Pretty frustrating first up, particularly with ball use?
All credit to Geelong. What they did, they did really well. I’m probably a little disappointed in myself. I could have prepared them for a couple of Geelong mechanisms they do well. They have done them for a long period of time. I sort of take responsibility for that. That was really well coached by Chris and his team and they did well. They got back on us really well. I thought when the game was up for grabs – some of the execution and some of the basics – but I thought in the second quarter, they got back on us really well, which you expect AFL sides to do, but you can certainly put yourself in a better position to deal with it. And then I thought on transition, they were out. So, we weren’t handling them getting back on us and we weren’t handling when they go it. That’s disappointing and can be a bit of work rate but a fair bit of positioning. I will take full responsibility for that. I know, within that performance, I see a fair bit of potential in us and a fair bit of hope. I know we’re better than that. But it’s my job to bring that out in the player group really quickly, so there will be some simple focuses at the review. It didn’t happen by chance; there were strong mechanisms that they use, so there is some really good learning for us, but we need to learn quick. That’s probably our real frustration. I sit here kicking myself a little bit. We fought on, but when the game was over, really. We could have been a little more efficient at the end. To their credit they did it well; round one did it well; there is a bit of discipline in things I spoke about, discipline to your role. And not allowing Geelong backs the freedom they had and midfielders the freedom they had.
Anything more specific about those mechanisms you speak about?
I thought they got back on us really well. You have to make AFL teams defend, we didn’t make them defend really well. They outnumbered us where we were kicking it and when we transitioned it, they got out on us. We could have stopped them, but we didn’t stop them very well either.
A lot of costly turnovers deep in defence, how much do they hurt you?
They happened early and they are not ideal. But that wasn’t the issue. We could have had those and won the game if we had have fixed those things I spoke about. So I walk out of here with a clear direction of what I need to coach and deliver in the review and the players know that. I have asked them to self-educate a bit and ask if they were a part of that issue. Again, all credit to Geelong, they are a really strong team. They look the way, but I don’t think the scoreboard is a true indication of where the two teams can be.
New look forward line, how did you rate them?
They were a part of the problem, but our midfielders and backs probably didn’t help them. So that probably accentuated the problem. I think (Cam) McCarthy had a number of shots on goal. I think it’s a work in progress.
(Aaron) Sandilands was dominant in the hit outs, do you think you capitalised?
I think we had entries from clearances and we scored. There were good opportunities out of the middle. I think we had equal shots out of the middle, so good shots from our attacking mids. A couple of forward 50 goals and a couple of free kicks. I thought we were ok.
How did you see the first game for your new recruits?
I think everyone will be better. I don’t think there were any standouts, so I think they all have improvement, as our whole team does, as I have and our coaching panel. We have to go ahead and improve because we didn’t get the result we wanted, but we’ll continue to work hard and build on our effort, There is plenty of growth in us. We don’t like sitting here talking like that. Your product, round one, you have had a fair time to work on it, but there are some things we need to tighten up and improve on quickly.
Shane Kersten hasn’t done much performance-wise in the pre-season or tonight. How long do you give him?
I think he’s done enough to get selected, everyone is entitled to their opinion but clearly I disagree and our match committee disagree because we thought he had done enough to pick him. You can focus on that didn’t work and that didn’t work but I thought he had plenty of half-opportunities that he turned into halves but if he could turn them into full, we are preaching different. At the end of the day, that’s AFL footy. It’s like me, if we had done things a bit better maybe it would be a different press conference. He knows he needs to be cleaner with the ball and take those opportunities and I think he could’ve been a good player tonight.
Matt Taberner doesn’t always take WAFL form into the AFL. After five goals on Saturday, do you bring him in?
In fairness, I just finished an AFL game so I’m not here to conduct match committee. I’m here to go home and review. I watched the full game down at the WAFL. The difference is you guys just see pure numbers, I see more than the metrics. There’s a bit more than the raw numbers, particularly when you are winning by 100 points and the other team failed to be competitive. I think you’ve got to put all that in context.
You warned during the pre-season that it would take time. You spoke about the next four years. Is this an indication tonight that it is going to take time?
You can draw whatever conclusions you want. We are aiming as high as we can and we’re looking to go and improve and aim to win next week. That’s the business we’re in. You can’t play finals and win until you’re in them. We’ve got another 21 opportunities to earn the right. That’s as simple as you can make it.
There have been a lot of high scores this round. Do you see that as an on-going trend?
You can make your own judgement. It’s not mine to give general commentary on everything. I think we have this conversation every year don’t we and in the end it’s a small sample, everyone adapts and who knows (if it will be a trend). I’ve lost my crystal ball.
Chris Scott said he expected you to get better as a side as the year goes on. Do you share that opinion?
He’s a pretty good judge, Chris. He’s a very good coach isn’t he? His record speaks for itself. I would think we would get better. Really simply, how we will get better quickly is to fix those two things I’ve spoken about.
Zac Smith pulls out before the match, do you expect teams to do that throughout the year, with the third-man up rule, conceding that Aaron is going to win the contests?
I’m not sure. I think we are happy with our two. That’s not why we won or lost I wouldn’t have thought. It was very blustery conditions, Blicavs was very good, confident. We’ve got to capitalise. I thought we capitalised ok. But that wasn’t the issue I wouldn’t have thought.
Your midfield as a whole looked good, Stephen (Hill) had a great game. They worked quite well having (Nat) Fyfe and (Aaron) Sandilands in there.
Yes Connor Blakely went through there later. Lachie Neale, he’s still coming to hand a little bit. Tucker, Hill and Pearce. Harley Balic – talk about WAFL form he was super in the WAFL in the last two weeks so he is building, which is really good… putting pressure on. We’d love to give those guys an opportunity. Ethan Hughes played quite well. We’ll go away and assess it. The midfield - I think we can all get better, but I think everyone is saying that. There’s a bit of life there. I expect them to be at the pointy end I would think. The first one I would’ve expected us to perform better so we walk away disappointed.
Any injuries?
Not that I’m aware of.
