Neil Craig has been impressed by the enthusiasm shown by Essendon’s younger players since joining the club in October.

Essendon’s Head of Coaching Development and Strategy said the attitude shown by the club’s development group of first to fourth year players was pleasing.

“Most of my work has been with the younger players to this point in time and I have enjoyed working with them,” he said.

“They are looking for more work to pushing themselves up for selection.”

“As a snapshot their attitude to being the best they can be is refreshing and it creates enthusiasm to be around that group.”

While the club’s senior players were on a high altitude camp in the US the development camp took part in an intense three-day training camp at the True Value Solar Centre.

“The camp went for three days, it was an intense period, the guys slept here overnight, the food was pretty basic and it wasn’t about being a brutal camp but it was about taking the players out of their comfort zone,” Craig said.

“What happens is you start to get a feel for the way people react under a bit of adversity.”

“In the debrief the players told us they thoroughly enjoyed it, they got some confidence out of it and some self belief that they can handle a who range of different situations.”

Craig said the key for the coaching group was preparing the club’s young players for the rigours of playing at AFL level.

“Some of them have a lot of work to do because to play winning AFL football is a very tough environment to play in,” he said.

“We have spoken to them about our responsibility as coaches is to make sure we give them the opportunity and the conditions to prepare for when they run out of the race that they are ready for it.”