Back in the Round 16 team to take on Richmond this weekend, Josh Corbett knew he had to earn his second chance at AFL-level this year.
Corbett made his debut in Round 6 and played seven games before being dropped to the NEAFL.
Last week he responded with a best-on-ground, six-goal performance against the Sydney Swans Reserves.
The hard-working forward said he needed to go back to the NEAFL to regain his confidence before having another crack at AFL football.
“I understood that I wasn’t probably playing up to the AFL standard that was required at the time,” Corbett said.
“I had a really good chat with Stuey and the coaching staff and understood that I needed to go back and work on a few things.“That’s the beauty of the club at the moment, it’s so competitive and there’s a lot of talented footballers so if you’re not playing to AFL standard there are boys that are ready to go straight into the AFL system.
“So it was good for me to go back and get some confidence back and I’m really looking to grab this opportunity again.”
Corbett has been fine-tuning his game in the weeks out of the senior team, working on his goal-kicking and marking skills to go with his strengths.
“I’ve been working really hard on my goalkicking and it was really pleasing to get some reward for that effort (in the NEAFL),” Corbett said.
“I find that my work-rate has been a big strength of mine but obviously at AFL level there’s boys that can also run just as well with you.
“It’s trying to figure out some small one-on-one little techniques to be able to manoeuvre opponents around the ground.
“Obviously the running is my big asset but also at the same time I needed to continue to work on my one-on-one contests.”
Returning to take on the Tigers at Metricon Stadium, Corbett says Gold Coast now have more avenues to goal in the forward line, but will have to work hard to reap the rewards over Richmond.
“I’d like to say that I’d be able to pencil in a few goals now but they’re obviously a really good outfit,” Corbett said.
“If we bring four quarters of football hopefully we’ll be able to get a few goals.
“At the end of the day with our competitive nature and the boys that are around the group it doesn’t matter who’s kicking the goals, as long as they’re going through we’re a really tight-knit group and we’ve got the support of everyone.”
The match kicks off at 2:10pm on Saturday, with the NEAFL playing a curtain-raiser beginning at 10:15am.
