Heading into the mid-season bye it’s a good time to reflect on what we’ve achieved in the first half of the year as well as set our sights on how we want to attack the rest of 2022.

I’ve been really encouraged by what I’ve seen from our team the last month in particular. We’ve played some quality opposition and been more than competitive, and we could have won a few more of those games had we kicked more accurately on goal.

But the growth of our group and the performance of some individuals within that has been great to watch, even from the sidelines while recovering from my ACL.

I’m about six-and-a-half weeks into my knee rehab and been able to do some really solid core work around my hips, glutes, quads and hamstrings to get things going.

Tim Parham our head of player health and performance rehabilitation tells me I’m in a good spot and well ahead of where he thought I may be so that’s encouraging, and the body is feeling really good.

The most challenging thing about the process is obviously not being out there and playing footy.

I’m pretty horrible at watching footy and I can get a little grumpy on the couch, and there was one game where Sonny came in and said to me ‘what’s wrong dad?’ and I said ‘the boys are losing buddy I’m a bit flat because I can’t help them’ and he said ‘it’s OK dad your knee is getting better’, so that picked me up a little.

You always have choices and staying positive is how I’ve tried to look at different challenges thrown at me. How can it make me better and what can I learn from it?

I’m trying to find little wins along the way – I’ve been around home a fair bit especially in the early period of my recovery from surgery and the age my kids are it’s been pretty special to spend some time with them.

The injury has also provided a spot for another kid in the team and I’ve loved the development I’ve seen from Jake Soligo, he’s been outstanding since he came in, and you get guys like Brayden Cook, Sam Berry, Jackson Hately, they’ve all come in and played some great footy.

We’ve had three debutants so far this year. We’ve all seen what Josh Rachele can do and that’s come off the back of him putting his head down and going to work since he got here.

The same goes for Jake, he’s worked his butt off on all the right areas and has focused on them. He’s super clean, skillful and hard too, I love the way he pressures.

And Paddy Parnell it’s great to see him get his debut at this time of year because a year ago he got picked up in the mid-season draft. It’s a great story for kids on never giving up. He came in half way through last year, went to work, plays AFL footy, plays well and comes out with a win.

In recent weeks I’ve had a game day role which involves being on the bench, and it’s probably more for me to be honest. It definitely helps fill that gap of the competitive part of footy that I miss and I still feel like I’m involved. Hopefully I’m passing on some of my skills and knowledge and what I’m picking up on game day.

I’ve loved being part of it, especially working with our young midfield group. I can hear what the coaches are saying upstairs and what they’re seeing so I can relay some messages pretty quickly to our players.

The thing that has stood out for me the most this season has been our ability to always have a crack, our contest work and our want to defend, that for me has been the pillar of the last few years of how we’ve built our footy.

And week to week just seeing how hard guys are training and how much time and effort they put into wanting to get better.

My message to Members and fans for the rest of the year is to enjoy it. We haven’t been able to have these types of crowds and this level of engagement due to Covid in recent years so let’s continue getting back to the footy and enjoying it for what it is. 

I know our guys will put on a show and crack in continuously, so get out there and enjoy being part of this build because there are going to be some exciting times in the future for this team.