Trent, you gave yourselves a sniff in the last quarter percentage wise, but how did you see today’s effort overall?
I thought Gold Coast were really game and probably should’ve scored more, they were unlucky not to. I thought we controlled periods of the game but we let ourselves down in a few areas until the last quarter. I thought our last quarter was pretty complete which is really import going into finals, which we definitely needed considering our last game-and-a-half before today weren’t great obviously. We needed some momentum so it was really pleasing that we got rewarded and our hard run, which we know that we’re capable of, we were producing that and finishing on the scoreboard.
You’ve got a 1-3 record against fellow finalist teams heading into finals, is that a concern?
It’s not a concern, it’s something we have to improve on. We had excuses against North Melbourne and Melbourne, we had no excuses against Adelaide, and we played very well against Collingwood. I think quite a few of the sides are in similar situations as well with their records. The good thing about finals is that we all start 0-0 and those past wins count for nothing. Every single final in the AFLW is a knockout final, Adelaide and Melbourne get the week off but every single final is a knockout final. There’s a lot of pressure on those sides who’ve had really good years, and there’s probably not as much pressure on us now with where we’re coming from, but we’re really looking forward to the challenge and looking forward to playing with some freedom next week.
Do you embrace the prospect of travelling back to Melbourne?
Yes, I think we’ve won more games in Melbourne than Perth this year. We’re undefeated in Melbourne I think because we lost the one in Tasmania. When we were away it was really difficult but also a great experience, so we’re actually really looking forward to going back there, I think it will bring back some really good memories and we’re really excited about getting on the road and doing that. To win it, you would have to win three away games but we’ll just have a go at the first one and see what happens, we’re really looking forward to that.
What did you think of Bowers today?
She played less than 60% game time, I think that is what we were aiming at today, so she was only doing five minutes at the start of the quarters and then five or six at the end and having a big break in the middle. That was just risk mitigation, she was totally fine and ready to go but we just didn’t want her playing under any level of fatigue when statistics show that any level of injuries are more likely, so that was why we did that. It was really good that we got that into her so she can let rip next week at 100 miles an hour. Our medical team has done a lot of work with her and with Janelle Cuthbertson to have her ready to go next week as well. It’s really pleasing that we’re going to have our two All-Australians back together for the first time since round two.
Aine Tighe up forward, are we likely to see that a bit more through the finals?
We’ve always got the option. She can obviously play in the ruck and play back as well, but we’ve been struggling in front of the ball, so we made the decision. She went back initially because Cuthbertson went down and knowing that Cuthbertson is going to be back next week, we really wanted to give Aine some time to find her feet. Saying that, Randall and Emma King were very influential yesterday so we might still have to start Aine in the backline. She looked really dangerous forward, she gives us that bail-out option and she’s so quick on the ground she’s a really difficult forward to match up on. I’m really pleased to see her in really good form.
Is finishing the game strongly something you focused on at three quarter time?
That was what I was thinking internally, I didn’t say those words to the players. I actually challenged the players at three quarter time, we were doing a lot of things right, but we were missing easy targets and some really basic dropped marks. We talked about it at half time saying don’t worry, that will come, but at three quarter time we actually sharpened them up a bit and said it’s not good enough. If you’re going to miss a target every now and then that’s fine but we were sort of using the ball without a lot of care sometimes when players were open and then being really loose with some marks that we were dropping. We said to everyone, okay let’s concentrate, let’s make sure that we’re sharp and go from there and that changed the game from that point on. There were moments early on in the game you could see from up high, if we hit this target we’re going to go three and four and probably have a shot on goal, but we were missing targets and we can’t afford to get that against the good teams so we talked about just sharpening up our concentration more than anything and it worked.
In terms of the lead up to the game, how much talk was there about that percentage gap with North Melbourne?
Zero. We read Eliza’s article but her math was a little bit off, I worked out beforehand it was around 52 points that we were going to need. We were so far away though last week, and to be honest we’re fine to go on the road so for us to go flat out today and win by that margin was probably going to be counterproductive considering we’re really confident to go on the road. It wasn’t a be all and end all thing at all, I spoke about it with the players for 15 seconds at the start of our meeting to tell them not to worry about that and we didn’t think about it in the coaches box until about three minutes to go because we were never that close. It wasn’t a big part, we’re looking forward to the challenge of going away and to be able to go away together.
