It was the first time we’d come off a Telstra Dome game and it really took a toll on a lot of the boys.
We really needed it, that eight-day break from the Saturday night against Carlton to the Sunday against St Kilda.
I felt like I’d played in 3-4 games of basketball early last week, my joints were so sore.
I felt like an old man still last Wednesday and struggled to get through training. I asked Charmo how he was feeling and he said the same thing.
We get Mondays off after our recovery session and I try to get down the Gold Coast for a surf whenever I get the chance.
I couldn’t believe it when I went out at ‘D-Bah’ last Monday because Mick Fanning, the world champion was out in the waves with us.
He’d got knocked out early of the big event at Teaphupoo in Tahiti earlier in the week and must have been keen to get some practice.
It’s great watching those guys from the beach but to be out there and see what he does in the waves was unbelievable. He is a star, he’s just so powerful.
No-one said anything to him – you show those guys respect out there and leave them be.
If he gets on a wave, you leave it right alone. That’s the way it is.
It’s probably a bit like us trying to have a training session on an oval that has got a crowd of people on it having a kick-to-kick.
It was pretty amazing to see the world champ out there at a packed Duranbah on a Monday afternoon. It was the highlight of my week.
I follow the surfing tour pretty closely and my roommate Jarrod and I play the Fantasy Surfing game, which is similar to fantasy footy. Jarrod is just beating me but I want to turn that around shortly.
We trained at 1pm last Friday in lieu of Sunday being a day game, and it does help with your preparation.
It’s not so much getting you accustomed to playing in the warm of the day, but rather the extra recovery time you get.
You actually feel every extra bit of recovery time that you get, and having training out of the way early is a bonus. At this time of the year, the sun doesn’t take anything extra out of you either.
We’ve got another Gabba game against a team close to us on the ladder on Saturday night in North Melbourne, and they are a pretty physical side.
The thing that has struck me about North in recent times is how close they are.
I honestly believe they thrive on that old Shinboner spirit. I like to think we have a very tight group here at the Lions, but they are a very unified group too. They had 40 guys go on their footy trip last year, which says a lot about how close they are.
