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The trip changed late on Wednesday when our flight, direct to the Gold Coast on Friday morning, was cancelled. It didn’t make a big difference to the players I am sure the football staff were busy organizing new flights and letting us know because we had Thursday off. For the players the biggest change was having an extra 30-minutes before having to be at the airport on Friday (flight was 10:05, the original flight was 9:30am), and checking in at Qantas, instead of Jetstar.

At the end of the flight on Friday morning the difference was we didn’t land on the Gold Coast, we flew to Brisbane and then traveled to the Gold Coast via bus. It is not that much different time was so no issue for the players. The coaching staff and support staff also flew into Brisbane, arriving two hours earlier. Unfortunately for them they took a lot longer than expected to reach the Gold Coast because the bus driver was sick and they had a number of stops on the way. So much so that Brett Ratten got off the bus at a service station near Movie World and waited to be picked up by our Communications Manager to be driven direct to the Gold Coast Stadium for a media conference with Fremantle coach Mark Harvey. He didn’t have time to go to the hotel first!

After checking into our rooms at our hotel, located between Surfer’s Paradise and Broadbeach, we all had lunch and a stretch before getting ready for training at Gold Coast Stadium. The bus left for training around 3.00pm and we had a short session to help familiarize ourselves with the ground and ensure we got moving after the travel. It is a good ground with a very good surface although the different type of grass makes it very ‘spongey’ and in some areas it is difficult to bounce the ball.

At the ground we met James Pacholli who traveled from Melbourne with him mum and two sisters as the special guests of the Club. James is involved in the Challenge – supporting kids with cancer program and this was a special weekend for him before going back into hospital for more treatment. All the players met 12 year-old James, Natalie (mum), and Emma and Zoe (two older sisters) either before or after training and we all realized what a special weekend this was for a brave young man.

Back at the hotel we had time for a shower and then it was dinner. Prior to dinner “Ratts” (Brett Ratten) made a presentation to Chris Yarran who was to make his debut against Fremantle. “Ratts” presented Chris with his player pin number, 1122, and said a few words about the game and congratulated him on making his AFL debut. We were also introduced to George Tahan and our guests from Ikon Cleaning, a premier partner of the Club, who travelled to the Gold Coast for the game. After dinner it was quiet for everyone as we relaxed the night before the game.

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