Justin, how are you feeling?

It’s really disappointing, but on the other hand I thought we took some really good steps forward with our game. We got our system going I thought for parts of the game. We’ve clearly got some errors to improve on, but we had plenty of chances to win that game of footy. I’m mainly just disappointed.

Is it frustrating that you are letting teams get away from you then you have to do all the hard work to get back in it?

Yeah absolutely, and we spoke about it with our players and we need to be able to hold up under pressure. And when the opposition has got momentum, we need to be able to hold up under that pressure better. We weren’t able to do that today clearly, so that’s disappointing. I thought we started okay, the start of third quarter was really disappointing. We’ve clearly got some work to do but there were some pleasing parts of our game as well.

Is that the message? Stopping the momentum so you don’t have to fight back? 

Yeah absolutely, at the Gabba the centre bounce is critical. When Brisbane got on top, they got on top at the centre bounce and they were able to get field position and play the game in their front half. We weren’t able to deal with Brisbane owning field position from us. Six (goals) and six (behinds) from turnovers in our defensive half is not good enough and not where we want to be as a footy club. The best teams in the competition can hold up under that pressure. We’ve got some work to do in that area of our game.

The boys look exhausted chasing tail in that third quarter?

It was a couple of centre bounces and that’s where they owned field position on us. I thought their pressure actually lifted in their front half and we just couldn’t deal with it. To our credit, they just kept fighting and even the backend of that third quarter we played the game in our front half. Fyfe got going and created some good opportunities and we started putting the pressure on them and then the start of the last quarter we were well and truly on top but we just couldn’t kick that extra goal, we had some opportunities and but we couldn’t get that final nail to get us in front and they obviously kicked that last goal to make it 12 points but it felt closer than that for a long period.

Nat Fyfe and Michael Walters really stepped up and lead from the front didn’t they? 

They were enormous and I thought our whole midfield group really got going early. Our pressure probably wasn’t where it was at but we were getting our hands on the footy first. I think clearances was nine to two at one stage. Our midfielders got their mojo going and they all joined in at certain parts of the game. Those two in particular have been doing it for such a long period of time and they set such a high standard for the rest to follow so it is a credit to them. 

What did you think of that decision to not pay the mark to Matt Taberner in the goal square?

Oh, I’d have to have a look at it again. I’ve only seen it live and to be honest I just moved on, it wasn’t paid a mark. I was more worried about us setting up our zone and defending that kick in and trying to get the game played in our front half at that stage. I’ll have to have another look at it. 

How damaging was Lachie Neale and trying to contain him?

We put some strategies in place. He is a phenomenal player and he probably highlighted that game in some sense. They were just a little bit cleaner than what we were around the ball. They were a bit more one touch. Their first handball away was a bit cleaner. We put ourselves under pressure by not being as clean as we need to be and that’s something we can work on, It’s something we can get better at across the board and it will help our game.

What was your thought process for how you would cover Charlie Cameron?
The thing is we are a bit small down there at the moment, height wise clearly, so we needed (Griffin) Logue to take a tall. We thought (Ethan) ‘Hughesy’ was a good match up, clearly he’s a good player and some of the supply he was getting early in the game he was making the most of it. Once we switched ‘Griff’ on to him, Griff did a great job, but it made us vulnerable in other areas. We were fortunate enough that some of our smaller players were able to get it done in the air and their taller players didn’t have an influence as much as Cameron did early.

How is Sean Darcy?
He’s got a knee injury. How significant we will have to get it scanned tomorrow but probably doesn’t look great at this stage.

How upsetting is that for him?
He’s disappointed. Clearly he’s been a long time out of footy, so just to get back and get injured first game is not ideal. Fingers crossed it’s not too bad and we get him back as soon as we can. He’s clearly an important part of our team and an important part of our structure so we want to get him back as quick as we can.

Do you have a ‘crisis of talls’ at the moment with Pearce, Hamling and now Darcy injured?
It’s not ideal but sometimes that’s the way the cookie crumbles. We just have to deal with it. I think we can manage that and we are just going have  to restructure our team a little bit and we’ll get up and get going again next week.

What happened to Nathan Wilson?
He had a back spasm. He’s had a scan today so hopefully it’s not too bad. Usually we get a quick response. He did it during main training so, two days out from a game just didn’t give him enough time to get over it. We expect him to come up next week.

How important a step was Jesse Hogan’s practice game today?
It was a big step to be honest. He approached it with the right attitude. It wasn’t the news he wanted to have to play not at AFL level but he approached it with the right attitude and by all reports he worked really hard in the game today and took another step forward.

What was the reasoning for him not playing AFL level today?
We are trying to make him AFL match ready so that once we get him into our AFL team he stays there, week in and week out, and can contribute at a high level.

Is there a temptation now to bring him back in next week?
We will have a look at positions in our team, have a good debrief on how they all went at the lower level and try and pick a team that can beat Port Adelaide.

What are your thoughts on the club’s response to a person on Twitter who requested a membership refund if the players took a knee at the game for the Black Lives Matters movement?
I fully support what the club did. As a past player and a coach of this football club we have a really strong history of indigenous players and staff at our football club so I fully support the stance the club took.

In terms of the hub scenario, you mentioned Sean Darcy going for scans. Given the restrictions, how do you avoid exposure to services outside the hotel?
We gather it will be an essential service and we will be allowed to go to any medical practitioners that are in relation to the AFL. Gold Coast and Brisbane have been really helpful in sourcing some of these things that we need. Player these days they need scans a lot, we’ve got great medical availability on the Gold Coast and its been reasonably straight forward so far.

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