As you’re reading this, the Lions boys will be spread far and wide taking advantage of a rare few days away from the Club thanks to the AFL Bye Round.

We finished up pretty early on Thursday afternoon and will get a long weekend to ourselves before getting back into the swing of things on Monday in preparation for Freo.

Personally, I’m just planning on taking it easy. It’s a good chance to put the feet up and get a bit of ‘R&R’ after what’s been a pretty tough start to the year.

A few of the boys are headed to Byron Bay for a few days, so I might join them down there for a bit of a getaway.

A lot of the younger guys are taking the opportunity to fly back home and spend time with their families.

Even though I’m originally from South Australia, I consider myself a Queenslander now after spending the past eight years here. Plus, my parents visited me only a couple of weeks ago, so there’s no real reason for me to go back this weekend.

From a players’ point of view, the Byes are a pretty important part of the fixture.

It’s a long season, and you find yourself spending almost every waking moment in or around the Club doing training, rehab, meetings and all sorts of other commitments.

So a few days off here and there can really help recharge the batteries – both physically and mentally.

Last year the Bye came after that great win over the Eagles, so the boys went into the break on a bit of a high, whereas this year is a different story.

Coming off such a poor performance against Collingwood probably means we’ll have a bit longer to stew on it before our next game.

The coaches definitely made us work hard during the week with a couple of tough training sessions. The boys really cracked in on Thursday morning, which probably helped get a bit of the frustration out of the system.

Hopefully we can come back nice and refreshed and give a better account of ourselves in the second half of the season – starting with the Dockers in Perth next Saturday.