ASSISTANT coach Troy Chaplin says the players and coaches are fully aware of the importance of this Monday’s clash against Collingwood at the MCG – from an entire club and community perspective.  

From a personal point-of-view, Chaplin said it was a privilege to be involved in his first blockbuster clash on Queen’s Birthday and Neale Daniher’s ‘Big Freeze at the ‘G’ campaign.

“I’m really looking forward to the day – my first with the club – so to have the Big Freeze at the G, along with the celebrities going down the slide, makes it a monumental day, particularly for us,” he told melbournefc.com.au.

“When I was at Richmond, I always watched this game, given the significance of it. Being a standalone game and in front of a big crowd – we expect both teams’ supporters to come out in droves and we hope it’ll be a big crowd.

“The purpose of the MND campaign and helping Neale Daniher, a past coach of the club, is a great cause to be involved in.”

Chaplin, the club’s offensive coordinator, said the round 12 encounter loomed as a genuine challenge for Melbourne, given Collingwood had won its past three matches.

“It’s a pretty big game for a couple of different reasons. There are two teams in similar situations, in terms of wins and losses, although Collingwood has played an extra game than us,” he told melbournefc.com.au. 

“They’ll be coming into the match full of confidence, no doubt, and we’re coming off a good win and a break, so our guys have freshened up. Hopefully we can get the win coming off the break.

“The guys trained well on Tuesday and we’ve reviewed the first half of the year, and we’ve got the players and coaches to commit to things in the second half of the year, so we’re all on the same page. We’re looking forward to the back half of the year.”