You were on top early but seemed to lose a little bit of crispness in the second quarter?
They came at us a bit but we had 63 entries to 46. It’s a big differential. In the last quarter, when the game was there to be won, we had 18 to 10. They just got out the back on us a little bit. They kicked very accurately. What did they kick, 14.4? You don’t do that too often. That was a little bit about getting out the back and allowing them to get to a couple of quality spots. We’ve kicked over 100 and when the game was up for grabs, I thought we could’ve scored a bit more. They were quite accurate.  They lifted their intensity. There was a fair bit of a rub of the green that could’ve gone our way but it didn’t for a fair portion of the day, but sometimes that happens. I like our blokes with their head over the ball, I thought Walters almost got decapitated early and I would’ve liked (them) to have a look at that. Not as in a report but a free kick would’ve been handy. They fought on, all credit to them but all credit to our lads, they fought on. General play, entry dominance was strong. To their credit, they found some ways to get out the back at times, which is easily fixed for us. Which is a good reminder.
 
Did you bomb it too much?
I would have thought so. At three-quarter time we spoke about passing it in. We had five uncontested marks. I thought we bombed it in and they scrapped it. We got forward of the ball and it allowed them easy outlets out the back. Couple of defenders thought they were full forwards in our goal square. We’ve already spoken about that. I don’t think they’ll do that in a hurry again. I thought it was a really good game, it was an up-tempo game. Pretty high scoring game, lots of entries for us. You’re not always going to be at your very, very best but I thought our leadership and our will to win, when we were under more pressure than we should’ve been, was really strong.

Is it nice to have that challenge, where it’s level in the last few minutes and you have to find a way to win?
It’s really important because if you’re always winning comfortably you’re not in those positions. I read an article, I think Hawthorn spoke about that they hadn’t been challenged so much. When the Swans beat them in that Grand Final, they hadn’t been in many close finishes. They weren’t used to doing, what they needed to do. I think that’s a salient point. Not that we’re anywhere near that, it’s good to be in them and come through. Either way, win or lose, you learn some lessons out of them.
 
A few comments on Nat Fyfe’s game, 10 clearances, three clutch goals and a point to put you in front. How good was he?
I thought our whole midfield, of which Nathan is a key leader. David Mundy, really big head split, he came back on and really delivered in the last quarter.  I thought all the mids, Neale, Barlow and Danyle Pearce were solid. Obviously, Nathan led the charge, his clearance work, particularly out of the midfield. We sort of dominated out of the middle and Nathan was significant. He kicked 3.1 or something, hasn’t he? Look, we know he’s a star of the competition. You don’t need me to write the headlines about his game, it was very, very good.

Gamebreaker: Fyfe dominates as Freo delivers
 
Any concern at all with him going in the book?
Clearly, one really pertinent point, we got the memo during the week. I don’t tend to comment but it was sharp reminder that you can’t really comment pre or post on reports because the club can be fined $20,000. What I can talk about is the side of the ground it happened. The left hand side is as dry as a chip and the other side people are slipping and sliding, and slipping over like sprinklers have been on an hour before the game. I’m not sure but it’s very confusing when I walked the ground. That far side is wet and slippery and one side of the ground is dry as a chip. So if someone can explain that to me. That far end, you can see where everyone was slipping and sliding. This side, this end was dry. A very confused AFL coach here, on how that ground can end up in that state. I think it’s quite dangerous for players when one side is as dry as a chip and the other side is like a slippery side. Anyone who slipped on that side, Western Bulldogs or Fremantle, they have a fair contributing factor.

It was a bit different to last time you were here when you got belted by St Kilda?
It was a really strong performance. We’ve got a short week, we play quality, we play North, we’re aware of what’s coming. It was a different challenge this week and one we responded to. We look forward to playing at home. We’ll recover and plan well again.
 
Do you expect to get McPharlin back against North?
We were optimistic he was going to play this week. Again we exposed Alex Pearce. He knew he was alive a little bit there at times today but it’s great experience for him. Hopefully Luke will come up, he’s a pretty important player.
 
What did you make of the way they structured up in the ruck?
It’s not often Sandilands will come up against Jong, Stevens and Goodes. It sort of cost them a bit didn’t it because from stoppages we’ve had 10 shots and they’ve had four. Their ruckman was running forward and trying to play and we don’t care what anyone does, Aaron’s not going to leave the ruck. We just set up some cover for him. They hadn’t done that before from what we’d seen so it sort of caught us on the hop a little bit, but then we adjusted and put cover in place.
 
Was it pleasing that Ballantyne and Walters had the best parts of their games in the last quarter?
Yeah, really important. Hayden’s still working into his best form. We’ve changed up our offense a little bit with structures and he’s still getting a handle on spots he needs to be in consistently as a small. Walters has adapted quite well and considering that heavy hit, for him to kick that winning goal I thought Walters looked a little bit better. But they’ve both got upside in them.
 
At 7-0 do you start looking at the top two?
I just find if you stay in the moment and you prepare and practice in the manner that you should, results take care of themselves. We’ll add them up at the end of the year. I think everyone would love to finish top two, everyone would love to finish top four, but you’ve got to continue to write your own story. People can write what they want and we’d prefer nice things to be written, but we understand if we perform nice things will be written and if we don’t, well the negativity comes. But while you’re fit and healthy and in form you’ve got to bank the four points because as sure as night follows day, you’re going to get injuries and you’re going to hit some teams in really good form. You’re going to have some challenges where you’re not going to get across the line. While you’re in good form and you’re fit, you’ve got to keep taking your chances. You will have periods, because they’re not machines, where the challenges sort of get on top of you and you’ll lose a few.
 
How did you go injury-wise today?
All clear. There was a cut to the head of Mundy but he was pretty courageous. There was no concussion or anything. Touch-wood, we were quite clear.
 
What were your thoughts on Michael Johnson and his importance with McPharlin out?
We rotated him a lot more because we’ve got an eye on the load over the season. We’ve got Taberner and Mayne going back and giving him bigger minutes off and that’s why he was pretty good in the last quarter. Normally we sort of let him roll through and with the backs’ profiles they can do that. We’re trying to view it over the context of the whole year and he’s been getting some opportunities through quarters for bigger breaks. He’s really important to us.