Ross, you looked a chance tonight. Did you see it as progress?
Yes there was some progress. I thought the third quarter we dominated for 2.6, 21 entries to seven, but really simply I thought our intent and our attack on the ball and our surge and when we went forward we were scoring a bit but by the same token they kicked a lot of easy stoppage goals in the first half. It was eight goals two, which is huge.

We addressed that at half-time. That was more about our backs being slaves to the opposition and not thinking through their positioning and our mids ball watching and getting caught on the spread a bit, which we spoke about coming into the game so we're disappointed about that. When they did what they've been trained to do and position how they've been trained we sort of took care of that area and then it allowed the other parts of the game that we were going quite well in to give us a real opportunity to win the game. That's really what the story was.

Talking points after GWS loss

With the stoppage goals, do you have a breakdown of how many Griffin was in and how many Dawson was in?
No it was nothing to do with the ruck. I think it was a little bit early. It was really about our backs positioning, just being slaves to the opposition and being opened up and some mids’ spread was quite poor.

They were things that are easily addressed really and should've been implemented from the start. So it went from eight goals to two, and one late, so three goals in the second half. That allowed them to feel good about themselves, kick easy goals and us to feel not that great about ourselves when really the field play and the general possession game stuff and our competing and all that was pretty good.

So you are happy enough with the one specialist ruckman?


Yes I would've thought so. I don't think that's why we won or lost the game. It actually gave us some run. I thought so. They're a pretty good team at the minute.

Are the stoppage goals tonight similar to Gold Coast?
No a bit different. Disappointed with it because it shouldn't have happened. A few of them should've, you can't stop everything. But they're big numbers. That just shouldn't have happened.

There was vision of you talking to the backs at half-time?


That was about the positioning. To their credit, I think what happens when you're 0-6 and you're under pressure it's go into your own backyard and lock on. But if you do that, that makes everyone vulnerable, so we spoke about that. To their credit, once they adjusted their position they were able to affect the game and get involved and roll off and mop up and do the things good backlines and a good back six does. They'll learn from that but it was pretty costly. It probably cost us any chance to win the game to be truthful.

There was some sharp ball movement in the first half, did you like what you saw?


Yes we did. We just thought even late there were free players everywhere but our ability to look and come back inside and find the spare and spread the ball wasn't of the standard required when we had opportunities. There was moments but we're a sometimes team not an everytime team. So that's a bit frustrating, there was some good stuff. I think our front half division is going quite well. We've taken 14 marks inside 50 to eight, I think they're creating opportunities.

Some conversion is still a bit of a worry. But won the entry battle. But again, they tore the heart out of the team really. I thought we fought on quite well. Third quarter was really good but couldn't quite convert and then last quarter they probably grinded back on top but we had opportunities.

What did you make of Lachie Neale’s game?
Lachie is one of our important young players. I think he had 18 ground balls, really fought on. He's a real emerging midfielder. He's got his weaknesses but if we can continue to grow him, he's really important to us.

Vote for Lachie Neale in the Freo Fans' MVP

Have you noticed he has taken his game up a notch since Fyfe got injured?
Yes I think that's a fair call. He's assumed some responsibility in there. Walters went in there. I thought Blakely showed some improvement this week. We're experimenting. I thought Ballantyne, a little bit more on the wing, gee he had a good game didn't he. He had 19, kicked 2.2, we played him higher. And that's probably, it's been remiss of us playing him too low really. Out of the wreck really, I don't like losing and it's never going to sit comfortable but we understand the things we need to improve in our game. It was a game that we should've been more in it than we were.  

Ballantyne and Walters pushing out of that forward role, will we continue to see that?
I think we need to. If we're not delivering, it's an opportunity to get a bit more expansive. We didn't really use Mundy at half back, we did last week. So we'll pick and choose with that a little bit. I complemented them on their effort. I don't want to go around in circles here.

What we got wrong in the first half was devastating on the scoreboard, and it shouldn't have happened, but it did. And really we could have fixed it a little bit earlier. But that was addressed at half time, and it gave us a chance, and then we really couldn't convert. 

So we whacked away. I don't think anyone walked out of the ground saying we turned it up. We had more entries. Almost equal shots. But just at times where you need to be composed and use the ball well, we didn't do it. It went to a contest too often coming out of defence.  And poor stoppage defence - midfielders and defenders.

Did you come out injury free?
Pretty much I think. Morabito hurt his hammy today at Peel - low grade. I think that was the main one floating around between the two teams.

One half won't win it

Do you continue to experiment?
Yeah, I think Ethan (Hughes) found out about the level. He wasn't at his best tonight, but it's chalk and cheese - AFL and WAFL. It's a massive gap. But, he'll feel it. That's his second game. It was a tough night against pretty good opposition. He's a surer player than that. He's a more confident player. He's quite competitive. He's clean. He's a better decision maker than he showed tonight. We'd like to stick with him.

How do you balance exposing guys to the trip to Launceston?
Well what better place to grow. Stress under load equals growth. So there'll be plenty of stress and plenty of load, so let's hope there's plenty of growth. We'll have a look at it during the week.

Ross does it matter for the group that you haven’t won yet, how does this affect the playing group?
I don’t think so. We would like to win. We come to win and I think we picked a team that could win tonight. In a lot of ways we did things that we wanted to do. I thought we were more physical around the footy and played with more intensity more consistently, but overplaying some defensive positioning just really hurt us. That was embarrassing when it was 8 goals to 2 from stoppages. You can’t look back, you’ve got to look at what we're producing now.

Now you are in this position, what do you want to get of the rest of the season?
We are on record as saying out of adversity comes opportunity for young players. We are doing that. We want to improve our coaching systems during the week, our meetings, our processes and deliver. I am learning you can delegate but you need to prescribe more. More prescription in what you give people to do. It’s an opportunity for all of us to get better. But 6-0 or 0-6, you feel differently about yourself, but the process of working hard and delivering in meetings and training to improve stays the same.

Would you urge the fans to stick by you through what is going to be a difficult year?
It’s already a tough year. All I know is, when you sit in the seats you know who is having a go and who isn’t.  If they are having a go I reckon members walk away saying “they had a go, but gee, they got scored against easily at the stoppages and when the game was up for grabs there was a bit of lack of composure.”

I have no doubt our group will keep having a go and we are looking to improve.

Clearly I need to improve, our coaching panel and our playing group. It’s not where we want to be but it just shows how tough the competition is. There's a few teams getting trumpeted early in the year and I don’t think they are flying at the minute and some that weren't, are. You’ve got to write your own story so there's 15 rounds left to write a story of improvement, of endeavour and of growth and emerging talent.

That’s the story we want to write.