Nice start, how did that slip away from you?
At the start of the second quarter, we lost a bit of ascendancy around stoppage, which lead to field position, it’s been a little bit of a pattern, once we lose field position we’re finding it hard to get out of our back 50, so that’s been a little bit of a pattern. We need to fix that, we’re just constantly getting stuck in our back half. Obviously the third quarter they started to kick-mark and we were way too slow to react to that. We shouldn’t cough up 40 marks for a quarter, I think they had mid 80’s in uncontested marks in the second half, we were just way too slow to adjust. I thought they had better energy around the ball, their second and third efforts were better, they won contests ahead of the play which gave them field position and they won contests behind the play which denied us field position which denied us the play.

Those 88 marks in the second half, that was really frustrating?
Yes, it’s been something we’ve been pretty good at, I don’t think any team has been able to do that. We were just slow to adjust, that was probably the most disappointing thing and as much as the players are communicating it to each other, we lacked energy in our defence. If you lack energy in defence and you let a team control the ball like that, it makes it hard to get anything going on offence. That was the story of the second half.

You had a fairly dominant ruckman, but a lot of your midfielders’ numbers were well down, how did you read the whole midfield?
We struggled as a team to get anything going off turnover after the first quarter. We didn’t defend well as a team and if you’re not aggressive in your defence then it’s hard to be aggressive and use the ball in offense. That’s probably where our mids missed out on position, we couldn’t shift the ball. It was a whole team issue so we need to be better.

What’s the adjustment you would’ve hoped was made in the third quarter?
I think we were in good positions to defend, we just weren’t active enough, weren’t reading the kicker’s eyes. I think we got them pinned to a side and assumed they were going to kick it long to a contest, which teams have been doing and probably taking the contest a little bit quicker than they have in the past. Sydney saw a loose target and they’d just hit it, so there was a bit of that, just assuming that they were going to kick it long without defending and forcing it long, so we’ll tidy that up. I didn’t think we worked well together either, usually we’re a team that defends as a group and we probably fought our own battles in defence a little bit too often. 

Does it shape as a game that you’ll learn a fair bit about as a group?
I think you learn from them all so no I wouldn’t prioritise this one over any other. 

What were your thoughts on the free kick Jordan Clark gave away just before half time?
It wasn’t ideal. It wasn’t a difference in the game, they missed some shots they should’ve kicked, so they should’ve been closer at half time anyway really. They had the better of probably three quarters to be honest after us dominating the first. To bring it back to one instance is probably not right.

Nat Fyfe only had one kick for the game, what did you think of his performance?
I thought he had an impact around centre bounce, he’s getting back to his best around there. Our mids didn’t have a lot of the ball, we didn’t shift the ball, we didn’t use the ball that well so it’s hard in his role to get a lot of possessions. I thought he was able to use his hands to bring his teammates into the game at times. We’ll review it but yes he was probably one of a few that were a little bit down. 

What did you make of Griffin Logue on Buddy Franklin tonight?
I thought Griff did a good job. Won his one-on-ones, the goal Buddy kicked I thought he had really good positioning and he just lost his footing and good players make you pay, but I thought he was probably our best player and one of only a few winners we had across the day.

What are the chances for an Alex Pearce return next week?
Good chance. He probably started a little bit slower than we would have liked but he’s made good progress in the last few days and we’re hoping he comes back.

You look to be in a real fight now for your top four spot?
Yes we are. Every game is important and critical to the outcome of the season. So we will refocus, short break, Friday is going to come around real quick so we will get back on the horse and give it a whip and off we go.

Do you fly Wednesday?
No we will go Thursday. Night games we go the day before.

Did you consider subbing Rory Lobb out after he got the knock to his shoulder?
We did talk about it at one stage but we needed him out there and he was happy to go on so we decided to keep him out there.

Was it just a stinger or was there something more to it?
We’ll find out a little bit more down the track but he finished off the game and he had pretty good function so we’re hoping it’s not that bad.

And besides that how were you injury wise?
We look like we came out of it pretty good.

Do you think you will be able to improve the defensive element?
I hope so, because I think we’ve been pretty good at defending that type of ball movement this year. We’ll learn from it, get better and see how Richmond attack us. I don’t think it will be kick, kick, mark too often though the way they play.

Are you concerned about how Richmond will rebound after their shock loss to North Melbourne today?
Not concerned. It’s going to be on. You look at every team in the eight, there’s probably eight points between us and ninth, I’m not sure I haven’t looked at the ladder. So it’s on every game but we will prepare for Richmond’s best like we do all the time and embrace it.