I LIKE writing this column after a win, and it was good to get the four points against Collingwood last Saturday night.

One of the things we’ve talked about this year has been our ability to perform over four quarters and that was the best representation of that for the year. Right from the first bounce we showed the mindset and the attitude that is required.

It’s an attitude we’ve seen in patches throughout the season but not as consistently as we saw last week.

There’s no doubt that you look to your leaders to step up in terms of leadership and performance.

Our senior players have done that over the past couple of weeks and you only had to have a quick glance at the better players on the night – Sam Mitchell, Luke Hodge and Lance Franklin to see our leaders step up.

They have stepped up at the right time and it is having a flow-on effect to the rest of the group.

We will need their leadership for this week’s clash with Geelong.

Our mindset needs to be pretty steely no matter who we’re playing but especially when we’re playing the Cats who have been the benchmark for the last couple of years. They are an outstanding team and regardless of their personnel, they have a very strong system and they are drilled very well.

We have been able to debut five players this year and as they did on Saturday night, they have stepped up for us at different stages of the season and look more than capable at senior level.

We’ve seen a few guys grow with that opportunity. Liam Shiels and Ryan Schoenmakers have shown this over the past couple of weeks. Guys like Beau Dowler and Josh Kennedy have also impressed.

And there are more players looking for that opportunity for Box Hill in the VFL.

It was a pretty scrappy game out at Williamstown on Saturday. I found it hard to stand up myself, it was that windy. But we had quite a few players stand out. Cameron Stokes, Brendan Whitecross and Travis Tuck all played some good footy - they put their hands up and they are going to cause headaches at match committee.

Finally, I’d like to mention that this week we’re playing for the Beyondblue Cup. You just have to switch on the news to see that depression is a huge issue in society at the moment and there are so many people of all ages who are struggling with issues. We are going to do our best on the weekend to raise awareness and hopefully provide something in terms of the fight against depression.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the club.