KEY forward Todd Marshall returned to the AFL side on Saturday after exiting concussion protocols, with the 24-year-old quickly making his presence known.
Despite having two weeks off, Marshall booted the third five-goal haul of his career in Port Adelaide’s 55-point win over Hawthorn.
On Wednesday, he spoke to the Adelaide media about his AFL comeback, his experience with concussion and the strength of the current forward line.
Marshall on his first game back after concussion
“Yeah it was good to get through the game and have no worries coming out of that but concussion-wise, head feels good and body feels good so to play well on return's nice and to get through the game is even nicer.”
Marshall on Saturday’s huge half-time score
“It’s not only the forward-line, the mids get involved, you even see (defender) Dan Houston kicking a few goals so it's everyone working together. Half the time it’s the forwards kicking the goals and getting the reward but I think as a group we're playing really well and by half time that crowd was really excited and it was good to be a part of.”
Marshall on having an extra week off after concussion
“I think it was pretty important. It was more my neck area, head was feeling pretty good, it was more my neck. I couldn’t really turn my head without pain so that extra week sort of got rid of that and allowed me to play on the weekend.”
Marshall on changing his approach to protect his head
“(It’s about learning a) really simplified tackle technique. Both incidents this year have been my fault and my aggression and intent to tackle, throwing the technique out of the window so sort of slowing my feet and staying at a level base and not getting too erratic. Hopefully no more incidents this year and in the future.”
Marshall on his level of caution coming back from concussion
“I think my first couple of training sessions back I definitely had a little bit more of that but I had a couple of big contests on the weekend and I was chatting to Ken (Hinkley) this morning about that and it was good to get them out of the way and trust your body that you can get up for those contests. I didn’t have any worries going into the game, I'd had a good session on the Thursday before and felt good so I think going forward I’m going to be fine.”
Marshall on the strength of the forward line
“We're all playing our role at the moment, which is really important. I think Ollie Lord's played really well since me and Charlie have been out and he plays the game the right way so he's going to be a great player for us for the future. We’re really excited to hopefully get Charlie back this weekend and under the roof. Hopefully we can get the ball going how we want to and kick some goals.”
Marshall on Tom Jonas playing SANFL
“He's always first class in my eyes, TJ. He’s gone back to the Maggies, he's played well, he's led well as well. It's a little show of recognition (being voted to wear the prison bar jumper at training) and I think TJ is doing it in the right way and it won't be long before he's back.”
Marshall on Ollie Wines’ leadership
“It's been really good, obviously he was the captain on the weekend and I really like his leadership. He obviously plays his game tough and hard and leads with his actions a little bit. He and TJ are similar in that sort of sense and for Ollie, it's good for him to grow his leadership too.”
Marshall on taking on the Western Bulldogs this Friday
“We know what the Dogs do and how good they are when they're up and going, so for us it's about trying to take that away. We obviously played them earlier in the year in Gather Round and it wasn’t a great night that night, it was a bit rainy so they couldn’t really get the ball moving so that's something we’re going to have to watch out for this week. We know their dangers and we know what we have to do to take that away so hopefully we can go to Melbourne under the roof and play our way.”
