Just 12 hours after the season shutdown was announced Adam Treloar’s daughter, Georgie, was born. The Collingwood midfielder spoke to aflplayers.com.au about fatherhood, finding time to train and what he’s looking forward to most when football returns. 

Kavisha Di Pietro: It’s been quite the shutdown period for you with the birth of yours and Kim’s first child, Georgie. How has fatherhood been treating you?

Adam Treloar: It’s been pretty interesting! The AFL announced on the Sunday (March 22) that the season would be postponed and then Georgie was born about 12 hours later. It worked out quite well in that I’ve been able to be at home with her in those first few weeks. It’s unique too. I doubt there are many other fathers who have been able to spend this time time with their newborn child because their work has been put on hold. It’s been crazy and full on. It’s the first child for both Kim and I. I love it, though. I love being able to spend this time at home and not missing any special or significant moments like her first smile. In saying that, I am looking forward to getting back to footy and into that schedule again.

What do you think has surprised you the most about becoming a parent?

I think how quickly you adapt to the situation. What I mean by that is you have advice coming from different people throughout the pregnancy and even after that you can almost feel a bit overwhelmed. People tell you how to parent, what to do and what not to do. We’ve balanced taking the advice on board and adapting to being new parents in our own way. Kim, for that matter, has been incredible. People always say that motherly instincts kick in when a baby is born and she has really showed that. Kim would be the first to say that, like me, she didn’t really know what to expect – in other words we were sh*tting ourselves! The way Kim has adapted to that and just be an incredible Mum has been so wonderful to see. I’ve been leaning on Kim and taking the advice from her.

How have you found the time to balance training and complete the rehab for your hamstring injury from home? 

Before the season was put on hold I was on the cusp of potentially being able to play in our fixtured Round 2 game against Richmond on the Thursday. If things had continued as normal, I was going to put my hand up to play. Initially, it was nice to be able to have that extra time to complete my rehab and not worry about their being games and feeling the urge to get back. That was before I think we all knew just how seriously COVID-19 was progressing. Once I knew that we were going to be on hold probably longer than first thought I stopped worrying about my injury as much because I knew that I wasn’t going to have to take any risks.

In terms of training, Kim and I love keeping fit in general – even if we weren’t both athletes I think we would be the same. When I bought my home four years ago I actually turned the garage into a proper gym with strength and cardio equipment so I could train from home. I’m lucky that I’ve got a gym here where I can train. I was contemplating whether to run a business or not out of here with gyms closed (laughs).

It’s been pretty easy because we’ve got access to the gym, but the only challenge has been making sure both Kim and I have the time to train and one of us is looking after Georgie. We rotate schedules so we can both fit our programs in and get done what we need to.

The niggle with the hamstring is gone now and that was holding me back a bit. If I’m honest, it wasn’t the ideal preparation leading into a season that you would normally like so having that time has made sure I can get it perfect. If the season was to start next week I think I’d be raring to go.

It’s been nice and refreshing to be able to train away from the club and get my mind and body right without having the worries and pressures of having to perform week in, week out. Being able to train with Kim and be around my family every day has been awesome.

I’ve seen on Instagram that you and Kim – who plays netball with Collingwood – have been doing some skill sessions together. What has it been like to train with her? 

Kim’s incredible. Considering she gave birth seven weeks ago, she’s just a machine with her training. It’s easy to find motivation from her. She’s always been wanting to help me in any way that she can. Early days (in lockdown) we did some touch sessions together outside. We were lucky to have her parents here with us supporting us through those moments after Georgie was born so Kim and I had a couple of hours to be able to get through some light skills together. Being able to do those sessions with another elite athlete makes such a difference in being able to perform the drills at the level you need to. We’re both naturally really competitive people and so I know that she gets a lot of enjoyment out of it. There’s some almighty wars between the two of us when it comes to competition. I’m probably the most competitive person I know and Kim is a close second so if Georgie has any of those traits – and she will – then I feel sorry for people who are competing against her. Friends and family will vouch that Kim and I fight over Monopoly, card games, anything where there’s a winner…

Discussions are ongoing at the moment around the return to play and what that looks like. How do you prepare for the inevitability of it when there is so much unknown?

The AFL and clubs have been pretty open and honest around the preparation that we’ll need to perform at the optimal level. I can only talk about how Collingwood has gone about it and they’ve been incredible – from the boys to coaches and everyone involved. We have weekly midfield catch ups, weekly chats as a team, anything we can to stay connected and try to bridge the gap from what you’re missing out on from not being around each other during the week. We’re keeping our minds refreshed, but also making sure we’re staying in the loop and on top of what we need to be. For instance, as a midfield group our coach Robert Harvey is sending through centre bounce and stoppage edits to make sure our mind is still thinking about football. I know that as a playing group our boys have been incredibly professional during this period. When the season comes back we want to be in great shape and not missing a beat. If the season were to come back within two to three weeks of actually being back at the club we want to know that we’re in great shape to play. I have no doubt that when we do get back we’re going to hit the ground running and ready to rock and roll.

Do you think the changes in training loads and being away from the club despite still completing your programs will have any impact?

I can only speak from my experiences with the boys but the trust, belief, care, love and everything that we have as a group – no one wants to let anyone down. We know that we’re in a window where if we put all that together we are a really hard team to beat. We know we’re capable of doing special things as a team and I think that’s what has kept everyone motivated. The weekly catch ups and staying connected certainly helps. The work of the club to keep us up to speed has been incredible. I can’t imagine there is any club not training in the same way – if you want to have success you need to work. The message from the very start for us was that the AFL would try to get a season back no matter what and so we have worked towards knowing we would return, in some capacity, this year. We want to put our best foot forward for when the season kick-starts again that we are going to be one of the best prepared teams.

When football does return, what are you looking forward to most? 

It’s an obvious answer – seeing each other. Being able to be around your teammates, guys that you spend so much time with and are used to seeing every day. It’s been crazy not being able to see them every day. There’s so much camaraderie between us a group and I can’t wait to be around that again. Once we get back to playing, that feeling of going out there onto the field with your brothers, putting in a performance we’re proud of and walking off the field knowing that we’ve done our best and hopefully secured the four points.

Let’s hope it returns soon then! Thanks for your time Adam and good luck when footy does get back.

No worries, thanks Kavisha.