Personally I was thinking about match ups and who I played on last time and whoI might get this time. The last time we played them I started on Tom Hawkinsand then I went up onto half forward and wing and played on (Darren) Milburn and(David) Wojcinski. I assume I’ll be in the backline this time so I could bematched up on any number of blokes. It could be Steve Johnson as it doesn’tlook like Tom Hawkins will play.
When you’re a back you’re probably a lot more analyticalthan the forwards. It’s just the way we think. We’re always thinking about whowe’ll be matched up on. When you’re a forward you don’t think about that sortof thing as much.
Our week started with a recovery session on Monday at St.Kilda. The conditions were pretty average but the water wasn’t too bad. Tuesdaywas our main training session. We arrived and had our main presentation on theopposition from Guy McKenna. From there we went to the MCG. It was good to havethe whole squad there because Williamstown finished up last weekend. We alltrained together as a group.
Wednesday was officially our day off but the majority of theplayers went into the club anyway for an extra optional recovery session. Iwent for a massage and then went for a walk in the pool to freshen up. It’s nodifferent from the rest of the year, the majority of players go in on their dayoff so we’re not doing anything different.
Wednesday night a few of us went down to Williamstown towalk in the water. It’s nice and cold and good for freshening up.
Thursday is our main meeting with Mick (Malthouse) where wefind out what’s going to happen and who we’re playing on. Then we have a short30- to 35-minute training session.
On Thursday night before the game, myself and my house mates(Sean Rusling and Sharrod Wellingham) will go around to a family friend’s housefor dinner. Harry O’Brien comes along too because he used to live with me. Myfriends Nick and Sue usually cook two pasta dishes for us and some ribs andrice.
On Friday morning I’ll have a sleep in and then get up andstart preparing and making sure I’m drinking lots of Powerade. Then I usually hire a movie to watch just to take my mindoff football.
There’s a lot of hype about the match but personally itdoesn’t worry me. It doesn’t make me nervous or anything like that. That’s justthe way it is and we have a job to do. As a team we’ve been pretty good at thatin the past. I think last week by the time we got over to Perth we were favourites. That’s something wehaven’t had for a lot of the year and we certainly won’t have this weekend sowe’re used to it.
The fans have been amazing - there’s so many around the cluband at training. Also I’ve got so many messages on my phone from friends andfamily wishing me the best for the weekend.
I’m actually from Geelongso my family is really excited about us playing them in the prelim. My family isn’tCats’ fans though. They used to barrack for Hawthorn but that soon changed afterI started playing with Collingwood. I’ve still got a lot of mates who barrackfor Geelong sothey’re always getting into me and there’s been a bit of banter between usduring the week. I’ve had a fair few texts messages from them.
As for Geelong,they’re just a sensational team and clearly they’ve been the best all year sowe’ve got a big challenge ahead of us. People on the outside of the clubprobably think that all the pressure’s on Geelongbecause they’re the clear favourites but from our point of view, we’ve goteverything to lose. We’re in a prelim looking for a place in the final.
All the focus has been on them but it’s going to be a wasteof a year if we’re not going to get to the final and do what we want to do andachieve what we want to achieve. Although a lot of people think that we’ve overachieved, that’s not the way we see it so we’re really looking forward to thegame.
No matter how good Geelongis, you have to go into the game thinking you’re a chance. Obviously they’vebeen the number one team all year and they’ve got nine All-Australians. They’rean unbelievable group of players but we’ll be doing everything we can to tryand win.
