Was that the response you were after?
Yes it was. I said to the players after the game. It was one thing to get beaten like we did last week and the performance we put in last week. Sometimes after those types of performances it can be a bit of finger-pointing but I thought from the moment the game finished everyone took their part in owning that performance, staff and coaches included. They came to work on Monday and there was a real determination to learn from it and get back on track and it has been a great week, the performance tonight was a reflection of our week. So, it was a good bounce back.

What were the key themes out there?
We got back to valuing the right things tonight we respected the game we respected the opposition and we got back to what we value as a team. Contest, pressure, won the contested ball, won the tackles. After the first five minutes of the game we defended our front half the way we like to defend and took away their ball movement and the rest flowed from that.

You look so good when you value the right things, how do you ensure you keep doing that?
Just stay on. We are a young team that maybe took their eye off the ball a little bit, but we have won five of our last seven games. We have a good base of evidence there to suggest that when our best is on, it is good enough to beat anyone. So, we will just stay on them and they will stay on each other. That is the thing, you don’t have to drift too far away from what you value in modern day footy, you only have to be a small percentage off against anyone and you get a lesson. We will just keep reinforcing the things that we value as a team and make sure we keep practising those things and getting better and we still have a lot of growth in our game.

Does this game need to be a clear reference point for you in the year to come back to?
We have reference points throughout the year. We have played some good footy throughout the year. We’ve been able to cop some lessons along the way and bounce back from them. The game is ever-evolving as well so a game against Essendon might not work for the Western Bulldogs or Carlton, so we need to keep evolving. But largely our game is based on contest and our team defence, especially our front-half defence we keep looking to build on that.

You kicked eight goals from stoppages, How much was because of Darcy coming back in or Luke?
It was a bit of both. I don’t think we got our stoppage balance right in the first quarter and Smithy (Joel Corey) did a good job realigning the players and getting our balance right from there they got to work and our forwards really benefit on the supply they get from stoppage and in particular were able to compete with the numbers largely that you get from stoppage it was a mixture of Sean and but I think it was mainly our ground level work with our balance in stoppage and around stoppage our forwards being able to maximise some of that supply.

The decision to sub Alex Pearce, we saw him with ice on his lower leg, what is the go there?
He has been managing the lower leg injury for a number of weeks now he hasn’t been training at main training sessions so we just saw it as an opportunity to give him lower game time.

How did you view Matthew Johnson’s game?
He’s been developing really well for us. The thing that I’ve been most impressed with his role has been changing week-to-week and it has been based off a needs basis. So, when Jaeger missed he played more inside, when Jaeger has been playing inside he has been playing more wing and on-ball and there are times where we have thrown him up forward. He’s just been able to adapt. He has worked his backside off to give himself an AFL tank and body and you know he’s been developing nicely and he played his role tonight and contributed well.

Did he get hurt?
He got a corky. It was a good corky in a marking contest I think. He will be a bit sore but he is a tough bugger he bounced back well from a good-sized corky last week and trained well and he will be right.

Liam Henry’s form, last week he was one of your better players in a loss and probably the best I have seen him play, what’s been the key to get him to play the way he is at the moment?
I think with Liam it has been about consistency. We have all seen his really good efforts and his moments in games are really strong. It is about maybe bringing up the bottom end and making it more of a consistent game, being on task for longer and concentrating for long periods of time and not have those lapses in games, which let him down. He was really good tonight, he’s been working really hard on his contest. I thought he had some moments in 50/50 balls today. He marked and regained control for us and he had some moments where he had to take a ground ball and copped the tackle and the pressure coming his way and got us a stoppage. There was a moment in the last quarter where he got us a stoppage inside forward 50 on a 50/50 ground ball and ‘Switta’ ended up giving it to Caleb for a goal from that forward 50 stoppage. He’s been working really hard on his game, and it was good reward for effort tonight.

How important is it having Sean Darcy back in the side and for Luke Jackson to play forward?
It balances up really nicely I think it takes a little bit of pressure off ‘JT’ and Jye and he helps us get the ball to ground and also it gives us a really strong target down there. He has really been working on his forward craft and a couple of critical moments he took marks inside 50. When he doesn’t mark it, he gives our forwards a crack at ground level which has been a strength of our game across the season and with our small forwards and bringing them into the game as well.

Were you pleased to see he went the drop punt from the pocket, rather than around the body?
I don’t know if he has a left around the body, he was bragging about that shot on goal after the game, but it was nice to see.

How did you feel copping a bit of criticism on being too calm as a coach, was that water off a duck’s back?
It was a bit laughable really. I will cop criticism about preparing the team to perform last week, which I am a big part of that, and I copped my part in that but I don’t think anyone in the media knows how I coach behind the scenes or the way I go about it. So, being able to judge that off a screen of someone’s reaction in a box and after a goal, it is what it is. It is the role of a senior coach, you cop criticism for team performances and it is water off a duck’s back. I didn’t change anything this week but I would like to think as a senior coach you need to be authentic and your players need to know what their coach is going to give them in terms of their demeanour and a level of consistency is critical and that is the way I will continue to coach.

Henry finds freedom on wing
Freo finds form against Bombers
Jackson loves his role