How do you reflect on that?
Never in doubt (laughs). No, we just lost ascendancy around the ball and I thought we were able to get our hands on it at times but then just kept coughing it up and they got goal-side of us way too easily and we lost contests, and just lost our way for a period there. And then I thought we dug in pretty well and got lucky with a few missed shots in that last little period. There’s a lot to like, we didn’t jump into the game that well and they kicked three goals and then I think we kicked 14 to six ,or something like that, for nearly two and half quarters so there’s a lot to like. But we got a little bit of a lesson in that last quarter, if you drop your intensity and you don’t get your method right, the game can swing pretty quick.

How do you reduce that gap between your best and worst in a game do you think?
I’ll review it first and see what went wrong. Clearly the modern game revolves around contest and that’s not always stoppage, it can be isolated contests that they’re able to speed up off and get goal-side off, or nullify us in our front half. Against a team that gets a run on and gets the game on their terms you need to make sure you defend with the ball, and we kept turning the ball over in areas that made it hard to defend. So we will strike the balance because we need to get back to our best, and I think we played some of our best footy today. So we will just need to find the balance for that.

Any indication on Matt Taberner’s hamstring injury?
I haven’t spoken to the docs but it was serious enough to get him out of the game so we will have to see how it is.

You identified centre bounce in the lead up as something you needed to reset. How did you view it today?
I think our mids got back to some of their better footy and then they (Port) got to work in the last quarter and nullified our stoppage dominance. But I think, led by Sean, we got our method a lot better and some of our players were back to their best and I thought they worked well together and gave us a real advantage in the game.

How critical is centre bounce in footy this season? It seems to be having a big impact on games.
Yes, absolutely. Because you get even numbers, deep entries can become really beneficial. The other thing that happened today a little bit was that first possession didn’t always turn into clearance and on that spilt ground ball they were able to get goal-side and get some looks off that. And so were we at times with our aggressive half forwards and half backs coming in. It’s a vital part of the game, and at times we probably got caught in over handballing backwards which fuelled a bit of their pressure and at times we got our method right and scored, so we will just have to work on that.

Can you talk about Fyfe’s role today and what you wanted from him?
|We wanted him up around stoppage, I think he helps us there. Then we wanted him forward of the ball, so I thought he was back to some of his best in those middle two quarters and helped us get the games on our terms and I thought he took a step forward.

The decision to not play him at the centre bounce, can you talk us through that?
It was probably around just making sure we’re really clear on our roles, and that just helped with that, it helped clear his role up and the other mids roles up. Allowed him to prepare really well and took a little bit of the confusion out of it for us.

Is that the way forward from here?
We will play it by ear. I’m not going to sit here and give the opposition a head start on what we’re doing with Nathan Fyfe every week. It’s suppose to be a secret some of this stuff. We’re supposed to be able to go into a game and catch the opposition off but I just get asked 15 questions a week on where Fyfe’s going to start, his mid-forward split. Give the guy a break, we all want him back to his best. I thought he took a good step forward today and he was instrumental when we were playing our best footy.

The mix you had around him worked today, so people are going to be interested in what that means for future games?
Yes, but I don’t think last week (the loss) was because he was in the midfield. Last week we had a lot of players down, all over the ground and we weren’t as connected as we needed to be at stoppage. I just feel like a lot of the questions you get asked, he holds a lot of the blame, when he’s just one of 18 guys on the field.

So do you feel you can keep the opposition guessing if he can play anywhere and that can be an advantage?
It has to be doesn’t it? It has to be. I don’t get asked about the 23 other guys in the squad week in and week out, their game time and their midfield forward split and when his rotations are and all that sort of thing.

Rory Lobb’s five goals – what does that sort of game do for him?
It should give him a lot of confidence. He’s been competing really well for us all year.  Whether he gets the reward on the scoreboard for us or not it doesn’t really bother us as long he’s giving a really competitive performance and making the ball land in a real predictable area for our smalls. And he’s been doing that all year. He got some reward for effort today, I thought having the three talls down there actually helped him because it nullified the other two talls and engaged them and I thought Tabs and Griff were dangerous in their own right. And that gave Rory some looks on the lead which sometimes he doesn’t get if he’s fighting against a couple. I thought he his ruck work was pretty strong as well and he was able to get a clear hand to a lot of balls around the contest. So I was pretty happy with his all round game.

Can you talk us through Brayshaw’s chase down tackle in that frantic finish?
I thought he had a couple of massive contests in the last quarter. He just never gives up. His fitness is at a level that allows him to run at high speed for long periods of the game. We needed a big effort there because it looked like it was going to be a certain goal and he managed to turn the ball over and we got a good look back the other way. I thought he had a few efforts like that in the last quarter and really stood up for us.

And what did you make of your backline’s efforts today?
Well, if you asked me at three quarter time I would have said good but we coughed up some soft goals late. They were put under siege a little bit because we lost our ascendancy with our ball movement and we lost our ascendancy around stoppage so we hung them out to dry a little bit. I thought the mix was pretty good down there and largely they were able to hold up and do a really good job.

Which mark was better – Hayden Young or Mitch Georgiades?
I thought Youngy’s was heaps better to be honest. I think his landing was a bit rougher so sometimes that adds to it. They were both really good marks. Good question.