In other years you guys were one of the favourites to win the flag going into the finals, what’s it like going in now as an underdog and having less pressure on you?
Enjoyable from my point of view, probably a lot of sides and a lot of people don’t expect us and that’s fair enough given our record against the best teams but we still think our best football can be really good and the six sides that are in – there’s not a lot between them. We saw with Adelaide finishing on top and Collingwood finishing sixth what a cracking game that was last week. The teams that can have the game played on their terms for the longest and can also arrest momentum when it goes away from them, means anyone can beat anybody so it’s going to be a fantastic finals series, I look forward to both being a part of it and watching other games that I’m not involved in.
So winning from fifth that’s not impossible, it’s not like finishing 7th or 8th in the men’s competition?
I think this year because there is so little between them that it is a possibility, there’s no one that you’d say is that far above the other teams. Obviously it would take a fair turnaround for us to beat Melbourne based on last weeks form but even that’s going to be a different scenario, and we wouldn’t play Melbourne until the grand final anyway if that did unfold. There’s going to be some great match up’s next week, and the preliminary final and the grand final, I can’t see anyone dominating or considered unbeatable all the way through. It’s a really exciting time for the AFLW competition.
What do you make of the prospect of the season starting in August next year?
I think it’s the right time slot from listening to what the AFL has told us with ratings and all that. This year, it’s probably not ideal to get there as quickly as what we’ll be asked to do but we’ve shown in AFLW that we’re pretty versatile and can go with the flow and the earlier we do it the better off we’re going to be for that following season. It can be done, we’ll just have a little bit less leave and we’ll make sure the players get the right amount of time off as well. It’s really important that we look after them and the sides that go deep into this season it may need to be similar to the men that they start their preseason a bit later than those that are knocked out at this point. It can be done and it’s exciting that it’s not that far away.
Was it not ideal to do it this year based on players getting leave from work, or are there more factors than that?
This has been a pretty tough year on the players. You’ve got the leave from work factor, you’ve got the general fatigue of playing footy and also the planning aspect of it in the staffing and the players. I know I was looking forward to my July holiday I’ve got booked with the family, that maybe have to be put on hold. They’re the type of sacrifices you make when you’re working in professional sport and we’re willing to do them for the good of the competition and I think it will be the best thing for the players long term to do it that way.
Where was your holiday in July going to be?
Exmouth, I was very much looking forward to that. A few days away in Kalbarri and getting a bit of sun and actually being able to enjoy it rather than it being footy season when there’s a lot of sun but I don’t get much time to enjoy it. I was looking forward to that but we’ll work out something else no doubt.
You’ve had so many youngsters recognised with Rising Star nominations this year, it’s up to three. Is Mim Strom one who’s been overlooked due to her body of work over the past few years?
I’m not sure who the judges are and I’m not sure they’re aware Mim Strom is still eligible because she’s been there every week, she just played her 27th game and she’s led the ruck every single time and won 20/21 games as the lead ruck. Her body of work has been quite exceptional and if she’s not nominated so be it, but we value her highly for what she does and I think she’s been one of the more influential players of her age group over the years. It would be nice if she did get a nomination but she’s not the kind of person to worry about that at all.
On Gemma Houghton, she got two goals today after a few weeks being held quiet. Is it good to see her get back on the scoreboard leading into finals?
Yes it is, and to be honest it wasn’t her hitting the scoreboard that impressed me today. It was her running really hard to give our defenders some outlets on the far wing in the last quarter was the most pleasing thing. When she’s playing like that the goals tend to happen and when she’s not moving it doesn’t. We’ve worked hard with Gem, she’s reconnected with her program doing boxing with Springer which everyone knows at Freo is really important. Get her on her toes, get her moving pre-training as well as pre-game. Today we saw her back to something like her best which is really pleasing because we’re a much better side when she’s up and about.
