We’re back to business this week after enjoying some well-earned time off last week. Following our win over Carlton on the Saturday night, we gave the boys a few days off until Friday morning when we came in and had a training session. We then trained Saturday and then moved into a normal week this week. The bye week is certainly important, but it’s always hard to gauge whether you need the week off or whether you need to keep going. In our case, I feel we definitely used it to our advantage and were able to freshen the guys up and to refocus and reset for this week.

While it was good to have a few days away, our attention has now well and truly turned to Saturday night’s match against Hawthorn. It’s a big game as it is two teams inside the top four going head to head at the MCG. We’ve played some big games already this year, but this one is certainly up there and is one we’re really looking forward to.

We’re obviously really excited to be able to have Kurt Tippett back out on the park this week. He had a few setbacks with his knee, but he’s run really well and trained well this week and has done everything he needed to do to book his place on the flight to Melbourne this weekend. He’s an important player for us, so hopefully he can help us get over the line.

While it’s great to have Kurt back, we’ve been really happy with the way our forward line has been operating in recent weeks. Sam Reid has been one player who has really stepped up and has really improved as the year has gone on. His defensive work has always been good, which we’ve mentioned in the past, and now he’s really starting to add some offensive power to his game. I think he’s been in good form for about a month and he seems to keep on getting better, which we hope continues. It’s also been good to have Adam Goodes playing some good footy. Goodesy has found some really good form and is moving really well. He’s enjoying his footy and his training has been really solid and he’s been taking that into games. We’re really happy with the way he’s going at the moment.

There’s been plenty of talk outside the club about Lance Franklin facing his former side for the first time in Melbourne this week, which is not something we’re worried about. We don’t expect anything different from Buddy this week. We just want him to compete like he has this season and just give us a contest and put some pressure on because I think that’s what kick-starts his game. His approach this week, like any other week, has been the same. He’s had a look at the opposition and has looked at what they do. He knows them pretty well, so he can tap into that a little bit, and then it’s all about how he performs on Saturday night.

Forward pressure is going to be crucial in this match. Hawthorn has a strong defence, and then once they get the ball they are the best in the competition at scoring goals from rebounds. That’s going to be a big part of the game, so it’s very important that we shut that down and put some heat on them in our forward 50 and hopefully stop their attacking play at the start. Looking at their defenders, the Hawks will welcome back Josh Gibson this week, who is a very good player for them. In saying that, they have a number of other talls who have played really well who have covered them like Ryan Schoenmakers, Angus Litherland and Ben Stratton plays tall as well. They’ve had a lot of guys play down there who have played really well, so we know we’ve got a task on our hands this week as we know they will have a formidable back six.