It’s work and play on coast

LET me assure you, we’re not up in Queensland for a holiday.

Well, maybe for the first little bit there was a holiday involved.

But now that we are on the Gold Coast, our heads are down and we are preparing for Friday night’s clash with the Western Bulldogs.

The club was good enough to let us have a bit of our own down time during the bye.

So with a few days off before a short training camp on the Gold Coast, a lot of the list decided to venture north early for some extra warm weather.

I headed to Port Douglas with Lincoln McCarthy, Mark Blicavs, Jed Bews and our partners on Monday. A few others decided to go to the Gold Coast early, while others headed to Noosa.

Gryan Miers went to Tasmania. We were scattered everywhere.

It was nice to get away from Geelong for a bit. Any chance to get some sun on your back during winter is always nice.

We hired a little boat and did a little tour on one of the rivers, had a look at Mossman Gorge and, of course, the rainforests, too.

We — 30 players and coaching staff — arrived on the Gold Coast yesterday and instantly got to work.

These next few days will be crucial guys such as Harry Taylor, Cam Guthrie and Scott Selwood, who are coming back from injury.

They will be wanting to make sure they show the coaches they have the conditioning in their legs to play straight after the bye.

This is their opportunity to put their hand up.

Our first session was all about getting our bodies moving after having a few days off.

Some did a bit of a run and a footy session, while others were in the gym doing some cross training.

We’re lucky enough to have Broadbeach’s footy oval to use until we leave on Monday.

Today we have our main session. It’s going to be one of those typical main sessions with a bit of running and some leg weights as well.

It’s very similar to what we would do during a normal week, the only difference is that we are on the Gold Coast.

It’s not the first time the club has done this. We came up here last year for the bye.

I was injured so I didn’t go, but all the boys said how much they loved it. They felt so much better for that time away.

I’m already feeling great and I know it will be a benefit for me as well.

We owe it to the club to put in a good performance on Friday and show that we didn’t take this break lightly.

The club trusts us and treats us like the professionals we are, so it’s always nice to pay back that faith.

Our record after the bye hasn’t been great. We are certainly aware of that. Friday gives us that chance to fix that.

The Western Bulldogs are definitely hard to get a read on. When they are playing at their best they are a very good footy team.

But we are confident we can get the job done.