Sydney Swans midfielder Errol Gulden addressed the media on Wednesday. He spoke about his return from injury, the recent form of James Jordon and Brodie Grundy and the clash with St Kilda on Sunday afternoon.
On his return from injury
“I think I put in a pretty good body of work for probably the last four to six weeks before I returned. I knew that the physios, the strength and conditioning staff, and the program they provided would give me the best opportunity to perform. I don’t want to say I’ve surprised myself, but it’s certainly been good to be back out there and see the team playing well. That definitely helps my role as well when the team’s going well.”
On his immediate impact back in the side
“We’ve been playing some good footy for the last month, so if I can contribute to that, it’s good. I think that’s what you want to do. You just want to be out there to help your teammates try and win games. It's still been a bit of a challenge to try and get up to speed with the game, but I’m feeling good with each week that I’m out there. More than anything, just having fun playing footy.”
On James Jordon’s performance
"It was an amazing performance from JJ. We don’t want to take for granted how good it was. We’re kind of used to it now, just with how often he does jobs like that. I would assume that would be where he goes. Obviously, that would be up to the coaches. I think that would probably be the most likely match-up (Wanganeen-Milera)."
On maintaining form
“We still think that we’re capable of playing finals, whether we do or not, that’s another story. But all we can do is just keep taking care of our business and just pray that a few results go our way as well. Unfortunately, we’ve left ourselves in this position just given our start to the year, so that’s obviously disappointing. But we’re just focusing on, as cliché as it is, we’re just worrying about each game and not looking at the ladder too much and trying to stay off the ladder predictor on the AFL app too.”
On the upcoming clash with the Saints
"I think that’s one thing they’re really good at, is restricting the opposition from scoring and doing things like throwing up heaps of numbers around the stoppage and clogging it right up, making it hard to chain the ball from end to end. They’ve got some great players as well offensively. Milera’s having a great year. (Jack) Sinclair and some great midfielders, Jack Steele and (Marcus) Windhager and stuff. They can be a dangerous side, they’ve probably been a bit of our bogey team as well. Obviously, we lost to them last year down at Marvel Stadium, it’s definitely a game we’ve got to have our full focus and attention on."
On the disappointment of injuries to Joel Amartey and Tom Papley
"It’s super disappointing, I was pretty shattered for Joel (Amartey) after the game. It’s disappointing I guess, for Paps (Tom Papley) as well. I’m sure he’ll do everything he can to get back as soon as he can. You’ve seen the difference he makes to our team and the way our forward line functions when he’s out there. I spent a lot of time with those boys in rehab, and to see the amount of work that they put in for them to be injured one or two games back into their return, it’s super disappointing for them, and I feel for them."
On his goal celebration in tribute to Diogo Jota
"Being a Liverpool fan, or just being a sports fan in general, it was really heartbreaking to see the tragic death. I just came up with it with a couple of the teammates during the week, it was really eye-opening. The only thing that can come out of tragic accidents like this is that you probably gain a bit of perspective, and you probably take for granted the relationships that you can have sometimes at the footy club with your teammates and the staff. I think it was definitely eye-opening, we were definitely a little bit more grateful for each other last week. It’s just shattering to see, I don’t really know what to say."
On Brodie Grundy’s form
"To take on two of the best ruckmen in the competition last week and beat them. Obviously, the week before he did the same thing to Tim English and the week before that, he did the same thing to (Jordan) Sweet and (Dante) Visentini. He’s been playing some unbelievable football for probably the last two months, he’s getting a little bit of external praise now, but the thing with him is he’s never going to get too high or too low. He remains pretty even, as you’ve probably heard in a few of his interviews, he’s just all worried about his process. He doesn’t worry about putting the cart in front of the horse, he’s always in front of the cart and making sure he takes care of that."
On Brodie and Errol’s connection
"His connection with us midfielders and having his eyes up and directing us around the stoppage has been amazing. You can definitely get a little bit more proactive, you probably don’t have to play as defensively around the stoppage, but more than anything, you just get confidence. When you have a big man up and going like that, it makes you walk taller, I’ve definitely noticed it since I came back three weeks ago."
