I think that’s the lowest score the clubs conceded in club history, how satisfied are you?
I wasn’t aware of that. Our defensive structure has been holding up really well. I think the pressure we are putting on the ball, the way our forwards are defending is really helping our backs, and our backs are setting up really well behind the ball. I thought the guys were really strong tonight back there for us so it was a great effort defensively.

Were you worried whether last week might have sucked the life out of them, or were you confident they would bounce back?
No, I was worried, and that’s why we tried to review it more holistically and look at some of the positives we did last week because we jumped into the game well last week. We tried to make sure our review was really balanced and then move the players on pretty quickly to focus on Sydney. Sometimes those types of loses last week can linger around all week so we tried to shift the players mindset onto Sydney pretty early in the week. I thought our players really prepared well for the contest tonight.

Brennan Cox continues to emerge and influence in defence?
Yes and he’s starting to get some continuity playing down there. I think all pre-season he (Brennan) was fit and had a really strong pre-season and just had some hiccups in the hub with his hip flexor and missed a bit of footy, so I think the last three or four weeks he has been really strong, he’s been building. I thought tonight he played on a good player and played really well. He’s strong in the contest and shows really good composure with the ball and is able to make really good decisions. He is coming along really nicely.

What did you make of Matt Taberner’s game?
I thought early especially he was outstanding, he gives such a strong contest and straightens us up. It’s no surprise, I said that to him just then, it’s no surprise that you’re good in the contest because I see you doing it on the training track 100 times a week and he’s such a good role model for our young forwards, and all our forwards really, the work he puts in to his craft and he’s getting the benefit week in, week out. He’s been fantastic.

With your tall defenders, how did you get these guys to this level without Pearce and Hamling?
I’m just worried about what we can do rather than what we can’t do. I worry about who we’ve got rather than who we haven’t got. I’ve made the whole team focus on our team defence because if you can force the opposition wide and force them long we can handle any balls coming in. It’s when they’re coming in a hundred mile-an-hour to an open forward line, that makes it more difficult. It gets back to what I said just then, focus on what we can do, who we’ve got rather than the negatives. I think we’ve been pretty good as a footy club doing that all year.

How confident are those guys now playing in that team defence?
I think they’re building some really strong chemistry. Especially our back six, they’ve played with each other pretty consistently for the last month now and I think even with the ball we’re starting to some consistency and some composure and they’re trusting each other a lot more and tonight was evidence of that.

David Mundy’s form at the age of 35… is he playing his way to a contract next year?
We will keep the dialogue open, me and Belly (Peter Bell) have had a chat to him and at the moment we’re all keen to push ahead with that but we’ve left it to the end of the year on purpose because of his age and where he sits. We’re just really happy with his form and really rapt with what he’s teaching our younger players. He’s a calm head during the week and on game day so he’s a real benefit for us at the moment.

Do you maintain a fierce focus on next week or do you allow your players to still dream of playing finals given you’re only a game and a half out of the top eight?
It’s just another distraction, finals talk. There’s so many distractions in the season we’ve just got to make sure our players prepare well each week and at the end of the day, where we finish on the ladder will look after itself. I know it’s a boring answer but it’s the reality of it. We’ve had another good week on the track, another good week previewing a team that’s in good form and we executed tonight. Next week will be no different. We’ll put our head into GWS, try and come up with a plan to beat them and hopefully execute and the ladder will look after itself at the end of the year.

What did you make of Liam Henry tonight?
He’ll get better with his finishing. We know he’s got classy finishing skills, I just spoke to him then and said it was the speed of the game that caught him out at times and surprised him so he just needs to make sure he trains for those moments so he can become a real opportunistic forward that we know he can be. I thought he had a really solid first game, we haven’t seen the finished product of Liam, that’s still a couple of years away so he’s just got to make sure he improves on what he dished up tonight and keeps improving every week.

Did you set another job up for Caleb Serong tonight on Luke Parker?
Yes we did. He and Mundy shared it a few times because we wanted to get Dave’s game time up a little bit so we started him on him a couple of times. We just thought Parker’s one of the best inside mids in the comp and it was just another opportunity for Caleb to learn and grown as a footballer and get his opportunity to play to his strengths as well.

Did you get out injury free?
Yes, it looks like we did. Lobby (Rory Lobb) rolled his ankle in the third quarter but he came back and had an impact for us in the last so he looks like he got trhough, and Reece came back out again too so that looks positive.

Is your view of the Stephen Hill contact with Blakey just two guys going for the ball?
It looked like that yes. I thought he had pretty good technique going for the footy and I think he actually won the footy, so it will be interesting to see how that comes back