It was a great win on Friday night. Things were looking a bit grim early on, so how did you turn the tide?
Blake Caracella: We didn’t start well again this week. That’s something we need to address. We just started to win more contested footy through the midfield the longer the game went on and we were able to get the ball going forward, and once you’ve got the ball in your forward line it’s fair bit easier to score.
One of those guys who helped you win back some of that midfield ascendancy was Jaxson Barham. He was terrific for you wasn’t he?
He certainly was. To come in and play on a player who’s played a lot of footy and who’s very experienced (Luke Power), and to get the ball 28 times as well and use it quite well was very encouraging for the future.
Some people might have thought he was a bit of a left-field selection. What’s been the key in him working his way to senior selection?
He’s only been on the list for a year and a half. He’s got a lot of pace and a good work ethic. He’s only tagged a couple of times in his career as well, so we may have found a niche for him to play on the good players that can run all day. Now he’s played that role once and has done it quite well, and hopefully he can do it again. Whether he’s got that role this week is yet to be seen.
A big question from the weekend and one everyone wants to know is, ‘Does Paul Medhurst know where he is yet’?
That’s a very good question and we have to ask him that quite a bit! He, along with a few of our senior players, have had the last couple of days off and no doubt he’s at home sleeping a fair bit as you do after you’ve copped a heavy knock. Hopefully he’s going to be all right for Anzac Day. He won the medal last year so I’m sure he’s very excited about playing again.
He looks like he’s really back in good nick. He was a huge factor for you on the weekend wasn’t he?
He’s been getting better and better each week. He missed a fair bit of pre-season and he might have only had his first game back in the NAB Cup Grand Final. He only played about half a game on the weekend but when he was on he was certainly dangerous.
Another plus was the fact you were able to get some game time into Anthony Rocca.
It was great to have him back for his first game. He presents a big target down there for us. If the players don’t know where to kick to, he’s always down there creating a contest so if he can’t mark it our smalls are at his feet crumbing for a goal.
Well it was the Lions last week and this week it’s another of your old clubs, Essendon. You played in a few Anzac Day blockbusters – what’s it like for the players involved?
I played in about seven. I remember my second-ever game was an Anzac Day game, too, and it was by far and away the loudest noise I’d heard. You could almost feel the Southern Stand shaking. It’s a passionate crowd, full of Essendon and Collingwood fans.
This week it could be a very similar situation for a young guy like Jaxson Barham as it was for you years ago. His second career match looks like being an Anzac Day game, so what advice would you give him?
Just keep it simple. The game doesn’t change much; it’s just a bigger crowd. With bigger crowds there’s more noise and a better atmosphere. But having said that the ball’s the same size, the goals are the same size, the tempo might go up a fraction but outside of that you keep it simple and do what you’ve been taught throughout the pre-season.
