What did you make of that Trent?
It was a good game of footy to watch, probably a better one to watch than coach. I think the AFL would have been happy with it but we gave up a few more goals than we would like with the way we played. We were really happy with our midfield, we got on top and were dominant through there and our forwards, once they went to work, finished really well and kicked 11 goals which is a great effort. It gives us a few things to work on which is really good.

It was a tough contest in the midfield, did you expect that going in?
Yes, we know that Richmond play really well and every game that we’re in is going to be like that, because that’s the way we play and sides bring that heat back to us. That’s what we expect and it’s clearly no different to what we’d be used to.

How did you manage to open up the game in the last quarter and kick five goals?
It’s probably the heat, it really played into our favour. This is mild normal weather, it’s been 40 the past five days in Perth. For us, we didn’t even mention (the heat) – I actually mentioned it because we knew it would be an advantage for us. We wanted to keep running through that and we have so many options running through the midfield we thought that hopefully Richmond at this stage might tire a bit. Dana East, who had a fairly quiet game, I thought her last quarter was really influential in opening the game up. We could leave Hayley Miller, she was fantastic, but she finished on the bench and Bowers went forward. It was a good luxury to have when we’ve got those young players coming through.

How happy are you having that depth to start the season?
Really happy, we were definitely not strong enough in that area and we still have to be proven against the really good teams as well. Last year, we were found out with our depth through there. Bowers and Miller are obviously really good players but Gabby O’Sullivan has gone in there and done a really good job. We know that Tiah Toth is up to the level and Dana East going through there has been really good as well. It does give us more depth in those positions.

You spoke about the heat being a condition you have to factor in, it was also really windy. You seemed to change your forward structure when you did have the wind compared to when you didn’t?
This is our least windiest game we’ve had to far! It was very windy at VU Whitten Oval and Fremantle Oval was the windiest I’ve ever seen it. Where we train is very windy. To be honest, our forwards adjusted and our backs didn’t adjust to the breeze at all well today, so that’s something to work on. We need to…we can use speed out the back at different times but we have to be leading up at the footy into the breeze as well. We got better as the game went on in making those adjustments.

A couple of first goal kickers as well in Tighe and Tuhakaraina?
I’m really pleased for them. They’ve both been working hard in games and it was just a matter of time before it broke open for them and Tuhakaraina has put a lot of pressure on resulting in goals to others so it was great to see the ball fall her way. Aine took a nice mark and I’ve never been as confident about a first goal scorer from a pocket kick like that, because that’s her natural Gaelic kick. I’ve seen her do a lot of that with the round ball, so it was like shelling peas for her with the footy, so it was good to see.

You’re probably running out of superlatives for Kiara Bowers?
She was filthy on herself last week, by her standards. I think she still got five coaches votes. She was very serviceable but she was not happy with her performance and she had a lot to get prepared for, bringing the family over here and we only flew in the day before the game. She’s had a really good week, she’s not on a roof – normally she’s be on a roof yesterday in 40 degrees in Perth and she’s not doing that now. She’s playing with her son Nate and having a really good time. She’s in a really good headspace to perform and I just thought throughout today, she was pretty dominant for sure. 

Any injury concerns?
I think we’re okay, we’re just resting a few and Hayley Miller was actually under a cloud before the game, we weren’t certain that she was going to get up but she did. The fitness test this morning was actually really good, so we’re confident we just put her out of the way just as a precaution. We’ve got some big games coming up over here and I think the rest got through minor things. I think everyone that played today will be available next week.

What does this week look like for you?
We’re not really sure. We have to work through a few things and work out with the AFL, WA Police, the government and our people back in Perth who have been looking at what it does look like for us going into this week and the next few weeks. We did a really good job to block all of that out and focus on the game today. Hopefully tomorrow we might get a few more answers or maybe just an idea of what might be happening, the week as it stands is actually an eight day break which is going to be great. We’ll give the girls a complete day off at some stage. It’s a real challenge and different for us staying safe, the girls are in their own rooms, don’t socialise too much at all but we can go to the beach and stay out in the safe places. Fortunately, the weather’s been good, we could be in a bit of bother if it was the middle of winter but we’re managing to do that and the spirit is really good. We’ll do that, we’ll train and get three sessions in or something like that, the girls are enjoying training and being fresh rather than coming from work so all of the training this week, even though it was a six-day break, was really good. We’ll look to get another block in this week to prepare for another good side in Collingwood.

Did you try anything on Conti today?
Absolutely, we just tried to expose her the other way. She’s such a dynamic player and we tried to tag her but if you do that you might get her down from 23 touches to 20. We wanted to really test her defensive running and that’s what we did. She’s just a star and always will be so we just have to make sure we catch her out the other way.