G’day Tiger Army, and welcome to the blog for Day 3 of Pre-Season Camp.

Finally the rain cleared and the sun decided to grace the so named Sunshine Coast.

As always, we commenced the day with a hearty breakfast. We have a full blown coffee machine in our breakfast room, and Kaleb Smith conducted a virtuoso barista performance making coffees for the playing group, and a lovely long black for me.

We then ventured back down to the Queensland Academy of Sport facility in the wonderfully named Maroochydore suburb of Sippy Way. We know this as we are travelling in a fleet of hire cars and Google Maps is the trusted friend for vehicle navigators. On arrival, we noted that a fleet of minivans were already parked by the front door like it was their appanage. Yes, Carlton Football Club are also on the Sunshine Coast and on camp, and were about to exit the facility. There were three repetitions for the players to execute; swimming, football craft and culture. I worked the repetitions with the Forwards group. In the culture session, I somehow found myself performing a rugby scrum with Mate Colina and Thomas Sims. Something I didn’t think I’d be doing at the start of the day!

After returning to Twin Waters and another hearty meal, we then had a team challenge where the line groups had to carry down to the Twin Waters Lagoon all the materials to build a raft, construct the raft and row it across the lagoon to various activity points on the bank. One activity point involved playing bongo drums and singing a song. This seemed to attract the attention of hotel residents who were wondering what the racket was. The Forwards got off to a fast start but seemed to hit a snag halfway across the lagoon. The Backs were methodical and powered through the pack, whilst the Mids had a steering issue. The Backs ultimately won the challenge.

In the evening, we had Dr Greg Hickey’s now traditional bingo and trivia competition. Doc’s number calling technique for bingo included mentioning Richmond players past and present. Again, we competed in line groups and the Mids won the day. The trivia competition was extremely competitive between the lines, with an emphasis on the precise spelling of answers. After numerous boisterous and humorous protests, we weren’t exactly sure who won, but I’m sure it will be announced at the conclusion of the camp.

And finally, at the conclusion of the night, we celebrated a significant milestone in Jasper Alger’s 18th birthday. Not only was there a cake and candles, but we also had a pinata for Jasper. A lovely way to celebrate and conclude another great day on camp.

Speak tomorrow. Go Tiges.