DEFENDER Tom McDonald says the influence of Leading Teams duringMelbourne’s three-day pre-season camp at Sorrento was “really beneficial”.

McDonald said Leading Teams’ involvement at the camp was to facilitateconversations, but he added that it was up to the players “to take action nowand make it worthwhile”.

“I had a quick look at it (Leading Teams) in my first season, when DeanBailey was coach. But it probably wasn’t as successful as it needed to be andthe results showed that,” he said.

“It was all about having discussions and where we want to take ourselvesas a team.

“The players, coaches and support staff were all involved in discussions and then [the players help drive] thedirection of where we want to take the club.”

The Demons stayed on the Mornington Peninsula from lunchtime Mondayuntil Wednesday afternoon. The focus of the camp was on building relationships,leadership and being introduced to coach Paul Roos’ game plan. Some trainingwas also part of the trip, but not the primary objective.

“We trained at Casey Fields on Monday and then did some Leading Teams inthe afternoon. We had some basic discussions to open things up before dinnerand then had a couple of meetings at night. It was a pretty busy day with ourmain training session, but we got a lot out of it,” McDonald said.

“On Tuesday, we went down to the Sorrento Sharks footy oval, which wasreally good and they helped us out with a few facilities. We had some trainingwith the mids, forwards and backs. We all split up in our groups and did ournormal Tuesday sessions, which included boxing and weights.

“We also had a run around the oval and then had a look at Roosy’s gameplan for the first time and then had some more Leading Teams in the afternoon.”

On Wednesday, the players were up at 5.30am and completed a bike rideand swim session. 

“We went for a ride for about an hour and then went for a swim in the ocean.We then had a couple of meetings and then went home,” he said.