But not me. I had the previous week off for my honeymoon, so I’ve been here at the Club with about a dozen other guys who are either in rehab or need to catch up on a bit of fitness. It’s a plus for us, and we’ve really got a lot out of the training sessions, but it is different with so few guys around.
On Wednesday we did a big session of drills and running, and then more running at the end just to get some miles in the legs.
Because there were only a few of us there, there were almost as many coaches as players on the track. And when we’re short of numbers, the coaches have to join in, which is always a bit of a laugh.
The Stueys - Stuart Dew and Stuart Maxfield - are the youngest of the coaches and they’re always the first ones drafted in to play or make up the numbers in drills.
We all love to see Stuey Dew’s famous left foot in action, and he still likes to bomb it into the goals.
This week Roosy has also been getting into it, and talking himself up. He was telling us how well he played, and how much he got the footy, but he forgot to mention that he didn’t have an opponent. It’s pretty easy when there is no-one playing on you!
Speaking of opponents, after my week off I really enjoyed getting into a practice game, and I was matched up on one of our new recruits, Ben McGlynn.
It was good. He’s been a real standout with his running and during practice games so it was good to see it first-hand. I have to say he is very, very small, about 140cm I reckon (joke), but seriously, he has a really strong body and really gets in and under and has a go, so he’s going to be an asset.
I’m just starting to learn a lot more about all the new players and trying to get a good partnership going with them. Shane Mumford was the ruckman on my side last week, and he was great. He’s tapping really well and wants to learn what the other players are doing which is fantastic.
It will be great to all play on the one side finally in a few weeks time, against Carlton at Blacktown on February 20, and hopefully all the practice comes to the fore.
.jpg)
Jarrad McVeigh
