I was caught off guard when Luke Beveridge appeared in front of me last week.
We had our main session on Wednesday and I was walking over to my mentor Jamie Maddocks to do some extra work.
As I was walking up to him, Bevo popped out from beside him where I couldn’t see. He put his hand out and said “congratulations mate, you’re playing your first game this weekend.”
I called my mum to tell her the news and she found it a bit odd that I was ringing. She actually said, “are you ok?” I told her “I’m fine, I’m just a little bit shocked,” and she asked what was wrong.
I said, “you’re going to have to fly over tomorrow night,” and she picked up was going on. I told her I was debuting on the weekend and she was very emotional.
She started crying, which made me tear up a bit and we had a little moment together, which was really nice. It was a feeling of relief but also knowing that it was only the start of the journey for me.
Once I’d found out, a lot of the boys told me not to change my routine or do anything differently. I just went about the rest of the week the same way and I didn’t actually overthink the game too much, which was good.
I was very surprised with how much sleep I got on Thursday night — I had about nine hours. I usually have chamomile tea the night before a game and that relaxes me before I go to bed. That’s part of my routine, so it helped me stay calm.
Friday was game day so I slept in a bit and then had breakfast with my housemate Josh Schache. We caught up with mum and dad at the café not far from my house. That was good because I didn’t really want to talk about footy, I just wanted to blabber on about something else!
After that Josh and I just went back home and chilled out, watched a few TV shows and played a bit of Fortnite, which was pretty good to keep my mind off football. I always like to go for a walk before a night game, so I walked around the block a few times and started to visualise what I wanted to do during the game.
I came home and had a bit of a nap before making lunch and getting into some snacks. That’s what happens when I get a bit nervous, I start to eat!
Once we got to the ground, I had my guernsey presented by Jamie Maddocks. Usually you get told who’s going to present your jumper but I had no idea. I didn’t know where Jamie was and I was looking around and then he came out of the back of the playing group and appeared out of nowhere.
That moment really meant a lot to me — he and I have been through thick and thin together. I know he’s a coach but I think I’ve helped him a lot with his development as a person and he’s done the exact same for me in return.
