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Please be advised that i’m no longer blogging here but you can find my new, improved and “very exciting” blog at http://matthewpavlich.beinvolved.com.au/ Hope to see you there soon...!!

This Saturday night’s ANZAC Day game against Sydney at Subiaco is going to be a special one to play in. Not only is it an opportunity to play on the most important of national holidays, honouring those who fought for their country, but also because Fremantle Footy club is going to play its role in celebrating the day.

The club does a lot when it comes to recognising our veterans and observes the traditions of this great day by remembering all our diggers with its annual Len Hall game.

The Len Hall Game is named in honour of Western Australia’s last Gallipoli veteran Len Hall, 1897-1999, a member of the 10th Light Horse Regiment and one of the last men to leave Gallipoli. Len enlisted in August 1914 and saw service at Gallipoli and in the Middle East at Beersheba. Len was born in May 1897 just one day after the very first VFL football match.

In this year’s ceremony, the club will pay special tribute to the combined Armed Forces, the Australian Army, the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The ceremony will also remember the sacrifice of those who did not return from war and pay homage to those currently in active service.

As I said earlier, it will be a special game to play in and it would be great to win our first game of the season on such an important day.

As a nation I feel we have taken great strides in recent years when it comes to acknowledging the sacrifices of those who fought for this country and whether it be by making a pilgrimage to Gallipoli or by getting up early and heading down to your local RSL for the Dawn Service I think young Australians have really embraced the day and its traditions in recent years.

It’s great to see such a sense of pride in this country and I firmly believe ANZAC Day is taking over from Australia Day as our ‘real’ national day of celebration.

On a personal level I have spent the last few ANZAC Day’s getting up early for the dawn service, but with a game on that night I think it will depend on my sleep patterns as to what I get up to.

Regardless of any of that, I will be showing my respect the best way I can. And who knows, if we get a win, there may be a few celebratory beers and two up a bit later on.

The last week hasn’t exactly been an easy one for us at Fremantle, especially in terms of media coverage. First there was the loss against St Kilda and then the ‘other incident’.

Despite all the criticism there was always going to be a bit of short term pain for long term gain on the field and I’m viewing it as an exciting time for the club as we fast track the development of some young players. Will there be some bumps in the road? Absolutely.

I think some people can form uninformed opinions on the matter whether it be the media or public opinion, but internally we know we are moving towards our goals. Would I have preferred a winning start to the year? Of course, but I guarantee we are doing everything possible to deliver results.

Sometimes you can get frustrated with the media, but you simply can’t fight them. Getting on their wrong side doesn’t help either, although I do sympathise with Matthew Richardson, who let them have it during the week after all the criticism the Tigers have copped.

This week we have the Swans in another tough encounter. Sydney are an even team right across the park and will fight hard. I thought they were very good when defeating an in form Carlton last week. Add to that it’s Brett Kirk’s 200th game and they will be well and truly up for this one.

Pav

The AFL in general showed the critics last weekend. We showed the game is still an attacking sport and not one where a defensive mentality wins out. I have heard plenty from journalists, pundits and fans who are not happy with the evolution of the game, but I think it’s at a great place.

To them I say I believe the game has changed for the better and that is not a knock on the way the game has been played.

I loved footy in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s when the trend was to kick the ball into a pack of players in the forward line.

But the game has changed. These days we play a running game with handpasses flowing freely and kick to open forward lines where hopefully there is a one-on-one contest there for the forward to win.

I think it’s just as entertaining if not more so considering there was an average of 28 goals per game in round one.

I think the only game which looked defensive was probably the Sydney V St Kilda battle, which was a low scoring affair.

I don’t think the rushed behinds rule had as much of an effect as many thought it would and really was a non –issue.

Now I have got that off my chest I want to talk about Fremantle. I think there were plenty of positives to take out of our clash with the Western Bulldogs and I don’t think the 60 point margin in any way reflected the way the game was played or its closeness.

That’s not to take anything away from the Bulldogs, they were the better team, it’s just I felt the game was a lot closer than the scoreboard indicated.

Yes, we were taken apart in the second quarter and well behind the Dogs at halftime, however in the third quarter we had 14 shots on goal, but our kicking let us down. It is an area which can be improved upon.

We fought hard against a skilful team who have been together a while and I thought Lindsay Gilbee was outstanding for them and really made his mark on the game.

As I mentioned there were a lot of positives for us and two of those were in the backline.

Chris Tarrant looks rejuvenated and those who know Taz would know he is taking to this with plenty of enthusiasm. He  has plenty of attributes to his game which are suited down back, especially his ability to take a mark and his closing speed. I have no doubt the transition can’t be easy after close to 200 games as a forward but Chris is doing very well.

I also felt Stephen Hill was good on debut and looked like he had been playing in the AFL for years rather than being a debutant.

Every year it seems there is speculation upon my role in the team and the truth is I may push up the ground some more rather than playing as a deep forward, but I will still spend a lot of time in the forward line.

I’m looking forward to playing Essendon this week and think we can get a win, though at this stage of the year the AFL is at its most unpredictable.

I’m also playing Toyota AFL Dream Team on http://dreamteam.afl.com.au/ and would encourage fans to get involved. It’s a bit of fun and always great to have bragging rights over your mates. I even managed to fit myself into my squad.

Pav

2009 has rocked around and I’m hoping it’s a good year for everyone out there. I’m really looking for a good year for us boys at the Fremantle Dockers footy club.

