But the early moral is surely the one that Nathan Jones so honestly articulated on 3AW last month. Young men are different beings now even to a player like him who just recently turned 30, and clubs who don’t prioritise mental welfare risk paying a heavy price. It was a risk the hardy Jones, after talking with his embarrassed teammates, was not prepared to take. The I Don’t Quit (IDQ) has been championed by Melbourne Storm and coach Craig Bellamy for all of his 15 pre-seasons at the club. Bellamy attends the camp each year with a group of his players but the coach is an observer and later receives a written report on each individual’s responses to extraordinary mental pressure from the past and present Special Operations Group operatives who run the program. ‘‘The camp helps us see how these players are going to fit into our club,’’ said Bellamy. ‘‘To be quite honest, the IDQ guys are not always right but over 15 years they haven’t been wrong too often.’’ Rookie senior coach Goodwin introduced the brutal two-night camp — an exercise punctuated by sleep deprivation, torturous physical assignments and army-style rations — on the eve of the 2017 season. According to one senior player, the damage was done then. Not only because of the injuries incurred by Dom Tyson and Christian Salem but because too few footballers spoke up at the time to either the coach or the leadership group about their misgivings, and resentments were harboured.

And Goodwin and Brendan McCartney underestimated the players’ concerns. Worried for their spots in a new tough environment post-Paul Roos and desperate not to appear soft, the players did not speak up but their anxiety as the second December camp approached intensified once the 2017 season had ended. Goodwin and his team were encouraged by Bellamy’s firm trust in IDQ - run by past and present members of the SOGs who also run security for the Victorian government and Crown — after a number of conversations with their AAMI Park neighbouring coach. The Melbourne Storm mentor told them he had come from the Broncos searching for an unorthodox method to fast-track his understanding of his players. ‘‘I don’t really know what happened there [with the Demons] and at the end of the day it’s none of my business,’’ said the reigning NRL premiership coach. ‘‘I can only say how it’s worked for us. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video ‘‘I spoke to Simon Goodwin and Brendan McCartney about it and explained the camp helps us see how guys react working under pressure and fatigue with teammates. It is a way for me to get information about my players and their strengths and weaknesses so we can help them improve. It’s more of a mentally taxing exercise than physical.’’

The camp rarely moves more than several hours from Melbourne. Late last year the Storm players began the camp in Lake Eildon and generally Bellamy only sends first-year players or older recruits new to the Storm on the camp. In late 2013, though, Bellamy sprung the exercise on his entire senior team and the camp began with players forced to hand in their keys, wallets and mobile telephones and marched on foot to the Dandenongs (44 kilometres) before embarking up and down the 1000 Steps several times. That was only the introduction to the two days and nights that followed. The AFLPA bosses have struggled with their role in the saga. Unhappy at stories they had heard from Melbourne players the previous season, but mindful of encroaching upon Melbourne’s football program, they say now they only officially communicated their concerns to senior players after a shared information session at a player delegates meeting at the start of summer. But the AFLPA had suggested to the Demons bosses after the previous camp that it had been over the top. The union has long been disdainful toward the intensity of some club pre-season programs. Some years ago a PA executive stated his wish that the brutality of the Adelaide and Port Adelaide pre-seasons that year did not reflect in on-field success due to the strain it had placed on the players. There is no doubt bad blood still flows between the club and the AFLPA with the Demons’ hierarchy still dubious at the nature, method and number of complaints. A series of terse telephone conversations between Paul Marsh, Peter Jackson - filtering down the staff of both organisations - punctuated the period. The Marsh view is that the PA only acted after the players’ unhappiness escalated and was communicated to his office. The Jackson view strongly differs and there is still a view at Melbourne that the PA interfered. The Goodwin view is that his team missed an opportunity to grow stronger together.

And co-captain Jones, who fully expected the camp to go ahead, sees fault on both sides in terms of communication but believes he understands his younger teammates so much better now. The players' association says mental illness is the greatest challenge facing football and it was that fact, according to Jones, which forced the issue for him. Jones, who should play his 250th game this season, hopes this experience will force a different kind of growth within the group. It never would have occurred to him to question the coaches’ plans but once his teammates did — albeit in a roundabout way — Jones now views the camp story as a salutary lesson for the older players placing priorities upon mutual tolerance. There is no doubt the club and Goodwin, who is striving to stamp terms such as ''togetherness'' and ''fearless'' as part of his imprint on Melbourne, were embarrassed and yet the initial response of the AFL industry was all too predictable. Commentator Danny Frawley, a champion of men’s mental health, branded the Demons a laughing stock and said there were signs the players being allowed to ‘‘rule the roost’’. It is true that the issue only came to a head after the AFL players meeting when Melbourne delegate Tom McDonald called Jones and told him of the spreading anxiety that had prompted more than a dozen Demons to raise their concerns through various channels at the AFLPA. But the Melbourne hierarchy still doesn’t believe reports that 14 players individually contacted the union.

This was despite the fact the club had changed some of the parameters around the ''I Don’t Quit'' exercise including extra food and medical attention with a doctor and physiotherapist on site. Tyson’s 2017 pre-season had been derailed after he dislocated his kneecap at the previous camp and his family had made no secret of their disappointment at what had unfolded. And Jones, disappointed that his younger teammates had not directly approached him or the coaches with the gravity of their worries, and vexed at having to deal with the situation so late in the day, felt he had no choice but to approach Goodwin, McCartney and Josh Mahoney.

So barely a week before it was due to begin, the camp was cancelled. Since then Melbourne have largely and unbelievably attempted to portray the unprecedented situation as a storm in a teacup. ‘‘It must be a slow news day,’’ said Melbourne president Glen Bartlett unconvincingly back in December. And yet at this week’s club media briefing the topic was still hot. But if the only cost to Melbourne was a $15,000 deposit, a briefly humiliated young coach and a tough public lesson about their young players then the story will prove just that. Football results have a way of resolving these things.