Good start, mediocre 2nd and 3rd, really strong finish... I think that's it in a nutshell. Good character.
I liked the start because that's when we are both fresh, both planned, organised and have got your plan set. But more than that, our effort and our ball use was a really positive quarter, then we lost our way in our midfield clearance work dramatically. That put the whole team under pressure. But we found a way to defend fiercely and once we started winning the ball, we were able to score and get really good ground position - 15 entries to seven - so got reward for our first quarter in the last quarter really, against what is a very good side. They are a bit like us having challenges thrown at them, I think Mooney went down.
They've had challenges like we have, both teams fought it out, so really pleased to get the 4 points and get some further belief out of the way we're going about our footy.
Was their clearance edge, in your mind, clearly a result of Griffin going down and was that the main reason they got back into it?
No I wouldn't have thought. I think Jolly's very good and controlled some of the hit areas, but clearance work's a lot more than hit-outs so I don't like that as an excuse.
We'll drill down, there's a little bit of a pattern out of the Gold Coast (game) so we got back to some of the things we were asking them to do and it turned around in the last quarter. So it's a bit about having some discipline in there, adherence to what the team wants and not what the initiative at the time is.
Is it fair to say that you got a bit fumbly in the 3rd quarter?
You've hit the nail on the head. During that third quarter I was a frustrated man in the box with dropped chest marks, lack of first handball, not backing off, 50m penalties. When you combine that with difficulties of clearance work, all of a sudden you are under more pressure than you should be.
How significant was the move of Michael Walters to the midfield in the last quarter?
Not sure, I think it helped a bit, he's a pretty good player. We see his ultimate destination through the midfield. Unless you're the Judd's or Pendlebury's, most players do an apprenticeship in the forward line. Akermanis, Luke Power and those guys - small forward roles and then you move into the midfield and ultimately that's where (he'll go). We've got Crozier, Simpson and Duffy coming up behind, and the long term aim is that will move Michael into the midfield where we know he's got the run and smarts and courage to thrive. But that's a little way off yet.
You've often said that it's not about personnel. You lost Hill before the game, you basically played a whole game without Griffin, did a performance like tonight prove that?
I think we've all got our common sense hat on. I think there's a tipping point and we understand there are lists that are growing and those that are mature. But certainly, when you're given an opportunity, if you work really hard over the summer and you have good preparation and you get an opportunity, you can do a fair bit with work rate, which I think we proved tonight. You can do it with work rate. I think Collingwood have been proving that with their young players as well. Common sense says you need a degree of mature, elite talent but in the meantime you can get through.
Give us your thoughts on Zac Dawson's effort as a ruckman?
I know he can ruck, he's rucked before. I thought he was terrific. I thought we left him too long in defence when we didn't need him and it unbalanced us. I thought it was significant him going forward to balance up the back line and it gave us a target, gave us a ruck and allowed Michael Johnson to play on Lynch or Swan when he went forward. I thought we were really unbalanced which I was slow to react, more slow than i should've been and it was costly. Fortunately as a coaching group we adjusted to that and got some balance back and him (Dawson) in the ruck, he competed. That's what we do know about Zac... he'll compete.
What' the early prognosis on Griffin?
Grave concerns that need to be legitimised with scans and orthapaedic surgeons who are really accurate in their assessment. Our sports doctors are very good but, in this case we defer to the absolute experts. they're amazing at what they do orthapaedic surgeons, so we'll wait for the scan and take it from there.
