MELBOURNE’S AFLW side went on a bonding camp to Sorrento last weekend, and first-year player Shae Sloane says it helped her settle into the club.

The trip included a mix of football sessions and bonding activities to assist the development of relationships among the group.

“We started the weekend off with a bit of training, spent a few hours on Saturday morning having a really good training session and working on everything we’ve been working on all pre-season which was awesome,” Sloane told Melbourne Media.

“From then on just got to have a bit of time at the beach, have a fair bit of food and just a lot of team bonding sort of stuff, really getting to know each other.”

The Demons turned over a third of their list in the off-season, so the camp provided a great opportunity for the playing group to bond on a personal level.

“With this group there’s 10 of us new players here this year so really just making sure we understand who everyone is away from football and really get to know each other which was awesome,” Sloane said.

“It was a great weekend.”

Melbourne has built a strong culture over its first two seasons in the AFLW and Sloane believes this has played a massive role in welcoming her to the club.

“It’s been a really easy group of people to walk into, both players and staff,” she said.

“They’ve definitely brought a lot of confidence to myself as a footballer and to a lot of the other new players.

“Just being able to walk in and be really comfortable, be confident you can make mistakes and really learn from it.

“So it’s been a fantastic start.”

With the AFLW season kicking off in February, round one is just around the corner and there is a clear buzz among the group.

“Every opportunity we get to train at the moment is really exciting,” Sloane said.

“We know it’s only such a short period that we get and we’re really making the most of every session.

“So [we're] learning a lot every day, getting a lot of info thrown at us, but it’s awesome.

“It’s all very clear and we know what we want to do.”

The 26-year-old has a volleyball background but has adapted quickly to life as a footballer after playing with the Casey Demons in the latter part of the season.

Sloane is now eyeing off a spot in the Melbourne side, but is also looking forward to learning along the way.

“Obviously everyone wants to be playing and that’s why we’re all here,” she said.

“We want to be out on the field playing with everyone, getting that success with your teammates.

“But obviously I’m just putting in everything I can in the pre-season and really trying to prove myself and we’ll just have to wait and see.”