DRIVEN: Fremantle ruckman Jonathon Griffin will use last year's September omission as a motivating factor this pre-season. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: PerthNow
PLENTY of Fremantle players are beginning this pre-season spurred by the pain of last season's finals exit.
One big Docker has been dealing with the pain of not even being out there in September.
Ever since he arrived at Fremantle two years ago, Jonathon Griffin has been asked whether he and Aaron Sandilands can play together.
Quietly but with an inner-determination, the wholehearted ruckman has continually reasoned that the pair can.
It is a belief Griffin continues to hold despite enduring the most frustrating period of his career.
The 26-year-old played 13 matches last season, the most he had managed since 16 for Adelaide in his debut year in 2007.
But after coach Ross Lyon experimented with using both he and Sandilands together for just the third time in the easy Round 23 victory over Melbourne, Griffin was axed for the finals and missed the Dockers' finals triumph over Geelong.
"It was hard to take, but you move on. It was really difficult to watch the finals," he said.
"That's what you play for all year and pre-season, so it's going to be something that I'll use to drive me through this pre-season and hopefully I'll have a good pre-season campaign and push forward for a good 2013."
Griffin will return to training on Wednesday with Fremantle's oldest players, but will be on light duties until after Christmas following surgery on his troublesome left hip.
He carried the problem throughout last season, including when called on to shoulder the ruck load for nine consecutive games through the middle of the season when Sandilands was out with a serious toe injury.
"I played through it pretty much all year. It stirred up a lot of things like my hamstrings, adductors - just stuff that I had to manage which made it frustrating," he said.
"I just tried to play the best footy that I could and I thought I was playing some pretty solid football.
"But the coaching staff and the match committee made the decision (to drop me), and I back their decision. I'm just going to use that as drive for this season."
Griffin has rarely been tested in attack during his two years in the west, with most of his games coming as a ruck replacement for Sandilands. He's adamant he's capable of forming a dangerous combination with skipper Matthew Pavlich up forward.
"It's been difficult because of that. Because Aaron's been out, it hasn't really given us the chance to experiment much with me up forward and Aaron in the ruck, or Aaron up forward and myself in the ruck," he said.
"Hopefully both of us can be fully fit and we can show them that we can make it work. I'd love to work alongside Pav in the forward line and also work alongside Aaron in the ruck.
"Hopefully I can spend some more time up in the forward line in the pre-season and develop that part of my game. I love playing up forward; I think most people do."
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