Ross was the result of the second half as simple as them tiring in the heat or were you just playing better?
I think that’s simplistic, isn’t it?

What were your overall thoughts of the game?
I thought they started really well, we were disappointed with the way we were playing. We knew that they’d control the ball and because it was hot they would do that more so. They would come through the corridor and we didn’t get it back off them every well. Their mids were getting a lot of ball, but we changed some things up, the heat didn’t change much. I thought from half way through the second quarter we really started to get to work and get the ball back off them and we were scoring quite well. In the third quarter we continued to win the ball and go forward but they went forward and nearly scored every time they did, so it was a bit sloppy defensively but we certainly were quite damaging going forward. We were scoring well and I think really we got hold of Essendon a fair bit in the third quarter. We put Connor Blakely to (Zac) Merrit in the second half and he did a fantastic job, we put Walters on the ball, Fyfe and Mundy spent some time forward, so we changed some things up and structurally we did some things to change it up to force them into a contest. Once we did that I thought we were the better team and we continued on with it in the last quarter. The cynics would say it was the heat, but that’s okay.

How did you rate Matt Taberner’s game?
It’s a reward for going back and building your game, isn’t it? What’s difficult is that we have been a list without Cam McCarthy and Shane Kersten, with injuries to Michael Apeness but we had Matthew Pavlich. To Matthew’s credit he has worked really hard off the rookie list but sometimes you get opportunities when maybe you shouldn’t be playing and that can give you a false sense of where you are at and probably not as sharp a keenness subconsciously to work on the things you need to. So what happens when you go out for a period of time, you tend to take stock if you have football character and personal character and work on those things. Credit to Matthew, he did that and he got rewarded today. He will have bigger challenges. I watched Richmond last night they were intense. They compete and they’re quick and their defenders are Dylan Grimes and Alex Rance. So it’s a big challenge coming for him next week but we would like him to back it up.

Matt Taberner’s contested marking was really impressive today, is that something he has been working on?
Yes, David Hale has worked really closely with him and it’s nice that he got some reward for effort.

How did you rate the trio of having Taberner, McCarthy and Kersten in your forward line?
I think they looked dangerous all day, I think he helped the other two and that was the aim. Now we have those three ruck options, Michael Johnson can still go in but we chose to ruck Taberner today. That’s something that he has worked on at Peel as well so it’s been a positive. 

Is that your best mix for your forward line?
It’s always striking to have balance I think the important bit is to have a second ruck, because Aaron needs a helping hand. It worked well and clearly it was pretty good today.

How important was Bradley Hill, particularly in third quarter?
His run's been exceptional for us. As a club, we're fortunate he came through, and we're fortunate he's stayed dog hungry. He's our hardest trainer, or one of. Some people can run around a circle, but some people can run game day, and he's a great game day runner.

He has been a great recruit for you, hasn’t he?
Yes, it's self-evident. He's still got things to work on. He could have been a bit more polished with the ball. But he was quite positive.

Michael Walters spent a little bit of time in the middle, is that something that will continue?
Yes, that was a necessity. I didn't think (Nat) Fyfe and (David) Mundy were going that well. I thought Nathan responded really strongly in the second half. His first half probably continued on a little bit from last week, but he found a gear and got to work and led really strongly. Michael Walters in there gave us some real zip, so that was pleasing.

What was the thought process behind not using Connor Blakely as a tagger in the first quarter?

In all of 2015 and a lot of 2016 we didn’t tag, and then we felt a need to do it. We knew they had a really strong midfield, but we wanted to get proactive. And then if someone got away from us, we'd go to them. I thought Goddard was super early, and (Dyson) Heppell - they were all damaging. But we chose (Zac) Merrett. Merrett was coming up out of their forward line, and we chose to let him go, so we paid a price for that. As a coaching group, we probably should take a hit for that.

How did the team pull up injury wise?
Pretty healthy. No soft tissue that I'm aware of.

Mundy came off for a bit, how did he pull up?
He got a kick to the leg, but he finished strongly. We put him on the last rotation to get Michael Johnson off to look after Johnson.

Last week you said height wasn't an issue in forward line. But did you feel Taberner in there helped?
Yes, maybe I was wrong. It certainly helped today. But you've got to make sure you've got the fleet of smalls. I thought our small backs were fantastic. They've got dangerous small forwards - Fantasia, Green, and I forget the other one. Our small forwards - we've got (Hayden) Ballantyne coming back soon. Their job

is to put pressure on and help the talls. That's what Richmond are doing well. The small forwards are worth their weight in gold if they chase and tackle really well. I thought early we weren't at our best in that area, and it got swept away a little bit. But once we tightened that up, I thought (Brady) Grey, (Hayden) Crozier and (Harley) Balic played their role there.

Are you delighted to be 4-3?
I think delighted is really blowing the lid off. That's a bit full on from where I sit. We've shown some character. Look from the lowest point in the club's history it's probably not a bad position to get to.