What pleased you most about that performance?
We spoke about a sterner effort, and both sides competed quite strongly I thought. I think a four-quarter effort, really good intensity, our hit around the ball was strong and our possession game was really strong – all stuff we’d been working on over summer. That’s three weeks in a row now so we’re pleased with that. There’s plenty of improvement to come, but certainly our trademark effort, intensity, and resilience under some adversity at times was pleasing.

Michael Barlow’s game, 43 possessions, 20 in contest, eight tackles and two goals?
Very good, wasn’t it? He was assigned Gray, and Mick’s been working hard defensively and then working off. So that was pleasing for Michael and us. Again, there’s some tactical challenges to keep that in place. But it invigorated the team. We used to do it a bit – obviously it’s a bit different. It was pleasing for Michael, significant in the outcome, and he’s showed he’s got some really good footy in him.

You held their mids really well – how pleasing was that?
I thought our hit (around the ball) was really good, and (our) intensity. We knew coming in they’ve got some really fierce competitors in Boak and Wines and Gray… we know they were setting up to make a real contest in there, so that’s something we were aware of. We were pleased that we challenged strongly but were far from perfect. There were some really big, intense passages in the last quarter at the start. We take some improvement out of that I think.

Match report: Three straight for Freo

How is Tanner Smith?
He’s got a hamstring it looks like. He was pretty upset because he’s worked hard for an opportunity. I thought he was competing really strongly again. He won’t face Collingwood next week. We’ll discuss Jack Hannath (as a replacement)… most of our talls are injured. He’ll not play at Peel tomorrow, which is unfortunate for him and them because we’re pleased with how they’re going. We had some players down – I thought Walters and Hill weren’t at their best, but they found something in the last quarter and a little bit in the last half to step it up. Pav reaffirmed he’s still playing some decent footy, and Dawson on Dixon was quite strong, not perfect. I thought it was pretty even – Crozier at half back continued to blossom, Connor Blakely was strong again, Clarke worked his way in the ruck. Ballantyne’s been lively and Taberner under some adversity with an ankle sort of pulled through. Mundy’s hitting around the ball quite strongly. They came over with real intent and aimed to win the game so it was nice to meet that challenge, because we haven’t been able to do that this year. We feel good we’ve improved our football a little bit.

This was a big test for where you were at, do you feel like you could even start matching it with some of the higher calibre clubs now?
It's not something I've turned my attention to. That will come in due course. They are going to be thrown at us. Look, little steps, little steps forward. There's some growth around the place. Really pleased to hear our member’s happy and applauding our effort and our competing. So fundamentality we aim to compete and improve and we think we've made some inroads there. But the top echelons of the ladder, there's sterner tests again. We've got a really big game next Friday night in Melbourne, Collingwood MCG we're looking forward to that. So we'll do the review and then we'll move on. There's some positive things for our kids as well.

What's driven the improvement the most, individual growth or the team starting to gel?
There's a lot made of that isn't there. I think our effort, our collective effort, we're running over the ground, our intensity, our teamsmanship is a lot stronger, were working for and with each other really well. Some of the kids have come through relatively quickly to be able to adapt to senior level. I think it's a combination of things but we're keeping it pretty simple. We want to train hard, play hard and improve our footy. It's a pretty simple model. Maybe we got away from, I'm not too sure. But we're certainly on track for that in this current period.

Has Chris Mayne really turned the corner? He has always worked hard but he hasn’t seen a lot of reward.
I think it's a good reflection. His defensive efforts virtually never waiver and he competes. You're right, there's times you'd like him to get more ball. But I think as we're spreading the ball better and moving the ball better off possession game it certainly makes it easier for the forwards. Look, on review in the first half of the year, we've had a really good look, what we thought, what we wanted to do and what we aimed to do, we didn't do, like spread the ball well, bring it inside and move it quickly. We were going quickly but we were going straight back through density and bombing it in. So it made it pretty hard for those guys. But now we're spreading and moving the ball and playing a lot more how we envisage ourselves moving the ball. There's no coincidence that our forwards are looking a lot better. So sometimes it's not always their fault.

You mentioned Clarke, his last quarter, he  onto a few marks and really made his presence felt.
His last quarter I think he took four marks. He was really fatigued. We pushed him through without a rest particularly in that last quarter. It's funny when you're fatigued and you think you might want to come off. You've always got a little bit more to give and he found that little bit and he had an impact on the contest which is a great lesson for Zac and really good for us.

You mentioned Stephen Hill before, he has had a funny year kicking wise. Has anything happened in that space?
No, I think he’s just trying to be perfect, keep it simple, and take some ground. I thought he was instrumental in the last quarter, I think it all depends what you want to focus on -The two missed entries or…. that was him trying to be selfless he could have sailed it through but he missed the target at centre half forward. I thought he was significant in the last quarter off half back. I think he about nine or 10.

Barlow praises "future of the club"

You mentioned Pav, how influential was he? Not just his goals but also his presence?
I think if you break it down to presenting and kicking goals. I’m not sure what presence is. It was far from the perfect game, he has plenty of improvement and he would acknowledge that. The last quarter when the challenge was thrown I thought our senior players; Pavlich, Mundy, Hill, Spurr, Suban and Ballantyne stood up and led the younger players. He should be fresh, we got him right and we’ll assess it when we travel to Melbourne. He is no certainty, we take it a week at a time and we’ll see how he pulls up and we’ll see how he is.

Do you feel as if there is a change in interpretation with the high contact calls in this round?
Nothing I noticed, I clearly watched Friday night. I understand the debate and we understand the technique that’s involved with slipping tackles above the shoulder and I think the responsibility is on the tackler. If people have a good technique to avoid being tackled, I think we can work through it until the rules change. (There are) Two things: We don’t like ducking, and if they duck and draw the free kick. I like Mark Evans also saying, the neck and head are sacrosanct, at what cost? I think that is the dilemma for all of us

Have you seen a free kick paid for throwing a shoe away from the contest before?
No. I have today. That's ok. You want to respect your opponents at all time and compete fiercely. I didn’t see it but I think it’s appropriate, it doesn’t bother me too much.

If he was just clearing the area, rather than throwing it away disrespectfully…
Well potentially, I am not too sure. But through someone else’s filters they interpret it in another way. I think we have to give them slack for that. They are under a lot of pressure and if that’s how they interpret it you back them in.