Justin was it as simple as inaccuracy or was there more you weren’t happy with tonight?
It was the start that cost us. 22 points down at quarter time, we lacked composure with the ball, they beat us around the contest early and we looked off, we didn’t look like a connected group. Then from quarter time until probably halfway through the third I thought we had 20-odd inside 50s after quarter time and then just butchered some opportunities in front of goal.
Given the opportunity to move into the top eight, how disappointing was that result.
It is that, and that’s the outcome, but the process is the disappointing part. We didn’t play as connected as we did last week. We didn’t have as many contributors as we did last week. We weren’t as moment-by-moment’ as we were last week. That’s the disappointing thing. So we just have to have a bit of a deep dive into that. We weren’t as composed in the contest and we didn’t play in the shape that we want to play in for long enough. The outcome is the outcome, it’s more the process that I’m disappointed in.
The inaccuracy has been a problem all year – how do you address it?
We just have to keep on working on it. Some of the easy shots on goal were general play shots I felt. I thought that was a sign of lack of composure. When you give the opposition the head start like we did you’re always playing catch up. So that feeds into itself and you lack a bit of composure when you know you’ve got more time and we were just chasing the game all night because of our start, we just need to keep working on our goal kicking. Last week goal kicking wasn’t an issue and this week it reared its head again so we’ve just got to keep working on it.
The clearances were dominant thanks to Sean Darcy – how did you see that?
I thought we started average around clearance but then our mids got right on top and it gave us field position and we defended behind our field position a lot better. We had a lot more opportunities. I think we kicked 8 goals 11 to 6.1 so we were well on top and didn’t make the most of that. We should’ve had a lead at three-quarter time and didn’t. We didn’t make the most of our field position early in the last quarter, again we lacked composure with ball in hand and they got on top in the contest in the last quarter and made us pay. I was happy with the way the mids responded after quarter time.
How did Nat Fyfe pull up?
So far so good, he got a couple of stingers in the shoulder, that’s going to happen. I think he moved on pretty quick from them. I think they give him a little bit of pain for a little bit of time and then it gets back to normal, so he’s going to have to deal with that. I thought he moved on from each of those stingers pretty well. He will be week-by-week, but I think he got through the game pretty well.
How do you get Michael Walters into the game more?
It was an issue obviously, we tried to put him up around the ball a little bit more in the second half and let him drift forward and create a bit of havoc from that, I thought it worked alright and is something we will look at. Our midfield is pretty set so there’s only so many blokes you can play through the midfield and as you said before I thought our midfield was dominating through those middle two quarters so you’re reluctant to change much there. So we will keep looking at ways we can get him into the game.
What happened in the last ten minutes of the match – did you just run of petrol?
I don’t think we ran out of petrol, I think they were well on top in the contest I think the last ten minutes of the game was at least plus eleven. And I think our composure with ball in hand, we started rushing. We played a bit out of shape, missed tackles and they hurt us on the scoreboard. Credit to them, they held up really well in that last quarter, I thought their defenders defended really well. I thought (Jacob) Weitering was solid all night, (Liam) Jones was solid all night and I thought their smalls held up really well. They kept us to one point from 13 inside 50s in that last quarter so their backs held up really well when they needed to early and they got on top in the contest and owned field position late and made us pay.
How do you reflect on the week itself – do you think it had an impact on the game?
No. I thought given the distractions that we had to deal with I thought the players were well engaged throughout the week. I thought they prepared really well, they trained really well. So I don’t think it had impact. You could say maybe fatigue late but early we were probably at our worst, so we didn’t jump into the game well. I don’t want to give our players an out. I thought we prepared really well, they ticked every box, they embraced what was going on. I don’t want to give our players an out, I don’t think we can use that an excuse.
Your fans at home would have been excited to go in the eight. Do you think they will be frustrated?
Of course. We’re frustrated. But we are building something for the long term. Missing out on being in the eight this week is disappointing, but we need to focus on the process. We need to make sure we get more even contributions across the whole field. We need to make sure we’re better in those tight situations late, we’ve lost a couple of close ones this year. I know our fans will be frustrated but we are doing a lot right as well. That’s probably what makes it more frustrating – we did a lot right for a long time and we put ourselves in a really strong position, but we just lacked the composure to penetrate in the last quarter.
How did you view Caleb Serong’s game?
He was really good. Really diligent to his task. I think he would’ve been a bit disappointed with his last couple of games. He really stuck to his task well and when (Sam) Walsh went to half forward we decided to drop it (the tag) and free him up a little bit and he had good impact around the ball. He’s learning from all these jobs we’re giving him. He’s adding to his game constantly, he is working on his game constantly, so it’s good to see him have a good game.
