Day 1 - Days 2 and 3
Day 1
With another Thursday night game scheduled, we flew to Brisbane on Tuesday evening. As early in the week as it seems, it's the same as travelling on a Thursday for a Saturday match.
Before flying out, we all met at the Club at 5:00pm for a team meal and a meeting, then headed to the airport. We arrived in Brisbane just after 9:00pm, and as Queensland doesn’t have daylight savings, we gained an hour on the flight up. It is very important that you do change your watches when you travel interstate, as you wouldn’t be the first player ever to arrive one hour early for breakfast the following morning.
As I normally do I’m rooming with Bryce Gibbs. We know each other pretty well and are both used to each other’s routines.
Following breakfast this morning the playing group walked to a nearby pool. There we stretched and had a swim before making our way back to the hotel for our opposition meeting.
Our opposition coach Brett Munro has been in Brisbane since the Lions game against West Coast on Saturday night. He has been to their training sessions since then and conducted his weekly meeting. Normally Brett would return to Melbourne following the opposition's match, but again because of the short turnaround time it made sense that he remain in Brisbane.
After the team meeting we had a bit of spare time. I went for another walk, grabbed a coffee and had a read of the papers, before returning the hotel for some lunch. While we had some spare time, "Ratts" headed to the Gabba for a joint media conference with Brisbane Coach Michael Voss (and I’m sure you have read the details of that on the site).
Training at The Gabba
As we had some more spare time in the afternoon, I went downstairs to get some treatment and enjoy some downtime before preparing for our training session at the Gabba.
Prior to boarding the bus for training, the boys get all their strapping done by members of the medical team at the hotel. We then arrived at the ground and commenced our warm-ups for training.
Being the day before a game we had a pretty quick training session. The conditions were pretty good. We'd been told there had been a fair bit of rain up here, but the ground was in pretty good condition.
Marc Murphy and Bryce Gibbs with Carlton & Stephen Sinn
It was great to see a few Carlton supporters at training, including Carlton Sinn . . . that’s right, Carlton. Carlton was watching on with his Dad, Stephen.
I've met Carlton a couple of times now, and I know all the boys really appreciate the support we get from fans like him, who live up north but stick with the Navy Blues.
Unfortunately Carlton will miss the game against the Lions as he will be undergoing skin graft surgery in hospital. He and his family are great supporters of the Blues, he's a great kid and we wish him well with the surgery.
After training it was back to the hotel for a swim followed by dinner and then some more personal time. Tomorrow will get underway with breakfast, followed by line meetings and a swim.
But for now, GO BLUES!
Marc Murphy
Murph's Brisbane Diary
Day 1 - Days 2 and 3
