After a hard fought battle against the Sydney Swan’s, the Greater Western Sydney GIANTS will now face their third AFL reserves side in as many weeks, when they take on the Brisbane Lions at Cooparoo at 2pm on Saturday.
Ahead of the team’s trip north, GIANTS reporter, Beck Mills caught up with #26 Jonathan Giles to find out how the term is feeling as they go after their third win in the NEAFL competition, who he’ll line up on in the ruck and who’s the worst room mate on an interstate trip after weeks of travel.
You’re up against Brisbane Reserves on Saturday, how are you feeling heading in to the match?
I’m really looking forward to the game. Obviously it was a disappointing result against Sydney last week but on Saturday we get another chance to play against an AFL Reserve side and have a chance to improve on our performance from last week.
Who will be against you in the ruck?
It should be Broc McCauley, who’s played a few games for the Lions side this year so I’m really looking forward to the challenge of playing against a ruckman who’s played a few AFL games.
It’s always good to play against a bigger bodied player because you have to make sure that you’re at your best to beat him. I love having that challenge and this week will be the same.
How has your personal football development been going?
I feel like my body is going well. I’ve been doing a lot of weights in the gym to try to become stronger; I can always be stronger so I’ll just keep looking to improve. My main focus going forward is core work so that’s mainly what I’ve been doing.
What parts of your game will you be focusing on Saturday?
Choco wanted me to hunt the ball more after the stoppage so that is something that I’ll be looking at on Saturday.
What did the coaches have to say about last week’s game against Sydney?
We had a lot of positives in the first half of the game and then in the last quarter we sort of faded out. We’ve gone over the vision and looked at things that we need to do better and things that we’ve done well and we’ll work on those at training today and just keep improving from there.
Have you got any pre game rituals for Saturday?
I don’t have any superstitions like putting my right sock on before my left sock, I just like to make sure that I’m focused on the game and that I’m mentally prepared. I like to eat a salad roll before a game but I’m not too worried if I don’t have one.
You’ve travelled for the last two weeks, firstly to Melbourne and then to Canberra and you’re off to Brisbane on Friday, how do you deal with being on the road three weeks in a row?
From a team perspective, the travel is a big challenge for the group. No one is really used to travelling every week or every second week so obviously you have to take into account the fatigue level, adjusting to playing in a different state and sleeping in hotel rooms without your normal household items around you. I think that the boys have been coping with it really well. It’s great to have the opportunity to go interstate to play football.
Have the coaches given you many instructions about how to combat the fatigue that comes with travel?
We wear skins on the plane and the buses, we also drink plenty of water and powerade, do lots of stretches on the trips and make sure that we get a good night’s rest.
Do you always share a room with the same teammate on away trips?
No, it’s a bit of a mixed lot. I’m not sure how it works; I think they just pick it out of a hat. I had Big Sauce (Andrew Phillips) on the weekend in Canberra, he was a good roommate, didn’t stir too much or keep me awake during the night so that was good.
Have you had to share with anyone who snores or sleep walks yet?
Not yet, no. I heard from some of the other boys that Schulz is a big snorer and Milesy is a sleepwalker so I’ll have to keep an eye on those two.
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Brisbane Lions Reserves v GWS GIANTS
Saturday May 14
2:00pm
Coorparoo
