Heffernan, who had not played since the Grand Final victory last year, is looking forward to some strong wins ahead. Particularly given that his first two games back (he played in the VFL two weeks ago against Box Hill) were both losses.
“I got into the habit of playing in winning teams last year, but the two games I’ve played this year have been losing games,” he said. “I lead the reserves to a glorious loss and then went in the seniors and lost again. So a win would be nice.”
“It was good to get back out there. I was disappointed to lose, but we knew it was going to tough going up there. The body felt pretty good, I’m not too out of shape. I had done a lot of work with our fitness guy to come back as fit as possible. But I struggled out on the ground more touch-wise and skill-wise.
“I’ve missed a lot of training and a lot of match practice. So it wasn’t really a fitness issue it was more of a touch issue. I had a lot of trouble finding the ball and when I did I wasn’t quick enough to dispose of it, that was probably the biggest difficulty I had … hopefully I’ll improve on that this weekend.”
Apart from the pain of the knee injury, Heffernan also faced the pain of sitting on the sidelines as the Bombers ran over many opponents earlier in the season.
“It wasn’t too bad to start with when I was missing practice matches and the Ansett Cup. Then the AFL games started and I got to sit back and watch. It was really interesting to see how the team plays and how teams come up against us and things like that.
“But after three or four games it really started to become difficult to watch and became really frustrating. I went and watched every game, but I really would have preferred to not watch some weeks – it was that frustrating. So to finally get back out there is a huge relief.”
On the other hand, Heffernan had the opportunity to get a different view of the game.
“I did get the chance to learn a lot more about not just other teams but also our own team and how our guys play. And I’ll be able to use that when I do play. Some guys are more likely to baulk left or baulk right, kick left or kick right – you just pick up little things about teammates. That will help. When you’re playing you don’t get to watch that closely. But missing 10 weeks still means I’ve lost a lot more than I have gained.”
This week the Bombers take on St Kilda at Colonial Stadium, and Heffernan is looking forward to the game.
“After we lost the Carlton game, we put our heads down and worked hard and played probably the best three or four games of the season. So hopefully this loss will stir us up a bit and we can play the next three or four and have some good wins.
“St Kilda have got a couple of injuries, probably more key players than us, but we’ve got a greater number of injuries. So how we go will depend on what team they put out and whether they go for youth or experience. But the last couple of years we’ve matched up fairly well against St Kilda, so we’re fairly confident.”
