Shin splints restricted Peverill to the bike and pool before Christmas last year. ""I couldn't run until after Christmas so I wasn't able to get a good fitness base until the new year. I think not having a full pre-season under my belt might have slowed me down a bit,"" Peverill said. After a quiet month prior to the mid-year bye, Peverill enjoyed a return to form against Geelong in round 13 and hasn’t looked back since.
Month prior to the bye:
Round 12 v Kangaroos - 8 disposals
Round 11 v Sydney - 12 disposals
Round 10 v West Coast - a late withdrawal with gastro
Round 9 v Port Adelaide - 7 disposals
Peverill's 31 touches in the mid-field earned him a best on ground performance against Geelong and more importantly renewed confidence in himself. ""The Geelong game was great for my confidence and I have been building on it ever since. I had been pretty quiet in the matches before that and I wanted to repay the coaching staff for the faith they had shown me,"" Peverill said.
For the past month, Peverill has been going from strength to strength and been integral to the team's past two wins. He has been part of the new mid-field rotation this season, which includes - Joe Misiti, Jason Johnson, Dean Rioli, Dean Solomon, Marc Bullen and Mark Johnson. ""It has been great to get a few new guys into the mid-field. Joey and Jason Johnson were carrying a lot of the workload last season and it has been good to share it around. I think not having enough player's rotate through the centre last season resulted in a lot of our last quarter fade outs, because the guys that were playing in the mid-field just ran out of steam,"" the former Keilor Park player said.
With only five games remaining until the end of the home and away season, Peverill said the team is all too aware of what is on the line this weekend against the Blues. An undermanned Carlton side defeated Essendon in round 3 earlier this season by 11-points and Peverill said that regardless of where Carlton is on the ladder they are always dangerous against Essendon. ""They had guys out in round 3 and they came out and beat us. You hear people say it is going to be an easy match, but everyone at the club knows it will be a different story.""
Peverill's teammates Dustin Fletcher will play his 200th game on Saturday and Peverill said it is a great achievement by the 28-year-old to reach the milestone. ""It is fantastic for Fletch to play 200 games. It will be even better if he can look back on it and we had a win. The way the game is now, there won't be many blokes that play 200 games, so it is a great achievement for Fletch.""
As far as milestones go, Peverill is on track to record one of his own this season. If all goes according to plan, he will play his 50th game in round 21 against Fremantle. Not a bad effort for a player that served a lengthy apprenticeship on the rookie list at Melbourne and Essendon!
