Chief football writer of The West Australian, Mark Duffield interviewed Fremantle CEO Steve Rosich for The Weekend West.

Did anyone see this coming?

Our realistic aim for this season was to play in our fifth consecutive finals series. We had a base and a record over the last four years that we wanted to, and thought we could build upon, so it is disappointing and surprising to be in this current situation where we are still fighting for our first win in 2016.

Did you still see yourself as a flag chance or just as a finalist?

We had a really strong base from the last four years. We were one of only three teams to play in the last four finals series and realistic contenders in the last three seasons, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

In a win-loss sense we are second to Hawthorn for the number of wins for the last three years with 49, as against Hawthorn’s 52, so we were in a space where we felt we could continue to sustain performance and challenge. We lost Luke McPharlin, who was a key out, but we added Harley Bennell and so we felt we were still well and truly in contention.

So what has gone wrong?

Ross has been on the record in talking about it on a weekly basis. Our footy and clearly our form and our method has been poor and we are now also being challenged by injuries to key players, including a large proportion of our leadership group. All of those things together in a really tight and competitive competition lead us to our situation today.

Have rule changes and trends in the game hurt you?

They were foreseeable by our coaching team. We supported the coaching team’s desire to make some changes to our game plan. I think the competition is still coming to terms with the rule changes and the impact that is having on football, and it will be interesting to see how that evolves throughout the season.

But our coach has also been on the record saying that in his view that is not contributing to our form to this point.

But clearly the game is in motion more, a more open game and now that it is an open game, your players are being asked to execute passages of play — as opposed to execute structure — that they are struggling with?

I don’t think it can be denied that our method and our skill execution hasn’t been at the level that we think that we can execute, and hasn’t been at the level required. Ross has been on record talking about our ball movement, in particular from the back line, being an area of concern but the coaching team and players continue their high-level focus on that to ensure that there is improvement.

Does the club concede that finals are gone in 2016?

With our win-loss record and the injuries we now have to key players, including Nathan Fyfe, Aaron Sandilands, Michael Johnson and Harley Bennell, who will be on the sidelines for a while, it will be a huge challenge to play finals this year, but our expectation is that the coaching team and the playing group will continue to work very hard and give great effort every week, so until it is not a mathematical possibility it is still possible.

Should the club have moved so early to sign Ross Lyon given that he was contracted to 2017 anyway?

Yes. At the time of Ross’ contract extension the decision was made because of his experience and capability as a senior coach. We feel he is the right person to build around for the future.

We also felt the decision to sign Ross would enable us to take a long-term view across our football operations and it would allow the club and Ross to plan with certainty well into the future across our coaching team, the players and support staff, and this holds true today. We are very comfortable with that decision.

Wouldn’t you have been just as able to make long-term planning decisions had you waited 12 months before you had to worry about re-signing him?

We thought that was the right time and it is a similar time out from the end of his previous contract that we extended him. At the same time prior to the start of the year.

Does Ross need to adjust tactically?

He is. Coaching and the game continue to evolve and he has been in the game a long time as a player, as an assistant and as a senior coach, and he is very keen to continue to evolve and improve and that reflects in our broader football operations.

Does that mean moving towards a more skill-based and attacking game plan given that is the way the game is headed. And the AFL, via its charter, tells you effectively publicly that is the way they want you to head?

We respect the AFL, but we don’t listen to them too much on how we should play our football. Ross is of the view that if we hadn’t had made the changes to our successful game plan we could even be in the position of being 2-3 or 3-2 at this point in time, but it was felt by him and the coaching team that we needed to make some tweaks, and to continue the focus on improvement and new styles was important for the longer term, and we support that.

So you are saying that rather than guarantee competitiveness you wanted to strive and heighten the opportunity to beat the best teams in the competition?

Well we have been a successful team for the last four years and that can’t be denied, and I raised the statistics with you prior to this to substantiate that.

But to challenge in the future we want to continue to improve and that includes our game plan, but it is not exclusive to our game plan. In terms of our areas of focus to improve, we look at every part of our football operations every year, and that is ongoing, and it has to be in this super-competitive environment.

Does he need to change his man-management. There is a wide perception of Ross that he wears players out?

We are very comfortable that Ross is someone who continues to improve, works effectively with good people and retains good people across the playing list and staff, and that is evident at our football club.

What about if he is dealing with a younger team as opposed to the seasoned team he has had for much of his nine years as a coach?

He is a players’ coach. We don’t have any issues in that regard.

Why can’t Fremantle attract a big fish at the trade table. You have gone after Cloke and Harry Taylor, and Cale Hooker most recently. Why no success?

Almost without exception the key-position prospects we have looked at have stayed with their club. We haven’t been the only club that has sought their services.

As was the case with Cale Hooker, we understood that Hawthorn, Collingwood and North Melbourne were also interested in him, so it is a reflection on each individual’s circumstances and also a positive reflection on the game of AFL where it is very common for players to stay with their club.

