Day 10: Wednesday, January 21

7am

I catch Rohan Bail lining up for a coffee while having breakfast at the hotel. He loves his piccolo lattes.

“They’re just the right amount,” he says.

Bail says the camp’s been really tough so far, but he’s says it’s been great for the boys. But he knows that today’s session is going to be right up there as one of the hardest yet.

Bail is looking the strongest and fittest I’ve seen him at the club. He’s a fine young man and it was great to see him step up in 2014.

Soon, it’s departure time on the Brett ‘Allison’ Fruity Bus for one last time out to the Maroochydore Multi Sports Centre.

Fruity has given me the task of introducing some tunes to the first year players. Low Rider by War has to get a gig. If you’re unsure of the tune, check it out. I’m sure you’ll know it! I’m impressed the likes of Angus Brayshaw and Billy Stretch like some of the ‘older stuff’.

The first-year players are a good bunch. Aaron vandenBerg is the elder statesman at almost 23 years old and with no disrespect to the younger kids, you can tell he’s just that bit older. After all, he’s been out in the workforce and making money – literally, at the Australian Royal Mint in Canberra – before joining the club.

The other draftees, Christian Petracca, Brayshaw, Alex Neal-Bullen (Nibbler is his nickname – if you say Neal-Bullen really quickly, over and over again, it turns into Nibbler … or at least so I’m told!), Stretch, Oscar McDonald and Mitch White have all come straight from school to the club.

It’s a fascinating transition, when you think about it.

8:30am

It’s the last main training session for the camp. Again, another big session is planned.

During preparation, the Sunshine Coast Council, including Coralie Nichols from the council and a mad Melbourne supporter, arrives to make a presentation to the club.

After the team had its photo taken at Mooloolaba Beach last Friday, the picture has surfaced onto a surfboard, which is presented to captain Nathan Jones – an avid surfer.

Although it’s not one to ride the waves on, it’s an impressive memento for the boys. Nichols then gets her picture taken with Jones and McDonald – and the Melbourne surfboard!

The locals have really embraced the club with genuine warmth and enthusiasm, as the team has undertaken its pre-season camp on the Sunshine Coast.

Soon another presentation is made to digital media coordinator Anna Harrington, who is celebrating her 23^rd birthday – a day after Jones turned 27. Both are good Mornington Peninsula stock!

8:30am

It’s Melbourne’s last big football session for the camp.

The focus is on the game plan, trying to execute skills and getting the ball movement going.

The players are feeling the pinch after some really tough training – as it is day 10 and the second last day of the camp.

Still, the players produce some solid work and complete another strong session.

During the morning, I speak AFLQ’s and Sunshine Coast regional manager Paul Tresise, who has been a great help to the club on its camp in the Melbourne rooms. He says it’s been huge to have an AFL club in the region – and if last Saturday’s supporter day was anything to go by, where a few hundred turned up, it was evident that day.

There was genuine support from the locals and red and blue fans and it reinforced the importance of football in the community.

During training, I chat with club doctor Zeeshan Arain, just generally about his role. He says one of the best stories to come out of the pre-season from his perspective is Jack Fitzpatrick, who has made significant strides with his diabetes.

Fitzpatrick, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two years ago, has since been managed on standard dietary advice, which means he has to monitor his sugars. Every meal he has had to inject insulin.

Now he’s changed to a low carb/high fat diet and after a period of adaption, he’s maintained stable blood sugars and been able to train fully at high intensity, without losing strength.

He only needs to inject his long acting insulin at night, rather than with every meal.

Arain says it’s a way of managing his diabetes that will not only make his life easier in the short term, but he’ll also reap the benefits long term.

He adds that Fitzpatrick can now live a semi-normal life, because he doesn’t have to check his sugars all the time now. The idea is to normalise his sugars and avoid the long term complications, such as heart disease, kidney failure and neurological degeneration.

Since changing his diet, Fitzpatrick has had less hypoglycemic symptoms. By relying on fat as his main fuel, he can spare glucose for certain organs in his body and he’s less likely to have a hypoglycemic episode.

It’s interesting looking at Fitzpatrick now. He looks a picture of health at the moment and coincidentally I spoke to him earlier in the day and he spoke of how fit he was feeling and how glad he was to be finally getting through his first full pre-season, remembering the big man has had many injury setbacks along the journey. He’s a fine young man too.

12pm

The players eat lunch in the rooms – Heritier Lumumba and Ben Newton are tucking into their food near me – before undertaking their final weights session of the camp. The session is not as full on as others.

The rest of the afternoon is taken up with recovery and treatment, as the camp starts to draw to a close.

Property steward Anthony Brown and trainer John Stanaway are already loading the truck. It’s a massive operation. There are 45 boxes weighing roughly 850kg to send back to Melbourne.

It’s a big operation this AFL!

4:30pm

The final day of the camp is tomorrow and it’s effectively an early morning session before departure.

There is a little bit of mystery regarding the session, so it will be interesting to see what unfolds.

Following the session, the team will depart the Sunshine Coast and head back to Melbourne.

The players will then get Friday, Saturday and Sunday off and when you’re throwing another snag on the barbie for Australia Day, the boys will be hard at it training.