As the sun rose on a warm autumn day in Melbourne, Essendon’s players were already deep into their preparation for training.
In Grand Final week there are extra functions and commitments for players and coaches to attend, so training needs to be flexible.
The build-up to the Anzac Day game is similar.
The entire Essendon playing list travelled to the Shrine on Tuesday morning, after they’d completed their early morning session.
“The players to get their training done in order to be at the Shrine by 10am, had to start at 6am at the Club – around dawn, it was nice to see the sun come up as they were training,” Essendon Coach John Worsfold told AFL 360.
“We’ve had Jack Jones – one of our own – address the players.
“I also asked the players to do some research on a soldier … and a bit of a read about their story and also a little bit about any of the armed forces and what their motto is and what they stand for.”
Obviously the field of battle is a long way from the field Worsfold’s players will run on to on Monday.
But there are many wartime stories this group can be inspired by.
“We’ve looked at some stuff around what soldiers do … they go away as a team,” Worsfold said.
“A lot of these conflicts, especially the first world war … they were strangers thrown together six weeks out of fighting, untrained.
“So they had to go away and pretty quickly get to know each other and earn a lot of respect and trust in each other – there is some similarities to our current Essendon squad.
“We came together at short notice prior to the season starting and it has been about getting to know each other and respect.”
The Bombers enter Monday’s match against Collingwood armed with belief – a feeling some predicted may have been absent for most of the season.
But the round two win over Melbourne, solid patches against Gold Coast and Port Adelaide and last week’s effort against Geelong have this group aiming for victory.
“They deserve to have that belief because of the hard work they’ve put in,” Worsfold said.
“They were disappointed that they couldn’t run the game out (against Geelong) – at least if not win, be right there at the end.
“We’re aiming to be better than that again – we’re looing for a win.”
