AFTER sending players to Arizona for the past three seasons, the Brisbane Lions have decided not to train at altitude overseas this pre-season.
The club sent five senior players to Arizona in 2011, 18 in 2012 and the entire playing group, excepting those yet to be drafted, last season.
Lions football manager Dean Warren told AFL.com.au that those trips had been successful but because of the changing list profile it was time for the club to take a different tack.
"This year we're going to do it later and do it with the whole group when the whole group is together," Warren said. "[This camp will be] more around team building and leadership and giving back to the community."
The Lions intend to spend a week at Noosa from December 3-7 in a camp geared towards achieving team building rather than conditioning outcomes.
Other clubs criticised the Lions' decision to travel to Arizona last season during the equalisation debate given their parlous financial condition.
However Warren said in reality that trip was funded through corporate sponsorship and player contributions rather than money that would otherwise have improved the club's bottom line.
He said that the main impetus for the first camp in 2011 was to give veterans such as Jonathan Brown and Simon Black something new to stimulate their training.
"Arizona gave us a good kick start to the pre-season from a training and altitude point of view but it was probably just as important for us to provide a different training stimulus for our players," Warren said.
However with the number of list changes since 2013 reaching 25 and the impact of the collective bargaining agreement, which dictated the date when pre-season could start, Warren said the club recognised the need for a different type of camp.
The Lions had a successful exchange period picking up Dayne Beams from Collingwood and Allen Christensen from Geelong.
So far only North Melbourne and Essendon have committed to sending small groups of players to America for pre-season training.
