Dual Olympic gold medal winner Kieran Perkins, spoke to the Essendon team on the eve of its Stadium Australia match on the weekend. Pierkins spoke about his Olympic experiences and how his self-belief helped him achieve his goals. He drew parallels between swimming and AFL and how it is important to set small goals to help achieve long-term goals. ""From a team perspective, it was good to hear how a champion goes about being a champion and what he has done to achieve his goals. He was very motivating and it was interesting to hear about his experiences as an athlete,"" Steve Alessio said. Pierkins spoke to the players for 30 minutes and then the Bomber players had an opportunity to ask the Olympic star questions.

Perkins is currently working on building his business empire in the Asian region with his wife Samantha and has no plans to return to the pool. Bomber coach Kevin Sheedy said one of the major things that stood out to the team was Perkins is only 28-years-old and he is retired from his sport. ""That was one of the major things that interested the team - why do Olympic games athletes and people in other sports, retire at 28, 29 years of age when they can still be superstars,"" Sheedy said. Perkins believed that he had achieved all of his sporting goals and was now focussed on further his business career.