What, what the first year when you're watching all the guys around you drafted playing senior footy, what's that like and how's it built this product?

Uh, yeah, look, it's a pretty good, um, question, to be honest, Kea.

I mean, for a lot of the time, I think, um, coming into an AFL system, and I know speaking... well, I don't wanna speak on behalf of other players, but I guess for myself, you probably walk into an AFL program as, as a fresh draft and think, "Oh, you know, I'm just gonna step into a team as I would any other team that I've previously sort of made or been lucky enough to be a part of." But I sort of probably had to adapt and learn that over the first 12 months that I was still sort of growing into my body and, and that was actually okay and it was probably g- a good opportunity to spend extra time on my craft and that sort of stuff that you probably don't get, um, throughout a sort of strenuous AFL season.

I mean, a lot of the time it's about recovery and, and trying to sort of maximize your game day performance.

But I think that probably understanding that it can't all happen, um, all at once, um, sort of allowed me, and I guess, uh, like you touched on, Nigel Lappin is huge for that, but I think all of our development staff, um, obviously Mark Corrigan as well, who heads the, um, the VFL program, like I think their ability to get the best out of the younger boys by sort of just creating an environment where we wanna utilize our strengths, um, but also wanna work on the things that we need to work on.

I think sort of, yeah, just enables us to when we do get the opportunity, really want it.

And I think just on that, like sometimes it can be you, you wait that little extra, uh, obviously we saw with Jay Polkinghorne this year, but when you come in, you are ready and, and you're firing.

Uh, what's his main message to you week on week?

What the first year, when you're watching all the guys around you drafted playing senior footy, what's that like and how's it built this product?

Yeah, look, it's a pretty good question, to be honest, Kia.

I mean, for a lot of the time, I think, coming into an AFL system, and I know speaking, well, I don't want to speak on behalf of other players, but I guess for myself, you probably walk into an AFL program as, as a fresh draftee and think, Oh, you know, I'm just going to step into a team as I would any other team that I've previously sort of made or been lucky enough to be a part of.

But I sort of probably had to adapt and learn that over the first 12 months that I was still sort of growing into my body and, and that was actually okay.

And it was probably a good opportunity to spend extra time on my craft and that sort of stuff that you probably don't get throughout a sort of strenuous AFL season.

I mean, a lot of the time it's about recovery and, and trying to sort of maximise your game day performance but I think that probably understanding that it can't all happen all at once sort of allowed me and I guess like you touched on Nigel Appen is huge for that but I think all of our development staff obviously Mark Corrigan as well who heads the VFL program like I think their ability to get the best out of the younger boys by sort of just creating an environment where we want to utilize our strengths, but also want to work on things that we need to work on.

I think sort of, yeah, just enables us to when we do get the opportunity, really want it.

What's his main message to you week on week?

What, what the first year when you're watching all the guys around you drafted playing senior footy, what's that like, and how has it built this product?

Uh, yeah, look, it's a pretty good, um, question, to be honest, Kea.

I mean, for a lot of the time, I think, um, coming into an AFL system, and I know speaking...

Well, I don't want to speak on behalf of other players, but I guess for myself, you probably walk into an AFL program as, as a fresh draftee and think, "Oh, you know, I'm just gonna step into a team as I would any other team that I've previously sort of made or been lucky enough to be a part of." But I sort of probably had to adapt and learn that over the first 12 months that I was still sort of growing into my body and, and that was actually okay, and it was probably g- a good opportunity to spend extra time on my craft and that sort of stuff that you probably don't get, um, throughout a sort of strenuous AFL season.

I mean, a lot of the time it's about recovery and, and trying to sort of maximize your game day performance.

But I think that probably understanding that it can't all happen, um, all at once, um, sort of allowed me...

And I guess, uh, well, like you touched on, Nigel Lappin is huge for that, but I think all of our development staff, um, obviously Mark Corrigan as well, who heads the, um, the VFL program.

Uh, what's his main message to you week on week?

What, what the first year when you're watching all the guys around you drafted playing senior footy, what's that like, and how's it built this product?

Uh, yeah.

Look, it's a pretty good, um, question, to be honest, Keon.

I mean, for a lot of the time, I think, um, coming into an AFL system, and I know speaking...

Well, I don't wanna speak on behalf of other players, but I guess, for myself, you probably walk into an AFL program as, as a fresh draftee and think, "Oh, you know, I'm just gonna step into a team as I would any other team that I've previously sort of made or been lucky enough to be a part of." But I sort of probably had to adapt and learn that over the first 12 months that I was still sort of growing into my body and, and that was actually okay, and it was probably g- a good opportunity to spend extra time on my craft and that sort of stuff that you probably don't get, um, throughout a sort of strenuous AFL season.

I mean, a lot of the time it's about recovery and, and trying to sort of maximize your game day performance.

But I think that probably understanding that it can't all happen, um, all at once, um, sort of allowed me...

Uh, what's his main message to you week on week?

Did you, did you go into the game with a bit of a plan to, to run at the Collingwood defense again?

Um, sort of.

I mean, we always, uh, value our contest, um, and our strength in the contest, so I think it's not too dissimilar to, to things we talk about every week.

Obviously, um, we probably put a little bit of an emphasis on, on driving through it, but apart from that, I mean, we sort of want to value that every single week, and I think the boys really drove that, as particularly in the midfield.

I mean, big Mitch Edwards from the start leading from the front in the ruck, um, really taking the ball forwards and I think that sort of gave us the confidence as a whole group to, to do that throughout the game.

That, that be fair?

Uh, yeah, I think they threw some, uh, different things at us throughout the game and we sort of had to adapt.

I mean, we were just trying to find out sort of what worked for us, um, and sort of what was helping with what they were throwing at us.