PLAYERS are using Port Adelaide’s pre-season camp as an opportunity to connect as a group off-field, according to midfielder Ollie Wines.
The 45-man playing group travelled to Queensland’s Noosa on Wednesday morning, spending the first three days completing a series of physical and mental challenges designed to bring the group closer together.
In addition to daily gruelling training sessions, the group has participated in various team bonding exercises with a focus on connection, performance, trust, teamwork and gratitude.
Wines said it’s been a wonderful opportunity to get to know some of the new arrivals at Alberton, including Port’s 11 new players and three coaches.
“These things are so beneficial – not just for the physical side of things, but the connection between teammates,” Wines said.
“For the last three years we’ve turned over so much of our list and so many new guys have come into the team.
“[These camps] give us an opportunity to socialise - even if it’s as simple as having a team dinner together and sitting next to someone perhaps you couldn’t usually sit with as much at the club.
“It puts you in situations where you’ve got to get to know your teammates and it’s only going to create a stronger bond between them.”
But make no mistake – it’s been a serious physical test for the boys in soaring Queensland humidity – the coaching group has been working them hard.
Early starts, intense training sessions and long days are all part of the experience.
And Wines says they’re rising to the occasion.
“We’re here to work hard…they’re long days, they’re early mornings, so there’s going to be a bit of fatigue setting in,” he said.
“But that’s the aim of the camp; to push us to that limit to see what we’ve got in the tank.
“The boys are doing really well...we’re not missing a beat.”
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