How frustrating was that?
Really frustrating. There’s not much you can do when skills let you down. I said to the players after the game, when you’ve got momentum in the game you need to cash in and we didn’t do that at all today. It was mainly skill execution that let us down I thought. I thought Melbourne defenders defended our forwards really well, as well. You look at the game it was pretty even in terms of numbers, inside 50s they were way more efficient going inside 50 than we were. Yes, so it’s frustrating and we need to get better.
Was it lack of skill or lack of target going inside 50?
It's always a bit of both. I thought our skill going in to hit some of those targets especially in the first half, I think we had some good hit up options on and we just couldn't hit them. Whereas you go down the other end and they're just lacing guys out so we need to work on our method forward of the ball there's no doubt about that. Alex (Pearce) going down didn't help, so it's both efficiency by foot and system ahead of the ball so we need to get to work.
What's the latest on Alex Pearce?
We'll have to get it scanned but t looks like an MCL, so he's going to miss a bit of time. It's not season ending or anything like that but probably four-six-eight weeks, that sort of range but we won't know until we get it scanned which is really disappointing for him.
How is he doing?
He's better with it now, when you've been out for so long, you come back and play your first game and get injured again and it's not looking good you do get emotional and think 'why me' and all that sort of stuff but he's in better spirits now and we'll get around him and support him and I know he'll do the work.
How did you see Lloyd Meek's game up against Max Gawn?
I thought he competed all day. We asked a lot of him, he was up against (Luke) Jackson and Gawn and he just competed. I knew he'd compete, I knew he'd try and halve the ruck contest, he probably got beaten in the hitouts but I didn't think the effectiveness was there and he gave our mids a chance.
Would you consider playing Meek and Sean Darcy in the same spot?
Yes.
Any update on Joel Hamling?
He got an ankle injury, the same ankle as last year but it's not the same injury so we just think it's ligament strain. He'll be touch and go for next week.
Both are leaders of the club, is it devastating to have them both go down?
Yes its devastating because they've missed a lot of footy. It's devastating because they are leaders and it's devastating because they're tall and we're missing a few of those at the moment. So we will wrap our arms them, around 'Pearcy' in particular, cross our fingers Joel gets up next week because I thought he was in really good form. His last three weeks have been really good so we need him out there.
You threw Alex Pearce down forward, did you consider moving the magnets around a bit and putting another defender forward?
Yes we did. We tried to get Blake Acres to do a role for us on (Jake) Lever, it didn't probably work. We put (Nat) Fyfe forward and then (Steven) May went to him and it probably didn't work but the thing is with Fyfey going forward and drawing Steven May gives (Matt) Taberner a better look. Tabs was probably off in the first half as well. We did think about putting (Brennan) Cox forward but they've got Jackson and (Tom) McDonald and you start robbing Peter to pay Paul and we weren't doing that in the back half. We just need to get back to basics. Get the ball in our hands, reboot our system ahead of the ball. It's hard when you earmark a forward line over the pre-season to play round one and five of those guys aren't there come round one so we've just got to try and settle it down forward of the ball. Get them working together, get some chemistry going and see if we can hit them a bit better.
Has Andrew Brayshaw stepped up into that next elite tier of player?
Time will tell. The great players in AFL put that performance in week in, week out. They play consistently at a high level just like his captain does and that's the challenge for him. He was outstanding, especially early, the challenge is to keep putting out that performance in week in, week out.
How do you think the sub rule played out?
It was handy. We would have been out on our feet, which both teams were anyway which has been the trend of round one. It would have hurt us having a rotation less. Unfortunately it wasn't like for like so you have to shuffle the magnets around a little bit but I think it's a good rule and it helps protect the players so i think it's a good rule for that point.
How you assess the defenders performance today?
I think we've got a bit of work to do behind the ball. A little bit of that is, at times we weren't able to put the pressure on the ball that we would've liked but, they took 17 or 19 marks inside 50 and that's not right so there's a few things we need to tidy up. We're still looking for our best balance down there to. Last year Luke (Ryan) and Brennan were our key talls, we've gone a little bit taller down there this year so we've just need to keep working on that balance and see what best suits.
Will you get anyone back next week?
We should get a few back, it's a bit early to tell but we should get back Sean, if Tabs didn't get up today we would've played him. Michael Frederick is another one we think we will get back and it will be touch and go on Sonny (Walters) and a few others. Cross the fingers and hopefully we'll get a few more back.
