This weekend we take on the Gold Coast Suns, who proved last week that they have what it takes to win games this season. Gary Ablett, was at his brilliant best in their win over St Kilda, and a lot of questions have been asked about what we are going to do to stop him this weekend.

I think it’s been proven over the years that Ablett doesn’t get beaten one-on-one very often, so it is obviously going to have to be a team approach against him this weekend. At all the stoppages we need to work together, and also when Gary’s got possession, we need to make sure we put pressure on him. In saying that, I still think it is more important for us to worry about when we’ve got the ball in possession, he hasn’t.

It’s not just Ablett who we have to keep a close eye on this weekend. Harley Bennell is another danger player who has been really good for the Suns in recent times. He’s a player that has had a really good couple of years since coming to the Gold Coast and he can make some early decisions to try and run forward of the play, and he’s so quick that he can start his run in the back pocket, and like last week, can kick a goal from it. He’s really fast and has really good endurance and he’s one we’ll really be keeping an eye on.

Jaeger O’Meara is another new one in their midfield group. He’s a young guy but he’s been around the club for a year now, and even though he’s only just started to play AFL now, you can see he’s hard and tough. He didn’t get a lot of possessions last week but his tackling was really good and I think he finished the match with the most tackles in their team, so he’s a competitor.

They also have their experienced players like Jarrod Harbrow, Dion Prestia and David Swallow who have been really good players for them. It’s certainly not just a one-man show at the Gold Coast and there are a lot for us to look after this week.

When the Suns get the ball they can use the ball really quickly, so if we’re off our game or we don’t make early decisions to defend then the Gold Coast can really hurt us. They’ve got good skills and are very quick, so we’ve just got to be on our toes and when it’s our turn to defend, we need to defend well.

Looking at our own game last week, I thought both Shane Mumford and Mike Pyke were both really good for us. They worked really well together, whether it was taking contested marks or the stoppages forward, or just in the ruck.

Our experienced mids, Ryan O’Keefe, Kieren Jack and Jarrad McVeigh, were also all outstanding in their leadership throughout the game. They started really well and then when things got tough in the second quarter they got going again. I thought they were really hard, tough and clean and used the ball well from the stoppages.

Finally, we’re back at home. It will be fantastic to be back out on the SCG this weekend. We’ve trained out there this week and you can just see everyone is really excited to get back out there and hopefully it stops raining!