AS we prepare for this Friday’s night match with Carlton at the SCG, we face challenges on a number of fronts.
The bye week is no doubt a challenge. There is a perception that teams don’t perform that well after the bye, but given the intensity of the games we are playing, there’s no doubt that there are benefits - whether that’s short term or long term remains to be seen. We have tried to keep the schedule as normal as possible and had a really solid hit-out on the track on Friday. I’ve got no doubt the guys will be ready to go come Friday night.
An exciting challenge is that of returning to the Friday night football stage during the home and away season for the first time since 2003. It’s something different for our players. It’s a fantastic opportunity, we expect a big crowd to turn up and hopefully it’s a finals-like atmosphere. The intensity seems to rise for these big games and our players are really looking forward to it. Added to all of that, many of the Club’s greatest players will be watching on in the stands prior to Saturday night’s Hall of Fame induction. All of the current players will be in attendance at the Hall of Fame dinner on Saturday night and this weekend presents a great opportunity for our legends to watch the new brigade of players in action, but also for our young players - particularly our first year players - to become more informed about our footy club and its rich history.
The challenge for spots in our side is also increasing, with the reserves performing really well over the last three weeks. The form of our younger players has been really good and it’s healthy that they are putting pressure on our senior players. There’s obviously a significant gap in the level between reserves footy and senior footy, but what our players are showing at reserves level is real senior AFL traits. Whether they get the opportunity in the next couple of weeks, or whether they need to wait another eight weeks, the challenge for the young guys is consistency. Looking forward, some players who have shown dramatic improvement in certain areas include Nathan Gordon, Lewis Johnston, Luke Parker and even young Jed Lamb, we’re really confident that any of those players could come in and make a positive contribution at senior level sometime in the future.
Alex Johnson is a player who has already made the step from reserves to the senior team. He will unfortunately miss this week’s match with a hamstring strain, but Alex is a player who has exceeded our expectations since walking through the door six months ago. I think he surprised everyone with his good training habits and the way he competed against senior players during the preseason, including guys like Adam Goodes. He is a great athlete and competitor and played very well at senior level. It’s a fantastic start for a first year player and we just need to build on that now.
While we lose Alex this weekend, we gain Tadhg Kennelly who returns from a medial ligament injury he sustained during the off-season. Tadhg not only brings us some valuable experience, but some added leadership in our defence.
Our biggest challenge this week is Carlton, a team in really good form who have only lost one game so far this season. They have some high quality players and right across the field they have a good even spread. There is obviously some marquee players in their midfield who will be a great test for our players, including Chris Judd who was outstanding the last time we played the Blues. There is a lot of talent on the Carlton list and players like Marc Murphy, Kade Simpson, Bryce Gibbs and Heath Scotland are all capable of really opening a game up. Some of their small forwards have really developed too and can prove really dangerous if they are given space.
We last met the Blues in last year’s elimination final. We got over the line that day, but I think the Blues have improved since then. I think we have improved too and our challenge remains to keep striving to improve all of the time and to play consistently with the intensity we have seen some of the top team’s play at already this season.
