McDONALD, WILLIAMSON AND MEDLAND ARRIVE IN WA

McDonald, Williamson and Medland arrive in WA 

Victorian recruits Jackson McDonald, Matthew Williamson and Sam Medland arrived into Perth this week. To pass the time while in quarantine, the 3 players reflected on their journey to get into WA. 

We first spoke to the club towards the backend of 2021 and the journey to get to this stage has certainly had its ups and downs.   We all arrived into WA this week to the news that quarantine has been cut to 7 days- which has been a rare moment of good news in our adventure. That was balanced out by Jacksons luggage getting lost on the flight over.

We certainly didn’t anticipate our move into WA to be so difficult. We initially planned to arrive into Perth before the start of pre-season in late November but once the borders closed,  it was a waiting game.

We were lucky that we were able to train with our clubs in Victoria pre-Xmas, Jackson at Coburg, Matt at Essendon VFL and Sam with Aberfeldie. We certainly appreciate the support those clubs gave us.

Once the commitment to open the borders on February 5th was set, we quickly began to organise flights, rentals, employment and the relocation of our gear.  Over the Xmas break, we all trained together and planned to do so for the couple of weeks before we left for WA.

Matty D (Matthew D’Aloia, EF S&C) had provided us with our own programs and everything was moving forward but then the rug was pulled out from beneath our feet. 

The delay of the border opening was a kick in the guts but East Fremantle were committed in getting us across, no matter how long it took, which was reassuring and certainly took the pressure off.  Our employers in WA have also been understanding and we certainly appreciate that. It certainly made things less stressful.

The next challenge was to gain a G2G pass and at various stages that looked like a bridge too far, with a couple of knock backs along the way. We got some excellent guidance from the club and the WA Police and we are thankful for that. 

We are now all settled in our new house and trying to keep busy as we pass the time. The club decked us out with a small gym and some footballs and we have set up a 20m running track in an effort to do some work while we wait.  Between training, backyard cricket and games of FIFA, we are working our way through quarantine, being good mates has certainly helped. 

We are all looking forward to joining the group next week and meeting all the coaches, staff and players. We have been communicating with the boys as part of our Shiver groups but it’ll be great to finally put faces to names. We’ve heard great things about what’s going on at East Fremantle and we can’t wait to jump in and get to work.

Jackson, Matt and Sam.