What are your thoughts after the game?
We played a very good football team that is fighting for top four. We understood the challenge coming here. I was really pleased with our start and the first half in general. We were really positive at half time but they really ramped it up and we weren’t able to go with them. We understand that we’ve got eight players under 20 games. We spoke about it, it was two years ago, we beat them by 90 points so it’s just for our young players to understand the level of run and the bodies you have to build so we are able to get better and we also add some quality in around that. Out of that you need to learn some lessons.

Only two points in the second half. What does that say about you and your club or does it say more about how the Giants played in the second half?
I think it says two things, it says they are very good and we’re struggling to go with the very best and we understand that.

Leon (Cameron) said your structures were really good in the first half. But then they got on top of you in the second half. What areas did they get on top of you?
Our Achilles heel all year has been the ability to transition the ball and hit some targets and make good decisions coming out of defence. It was no different tonight and particularly in the third quarter. There were some really poor executions. At times we had the options, we were out and we made a meal of it. Against quality, you could see that their ability to be clean and hit targets was significantly better than ours. When you are a young group, the scoreboard gets away from you. You don’t want it to happen and we talk about not letting effort get dictated by the scoreboard but that desire, that willpower, it’s hard to maintain it and then as one falls away, its 18 v 17, then someone else falls away, it’s 18 v 16 and in the end it just becomes really quite difficult and that’s what occurred.

What impact do you think the Giants can have in the finals?
It’s certainly not to put any pressure on anywhere. For five years it’s been built, and built strong. The strategies put together by Gubby (Graeme) Allen, Stephen Silvagni and Paul Brodie, with the uncontracted players that they put together, they are coming into prime, (Phil) Davis and (Callan) Ward. There’s a lot made about (Tom) Scully but his return on investment is significant. (Shane) Mumford and (Heath) Shaw and (Steve) Johnson are great players in their own right. Their centreline was pick one, pick two, pick three. They have clearly worked really hard, they have strong systems, and they are playing together as a team. There is no doubt I think they could win it. I think that’s indisputable.

Match report: Giants too good for Freo

Shane Yarran gave you life early then dried up. Was that a supply issue?
His calf did tighten up. No doubt in the second half the inside 50s really dried up but I think what you saw when we can give him some good supply and a little bit of space, he’s super dangerous. He could have kicked four goals in the opening stanza. He understands that there’s plenty of work to do and nothing but upside for him. He’s an exciting, young and upcoming, young in AFL terms, obviously he’s 28 and he’s had some challenges but he has come into the environment, he’s loved it, he’s got a real sense of self worth and direction and purpose. It’s a credit to all our coaches and players that Shane’s been able to come in and feel comfortable and grow. He’s had significant adversity with injury and challenge, but we took the long road with him, he's bought in and it’s fantastic to see.

Do you expect Yarran to be better once he has a full pre-season?
I think logic predicates that. He understands it’s about the break, the eight weeks. It’s a mental break but physically you have to keep in condition and come back to attack a summer and that’s what we need all our players to do. Clearly we’ve got some work to do, it can be done. Two years ago we beat them but 90 points and we understand we have some quality to add back in. You can’t blame someone else for that tonight, everyone’s got to take their bit and understand, ‘gee I need to get better in this, this and this’ to compete against what is really a high level team. That’s the important piece here.

Who comes back in next week?
Matthew Pavlich, it will be an emotional week. I can still remember Pearce that played for Balmain years ago I saw his last game and the emotion of the fans. We still have to prepare but it’s a significant week. Out of the wreck you’re looking for some purpose and that should give us real purpose, a bit of an emotional hook to really see it out towards the end.

Did everyone pull up ok today?
Everyone on the surface is ok, and hopefully Aaron Sandilands is ok.

Will there be different thinking with selection next week considering its Pav’s last game?
That’s something we’ll consider, I think it will be remiss of us not to. It’s been a significant challenge this year, some loyal servants have played good footy but once that win-loss, we really had to look at what we’ve done. Tendai (Mzungu), Matty de boer, Nick Suban obviously are long time teammates, we’ll look to balance that up. We can’t be stupid about it, but it’s something we’ll consider. We certainly did that with Matt de Boer in Pav’s 350^th. That was a bit of an emotional pick.

Room for sentiment and emotion in footy?
There’s always room for sentimental emotion but there’s always an opportunity cost. It’s easy to do it when win-loss, but does that cost someone a game of development? I was really pleased with what I saw in Darcy Tucker's first half, he looks like he’s going to be a really good player for us. We don’t want to cost anyone a game like that.

Did you like Connor Blakey’s first half?
I thought his first half complimented his attack on the ball. It’s just that ability to sustain it and as the scoreboard gets away it gets quite difficult.

"The spirit doesn't drop one bit" - Yarran

(Anthony) Morabito will become an issue again. Is he a real chance?
Peel have played today and played quite well until the third quarter. It’s not an issue, it’s topical and even with the scrutiny we don’t shy away from it. If you guys aren’t sitting in here and there are not fans and members that are interested, well we’re not in a job. We don’t push back on it, sometimes the path it can go down disappoints. Generally we’re happy to talk about it. With Anthony we'll sit down, we'll let our develop coaches come in. They’ve had a say all year. Anthony Rock, Roger Hayden and David Hale, they’ll have their say and put in a strong case where necessary but we understand it’s been tough road for Anthony.

Are you excited about next year, to work out a new strategy and recruit?
We’ve been planning, we always plan our list management, but clearly it's been quite acute and we need to see next week through in a really strong manner. Peel will play in the finals hopefully. They lost today so they need to win next week and if they do that, a number of our players will continue to play. We want them to play for Peel and experience finals. Next year is not here year but we’re planning behind the scenes.

On Morabito, could he fit into the emotional category?
I think it’s a bit dangerous for me to posture and in fairness, I'vve only postured once on Anthony when I was asked about him with not many games to go and I said he needs to get moving. But that was just an answer to a question without notice and in fairness to Anthony he probably felt that pressure and was unfair on him. I didn’t mean to and the journo asking the question, was just a good interest. Anthony probably felt the walls closing in on him and felt pressure so I feel that’s really unfair on Anthony. I'm happy to answer but does Anthony like all this talk? No, he doesn’t because he just feels it puts pressure on him and unfair pressure, but when we put ourselves up into the arena on the list, what comes just comes and you have to deal with it. I don’t want to put any pressure on Anthony. I want to really respect him without disrespecting the answer.

You’re confident on Sandilands coming in next week?
Relatively, I think he’ll have to get through, we would like him to play obviously. If he can play, he’ll play.

On list management and recruitment strategy, are you looking at Rory Lobb at all?
It’s probably not the forum. I don’t talk about opposition players who are contracted. It’s not fair, I think that’s a simple response. I think your have to response GWS and their players and their contracts.