The Herald Sun has reported that during a pre-season camp on the Gold Coast, a select group of senior Adelaide players were made to repeatedly listen to the Richmond theme song.

The painful reminder of the 48-point slaughtering by Richmond in the Grand Final was one of several techniques used on Crows players during the week-long camp in conjunction with performance experts Collective Mind.

The Herald Sun has also revealed a test message sent to teammates by skipper Taylor Walker when news of the camp began to become public.

“Boys, there’s some rumblings around the camp. Don’t talk to anyone, let’s discuss it in the morning. Disappointing Tex,’’ the message read.

It is believed the purpose of playing the Richmond theme song repeatedly was meant to cleanse the players of the Grand Final loss.

Details of the camp have come to light in the week of the Grand Final rematch between the Crows and Tigers at the Adelaide Oval.

Coach Don Pyke defended the on goings of the camp but said that it wasn’t well received by all members of the team.

“The reality is you don’t keep 100 per cent of people happy 100 per cent of the time,” Pyke said in a press conference.

“Training, whether it be physical or mental; there are components within the program which are challenging.”

While reports of players becoming “bewildered and mentally distressed,” the AFL Players’ Association received no complaints.

Vice-Captain of the club Rory Sloane has praised the camp and says he is better man for it.

“I absolutely 100 per cent came back from that camp feeling like a better husband, a better son and a much better teammate than when I was before I left on that camp,” Sloane said on Adelaide radio.

“We’re never going to give you an absolute blow by blow account of what we do on our training camps, because they are competitive advantages.

“We are working on the mindfulness side of sport, as well ... it was a camp that was pretty important to everyone.

“For me, the experience was unbelievable.”

Adelaide began a three-year deal with the mind training group Collective Mind at the start of last year and their aim is to re-train the brain so it can adopt mind performance tactics for high pressure situations.

Collective Mind who also work with the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL, were behind the national anthem stare off shown by Adelaide players during the 2017 finals series.