What was most impressive about that win today?
I thought it was a really tough battle all day, really see-sawing. Both teams giving great effort, we got on top in the last quarter. Rory Lobb was significant in the centre bounce, Fyfe, Mundy, Walters and Conca got it forward. All day we fought hard and, in the end, we got an edge in that area and we took our opportunities so that’s really pleasing. I thought our effort has been consistent all year, but that’s a reflection on our consistent preparation over summer and each week. If we prepare consistently to a high level, generally you’ll get an outcome that is commensurate with game day, so we just have to keep that focus on preparing well. They’re hard to come by (wins) against quality teams, every game is tough in the AFL, especially so today. We’ll enjoy the win, but we’ll do a sharp review, clean it up really quickly and prepare for the Bulldogs from Monday/ Tuesday onwards.
What did you feel broke it open later in the game?
Just to reiterate, the centre square bounces in the last quarter were 6-2 our way and we kicked two goals out of the middle. That gives you momentum, you feel good about yourselves and everyone gets a bit excited so that was the key area I thought.
Did you like that forward line mix with the way it’s coming together and the way Taberner was able to get a lot of the ball today?
Every week is a different challenge. We are still coming together and are relatively new, so it’s a work in progress but there were some good outcomes today. It’s always won and lost in the midfield and in the end, I think our midfielders got out on top (Walters, Fyfe, Mundy, Hill, Langdon, Brayshaw). Everyone has got to play their part at either end so that’s really what I thought happened.
Are you surprised that they didn’t send de Boer to Nat Fyfe at the first bounce and he went to Bradley Hill instead?
I’m not here to judge other decisions, we deal with what is put in front of us. He went to Hill and then he went to Fyfe later, Brad Hill is a very good player, you just play what’s in front of you. What’s important when they go to Hill is that everyone else stands up, it’s a weight of numbers.
And that’s worked, especially as you said in centre clearances around stoppages around the ground was exceptional, they just couldn’t get near him.
I concur with that, but they’ve got some exceptional players. I’m not sure what happened to Kelly, but he had 20 (disposals) to half time and started forward in the third, I’m not sure, I think he’s still building. Coniglio was incredibly damaging, particularly in the first quarter. We were able to rein that in, they were certainly backing their players in, but in the end, I thought we worked our way to come out on top.
Is there a noticeable difference this week with Fyfe back out there, how big is his presence with 31 touches upon return?
I thought we were very good last week, bar our finishing and some early defending, so we don’t want to make it about one player. There were certainly some great contributors outside of the midfield, our backs, Alex Pearce on Cameron, Luke Ryan, Cerra as a young player. When you play well it’s not about one person, it was certainly a weight of numbers performance today. I walked in the room and there were 22 excited players, I didn’t see one player sitting there I saw 22, that’s the way that Nat views it but he’s our captain and he’s an inspiration. I thought he was an inspiration today with his contest.
There were a few chances Fremantle missed in that first half, did you feel like when it blew open in that final quarter, it was coming or were you surprised to kick six straight?
You’re only as good as your next moment, the last ones don’t count. You’d like to…they missed some opportunities as well so I think that’s what they’d be saying. You always tend to focus on yours a little bit but in the end, we made our own luck by persisting and preserving so that’s a good lesson for our group.
We’re still building, we have our shoulder to the wheel, it’s turning. We have a lot of young guys but we’ve got a lot out of our additions in Rory Lobb, Jesse Hogan, Reece Conca and Travis Colyer all contributing strongly today. That just adds to that weight of numbers.
What did you think when you saw Matt Taberner miss the snap straight in front of goal and then he missed that other opportunity when the ball went past him in the goal square? It looked like you were almost chuckling to yourself in the coach’s box?
That’s not about Matthew, that’s just sometimes, it’s sort of black humour isn’t it? You’d like those opportunities to go your way. When he misses the snap, I’m just looking for team defence, are we set up against the ball, are we organised, not making any assumptions. With that dribbling one, it was like a wrong-un, it was pretty hard to get onto to those. Even now, it’s sort of a bit of black humour, if you don’t laugh, you’d cry.
How about Taberener’s performance in particular? He’s getting a lot of the ball. Are you starting to see his progression a bit more this year?
We saw it last year until he…he was really a quite dominant key forward until he had that plantar fascia injury and then a fracture. He went down in the first derby against the Eagles, it might have been round four? He was a significant loss for us. He’s a rookie list player that sees possibility and all he does is work hard and make the most of himself so I’m really proud of him.
To lose Cam McCarthy and to still be able to kick 16. You must have a lot of confidence having that potency in the forwardline?
As I said, it’s about supply and we had some good supply and the forwards competed really strongly. There was a spread of goalkickers. All of our small forwards contributed and kicked goals. It was nice that the next man in was really important and Cox, I felt, he rehabbed from his hamstring injury really well and he’s a really flexible young player that can play back or forward. It was important that he could come in and do what he did. I thought he competed strongly.
How was Rory Lobb during the week as it’s a big task coming up against Mumford who he worked alongside for so many years. How was he during the week and what did you think of his performance?
I complimented Rory on his game last week. The mids were really happy. It wasn’t something I checked in with him. He’s pretty keen to continue to ruck and I think he knew the strengths and weaknesses when you do team training and all of that. He was really excited by the opportunity and in the end, he played really well.
