I thought we counterpunched them really well.
Both teams had a number back all night so it was there for whoever used the ball best, and able to find targets inside 50.
It was 14 marks to seven, we had more kicks than them, more marks inside 50 and more shots on goal, so I think it’s a pretty simple equation.
Score off turnover was 8/6 to 5/6 so they’re a counterpunch team. We just didn’t want to kick to their plus one.
I thought we had a first half that was pretty good on clearance work, but in the second half fell away and it became how the Crows like it.
There was a bit of circle work, so Fyfe went forward and we found a way. We went in knowing they were a counterpunch team. Teams that have been bombing it in, they run it out.
We just thought, we won’t kick it to them, look off our line and lower our eyes. It was 14 marks to seven, eight marks to three. So we will take it and move on.
Is the biggest stat now turnovers as opposed to clearances?
Well there’s always more scores from turnover so normally, when they win, they average 30-38 points counterpunch and I think they’ve kicked 2 points tonight. So we set up pretty well for the counter.
We found a way to win basically.
We know we’re going through a little bit, just grinding our way through. It’s the hard part of the season, our season is well and truly alive and we’ve got a bit of quality to come back, probably three of our best players, at some point.
We know what we need to do to get to our very best and we know we’re not there at the minute, but it’s a long, hard year. We’ve found a way with some significant challenges for personnel and we find ourselves sitting in the top five.
Sometimes you’ve just got to find a way with what you’ve got, and I thought we did that.
Was that finals-type footy?
No. They’re not going to make the eight you wouldn’t think. We know there’s a lot better teams out there and we know we’re not at our best.
When you talk about not being at your best, are you talking about personnel?
We’re just not playing very good footy at the minute, we’re ok, but I think we all walk away knowing we’re just not quite at our best.
I thought there were patches where I thought we looked really good, but our consistency is a little bit down.
Will Ballantyne be back next week?
Yes, we think he will certainly play. He probably could have played this week, but conservative nature (saw him rested).
Matthew (Pavlich) still has a week to go of his suspension, so a bit of purgatory there for Matthew.
Luke McPharlin should be probably two or three (weeks) optimistically… he’s had no hiccups.
How big is the Carlton game next week?
I think Carlton have gone into a really challenging environment (against Gold Coast) and really dominated the game from what I could see with shots on goals and entries (inside 50). They are going to really challenge us so we are going to need to play better than we did tonight to win.
What did you make of Lachie Neale’s game tonight?
Lachie can seriously play, like all players, the game is so physically demanding that they need a few pre-seasons.
He displayed some good form and we really didn’t want to leave Tom Sheridan out but we thought Lachie’s form against Richmond vindicated that he stay in and Cam (Sutcliffe) has been a really good sub for us.
He (Neale) delivered tonight, he wins the ball really well. We were frustrated a couple of times with use, but, as he gets more aggressive in his tackling and he gets fitter and fitter, we think we are going to have a very good midfielder.
Nat Fyfe’s class showed through, how highly do you rate him amongst the competition’s elite?
I don’t think about it to be honest. I just think about his role for the team.
He played differently tonight, he played more on the outside. We knew he was a goal kicker, when you talk about run and quality – I thought he was very smart against the opposition tonight and he hurt them. If you don’t respect him pushing forward he’s going to hurt you.
Who do you think were your best tonight?
I think Stephen Hill was really solid tonight. Fyfe kicked 4.2, he was pretty good. I thought Ibbotson was pretty good. There is not too many that jump to mind as four quarter performers but I think everyone had their moments. It was a weight of numbers performance tonight.
Did you take a risk going in a bit short down back, with Ibbotson going on Tom Lynch?
No not really, Tom Lynch is 190cm so you see him against the talls, and Maxwell was a good match up for him.
He is really a midfielder who gets up, and back and out, so we thought it was a really good match-up. He snuck a couple of shots but to his credit, I know Tom from the Saints and his work ethic has become enormous, he’s playing to his strengths and it’s going to see him succeed.
Did you get through unscathed tonight?
As far as I know, yes.
Pearce and Walters targeted Van Berlo before the game, was that an instruction?
No I didn’t see it. I know a free kick was paid, but obviously I’m looking everywhere.
What about Crowley going on (Richard) Douglas?
He is a very good player Douglas.
We looked at him, he was their highest entry player, he’s been really important to them. I think we need to acknowledge they’ve been in pretty good form though.
