Ross was there any anxiety you may have wasted that one?
More at half time. I thought our third quarter was pretty good. The missing was costly and you’re leaving the door ajar. You’re expending a lot of energy to create really good opportunities, so when you’re missing there is a bit of anxiety, but I thought our response after half time… was really strong. (In the second quarter)Gold Coast turned up the heat a bit, we turned it over a bit, but then what can happen is the score board can sometimes infiltrate some young minds and we just started to leave the ball carrying and not run away. You blink and they’re close, but we mixed it up a little bit. I thought our third quarter was strong, it was just a matter of keep that going. I thought we did that, we dominated entries and still there’s a little bit of composure and conversion in the last quarter. But we’ll take this game and where they’ve been. And they’re a bit like us, they’re developing. But it was emphatic, if you think they’re the number one contested ball team and we won it by plus 19, it was really pleasing to come in and win that..

How significant were the third quarters of Fyfe and Walter when they edged 8 points infront?
I never felt threatened (about) losing the game. I knew they were in it. What you worry about is if you don’t execute properly that can be costly and you can get bitten. So I wouldn’t have known they hit the front and I thought even in the third quarter we were kind of emphatic with the amount of entries and scoring shots. It was just the efficiency in the last bit and a bit of composure, we’re playing pretty quick, but there’s times we just need to slow when you’ve got a free player and not stuff it up. We just stuffed up a few things we shouldn’t have stuffed up. I thought 60 to 46, 31 shots to 18 that’s a strong performance… they missed a few as well.

It aslo looked like Fyfe, Walters and McCarthy gave you composure for about 15 minutes in the third?
I think we took six or seven marks inside 50, we were passing the ball in. I always felt we were right in the game and we could win that game, but we had to get it done. There’s four games within the game isn’t there so I think we won three quarters. Overall our young players found about the change of league footy coming up week after week, the mental drain of coming up. But I thought Banfield did a good job on Hall, limited his effectiveness. They’ve got a lot of quality there. They’ve got a lot of talent. Lynch and Day and May down the other end, they’re a very talented team, so I don’t think we can forget that. They’re set up to succeed not fail.

How significant was Alex Pearce’s game
Well I know how good Alex is and I thought Alex was fighting it out and I thought at times ‘gee, Lynch is a good player’. He did some things where you think, gee whiz I know how good Alex is,he still did some stuff. All credit to Lynch, I thought Alex worked defensively quite strongly.

Are you surprised at all by how Alex has comeback?
Some concern, bit of unknown when you’ve been out for about two years. There’s always that underlying ‘gee wiz’ can he do the work and he did the work and will it re-fracture? There were some complications the first time without going into it, and just when you think he’s through it goes. It’s just like Harley’s calf, just when you think you’re getting there, these things can reoccur.

Jason Webber and their team, they manage him really well, he doesn’t do a full load, he’s probably a management issue for a while. And this ground is quite hard, so we’ll have to look after him earlier in the week.

What about Nat Fyfe’s form…how does it compare now verses his Brownlow form?
We’re a different team, and I think he’s a slightly different player and he’s now the captain. He’s just doing what he does well - Clearance work, contested ball work, marking well and working hard without the ball. He had 16 in the first, he quietened down in the second, third and really got going again. I think he’s really improved his disposal, kicking efficiency; he’s a bit more dangerous with the ball in hand. I’m really pleased he’s growing into being a leader, it’s not easy to be a leader of an AFL club and an AFL club that’s transitioning, but he’s really growing into that role, and he’s got good support obviously with Mundy and Sandilands around him and Walters and Neale.

What did you make of the Sandilands report?
I didn’t see it I just got informed on the way in. We’ll let it go through the channels and whatever it is (rough conduct for high bump), we’ll just deal with it, I didn’t see it.

We really value Aaron, we would love Aaron to play, we actually want to  play two of them in the one team at some point. It would concern me if Aaron missed.

Walters came off cradling his left hand?
I was concerned it looked like a wrist, but normally if you break it you actually cradle it a bit more. It just got stood on.

Was that the best game McCarthy has played for the club?
I think the ball movement helps him, and entering with a bit more precision. He kicked a few. He kicked six in a practice match. He’s getting better, you’ve got to share the load. I don’t know how many goal kickers we had sharing the load. I thought Brandon Matera was really good today and when he went deep forward, Ballantyne, we’re looking lively, we’re giving them a chance and Taberner has really grown, he was significant again today I thought. Cam’s important for us, but David Hale has really been fantastic teaching McCarthy and Taberner how to play key forward, their body work and has really helped their craft enormously. So if they keep working with him they should keep improving.

Quite a bit of bounce out of defence – Nathan Wilson, Luke Ryan
And Stephen Hill and Connor Blakely. We’ve always been a solid defence but that hasn’t been a feature. Paul Duffield he was a real bouncer and kicker and Ibbo (Garrick Ibbotson) could kick, you’ve got to replace those guys, they were exceptional at what they did. Wilson, Hill and Luke Ryan, you can see they’ve got a lot of precision in their kick and run, so it’s helped, but it’s been a transition period.