PORT Adelaide has taken the decisive step of discouraging its players from embarking on player only end-of-season trips.

 

Tragedy struck the club last year when player John McCarthy died while holidaying with teammates in Las Vegas.

 

Port CEO Keith Thomas said the Power were well aware of the potential consequences of "boys only" trips.

 

"We've definitely changed our approach to end-of-season trips," Thomas told Fairfax Media.

 

"Every club CEO is fearful of them. We will be trying to discourage large groups from travelling together.

 

"There is a limit to what we can do - it is their private time - but we have some strategies we are looking at and we will be formalising them towards the end of the year."

 

Thomas said Port would send a chaperone to keep an eye on some of the club's younger players, while also doing its best to deter large groups of players travelling together.

 

''We will be actively trying to discourage large groups going together," Thomas said.

 

''We will make sure we know what the players are doing and we will put in place different treatment for different groups. But younger groups travelling will travel with a chaperone."

 

The Las Vegas trip was not sanctioned by the club and Thomas said the club was learning from what had happened in the past.

 

Power vice-captain Brad Ebert has already started the process of arranging a post-2013 season getaway with some of the club's younger players and their girlfriends, in a tamed-down version of a player only trip.

 

AFL Football Operations boss Mark Evans, who is overseeing a working party into players' leave, said the League was looking at ways of balancing the time players have for annual leave.

 

He said Ebert's idea, of including partners on end-of-season trips, was a positive one.

 

"I think the idea has a lot of merit. It's annual leave and it's up to the players what they do with annual leave but clearly times are changing at a lot of clubs.''