G’day Tiger Army, and welcome to the blog for Day 4 and the final day of Pre-Season Camp.

We were all up pretty early and by the time I reached the Breakfast Room at 6.45am, some players were already having rub downs and doing stretches. You could just tell there was much excitement in the air and it was an enormous day ahead.

We had a Team Meeting at 8am, where the coaches outlined the program for the session on the fields of the Maroochydore Sports Complex. Ben Rutten walked through a few drills and emphasized some specific points to work on during the session. Blake Caracella then addressed the group and walked through a drill named after him. You know you’re back in the fold when a drill is named after you! All the coaches chimed in with specific points of emphasis for their respective lines.

We then jumped in the cars and headed to the ground. On arrival, it was great to see a big local Tiger Army crowd already in attendance. A certain other AFL team was training on the oval next door, and they seemed decidedly friendless in comparison. I know the players were incredibly grateful for the support. The ground was still quite wet from the recent rains, and a thunderstorm was looming to the north, but the players took to the field and started with Craft drills including goal kicking. It was great to stand the mark and watch the lovely left foot of Harry Armstrong from very close range. We then moved to more full-field drills and some 14 v 14 work. A special shout out to Assistant Coach Jack Ziebell who filled in playing a defensive crash and bash role. All in all, it was a good session and I hope the supporters enjoyed it.

We then moved to Alexandra Headland to enjoy a quick Banh Mi and Rice Paper Roll lunch, and then run a series of hill sprints. The humidity was now stifling, and it was a tough workout given the morning load, but the players took it on with gusto. Some players worked the rowing machine and rope stations while waiting for their turn on the hill sprints. If that wasn’t enough, we then held a gym session back at the Queensland Academy of Sport facility. The group had every right to be tired, but Noah Balta set the mood with some tunes on the boom box and a great dance routine!

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Finally, we returned to the Twin Waters Facility to relax and celebrate. We held a Team Meeting at 5.45pm, and both Rhyan Mansell and Dion Prestia were announced as the joint Tony Mangan Award winners for this pre-season camp. And it was great to have a previous winner in Jake Batchelor provide a preamble as to the award’s context and meaning to him particularly.

It’s been an honour to again bring you the camp blog. I hope you’ve enjoyed it. A big thank you to the coaches, players, staff and Digital Media team in particular for allowing me to do this. And a special shout out to the amazing Property and Facilities team for looking after my health needs.

Can’t wait for the 2025 Season. Go Tiges!