The pride attached to representing the red and black during the annual Challenge game isn’t lost on Dean Solomon.

For the close friend of former teammate Adam Ramanauskas - the man whose battle against cancer helped birth the Club’s association to the Challenge organisation and a two-decade-long partnership  - this weekend is an opportunity for the Dons to gain some perspective and take to the Marvel Stadium turf with a renewed focus.

With the Bombers already feeding off the energy from a heartwarming banner making event and slumber party with the Challenge kids, the recent re-signing of budding star Nate Caddy is giving Solomon another reason to smile in the final weeks of the season.

Acknowledging his group being ‘in the swamp’ on-field at Wednesday’s Windy Hill presser, Solomon remains steadfast around their desire to fight on.

Solomon on… Challenge

It’s a big weekend for this football club that started a long time ago. 

We acknowledged (‘Rama’) at the time with the yellow armbands and that was our ‘Call to Arms’, which has become what it is today and obviously we draw attention to kids with cancer. 

It’s a really important thing for us to shine a light on that. Supporting those kids means a lot to us and we’re proud to represent (the Challenge guernsey). 

Adam’s a great mate of mine and was a great teammate. He wasn’t even in the prime of his career yet and was struck down a few years after a premiership – it was tragic at the time but the way he fought through that and conducted himself is incredible.

What it’s become today, I know he’s very proud of it.

Solomon on… training at Windy Hill this week 

Windy Hill is the spirit of this club.

It’s an amazing venue, a lot of work has been done internally here and a lot of money’s been spent for it to come up unbelievably well. The whole of the club are here today to connect and we’ve made it a focus to come together a lot over the last six weeks.

It’s always nice to walk back through the doors and I always get goosebumps coming back here. It means a lot to me and the players.

Absolutely (coming back here can help galvanise the group).

Little opportunities like this to connect past and present is always important but also to have our AFLW program here as well and the whole club, (we can) connect on a deeper level.

Solomon on… Caddy’s commitment

It’s incredibly important.

You love the attitude of Nate and he’s got the confidence in the people steering the ship.

We know we’re wading through a swamp and it’s hard but there’s only one way out. Nate wants to be a part of the solution and we love that – this club will turn.

There’s no magic wand, it’s just going to take the right decisions, getting the right people in the right places, rolling your sleeves up together and shifting the needle.

It starts somewhere and maybe (Nate’s decision) is where it starts.

Solomon on… headspace

The focus is trying to produce a competitive football team at the moment, that’s where I’m deeply invested.

I’m the coach at the moment, so I’m responsible for our performances and I wear that. I’ve got to get to work on changing and shifting it, bringing the baseline up.

We’ve got a tough draw coming up, it’s not going to be easy, but it’s a challenge I’m looking forward to embracing and changing the way we’re playing. 

At the moment, we’re not producing and we’re not playing to the level we expect. My focus is solely on that - as far as the Senior Coaching discussions, nothing’s progressed in that space.

I spend 23 hours a day trying to work out how we can get this club back to being competitive in the short-term and respecting the oppositions we’re going to come up against.

My head is buried in thinking about how to make individuals believe again and be confident in the way they play – but collectively how we become hard to play against as a team.

(The other hour), I’m setting the alarm for a 55-minute sleep.

Solomon on… Zach Merrett’s response 

Zach’s fine. 

He’s a proud person, he understands that the weekend’s performance wasn’t where he wanted it to be, just like 22 others. They’re all expressing their frustration, but I know what the response will be from Zach. 

He’s a champion of this club, he’ll bounce back.

Even in this morning’s meeting, he was commenting on our form, what we can do, providing solutions. I know there’s a narrative and people have their views on Zach – if no one believes me, that’s okay – but internally he is driving as hard as he can to make us competitive again.