BILL'S GRILL – ROUND 20

IT IS a great concept to play country games. What the best part of it is, though, is that country people are the lifeblood of our country and state in many ways so to get the game out to them is fantastic, especially if they aren’t able to get to the city to watch games.

They are always really supportive and you always get a good feed out there at country games with a little bit of humour.

Sometimes the logistics of moving 40 people from each club around, especially the ones that involve air travel, can get difficult and there's been a couple of iffy situations with late flights. Then in this case, we will be going by bus and you have to weigh up what is a suitable amount of time to be sitting on a bus on the day of the game. So there are a few things that can be issues, but they are issues for both sides so no one is advantaged or disadvantaged by that.

Our plan for Saturday is to leave Arena Joondalup by bus at 9.30am and it's expected to take about two and-a-half hours to get there. We will basically get off the bus and start our pre-game routine. We normally have our pre-match meeting before half-time in the reserves so it's a bit before 12.30 usually. We will probably stop the bus about halfway up and we will make sure the players have enough food and water on the bus because we want to make sure that they are in a good state when they get off the bus. It does pose a different challenge but we will try to keep it as normal as possible other than that.

It can depend where you go but we went to the thriving metropolis of Kalannie a couple of years ago which has a population of about 100 people. That can be an issue in terms of crowd sizes but the small communities deserve that opportunity as much as the bigger ones like Geraldton and Bunbury.

I think it's our job to take the game to the people and country football is huge, and is a fabric of their communities just like it is with netball, lawn bowls, tennis and sports like that. Without the sport in those regional communities, there's not always a lot to do so if we can play any part to help that then that is our responsibility.

The way you get received can often depend on whether or not the town is in your zone as well. If it isn’t, you generally just go up on a bus, play the game, have a quick feed and go home but when it is your zone we would normally send an entourage of coaches and/or players up early to run some school clinics, coaching courses, training sessions with the local teams and all of that.

When you do that, you get to experience the real country hospitality and they like to give you plenty to eat, and you have to keep knocking back offers to drink beer and all of that. You see that they are really proud of their communities and so they should be.

This pre-season we went up to Bruce Rock for a camp and that was really successful. They were proud to show off their facilities and town to us. When it is your country area it is a real privilege to be there, and they do really welcome you and they are excited to have you there. You always run into groups of kids who look up to the players. When I was a kid I idolised footballers and sports people, and this is their opportunity to see some top-level footballers.

The AFL has become such a big business now that it really has become just about out of reach of the normal families so the WAFL has a unique place in the sporting culture in our state. The fans can still go out on the oval at the quarter-time breaks, you can have a kick with them before and after the game, and it really is like a festival feeling when you play country games.

The players really enjoy the country games as well. Especially after the game when they get the chance to see how important part of a role WAFL football plays in bringing the game to the people who don’t usually get to experience it.

It's very exciting to take such an important game to the country as well. I'm not sure that country games are usually played this late in the season either and there is a lot of stake this week for both us and Perth.

We are trying to tick off a couple more boxes to finish where we want to and Perth had a bit of a setback last week so the people of Moora and the surrounding area are going to be treated to a fantastic game. It should be good from that perspective and hopefully a good crowd will turn out to watch it with both sides putting on a good spectacle.

They are well-rounded up forward and have been a high-scoring team all year. Their midfield is also good and their backs are solid so we know that we are going to have to be at our very best and it will take a strong defensive performance to cut them down.

Dan Hunt is the only player that will come back from the guys who missed last week. VB and Petters are two, three or four weeks away and that will cut it pretty fine for those two but Dan will be back this week.

Physically the East Perth game took a lot out of us and it was a real slog against a big-bodied side, and there was a lot at stake. I thought we handled and played the conditions very well, but it did take a little bit to get our bodies over that and I think that contributed to our inconsistency last week against Peel.

We are in a reasonably good spot with our list at the moment with just the three or four injuries with VB, Petters, Rasmussen and Johnson who we would prefer to have out on the park but we are working hard to spread the load so that whoever plays does their job. 

BY BILL MONAGHAN