It’s been what we call a “short week’’ in footy.

I know every week has seven days, but because we played Adelaide last Sunday and we play Richmond tomorrow, we’ve only had six days to recover and then prepare for the match.

We were pretty sore after the Adelaide game. The ground was quite hard and everyone’s feet were pretty sore. And it was a very physical game.

So a short week like this one means you have to get your recovery right. The coaches and fitness staff have given us a very light week on the training track.

We have Mondays off,  and then on Tuesday all we really did was go for a bit of a jog. It’s all about recovery so we do a lot of ice baths and stretching and yoga and massages to get ready to play this Saturday night.

I had an ice bath every day after training and whenever I could fit one in. So a short week means more ice baths, and I hate the ice bath!

It’s way too cold but it definitely helps. The temperature is about 7 or 8C, and you have to stay in for five minutes at a time. You go numb in about 10 seconds.

There is a bit of a competition for swimming underwater in the ice bath.Teddy Richards has the record, which is five laps under the water. He can have it, because I don’t think that’s something I’ll try ever in my whole career!

I don’t put my head under but Teddy puts the goggles on and tries to do the laps and then comes up with a cold head.

The routine we have means we consult with the fitness guys every day so by the time we get to the game, everyone is feeling fresh again and can play out four quarters.

I read that Ben Cousins will definitely be playing for Richmond tomorrow night. I’ve played on him many times when he was at West Coast and he’s very good.

He’s one of the best game runners in the competition so you know you’re in for a hard day when you’re playing on him. So he is a good inclusion for Richmond and we’ll have to keep him quiet because he’s still a very good player.

We can’t wait to get back onto the SCG tomorrow night. We do get good crowds and we love playing under the lights on our home ground. See you there!


Jarrad McVeigh