Justin, the first game of the season. How did you find it?
It was a bit of a ride I suppose. I was just really disappointed with the way we started. We don’t want to be a team that has to chase from behind and have honourable losses. I’m so proud of them for coming back but so disappointed in them for starting the way they did. We’re all in it together, coaches, players, everyone but we can’t let a team like Essendon get off to the start they did. To answer your question, it was a bit of a ride in the box because we could have won it late but we don’t want to be in those situations.

Why did you start like that - what was your impression that made it go that way early?
We will have to reflect on what we did as a coaching group going into the game. Whether we gave our players the right messaging, but Essendon just looked up to it more than us. Their effort around the ball was better, they won the ball on the outside too easily and I thought our backs didn’t hold up where our backs have been fantastic over the Marsh Series. Our stoppage structures weren’t as well organised as we’d like, and it just took a little bit of time for us to settle into the game. Our second and third quarters weren’t better, but we looked a bit better with our composure and we weren’t as rattled as what we looked early. The Essendon midfield once they get on the outside, they are hard to stop so we will have to reflect on what we did and look at all our practices and make sure our players are better prepared and get on the front foot.

The uniqueness of the circumstances playing in front of no crowd?
They’re in the same boat, Essendon are in the same boat. Everyone is dealing with the same situation right now. We’ve seen across the three games (so far in round one), one side handles the start of the game better and unfortunately we were on the wrong side of that. It comes back to intensity and your work around the ball to win it and get the game played in the front half and they clearly did that better in the first three quarters I reckon. We had our moments in the second and moments at the end of the third but for three quarters we were just a little bit hesitant. We finally got the game on our terms late, and we got a good result out of that. We just couldn’t quite get the job done.

Are you disappointed you only had 18 tackles up until 3QT?
They out-hunted us and once they got on the outside, they’ve got so much speed and evasive skills that we couldn’t lay a glove on them. That was really disappointing – it’s something we spent a lot of time on over the pre-season and in the Marsh Series our pressure was really good. A lot of that goes into pressure as well, a lot of it is effort but it’s the way you hold your balance around the contest and they just did that aspect of the game better than us for a longer period and that's why we were behind on the scoreboard.

Emphasis on improving skills, did you see that come through today?
No, it’s going to take time. I thought we were hesitant, we didn’t back ourselves as much as I’d like. We weren’t willing to make mistakes a lot of the time and if you’re hesitant and second guess yourself, you’ll either get run-down tackled or pressured or you end up being really obvious to the opposition where you’re going to kick it. We didn’t play with a lot of instinct early. Once we got a taste for it and once we felt like we were in the game, it all turned, but it starts with the contest. We just weren’t good enough around the contest. Our skills will take time to improve. It’s something we feel we put a lot of time into and feel our training program is reflected to the game. The intensity went up a level today and our skill probably didn’t match that.

One of the positives, you saw a lot from Sam Sturt on debut?
He’s fantastic. The thing we’ve been telling him all pre-season was that, if his defensive intent and his effort to chase and tackle, his intent to provide options is there - all the stuff he can control - he’ll get a lick of the ice-cream on the scoreboard and he got that today with three goals. His chase and tackle pressure was probably one of the best in our team, he never gave up a chase. Defensively, he was good and good on him, he’s worked really hard at his game over the pre-season and he got the rewards today.

Are you confident in the personnel you have down back?
Yes absolutely, I am. I’m really confident. I think after the first quarter - our backs were ordinary in the first quarter and they were the first to admit it after the game. The second, third and fourth quarter, when they started backing themselves and taking their cue’s off the ball and supporting each other, they held up pretty good and they actually saved us a lot. There were some great efforts. Hughesy (Ethan Hughes) in that third quarter was able to save a goal going back with the flight of the ball, and save a goal and rush a behind. We need the support of our midfielders in the middle of the ground. They had their colours lowers for three quarters, I thought we were reactive in the midfield and that puts a lot of pressure on your backline. Going back to your question, I think the personnel that we’ve got back there can get the job done against any forward line but we need to support them as well.

Your opportunities in the final minutes, was there anything you wish you could have done a little differently?
I just think we could have gone a little bit more direct and got the ball in a bit quicker. We were clearly putting their backs under a lot of pressure. There’s opportunities in the last couple of minutes, just to get it in there quicker and hope Lobby (Rory Lobb) or Tabs (Matt Taberner) could take the mark, as we clearly had an aerial dominance across the ground but we didn’t capitalise on enough throughout the game. I thought those two in particular provided a really good contest. We could have just got in there a little bit quicker, gone a little bit more direct, we probably went for the 50-50 short option a little too much. It’s easier from where I was watching it, it’s frantic on the ground and we’re asking them to make split-second decisions under a lot of pressure. It is what it is, we’ll review it but I was proud of our boys in the last quarter. One thing I’ve learnt is that they have a crack no matter what the situation and they never give up. We can take some positives out of that, I just don’t want to be in those situations.

Your first game as a senior coach for premiership points. Did you walk away thinking the task was bigger than you thought or about right, or there’s plenty there to work with?
I think clearly we’ve got a lot of growth in us. I know we’re a young side, we’re going to take our hits every now and then, it’s going to be a season of ups and downs but one thing I said to them after the game was my message would have been the same if we had jagged another seven points and won. We learn from every time we go out there and rock up on Monday hanging out with your coaches, trying to get better. Our goal was always to be better at the end of the year than what we are at the start and that is no different.

Fyfe copped a knock in the eye. Is that just a black eye?
It looks like a black eye. Bit of a shiner. That’s all I know at this stage.