'Internally the belief has always been there' | Caleb Serong

Caleb how was the break uh an engagement yes yeah it was great few days it was um obviously a little bit of different break than I've had in the past so had a great few days with kind of family and friends and and Chloe so um yeah it was it was a really nice few days and then after that obviously rested and recovered and refreshed and ready to get second in the second half year do you feel refreshed after the break did the black com of good time for you for me personally yeah yep it was um I don't know you kind of have different parts the year where you kind of start to feel a little bit more fatigued or overloaded or or mentally fatigued whatever it is and um yeah felt like the last kind of week's been really good um feel really refreshed energized um and yeah the boys have all come back feeling the same way the the training standard today intensity and then Saturday as well has been through the roof so it's been exciting is there a concern that maybe um such a big win and then a bar you kind of maybe lose momentum a little bit uh we don't really think about that too much I think if you had to oldest L into the m game we would have won won like that we would have taken it and um we're not really concerned too much that the B came that week we were looking at as a positive it was a it was a chance to refresher a lot of guys and for us like we want to manage momentum both in games and week to week we want to show up the same um after a good win as we do after a tough loss so it shouldn't affect the the way the guys are preparing mentally or physically and and for us like I said it was chance to refresh and then the last few days been a really good sign to see that the way guys have really applied themselves to training again you having a fantastic season personally do you are you sort of self aware that how well you're going and that you know that you're right up there in the brown markets and you're being spoken about as an Australian again and all that sort of stuff there's an awareness and obviously it gets spoken about a little bit but my attention's solely focused on how we're going as a group and and also as a Midfield group I think as a group we're really growing um and early in the year there was a few new pieces coming in with Yi and then see sha B out and Jacko coming in and as a Midfield group it's really exciting what we're getting to and I think on the weekend our scores from stoppage against mour our scores from stoppage up on what they've been and we've been doing a lot of the the groundwork and getting a lot of things right around clearance and clearance numbers and the next thing for us now is becoming really damaging as a group and and getting more bang for buck from those and that's been now my focus um as an individual and investing in teammates and um I feel like the rest of the stuff kind of looks like looks after itself talk about the offensive side of things the tag is back again in the AFL and Bulldogs obviously got B and P do have you guys spoken about that are you looking at maybe going head-to-head with him or is it a tag and option uh there's always things in place I think each week like there's a lot of things behind the scenes going at that might not specifically be a tag per se where but there's there's roles and um things at stoppage or in transition that that we put in place and we've played the doggies this year um and we had some plans in place for him that we felt like we're able to kind of work work pretty well and obviously he's still gonna have impact on games he's a he's a star he's in my opinion the the best player in the comp in what he's able to do um both offensively and defensively and as a team player and as a leader so um he's someone I look up to as a as a player and um he's going to have impact either way but it's how we as a group and and whoever gets the role kind of manages that and maintains it but as a group we've got plans that will be put in place as we do every week can you go to JL and be like hey I want to go head tohe with this guy let me have a crack um there's sometimes that I'll do that and and other times um it's kind of yeah just a team kind of thing and and he's he's a fair bit bigger than I am so um it's probably not a head-to-head matchup that we're going to go head-to-head the whole game we got guys that are a bit more served to the the bigger bodies and stuff and um kind of work work a bit better in that space and then like someone like like Liber for example who's um a very highly rated clearance contested player um is someone that I also look up to that it's also got a lot of impact on their team so it's not just Bon it's Liber it's if Ed Richards is playing and he's come into the Midfield and had a really big impact and and um tror like it's not just one guy they've got a really good Midfield you had a bit of a mixed first um half of the season after that win last week do you go into the second half now thinking you know anything is possible um oh definitely but but that's kind of been a bit of a thought throughout the whole start of the year like internally the belief's always been there and really high um like we've played some really good footy in the first half of the year and there's been times where we haven't been good enough and there's been times in games where we've let ourselves down for a quarter that's lost us a game or a 10-minute period or whatever it is but consistently