Was there a sense of helplessness in the coaches box in that second quarter?
It’s never that. We can communicate with the players but there’s not a lot you can do when the opposition get on top in centre bounce and not only did they beat us on the inside, they got us on the outside. We put our backs under a lot of pressure and when we’ve been under the pump this year we haven’t been able to, at stoppage in particular and in the midfield, we haven’t been able to get field position through our ball movement, at times anyway. It felt like pretty much we played the whole quarter in our back half which obviously creates a lot of opportunities for the opposition and they dominated us obviously. The other three quarters, I thought we went into the game in the first quarter executing the plan all but being able to get a contest on the ball forward of centre, we had some really good looks going inside 50 but (Darcy) Moore and his lieutenants down there were able to intercept and we weren’t able to generate scores, or at least get the ball to ground and generate scores. Which, with the field position going in at quarter time down probably wasn't a reflection on the game. And the second half, those sort of games can go either way and I was proud of the fight in the second half. I thought some of our younger players really showed up in that second half and we were able to fight it out.
Do you know the extent of Brandon Walker’s injury yet?
Not really but he has done something pretty serious. He’s sore, we’ll get him back and scan him but he’s going to miss a fair bit of footy I would imagine.
Is that his season done?
It’s too early to tell, but it’s very unlikely.
What about Sean Darcy’s injury?
It was a bit of an innocuous injury, the way it happened anyway. He’s gone over his ankle, so we will get him back, scan him and hopefully it comes up alright.
How do you think they handled the environment and the crowd?
Clearly, when they got on top we weren't able to change the momentum of the game and we need to keep giving our players cues and structures to be able to stop opposition getting on top through the middle of the ground. Centre bounce, like I said, we need to be able to nullify and lock it in a bit tighter and have a mindset of repeat stoppages. Through that period it got way out of control, but then again I was happy with the way we fought it out. It’s a hard question to answer because we started well, jumped into the game well, but when they got on top we let their momentum carry on for too long. But they had their tails up going into the second half and we were able to come out and play with a bit more productivity and we got our hands dirty. We’re in these situations with a young team and we need to make sure we keep learning from these experiences.
Did it give you an indication of the work you need to do to get to the level of those really top teams?
Absolutely. The energy and speed which they played with around that second quarter was top shelf and we want to get that level obviously. Neil Erasmus hasn’t played ten games yet, 'Johnno' (Matt Johnson), Liam (Henry) on the wing, 'Driz' (Nathan O’Driscoll) on the wing, they all got a look at it an elite midfield today and we need to take lessons from that.
How disappointing is the loss given what you needed to do to make the top eight?
It’s disappointing, but we’ve still got a lot we can get out of the season and we need to make sure that we’re playing footy in the right way, that we’re learning from all these experiences and we build on what we’re doing at the moment so we’ve got a lot to get out of the back end of the season.
Has it taken you by surprise how different you are to last season?
We don’t look at it like that. With who we lost last year, we’ve gotten younger and as frustrating as it is, and I hate making it an excuse, but we’ve played like a young team at times. Whether it be inconsistencies week to week. Three weeks ago we played Essendon at home, played a really good game, win well, and then we pushed Western Bulldogs all the way, away from home, and then we fall off a cliff and have a really poor one last week. Today was a really good example of that, for three quarters we competed against the best team in the comp away from home, and the second quarter we totally lost our way, and young teams can do that. Like I said before, we need to just make sure we stay united as a group and we get the most we can out of the back end of the season and judging by their reaction after the game, they’re up for it.
Do you think the Club jumped the gun saying it wanted to win a Premiership in the next few years in its strategic plan?
No. No I don’t. I’ve got full faith that we are still heading in the right direction. Sometimes win-loss tallies go up and down from season to season, but I’ve got full faith that we’re heading in the right direction.
