What happened after quarter time from your perspective that allowed the Suns to get on top?
The big difference in the game started from the very start. We couldn’t score and their ability to get numbers back through work rate and their ability at ground level to buffer pressure (was good). I thought our attacks, we just didn’t look dangerous forward of the ball all day. We had 17 inside 50s for two goals in the first quarter. So it was from really early on, we didn’t have composure to create opportunities and they were really good. When the ball went down their end, their ability to hunt ground ball and strip us and tackle and create opportunities themselves was much more dangerous. We lost ground ball significantly at both ends of the ground and that denied scores at our end and created scores for them at the other end.
You’ve been the best defensive team this season, is it fair to say you were beaten at your own game today?
It’s a totally different game to what we’ve been playing. It became a slog of who can handle the conditions better and clearly, they handled the conditions better through having a more even spread of players who were more committed to the contest. I thought their method was better around the contest and their execution in the conditions was much better. We fumbled, missed handballs, missed kicks, whereas they were able to really execute better.
Without making excuses, your players wouldn’t be used to those conditions?
It’s a winter sport, it rains in Perth as well, we get multiple wet games a year and we’ve got to be better. We’ve been praising internally, in particular, our even contribution. Today they had more contributors in the conditions.
There’s been a lot of excitement externally, does this help keep a level head?
We want to win together and lose together. We want to be really even in the way we review our games, whether it’s a win or a loss. We took a step back today, so we need to learn from it, understand deeper what went wrong and get better.
The way they played today wouldn’t have been any surprise to you given the way you spoke about them earlier in the week?
No, they played really well. They’re a good, contested ball team. They’ve got an elite backline that just gets the job done. I think it’s interesting with the Suns, when they lose they cop it, when they win it’s the other team that’s having a down day. They played really well today and from what I’ve seen on the tape during the week they’ve been playing some really good footy, so they deserve all the credit today.
Will you get some players back for Collingwood?
We will get a few back absolutely. We expect Sam Switkowski, Michael Walters to come back and we’re hoping Matt Taberner is a chance.
