What were your thoughts?
I thought it was our most consistent game of the year. I thought our contest was as good as it has been all year and we had much more even contribution and a more even spread of players playing their role, so it was pleasing.
It was the highest score the team has kicked since 2019, did you feel they made the most of their opportunities and moved the ball in a way, that it all came together?
I thought we had more avenues to goal. The most pleasing thing is when we have won the ball, we have been putting ourselves under more pressure than the opposition has been putting us under and rushing our disposal, which is showing up not only in executing the basics well enough and then not being able to make the opposition defend. Whereas, tonight I thought we trusted ourselves with the ball in hand a lot more. When we won it, and we won it a lot more. Off that we were able to make better decisions because we gave ourselves a bit more time to make those decisions. We played a little more unpredictable as well, it wasn’t just one way and one avenue to goal. I thought we changed angles well, we used our numbers well and when we had to go through a contest, I thought we did that ok as well. It was pleasing with ball in hand.
What were your thoughts on Luke Jackson?
I thought he was one of the better players on the ground. I thought he had influence around the ball whether he was in the ruck or midfield. Then I thought he was one of our best pressure players and ground ball players across the ground. He had 13 or 14 ground balls and seven tackles, I thought he was fantastic.
What do you put that down to, it seems such a huge step up?
Yeah, it is. He took more opportunities, giving him a go on ball sometimes those type of players going around the ball, which allows him to take that confidence elsewhere. So, it was good to get back to that. Sometimes it just takes time for players to feel comfortable in their role and find their feet at a new Club. I thought it was Jaeger’s best game for the Club as well and he is in a similar boat. We expect a lot of guys when they get traded into their Club’s to perform straight away but it does take a little bit of time. He is getting more and more confident and comfortable within his roles and that came out tonight.
How important was that contested ball of the game tonight?
Post-stoppage last week we won contested ball, but we got smoked pre-clearance. Clearance wasn’t going our way early and especially in the centre bounce but at least our pressure was around the mark, which then let our backs win the contest and that wasn’t the case last week. It was good to get a result and to be +18 contested ball but also wins the tackle shows that our intensity was right at the right place around the contest. It was a good step forward and something we can build off.
Andy had a big game number-wise and also just looked to be moving a lot better, how did you view his game?
I agree with that. I thought he was back to his second and third efforts and some of those long defensive runs were a standout and sometimes when you get into the game through those type of runs you end of winning the ball back and he’s around the ball and gets involved in offence and he ran hard that way as well. Like I said at the start him and Luke had their best games of the year but we had a lot of contributors tonight and in the end that is why we won.
Did you get what you wanted out of Nat tonight?
I think so. You are always reluctant to bring the sub on too early. When you try and manufacture a sub and you get an injury, then you are one down it doesn’t help everyone else. We got him into the game at the right time and into the right role. He would have got a good taste for it and I suppose that is what we were hoping for, having him to come on into that sort of game and find his feet. I think he can build off that.
Having him go into the midfield and then drift forward and kick a goal, did you think that mix worked well for him tonight?
When he kicked his goal, he was transitioning forward out of the midfield, and he ended up with a midfielder on him and those are the types of looks we want to get for him, and I said it all along we will try and put him in positions that will try and help us. Round one he played forward and we had 65 inside 50’s and tonight we weren’t getting what we wanted out of centre bounce, so to have that type of player to have that influence in different areas is handy and we will keep trying to set him up to succeed. All he wants is to help the team succeed as well, so we will keep trying to look for those opportunities.
Do you think he will be able to do that if he is playing more than 40-odd minutes?
He will get himself up to a level where he will do the role we are asking there is no doubt about that but we need to get him some continuity and that has been the plan all along we have been trying to build him so that when he gets back into the team he plays there for a long period of time that is what we are after.
Schultz looked like he was struggling with a shoulder pretty early, should he have been subbed?
Nah not really. ‘Shoota’ is tough, so we knew he would be able to get back on and we had another player who was in the same boat so those guys can keep on playing or you take one of them out and you put ‘Fyfey’ on and you get another injury it leaves you one short it is a bit of a balance. I think we judged it pretty well, we got some good minutes into ‘Fyfey’ and he is still running out there now. He’ll be enjoying that but it is a good build into what is in next week.
What did you make of the centre clearance stats tonight with it being in Hawthorn’s favour, is that frustrating?
Yes, it is frustrating. We probably didn’t get the structure right in there often enough, so we will get to work on that. It was probably the first time Sean wasn’t getting his hands to it well, so we had to adjust to that and didn’t do it well enough. But I thought we were able to pressure the exits well enough to allow our backs to intercept. It is an area of the game we need to get better at. I think last week they won the first six or seven centre bounces against the Dogs as well and we knew what was coming and we were prepared for it but we just couldn’t execute.
Is there a concern with Schultz?
We will have to wait and see. It is an AC joint, so I think it will come up good.
How close was Darcy to not playing tonight?
He was always going to play.
His knee was more heavily strapped than usual?
He is a big man who competes hard, and he got a knock on his knee. He aggravated it at the end of training, which started a few of those rumours but he was never in doubt.
Sam Switkowski came from the field before half-time, what was the concern there?
He had a bit of a problem with his heel. They assessed it at half-time and he was good to go and got through the game fine.
Same as Alex Pearce?
He is fine, he just tweaked his ankle.
What is the plan with Fyfe now?
I don’t know.
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In terms of do you think he needs another game with him as sub?
I do know. But I get caught up in talking about where we are going to play him and how we are going to play him. I like to keep a few of those things under wraps because it keeps the opposition guessing a little bit. We will look at the best way to prepare him to see out the season. Whether that is another game as sub or we just play him and sub him out or we just play him and manage his minutes there is a lot of different options, they are all on the table and we will see how he pulls up and see how the foot is tomorrow or on Monday and we will go from there.
Is it fingers crossed from you each day and how he pulls up after games and each session?
A little bit. I love him out there. I love him out there, competing for the Club. He loves being out there and competing for the Club, so it is what is best for us and what is best for him.
Can you provide some insight into the Will Brodie situation, it has been surprising from the outside looking in he has been dropped twice this season.
I am not going to go into why Will has been dropped other than that he has not been executing his role. We have been playing extra midfielders in the team and we haven’t been getting it done in clearance, so we have to change something. Will’s number came up this week. We played an extra forward instead of an extra midfielder and hoped to get ‘Switta’ and Jacko and free up what you need for ‘Fyfey’ to go through the middle of the ground. It’s as simple and as far as I need to take it.
Will you just enjoy this one but how would you describe the challenge now to take that form forward?
It is a great challenge for us. I said to the players after the game. We are not going to sit and pat each other on the back after this game. We have got to use it to help us propel forward into the three weeks starting with a really good challenge against Sydney next week. So we need to be able to execute some of the things we improved on tonight next week, I am looking forward to it.
