Rick Ladson's diary

EVERYONE was very disappointed to lose by so much to Sydney at the weekend. It’s not good for your confidence. You can’t just forget about it though, even though you want to. You have to look at it and see where you went wrong before you forget about it. They’re a quality side and they just showed the force they are over the weekend. We were slightly off in a few areas and they made us look silly. Their intensity was way better than ours.

We talked about it after the game but we were pretty quick to start focusing on the fact that we finished fifth and from where we’ve come from over the past few years, having not been in finals since 2001, that’s still a great effort. It’s going to be a huge experience for our team because only four or five guys have played finals footy before.

Because we’re playing Adelaide, the loss to them in round 14 (by 71 points) has entered our minds but we learned a lot from that game. They’re another quality outfit and very disciplined so we’re looking forward to the challenge at the weekend. In a way for a young side to be playing their first final against quality opposition is a great opportunity for us.

Just like at the weekend, we can’t let anything slip in the way that we play the game. We can’t let them play they way they want to play. We’ve got to match them for intensity and endeavour and try and stop them getting their game up and going.

This week we haven’t brought up anything about the last time against Adelaide. We haven’t used anything from the weekend (against Sydney) either. We just want to concentrate on this week and we know that if our intensity and endeavour’s there we’re going to be in the game. That’s been our focus all week. The season’s over and this is like a new season for us.

As for my season, I’m quite happy with the way it’s gone, especially after all the injuries I’ve had in the past. I played every game last year and I’ve only missed two this year. That’s doing a lot for my football and my confidence. I think I’ve played some of my best football this year and I look forward to playing some more good football while I’ve got the chance.

We’re making a point of the fact that we should be excited and looking forward to the challenge in front of us. These things don’t come around too often and our senior players have been waiting six years to have another crack at this. As a young group we want to play well for those guys because we want to succeed and we want them to go out in the right manner. They’ve got a few years ahead of them but this is our first step to bigger and better things.

We’re not doing anything different this week training wise. You don’t toy with those things, especially when you’ve been doing them for a long time.

There’s a lot of hype in the media. You do have a read of the newspapers and obviously you can’t escape it because it’s really blown up in the papers. But it just makes you more excited when you read up on it and realise how big it is.

The best thing about our footy club at the moment is we’re young and we’re vibrant. We think that we can win any day. You have to have that attitude, otherwise you’re not going to get too far.