Jezza’s Journal: West Coast champion Jeremy McGovern pens his latest entry after a derby win as skipper plus his take on the strange bus ride to Optus and how footy fans are spoilt with 20 straight games

What a feeling Sunday was playing in front of almost 30,000 people in the RAC Derby. It was massively notable you were in a stadium with fans for a change, they were loud and even though there wasn’t many West Coast fans, it certainly made a difference to the game. We got the win and played a bit better footy. I forgot about all the stuff that comes after the game as skipper. It is just part of the role and I made sure I thanked sponsors, the fans and Freo for the game. One downside with the current landscape is JK (Josh Kennedy) wasn’t allowed to have his kids run out on the ground with him in his 250th game. That sucks because you don’t know when that opportunity will come again. It felt strange taking a bus to the game on Sunday. We had to drive to the footy club and catch a bus to the ground. I drove past the stadium on the way to the club and then caught the bus in with the team for a game in Perth which has never happened previously. The latest fixture announcement is great news for the footy diehards. It is hard to wrap your head around what’s going on this season. You brace yourself for one thing and then something else happens. It is hard on all clubs and players but we’ve got it the best at the moment. I know the Vic teams are doing it tough having spoken to (my brother) Mitch. Mitch has just come out of quarantine, Carlton fly over here and then have to do another two weeks of quarantine. This time of year people are managing injuries and trying to get through. With this next block of games it is hard to rest anyone. Say you want to give someone a week or so off, they could miss three games. It will be good to get a look at it from a broadcasting perspective, playing weekday games might be a way of the future. Footy fans are spoilt, having 20 games in a row is great news. People that don’t watch footy might not have much option other than to watch the footy, and we might even gain some more fans. It does make it hard on the players with short turnarounds. It is touchy ground we are entering and hopefully no one gets seriously injured. We are just lucky we don’t have to deal with travel at this stage in this block of four weeks. This weekend the boys that aren’t playing finally get a scrimmage against Collingwood and we get out of our quarantine on Sunday which is good. I wouldn’t be surprised if the AFL put some restrictions on us but it will be good just being able to get out and do the essential things, like grab a coffee or take the kids for a walk with the dogs. I can’t imagine we’ll get too many days off in this next little bit but the club will do what they can. At home we’ve gone from one extreme to another. We’ve gone from not seeing each other for five weeks to spending all day every day in each other’s grill. I’m fighting with Hudson to get my bed back, he’s been sleeping with Mum and looking after her while I’ve been gone. Training is taking up a fair bit of time but my days are spent doing things around the house and I’ve got the lawn looking smick. I’m watching a show called Ozark at the moment and I love my Discovery channel and National Geographic. This week is Collingwood, which is a big test to see where we are really at. They are one of the best sides in the comp and the last few games with them has developed a bit of rivalry. Our restrictions get lifted on Sunday morning so I can’t wait to go for a walk and grab a coffee on the morning of the game, which is my regular routine.

Jezza’s Journal: West Coast champion Jeremy McGovern pens his latest entry after a derby win as skipper plus his take on the strange bus ride to Optus and how footy fans are spoilt with 20 straight games

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