Assistant coach Henry Playfair sat down with us to give us an insight into preparations ahead of Saturday’s match against Gold Coast in this week’s Cellarbrations Coaches Column.

How do we prepare for a side like the Gold Coast who will be looking to rebound strongly after a big loss to Hawthorn last week?

They have had a challenging week this week in particular and that often brings out the best in some teams. So we are going to head up there and just make sure that we get the job done.

Dan Robinson was on debut last week and managed to keep his place in the side, how pleasing was it to see him showcase what he can do in his first game at AFL level?

It was great to get Dan into the 21 last week because we think he performed really well and exactly as expected. He seemed composed early in the game when the ball was hot and he showed composure with the goal that he kicked so we would expect more of the same from Dan.

Ben McGlynn is out of the side for this weekend’s match, how do you think the side can cover the loss of Benny?

Ben is an important player for us as he can play a few roles in the midfield and up forward. He also brings our side speed and the ability to cover the ground which is important but we feel we still have enough runners in the team. With Jake Lloyd coming back into the team this week, he is an important runner for us as well, we hope he can step up to take a bit of that load.

Some warm conditions are expected on the Gold Coast, do you expect that to play much of a factor in the game?

I think the conditions we have had this week at training wouldn’t be any different to what we will face on Saturday afternoon. We played in fine conditions last week as well, it might be a bit warmer but I think the boys will cope fine with that.