Home is where the heart is for Perryman

After a breakout 2019 which featured 19 games and a grand final appearance, the 21-year-old remains the same laidback country kid who loves nothing more than getting his hands dirty at the family's Collingullie property.

With the AFL in lockdown Perryman has been busy helping Collingullie-Glenfield Park player Jayden Klemke complete a deck on his house, a few beers on a Friday night his only payment.

"You don't want to get too carried away because coming home, you get put back in your place pretty quickly," Perryman said.

"I know for a lot of the boys, it's doing their head in. They're stuck in town (Sydney) and can't do anything but at least I'm out here on the farm and can do a bit of work, it's been good fun.

"At first I was thinking I'd have to stay in Sydney and it's not going to be good, but as soon as they found out the club let everyone get home.

"I wish I was playing footy on the weekend but I'm loving it to be honest being back here working.

"We've been flat out on the farm, we're putting all our crop in for the year and there's always something to do."

The lockdown didn't come at an ideal time for Perryman.

He produced arguably the best performance of his AFL career in round one against Geelong, booting four goals and racking up 20 touches in a 32-point win.

Perryman had only kicked four goals in total in his 36 previous games, and is likely to break his Brownlow votes duck.

"I've been carrying on a bit and I was looking forward to playing the next week, but you can only worry about what may happen the next few weeks," he said.

"I didn't kick too many goals last year and I've always wanted to kick more, especially on the wing where you get a fair few chances.

"It would have been nice to play a few more, we always thought we'd eventually be held up but not that early."

Looking back Perryman feels the Giants were perhaps a spent force, mentally and physically, before their 89-point grand final loss to Richmond, who kept them to their lowest-ever score of 3.7 (25).

GWS had spent plenty of fuel edging Brisbane by three points in a semi final at the Gabba, before holding out a surging Collingwood by four points in the preliminary final at the MCG.

"It's a pretty big week, and we had a couple of big weeks before it. In hindsight, we were probably a bit cooked on grand final day," Perryman said.

"At the time you don't think you are, but three big finals on the road can take it out of you a fair bit.

"A lot of us boys will definitely learn from that, I can only seeing it as a positive that we'll be better for it once we start going again."

Perryman is no stranger to a long layoff from football after round one.

Last year he puntured his lung in the season opener against Essendon and didn't return until round nine, before playing the rest of the year.

Off contract at the end of this season, the Giants had held initial talks about re-signing Perryman, but all AFL contracts have now been delayed until the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic is known.

"I know the club was talking about it a fair bit and I'm pretty keen to stay on up there, but we have to wait and see what happens once this virus passes by. It would be good to lock something in," he said.

"It's a bit frustrating to have all this happen, but they should start talks when it's all over and done with hopefully."

Until then, Perryman will ensure he's ready to make hay by going on runs with his brothers and some hard yakka on the farm.

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