It was a journey of self-discovery. Three days in the Victorian countryside, reliant on their own preparation and each other to navigate through a series of challenges.

That’s what the Fremantle Dockers’ younger players faced during the Emerging Leaders Experience, which aimed to place the players in a competitive environment to test their leadership and team capabilities.

The club has put a lot of resources and time into developing its emerging leaders. Back in 2011 it sent its then-development players, including Nat Fyfe, Hayden Ballantyne, Stephen Hill, Alex Silvagni, Anthony Morabito, Nick Suban and Michael Barlow, to Melbourne for the inaugural Emerging Leaders Experience.

It was established as a scholarship in conjunction with engineering company RCR Tomlinson in memory of the late Jeff Hogan, who was a former director at RCR Tomlinson and a passionate supporter of the club.

The 2015 location was Mt Beckworth, 35km north of Ballarat, where the group of 12 faced a variety of challenges over three days from 14-16 January. They were split up into two teams comprising a random mix of the club’s younger players.

They had to accumulate points through a series of challenges and decision-making exercises that included orienteering, rock climbing and compass and map reading.

Senior development coach/assistant coach Simon Lloyd was one of the coaches who was involved in the camp, but only to observe.

“We allowed the group to make their own choices which was reflected in their decisions and behaviours,” he says.

Lloyd says the preparation began almost two months before the camp.

“They were briefed and given a series of guides and booklets that they had to study,” he says.

“They had to recall that information when it became necessary on the camp.

“It was all based around their own planning and preparation. They had to do the lot. It was as much about self-management as anything.”

As part of the preparation the players had to supply their own tents and food for the camp.

First-year player Connor Blakely says the players shopped for food the night before they left for Victoria.

“We got a large amount of food and divided it into six bags,” he says.

“Overall, I think we prepared pretty well, which was good.”

Blakely said the rock climbing challenge was among the toughest tasks the players faced.

“There was one wall that was pretty easy and most people had a crack at it,” he says.

“But there was another one that was just about straight vertical without many rocks to put your feet and hands on.

“That was pretty tough. I didn’t quite make it to the top.”

Blakely says everyone involved gained a lot out of the experience.

“I think just the constant movement to the next challenge for two days and pushing on was something that benefitted us a fair bit,” he says.

“Our mindset was just to keep moving and complete as many tasks as we could.

“I think that will hold us in pretty good stead for the rest of the year.”

Lloyd says the club learnt a lot about the players from their performance on the camp, but more importantly, he adds, the players learnt more about themselves.

“The best thing is we exposed them to a thorough review,” he says.

“We’re a team that values high accountability, so post-camp we gave open and honest feedback as to how players performed through the different challenges.

“It’s an exercise in learning about yourself and how you perform when you’re taken out of your comfort zone.

“I’d like to think each individual who went away learnt something about themselves that they can transfer into their careers as AFL footballers.”

Blakely says he definitely learnt a lot about himself at the camp.

“Mine was pretty positive,” he says.

“The main thing for me was to be more confident with my opinion.

“There were times when everything wasn’t going according to plan.

“The feedback to me was to be more confident and speak up more.”

Lloyd says the main findings to come out of the club’s review were that those who prepared better, performed better.

“We expect elite professionalism and those that prepare and give great effort without compromise are the ones that usually get the results,” he says.

Lloyd adds that the resources the club has put into developing its emerging leaders have been well worth the investment.

“There’s no point having these things unless there’s something that’s going to be transferable to what they do in the immediate future and something down the track,” he says.

“It’s all about personal growth and the way we look at things, you’re either going one of two ways – you’re either growing or you’re in decline, so we like to constantly challenge the players from day to day to grow.

“What we’ve seen from the group that went away four years ago, I know there are definitely individuals within that group that treated it as a great opportunity to learn about themselves and each other.

“Through the review and feedback, there’s always going to be growth, and we think it will be a similar case for the 2015 class.”

This article was first published in the April edition of Docker Magazine. Click here to view the full publication.