Luke Power is one of the most decorated players in the history of the Brisbane Lions Football Club and on Sunday, he will play and coach against them for the first time.
In his 13 years at the Lions, Power collected a multitude of awards and achievements including three AFL Premierships, All Australian selection, Lions life membership and the club captaincy.
Now, Luke Power is a playing coach and the Co-Captain of the newest club in the AFL, the Greater Western Sydney GIANTS.
Power has mixed emotions about returning to play against a team that he loves this weekend but said that he looks forward to having a look at the opposition change rooms in his old stomping ground at the Gabba.
“It’s never something that I thought I would be doing in my career so it will be a strange feeling but it will be nice to go back there.
“It’s a place that I love and I’ve had a lot of great memories there and I’ve met a lot of great people.
“I’m pretty happy, I’ve never gotten to change in the Australian Cricket dressing rooms where the opposition get changed at the Gabba so I might put the pads and gloves on and pretend that I’m going out to bat for Australia.
“I love playing at the Gabba. It’s a great ground. Apart from the cricket pitch in the middle it’s a very honest surface and it’s a great place to watch and play footy,” Power said.
With the GIANTS coming off their first ever win in the AFL, Power believes that the young squad will far well against the Lions on Sunday.
“It’s nice to have an insight on their players and the way that they play but at the end of the day you need to go out and win the contested footy.
“They have been struggling a bit with their starts so we need to start well. The biggest kind of pressure is score board pressure so if we can put that on early that will be great.
“They’re a lot further in front of us in terms of their development but the great thing about Greater Western Sydney and the players that we’ve got is that they really have a crack.”
If he is feeling nervous about playing against the club where he is a legend, Power probably hasn’t had a lot of time to think about it. His role as a player, coach and Captain at the GIANTS has kept him very busy in Western Sydney and Power is relishing the challenge before him.
“My role here is to help develop our younger players and hopefully I will still be here to see some of the success that they will have in years to come.
“It can be difficult at times. I understand what my role is at this club – it’s not to be the best player at the club or to make me a better player for the next four or five years.
“I’m really enjoying it. It’s great to be learning from people and working with some of the best young talent in the country.
“I love the group. I spoke about it this morning and talked about how much enthusiasm and energy they’ve got.
“When you’re at another club and you have one new player in the club. The spark that he brings is great but we have a couple of them every week.
“They all get along really well and they’re willing to learn and work hard and that’s what you need. As we all know, they’ve got some talent.”
While his club and his role have changed, Power’s enthusiasm and jovial nature have not and he laughs when he is asked if he prefers to coach or play.
“I actually use both cards a fair bit.
“When I don’t want to go to a coaching meeting, I like playing and when I want to get out of something to do with playing like meetings or recovery, I’ll say that I’m a coach.
“I try to work it to my advantage.”
