THERE'S no doubt indigenous players bring an air of excitement to the game.

They're very talented players; the sort of players the crowds come to see. They have the ability to turn a game on its head.

They're very skilful and exciting, and there have been a few exceptional indigenous players throughout the years. Michael Long comes to mind, and I'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who has been as consistent.

The Indigenous Round concept is fantastic. It's a great idea that recognises the contribution of the indigenous boys, and I'm sure all of them across the league will lift this weekend.

You've got Andrew McLeod, who is still exciting to watch, and there have been the likes of Gavin Wanganeen over the years. There has been a number of great indigenous players – even going back to Polly Farmer.

I played a fair bit against Michael Long, not on him personally, but in the same era, and he was always a consistent player. There's been so many though, I'd hate to single out any one in particular.

They play on natural instinct, on natural flair and with no inhibitions. They go out there and they play the game on its merits. And that's why they're so exciting to watch.

We've had two, three and sometimes four Aboriginal players play at stages throughout this year, so there's no doubt we'll have a few of the indigenous boys running around this week.

I haven't spoken to Leon Davis, our most senior aboriginal player, but I have no doubt he'd enjoy playing in this round. There's no doubt he'd love it and would rise to the occasion.

I think there is a special bond between the indigenous players at our club. You can see it around the club, at training, and Leon has been fantastic for the other boys, particularly Brad Dick and Shannon Cox.

He's taken the two of them under his wing, and has certainly looked after them, given they are first-year players. There's no doubt there's a special bond there.

Looking back on the weekend, it was disappointing to lose to the Bulldogs. We had a good first half and a disappointing second half, pretty much. We were pleased with some of our stuff in the first two quarters, but then they ran over us.

The boys have been going really well, but unfortunately on Sunday they just couldn't maintain what we've been trying to do.

We talked about what we need to do better at post-match, and what we did well, and we've moved on from there considering it's a short week and we're off to Brisbane.

It was a bit of an aberration, in terms of some of the effort that we've been putting in, but the boys did their recovery on Monday, and because of the short week, you almost don't have time to feel sorry for yourself.

We really just have enough time to get back into it this week.

I don't think the loss will cause a mental battle for the players this week, because the boys have been going so well. It's not like we've lost the last three – it's only been one game among a few wins.

I don't think it hurts to drop a match every now and again. You don't want to lose too many – you don't want to lose any – but if you do, there's always stuff to learn from it. It's a short week, and all will be forgotten by Tuesday.

The Lions have been a bit up and down lately, so we don't pay too much attention to last week's result against Essendon, because they've been a pretty good side this year.

We've just got to cast our minds back to some of the good games they've played this year and probably concentrate more on them than last week. You have to look at all of their performances, otherwise you'll get a false sense of security.

Their midfield is still their strength and Jonathan Brown is a big strength up forward. Their style of play is a challenge, but their midfield and Brown are the biggest dangers.

We shouldn't have too many changes, certainly from an injury point of view. It will come down to match-ups and how we want to go into the game.