What pleased you most about the win today?
We jumped into the game well, which is something we’d spoken about all week. I think the players were eager to put last week behind them. The other thing, we created a lot of opportunities. Sixty-plus inside 50s again, we created a lot of opportunity. Obviously, we were frustrated with our execution at times which is something we can build on.
Tom Mitchell really got off the leash in the second term, what was your message at half time?
We needed to put some time into him. Andy Brayshaw went to him and did a pretty good job on him in the third quarter in particular. I think that was a by-product of a few other things and the way we were defending as a team was poor and the way we were using the ball forward of centre didn’t help us defend behind it. We had a little bit to get right, but even in the second quarter we created opportunity for ourselves. Our method going inside 50 was poor, our execution in front of goal was 1-5, which was poor as well. We had a little bit to work on, but we knew it was fixable.
It was a really good come back by Brayshaw. He had two possessions in the first half and to really restrict Mitchell, then get nine himself in the last quarter. What did you make of the way he fought back?
I thought he went away from his role when he first got tagged, but once he thought about executing his role for the team, he got into the game. Firstly, that was on Mitchell, but in the last quarter it was just getting back to what he does best. He’s going through a phase now where he is going to have to learn about dealing with attention. That’s a credit to him because he started the year really well and teams are identifying him to put time into so he should wear that as a badge of honour and embrace it. He doesn’t necessarily need to do anything different, he just has to do his part for the team.
How do you manage that with him in the next few weeks? Do you look at changing his position when he’s getting tagged or look to get help from his teammates?
It’s a mixture of a few things. We could flip him around in a few different spots but sometimes that unsettles the players. Sometimes the best thing is to get your hands dirty and play your role. Our game is not based around how many possessions individuals get, our style of play is based around a system that he can still execute when he is getting tagged. We will look at ways to educate him on those things. We will look at ways we can put him in different spots if that needs to happen. There’s plenty of things you can do if you are getting tagged, it’s just another phase of his development. Like I said before, he should be wearing it as a badge of honour and it’s a by-product of him being in really good form. He’s got to embrace it.
How did you view the way his teammates backed him up today?
I thought it was a lot better. We have just got to make sure that it’s not a distraction to the task at hand. We have got to get that balance right, but for the large we looked after him a lot better. We got around him.
It seemed like a really physical performance in the midfield from your guys, they seemed fired up today.
They have been itching to get back onto the field all week. They had their colours lowered last week and they got an opportunity to go out there. I thought the way we started was largely due to the work through the middle of the ground.
How did you view the skipper's return?
He was handy enough. He was dominant I thought. It seems like the game slows down when he’s in the contest. He makes really good decisions. He would have liked to execute better in front of goals but the opportunities he created for himself were great and that’s probably the most important thing – the process. You’ve got to get the process right… we can work on the execution.
He seemed to start in the centre bounce more often than he didn’t. How do you think that impacted the team and his younger teammates?
He’s one of the best mids in the comp and when we’re trying to get supply and start the game really well, we want him around the ball. There were times he looked dangerous forward. When he was forward, there was a time (either the second or third quarter) where they looked like they were getting on top and he was forward, and he put himself forward to arrest momentum. He’s got a licence to do that. He put himself on-ball late in the game when we needed to get some control and finish off the game. He’s got the right to do that and I thought for the most part he got the balance right.
With Fyfe’s goalkicking, what can you do to get that into the elite category? It has been something throughout his career that has been below his other skill sets.
Well it was a mixture of things, a couple of snaps, some on the run and a couple of set shots today. He has put plenty of work in behind the scenes. He does extra goal kicking, I think it is going to be one of those things that just clicks for him, I really do. I think his technique is pretty sound and once he gets one away, he will be alright.
The way Sean Darcy was marking the ball today, you must have been stoked with that?
His ability to move on after a contest, whether it be a good or bad contest was heaps better. I think a bit more time in the ruck gets him into the game. Playing three talls gave one of them a mismatch at times down there, but he was a by-product of that a couple of times. A couple of times he just took really strong marks even against the ruckman. He was a little bit down last week, second game back and he hasn’t done much pre-season, I thought he really hit his straps today.
During the week you hinted that Sturt and Treacy probably wouldn’t play this week, what changed your mind?
We probably hadn’t settled on a team when I said that and we hadn’t trained. We thought we would back them in. There were probably doubts in the back of my mind whether Sturt had done enough work and I wanted to give him another game. But the situation we are in, we needed to take a risk on him. He offers something that we don’t have a lot of and that’s speed and ability on the lead, he probably didn’t have his best day but he will build on that.
It has always been a bit of a battle in my mind that does three talls work as a forward line? But we decided to go with it. We even thought it was going to rain and Josh is one of our best ball handlers, he is aggressive with his tackling and his defensive attributes hold up in any condition. We rolled the dice a little bit with our three talls and for the large part it worked pretty well for us.
Would you like to see that again to give them more time together and see how it all flows?
Yes, Adelaide is a different opponent, different scenario next week but we played the rucks off the bench a little bit more and probably lower game time which kept them fresher and gave more energy around the ball so we will keep persisting with it.
Travis Colyer cops a bit of criticism at times from fans but he was as important as anyone today.
I didn’t know that but I think round 1 he maybe got a bit of criticism for his goal kicking but the thing I am most concerned about is was he in the right position to get those shots on goal, was he playing his role for the team and was he bringing effort to offence and defence? Travis always brings those. At times, his execution might let him down in front of goal but I’m just really rapt for him to be able to finish his work off today because he is a really good person to have around the Club. He works really hard on his game, he is a good teammate and it is good to see him get some reward for effort.
The midfield battle last week obviously didn’t go your way, do you think you turned that around this week?
Yes absolutely, I thought our mids were eager to get back out there all week. As I said before I thought they were the ones that got us off to the start, they gave our forwards good supply, they helped knock the ball inside our front half and the work they did as a collective was pleasing.
Hawthorn had 80-90 more possessions more than you, I think 70 in the first half? Does that bother you or is that just the way the game is being played?
That bothered me. In the second quarter we allowed way too many marks, we allowed way too many uncontested possessions. There is a bit that we will give up marks in the right areas but they were getting them in the middle of the ground and we were playing our roles but we lacked the intent to close down some of those marks. There was way too many. We were defending for way too long. Our ball movement affected that as well, shallow entries, choosing the wrong options going forward to centre, they complement each other and turning the ball over in bad areas doesn’t help you defend. Our intensity to defend needed to lift, it is pleasing that we were able to do that to some degree.
