I’m ready for my home hub
WELL, here we are in Sydney preparing for tonight’s big game against the Brisbane Lions.
I’ve got to say it’s been a whirlwind week.
I was an emergency for Saturday’s game against Gold Coast.
No sooner had we clapped the milestone men, Joel Selwood and Gary Ablett, off the ground then all the players were brought into a meeting with Chris Scott.
The coach told us we’d be getting on a plane in 24 hours’ time and flying to Sydney to play Brisbane, then after that onto my home state of Western Australia for a few weeks in a hub.
Until that meeting we all thought our next opponent was St Kilda, and that the match was going to be in Melbourne.
But that’s how quickly life changes in the AFL in 2020.
For me, the quick change of plans didn’t matter too much.
I’m used to moving around. I relocated across the country for the opportunity to play here at Geelong, and I’ve been on a few underage cricket trips over the years that lasted for a number of weeks.
I also don’t have kids or a house or anything like that here in Geelong that needs my attention. But I imagine for some of the older players who have ties here it was a bit more difficult.
Not that anyone showed it. Every member of our playing list is here in Sydney, and everyone is really positive and seems up for the challenges ahead.
We’ve decided to make the most of this opportunity to spend some more time together as a group, and hopefully develop our relationships with each other and build an even tighter bond. It’s also a chance for a change of scenery in the middle of a cold Geelong winter, which can’t be such a bad thing.
During the normal season when we play interstate, it’s just the team and emergencies that go away. But because this is such a long time away, and because there’s so much uncertainty about what’s going to happen, we’ve got all the listed players on the road and almost the same number of staff.
It’s only early days but everyone seems to have settled into our new lifestyle well.
Harry Taylor, Sam Menegola and Rhys Stanley have young families and connections in Western Australia, so they’ve brought their families with them for the trip.
I’m not sure if any other families will be joining us when we get to Perth, but I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
For me, the chance to spend a few weeks in Perth is a great opportunity to catch up with my own family.
I haven’t seen them since the break we had at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They live in Perth these days, and I have two younger siblings still at school, so my mum and dad didn’t get too many chances to come over the Nullarbor to see me play last year.
On one occasion they did come over I actually got rested from the game, so that was an anticlimax for them.
Hopefully, being over in Perth in the hub for a few weeks, I’ll get to see them once we’ve done our time in quarantine, and they might get to see me play.
The social restrictions are not as strict there at the moment as they are in Victoria, and they’re allowed to have crowds at their games. All I have to do is get myself selected.