It was a frustrating day. The Tigers were pretty good. We slaughtered the ball a bit when we had some golden opportunities, particularly in the first half and even late. They’re the number one clearance team for and against in the AFL and that’s how it ended up and they pantsed us around the stoppages. It was really our clearance work and at the end of the day we were beaten in the midfield.
It’s unusual for your midfielders to be beaten like that?
They have their moments. Over the whole day I wouldn’t say we were beaten. Crowley did a really good job on Deledio but I thought they had weight in numbers, not so much individuals, and really some dominant tap out stuff. I reckon hit outs to advantage put us on the back foot.
Do you see this as a blow to your top 4 aspirations?
It clearly doesn’t help but I don’t really talk about aspirations, I talk about our next opponents. We’re in positive territory because we take care of reviews, we analyse what needs to be addressed, we train it, we pick our best team and they come and give a pretty good effort. At the end of the day I think we still pulled it to 8 points but we couldn’t get the ball forward and if you can’t get the ball forward you can’t score.
Was today just a weight of numbers?
I thought we were in the game at half time. I just thought we over used the ball and handballed a lot. Their pressure was pretty good but I thought we just missed some golden opportunities. I think we had 8 back off the marks, 5 of them inside forward 50. That doesn’t help. I think it was 20 entries to 16 at half time. Also, some simple turnover goals, a 50m penalty, a hands in the back either for or against. I thought the Tigers were prettygood, they were up and about. We haven’t got too much to return over the next few weeks, I think Aaron will come back next week, Nick Suban, but other than that those other guys are longer term.
Do you see it as a real challenge over the next few weeks to stay connected to the top 4 with these losses still?
My focus is now Adelaide. The aim of every club is to play finals but you can’t play them until you win enough games. I find if you take care of the short term, the long term looks after itself.
The conditions seemed pretty tough out there today. How did the players find it?
I haven’t asked them, to be honest. It was a lot better than we all thought it was going to be. You’d take an overcast, cloudy, slightly sunny day in a positive manner.
What was your main message to the players after the game?
Basically what I’ve said here. The issues and mechanics we didn’t do very well. I thought overall we tried really hard. We’ve worked hard to be in a good position. With six games to go we need to get back and have a good week, stick together, train really well and prepare for a tough AFL team.
With three goals for Mzungu as your leading goal scorer and with no Pavlich or Ballantyne did you find it hard to find someone up forward to score?
I haven’t really thought about it really. Clearly you’d prefer them there but you’ve got to find a way. Often you’ll score if you clear the ball and create turnovers and we were probably average at both today.
What did you make of Zac Dawson’s job on Riewoldt?
Riewoldt’s kicked 4, a couple late, I thought it was reasonably positive. It’s hard when you lose, when you win you don’t want to individualise but certainly when you lose you don’t want to individualise.
