What do you make of that one?
We were ordinary in all phases and they were very good, and we couldn’t match them. I think when you dish up a performance like that you have to look at your preparation, so we need to have a look at our week. We just didn’t get the contest right all over the ground, all aspects we got beaten up, so that’s not good enough.
Is this the most disappointed you’ve felt after a loss this season, or in your whole caching career?
I don’t know, I don’t rank losses or wins on what’s worse but we were all pretty flat in the rooms after that. We need to have a look at ourselves as a coaching group and make sure we’re preparing our players the best, giving them the right messages because like I said if you dish up a performance like that it’s on the back of your week, not what happens on game day, so we weren’t a well-prepared team and that’s what we want to be.
The Giants seemed to be on top from the opening stages, how do you explain what’s going on with your first quarters?
There’s been some disappointing first quarters but there’s also been some first quarters where we feel like we’ve either got off to a decent start and it’s just been the backend of the quarter that’s let us down or we haven’t made the most of our opportunities, but today was just comprehensive. Like I said it wasn’t just the first quarter, we’ve been able to grind our way back into games, but our contest wasn’t good enough all over the ground, the way we defended our front half was poor and then when we got some looks on ball movement chains, we just didn’t execute the basics. The first quarter was a part of it but that would be underselling the whole story probably.
Is there any way you can explain the slow starts?
We need to keep digging into it clearly. Every first quarter is different like I said. I think we could’ve hit the scoreboard as well but we came through the middle of the ground with free numbers and we miss an easy handball and you just can’t defend behind those turnovers. It wasn’t really about the first quarter today, it was about the whole game and we need to dig a bit deeper into what went on during the week to allow us to not come with the right mindset or method.
If the game is a reflection of your week, what’s in store for this week ahead of Essendon?
We’ll review it and get to that conclusion, I haven’t got to that conclusion yet.
Is it frustrating after winning four in a row heading into the bye, to slip back to habits from the start of the season where you were getting beaten in the clearances?
Yes of course it is because we are playing nothing like we were before the bye. Our clearance wasn’t where it needed to be today. Centre bounce was 15-3 at one stage which costs you field position. We didn’t have the same urgency in the contest and didn’t have the same urgency in defence. We need to make sure that we get an uplift in those areas.
How much of that is down to not having Sean Darcy?
It plays a role because not only do we lose one of the competitions best ruckman, even though ‘Jacko’ (Luke Jackson) is doing a decent job in there, but it has unbalanced our forward line as well. So we haven’t got ‘Jacko’ as a forward which unbalances that a little bit and puts even more pressure on Jye (Amiss) and Josh (Treacy) down there, and it drags JT (Josh Treacy) out of there because he has to be second ruck, so it has changed the balance of our team.
Can you talk us through what it means for Jye and Josh when Luke’s not there? Jye was up against Sam Taylor for quite a bit of the game, who is an All-Australian defender?
Well we were moving the ball pretty averagely, we’re not winning contests, so he’s not really getting one-on-one looks but when he is he was up against Sam Taylor who is a really good player. They’re the lessons they’re going to come across as young, key forwards, Jye in particular because he’s been hitting the scoreboard and there’s been so much talk about him. Teams are going to start putting a bit more time into him to come up with different ways to defend, and we’ve got to help him work his way through these situations. We’ve been saying all along that he’s not the finished product and he’s going to come up against these challenges and he's going to learn from them. We need to look at our structure. We’re hoping Sean comes back but we need to make sure we give those two a little bit more support.
How disappointing was it, once the game was gone, to not really fight it out?
It was disappointing because we’ve been pretty good at that and we’ve fought out to the end. What I think happened is you go off task and get so consumed in your own head, it looks like you’re not trying and things just fall apart. I don’t think that’s a trend. I think we’ve been pretty good with that but I was pretty disappointed with the whole night, but that just topped it off.
How close was Michael Frederick to playing?
He was really close, maybe we could have rolled the dice with him but you have to listen to the doctors advice there, they didn’t think he could get through a full game. It’s a good sign for next week.
Is Matt Johnson ok – was that just a cork?
Yes, he got a cork.
For a team that prides itself on defence, what do you think happened there tonight?
We need to get more ruthless in our back half. We knew that GWS were a good team at scoring from their front half. They lock the ball in their front half really well and they score from that source. I was more disappointed with the way we defended our front half. They sliced through us. I think they went rebound 50 to inside 50 at over 50 per cent which is unheard of. Sometimes the marks inside 50 is so high because there’s no pressure on the ball up the ground, so we’ve got to get that right. And what led to us having 21 marks inside 50 was more the fact that we went to sleep in the last quarter and allowed them to get second and third marks inside 50. So that’s an important aspect, but I was more disappointed with the way we defended our front half, it wasn’t good enough at all.
Michael Walters only had the three touches today?
Like most of our smaller forwards, he was quiet. We didn’t really give him supply but then again, they didn’t really win the contest they needed to. We had a lot of guys that were well below their best.
Does the forward line need a shake up with guys like Sebit Kuek, Travis Colyer and Tom Emmett knocking on the door?
We will have a look at that, you have to. We have to look at all our roles and see whether we can reward some of those guys who have been putting up good form in the WAFL.
Is there anything you can take out of today, you led the clearance and contested possession for the final quarter, can you use that?
Probably not, no.
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