrong, probably the biggest error was that the players didn’t voice their opinions earlier or the coaching staff not hearing their hesitations about it. 

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    Old territory, but the nub of it was not that the the players didn't want to go on the camp, but that they went behind the club leadership in trying to get out of it.

    The camp sounds like faux tough-guy wanna-be stuff with little connection to football. Hopefully it was nothing like the mad psycho-drama that the Adelaide players found themselves in. I think it's right that the players didn't want to do it.

    In hindsite, the issue should be, why didn't they spend the time on actual football skills like kicking?

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    58 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

    Old territory, but the nub of it was not that the the players didn't want to go on the camp, but that they went behind the club leadership in trying to get out of it.

    The camp sounds like faux tough-guy wanna-be stuff with little connection to football. Hopefully it was nothing like the mad psycho-drama that the Adelaide players found themselves in. I think it's right that the players didn't want to do it.

    In hindsite, the issue should be, why didn't they spend the time on actual football skills like kicking?

    Completely agree Mazer

    two distinct issues -  Focused Skills training would have achieved more

    and Players going behind the club management is just not on. Showed complete lack of respect in the club and a high degree of  self importance that wouldn't help the development of a team first culture that, by the way, is still lacking.

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    7 minutes ago, Kent said:

    Showed complete lack of respect in the club

    It might also show a complete break down in communication where the players didn't feel comfortable in bringing it up with the club.

    The club/Goody didn't understand the depth of the concern.

    At least in the end the players made the right choice and Goody had to follow otherwise we could have been in Adelaide's predicament.

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    32 minutes ago, rjay said:

    It might also show a complete break down in communication where the players didn't feel comfortable in bringing it up with the club.

    The club/Goody didn't understand the depth of the concern.

    At least in the end the players made the right choice and Goody had to follow otherwise we could have been in Adelaide's predicament.

    Exactly rjay.

    A good outcome in the end I reckon.

    One we avoided The massive fall out that the crows ate still trying to recover from of an ill advised camp.

    Two the club, and in particular goody had a wake up call about effective communication.

    The fact that some players (mainly younger ones) did not feel comfortable and/or empowered to raise their concerns ironically sent a clear message that the club needed to improve its engagement and communication with players. And they seemed to have done so.

    The old my way is the highway, bend to my will way of running any club (or business for that matter) is a relic from a bygone era. It doesnt work. That approach was at the heart of the essendrug fiasco.

     

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    27 minutes ago, binman said:

     

    The old my way is the highway, bend to my will way of running any club (or business for that matter) is a relic from a bygone era. It doesnt work. That approach was at the heart of the essendrug fiasco.

     

    it might be from a bygone era but just cherry picking a few examples doesn't prove that it doesn't work. it certainly worked for norm smith and ron barassi and i could name many others. no doubt times have changed but it's a much more complex issue than just a question of bending to someone's will

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    I believe the issue with the many young players was they'd gone to painstaking lengths with their individual programs of adding kgs in the preseason and off-season, only to see it all blown at the camp. The players were then back to square 1 (or worse) and spent their two week Christmas break recovering and trying/failing to get it back on. Personally, I'd be filthy and wonder why I'd bothered. Then there's the well documented lack of medical supplies / treatment.

    To me it shows the club hadn't thought it through resulting in a communication breakdown.

    It certainly wasn't a good look in the media and we had certainly moved on ....thanks Jordan!

     

     

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    2 hours ago, dees189227 said:

    Now look forward to hearing what happened at the Adelaide camp. 

    HAHaHa... Which one.?

    The Bestt one,  or the fiery one.?

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    4 hours ago, dees189227 said:

    Now look forward to hearing what happened at the Adelaide camp. 

    Your wish has come true! Follow the link and read between the lines ...

     

     

     

    And a succinct summary of the whole debacle:

     

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