Ken McGregor, Tent Hentschel, Jason Porplyzia and Hayden Skipworth wore the skull hats - wired with speakers to receive calls from the coaches - during some drills.
The Crows have previously this season used mobile phones carried in a pouch on players’ backs to assist players in various drills.
The coaches were able to talk to one or all of the players wearing the hats.
“I wasn’t fortunate enough to wear one today,” a grinning Brett Burton said after the training session at AAMI Stadium.
“It’s basically about communication. Obviously it’s a big field and it’s a bit hard for coaches to communicate with players on the other side of the field.”
Burton said they were useful for players who were not quite sure of the team structures. “So if we can get direct communication from the coach it’s pretty useful,” he said. “Especially for the younger blokes or new players coming into the forward line or blokes who have been out for a while and might not know the set-ups.”
McGregor said the conversations were just one-way: “And that’s probably a good thing!”
