Jezza’s Journal: West Coast’s Jeremy McGovern reveals his chances of playing & his tribute to Will Schofield

West Coast Eagles vice-captain Jeremy McGovern is keeping his home town in the loop as the club face an elimination final this week. Read Jezza’s Journal every Thursday in the Advertiser. Stuck at home in isolation has been tough but it’s exciting to be a part of finals footy this week. The last week has been a big one for us as a team and personally, I’ve had to tick a few measures off. I got through those well and this week is more about loading in a couple more training sessions, adding a bit more speed and see how my hamstring pulls up. Yesterday I had to get a big, full session in and if it pulls up well I should be OK to play. Our physios have been optimistic the whole time on getting me right and obviously with finals there is a lot on the line. The rehab has been done around how I’m feeling but everything has been done for the right reasons in a bid to get me up. I’d like to think by today or tomorrow we can declare if I will play. Simmo is pretty happy with how I’m going so I just had to get through training last night and then I’d like to think we make the decision that I’m playing in the elimination final. I think Harris Andrews from Brisbane is playing this week as well and he did a pretty serious hammy not that long ago and we play the same position. Isolation has been a grind. We can do nothing outside of training so it’s lot of time with the kids, I’ve mowed the lawn four times and the weather has been a bit iffy so we have lit the fire in the backyard a couple of times. I love the UFC and watched that on Sunday and a few boys at the footy club are getting into it. The fighting side of it is great but I take a big interest in the mental side of it and how they prepare for it. Finals start today and I’ll certainly have a look at the games. I don’t put it on my agenda but I’ll throw the TV on and if it looks like a good game Thursday or Friday night I’ll leave it on. At the end of our season we have to quarantine for two weeks so trying to book holidays is hard to do not knowing time frames but hopefully we go deep and worry about that later. Collingwood are a great side, we’ve had some strong rivalry with them over the years. They are a contested and a really good defensive side and I think we are both strong defensively. Normally I match up on Brody Mihocek or the second tall in Mason Cox and I’d say Shep will get the big job on Jordan De Goey. We are looking at bringing about five guys back into the team and it’s not ideal bringing so many in at once. But the calibre of blokes coming in — you want to play your best side and we’ll be as strong as we’ve been in a fair while. To make the grand final or win a premiership, it does feel like it’s a long way away but we’ve been here before. A lot needs to go right to get there but our eyes are firmly focused on this week. If you get a second chance the coaching staff, more than the players, can plan a bit. For us there is no planning for next week, we’ve got to get this week done. Hopefully we win and then what happens from there and who we play and where, is out of our control. Finally I want to make special mention of my close mate Will Schofield who has announced his retirement. Schoey is a great fella and a great servant of our footy club. He is the epitome of a great teammate, he has never been a hero or a superstar but he goes out and plays whatever role the team needs from him. When I was starting out he was like a father figure for me and he had an exceptional year in 2015 and that was our best defensive year. He is a premiership player, has nearly played 200 games and played his best game on grand final day in 2018. You would hate him if he’s on the other team but you love to play with him. Schoey will be sorely missed and will leave a great legacy at our club, and hopefully we play a few more games together. He is one of my closest mates having played down back together and he likes to say he got me my All-Australian jackets. I’ll happily give him the credit.