While the AFL's isolation break was tough on Tasmanian Mitch Robinson, the Brisbane tough nut was able to put things into perspective.
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During the eight-week period, the 30-year-old focused heavily on both his Rip Through It podcast and gaming channel, consistently sharing his skills on stream service Twitch while in isolation his fiancee and children.
"My time in footy is not forever and I can see the end date after a few more years in the system, so it was a good chance for me to see what it's like post-footy," he said.
"I pretty much spent it isolated in my house, I didn't leave pretty much until we got back to training to do other things. I had my gaming and my podcast to keep me busy during the time so I was pretty thankful we had some time to ourselves."
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Taking up gaming as a hobby when he moved to Brisbane after being delisted by Carlton in 2014, the Lauderdale product said he saw his followers rise by "a large percentage" during the isolation period but is happy to back training in groups of eight.
Training in a group featuring Daniel McStay, Ryan Lester and a handful of the club's younger talent, Robinson is confident that three weeks of training is enough for all AFL teams to be ready.
"In terms of being ready to go, the onus is back on the players - we've had eight weeks to stay fit and healthy.
"Some exercises we couldn't do because of the equipment we couldn't get access to but we can all run and do that kind of stuff.
"We still had access to physios around the clock, so we've got to make sure we can't judge anyone after coming back early because we had a great 12-week training program before the eight weeks off."
Admitting that no crowd almost shell-shocked him during the Lions' 28-point loss to Hawthorn in round one, the 191-game veteran thanked fellow Tasmanian, coach Chris Fagan, for his assistance during the break, calling the players at least once or twice a week.
"The boys are in ripping nick and we are ready to go, it's only a matter of time before we are out there playing. We don't know the fixture yet but when we do play, it's going to be a great game."
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Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
