Q. With the calibre of players returning you must be pretty pleased to hold your spot?
A. Playing in the forward line I thought it would be pretty hard to hold my spot with Lloyd and Hird coming back and Rioli who has also come back over the last few weeks. I will be happy to start on the bench.
Q. Despite the team losing last week against Port, you must have been pleased with your performance?
A. It was a weird feeling after the match. It is good that I am starting to play good footy but that was the first loss I have played in. Some people might think that a loss doesn't really hurt the players. You really do enjoy the wins but you really do get hurt by the losses. Hopefully this week against West Coast we can make up for it and have five wins and five losses.
Q. Being at such a young stage of your career and having minimal senior chances, I suppose it must go through your head if you are good enough to play. Then to go out there on Friday night against a team like Port Adelaide you must have walked away with a lot of confidence?
A. You are not meant to but you do always have a bit of doubt. Last year I played just Round 2 and Round 5 and I just felt like I was making up the numbers. This year my first game was against the Bulldogs in Round 4 and I came in off the bench and Kevin Sheedy said you are not really going to get that much game time in your first ten games or so. I came off the bench half way through and I set up a few goals and I thought maybe I could make a difference. My self-belief and confidence grew and although I didn't have a good game on Anzac Day, my confidence and self-belief is growing each week and I am starting to get a few goals each week and hopefully it can continue.
Q. Now that you have played six games how are the nerves going? I imagine when you first started they were quite strong?
A. I was chatting to Marc Bullen about this the other day and before you start playing good footy you doubt whether you are good enough or not and now that I have played one or two alright games you have to make sure they are not a one off and put a couple of good games together and that is what I am working on at the moment. I really want to consolidate my spot in the side.
Q. You play in a key position where you are competing against the likes of Hird, Lloyd and Lucas - having a few of them out with injury has allowed you to be a more go to player.
A. Definitely. I would not have got my opportunity in Round 7 against Hawthorn if Lloyd and Hird weren't out. Sheeds actually said that to me the other day that when the experienced players go down it gives the opportunity for the younger guys to step up. I was playing alright footy in the VFL but I probably wasn't pushing Lloyd out of his spot! To start at centre half forward was just perfect. It is not how you want to get the games but it is how you have to take them.
Q. How much confidence does it give you when you start on the field?
A. On Anzac Day I was on the bench for a large portion of the game and didn't come on until the third quarter. By then everyone was into the game and I kept running to the wrong spots. I guess I was trying too hard to find the ball. Most players like to get an early touch in the game to boost their confidence. When you start on the ground and you do get that early touch like I did against Hawthorn - it gets you more involved.
Q. Who have you been working with most out of the coaching staff?
A. No one in particular. I have been working a lot with David Flood and Kevin Morris. I deal with all the coaches for different aspects of my game. For example Mark Harvey is the forward line coach. He has been helping me a lot with my leads and my second and third efforts. I have been working on my kicking a lot with Kevin Morris and David Flood. Sheeds has been helping me out with all different parts of my game. Robert Shaw has been helping me out too but he has more to do with the tactics in the mid-field.
Q. Have you beaten the old man at the Pier Pub yet?
A. I beat him last year but he pipped me this year. It is something I do with dad and my older brother Jake every year and it gets very competitive.
Q. You come from a long line of Essendon supporters you must have been rapt to get drafted to Essendon?
A. Both sides of my family are both big Bomber supporters. I used to go to the football with my grandfather all the time. It is great to be playing with players like James Hird who I used to look up to and used to go to the games and watch. It was surreal in my first two year but now I am really enjoying playing football with them.
