I was lucky enough to arrive in Perth at about midnight on Wednesday night and stayed until about midday on Monday giving me pretty much five days back home. The rest of the boys also had a lengthy stay, arriving close to midday on Thursday and departing mid-afternoon on Sunday.
Having such a long stay on the road allowed for a bit of a different routine to normal. On Thursday night for instance, we went down the road from where we were staying for a great feed at Jessica’s Restaurant. It’s not often we are able to have dinner together as a team, so it was good to break up the routine of a normal travel. I could certainly sense that everyone seemed to be in a good mood.
The following day we were able to have a run around on Subi oval which was great because if we were travelling to Melbourne, we wouldn’t get to see the actual ground we’re playing on till game-day.
The energy at training was great and backed up our previous session we did on the Wednesday morning at the Gabba. Following our training session we had recovery at City Beach. Despite being quite cold, the boys seemed to enjoy themselves in the water and the odd big wave provided some entertaining moments.
On game-day I try to keep it pretty relaxed and certainly did that by having my morning walk through Kings Park. Following that myself and Jed Adcock grabbed a quick coffee in Leederville and by the time that was over we had killed enough time to start putting our focus towards the evenings game.
Although it became quite a nerve racking game towards the end, it was such a relief to finally get a win. In what’s been a very difficult time for all involved with the Footy Club this year, it was a great reward for the perseverance of all involved.
The following morning we had our game review meeting at the hotel which was good to get done and out of the way. Once this finished we all checked out and went to Cottesloe Beach for a swim and bite to eat. Once again the water was freezing.
By about two o’clock it was time for the boys to head back to Brissy and for me to go and catch up with some family and friends. Unfortunately in such a short period of time, it’s hard to please everyone and catch up with them all. But promising to be home again in about three or so weeks made it easy for them to understand.
Amazingly, being able to go home and see a lot of familiar faces as well as get a win has done wonders for the mind. By no means are the boys giving up on the year and this week’s game against Adelaide brings a great opportunity to prove a point that we are a proud and united playing group.
