Looking back over the past three months now, from winning Round 1 to the season postponement to the mystery of whether footy would return to now being a few days from a footy restart, it’s fair to say it’s been a rollercoaster.

It’s obviously like nothing we’ve ever experienced before.

But my overriding thought, looking back at this time, is that you wouldn’t think that this has been an overly foreign experience given how well the club has managed us through it.

I think the moment we found out we were going to have a period away from the game and away from each other, the footy club just put a massive emphasis on staying connected and looking after each other – and that went for everyone involved in the footy club.

We really let footy take a backseat.

Recovery report: The race against the clock for two important Hawks

Training away from the club

At the start of it all, it was pretty easy to stay motivated. It probably hadn’t properly sunk in yet and so we were basically maintaining the momentum that we had built up to that point over the summer - and obviously with the winning start to the season.

But then came the period where the question of when, or even if, the season was going to continue, and I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a few struggles to get your training done from a motivational sense during that.

What helped me was that I am lucky enough to have a few of the boys living in the same suburb as me – James Frawley, Isaac Smith and even Jarryd Roughead who also pulled the boots back on there for a bit.

Once we were able to train with others, that made a big difference for me

I ended up actually quite enjoying going for a kick and a run with those boys, it made me feel almost like a kid again as I headed down to the park.

A new reality

It took a while to get my head around the COVID testing regime!

A lot of the boys hated it, they were going into the nose pretty deep!

I don’t think it is something you could ever get used to – it’s pretty uncomfortable but it’s all worthwhile!

As for this week’s game, I think having no crowds will make it even more even for both teams more than ever before.

One thing I learnt after Round 1 and having an empty MCG there, I realised how much the fans make the game and how the atmosphere is just completely reliant on the crowd.

I’d kind of compare it now to playing local footy – you can hear everything that’s going on on the ground, hear what the players are saying to each other – whereas when there is a big crowd at the ‘G, you can barely hear what your teammate is saying when he is two or three metres away from you!

I think, just like so much of this situation, we just need to learn to adapt but also hope that our fans can be let back into the game in 2020! 

Here we are!

It’s feels kind of similar to a Round 1 build-up this week.

There’s a couple of things that we’ve obviously had to adapt to - getting our COVID tests done, training with the whole squad just once a week – but I think the general feel amongst the group is just excitement.

I couldn’t really care where we’re playing or who we’re playing against, I think I speak for everyone in saying we’re just pumped to be back out there and doing what we love doing which is playing footy.