West Coast premiership defender Will Schofield says this week’s hit-outs at Mineral Resources Park have felt like a ‘mini training camp’.

The players returned to Eagles HQ on Monday, but their training sessions have been unlike any of their previous workouts due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Schofield recently told The West Live that it took him a while to adjust to the training restrictions imposed on the team.

“We’re in groups of seven players plus one coach with no contact,” Schofield said.

“It’s good and we really appreciate the special exemptions that are being granted by the WA Government, but it’s still very strange.

“We’re back at the footy club, but we’re still maintaining social distancing. We’re in group of seven, we can’t interact with any of the other groups who are at the footy club. We can’t kick balls, can’t go on the ovals at the same time, can’t go in the weights room at the same time.

“We can’t go anywhere other than with our seven plus a coach, so it’s like a little mini training camp!”

The 31-year-old said the squad had implemented several strategies, including practicing more mindfulness, to navigate their way through the ever changing landscape brought on by the pandemic.

“We’ve had a pretty big focus on mindfulness and visualisation for probably two years now,’ Schofield said.

“So we weren’t doing that to prepare to be away from the footy club for an extended period of time like we have been, but the time and knowledge we’ve spent with Mark Nicoski at the footy club has been a great tool for us.

“To be able to forget about what’s going on a little bit and just concentrate on the ‘now’ has been good because there are a lot of external things happening that we can’t really control.

“There are people a lot worse off than us, though. We’re just trying to look at the positives.”