FORMER Richmond coach Danny Frawley has accused a group of 14 Melbourne players of going behind coach Simon Goodwin’s back to have a preseason camp cancelled.

It was revealed last week the Demons had scrapped a commando-style training event because of player safety concerns.

Frawley told SEN radio the cancellation — which he said came after a group of players asked the AFL Players Association to intervene — was a sign the players were being allowed to “rule the roost” at the club.

“If I’m Simon Goodwin driving to work today ... I’ve got a real sh**ty feeling in my gut that I just can’t work out, because we’re in it together. But there’s 14 of my boys who have gone behind my back,” Frawley told SEN Breakfast.

“A couple of guys really did get strong on it, grabbed a couple of the young guys and they’ve rang the AFLPA and said ‘we think this is unprofessional, we’re athletes, we want to get through Christmas unscathed’.

“The Players Association have put a do not go to camp, get this camp stopped.”

Two players — Dom Tyson and Christian Salem — were injured on a similar camp last preseason which was described as the toughest training experience of some players’ careers. The club reportedly beefed up safety measures for this year’s edition, but it wasn’t enough to convince the entire playing group.

Frawley said the disagreement should have been handled differently.

“Why didn’t the Players Association ring up (football manager) Josh Mahoney and say ‘guys we need to look at this camp and just sort a couple of things out’,” he said.

“We’ve got doctors going on it, we’ve got physios, we don’t want players to get injured. Let’s sit down like grown men and work through this issue. Oh, no they’ve just stamped it, this isn’t happening.

“I think Simon needs to get the playing group in and say ‘guys the communication lines are open, have I not been honest to you guys, have I not been up front?’”

Melbourne finished ninth last season, missing out on a finals place after a final round defeat against Collingwood. The club hasn’t played finals since 2006 but with a host of young talent beginning to find its feet was expected to make a push in 2018.

Frawley said the camp fiasco was a sign the club was not united.

“The Melbourne Football Club at the moment, it is a bit of a laughing stock,” Frawley said.

“What do we have a leadership group for? Let’s forget our leadership group now. You guys, if you’ve got an issue, ring the AFLPA and I’ll just coach.”

“You look at the Bulldogs, you look at Richmond, chemistry is one of the hardest things to gain at a footy club. It really is,” he added.

“At the moment the fabric in the Melbourne football jumper, there’s a few seams that need sewing up, because at the moment it’s all over the shop.

“I’m very confident that there is a real flatness about the coaching staff towards the players heading into Christmas, at the moment.”

Goodwin defended the camp despite scrapping it in light of his players’ safety concerns.

“The special operations camp was run by senior police officers — it wasn’t a boot camp,” Goodwin told the club’s annual meeting as reported by the Demons’ website.

“It was run by experienced people. Yes, it’s had its challenges but we listen to our players and we listen to their feedback and we feel that when something’s not right, we don’t go ahead.

“We look for other avenues. We’re adventurous and we will get there and we will work towards building hardworking, competitive, resilient and humble individuals and that’s our mission moving forward.”

Tyson suffered a knee injury and Salem was concussed when a brick fell from his pack during a hike at last year’s camp, which also included sleep-deprivation exercises and punishing beach runs.

With next week’s camp scrapped, the Demons will continue their pre-season training regime at Gosch’s Paddock in Melbourne before breaking for Christmas.

— with AAP