We will continue to target players from other clubs that we think can fit into our football club, but we will also continue to target players via the draft, which is the basis that we have built this football club on.

Has your recruiting been up to scratch? Have you missed a few that have left your list a bit skinny?

I think every club can look back in hindsight and review any draft and say they haven’t been perfect in that area. We have got a very considered approach to our list management and drafting and we will continue to use that as the basis of building the playing stocks of our football club.

This list has delivered strong performances and we haven’t had the earliest of draft picks, with pick 13 in 2014 being the earliest pick in recent drafts, and you have to go back to the 2009 draft when we secured Anthony Morabito with pick four, where we have had a seriously early draft pick.

We have been compromised in that area in terms of being able to add talent via high-end first-round draft picks, but we will continue to do the work in that area to bring in the best players possible. Potentially, the access to a draft pick this year earlier than normal would help.

Should you have been focused on getting fresh key-position talent in with Johnson, Pavlich nearing the end and McPharlin gone?

Securing key-position players via the draft has been an acute focus of ours in recent years. Not having the earlier draft picks make some of those talented key-position players more difficult to secure, but in recent times we have secured the likes of Alex Pearce as a second-round pick, Michael Apeness is a late first-round pick and Matt Taberner is a rookie.

They are prospects and will continue to develop at our football club, but we will continue to target key-position players via the draft and potentially via the trade period.

You had a board meeting on Tuesday night. Was Ross called to speak to the board at that meeting because of the club’s 0-5 start?

We have 11 scheduled board meetings a year and this was one of those, but given our start to the season I did request and plan for both Ross and Chris Bond to attend the meeting, along with myself.

At that meeting Ross and Chris were able to give our board a direct update on our injury list and some of the mechanics and views that have contributed to our start to the season. It was also an opportunity for our board to ask questions directly of our key football people.

Assuming that in 2016 it is too hard to make the finals — and that is my observation not yours — do you see Fremantle as a team capable of bouncing back quickly in 2017?

I think we have got some really strong fundamentals as a football club both on and off the field that give us the best chance of improving quickly. That won’t happen by accident. It will be planned and considered. Our focus on improvement will be intense and we will look to bounce back as quickly as possible.

Was there any directive given or wish expressed to Ross that he play more young players?

That is not something the board or myself as a senior manager get involved in. But clearly our injury position, particularly to established key players and leadership players, provides an opportunity for young players. We are likely to see a situation on Saturday when we play Adelaide that we will see a quarter of the team as first to third-year players.

That is both an opportunity and a challenge, but one that we are happy to take on. There are a number of young players that have come into the team over the last four years. The likes of Lachie Neale, Cam Sutcliffe, Hayden Crozier, Tom Sheridan, Lee Spurr, Alex Pearce, and more recently Lachie Weller, Ed Langdon, Connor Blakely and Darcy Tucker, and there will be more in 2016.

So you don’t believe the perception held by some that Ross is not a development coach?

No, I don’t. Our record indicates that. If you go back to his early years at our football club there were three of the players drafted in 2011 that played in the grand final in 2013.

Are football manager Chris Bond and list manager Brad Lloyd under pressure as a result of the poor start?

In the super-competitive environment of the AFL, everyone is under pressure. With a poor start to the year no one is immune to that, but it is something that our key people embrace and are invigorated about the challenge ahead. Pressure is not something new to people in this environment and if you can’t embrace it, it is not the industry for you, but the group here certainly does embrace it.

So are their positions under pressure?

As I said, there is always pressure, but we are very positive about the key people at our club and that they are the right people to drive this football club in the future.

Has the defensive nature of Ross’ game plan hurt your chances of luring a big trade target to the club?

The short answer is no. In all of our discussions with prospective players in recent years, a strong attraction of our football club is not just the brand of our club but our senior coach, and he will be an important part of attracting players to our club and retaining players in our future.

Does being down the bottom of the ladder affect your chances of luring a trade target?

That is a point-in-time question. We are there at the moment. With our continued focus it is not necessarily going to be the case at the end of this year, but history suggests that teams that finish lower on the ladder get access to earlier draft picks and other mechanisms to attract players. If that was to be the case this year it is not going to be a negative in attracting players to our football club.

In the medical area, are you concerned that two of your players ended up back on the ground last weekend, but later required surgery (Nat Fyfe and Michael Johnson)?

We are concerned that players get injured and require surgery. We are not concerned with the level of expertise and level of experience of our medical staff. Every single injury that occurs, whether at training or in a game, is analysed after the event and that has been the case with the two injuries you are referring to.

In both cases the club is very comfortable and satisfied with the medical advice provided on the day. Pleasingly, those players have both had surgery now and are on the road to recovery.

Will the club ask Matthew Pavlich to retire early?

Matthew’s decision to play on in 2016 was Matthew’s decision and any decision regarding Matthew’s retirement will be a Matthew-led decision.