That third quarter must have put a smile on your face?
Yes, I thought it was a really mature performance. It was a bit of an arm wrestle in the first half and clearly we weren’t getting the game on our terms. Although they missed a couple they would’ve liked to kick, to go in with a lead at half time with a handful of players having pretty average days, I thought our ability to turn that around and get a more even performance in the second half and get the game on our terms, especially in that third quarter was very pleasing.

Matthew Taberner really stood up today with seven goals.
Yes, I thought our ability to use the ball up the ground and give our forwards better looks, especially in that second half was really pleasing. Our connection became a lot better as the game went on and Tabs was on the end of it. I was really, really proud of him because I don’t think we have anyone who works harder on their game. He’s always doing extras, sometimes to his own detriment, he’s always working on his goal kicking and for him to kick so accurately today was really needed and a great reward for the effort he’s put in.

Did you feel like he was building towards a performance like this?
Well he missed the early part of the year because of injury and his first game back against the Eagles was solid and by his own high standards, I think he would have felt pretty disappointed with his game last week. We reviewed it hard and I thought he competed really well and then got the rewards from his work rate. Like I said before he has put in a lot of work over a lot of years and it’s good to see those sort of players get rewarded.

In the third quarter, you got your handball game going, is that more of the style you want to see?
Yes, absolutely, we want to use our numbers. I thought our pressure lifted. I thought our pressure in the first half, we created some opportunities in front of goal through our pressure, just getting a fingernail in here and there. But I didn’t think it was as good as it was last week all over the ground and when you pressure well, it leads to opportunities on the turnover and we made the most of those opportunities with our hands and had a bit better connection forward of centre. I thought Essendon did a great job in the first half of working really hard back to clog up our forward line and we matched that more in the second half and got even-numbered looks in our front half and cashed in a bit in that third quarter.

You play Carlton next week, who have experienced momentum swings in games. How much can you do about momentum – capitalising on when you’ve got it and stopping it when it’s going against you?
I think when it’s against you, is to limit the scoreboard damage and I think our backline has fought really hard under pressure this year and when we’ve looked vulnerable they’ve been able to stand up. I think Alex Pearce, Luke Ryan and Brennan Cox were testament to that today. There were times when we looked really vulnerable and maybe momentum in the game was against us and they were able to hold up. Obviously, when you’ve got it you want to cash in and we are slowly getting there with our ball movement and our forward structure and our connection of our mids and our forwards, we were able to do that today but we are going to have to be on our toes next week. It all starts at the contest, we constantly tell our players that whenever we feel vulnerable we commit to the contest and I thought we got that pressure right in the third quarter.

The fitness of the guys, particularly in that third quarter, you seemed to just run Essendon off their feet. That must have been pleasing?
Yes, we’ve done a lot more work over the pre-season than we have done in previous pre-seasons and our players are fitter, availability is higher, and we’re starting to get match fitness now. It’s a good observation.

And that seems to help your transition from defence?
When we are able to change angles with the ball it brings our runners into the game and Frederick and Colyer, Acres and O’Driscoll, a lot of our players are really elite runners. When you get a bit of speed on the ball it allows them to go to work.

This is your best start to a season in seven years, that must be a nice milestone for the group?
It’s good recognition for the work we put in. We’ve got to refocus, do the reps and get ready to go again.

How does it feel sitting second on the ladder?
It feels good but I don’t really look at the ladder, we still have plenty to work on in our game. All our players understand that and the most pleasing thing is that after whatever we’ve had this year we’ve gone to work and that needs to keep happening. Like I said before we’ve got good pressure for spots. No one is getting comfortable with how we are playing or individual form.

Any injuries to report?
No, we got through pretty unscathed which is a good result.