WHILE the Melbourne players are currently scattered all around the world on their end of season breaks, Jack Viney has taken three youngsters to Cairns, but not on a holiday.

Harry Petty, Charlie Spargo and Tom Sparrow have joined their skipper on a training camp up north, working in the warmer climate to get prepped for a big pre-season.

Sparrow, who played two senior games in his debut season, has taken plenty out of the trip, appreciating the leadership Viney has shown.

“It’s a really good initiative from him – I’ve really enjoyed it so far,” Sparrow told Melbourne Media.

“The opportunity to come up here and train with people like that is really good, so I’m just trying to make the most of it at the moment.”

Viney is a great mentor for his younger teammates and decided to use the off-season to help them get into shape.

“He just reached out and said he was looking to bring a few boys up and do a week of training up in the heat,” Sparrow said.

“A few of the young boys have come up because we go back a bit earlier than the older guys, so we decided we’d join and get some training done while we’re here.”

While the whole team is sticking to the program set by new performance manager Darren Burgess, Sparrow said getting to work in Queensland was going to be even more beneficial.

“It’s pretty nice up here – nice and hot and humid so we just thought we’d do our training in the heat,” he said.

“The air’s pretty muggy so it’s a bit harder to work and you feel like you’re getting something out of it.

“We’re just at the local footy club doing what we’ve been given and added in a few skills and bike sessions.

“Obviously we’re doing a gym program up here as well, so we’re doing a bit of everything which is good.

“Along with that, we’ve done a bit of sightseeing as well.

“We went snorkelling on Wednesday and kayaking on Monday, so it’s been really good so far.”

Sparrow has enjoyed the chance to train without any restrictions after missing the backend of the season with a knee injury.

“I’ve got my first full pre-season coming up and I’m out of rehab now, so I’m ready to hit the ground running and feeling pretty good,” he said.

“It’s good to run with Jack, another midfielder, and see what the standard is.”

The first-to-four-year players will return to the club in two weeks’ time, where Melbourne’s pre-season campaign gets underway.