Only a few days out from the season-opener and I can honestly say I've never felt more ready or excited for it.
I feel like as a group, we have come a long way in the four and a bit months since pre-season training started and all the boys are in a great frame of mind both physically and mentally to make an impact from the word go.
Our coach Adam O'Brien and his coaching staff have had a big influence over that. I get asked about Adsy a lot. What he's like, what sort of a coach is he, can he help turn us into a finals team? I couldn't be more impressed with the way he has handled the pre-season and the effect he has had on the squad.
My very first contact with him was a phone call from him when I was in Aussie camp in Wollongong towards the end of last year.
He just rang to see how I was travelling because of my wrist injury. When I told him I was sweet, I could just sense he was really happy for me to be playing for Australia. He was real excited for me. It was pretty obvious to me that he was going to be happy for all of his players to play representative footy when they get given the opportunity and I took a lot of out that conversation.
We had a coffee the week before I started back at club training and he ran me through what the plan was and how the boys were travelling. He seemed 100 miles an hour then with his enthusiasm for what was ahead of us and you could just sense he was going to be a good fit for the place.
I was a bit nervous finally coming back in when everyone had been training for a month but all the boys couldn't wrap Adsy enough. He was flogging them at training but the boys were full of praise for the technical side of his coaching with the other staff. They were picking up things that will make them better players. That was big for me.
Something I learned as a young bloke making these rep teams is that you can't come back to club training too far behind. So I made sure I'd done a bit before coming back in at the end of November. I wanted to impress the new coach.
He didn't let on to me what to expect and I thought I might be able to ease my way back in on my first morning back. But I got hit with the double yo-yo test and a double 1.2 km time trial straight up. Adsy got me big time and he was there watching me running up and down the sideline - it was a good welcome back.
What have I noticed most about him? For one thing, he's a real hands on coach. He wants to be involved. He reminds me in that regard of Dessy Hasler. That's what those really good coaches are, very hands-on and he evaluates each player.
He's great off the field as well. To me, communicating with the players is a big one. He speaks really well to the boys and gets his point across and there is no bullshit about him.
In my experience, playing groups have a lot of respect for coaches with those straight-shooting qualities.
If you stuff up at training, he'll let you have it both barrels and he'll bring you in for a chat but only because he wants you to get better. He's not doubting you, he just wants you to improve.
I think that's why the boys are enjoying it. Yeah, we've been getting flogged and when we stuff up, we hear about it and know that we have to fix it up. But that's because it's all about accountability and not letting your mate down. Adsy is big on accountability.
When he wants something done, it gets done otherwise he lets us know and that's good. He keeps everyone on their toes and he knows what it takes to become a good footy side. It's exactly what was needed here.
Off the field, you can have a joke around with him and he picks his time to mingle and have a laugh but everyone knows when it's time for business. Even with promotions and when we might be out having a drink, he's a real stickler for everyone being responsible and knowing their limit.
He doesn't want the brand tarnished or the club and town seen in a bad light. I think the boys have really bought into that.
We don't want to wreck the culture we are developing here at the moment. It's going really well and he's been really influential in that and we don't want to let him down.
Like I said, the pre-season has been spot on. There's been a lot of hard work, a lot of emphasis on effort, enthusiasm, accountability and finding that something extra when adversity strikes.
Hopefully, we'll see the fruits of all that against the Warriors.
