The rules are simple: once a week groups of five players are chosen at random, they must go out for a coffee at a local cafe and - perhaps most importantly - phones must be left at home. There's also a looser directive to keep footy talk to a minimum

Prop Kaide Ellis - who's familiar with Griffin's approach having debuted under him at Penrith in 2018 - says it's a welcome relief in an otherwise unforgiving preseason.

"That's one of the things [Griffin] used to do back in the [Panthers] day," Ellis said.

"Once a week he'd put you in groups, young and old mixed together, leave your phones at home, go for brekky and a coffee for an hour just to get away from training and learn about one another. If you're caught with you phone it's your shout and there's a lot of tight arses here.

"When you're [at training] it's all on, it's all about footy, you don't get a spare five minutes to get to know someone. It brings you closer together if you can go and have a coffee with someone away from the club you're not thinking 'oh I don't really know him'.

"Everyone's comfortable and on the same level. Early on [footy talk] probably saves you a bit, it's a bit of a security blanket to talk about footy, but I think now it's a bit different. If you look at the group, everyone's a bit different so we can all talk about anything, the boys like talking rubbish so it's not hard to come up with something."

Ditching fat club for coffee club runs counter to perception, rightly or wrongly, that Griffin's personal approach has had a tendency to put players offside - though that hard-nosed reputation played some role in the entire squad returning from the off-season break in excellent nick.

Read more: Dream debut really hits home for Dragons newest cult figure

He's still setting typically high standards, but Ellis has noticed some subtle changes in his former mentor's approach after two years out of the coaching furnace.

"He's made a lot of changes. He's had two years off so I'm sure he would've sat down and thought about what he did well and what he didn't do well," Ellis said.

"I think a few of the boys heard a few rumours about what he used to be like back in the day and it scared them a fair bit. He used to do a lot of early morning clubs if you weren't fit enough and really drive [high] standards. The boys probably heard those things and knuckled down really well over the break.

"The one thing I've noticed is he's a bit more relaxed. His relationship with the players was good back [at Penrith], but even more now. He used to try and assert himself more. He was bit louder, he'd kick and scream a bit, which works, but you can see now he's toned it back a bit and he's more relaxed.

"He's given [assistant coaches Matt Elliott and Peter Gentle] their roles and he just floats a bit, so there's less on his shoulders. It's a good combination those three together."

Breakfast club's a completely fresh approach for winger Jordan Pereira, who feels the relaxed approach off the training paddock is taking the edge of the necessary torture sessions on it.

"There's just smiling faces. We know we're in for an absolute slaughterhouse of a running session but we're still turning up real happy to be here," Pereira said.

"It's something I've noticed that probably hasn't been here in the past. Sometimes you'd walk in and know there was a hard day ahead of us and you wouldn't even say hello to people because you were so daunted by the day ahead. Now, we're just excited to get after it and it's contagious."

A change of coaching staff is a first for the 27-year-old, having played his entire career under former coach Paul McGregor and assistant Dean Young. Griffin's decision to bring in Elliott after a long hiatus from coaching raised some eyebrows, but Pereira says the pair have complemented each other well.

"It's good to have a different insight from a head coaching standpoint and you probably have a closer relationship with the assistants because they're ones relaying the messages from the head coach," he said.

"So far it's been really good just learning different aspects... having different people implementing it is a breath of fresh air. If you're not running as good as you should be Hook's the one who's going to pull you into line, Matty Elliott's just got a good sense of humour and good personality.

"There's definitely some Dad jokes there, there's a few fakes laughs and 'haha nice one Matt' but he brings really good vibes and really good insights."