When this pre-season came around I was concerned. Not concerned about how my body would hold up, but rather how I would approach it mentally. Would I be able to get up for it? Would the passion still be there?
 
I’m happy to tell you in my first post for 2009 that mentally and physically I am ‘up’ for season 2009 and the passion is burning deep inside.

The truth is I have never felt better. Whether there is a secret to it I’m not sure. Maybe it’s the fact I am married to Chloe now and everything is going well off the field. Perhaps it’s a combination of things including focusing less on footy and more on all the other aspects of my life.

We also moved house in the off season and spent a lot of time down at the beach with the kids. It was nice and relaxing.

I have a family to focus on as well as some business interests outside of the game and I think that balance comes with age and also makes footy more enjoyable.

If I was asked a few years ago how I felt about the game, there would have been a different answer to how I feel heading into a season and my focus as a younger player was simply footy, footy, footy. It was on my mind all the time.

As we head into this season I’m not even thinking that next year will be my last, certainly not by my choice anyway. People might say Mat Rogers is getting old, but I believe you’re only as old as you feel.

My goal is to be the oldest player in the NRL, but not to be looked upon as the oldest and I’ll achieve that by playing good footy.

I think I’ve still got plenty to offer right now and am ready to show it. You might even say I have the total package.

Wait; sorry I just confused myself with William Zillman who has been dubbed ‘The Total Package’ since coming to the club based on looking like a Bulgarian weightlifter who has the endurance of Hicham El Guerrouj and the speed of Usain Bolt, although the latter was put in doubt at yesterday’s sprint training.

‘TP’ hates the nickname too, so I can see it sticking.

At training there are a few boys who have impressed me but Ben Jeffery has to be at the top of the list. Ben’s not one of the biggest guys at the club but he certainly has some strength and knows this year he has a challenge with some youngsters coming through and is training accordingly.

Another is Jordan Atkins, who started with a bang last year, but the kid who I can see having a big impact is David Mead.

Dave played for PNG in the World Cup and made a real impression. I have heard there are a few big money offers floating around for him, but really hope he decides to stay here on the Gold Coast, where I think the lifestyle will suit him better than down in Sydney. The Gold Coast is a good place for young players and the club really looks after them.

There are a couple of big forwards on the books who don’t look too bad in Selasi Berdie and Siosaia Va Ve.

Va Ve has a lot of skills and if he uses them as well as he uses his mouth then he will have a huge career. In all seriousness he’s a great guy to have around the team in the sense that he has great team spirit and reminds me a bit of Wendell Sailor in that respect.

While training has been hard we enjoyed a game of touch footy the other day with some South African cricket legends such as Allan Donald, Jonty Rhodes and Shaun Pollock.

Being Rugby fans they actually asked me to join their team. I’m pretty sure Scott Prince was a bit upset about that. They all showed plenty of skill, especially Rhodes who has some great hands and hasn’t lost any of the speed he displayed when running countless batsmen out during his cricket career.

For the record Jonty bagged a double.

Unfortunately when it got tight Princey turned it on and the game became the Scott Prince show as he led his team to victory. Regardless of the result I was stoked to play alongside some sporting legends.

Mat.