“There’s definitely a bit of competition around it,” he laughed.
“Earlier on in the pre-season we really only had about five or six of us, but now with a few guys back from injury and with Tadhg back, plus Craig Bolton and Lewis Roberts-Thomson back and fully training, we’ve got about eight or nine blokes now.
“A few of us might have to push up into the midfield I think, kick a few of those blokes out!”
Mattner has been able to breathe a sigh of relief after completing an injury-free pre-season program, and spent last week’s unprecedented hiatus from training relaxing on the golfing green.
“Last year I missed a lot of the pre-season, so it’s been good to get a full pre-season in this year. The break was good too, I stayed in Sydney and played a bit of golf with a few of the boys,” he said.
“The body’s feeling pretty good for this time of year. Now is the time when you’re just looking forward to playing games, we’ve got an intra-Club internal trial this Friday which will be good, and then the game (pre-season cup against Carlton at Blacktown) is the following week, so just looking forward to getting into it this year.”
After spending most of January getting back into the swing of things and making steady improvements on his one and three kilometre time trials, Mattner is now ready and raring to make his mark on the 2010 season.
“There’s a new, different vibe around the Club with a lot of new guys and young guys,” he said.
“At this time of year, we’re pretty much just waiting for the season, we’ve only got two weeks to go now until the pre-season cup match so we’re all really excited. We can’t wait for it to begin.”
