We heard you call the game a professional performance, is that what you asked for?
You always want to improve but fundamentally we came here to improve our football and I thought we did that in a lot of ways. In the Port Adelaide game our effort and our ball winning was really good. We didn’t get the reward for the dominance on entry. We worked on it during the week, we pointed it out and I thought we were a lot better at finding targets inside 50 and scoring.  There was a bit of inaccuracy in the end, it could have been more, but we’ll take that improvement. We also knew that Geelong were being challenged, James Bartell, a champion of the club was out with concussion, Steven Motlop a disciplinary reason. They (Geelong) were squarely focused that everyone had to step up. They didn’t disappoint, they had 70 tackles, which is a lot. They worked and had some young players in and they are a team in transition. I thought we went about it in the manner that we expect of ourselves and in the end I think you could describe it as professional. Our effort, ball use, defence and clearance work was all strong. It wasn’t perfect, a long way from it, but it was a pretty good brand. We’ve already spoken about the fact we have West Coast at home they’ve had a thumping win, they’re up and about and it’s another challenge that lay's in front of us in a weeks time. We’ve moved on pretty much already.
 
The spread and run both ways seemed to be really overwhelming?
We think we’re a really good running team, which everyone does but it’s strength of mind as well and we’ve worked really hard over the summer. When you reach for the work, it’s there because you’ve done it. We did run it out, I thought we could have been a bit better in the last quarter. We pulled the sub maybe a touch early then Zac Clarke went off with a knee. There was a bit to like, we ran and moved it. I thought they (Geelong) never gave up, they kept fighting but in the end we could have finished a bit better.
 
In regards to your forward fifty efficiency what was it in particular?
It’s not a complicated process it’s up around 50 per cent scoring percentage. So one of every two entries you should basically score in. Last week we clearly weren’t but today we were. What did we have? Twenty nine off 55 and then it’s a bit about well you want them in the corridor and you want to nail your set shots. We probably missed four or five from thirty to forty metres out in the corridor. It can be a tricky breeze down here and fatigue can come in. You create the opportunities and then goal efficiency is obviously helped by accuracy.
 
Will Nat Fyfe take it to another level this year?
I’m not great post-game, I thought it was a pretty even team performance but I know Nathan played pretty well. He’s pretty special in the air and I thought the longer it went the better he got and he dominated the fourth quarter. They are great signs, our midfield is very strong. It’s won and lost in the midfield they’ve had a couple of injuries and suspensions and we took our opportunity there.
 
How did you rate Michael Johnson and Luke McPharlin against their big targets?
We thought they’d (Geelong) play three (talls) and we’re happy being a little bit undersized at the moment, if you could call it that, because it gives us real run and bounce out of there. As long as the pressure up the field is strong we’ll defend it quite well. I thought our whole back six fought on and I thought they had some moments. Tom Hawkins is always going to take some monster marks, he’s a pretty special player. Mitch Clark’s a big boy who can take a mark or draw a free kick. So they had their moments, but overall I was pleased with them.
 
Was the plan to have Garrick Ibbotson as that plus-one?
Not really. Geelong have been pretty good, sometimes they’ll hold their six forwards and sometimes they’ll roll one up and spit one out. It’s just about players making decisions. He played well on Justin Westhoff the week before, he played well in last year’s finals, so he’s a mid-tier player that’s really building and I think he can get better again.
 
How is Zac Clarke?
I think it was his ankle early and then late, because he had that knee issue, I think he just flared it up a little bit, the posterior. Other than that I haven’t got the full report, they’ll scan it. It doesn’t seem (bad) on the surface but you’ve got to let it cool down. We’re really expecting that he’s okay. We’ve got Jon Griffin, Jack Hannath and Michael Apeness at Peel playing pretty good footy that we’re looking at, so if one goes down another needs to step up.
 
How well placed are you for the derby?
They’re intense games and it doesn’t matter where you’re placed on the ladder. Our players know that. I think particularly when the Eagles were so strong, we were able to get up and get some victories. So it’s not about ladder position. We’ll be squarely focused on it and it’s started now with the recovery. We need to come with our effort again and give ourselves the best chance.

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Did you see the Ballantyne-Taylor incident?
No.
 
Are you going to persist with Taberner to compliment Pavlich in the forward line?
I thought he was pretty good, the kid. He kicked 1.1, caused some spills, gave Michael Walters and Hayden Ballantyne (opportunities). He only played one game at Peel. We were quite pleased with him. It’s his third season, 196cm tall, 96kg, off a rookie list – it’s a pretty good pick by our recruiting team and our development team and Matthew is working pretty hard to become an AFL player. We’re quite pleased with him. He’s got plenty improvement and they take a long time, but he’s on the right track.