IMPROVEMENT can come in many ways, and for a group of West Coast players the search for an edge led them to a Bali health and fitness retreat with hyperbaric chambers, sensory-depravation tanks, and meditation halls.

Seven Eagles – including young midfielders Campbell Chesser and Connor West – recently combined their pre-season programs with a week-long trip to the Indonesian island, which they hope will have a lasting impact in 2023.

After a week that also included daily yoga and meditation, West said it was a pre-season training trip with a difference but something the players had grown curious about.

"When you tell people you went to Bali, they think it's a trip for partying, but there is a completely different side to it," West told AFL.com.au. 

"A group of us got together and thought, 'how can we get something out of this' but also do it overseas so we still get out of the normal routine?

"Komune came up, which is a resort in the middle of nowhere, but it's an elite facility that is made for training, yoga retreats, meditation and breath work. That was something we wanted to work on.

"When we spoke about how we can take our game to the next level, a lot of it was around that mental side, so if we can develop the habits of being able to meditate more and focus more on the breath it can definitely help us." 

Two groups of Eagles players travelled to Bali, with Chesser and West joined by young defender Rhett Bazzo and backman Josh Rotham. Alex Witherden, Harry Edwards and Jake Waterman also travelled to the same facility.

Their itinerary included sessions on light, sound and vibration immersion, breath work, cryotherapy and sensory deprivation, and yoga and meditation, with facilities also available to continue their club training program.

"We were eight weeks into the off-season program already, so that (physical side) was something we had to focus on," West said.

"They had a massive gym and a little running oval, which was good for one of our sessions. But for the other sessions we got taxis out to the soccer ovals, and we'd just run around them."

West said he planned to continue the daily yoga and meditation habit, with the hope it can aid injury prevention in his second full season.

"By the middle of the year last year I had a few niggly injuries, so hopefully yoga is a different side that my body hasn't experienced yet and maybe it could help with durability over the year," the 23-year-old said.

"That week we were there doing it every day and then training, I felt a lot better than just waking up and going straight into training.

"Meditation is definitely growing in our area and I think the more you can control your thoughts and be in the present through your breath, that can definitely help your performance."

West, who joined the Eagles as a mid-season recruit in 2021, had his first full season interrupted by hamstring and Achilles injuries before a broken wrist in round 20 ended his year.

He's had to manage that injury over the off-season and tailor his strength training, focusing on building his endurance and speed to match rival AFL midfielders.

"I'm trying to build my base to catch up to them, because there's still a bridge there you have to climb in terms of the training loads [as a mature-age recruit]," he said.

"It's been getting used to that transition and hopefully in my second full year now, another pre-season will do me well."