How pleasing was it to come over and get over the line for the first time since 2011?
I didn’t know that stat before the game. Yes it is, it’s a hard place to win against a team that were desperate and in a similar position to us and needed a win as well. I was proud of the whole game, we played our brand pretty much from start to finish I thought. When they challenged us early in the last (quarter), we just stuck to our guns and kept on playing to win which was nice. It’s a hard place to win so to go home with the four points is great.

They got a break early but you were controlling the territory – was there anything in particular that turned the game around from there?
The game was a bit different in the second quarter. I thought we were trying to get it in too quick in the first quarter and we were rolling from the wings and just banging it to 40 metres out against a team who are a good roll-around defence and get numbers back. That wasn’t how we wanted to move the ball, so really pleased with the way the players adjusted and then I was very pleased with the way our young key forwards and ‘Jacko’ (Luke Jackson), gave us a contest ahead of the ball and we got to work at ground level and we were able to get the game played on our terms… front half (and) pressure. We started hitting the scoreboard in that second quarter and I was really pleased with the way the players adjusted because we weren’t getting it right in the first quarter.

How good was it to watch your twin towers in Luke Jackson and Sean Darcy combine for a performance like that?
It’s back-to-back weeks where they’ve both been really solid. I thought Sean was dominant in the ruck, especially early, he gave us ascendancy at ground level and it was probably our best result out of clearance we’ve had this year. And Luke was just feeling it down forward, they’re a bit under sized obviously so we picked the three talls to try and expose that, it didn’t work for us in the first half, but once we got a few more one-on-one looks in that second quarter we started dominating the air a bit more. We took five marks inside 50 in the second quarter versus none in the first quarter. Luke was a big part of that and he’s growing in confidence.

Have you had to do any work to keep his confidence up or did you know this would happen?
I knew it would click because of what I see during the week with him, he works his backside off at his forward craft. In there watching vision and doing extras after training and pre training, so I knew the marks would start sticking. That was the thing missing earlier in the year, he was creating opportunities for himself but they just weren’t sticking. Now they’re sticking and he’s getting a lot of confidence off the back of that which is impacting other areas of his game. He was great at ground level, I thought his pressure was good and when he goes in the ruck it just gives a bit of a different dynamic in there as well. So both he and Sean were awesome today.

Jackson got the maximum coaches votes last week, do you think he was more impactful today?
Possibly. I’ll have to have a look at the game again. I thought Caleb (Serong) was great from go to whoa. And a bit like last week, we had a real even consistent performance across all our roles and when we get that and we play on instinct we’re a hard to team to beat and Luke played a big part of that. I thought Jye (Amiss) stuck to his guns as well, missed a couple of set shots he would always nail and then buttered up with a couple of really strong goals for us off the back of some really strong contested marks, and I thought Josh Treacy gave us a really strong contest and second efforts and a lot of his work led to scores as well. It was probably the best our forward line has functioned all year really.

Considering Amiss is 19 years old, Treacy is 20 and Jackson is 21, do you feel like you are starting to reap the rewards of backing them in?
We will go through our ups and downs with those guys. They are young key forwards trying to make it and the last couple of weeks we’ve had a bit more ball movement, a bit more supply which has helped them get some one-on-ones. They’re going to go through their ups and downs but the last couple of weeks I’ve been really impressed with their form and they’re building their careers. Like I said at the start Sydney are a little bit undersized down there so we thought it could have been a strength of ours, but you’ve still got to get out there and do it and they got out there and did it. We will keep working away during the week to build consistency in their games.

Did you chat at quarter time about forward delivery, it felt like you were bombing it long a bit in the first term?
Yes. We wanted to get entries from a little bit closer and then at worse you’re going to the top of the square or an area where you can defend behind, but like I said earlier we were rolling from the wings and just banging it to about 40m out and they were getting roll around which was giving them an extra at those contests, and even when it came to ground level, the entries weren’t deep enough to be able to lock it in there do they were getting field position off the back of that. So we had a focus on trying to get into that 50m or 70m range before we went inside 50m. We wanted to go a little lower with our entries rather than just taking the long option. I thought the players adjusted really well to that.

Back to back wins – does it feel like you’re really starting to build now?
It was really important that we build off last week and we kept on building on our contest work and our tackle pressure and I thought given who we played today, and that being a strength of theirs, I thought that went to another level. It is important, we want to be a consistent team, we understand that sometimes with young teams you can go up and down a little bit but we need to make sure that what we are giving them is consistent, our preparation is consistent and we think if we get those things right it will lead to consistent performances. Now we need to maintain that.

How impressed have you been with Caleb Serong this year?
I’m really proud of the way he has performed this year, but it doesn’t surprise me either because I see the way he goes about. His work during the week and the time and effort he puts into his game and, added to that, he is in the leadership group as a vice captain. So he’s added that to his game. He has been our most consistent performance, he turns up week in week out, but that doesn’t surprise me because of the work he’s done since he got to the club really. He’s just maintained a high level of professionalism and a want to be his best self.

We’ve seen more handball chains, was it pleasing to see that work for you today?
It probably comes off the back of our contest work and that improving and what we are doing now is showing more composure with ball in hand to be able to drive and use our numbers more effectively, we were doing that earlier in the year but we weren’t tying our work off inside 50 or on the scoreboard. So now we’ve been able to capitalise on some of that work and hit the scoreboard.

How would you sum up your defensive work?
Outstanding. I showed numerous chase down tackles at half time to try and reinforce it, and it wasn’t just one person, it was all over the ground including Ethan Hughes saving us a goal in that second quarter with a chase down tackle. So it was a highlight of the game. But when we are up and about that’s what we do.

What about your defensive unit as a whole?
They’ve been super the last two weeks. It was probably a bit unspoken last week, they got back to their best our back seven. (Alex) Pearce’s been in pretty good form for five weeks, going back to the Gold Coast game where he kept Ben King pretty quiet. He’s been in really good form. He’s leading well, playing well. ‘Coxy’ (Brennan Cox) and Luke Ryan are joining in and our smalls have provided a bit more run and bounce off the back half as well as defending well. So they have performed well as a back line.

How has Fyfe handled being the sub and is he ready for a full game?
We will work that out, but he is handling it really professionally. He is involved in the decision-making process, so he is heavily involved in that, but he has handled it really professionally and I thought he had an impact when he came on. After his dropped mark he moved on really quickly and had some important moments and he is someone who shows elite composure to win it and give it to those on the outside. So we will keep looking at the best way to use his game.

As sub he’s probably a good influence on the interchange bench?
I haven’t been down to the bench but he is a real calming influence and he always has been around the club. He’s calm in a crisis. The feedback was after last week that he was a calming influence when guys came to the bench. So I’d imagine he’s still doing that.

Did you get through ok from an injury point of view?
I think we are all good yes.

Instinct comes to the fore
Match report: Freo stand strong against the Swans