I’m going to skip the first half and asked about the second half first as it was a pretty good display?
We spoke about a few things at half time, the second quarter was just a horrible quarter of footy for us. They’ve (the players) reacted and readjusted and made changes on the run this year, so I was really proud of the way we bounced back and didn’t go into our shell. We got the game on our terms, especially in the third quarter, and started making a bit of our inside 50s. it was really pleasing. We had a six-day break and a lot of change in our team. I thought as a collective we handled the week really well and the performance showed.
An amazing story with Alex Pearce’s comeback. Can you talk a bit about what you saw from him today and what it took from him to get to this point?
Where do you start? He was injured all last year, half the previous year. Made his return in round one, and a freak accident has ruled him out until now. He has probably been in some dark spaces with his injuries but never really shows it around the Club, he is always upbeat, still doing as much as he can off the field to lead us and get himself right. He has never given up hope. Had a bit of a mishap in his first game back against Peel, then had two really solid games. He is a pro with his body and the way he looks after himself. I was expecting a little bit of rustiness to be honest today, given it’s his first AFL game as a full back in a long time but he hit the ground running. Some of the contests he won, the physical pressure he put on (Ben) King. I thought he was a real rock down there for us. It’s just a real by-product of the work he has put in. I am really proud of him.
What are your emotions when you see a player go through hard times, then come out and produce a game like that?
I am proud. It’s a by-product of the work he puts in. He’s a leader of our Club, he hasn’t been able to do that on the field, but he’s done it well off the field and now he gets the opportunity to do it on the field, and he stands up for us. I would imagine that he still has plenty of growth in him, it’s his first game as a full back in two years. He’s just got to build on what he did today. I’m proud of him.
What was going on in that first half?
I thought we started the game pretty average again, but for three quarters of the first quarter, I thought we actually played reasonably well. They got a lot of numbers back in their defensive 50 to clog up space, it makes it really hard to score. The look of the game in the first quarter was how we wanted it, we just didn’t have that final method going inside 50 quite right. I thought we defended behind our ball movement well. In the second quarter, we just got a bit cute with our ball movement in our back half and tried to force our ball movement in the front half. When you get out of shape and out of roll in offensive it makes it really hard to defend. They are a team that likes to kick, mark and take a lot of uncontested marks. I think in the second quarter they had 30 marks, which is the most they had all game and that was on the back of us trying to force our ball movement forward of centre a little bit too much. I spoke to the players about being predictable to each other and I was really proud of the way we bounced back.
In the third quarter and early in the fourth, the guys took a lot of chances, set shots in particular. How pleasing is that?
It was great. It’s really what we should be doing. For them to execute under pressure, I think it was Liam (Henry) and ‘Lobby’ (Rory Lobb) kicked those two in a row. They were important goals and they took their chance away from them, and thought we finished off the game really well. We were able to run down the clock really well. We were able to create some more opportunities, we didn’t take them, but I thought we showed really good composure in the back half of that last quarter.
It’s one thing to say something at half time, but with a young group, those debuting, those coming back from injury, it’s another thing to actually come out and do it. You must be proud of them?
Absolutely. I think they would have known, they did know, what they were doing wrong. It’s sometimes hard to get out of that funk in the quarter, so the break naturally allows them to reset and refocus. We obviously went through a few clips at half time and they were able to readjust. We showed much more composure in the contest, much more composure with our ball movement and connected a lot better inside 50. We took seven marks inside 50 in the third quarter which took away their intercepting and their numbers that they liked to get back on top of our tall forwards. We adjusted well.
Where do you rate where you sit going into the bye?
We get asked that question a lot and it’s hard to answer. We are where we are, you can’t look into the rear view mirror. The one thing I said to the players after the game is that, it’s probably why we are not beating the best sides is because we have those lapses in games. You can’t have those second quarters against good side. Gold Coast could have made us pay, they kicked 0.5 that quarter, if they kicked 3.2 they are a goal and a half up at half time instead of being down. They missed some opportunities to make us pay for those. You don’t get those luxuries against Port Adelaide, and the Western Bulldogs last week. We need to get more consistent and our players need to get more ruthless with how they play and execute their roles more often. I think that sums up where we are at and where we need to get better.
Josh Treacy, what does his role look like when Matt Taberner comes back?
I think all of our forwards have been playing pretty selfless roles for each other. It’s not about who scores, it’s about us scoring as a team. They’ve really bought into that and David Hale (assistant coach) has done a really good job with our forwards. I can see, and we have done it this year and we have played three talls in the side. What playing three talls does, especially if they are all dangerous, it gives them one-on-one looks. Opposition defence can’t drop off and create 2 v 1 and you keep opposition defence more accountable. His development has given us another chink to our armour as a forward line group.
You got through the game unscathed? Are you surprised, happy?
Happy. It’s good not to use the medical sub and it’s good to head into the bye without any more injuries. It’s a great result.
Does Fyfe definitely need surgery at the end of the year?
It’s probably not my call. We are still working through what the end of the season looks like, as I’ve said all along, he’s hopefully going to be able to play. He gets the bye now to give him another week off and what the end of the season looks like it will play out. The short term looks pretty good.
In the past couple of days, has been regaining more strength?
He was sitting next to me in the box, I didn’t really have time to ask him that today. He is doing everything he can like he always does, he is a pro at getting himself right. It would have improved, I am just not sure how much.
What was he like in the box?
He was probably a bit of a calming influence which was good. He sees the game really well, he’s more supportive. You get players up there and they don’t say a lot.
What does the bye look like for you?
We give the players time off earlier in the week and get the back later in the week. We’ll have a big session on Saturday to get them back into the swing of things and allow them to set the next week up against Collingwood early in the week. They’ll go away, rest and recover. It’s important that they look after themselves and use it as an opportunity to recover because they have a big second half of the year coming up.
How did you see the two debutants?
I thought they both showed a bit. Joel (Western) was probably a little bit quieter, but I don’t think it was day for our small forwards, the way we used the ball, we just didn’t give our small forwards a chance. But he had his glimpses, he’ll learn a lot from today. I thought Walks (Brandon Walker) probably picked up where he left off at Peel. He is really good defensively, and he will just grow with ball in hand. You saw a glimpse of his speed through the corridor when he took the game on. The more he plays, the more he will be comfortable. They got their opportunity today, which they earnt and I thought they acquitted themselves well.
When you take on Collingwood, it will be the first time Robert Harvey is coaching. Does it make it a little bit difficult to prepare?
Maybe. Probably haven’t given it a lot of thought. I wouldn’t imagine it would change too much, it’s pretty hard to implement a new game plan so to speak over the course of the mid-season break. I would imagine they will keep a lot of things the same but we will have to prepare for the unpredictability of Collingwood, a new coach and what that presents. We’ll have a break first and then get back to work later in the week.
