How do you sum that one up?
We were disappointed with the first half, just the way we defended. We just couldn’t defend turnovers between the arcs and it was probably on the back of not being able to shift the ball. We looked at halfway through the second quarter and had 13 marks, so it was either we were trying to go through them with fast play or just kick it long down the line. So, at half-time we spoke about taking a few more risks and trying to use the open side a little bit more and I thought that got our energy going.
I thought Sean got on top in the ruck, Ned Moyle from the Suns was playing his second game off a six-day break he got a little bit tired and Sean got on top there and that probably let our mids get really proactive and I thought our mids got to work and got us a bit of field position. Then the game started flowing and our forward line looked a lot more functional and we started winning contests. Sonny was dangerous all night and the forwards got involved and started looking really dangerous. When we got a sniff, we got a heap of energy and it felt like it was just the weight of numbers were starting to shift in our favour.
I was really proud of the boys because we were 23 or 25 points down, away from home, copping what we have been copping and it could have gone the other way but I was down on the bench and their communication never wavered and they found a way.
Do you think that could be the second half to spark your season to get it back on track?
I hope so. There is definitely a lot of positives that we can take out of it but only time will tell. It doesn’t just happen, it doesn’t keep rolling because you had a good half of footy. We need to maintain the same energy and intensity.
It has been a really tough week for Sonny with the racism abuse, how proud are you of what he produced today? It felt like he was keeping you in the game at times. If he wasn’t kicking goals, he was setting them up.
I am not just proud of him today. I am proud of what him and the seven other indigenous leaders have done across our game and bring this sort of stuff to light and highlight it and try and stamp it out. I said it during the week that they shouldn’t have to put up with it. But that stuff aside, I just loved the way he played. He played with great intensity, I could tell he was up for it in the warm-up with his voice and his communication I thought his contest really set the tone for us early he maximised his opportunities and he brought a few along for the ride
It looked like he was pointing to his skin on his left arm. It was a really anti-powerful racism message there.
Well, yes that is but I didn’t see that. He has been a leader in the space and it doesn’t surprise me that he has done that. Hopefully we can get on top of that and stamp it out.
A few weeks ago we saw Jamarra Ugle-Hagan use his footy to make a strong statement. Did you get a sense with Michael, and you talk about how you are always proud of him, but did you think he wanted to get out there and make a bit of a statement through his excellent play as well?
Maybe, I would have to chat to him to see if he got any extra motivation out of that. The way I look at it is he is in really good form. He probably lowered his colours last week but he has had a really good start to the year. He is really passionate and cares about the Club and wants to see us succeed and I have seen those actions drive his football since he came back into the side. He has lifted our energy and maybe he found a bit more extra motivation in the stuff that happened during the week and he wanted to make a statement and he sure did.
Do you think it is a bit of a sign of what is to come for Luke Jackson, he took some really nice marks inside 50 and that goal to start the second half and almost gave you a bit of a spark.
Both of his goals were important and were good goals. We are going to have our ups and downs with Luke, he is a young player finding his way he created a lot of opportunities for himself and took some today he is going to continue to build and continue to evolve his role because we were a bit smaller today down forward so we needed him forward a bit more just to give us a contest and he did that at the right time and managed to clunk a few and kick a few himself him and Sean were outstanding we look to keep developing that and building it and evolving.
What was it like playing a game for four points in a bit of a phone box and the crowd on top of you?
It was alright for me. I was coaching from the bench so you could see everything a bit easier with the smaller ground. Maybe it spooked us a bit not having the extra width early where we could switch the ball and take it off the line. Once we settled into it we started finding the gaps a bit more. There’s still plenty of room out there, Gold Coast found it in the first half they were able to chip the ball around, at one stage it was 60 marks to 25 or something silly like that. Once we adjusted, I thought we played some pretty good footy on it, it was good for Aishy I don’t think he’s ever lost here so the streak continues apparently.
How was he after the match, it was a bit of a homecoming.
He’s put in a request for a few more home games here. I’m not sure he’s going to get that across the line but yeah, his record is good here.
How’s Switkowski’s calf? Was it more precautionary or has he pinged it?
We’ll have to have a look. It’s lower calf/lower leg so we’ll get it scanned and see how we go. He just felt like he couldn’t go, we’ll cross out fingers and hope it’s not too bad.
Is that the only injury concern?
Yes.
Will Brodie’s first five or ten minutes of that last quarter just seemed to get you going and dominate the centre clearance?
Yes, he had some really good moments in the third as well. He had a great contested ball where he took the tackle and got almost split in half at half forward and managed to show the composure to get his hands away and I think it led to maybe Andy’s goal. That was a big play. He gave us something, dropped out the front of centre bounce and got on the end of some good work inside. Just because someone gets dropped doesn’t mean they’re not a big part of our plans. He worked on the things he needed to work on last week, we decided to give Matty Johnson a go in the team so Will was sub and he got his go early. I thought Johnno had some really important moments, clearly the goal that I think put us in front was massive and he showed a fair bit of composure and gives us a little bit of flexibility as well.
Did you see more signs of life or progression today?
Definitely. We just have to keep making it happen. We coughed up some goals tonight by being more proactive with our positioning and trying to attack the ball first and I’m willing to cop that. It’s way better doing it that way than being reactive and getting led to the ball. I thought we held firm and as the game went on some of our backs just attacked the footy first instead of getting led to the footy. Luke Ryan looked like a full forward coming out and marking the ball on a lead. Brennan Cox got back to some of his better footy by being more proactive and assertive in the contest and Pearcy probably had one of his better games for the year as well. There’s plenty to build on but we have to keep doing the hard work and go again.
Dermott Brereton said on the broadcast there looked like there was an argument between Michael Walters and Brennan Cox in the second quarter, was something going on there?
I’m not sure about that, I’ll have to follow that up. I actually don’t mind it if it happened, I’m pretty sure it might have been Sonny to Coxy rather than the other way around. I just thought our forwards won some contests, young Jye Amiss got some good body work in and took some marks and we got a bit more free-flowing ball movement which allowed some of our high half forwards just to work. We got some guys that can really run down there but if you play in straight lines and kick it to a contest, you’re not creating a lot of opportunities for them to use their run. I just thought we changed angles a little bit more, I think we went rebound 50 to inside 50 at 50% which is a big number in the second half. So a bit of changed angles and overlap run allowed us to play to our strengths a little bit more. I thought we looked low going inside 50 a little bit more and the thing I felt like in the first half is that we didn’t have someone coming at the foot on the lead as much as we would like. I mentioned Will Brodie coming out of centre bounce he was able to lower his eyes and find a lead. I thought we started leading at the foot a little bit more and took 16 marks inside 50 so it’s a good result for us.
Caleb Serong is having some season, isn’t he?
Yes. He’s a really consistent player built off really consistent behaviours and attitudes during the week. He’s growing as a leader, the first thing you do as a leader is perform and he’s been performing week in, week out. I think he’s one of our best ground ball players, his repeat efforts and ability to put his head in the hold and over the line of the ball is really strong, he was super.
