PORT Adelaide and the Melbourne Storm continued to build on their fledgling off-field partnership last weekend when each club’s youth brigade undertook a combined training program at Xavier College in Victoria.

Following on from a tour of Alberton by the Storm’s head coach Craig Bellamy and football director Frank Ponissi in 2014, the Power combined forces with the NRL heavyweight on Saturday to drill young players from both sides in a range of combined skill drills.

Led by the Power’s development manager Aaron Greaves and Melbourne Storm development coach Anthony Seibold, the session saw players challenged by the training requirements of the alternative code.

Players were put through tackling and wrestling drills, the Power’s running program, hybrid skill games and shared weights sessions.

The Storm got a taste of some Power running. Picture: melbournestorm.com.au

Greaves told portadelaidefc.com.au the partnership with the Storm is invaluable for ensuring the club continues to lead the competition for innovation.

He says the Power’s youngsters will benefit significantly from the opportunity.

“We’ve developed a relationship with Melbourne Storm, they visited us last year and both our clubs have really similar philosophies,” Greaves said.

“Anthony [Siebold] and I wanted to challenge the young players both physically and mentally and the whole idea of the training day was to make it competitive.

“There were activities where the Storm would be stronger than us and we’d have to mentally and physically rise to challenge and vice versa.

“We feel we’ve been able to move forward in the mental space and give greater exposure to competition for our young players.”

Both clubs will continue seeking opportunities to work together in future as well, building on what is already a successful partnership.

“Every time we get the op to work with them we learn something,” said Greaves.

“They have great people, a great culture and really strong values.

“We're looking forward to strengthening our partnership down the track.”

 Picture: melbournestorm.com.au