TOUGH-nut Jack Viney says he’s champing at the bit to play against the Western Bulldogs at Eureka Stadium, after missing Melbourne’s opening NAB Challenge clash.
Viney did not play against Fremantle at Fremantle Oval on March 5, due to a knock sustained at training. But he said he was ready to go on Saturday.
“I’m really looking forward to it. I lived in Echuca for a couple of years and loved playing country football there. It’ll have a good feel about it and I’m looking forward to getting out there and playing in front of a big crowd hopefully,” he told Dee TV.
“It’s been a long pre-season. The [ICC Cricket] World Cup has pushed back the [AFL season] a couple of weeks, so we’ve done a lot more running.
“But [I’m] really looking forward to getting out and finally getting my hands on the footy and trying to hurt some blokes on the opposition team.”
Viney said it wasn’t the first time he had suffered a blow in the pre-season.
“It seems that at [this stage] of the year, I always get a head knock. I think it’s happened every year,” he said with a smile.
“I [missed] the main training before last week’s game, [when] I missed a tackle on Heritier Lumumba. He went to fend me off with his elbow and it copped me in the head.
“It was nothing major and I wasn’t knocked unconscious or I [didn’t] forget what happened. We were [due] to fly out the next day to Perth, so there was no reason risking it and the [medicos] got me fresh for next week and I was all sweet to go.”
Reflecting on his pre-season, Viney said it had been his strongest yet.
“Personally, I’ve probably had my best pre-season so far, in terms of numbers and training sessions and volume,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what that can produce in terms of performance.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing what I can do.”
Viney said he was hoping to spend more time in the midfield this year, although he expects to still play a high half-forward role.
“I’ll be playing both roles – pretty similar to last year,” he said.
“Hopefully I’ll get a few more midfield minutes, but we’ll just see how it pans out.
“We’ve got a lot of young guys coming in and a lot of good midfielders in the team and they’ll be getting their fair share in the midfield as well.”
