Melbourne wingman Ed Langdon has lauded the "special" club culture that paved the way for him to attend his sister's wedding on the other side of the world in the midst of the AFL season.
Langdon skipped the Demons' encounter with West Coast this month - a humbling defeat in Perth - while spending four days 14,500km away in London for the family affair.
The 28-year-old returned and showed no ill-effects from the arduous flight home in a strong contribution to Melbourne's 38-point bounce-back win over St Kilda at the MCG on Sunday.
The Demons' culture has been repeatedly questioned over off-field issues in recent months, but Langdon was full of praise for the club's leaders, including coach Simon Goodwin and football boss Alan Richardson, who agreed to his unusual request for a short leave period.
"It's a credit to 'Goody' and the culture that we've built at the footy club where the club feels comfortable to let a player go mid-season to do something really important to them, which it was," Langdon said.
"It was important to me and my family, and Goody and Richo didn't hesitate at all.
"They were super supportive right from the get-go and we put a plan in place."
The plan was hatched privately back in December, with the week off effectively treated as a short mid-season management period for the hard-running wingman.
Langdon, who resumed training with Melbourne four days before the St Kilda clash, said the support for his decision to attend sister Olivia's wedding was testament to the Demons' focus on player welfare.
"Each case is individual with players and different things will pop up here and there," he said.
"But to have completely unwavering support from the club is pretty special and it's a special environment to be part of."
Goodwin was clear during the build-up to Langdon's return appearance that Melbourne prioritises players putting their families first, and reiterated the point after the 14.16 (100) to 9.8 (62) win over St Kilda.
"He's a really important player to us and we missed him a lot last week, but that was a priority that we're really comfortable with," Goodwin said.
"Family is first at our footy club and this was something that was really important to Ed.
"To see the way that he returned, his investment into the week of training, and to play the way he played typifies why we love him."
Langdon could have had a bigger impact against St Kilda if he had taken chances in front of goal, but finished with 0.3 from his 17 disposals.
"He certainly didn't look like he had jet-lag, did he? He ran all day, which is fantastic," Goodwin said.
"He was brilliant today. I thought his game was really strong, and he ran out the game strong.
"He would've liked to have kicked a couple of his goals."
