Demons coach defends scrapped camp

MELBOURNE coach Simon Goodwin has defended the Demons’ gruelling preseason camp despite scrapping it in light of his players’ safety concerns.

Star players Dom Tyson (knee) and Christian Salem (concussion) suffered injuries during last year’s militarystyle boot camp — a characterisation Goodwin rejects.

Despite the injury toll, Melbourne had planned to repeat the exercise in the week before Christmas.

However, after receiving feedback from the players, the camp was cancelled on Thursday.

“The special operations camp was run by senior police officers — it wasn’t a boot camp,” Goodwin said.

“It was run by experienced people. Yes, it’s had its challenges but we listen to our players and we listen to their feedback and we feel that when something’s not right, we don’t go ahead.

“We look for other avenues. We’re adventurous and we will get there and we will work towards building hardworking, competitive, resilient and humble individuals and that’s our mission moving forward.”

Tyson suffered a knee injury and Salem was concussed when a brick fell from his pack during a hike at last year’s camp, which also included sleepdeprivation exercises and punishing beach runs.

With next week’s camp scrapped, the Demons will continue their pre-season training regime at Gosch’s Paddock before breaking for Christmas.