Darcy Moore says it’s been hard not to dream of what it would be like to be handed the premiership cup by his dad Peter as the Pies completed their preparations for Saturday’s AFL Grand Final.
Moore and Head Coach Craig McRae spoke to the media following Friday’s Grand Final Parade and Moore said the significance that moment could bring would be special.
“We didn’t speak about it, it was a nice welcome surprise the news so it’s exciting,” Moore said.
“His support has been amazing and the way the Club’s embraced the past and told the stories to our fans about past generations and about how we fit in to that now is really special.
“The whole team has been dreaming for the last week or so since we qualified and it’s why you play footy and you dream of it as a kid.
“It’s exciting and a lovely personal touch as well if we’re successful my Dad will present the cup so I’m thrilled.
“Hopefully it happens but we’ve done a lot of dreaming and it’s time to get out there and perform.”
McRae said two key selections calls in Billy Frampton and Jack Ginnivan being elevated into the starting 22 were important conversations to have early in the week.
The second-year coach said Frampton’s versatility would be key, while Ginnivan’s ability to hit the scoreboard was a major reason for his selection.
“I thought it was really important that we get that stuff out of the way. We wanted to get on the front foot with that once we made the decision at match committee that he was the guy,” he said of Frampton.
“We back the guy in, we bring him to the club for a reason, he can be versatile, he can play down back and he can obviously play forward as well.
“A great story for him, with the heartache for others, there’s always a good story as well.
“We just think Jack can give us a bit of a spark, he’s a big game player, he’s proven that Anzac Day when he kicked multiple goals this year and last year.
“We want to give it a little bit more potency up forward and obviously with Dan out kicking a couple of goals each week, we think Jack can play that role for us.”
Moore said while excited for the culmination of the season on Saturday afternoon, it was in some ways sad that it was coming to an end after the journey the team has been on in 2023.
“The other part of tomorrow other than that it’s a massive game, it’s a Grand Final, is it’s the end of our season,” he said.
“It’s been an enormous journey, there’s been so many ups and downs.
“As a team you definitely absorb all those experiences, both the good parts and the parts where you have to work through.
“In many ways, tomorrow is a full stop on an incredibly rewarding and rich season for us where we’ve learned a lot about ourselves.”
Thousands of fans turned out for Friday’s parade, with McRae in awe of the atmosphere.
“That was like nothing I’ve ever experienced, it’s just incredible,” he said.
“I like the new path, it beats last year’s model I think.
“The amount of people there supporting us – we’re not here without our fans, I’ve said that throughout our campaign that we want to take our fans along for the journey and they’re here in spades aren’t they.”
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