Like everyone, Leon Cameron isn’t 100 per cent sure whether games will go ahead this weekend but he is sure that if they do, his side will be ready.

His Tuesday begins when he arrives at the club around 7:15am for a usual day of preparations, four days out from round one.

It’s the normal rotations for the players this morning and while they move through weights, massage, physio and line meetings in their groups of forwards, midfielders and backs, Cameron’s morning is spent having one-on-one conversations with many of the playing group.

This is normal. Cameron would usually speak to every player on the list at least once every week to chat about where they’re up to, what their focuses are and to catch up on what’s been happening in their lives outside the club. 

The players and coaches come together again at 1pm for a team meeting before the players finish for the day and the real fun begins as the coaches move into match committee for Saturday’s game.

Leon Cameron is joined around the table by Luke Kelly (development coach), Brett Hand (head of welfare and development), Jason McCartney (general manager of football), Amon Buchanan (stoppages coach), Jamie Ryan (head of analysis, education and tech), Lenny Hayes (midfield coach), Adam Schneider (ball movement), Alicia Eva (development coach) and Jason Saddington (NEAFL coach).

Defence coach Mark McVeigh and forwards coach Brad Miller have dialled in from their homes on the Central Coast. A tragic truck accident on the M1 this morning closed the road and after two hours in traffic, the pair ended up dialling in for both the team meeting and match committee.

A bit of work has already been done on this week’s team with two weeks between our last Marsh Community Series match and Saturday’s round one hit-out.

“It’s going to be a tough selection,” Cameron says. 

“There are lots of players putting up their hands and there’ll be some really unlucky players. It’s good to have a fit squad to pick from for such an important game against the Cats.”

By the end of an hour and a half, they have a fair idea of the 22 that will line up at GIANTS Stadium on Saturday. But they always wait until after main training to ensure everyone is fit and firing.

“We’ll finalise the team around lunch time tomorrow,” Cameron says.

It’s a special kind of main training session tomorrow and one the coach is looking forward to.

“I’m really looking forward to training up at GIANTS Stadium tomorrow. It’s our first time up there all year and when we get to train there in March it means the first game isn’t far away.”

He’s thought about what a closed game will look like come this weekend.

“It will be a bit eerie not having our supporters there on Saturday because it will be empty stands,” he said.

“But we’re just looking forward to rolling out what we’ve been working on over pre-season and putting it all into action.”

Everyone knows things are changing by the day and while the coach is focused on business as usual heading into this weekend, they have also done their due diligence on what the alternatives could look like.

“Nothing might happen but we’ve thought about shorter games, shorter times between games, if we have to stay interstate for four or five days and those sorts of things,” Cameron said.

“We’d still train as a main group. At the moment we’re being sharper with our meetings and less time in confined areas. 

“Overall, players are in a really good headspace, are understanding what’s going on but looking forward to putting their best foot forward for 2020.”