Voss hopes for fresh appreciation of AFL

Brownlow medallist Michael Voss hopes the AFL’s return will be marked by a fresh sense of apprecation for the code.

Port Adelaide assistant coach Voss hopes the season resumption results in a shift away from what he sees as the frequent negative critique of the competition.

“The natural thing you get when you’re first back is you get that excitement and you might just get that little bit more tension,” Voss told reporters on Wednesday.

“Guys … probably haven’t got the yards under their belt so it might be a bit scratchy to start off with.

“I really hope that as an industry we take our eyes off that a little and actually sit back … and we can appreciate the game for what it is.

“Enjoy the good things about the game rather than things we might not like.”

Port, ladder-leaders after round one, resume their season on June 13 with a fixture against arch-rival Adelaide.

Voss, a triple premiership captain and ex-coach of Brisbane, said the grudge match added spice to Port’s re-start.

“I’m a newbie to the rivalry but you’re left in no doubt where it stands between the two clubs,” he said.

“We want to kick off the season (resumption) well, obviously having the four points against anybody is pretty important.

“But it does sharpen your focus when you’re playing the Crows first-up.”

With the season restart just around the corner, Voss noted a sense of urgency at Port’s training this week.

“We have only got three team training sessions where we’re all together so each of those sessions become critically important,” he said.

“Not only from just trying to get the right load into the players … but how do we build that synergy with each other again.

“We felt like we were in a really strong place when we left, we feel like we were building a really strong connection.

“So we would like to be able to pick up where we left off.”

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