What were your thoughts on that?
I thought we jumped into the game well when it was really wet. I thought our contest, stoppage work and game in the front half was ok. As the game went on we just got caught in between with the ball, whether it was to play the actual conditions or we think it is wetter than it is or dryer than it is. I think that second quarter we just fuelled their forward half game and fuelled their field position and we turned the ball over in real poor areas. We were going for stuff that in the conditions wasn't on and as it dried up we kept playing wet weather footy and they were playing dry weather footy and we are just being caught in between our ball movement at the moment. Clearly we couldn't score or keep the ball in our front half after the first quarter in particular and they were able to buffer our pressure and down the other end they were able to score easily and we weren't able to buffer their pressure.

You touched on the conditions. Fans are asking can we play when it is slippery or wet?
I can understand why our fans would be questioning, in particular score in those conditions, so I understand that. I think we can and I don't think that our game plan needs to change too much. But I can understand why they would question it.

Psychologically, is that going be something in the background every time you go into a game where it is predicted to have rain?
I think so, you are right. Until we can trust ourselves in those conditions and probably get used to them. But I think it is a mental thing and I think some of our players read too much into the conditions and it affects their games too much, especially with ball in hand.

You had 180 handballs which is your second highest for the year. Why do you think you weren’t able to adjust to what was needed?
I think their pressure was good as well. Once you do one handball and that doesn’t hit a target, then the next guy is under pressure and he can’t kick because he’s getting closed down, then you miss two or three handballs in a row and it just fuels handball chains. It was probably the balance I was talking about before. There were times when the guy was out, we just needed to kick it and trust the contest ahead of the play and we went with the extra handball. Last week there was probably 12 times forward of centre when we should’ve given the extra handball, so I think it’s got a bit more to do with our mindset and our ball handling and our ability to drive with our legs as much as anything.

Is that something that gets sorted out on the track or in the meeting room?
I think it has to be a bit of both. We’ll continue to educate our players on what we want in the wet but it’s a tough one. When it’s not raining it’s hard to practice it sometimes. You can get the wet balls out and dump them in soap but it’s hard to replicate a game, you can’t wet the balls in 18 v 18 because they dry out over here. We’re a pretty young and inexperienced team still.

Collingwood suggested when it started raining, they got a boost, they felt like their game style suited the wet.
When it was the wettest, we were on top in the game. You saw the first quarter there was a lot of water over the ground, and I thought we owned that part of the game. The scoreboard was even but we were well on top of stoppage and field position, so that’s an interesting comment. 

You’ve been riding high with confidence and now you’ve lost two in a row, what does that do to the players?
It probably gives us a reality check to be honest. You’re right we were riding high and everyone was getting way ahead of themselves, and if you get way ahead of yourself in footy, you don’t even need to get way ahead, you get marginally ahead of yourself in footy, it gives you a reality check and we’ve gotten that. When you’re sitting closer to the top, teams come and bring their best and if you’re off in any part you get what you deserve. It’s a reality check for us.

Taking on the Demons at the MCG next week, is that a good challenge to have after two losses?
Yes, we’re looking forward to the challenge, but we’ll need to have a deeper look at this one first and learn from it then we’ll move on when the time is right.

Injury-wise, how did you go?
We’re good.