From your point of view what wrong?
I think the first thing is you have to acknowledge your opponent, they were very, very good. They run the ball well, use the ball well, make us defend. Quite simply they just scored every time they went in. Every time we went in, we didn’t score. It was really simple. They were effective defensively and offensively. It was disappointing, the scoreboard pressure. I mean, we’ve averaged nine marks against or thereabouts for three years in our D50. They took nine marks in the first quarter, so it’s a pretty strong indicator that you need to tighten up and you need to defend a little bit better – there wasn’t a lot of pressure in our front half. It just highlights how good league teams can be if you don’t compete in the manner that you need to in pressure. So, it was good feedback for our group as disappointed as we are. I thought, half-time they had 21 entries and they were just scoring at will. We put (Stephen) Hill back there for a little bit and he turned it around but then after half time I thought we made a game of it. More entries, opportunities. A little more composure in the last quarter probably could have tightened the margin and put some real pressure on. But to their credit, they closed out pretty well.
 
Did Lee Spurr coming out late affect your structure at all?
No, not at all. We certainly wanted to give Hayden Crozier an opportunity. Michael Johnson early with the hamstring wasn't ideal. So he'll miss, looks like a standard 21-day hamstring roughly. They were quite tall which is fine. So we just restructured. (Chris) Mayne went back and we thought he was probably a bit better (up forward). (Matt) Taberner went back, he was okay, but he needs to learn a little bit. It's probably not ideal for us with (Zac) Dawson and (Alex) Silvagni. Hopefully Alex Pearce is available next week, (we'll) have a look at that. Does Taberner stay back? (Zac) Clarke went back as well. I thought we fought on. I thought we worked our way back into it, changed up a few things. I thought they, particularly in the first half, dominated. They had the momentum early, should I have done a little bit more? Maybe, but it's always good to have a look at your players and see how we respond and what we do.
 
The raw clearance numbers and contested ball were dominant but you didn't get scoring out of it, can you put your finger on that?
I think there's raw numbers. A few of them were wide and short and some quick kicks that they intercepted. Their pressure around the ball was pretty good. They looked pretty quick. So there's numbers and there's quality.
 
Plenty of talk about the winning streak did that affect the players at all?
No, I didn't ask them. Does that make sense? It's not a conversation I have. Are you buying into the 10-game figure? It would have been nice to create some history, there's no doubt about that. It's really insignificant in the scheme of things. We came here to play good footy in front of our crowd. We didn't do that. We had an opponent that laid down a challenge and we didn't respond in the manner you need to. So we need to work on our desire levels for the week and come out and we get the opportunity to go to the Gold Coast. So we'll look at the team. Peel Thunder play tomorrow so I'll go and have a look at that and make some decisions and try to regroup.
 
Nine wins to start the season is unchartered territory for this group, is the loss good in a way?
Quite simply put, it would have been nice to win tonight.
 
Were there challenges getting the players up after Adelaide last week?
No, none whatsoever. We're not a footy club that offers excuses. We were beaten by a better opponent and all credit to Richmond.
 
Are you vulnerable down back with tall defenders?
Well we're vulnerable because they're injured. I think it's a good point and it's fair and we've been holding our breath a little bit. We thought we were getting a little bit better with Zac Dawson but he breaks his thumb and then Johnno gets pushed as he kicked, so a little hamstring tweak. You know what? Good teams find a way.
 
Are Alex Pearce and Tanner Smith in a position to step up?
Well that will be the aim. We'll go away and look at it. I think Gold Coast have some challenges. I'm not sure how many talls they've got. I haven't been watching them that closely but I'll have to tune into that. We'll come together as a match committee and make an educated decision.
 
Do you think Matt Taberner and Chris Mayne will learn from the experiences?
Yes, they were far from perfect. Look, Mayney only went back for five minutes. It was really Taberner and Clarke. I thought Tabs did some good things. He sort of slaughtered it a couple of times, but look it's a hard place to be. Not many people like going back, and some difficult conditions. So look that's a growth experience. Tommy Sheridan played again tonight, I thought he was okay. Hayden Crozier kicked a couple so we had a good
look at him look, that's a look at our future isn't it? Tendai Mzungu's there as well. Lee Spurr should be fine to come back. He'll definitely come back next week. What I want to be really clear on here is we're disappointed but we were beaten by a better opponent tonight.
 
You’ve worked hard with your scoring efficiency was that a reminder tonight that it’s a key area of the game?
No, I think the key area of the game is winning the ball because we were down in that and playing with intensity. Scoring is a function, an outcome of that function of intensity, winning the ball and pressuring.
 
Do you feel like Matthew Pavlich’s form has dropped off in recent weeks?
Not particularly, I don’t think he’s had his best night but it’s been difficult. I think he’s been a little bit sore at the end of the day you judge the way you go and he would like to be a bit better. I think he’s had opportunities, a couple of dropped marks. He’s a proud competitor he’ll bounce back, we’ve got no doubt.
 
Zac Clarke’s had a couple of quiet weeks, the conditions were a bit dewy tonight, was that a contributor?
I haven’t thought about him too much. All I know is this group’s been very good…we acknowledge we’ve been beaten by a better opponent. We’ll go away and assess, I’m not into individual execution at any time let alone when we fought on and people have played pretty good roles for a long period of time.
 
Sandilands broke another record with hitouts to advantage this week
Did he? Terrific. That’s good it will go in the record books and we’ll go down as losers.