OBVIOUSLY we were a bit disappointed at the weekend that we fell away towards the end of the game and didn’t come away with a win. We didn’t know who we were playing until after the Sydney versus Hawthorn game, but on Sunday night, we turned our attention to the Swans.
We had to put the loss against Adelaide out of our minds. However, you have to learn from what you did wrong and fix your mistakes up for this week.
Against Adelaide, we didn’t move the ball quick enough when they got numbers back. We didn’t take any risks and play on through the middle and instead we chipped it around. It’s something we need to work on.
Our skills weren’t up to scratch either. They scored five or six goals from turnovers in our kicking so if we kick like that against Sydney they’ll kill us.
On Monday we went to the sea baths for recovery. With the weather getting a bit better there’s a real sense of spring and finals in the air. There’s a great atmosphere around the club at the moment. Our reserves had a very good win in their first final at the weekend so everyone’s playing finals at Collingwood. It’s a very good place to be at the moment.
We had the rest of Monday off and Tuesday the boys went for massages and treatments in the morning and then had the rest of the day off. We’ll make sure that the boys who didn’t play on the weekend are up and running, and for the boys that did and are sore, or had niggles, we’ll make sure they get their body right and make sure that everyone’s as fresh as they can be for Saturday.
On Wednesday we have the team meeting and then our main training session. It will be great as there’ll be loads of fans there. That’s when it really hits home that you’re playing finals.
All the same it’s important not to be at the club 24/7. I try and get away from the club and relax a bit. I go out for lunch or dinner with friends.
Because I’m from Melbourne, I have my friends that I’ve grown up with around so it’s good to get away and relax and not talk footy all the time.
Last year’s disappointment (against Western Bulldogs in the elimination final) hasn’t really been talked about because I think we’re a much different side than we were last year. We’re much improved now. That experience can only help us. We’ll be a lot better prepared this year and hopefully we can turn it around.
As for this weekend against Sydney, we’ll go in pretty confident. We’ve beaten them twice this year and we’ve been pretty good against them. We know what to expect, we know them inside and out and they know us inside and out so hopefully we do the right thing on Saturday night.
It’ll be a very good test for us. They’ve obviously been very successful in finals the last couple of years. Coming up against them is really going to show where we’re at. There’s confidence because we’ve beaten them but then every side that goes into the finals has confidence.
We have played pretty well against them but in saying that they’re a finals specialist side. They do fire up for the finals and they’ve showed that in the last couple of seasons so we’re going to have to be even better and harder than we have been against them the last two times if we’re to get close to them. There’s no risk of us being complacent. They can’t be taken lightly.
