Last weekend has come and gone. Our attention has already shifted to this coming weekend’s match. Lewis Jetta has pinched himself enough to confirm to himself that Saturday wasn’t a dream. We’re now focusing now on Fremantle at Subiaco, this coming Saturday.

Most weeks, preparation for games is fairly consistent. When we’re playing at home we train at either the SCG or ANZ stadium and enjoy the benefit of not having to travel interstate.

When playing away we still train at home but fly interstate, usually just an hour’s trip to Melbourne, leaving the day before the game. However, when playing in Perth the routine changes significantly.

For Perth games, instead of flying out on a Friday as we do for other interstate games, we fly out a couple of days earlier on Wednesday afternoon. As we fly in economy, the emergency row seats with their extra leg room are treated like gold. All the players try to snap one up, but with 22 players and only eight or so exit row seats available, it is always interesting to see how the team manager rations out the seats.

The taller players argue they need the seats for the leg room and Kirky argues he needs the seat to prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis onset which is dangerous in old age. Jarred Moore, Kieren Jack and Ben McGlynn argue (always unsuccessfully) that they should get the seats or else they’re being discriminated against, and the card playing crew try to get the seats so they’ve got extra space to play, especially Mike Pyke who loves to look at other people’s cards while he plays.

Despite all this, it seems the only way to guarantee yourself an exit row is to get yourself a top five position in the best and fairest.

It is a five hour flight over to Perth, and if you didn’t get an exit row the next thing to ensure is that you’re not sitting next to Daniel “chit chat” Hannebery.

I like a bit of “Ted Time” on the flight over; to have a read of a book, have a look at the educational magazines that Shane Mumford buys, and enjoy some quiet time.

We get strict orders that we’ve all got to get up and walk around from time to time, and that we’ve got to drink certain amounts of fluid every hour to avoid dehydration. However, I defy anyone to drink the amount we’re told to drink and stay sitting down for the whole trip. Sometimes I think part of the reason we’re told to drink so much is that it forces us to keep moving to make frequent walks to the bathrooms.

Hopefully we get a good movie, but they’re always hit and miss. I think my movie tastes are inversely related to Jessie White’s, so another way of looking at it is,  here’s hoping Jessie doesn’t like the movie. A good movie always kills a bit of time and a lot of guys now take their laptops on the plane to watch dvds on the way over.

On arriving in Perth we have a light swimming session at the hotel pool. I’ve got no doubt the person in charge of the pool temperature is an Eagles/Dockers supporter because every time we get over there the pool temperature is freezing! We switch onto Perth time and get ready to train on Subiaco the next day.

To say this is a really important game implies that other games are not as important, which is totally untrue. So, somewhat contradicting myself, this is a big game and we are doing our best to prepare for it. Here’s hoping for an exit row seat and another good win!