Before I get on to the topic of footy though I thought I might mention the end of 2008.

After the footy season ended with a cracking Grand Final between Geelong and Hawthorn my girlfriend Lauren and I headed off for a fantastic European holiday.

We spent a week in Croatia, just over a week in Italy, France for 5 nights, Barcelona for 3 nights and then back to France for another 11 days.

The whole trip was fantastic, there wasn’t a single day I didn’t enjoy and while I would find it hard to pick a favourite place I think that both Lauren and I enjoyed the smaller towns a lot more than the big cities.

You could get a real feel for the culture in the small towns, particularly those in the Croatian Islands and in the French wine regions of Burgundy and Champagne.

I really enjoyed the wine regions and I don’t mind the odd glass of wine, so getting to taste premium French wines was a bit of fun. Having grown up in Adelaide mum and dad would always have a glass at dinner from the Barossa or Clare Valleys and I think I got a bit of an appreciation for wine from there.

I also really enjoyed Barcelona. We stayed at the end of La Rambla in the gothic quarter. La Rambla itself is an amazing, long street full of markets, shops, cafes, bars and street performers. You name a product and you can probably buy it there. The street is a hub for trade and culture and it’s somewhere I certainly enjoyed.

I also enjoyed the architecture in Barcelona. Gaudi’s churches look amazing, especially the incomplete Sagrada Familia. The church is beautiful and the architectural vision that Gaudi had come to life is an architectural and artistic masterpiece.

I came home and got stuck into pre-season training before Christmas for a tough six weeks, before yet another break, where I spent my first Christmas in Perth.

I usually go home to Adelaide for Christmas, but this year we had Christmas with Lauren’s family and my mum, dad and the family flew over here for it. I also had a few friends come over and we headed down near Margaret River for New Years.

It was then back to the hard slog of pre-season training on January 5 and while I don’t necessarily think the pre-season is any harder than it has been before, I do know we have put in a lot more kilometres this year and have done so in some oppressive heat.

The last 3-4 weeks have been quite warm here in Perth and we have been  doing our best to not only train hard to make ourselves the best we can be but make sure we stay hydrated.

At this stage of the year every team says they are training harder than normal and it’s really a bit clichéd. What I will say is no one will know how much their pre-season has helped them until the end of March.

Obviously we have had a significant change to our list this year. About a third of our squad are new and we have 20 players under the age of 20, which has shifted us from having one of the oldest lists in the AFL to one of the youngest.

I think having a young list can be an advantage in the sense that all the young guys are keen and raring to go. Younger guys breed enthusiasm and having them around makes things very exciting.

I’m very excited by the potential a lot of the young guys are showing on the training paddock and hope they can develop quickly, because at the end of the day developing their talents to a higher level is what we need to do.

A few people have asked me whether having a leadership role changes or becomes more difficult with the younger squad, but I really don’t think it changes much.

As far as star performers in pre-season training go I’d have to nominate Garrick Ibbotson, Ryan Crowley and David Mundy as the players who are setting the pace and looking impressive in 2009.

Pav

It’s been a big week in AFL and both Geelong and Hawthorn are going into this Grand Final full of self belief, thinking they will be the victor tomorrow afternoon.

I believe the Hawks can really test Geelong.  Even though they lost to them previously, they would have taken plenty of confidence out of the round 17 battle with the Cats, where they went down by a narrow 11 points.

However I see Geelong going back to back in 2008. I think it comes down to the class they have in the midfield.

Gary Ablett, Joel Corey, Jimmy Bartel, Cameron Ling, Joel Selwood and Corey Enright all ooze class. While the Hawks have a great midfield, including the likes of Luke Hodge, Sam Mitchell and Chance Bateman, I believe the Cats have a better one and are capable of stopping the Hawks getting good forward 50 entries, which is the key to beating them.

If Hawthorn get good service to Buddy Franklin, Mark Williams, Cyril Rioli and Jarryd Roughhead then that will give them the opportunity to really threaten the Cats.

Unfortunately for David Wojcinski he won’t be a part of the 22 man team who run onto ‘the G’ tomorrow and I can’t even imagine how tough it would be to get that tap on the shoulder. It wouldn’t have been easy for Mark Thompson to make that decision either.

I will be at the Grand Final tomorrow as I have a few duties on game day. After that I will settle in to watch what should be a cracking game of footy with mixed emotions and I think the overriding one will be jealousy!

I’ll also be looking on from a critical standpoint and try and see what it is that the Cats and the Hawks do well and how we can apply those things to help us improve at Fremantle.

The other highlight of Grand Final week is always Brownlow night and this year was a cracker. I actually think there is more pressure on the girls on the red carpet then there is on the boys to win the medal.

I thought my girlfriend Lauren scrubbed up particularly well.

The actual result was a little bit of a surprise to me. I always thought Adam Cooney would poll well, but I was of the opinion one of the Geelong boys or ‘Boomer’ Harvey would get it, but looking back someone from the Bulldogs was always going to poll well.

Cooney got quite the reception for his win and I was a fan of his speech. It probably helped him to have a few under his belt to loosen him up for the speech, which was quite humorous.

While I am sure the red-hot favourite Gary Ablett was disappointed he didn’t win, he would take a victory tomorrow over the Brownlow and I think he will get that. Geelong by 13.

Pav