Can you give us a quick overview – you must have been happy with what you saw?
It’s a step forward in our pre-season and preparation for round one. It’s the first time you get to not tackle your own teammate and compete against your own teammate as such. There’s a lot to like but a lot to work on. We just went into this game using it for what it is, which is a stepping stone toward round one. I feel like we took a step forward

How is Luke Ryan, he looked like he got hurt?
Yes. I think his back. We were a little bit worried about maybe a broken bone but he just had it scanned then and he’s all clear so he will be a bit sore and sorry for a few days but it’s a good sign that he hasn’t broken anything.

What about Adam Cerra? We didn’t see much of him in the second half?
He had a tight calf at half time, which has probably been hanging around for a little bit so we didn’t want to risk it. We’ve still got a couple of weeks to round one so it was more precautionary, along with (James) Aish, he was precautionary as well in the third quarter.

So will they not play next week?
No the aim is (for them) to play again next week.

Continuing with the injuries, Alex Pearce looked to have his ankle iced up?
No (he is fine) he hit his minutes. We’ve been saying all along with Pearce and (Joel) Hamling it’s a bit more of a slower build, so he hit his minutes and came off as a precaution

How good was it to see those two guys out there?
Yes it’s good as a coach to have your more senior backs out there. They performed their roles and they took a step forward. They were both planned to have less minutes and they got through which is always good.

Will you rest any players next week?
No. We picked 27 and we’ll trim that down to a more ‘in season’ squad next week. Nat Fyfe will step up his minutes but we won’t be resting anyone next week.

Did you get any clarity on your best backline having all of them out there and rotating them through?
Not really. I thought we had some really good performances down there. I thought Hayden Young took a step forward, Brennan Cox was really good, he looks like he has improved on last year. We’ve got some good discussions coming up as a coaching group. I thought at the other end of the ground we had some guys put their hand up as well and we are starting to build a bit of depth through our forward line, especially with those small forwards, so it’s a good position to be in to have players who deserve to be in the team missing out.

Were there any adjustment going back to full length quarters?
With the rotations, a few of our players are going to be out there for longer. Today wasn’t necessarily the day to leave our players out there longer because it was a step up in intensity and game length and we had more rotating on the bench. We feel like in season, our players are going to be on the field for longer and our players are going to have to work out how much time they spend forward and how much time they spend in the midfield. Fyfe and (Michael) Walters and Cerra and (David) Mundy come into that equation because they can play forward and midfield. We will probably get more of an idea next week when we go into more of a round one phase. Our players are going to be on the field for longer given the less rotations, they’re going to have to be fitter. Hopefully, we took a step forward in our fitness today.

What did you make of Lloyd Meek in the ruck?
I thought it was really solid. He competed really hard, his second and third efforts were really good. I thought he was really predictable to our mids. I was really pleased with his game. He’s done a lot of work over the pre-season so he deserves his opportunity and I thought he played really well.

If Sean Darcy can’t get up for round one are you confident that Lloyd could be the man to lead the ruck?
We’ll get a better look next week. They’ll (West Coast) get Nic Naitanui, who is probably the best ruck in the competition. I’m confident in the work that he’s done, the progression he’s made over the last year and a bit to get to AFL standard. Having a genuine ruck in the team allows us to have two talls down forward and structure up better down there. We’ll see how he goes next week.

Josh Treacy looks like he could become anything. What do you want to see from him in another game and is he any chance to play round one?
He just needs to keep doing what he’s doing. We’re trying not to put too much expectation on our first-year players. We’re starting to build some depth with our small forwards and Josh is putting pressure on ‘Tabs’ (Matt Taberner) and ‘Lobby’ (Rory Lobb) to perform well each week. I feel like our list is starting to bat a bit deeper and that competition for spots is driving everyone to get better all the time. I was impressed with what he’s done over the pre-season, impressed with his game today and he’ll likely get another opportunity next week and put his name in contention for round one.

Will Taberner play next week?
We’re expecting him to come up.

Michael Walters had six scoring shots and four goals. It must be nice to know you’ve got that sort of talent who can play inside 50 and do what he does?
I’ve been really impressed with his leadership down there. He structures us up really well, he worries about where his teammates are and not just himself. He’s starting to get some reward for effort, he’s definitely got the skillset to be able to play down forward and I think we’ve seen his intensity and his ball use through the middle of the ground as well. Fyfe will split his time forward and mid and that will change week in week out.