Red and WHITE – Craig White column August 22

The Break. Mad Monday, Footy Trips, Holidays, Cricket, Golf, Fishing, Races and Beers – everything that can be enjoyed in a players off-season.

Most footballers and l will use the word ‘most’ because a small minority may not agree that the eight weeks we get off a year is the most enjoyable eight weeks of the year with no meetings, ice baths, sore bodies, 400m runs and weights.

You enjoy the spare time like every other person would normally.

Mad Monday (don’t be late) signals the start of the off-season and it’s a chance for all the boys to let their hair down and have a beer (or 20).

Normally beginning at 9am on the Monday after the last game, Mad Monday normally brings about some great memories. Over the years l have witnessed a 100 beer shots in 100 minutes, a player get a bull ring through his nose and a player lighting all his hair on fire.

Next to follow is the footy trip and I think l have experienced the highs and lows of what footy trips can be.

My first ever footy trip in 2004 was to Geraldton for the weekend (what a blast). The last footy trip that l was on in 2010 was to Las Vegas and in between we had trips to Thailand, Sydney, Bali and New Zealand.

I am thankful, as are a lot of other boys at Souths, that we have had an opportunity to travel and see the world (mostly bars and clubs). By the end of a footy trip and a full 10 months of training and playing with the boys it is finally time to say “I don’t want to see you boys for the next eight week.”

The next eight weeks for me is about switching off completely from football.

I enjoy some time playing golf, I enjoy a Friday beer after work and maybe even a sneaky trip away with the girlfriend (if she’s lucky).

I put on my Australian cricket selectors cap and find ways to get Shane Watson out of the team, and his hundred last night in a dead rubber game of the Ashes series is going to make my job even harder now.

For other boys at the club there is a common interest of fishing, surfing and punting on the horses which takes up plenty of spare time.

By the time this eight weeks is up you start to get the itch back to catch up with the boys from the club.

Don’t get me wrong, though, there is no itch whatsoever to start running time trials or pushing weights but the banter and camaraderie of being at the football club is what you look forward to and what gets you through the next pre-season.

I will finish off in saying that the year has not gone to plan on the field in term of wins, but we have seen some major improvement in effort and consistency over the course of the year.

I am sure that after the players have had their well earned break and a big pre-season that you will see a vastly improved side in 2014.

By Craig White