Player Column – Captain Ryan Cook Rd 2

IT WAS a great way to start the year last Friday night beating West Perth. They won the flag only two years ago and the WAFL can change pretty quickly from season to season, but they still had 16 or 17 of their premiership players out there so it was a good team we beat.

Like our new coach TC said, you just try and scrap the first couple of rounds out and try to get the four points on the board, and that's what we were able to do. It's been a few years since we won a Round 1 game, but it was exciting to get that win on the board.

Getting that first round win takes a bit of the pressure off. I've been part of some good sides previously where we've got off to fast starts and it just takes the pressure off so that midway through the year you aren’t chasing your tail. The last couple of years we have got to midway through the year and looked at the ladder thinking we have a long way to go to try and make the four, so it's much better to start off on a winning note so you aren’t playing catch up.

Back on Friday night the first quarter did feel a bit scrappy and it was a different intensity from the practice matches, but coming out of half-time we seemed to not rely on the individuals so much and played well as a whole team. We had 22 contributors and that was a big reason why we played well in the second half and it felt like we had control. We have our brand of footy that we've been practicing over the pre-season with ball movement and how we want to bring it into the forward 50, and I think we capitalised on that pretty well.

Having Blayne Wilson and Kyle Hams there down back certainly helps us to set up play and all six defenders can use the ball that are back there, but Blayne and Kyle are pretty good at dropping off and reading the play. If they are going to get manned up after starting the season so well, we have others who can go down there and do that role as well. It's not all about the shutdown roles back there and even Whitey can go back there if need be because he was always a good playmaker before going into the forward-line over the last 12 months. 

It's then crucial having runners through the midfield as well. We probably have 10 to 14 mids who can be playing league throughout the year and doing that job for us. They all have leg speed and are good decision-makers so that should make it hard for the opposition to man us all up and take us on.

A lot has changed at the footy club since the end of last season and the start of this one, but the biggest thing has been everyone buying into the team philosophy that TC and the other coaches have bought in. Arthur Maskos has come up too from the colts where he was successful. It's all pretty simple stuff but we are all quite confident with it, and there's a bit of a buzz around the place.

On top of that, we've got Blayne, Adam Carter, Cory Dell'Olio and Kyle Hams all back into the club and they are all South Fremantle boys at heart which can only help in our culture and spirit around the place.

There really is a feeling that we are building something this year. That first year I was here was good and we played finals in 2011 and I probably thought it would just keep happening. I was always optimistic at the start of each year but the last three seasons just didn’t go that way with Hase. We are optimistic again this year and you just know with footy clubs if everyone thinks you are set for a reasonable year, and that's how it seems but it is a marathon not a sprint, and anything can happen. We just have to stay on course after a good start.

We now have Perth this Saturday. They came off a big loss at the hands of Swans and that could be good or bad for us, we just can't let them get their tails up early and hopefully we can run over them.

We are on 7mate this week as well for the first time and that's exciting. We have Schloithey who doesn’t mind that attention, Bewy gets pretty excited and so does anyone with hair to be honest. I don’t care too much, I just polish the noggin a little bit, but Schloithey bought new boots last week and now because it's a TV game this week he will probably get another pair this week for the occasion.