across the the first half of the year we've been playing the kind of footy that we want to play um aside from probably the Derby and and and that's that's something that we'll learn from but aside from that like we feel like across the board there's been a lot of growth but also a lot of consistency and um for us now it's it's how we put that in game four quarters together and that was probably the first time we did that against Melbourne which was really exciting but for us not much changes the belief's there internally and now it's just about going to putting putting four quarter performance um on the park week in week out now that you've seen that you can do that put a four quarter performance out is it easier then to do it week after week well it's definitely when you experience something and and exposed to it it definitely heightens and increases that belief especially for a young group that there's guys here that that haven't played in a like a successful team over a longer period of time where it's just week in week out you just put performances and Bank those wins so for us we're on A New Path and a New Journey and and we're doing it together and we're learning a lot along the way but um I think it does it only helps like it can't it can't be a detriment in the way that we are wide and and the way that we talk we and week out like I said before it's process driven it's we want to show up the same week in week out and and I guess the the behind the scenes belief that will grow from performance like that can only be a positive you old made of yours Rory lob it's been in the news over there a little bit about a potential another move and there was a bit made of the Bing when you got jumed out have you guys all anyone reached out for him and said all or I'm sure there's yeah I'm sure there's guys that are kind of still close to him and will reach out and still mates because there's a few guys that are still close to them but um yeah I didn't really watch much footy over the weekend I kind of disengaged and and kind of got away from the footy side I didn't kind of see any of the stuff over the weekend but um yeah I wish him the best and um I'm sure he's getting an opportunity to play some footy now and and put his best foot forward so um wish him the best when you sort of had that reset for the second half of the season do you come together as a group after that buy is there any specific individual goals or group goals that you really then Target that you change after the that point of the season um not really in terms of anything that changes for us it's just doubling down on what makes us us and our strengths and our weapons and what we're building at the moment and um that Improvement will come week in week out the way we're going about it but I guess we kind of just focus on on what we can control and getting back and I guess what we've done is give ourselves a platform to build from and you get to this part of the year and and sometimes yeah like we were last year we're down kind of in the bottom half of the eight or kind of Midway part of the sorry bottom half of the bottom eight and you're kind of you're struggling to kind of see that that belief and um this year is a bit different we're we've giv ourselves a really good chance to build in this second half of the year and um give ourselves a really good chance to to play finals footy and um be where we want to be come September time cuz yeah last year this time of the year we we didn't really have that opportunity or we'll kind of P pushing stuff up here to try and get there so um it's exciting and and for us what it's doubling down on us the G that fight CED a little bit of criticism as well for his performances and so Sunny um how do you sort of back those guys in for the second half of the year just filling with confidence that we back them in we uh there's a lot of love in the change rooms for those two guys and and the other guys are coping a little bit of a a little bit of uh fluck as well in terms like sha and Luke and how that's going to work so those guys got a lot of love in the in the four walls from the coaching staff to the players so I'm sure they feel that um and it's our job to make sure they do um I think yeah we spoke about it after the game those guys had a great impact in that game and they responded really well to that criticism and and that's fine that's everyone's that's everyone's opinion and they can write what they want but internally we we value what they're doing and we understand the role that they're playing in this in this team not only on field but off field with their leadership as well Brandon Cox was out there today how's he traveling will we see him soon yeah he'll see him soon he's gone really well he's going really well he's the work he's put in over the last three or four months has been crazy he's um really tough kind of period for him with the the pre-season missing a lot of time um obviously with his kind of leg issue and then kind of getting back and then doing his hammy again so it's been tough for him he spent a lot of time in the cross training room and and getting to work but his application to that and his strength program and everything he's um he's a better athlete for it and now it's about getting back out in the field and getting into footy so few things to tick off this week hopefully and it might see some minutes this week but um yeah it's kind of he's got a few boxes to take this week but it's it's not far off