Footy-free weekend before Round 1 is not as wild as it used to be, writes Adam Cooney

ADAM Cooney lifts the lid on what players really get up to on their last weekend of freedom before the season starts, and why they couldn’t get away with his nightclub antics.

TO AFL players, this weekend is known as the “last supper”.

After a pre-season that started back in early November for many teams, this is the last weekend without footy for another six months.

In my first couple years of playing AFL football this was traditionally the final time to have at least a two-day bender.

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Training winds up about midday Friday. After a quick ice bath and shower the whole playing group would assemble in the meeting room for the annual CEO/footy manager’s “don’t undo all your good work over the pre-season by stuffing up over this weekend” speech.

Everyone had a chuckle on their way out, knowing that ultimately there will be at least one off-field indiscretion during this hectic 48-hour period.

From there hopefully one of the lads in the social committee has organised a Friday afternoon barbecue and a couple of beers to celebrate the official ending of the pre-season and to signify the beginning of another long, gruelling AFL year.

Adam Cooney says the free weekend before Round 1 can be a trap for players.

As the sun sets most of the older, experienced statesmen would go home to their families or fly interstate that evening for one last relaxing weekend before the hustle and bustle of football season begins.

What I liked to do when I was younger was rally the troops — Ryan Griffen, Shaun Higgins, Farren Ray, Tom Williams, Brian Lake, Wayde Skipper, Cameron Faulkner — and really “kick” from there.

My mindset at that age was: “It’s a bloody long season and mentally draining at times. I want to make the most of this final weekend of freedom”.

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So we would don our best pair of Stevie jeans, brightest Ed Hardy shirt and attempt to talk our way into a boutique nightclub and party til the wee hours.

Saturday would be much the same — have a bit of a lie in, rendezvous in the arvo at my townhouse in Maribyrnong for a series of drinking games followed by the Spy Lounge/Billboards combo.

Grab a drink card on the way in and let the orange Bacardi breezers flow.

At 21 I finally clicked that this wasn’t the best preparation leading into Round 1 (this also coincided with my beautiful wife moving in with me and straightening me up a touch).

Also, the professionalism and scrutiny on players was rising significantly in the mid 2000s.

It was no coincidence that ditching the excessive drinking pre — and even during the season at times in my rookie years — led to me being a much more consistent player and enabled me to train harder earlier in the week instead of going in with the mentality of just trying to get through Monday and Tuesday if I’d had a big weekend.

Don’t fret though footy fans, it’s highly unlikely that your boys are out on the tear for a two-day bender this weekend.

Cooney would “rally the troops”, which included Brian Lake, for one last good time before the season started.

As the years have progressed the players of today are a lot smarter and more mature than I was (95 per cent of them, anyway!).

These days it would be nigh on impossible (very rare at least) for a group of young players to go out partying for two days straight without it (a) affecting their training week, and (b) getting back to the club via social media.

From about the age of 22 onwards my “last supper” would consist of a barbecue on the Friday after training (the chief and footy manager still go through their annual routine) with all the players and staff where I would have a couple of beers and home to bed by 9pm.

Saturday and Sunday was spent catching up with family, relaxing and enjoying waking up not feeling as if you’ve been backed over by a semi-trailer.

The nerves and anticipation begin to build that weekend too, as a new season brings new uncertainty. It doesn’t matter what level you’re game is at or how well you’ve attacked your pre-season, there are always doubts on how you and your team will perform for the year.

So my advice is enjoy the weekend boys, relax and appreciate the down time, and get ready for a monster 2017.

I’m sure you’re all professional enough not to make the same mistakes I did as a youngster!