What did you make of that win?
I thought we just stuck to our task all night. The boys are believing in our footy and no matter what the scoreboard is, they just stick at it. I think they understand what's really important in our game. We wanted to come in at quarter-time nil-all in some sense, given that Carlton is a fast starter and is really good early in games. So in the second quarter, we just started getting deeper entries and obviously scored a bit better from our inside 50s. I just thought we were relentless with our footy all night and the players got reward for effort.

The pressure that the small forwards are putting on, can you talk about the significance of that?
It's a part of who we are. The small forwards have been relentless with their buy-in to their pressure. We are not relying on one or two players with our pressure. When it's a certain players turn to hunt the man, they are doing it, and probably what's been most impressive is the second or third efforts to chase, harass and get a fingernail in and, at worst cause a dump kick under pressure. They've all bought into it and it's really helping us lock the ball in our front half and win the ball back off on turnover. 

How is Sean Darcy?
Obviously, he's concussed and he will enter the AFL's concussion protocols and he'll miss next week. That's all I can say on it at the moment.

Rory Lobb seemed to thrive in that forward role and taking over in the ruck as well. Are you tempted to play him as a sole ruckman next week? 
Probably not. He's just so important to us as a forward as well. In a way, he probably hasn't hit the scoreboard the way he would have liked but we've been really impressed with the contest that he gives and that contest to bring the ball to the ground is really important because it's allowing us to go to work at ground level, whether it's winning or pressuring. Without that strong contest in the forward line, our small forwards can't pressure. He's been terrific with his contest all year but hasn't gotten rewards with hitting the scoreboard, but that'll come. 

At five and one, how do you handle the pressure that comes with that? 
We've got to enjoy the journey in footy. It becomes a long year if you don't enjoy the wins, so we will enjoy the wins, anchor and then we'll move on at the right time. We've been really impressed with the maturity of the group and their ability to come to work on Monday, learn, review and move on has been first class. This is no different, we've got a massive challenge next week.

Do you feel that was your best win for the season given you've now got a top-eight scalp?
As a coach, you don't sit and rank your wins. You just look to improve and I thought we improved our footy on the last couple of weeks. I think we had a bit of a disjointed week with a few COVID issues and players training separately. We handled that really maturely and I think we did the Freo family proud tonight but we also did the occasion proud on this proud day on the Club's calendar, I thought our players played accordingly.

How did you feel the defence went tonight after replacing two players at short notice?
Griffin Logue is obviously in good form, and came in and I thought he played his role. And James Aish is a bit of Mr. Fixit, to be honest, he can play anywhere on the ground. He missed a lot of pre-season and we've sort of made him earn his stripes and get his match fitness up before we bought him into the side and he's played inside mid-wing and now back in his four or five games back so he's a bit of a Mr. Fixit for us and he's reliable and we just plug him in anywhere. So it was pretty seamless, even though we missed Youngy (Hayden Young) and Chappy (Heath Chapman) but it was pretty seamless and we have a number of players in good form who we feel can step up at AFL level. So, it was pleasing.

Will Young and Chapman be ok to head to Geelong?
We will wait and see. It's a case-by-case scenario, as they come out of the health and safety protocols. I think they will come out Wednedsay or Thursday. So we'll just have to wait and see when we travel. and how they pull up. So we will get to you later in the week with that.

Do you know when you're flying at this stage? 
Thursday, we always fly two days before.

In terms of Covid management, do you think there's more to come and how are you feeling about it?
We are always on red alert. We’re always taking the maximum precautions we can and if that means continuing to separate the groups early in the week, then we have to do what we have to do. I think our players and coaches and staff are handling it really maturely. The last thing we want to do is lose multiple players in the one week, it’s too disruptive so we’ll keep managing it the way we're managing it and crossing our fingers and hope it goes our way.

Can you elaborate on what keeping the groups separated means, and how that looks as far as training?
It’s pretty wide knowledge that there’s a lot of Covid within the WAFL teams at the moment so the first step is the keep the Peel and AFL squads separated at the start of the week and then just doing as much as we can in smaller groups and avoid having our whole team in large meetings and indoors. All pretty simple, straightforward stuff but it takes real application and maturity from our playing group to be able to handle those situations. We’ve got to work really hard to make sure that we don’t become too disjointed and everyone feels like they’re belonging and contributing but that’s just the measures you need to take in modern-day AFL footy.

You must be so delighted with the spread you’ve got in teh forward line at the moment?
Absolutely, something Jaymie Graham said to all our forwards is to get dangerous and be a threat in our forward line. They’re buying in to both sides of the ball and what happens as a forward if you buy into the defensive actions of the game with your pressure and your overall team defence it quite often creates opportunities for you in offence and it keeps you involved in the game. All our forwards are keeping involved in the game and that’s creating opportunities for them. They’re a really collective group and they want to do it together and they understand that who gets the lick of the ice cream from an offensive point of view can change week in, week out. But all six of them on the ground at any one time need to buy into what we do defensively and they’re going super well.

Must have been nice to Michael Walters get a few today and that second goal was vintage Walters.
It was, and I’ve been saying every time I get asked that I firmly believe he’s in good form. He just hasn’t finished his work and put the icing on the cake so to speak. I’m really proud of our playing group, when they got around him after the set shot, they know what he’s going through and the intense pressure he gets put under externally, so I thought that was a really significant moment for our year. I thought it showed the connection in the playing group and a real understanding of what individuals are going through, so it’s great to see 'Sonny' get some reward for effort tonight.

Alex Pearce kept McKay to one goal and only a few touches, he did a great job tonight.
He does a great job every week, he’s missed so much footy over the past two to three years, it’s good to see him get some continuity in his game. He’s thriving off it, he’s getting better and better each week. Some of the key forwards are massive units these days, well over 200cm and his size and his competitive edge allows him to compete with these guys. Super proud of not only his performance on the field but also his leadership, he’s been captaining us while he’s been playing this year and he’s doing a really good job of bringing the group together and leading the group. He’s going well.

Can you clarify what you meant by the external pressure on Michael Walters??
The external pressure of not being able to finish his work off and the fact that every media person I get interviewed by asks me about his form when I think he’s in good form just not finishing his work off. The players understand that and really got around him at that moment.

The trip to Geelong, how well placed do you feel like you are to attack a game like that?
It’s a great challenge for us, it’s the scene of one of our greatest battles as a footy Club and we look forward to the challenge that’s in front of us next week.