What’s the initial prognosis on Nick Suban?

It looks like a grade one hamstring.

How’s he looking for round one?

Unless they get a new rehabilitation timeframe, it’s not ideal… he’ll be fine, he’s had a great summer. We’ve got plenty of others stepping up to the plate. I think Hayden Crozier rolled his ankle and Stephen Hill rolled his ankle but he’ll be fine. Everyone else is good.

Alex Silvagni was a late withdrawal. Was there a problem there?

It’s not a problem, he hurt his hamstring at training, there’s an injury that he’s got, so he’ll miss round one, too.

Fyfe and Sandilands, it was their first real hit out for pre-season. Are you happy with their form?

They were okay. We’ll look at whether they need minutes at Peel, probably unlikely for Fyfe. Aaron doesn’t need any more game time. They are things we’ll assess through the week.

Hang time for Fyfe

Overall thoughts on the match today?

I liked it, it was a good game both teams were in pretty good form. We have been working on stuff, we liked it. I thought we were pretty solid, I think if we converted it would have been  quite convincing, it’s fair to say. They fought on at the end, I thought we responded. We had plenty of opportunities. I thought it was a pretty good game of footy.

You must have been pleased with 31 scores from 45 entries and nine different goal scorers?

We had some good general play goals, It was pretty good. Some good clearance work, that improved. Obviously Aaron gave us first use. I thought our young players all looked really good. Tom Sheridan at times, (Max) Duffy at times, (Hayden) Crozier at times. Connor Blakely continued to grow. I think our young players keep coming on. Jack Hannath, we gave him an opportunity and I think he looked alright. There’s a real fight on for spots. Michael Barlow is pretty important to us, so is Paul Duffield. It was also Danyle Pearce’s first hit out, he was a bit scratchy. He’ll play for Peel next week. We worked really hard, but everyone is saying that so we’ll find out in 14 days and see where we are all at. The ball goes down and we all go. We all start equal, we start to differentiate ourselves minute by minute.

Is Matt Taberner going to Peel too or back in round one?

No, he will need to play.

You have talked previously about intensity in Fremantle v West Coast games. Did you see that tonight?

I can’t remember the past ones. I thought it was pretty solid. It’s hard to compare but it was a game of AFL footy. The players in the back of their mind don’t want to get hurt for round one, but they also know they need to preform to pick themselves. We played the Eagles twice last year in pre-season and we sort of enjoyed it. I really like the concept, you don’t travel. You get an intense game, both sets of fans get to come and see an intense game. There are some good numbers. I think for us to not travel to play a challenging and intense hit out against quality opposition, we really like it. The stadium was in really good knick, there has been a lot made about the surface. The ground person has done a really wonderful job to get it up. I thought it was a really good day for football, I thought both teams played really quite well and it was an entertaining game and not too many significant injuries, so I think you tick it off.

With Zac Dawson and Alex Silvagni missing from the backline, is what we saw tonight what we are going to get in round one when it comes to defence structure?

It wouldn’t be too far different, lets not pull a rabbit out of a hat. I can only pick who’s available. To be fair, I just finished coaching an AFL game. We’ve got a bit to go through, we’ve got two weeks of full training, then we’ve got Peel. I haven’t really turned my mind to it too much.

You mentioned Tom Sheridan before, has he put in the work off the field to convert on the field this year?

Tommy has worked incredibly hard, he’s come back, he’s really matured and come through very green. He’s an absolute pro now in how he conditions himself and trains. It’s just the last bit of connect to get it into his footy. That’s coming, I said to Tommy ‘you’ve done everything you can’ but no close ended statements. I haven’t picked anyone. He’s given himself the best opportunity and that’s all he can do.

Sheridan relishes latest challenge

Matthew Pavlich threw himself into the centre square in the last quarter, does he decide that or is it a tactical decision?

I thought I’d let him go, let him move around a little bit, free him up. It’s hard to be ducking and scragging all day so it’s good to get in their for a bounce. He’s certainly done it before, he did it last year, he’s a great player wherever he goes. He could get a kick in the coaches’ box. If he wants to go in there I am pretty happy to support him.

Chris Mayne went back for a little bit and went forward and kicked a few goals. Are you pleased with his game?

He was solid, he kicked 2.1, he could have kicked another one. That flexibility is really working for us and it’s critical when Alex Silvagni goes down at training. We’ve got real confidence in him fundamentally he’s a forward and we know we can use him back. He loves flexibility I think he’s back to his very best. We will use him smartly, he’s in for a real powerful season.

What’s the plan for the players who wont play for Peel?

We will work really hard but we do taper a little bit. We will recover really well. All clubs now get an opportunity to fine tune. The excitement levels go up. It’s been a long hot summer. We know the we’ve done 40 per cent more football work, it’s not guess work. It’s data dominated and we are playing a really good running team but we consider ourselves an elite running team and we’ll be ready to go. It’s an exciting time of the year.

Do you feel well prepared for round one?

Yes, we don’t make excuses. We’ve got a few challenges like all clubs have with personnel but we’re a no excuse footy club. If we don’t win it means we haven’t been good enough.