The Bombers have picked up some good tips from a two-week study trip to America and England according to general manager of football operations Paul Hamilton.
 
A four-man group - made up of Hamilton, Matthew Knights, Adrian Hickmott and Alan Richardson - have returned to finalise preparations for pre-season training and believe they have gathered some valuable information.
 
Click here to purchase your 2010 Essendon membership.
 

""It was a fact finding mission,"" Hamilton said of the trip.

 

""We visited quite a few clubs including the Phoenix Suns basketball club, Arizona Cardinals in the American football and a couple of premier league clubs over in London.

 

""When you are meeting quite a few clubs you need to have a fairly specific purpose and ours was looking at development models and the way they develop their players.
 
""The coaching group was also looking at coaching techniques and from my perspective looking at facilities and those sorts of things.""
 
Click here to listen to Hamilton speak about the trip on SEN.
 
Hamilton said the group spent almost four hours in the rooms with the Phoenix Suns leading into a game having already spent a day with them.

 

""We were even able to be in the rooms at the half-time break and see the whole way they go about their processes there with the coaching staff,"" he said.

 

""We had really good access and were able to speak with their star, marquee player Steve Nash who is 35-years-old - the way he went about things was quite extraordinary.
 
""They (Phoenix) are not a side that is massive on recovery but he was and he went out of his way to do everything absolutely perfect which is probably why he is still their marquee player at 35.

 

""Their preparation is very different and obviously they are a different sport but they are very individualised with their warm-up as are the Cardinals who we watched play a game. The way they individualise their warms-ups was interesting but whether we do that or not is another thing ... that was just their game preparation.

 

""What really struck us was the pride they had with everything. The pride the players had in every little thing they did and their approach to things was quite outstanding and that's something we want to see installed in our players.""

 

Hamilton said there were a number of coaching areas that Matthew Knights is keen to implement at Windy Hill and there were a number of learnings from seeing other clubs' facilities.
 
To purchase a great Essendon product for Christmas click here.