Fly's presser
Pretty gutsy performance, but was it the critical mass of injuries that got the better of you in the end after doing so well in the last 3-4 weeks to cope with it?
"I think the game itself got away from us with clearances and inside 50s against. That was the game in essence. 64 inside 50s is hard to win. For major parts, I said to the group that I feel like that we're not quite there hardened wise to play 120 minutes; this group in particular. It's two weeks in a row, I don't know if you go back to when we were in front last week and this week, maybe the 15 minute mark or whatever it was in the last quarter or close to it. We're not quite hardened enough. There's a lot of good going on, but we're not quite able to do it for four quarters at the minute for this group. We'll gain a lot out of this".
Coaches usually don't like to mention injuries, but how much does the massive injury list play into tonight's result?
"How do you measure that? I just look at what we can control. I thought, if you want to just break the game down, I thought the first quarter we dominated but we didn’t take our chances. We could’ve been two or three more goals up than what we were. We had good ascendency, good clearances, centre clearances, and all our good players playing well. And then you play against an opposition that are so elite around the ball, they’re the best clearance team that we’ve come up against. You've got Bont, English playing well and Treloar. They just accumulate and they just wore us down. Maybe it was a bit too far with their talent at that part of the game late, but I think we’ll get to work on some of those system things we can improve".
How did you see the forward line working with Billy Frampton up forward and Ash Johnson returning?
"I'll repeat myself here, we don’t rely on an individual goalkicker, we rely on a system, and we kicked 12 goals. Now, in the last few weeks, that has been enough to win or draw and tonight it wasn’t so there was a weight of numbers through clearance. That last quarter we hardly saw the ball inside 50. We only had 41 [inside 50s] ourselves, but we scored a lot of the times we went inside 50, but we just didn't get enough there tonight. That's a work in progress".
How did you see the Nick Daicos and Marcus Bontempelli dual even if they weren't direct opponents?
"I've said this before, Bont would look good in a Collingwood jumper. He's a quality player isn't he? He's an elite player. I enjoy watching him when I watch footy. I'd come to the game to watch a player of his ilk. He can do a lot of things, and then Nick [Daicos] is playing exceptionally well for us. There's a lot of things that Nick does that maybe others don't see. His pressure has been elite for us around the ground. His clearance work has gone to another level. You got your money well spent tonight if you've come to watch those two".
You were 12 points up at 3QT with the momentum in your favour, what do you put the last quarter drop off down to?
"Clearance. We just lost territory and then when we lost it we had to try and get the ball back inside 50 from our back half and we just didn't quite attack the game in the way we would have liked. We went a bit slow when we could have gone fast and then we got stuck. We've got some work to do on that. I said to the players that we what we are now I guarantee will be different in three weeks time. Not personnel based, but we're learning a lot, we're hardening up. We've got guys in certain phases of the game that are not quite delivering on it, but I know they'll learn and this group won't stand still".
One of those inexperienced players, Lachie Sullivan seems to be playing a team-focused game trying to make space for Nick Daicos at stoppage(s). Is that one of the positives coming out of your current situation?
"There's many getting great opportunity that maybe they hadn't before and having to back it up. You saw Harvey Harrison last week, it's a tough game this one. You got to do it 6 days or 7 days later and repeat it. 393 games Pendles has played, 'oh my god how has he done that so often?' Lachie is getting a chance to learn and learning on the job. He did some really good stuff tonight and done some stuff where he'll look at and go 'gee, I could have done that better'. He's not going to stand still. There's a lot of opportunities. We play a system-based team. We play roles. I read an article about it's hard to play in the forward line at Collingwood. It is, but we reward it. We had a lot of guys who did a lot of unrewarded stuff tonight and hence why we kicked 12 goals. We're not standing still".
How did you view Ash Johnson's performance? He was receiving some bronx cheers from the crowd when he took a mark or two, but his defensive efforts seemed okay.
"I think what we need to do is look at us as a collective, and not target individuals about mistakes they made, or whatever it is. We’re a system-based forward-line, and he’s required to play his role within that system. Now, he can do some stuff better and he did some really good stuff too and we’ll live in the space where we reward the behaviour and then look for more of those things once they keep presenting themselves".
Josh Daicos may have some MRO issues with a punch to Lachlan McNeil that gave away a free off the ball. Did you see the incident?
"No, I haven't seen it. It's hard to comment".
What did you make of the application of the holding the ball rule and I assumed you watched last night's match with Port Adelaide and Carlton?
"Yeah, a lot quicker aren't they? A lot quicker to pay holding the ball. It's almost like don't fight the tackle or you're gone. I'm not sure if I'm a fan of it, but I know we tackle a lot and we got a lot more holding the balls. Beau McCreery had 100 pressure points, that's a big number for a forward. He can win the Brownlow at this rate".
Do you think the players have adapted well to the new interpretation quickly?
"I think we're all learning on the job. Tonight looked a bit different to last night I thought. Really hot. Even watching the VFL I thought 'ooh, that's hot'. All those that watched from home get a leg up because it looks like it will be a bit more of a tackle rewarded which is what we've got".
Lachie Schultz played well tonight and presented himself well. It's arguably his best performance with the club. How did you see his performance?
"Like I said, we're going to get better. I can't see us not improving from these last couple of weeks through opportunities and there's guys learning their roles better. Lachie is competing really hard for us. He's had a bit of a tough patch lately with some stuff off the field and we support him through that and he goes out and shows everyone what he's capable of. He got rewarded on the scoreboard tonight".
Was John Noble's substitution an injury or tactical sub?
"Tactical. We had Wil Parker who was a like for like and we thought let's get some fresh run on there. The young lad looks like he can play at the level too".
John Noble seemed to make some nervous mistakes in the first half, did you have to talk to him and calm him down?
"We're entitled to make mistakes. That's the reality of the game. It's what you do next isn't it? That's how we live. We'll make mistakes consistently. The game forces you. It's what you do next that is important".
Any injuries to report?
"No, we've got no injuries for the first time in a few weeks. Our rehab coordinator, the guy who manages that has been under so much pressure and I think he's got a stress fracture in his foot today [laughs*]. What do you do?
Anyone that might comeback next week?
"Yeah, I'm not too sure. There might be a couple, but I'm not sure who at the moment that is. We have 10 days until King's Birthday, so it's a good chance to reset ourselves".
https://www.afl.com.au/video/1141734/fu ... 7163059001
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