By Luke Voogt
Gryan Miers has vowed to use this year’s grand final loss as motivation for 2021 before commencing the Cat’s first pre-season practice for first- to fourth-year players.
“I’m quite passionate, so I don’t really reckon I’ll ever get over a grand final [loss],” the exciting 21-year-old small forward told a press conference on Tuesday.
“Even if I won one later in my career, I’d still kind of be like, ‘I could have had two or I could have had three’.
“So I’ll never really get over it but I’ll definitely use it as motivation.
“I did that last year when we lost to Richmond in the prelim and then we ended up making the grand final.”
The Cats watched their 2019 preliminary final loss to Richmond in the first week of training this year, Miers revealed.
“I think I will watch [the 2020 grand final] at some stage,” he said.
“They’re nearly a spitting image of each other – the two years – how half time we’re in control, we’re looking really good and we’re a half away from one, making the big dance, [the other], winning the big dance.
“You should reflect on it, you can’t just hide it away and think it didn’t happen, because it was a big thing in our lives.
“If we use it as motivation we could definitely win it [next] year and in coming years.”
Although the day after the grand final, when Miers and some players walked into a Gold Coast pub, was too early, he admitted.
“It was on the big screen, so it wasn’t ideal.”
The players asked for the channel to be changed, he added.
After a week “with the boys” on the Gold Coast and returning home to surprise his girlfriend for her birthday, Miers was thrilled to return to training.
“I think it’s just exciting to be back at our club [and] see the smiles on everyone’s faces,” he said.
“For me, it’s just seeing all of my mates again and being able to work towards a goal.”
He looked forward to training and playing alongside star trade recruits Jeremy Cameron, Isaac Smith and Shaun Higgins.
“The people they’ve brought in, they’re no short of star status.”
Miers joined other promising young players at the pre-season launch including Brad Close, Esava Ratugolea, Zach Guthrie and Greek-Australian basketball prodigy Paul Tsapatolis.
Miers said he would approach recently-retired champion Gary Ablett Junior for advice in the future and that he was a “nice guy” and a “massive part of my growth”.
“I’m just letting him enjoy his time off. But I’ll definitely have some questions down the track for him.”
