FORWARD turned defender Jack Watts says the Demons have become closer after living and working together for the past nine days in its Northern Territory camp.

In intense heat and humidity, and being housed predominantly at Robertson Barracks, except for one night in Jabiru in the lead up to the Kakadu hike, Watts said the camp had done the trick in bonding.

“I think [it has made us closer], definitely,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“The downtime we’ve had and getting to know the new boys and having a joke and a laugh [has been invaluable].

“As a group, getting to know each other outside of that 7 am to 5 pm environment back home has been awesome.”

Watts said that from a physical and mental preparation, the camp couldn’t have provided any more.

“It’s been a terrific nine days,” he said.

“There was a bit of apprehension coming in, but the boys have been amazing and doing the hard work. There hasn’t been one second of complaining from anyone.

“It’s just bonded the boys. It’s been a great fun nine days.”

Watts said the 30 km hike in Kakadu “was hot, tough, but good fun”, however he conceded that the first training session at Palmerston almost brought him to his knees, given the scorching temperature and stifling conditions.

“The training was tough and the first day I thought I was going to die,” he said with a smile.

“A lot of blokes were throwing up and those were the conditions that were thrown at us.

“But as a group, to say that we’ve been able to complete it – we’ve done the work up in Darwin, so I think that will be a highlight going forward next year.”