Is that as bad as it gets today?
That was really disappointing no doubt, after a positive first quarter, I didn’t see that coming. There were little bits in the first quarter on our spread that wasn’t ideal but I thought around the ball we were okay. It was really on the spread and the work rate, their transitioning was really quick and strong, their small forwards took us up and beat us back. Their mids got out and spread on us. We had equal numbers everywhere but at one point after a fair few (goals) in a row we put a seventh back for a little bit, but we thought ‘what’s the point?’ so we kept it six-six for a bit. They obliterated us. I thought in the third quarter we came out and had some entries, 12-16 but they were efficient and went forward and were accurate. Out of the middle they were strong as well. The ability for us to get some ground was instrumental to stop the bleeding and we weren’t able to get it done. It was a very tough day for our backline, (Adam) Cerra, (Taylin) Duman, (Ryan) Nyhius and (Shane) Kersten who are all relatively inexperienced had their hands full. I thought our mids were beaten on the spread, (Tim) Kelly, (Patrick) Dangerfield, (Joel) Selwood and their wingers just obliterated us on the spread. Their backs started to run off as well. It wasn’t an ideal performance obviously.
How much does a loss of that magnitude hurt the club and the team overall?
In ’09 the club had it’s record loss and played finals the next year. It’s never as good and never as bad. We think we have made some in-roads this year, we have played a lot of young players, it was a very young team again. We haven’t protected them, we haven’t hit them, we’ve made choices. Danyle Pearce has probably been best on ground nine times in a row (at Peel Thunder), but the path we are on, we’ve chosen to stick with (Stefan) Giro, and (Bailey) Banfield and those sort of guys.
The rebuild itself, is it still on track in that sense?
I don’t know how you want me to answer that. I’ve just come out of an AFL game and we’ve had a really bad loss. Do you think it changes on a week to week treadmill? You look at all the threads in the whole. We would say we’ve won eight games, we’ve technically been going two drafts. And Darcy Tucker, a third-year player, who’s played 45 out of 66 games. We’re banging in games, he didn't play today, Connor Blakely didn't play today. Joel Hamling and Stephen Hill didn't (play). They (Geelong) probably had a few out as well. It’s bits and pieces around our youth that we are banging games into that will come back and they will play. We just need to firm it up. We know we are going to be better, so if we want to go to the rebuild, you can draw your own conclusions but I think to look at one game in isolation is silly. But it’s everyone’s choice how they look at it.
When you talk about 2009 – 2010 turning quickly, can this turn quickly? Have you got the right pieces in place?
I’m just saying don’t look at it in isolation. I think critique the performance but I think it’s a little bit unfair to pose those questions to me on the back of coaching an AFL game. Everyone can be the judge over a period of time but the AFL understands how long it takes and that’s why they are trying to introduce levers to give clubs more opportunities. We know it’s not done in three years, if you ask head office, they know it’s five to six years. We also understand teams have done it for 10 years and failed. You have got to bring the right talent in and have the right strategy and you have got to build it up. I think for we’re we are at, eight wins is probably fair when you look around the league, that is what I would say.
What elements of today disappointed you the most?
What I said really, the run and the spread. A positive start. You saw what we were trying to do, the ability to transition the ball and look dangerous in attack was there. But from the contest, the spread and the reaction time and the gut run, the ability to work together and team together and clear space, or defend together and cover the dangerous player was really at a low end. We knew they would go to Hawkins and isolate, we wanted more support. Young defenders were brought up and walked out. Sometimes you have to pay to learn, there will be some great learnings out of it as well.
How much potential does this have to hurt a young team’s confidence?
We are all hurting. I don’t like it either but clearance work, they didn’t kick too many from clearances and the contest numbers look ok. It’s probably about being clear and getting out in space.
AFL football is a game of transition and spread and we were really at the low end of that today. So when they won the ball they got out and they had quick entries and they got ground position and they attacked really anywhere from the midfield and had numbers out flowing. I think it was like 23 goals in a row or something. And then a few times when we did have it we might have just made a skill error. We're not shying away from this. Never have.
Was the effort acceptable today from your point of view?
Clearly on the outcome we would have liked greater effort. But you wouldn’t have thought you would look at us all year and think ‘those young players haven’t given effort’.
I look at (Adam) Cerra today and he looked quite fatigued and he’s looked like that for a couple of weeks now. When the ball’s coming in like that, it’s quite overwhelming.
What can you get out of the final game next week?
We will just review it really quickly, we won’t beat anyone up. We’ve been quite positive and vibrant. The dynamic is strong. There was no histrionics in there today, certainly hasn’t been all year. We just give some feedback and those things can turn around relatively quickly. I think we lost to Melbourne, not as bad, and then we came back and beat Port Adelaide. So I say, its never as good, never as bad. We understand how things work and that’s ok.
So is it patience and personnel to turn it around?
It’s not just draft picks. You’ve got to do the work. We’re a growth mindset, you’ve got to do the work, it’s about effort. Nothing’s fixed, if everyone’s telling me this is fixed then we are all in trouble. But it’s not fixed, you’ve got to work hard, you’ve got to put the effort in and it’s proven that if you put effort in and you apply yourself then there is improvement.
And then you’re plugging in the right level of talent and systems so, unless we fluked eight wins, and we had an average winning margin of 24 points against eight other AFL teams, I think when we get it right and everything’s up and going (we are ok).
But obviously when you are a young team up against quality – and this is a really tough spot to play – I think we’ve won our previous two out of three here and won by a kick.
I think in 2013 when we played in the Grand Final we lost by 90 points here.
So it can be a tough, difficult environment. It’s just about working hard and there’s no quick fix.
So everyone will try and act out different numbers but I think people with a deep understanding, understand the realities of it.
How did you rate Nat Fyfe’s return.
He was fine, he won the ball really well. He probably wasn’t as clean, you saw his strengths, his ball-winning and his marking. I thought for six weeks out, and just one week of team training it was a pretty good effort – he will only get better. He will set himself for next week, we play Collingwood and we will take it from there.
Will there be a couple of farewells to players at next week’s game?
We will work our way through it. There’s been a number of re-signings, there’s been a really strong retention rate at this club over a number of years now and I think that’s continued. We’ve got some good leaders to help bring them through. So at the right time we will get to that. It’s obviously getting to a narrow window now isn’t it.
