but you had a pretty serious injury in your in your junior career as a 16 year old can you can you talk us through that because this is important to know given the courage that you now still show in the air

yeah so pretty similar started my Murray Bush Rangers under 16s uh it's my second game playing out at Albury against Sydney and as I do go up for a big mark um fully extend and then yeah, can't really remember too much about it, but I copped a knee.

Um, and then all I really remember is just, I couldn't say everything was black and I couldn't breathe and I knew I was in trouble.

Um, and then somehow I've, I've walked off and all I thought was I broke my collarbone, but it turns out that was just all the blood bleeding up into my collarbone from my, so I lacerated my spleen and then I lacerated my kidney and I broke a few ribs at the same time.

And yeah, had a lot of cords up places that you probably don't want cords up to get the blood out.

Um, And then I remember, yeah, I went to Aubrey Hospital and, yeah, the doctor came in and said, like, we're going to remove your spleen and that means no contact sport for the rest of your life.

And that wasn't really an option because contact sport was my life all the time.

interviewed with every club, you're saying? Yeah,

So how was, how was the, the, the recap on that, uh, by your, your forward coach, uh, uh, Reeva and yourself? Were you both happy?

Yeah, it is pleasing to, um, do it when you know you've got the best defenders on you, and Curtis Pearcey is a great defender, so to get, um, a fair few shots away on him, I was really happy with.

Um, but yeah, I think one of the main thing is we just review every week.

No matter how good, we don't-- we try not to ride the highs and the lows of a year.

As you know, it's a long season, so, um, just keep getting better and yeah, celebrate the little wins like that on the weekend, but then also look forward to this weekend and what I can take away from Pearce and then move that into other opposition.

Your first year with Darren Reeves, how, how have you found him as a forward coach?

Yeah, I've loved Reeva.

Um, I think from the moment we went... we met, uh, we went out for coffee, um, before the season even really started, just to get to know each other, and we've sort of continued that, probably going out for coffee once a month and then just having chats, um, on, on the phone.

So how was, how was the, the, the recap on that, uh, by your, your forward coach, uh, uh, Reeva and yourself? Were you both happy?

Yeah.

It is pleasing to, um, do it when you know you've got the best defenders on you, and Curtis Pearcey is a great defender.

So to get, um, a fair few shots away on him, I was really happy with.

Um, but yeah, I think one of the main thing is we just review every week, no matter how good.

We don't-- We try not to ride the highs and the lows of a year.

As you know, it's a long season, so, um, just keep getting better and, yeah, celebrate the little wins like that on the weekend, but then also look forward to this weekend and what I can take away from Pearce and then move that into other opposition.

Your first year with Darren Reeves, how, how have you found him as a forward coach?

Did you notice that out there?

Yeah, it was, um...

It was a bit hard to ignore.

I think just Carrie had a good point about coming into the game, we had a motto about, around emotion and system.

So I think it's just going back to our system and not letting the emotion get the better of us.

Um, 'cause, you know, footy's pretty unpredictable and stuff like this happens all the time.

Um, so yeah, it's just going back to our system, trying to, um, control the footy and, yeah, not give them any reason to call any frees.

Gi- just give us a bit more, like, explain that a little bit for us.

What is your process when you're lining up for goal? What are you thinking mentally? And is this now becoming an issue at the power where you really need to lock in to becoming more accurate?

Yeah, me personally, I don't think it's too much of an issue.

Obviously, we'd like to kick more.

a bit more accurate, but I think a lot of that comes to where we're having our shots from.

Especially on the weekend, we had a lot of poor entries that were causing long and wide shots.

I think our average distance to set shot was about 45 metres out, which isn't ideal compared to Collingwood.

I think they were like 35 metres.

Did he have any involvement with goal kicking or is he there for a different purpose?

How did you find the move?

Um, yeah, so you go from, yeah, studying in year 12 and being super busy, and then you get drafted, and then three days later you're on a flight and you're moving interstate.

It's, yeah, it comes pretty quick.

And I think with footy, the lucky thing is you're, um, yeah, you're probably used to the busyness and, um, the structure of school as well, which is sort of what you still get at footy.

Um, but for me it was, yeah, settling into a state, like, I've only been to Adelaide, I think, for a day, day trip, um, when I was probably 16, so I knew nothing about the city really.

And then, yeah, came over lucky enough to go with Joe Berry, who I already had a pretty good relationship with.

And then there's a few Port boys that I already sort of knew, but, um, not that well with.

How did you sort of find that period, and then what have you enjoyed about Carr's style of coaching so far this year?