Firstly, what a win on the road… how does it feel?
Magic! So good to start removing that stigma that we can’t win away from home. But it’s only one game, so we are excited to prove ourselves time and time again, not just at Optus the fortress, but also away whenever we can. So it was a great win for the team and we will definitely build into it.
The team song the boys asked everyone, staff and coaches, to get in the circle… is that because it was such a big moment on the road?
Yes, every win is a good win but it’s tough to win (on the road). It’s a well-known thing. It was said in the rooms that David Mundy’s only won here once before and he’s played a fair few games here I would imagine, so it’s a good win to have and something we can use for the future.
For you it’s back-to-back wins against Adelaide, it must be great to be back out there playing again?
Yes, it was a fair time off for me, but I was happy to just build into it from the start. I took a few knocks early and took a bit to get into it, I thought I was going to be in for a long day but the boys were really good and got behind me and I was happy to just build into it and at the end of the day I’m just so happy to get the win.
It seemed like you slotted in straight away… what’s it like to work with this backline?
It makes it easier that a lot of us are the same age, the same interests and same wavelength almost so it kind of works, so we really don’t have to talk too much, there’s just a lot of pointing and we’re all on the same page. They’re all such a good bunch of blokes, not just the back line but the whole team… but especially the backline, they’re so good and were getting me up. They had full faith in me to come and do my role and I have full faith in the team as well.
Luke Ryan had one of his best games today, and being a Doig Medallist that is saying something?
Yes, it’s no surprise. It was only a matter of time before he would have another breakout performance and we still see it as breakout, but to the outside world it’s just another Luke Ryan game. He is just such a weapon off the back... deep, high, big, small – he plays on anyone and is just such an elite user with the foot. Good things happen to good blokes, which we love to see.
What makes him so good
His ability to read the play, from there he assesses it and just really takes care of the ball. You back him defending anyone and you know if it’s in the air he is either going to mark it or kill it. His ability to read the play is second to none and you know he is just going to keep getting better and better.
What was the message from Justin Longmuir at half time when the Crows were up by two goals?
We just needed to stick to our system and trust the process. We started with our contest and made every contest like it was our last and the mids really drove that. Big Sean Darcy was strong all day. You look at our mids and the ability for them to link up from Serong to Fyfe, Brayshaw and Mundy, from the backline you see them streaming forward and you know the ball is in safe hands and we’re not going to have to defend straight away because they’re either going to hit a target or kick a goal. It’s just a matter of trusting that we know our system stands up and JL has done a n awesome job at providing us with that and we trust it now and we got the chocolates today, so it shows it adds up.
Finally, the Len Hall ANZAC game next week… have you played in one of those before?
Yes I have, it was against North as well. It’s a short turnaround so we will get the review done of this game and take what we can out of it and push into the preview of the Roos and if we can string a couple of wins together that’s going to be our plan but we will celebrate today and really enjoy it.
Get your tickets now to our round six Len Hall Tribute game now!
