Was it good to get a win first up?
It’s such a short season so every game is important. It’s really important for us to get the win early, we would have liked it to be a bit easier, but I am just happy to get the win in the end. Geelong are a really hard team to play against. Today we felt like we controlled the game but we still couldn’t get away from them and they had a chance to hit the front late in the last quarter. They are that type of side, a bit more potent this year with the way they move the ball.

What goes through your mind when you look at the inside 50 count?
I wasn’t too concerned, it ended up being 47-13. Our players didn’t realise that was the count because they felt it was harder than that. At three quarter time and scores were level, we had the wind in the last quarter. If we could just keep playing it with the ball in our front half we knew we would get the job done. We just had to keep chipping away, it’s one of those games that if you lose it would be extremely frustrating but fortunately we didn’t.

What did you make of Sabreena Duffy’s performance today?
I was really rapt with Sabs' pressure when the ball was on the ground, but she also competed in the air really well. I was thinking in the box not long before the siren how good she’d been and I didn’t realise she’d kicked four goals. I knew she had kicked a couple but I wasn’t concentrating on it too much. It’s just the way of the footy gods, if you work hard you get reward for that effort so it’s really pleasing.

There was a lot of talk early about Mim Strom and Roxy Roux and they seemed to live up to the hype?
It was a really solid day for those two kids. When we drafted them they were both 17 at that point, they’ve really only turned 18. I thought Mim was great from the very first bounce, she was super competitive. Roxy’s going to be more of a forward, we didn’t want to use her in the ruck too much this year but that’s happened through injury. She was great, she competed well. In the end Geelong decided not to compete against her in the ruck, which shows how well she was going.

How did you rate Kiara Bowers' game?
She had 14 tackles and 22 touches. I think her offensive game will go to another level this year. Her defensive game is always going to be there. She has the trust in her body now to take the game on so that’s pleasing to see. The example she sets when she’s out there means our young players know they have to train hard and work hard. She’s not just a front running player with a lot of ability, she works harder than anybody.

How about your midfield today?
It was a little bit slow to start with but we are really dynamic in there now with Hayley Miller who is explosive, Katie-Jayne Grieve is a really exciting player, she has improved out of sight over the summer and Jas Stewart who’s had a year in the system and has a damaging left foot. They are really selfless and work for each other, we don’t really have a ‘go-to’ player so it makes it really hard for the opposition and I thought at different stages today all of them got on top of their opponents.

At times Gemma Houghton looked like she could have teared the game open?
I thought she was amazing, she had 17 touches with 11 contested possessions. Her pressure was really pleasing, she probably deserved to finish with a few more goals but I think she sets the standard for forward pressure which is very rare for a key forward and we are lucky to have her out there when she’s in that frame of mind.

How do you rate your forward line?
Our forward line is a different group, they have a lot of fun together. They are all different characters but they get on really well. They are all happy to work together, we talk about how many goals we kick together not who kicks them. Today it was Sabs' turn for her lick of the icecream, it could be anyone’s next week. Kate Flood is just learning the game, she made a few errors today but she also showed what she’s capable of. We are looking forward to seeing her in the back part of the year.

Do you have an update on Steph Cain?
I’m not sure at this stage. We will get scans and hope for the best.

Can you tell us a little more about Roxy Roux?
She’s just a really powerful athlete, she is one of the first group that we are going to see more and more of in the AFLW who are really good athletes who have also been playing footy for a really long time, rather than pinching athletes who haven’t played footy. She played three years of state 18’s. She has a phenomenal leap, she can do anything and at the moment she’s not a high possession player but she is performing a great role for us and that’s what we want at the moment. In a few years down the track she is going to be a really dominant player in the competition.

Are you excited for next week’s derby?
It will be different, West Coast will treat it differently to us. They’ve probably gone with more highly skilled players. They are the most experienced of all the expansion sides, they have the fourth oldest list. The advantage we have is that our core group has played together and we know what our expectations are of each other and the girls have been fantastic in teaching those expectations to the new girls.