Michael Walters: Inside Fremantle Dockers’ ‘tough and brutal’ review into Geelong flogging

Footy can be an emotional game for fans — but trust me, it’s just as emotional for us players.

The last week or so has been a rollercoaster for me in terms of my emotions.

One minute I was heading into the season feeling excited and ready to burst out the gates. There is something special about that feeling before round one.

Next thing I know, I had to be ruled out because of soreness and I’m looking to miss another two to three weeks. That is devastating and beyond frustrating for me.

I have bone bruising after a knock in our pre-season clash against Melbourne. It’s nothing drastic, but bone bruising is one of those things that just lingers. There is also no cure for bone bruising other than rest, so it’s one of those niggles that can go away faster or longer than expected.

Myself and the club are both on the same page that we don’t want to rush me back either. When I return I want to be firing and good to go, not sore again one week later.

So while I was expecting to run out on Saturday against Geelong, I was instead watching with a mate of mine from the couch with a coffee.

It was very frustrating for me, having felt like I worked my backside off over the off-season to be ready. I missed the feeling of running out for round one with a team who had also worked so hard. But it’s just the unfortunate part of professional sport and there’s nothing you can do about it. For me watching the game from my couch, I definitely wasn’t just kicking back and relaxing.

I’m a footy head, so I don’t miss very many games. But while watching my team especially, I’m looking to see what we’re doing with our structures and if we’re sticking to the game plan.

Rocking up to the club on Monday after our first game didn’t go as we wanted it to, there was an empty feeling. But it’s one that quickly turns to optimism and excitement as you realise you’ve got to turn it around and look forward to the next game.

We had some pretty tough meetings on Monday.

The main post-game meeting we have involves our entire squad, including those who are playing for Peel at the time in the WAFL. We normally watch through vision and look at what we executed well and where we fell down.

Our skipper Alex Pearce and the leadership group often show the more positive passages of play.

On Monday, that included our debutant Murphy Reid, who had an unbelievable first game, turning things pretty much off his own boot at one stage. Our coach Justin Longmuir usually focuses on the improvement areas and there were, of course, plenty from the Geelong game.

His main message was that we need to play our brand of footy and not fall on the back foot so quickly.